A screw component including lens holder and lens barrel component engaged with each other, and protruding portions respectively provided on each of both flanks of screw thread of lens holder. When lens holder is engaged with the lens barrel component, screw thread of lens holder is brought into contact with both flanks of a screw thread of the lens barrel component, it is possible to prevent lens holder and the lens barrel component from being displaced from each other.

Conventionally, as a screw component including a pair of screw members engaged with each other, an image capturing device has been known. The image capturing device includes a lens holder holding a lens inside thereof, and a lens barrel component engaged with the lens holder so as to hold the lens holder. In such an image capturing device, in order to photograph a high quality image, it is necessary to position the lens with respect to an image capturing element disposed in the lower and inner part of the lens barrel component with an accurate distance.
Thus, an image capturing device in which a protruding portion is provided on a flank of a screw thread in a lens holder has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In such an image capturing device, the protruding portion provided on one of the flanks of the screw thread of the lens holder is brought into contact with one of the flanks of the screw thread of the lens barrel component, thereby preventing the lens holder from being displaced with respect to the lens barrel component.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional image capturing device, for example, due to variation in accuracy of components at the time of manufacturing lens holders or lens barrel components, when the other flank of the screw thread of the lens holder is not brought into contact with the other flank of the screw thread of the lens barrel component, the lens holder may be displaced from the lens barrel component. Furthermore, in order to prevent such a position displacement considering that the lens holder is thermally expanded, high manufacturing accuracy of the lens holder and the lens barrel component is required.
In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides a screw component in which a pair of screw members engaged with each other can be reliably prevented from being displaced from each other.
Furthermore, the present invention provides an image capturing device in which a lens holder and a lens barrel component can be reliably prevented from being displaced from each other.

Screw component and image capturing device


A blade for a turbomachine gas turbine, the blade having a cooling circuit comprising at least one cooling cavity with a high aspect ratio extending radially between a root and a tip of the blade, and at least one air admission opening at a radially inner end of the cavity to feed it with cooling air, at least one of the walls of the cooling cavity being provided with a plurality of indentations so as to disturb the flow of cooling air in said cavity and increase heat exchange.

The present invention relates to the general field of cooling blades in turbomachine gas turbines. More particularly it seeks to improve the cooling of a blade provided with a cooling cavity having a high aspect ratio.
It is known to provide the moving blades of a turbomachine gas turbine, such as the high and low pressure turbines, with internal cooling circuits enabling them to withstand without damage the very high temperatures to which they are subjected while the turbomachine is in operation. For example, in a high pressure turbine, the temperature of the gas coming from the combustion chamber reaches values well above those that can be withstood without damage by the moving blades of the turbine, which has the consequence of limiting their lifetime.
By means of internal cooling circuits, air which is generally injected into the blade by its root, travels along the blade, following a path formed by cavities made inside the blade, prior to being ejected through orifices opening out into the surface of the blade.
Nevertheless, those cooling circuits are unsuitable for blades that are "long and thin", i.e. blades presenting a thickness (maximum distance between the pressure side face and suction side face of the blade) that is considerably smaller than their radial height (distance between the root and the tip of the blade).
One of the constraints associated with such blades is the small air flow rate available for cooling them. This means that it is necessary to adopt a cooling cavity that is fine, i.e. that has a high aspect ratio, in order to increase the internal air flow speed, and thus increase heat exchange coefficients. Since such a modification is not sufficient for cooling the blade, it is also necessary to disturb the internal flow, e.g. by means of spike or bridge type flow disturbers.
Nevertheless, the use of conventional disturbers is made impossible by the fineness of the cooling cavity in such blades. In particular, the presence of spikes in the cooling cavity impedes the flow of air passing therethrough excessively and leads to reduced mechanical strength which is a source of crack starters. Bridges also raise problems of fabrication when casting blades.

Gas turbine blade cooling circuit having a cavity with a high aspect ratio


Independent wheel suspensions for a motor vehicle are described herein. An example independent wheel suspension includes a link to be pivotably coupled to a vehicle body of the motor vehicle via a first flexible pivot bearing and a second flexible pivot bearing. The first and second flexible pivot bearings form a pivoting axis. The link has a wheel attachment point to which a vehicle wheel is to be coupled. The example independent wheel suspension also includes a spring to be disposed between the link and the vehicle body. The spring is configured to produce a force component on the link that is directed outward along a transverse axis of the motor vehicle and that increases during compression.

On modern motor vehicles, all of the wheels are connected to the body or the chassis of the vehicle in such a way that each of the wheels can move relative to the body. Each wheel and a wheel carrier on which the wheel is mounted are part of the unsprung mass, which, to a greater or lesser extent, follows the height of the respective driving surface, while the body and the chassis form parts of the sprung mass, which should be decoupled, at least to a large extent, from sudden movements of the unsprung mass.

Independent wheel suspension for a motor vehicle


A GPS device and method for converting display information between a first display mode and a second display mode by negativizing pixels or other image elements, wherein negativizing entails converting relatively larger areas of lighter image elements to darker image elements and converting relatively smaller areas of darker image elements to lighter image elements so as to result in reduced total emission of light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates broadly to hand-held electronic GPS-based navigation aids and related methods for facilitating navigation. More particularly, the present invention concerns a GPS device and method for converting display information between a first display mode and a second display mode by negativizing pixels or other image elements, wherein negativizing entails converting lighter image elements to darker image elements and converting darker image elements to lighter image elements so as to result in reduced total emission of light.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Outdoor enthusiasts, sportsmen, law enforcement personnel, military personnel, and many others increasingly use hand-held electronic global positioning system (GPS) devices to navigate while afield. Commonly-available GPS devices typically include at least a processor, a receiver, and an antenna for receiving position signals from a plurality of known locations (from, e.g., satellites in orbit) and, through a process of geometric triangulation, determining the relative location of the GPS device in terms of latitude, longitude, and even altitude. Many such devices allow users to display a variety of different types of maps, other images, navigation tools, and other information on a display component which is often a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen. The display component uses pixels or other image elements to communicate the information. When activated, these image elements allow light to pass through the screen, produce light, or otherwise result in an emission of light from the screen. The amount of emitted light can be substantial, and, in relatively dark ambient conditions, can be visible from a significant distance by people or animals. In the case of a hunter, for example, the emitted light could alert or drive away any wild game. Similarly, in the case of military personnel, the emitted light could alert an enemy of the user's location.
It is known in the prior art to allow users to manually control, at least to some extent, the color of one or more display elements. As such, it is possible for users to manually specify relatively dark display colors. Unfortunately, manually specifying different colors requires a significant amount of time and effort to navigate menus and make selections, which cannot be done quickly or easily at any time, particularly not in the field under low light or other difficult conditions.
Due to these and other disadvantages in the prior art, a need exists for a GPS device capable of displaying information while minimizing emitted light.

GPS device and method for reducing light emitted by display


Document templates could improve the speed, cost, and quality of documentation if appropriate templates could be located without undue selection burden. Semantic retrieval (IR) can greatly improve the precision of finding relevant document templates. The present invention discloses a process which implements a semantic information retrieval system to locate template documents, using as search vectors the semantic content of sentences from a new partially completed document. The system enables the author to quickly and easily transfer sentences from template documents into the new document. The system provides options for the author to match against specialized template collections and subsets of template documents. A significant advantage of the present invention over other template based methods is ability to retrieve a relevant template document when there are many thousands of exemplar documents without having to construct a formal query.

There is tremendous inefficiency in the preparation of reports, frequently containing similar content, but requiring costly dictation and transcription. In the medical field, many reports contain repetitive information, especially normal reports. Radiology, pathology, and surgery reports often include similar information depending on the context of the test, biopsy, or surgery being performed. Because of the high cost of producing medical reports, estimated at 6-7 billion dollars/year in the United States, individuals and companies are actively seeking to lower costs and improve efficiency using computerized document solutions.
One semi-automated documentation technique which has lowered reporting cost uses templates. Templates are outlines that structure text into blocks, paragraphs, or sentences. Typically, they contain delimiters designed to serve as placeholders for variable text regions that are later completed (instantiated) to produce a document. Templates organize documents and provide "canned" text for phrases, sentences, or document elements that are used repetitively. Templates can improve data collection by reducing missing, incorrect, and inconsistent data. Template elements, e.g. sentences, also can be uniquely identified and stored within a relational database. If more professionals created documents with templates, documents could also be processed more readily in data mining, decision support, and text summarization applications.
Some templates are professionally authored with the specific goal of serving as a base document for newly created documents. Other templates may consist simply of old documents, repurposed to serve as templates. For example, retrieving an old document to a business partner, and saving it as a new document after making minor changes. Either type of template may be useful. The key is locating a closely related "neighbor" document.
Howes (USTPO application 20030101056) described a computerized system for completing normal medical reports. The author first selects a master template from a template repository, and then completes the template with unique case information. However, this approach breaks down when there are many document types. For example, a radiology report for a normal head computed tomography scan, is vastly different from a report documenting left cerebral hemorrhage. In these complex cases, it may be impossible to create a report in the same manner as one fills out a form, using simple fill in the blanks or check boxes. Although a physician might wish to select sentences rather than write them from scratch, the information conveyed is sensitive to the problem-context (also called the document type or document context). Unfortunately, in medicine as well as other complex domains, authors communicate a great deal of non-stereotyped knowledge, difficult to encode in a few master templates. The greater the range of a professional's domain knowledge, the more difficult it is to build a complete master template repository.
Automated document systems employing template elements, consisting of phrases or sentences, have been used to speed document generation in simple or narrow problem-contexts. Dodge et. al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,130) described a method for producing a variety of documents from a common document database partitioned into a number of encapsulated data elements. As in other template systems, creation and selection of these elements was a manual process. Leymaster et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 6,182,095) developed an interactive computer system to display document structures used in report generation. Selecting the correct template involved explicit user questioning. Other document generation systems use a variety of computer interfaces such as trees, nested menus, and check boxes. When the user selects an item, it is added to the document. Buchanan (U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,155) employed such a method to generate patient reports. Like other template management systems, the user must first develop a master template database from scratch, and then remember the association between the template's name and its contents. While this may not be such a serious problem when only a few templates are needed to cover a domain, when potentially hundreds or thousands of templates are needed for describing complex information, template building and selection becomes intractable. Current template systems suffer undesirable tradeoffs—creating more templates increases the probability that a template can be found which is close to the new document the author wishes to produce, while at the same time increasing the cost and effort of building templates, and the burden of selecting them.
Case Based Reasoning (CBR) provides a related but potentially more advanced mechanism for building a document and template management system. CBR can recall relevant reports, which can then serve as templates, based on previous reports (cases) stored in memory. The CBR user would: (1) retrieve relevant reports (2) reuse some of the report information in the current report (3) revise the report, and (4) retain the new report in the system. The essential step is finding one or more prior reports that are similar to the current report. It is unlikely that any one report will be a perfect match to the case being reported; only some of the information is likely to be used. A documentation system which could find the relevant "neighbor" reports to serve as templates could speed the creation of new reports.
Purvis (USPTO application 20040019855) disclosed a CBR system, which used previously created documents stored in a case base, and methods for drawing upon these documents to create a new document. However, her system was mainly targeted to helping authors select the correct formatting and layout of a report, and was not a true text case-based reasoning (TCBR) system, which is necessary for finding similar report content.
Gupta et. al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,743) disclosed a CBR system for solving problems within a selected knowledge domain. Users retrieved solved cases using one or more case attributes. Matching algorithms generated a list of potential solutions. This system did not attempt to extract the meaning from free text reports, and was not used to facilitate document creation.
Finding relevant template documents rapidly is a major unsolved problem TCBR systems must overcome to effectively assist users in document creation. Two dimensions are often measured to judge the quality of case retrieval. Recall measures the completeness of retrieving documents or cases. Precision measures the specificity of returning only relevant cases. Users want the templates to provide similar content desired by the author. Unfortunately, current TCBR systems based on conventional information retrieval technology have relatively poor recall and precision.
TCBR systems using metadata or keyword attributes have significant indexing problems because the semantics of language is complex. Indexing documents by keywords often results in poor precision, because the meaning of document sentences is not just a product of the individual words, but their roles (nouns, verbs, clauses, modifiers, etc.) and inter-relationships. Additionally, semantic information may be implicit—depending on the document context or the knowledge domain, making it very difficult to semantically index a document without a great deal of labor.
The development of high precision TCBR system requires a deep understanding of a knowledge domain. To be effective in locating relevant reports which may serve as templates, it must know how to identify linguistic expressions that are semantically equivalent. However, computational linguists have not yet developed tools which can analyze more than 30% of English sentences and transform them into structured forms [Rebholz-Schuhmann D, Kirsch H, Couto F (2005) Facts from text—Is text mining ready to deliver? PLoS Biol 3(2): e65]. Without identifying most of the linguistic variations that represent the same concept semantically in the case base, the TCBR system will have low precision and recall, and thus limited utility in template selection.
Another type of CBR system uses an expert system, a knowledge base, and a question/answer list designed in such a way that the expert system can usually return the correct case. Building the question/answer section is manpower intensive and may require 70-80% of the total development time. A domain, such as radiology, has thousands of individual concepts. Creating templates and questions for all these concepts would be a significant challenge because no tools exist to automatically extract them. Even after the template database is initially created, there would be an ongoing need for incorporating new ideas, changes in medical terminology, and new procedures. Any CBR system proposed for document generation must deal with these issues.
A CBR system designed for medical reporting must work within the constraint of limited selection time. As the time the CBR system needs to find the correct template increases, its value for producing a new document using this method decreases. At some point, when the burden of selection becomes too high, the author will find it more advantageous to create the material from scratch. Multiple question CBR systems extract a significant time burden. Rapid, high precision TCBR systems for selecting document templates do not exist.
Another problem with a traditional CBR system is that users may be unwilling to interrupt their workflow to retrieve template documents. If sentences from a partially completed documented could be used to retrieve templates without any user intervention, the computer-assisted system would have greater acceptance. Such a system does not exist.
After the reports are retrieved, sentences from the reports must be transferred to the new report under construction. Since the user is likely to have very specific ideas about which sentences add the greatest value to her report, a method for selecting and transferring these sentences is needed that is considerably quicker than electronic cut and paste. No exemplar CBR systems, which retrieve multiple document templates, propose methods to speed information transfer into new documents.
In summary, a semi-automated document system selecting old reports to serve as templates, or professionally authored templates, would be particularly advantageous for physicians, attorneys, or other individuals who prepare reports, if there were good methods to find a reasonably small but specific list of similar reports, and this content was easily accessible without undue burdens on the user's memory or time. The present invention accomplishes this through a high precision TCBR system. The invention facilitates template selection because it has a semantic understanding of the knowledge domain. Relevant templates are returned in near real-time from limited information available in partially completed reports. The invention employs a visual interface which permits information contained in template document(s) to be rapidly and selectively transferred into a new document. Prior art systems are unable to meet these demanding requirements.

Process and system for the semantic selection of document templates


Differential spacing of loudspeakers in an end fire array is employed to reduce beam spread and, where a ground barrier is present, to suppress any resultant back wave.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to audio arrays, and more particularly, audio bass arrays exhibiting high directivity in sound field generation.
2. Description of the Problem
The capacity to direct and focus the output from an array of loudspeakers is of great interest. Increased control over direction and focus allows an increased proportion of sound energy generated to be delivered to a precise location and reduces the amount of energy arriving at locations of no interest. In effect the efficiency of the overall system is increased.
As used in this patent the term "directivity pattern" of an array of transducers is a graphical description of a generated sound field at a particular frequency in all directions of a specified plane. The "beam width" of a directivity pattern is the angular distance between two points on either side of the principal axis of the sound field where the sound field is down 6 DB from its value, at the particular distance from the source, along the principal axis.
The present patent concerns primarily bass or low frequency sources, used for generation of sound at or below 200-300 Hz. Bass loudspeakers are typically based on a piston driven, diaphragm type transducer set in one face of a enclosure (which may be ported). Unlike higher frequency devices constructed in the same fashion, they operate effectively as simple (i.e. point) sources.
A long history of analysis exists for linear arrays of simple sources. Transducers laid out in a linear array, all operating at a matched frequency and with equal spacing between adjacent units, generate sound waves which either cancel one another, or reinforce one another, in various directions away from the array. To generate a sound field with a principal axis perpendicular to the linear array and minimal sound away from the ends, all of the simple sources are driven in unison. To produce a so-called "end fire array" the phase relationship of the signal to the transducers is varied. An end fire array is one which produces a sound field with a principal axis aligned with the array.
Examples of linear arrays abound in the art, from acoustic doublets to more complex systems. Consideration of acoustic doublets is instructive of the basic principles involved. In a general sense an acoustic doublet is approximated by a simple diaphragm transducer which is freely mounted (i.e. not in a baffle or enclosure). The transducers are spaced by less than one quarter of wavelength for almost any frequency to be reproduced and the faces of the diaphragm are inherently driven at 180 degrees out of phase with one another to produce an "end fire device". In an acoustic doublet, with the transducers vibrating in opposed phase, the pressure waves cancel one another along axes perpendicular to the axis of alignment of the sources and the principal axis of the sound field generated is defined by the center points of the transducers. While an acoustic doublet is an ideal, the same basic principle applies to more complex systems, optimized for particular frequencies. The arrays of interest here though typically use greater spacing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,033 is an example of a bass array system. The '033 patent provides a mechanism to vary spacing between adjacent pairs of a plurality of transducers among a plurality of predetermined "fixed distances". A common signal source feeds the transducers along separate channels. Each channel includes a variable time delay. Selection of the time delay, taking into account the spacing between transducers, determines the direction of the principal axis of the sound field and illustrates some of the suppression of side lobes possible. The loudspeaker at the "base" of the array is excited first with loudspeakers "forward" from the base unit timed to generate sound based on the propagation delay from the base unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,128,395 is directed to a loudspeaker system with controlled directional sensitivity. A loud speaker array is taught in which identical loudspeakers are arranged in a straight line or planar array and is apparently directed to such an array where hung in what is effectively a free field. The spacing between adjacent speakers is not equidistant, but logarithmically progressive. Filtering of the audio signal and selected delay may be applied to control beam width and direction, respectively. The '395 patent states that "By not making the mutual spacing of the loudspeakers equidistant but adapting it to the frequency requirements, it is possible to control the directional sensitivity (the "transmission angle") up to, certainly, 8 kHz. The side lobe level is reduced at the same time." Indeed the '395 patent seems directed to extending directional sensitivity from the 1400 Hz range up to as close to 8 kHz feasible, and thus, for audio purposes, should be considered a high frequency system. The '395 patent allows directional control over the principal axis of the sound field, which allows for the possibility of end fire. The '395 patent discusses controlling what it terms the "opening angle". The opening angle is defined as the angle through which a sound source can be turned such that the sound pressure does not fall by more than 6 DB with respect to the maximum value which is measured at a fixed point in a plane in which the sound source is located . . . " in effect, beam width. The opening angle can be selected by choice of the FIR or IIR filter coefficients and the transmission angle can be selected by adjusting delay times.

Array of multiple LF transducers with ultrahigh cardioid sound pattern generation


An arrangement for fixing a component inside of a wind turbine is disclosed. The arrangement has a portion of a tower and a direct fastener. The direct fastener has a first part and a second part and the portion of the tower is a portion of a wind turbine tower. The first part of the direct fastener is driven into the portion of the tower and is connected thereto by a combination of friction hold and bonding. The second part of the direct fastener protrudes from the portion of the tower and connects to a component.

Wind turbines comprise support structures to which a nacelle holding a generator and a hub with rotor blades is mounted. The support structures are most commonly tubular towers tapering in both, in wall thickness and in diameter from tower base to tower top. Large wind turbines comprise, in general, tower sections, e.g. with a length of 32.8 to 98.4 feet (10 to 30 meters), and the complete tower can reach heights of more than 328 feet (100 meters).
Often, the towers are steel towers, but concrete towers, concrete bases with steel upper sections and shell towers, are also used.
Inside of a tower, components like ladders or lifts provide access to the nacelle for carrying out service, maintenance and repair work. Furthermore, a wind turbine tower houses power and signal cables for transmitting electric power and signals from the generator and other wind turbine components to different receivers.
Components such as a ladder, guiding rails or ropes of an elevator as well as cable trays have to be fixed to the tower to avoid excessive movement. For this reason multiple mechanical connections between the tower and these components have to be established. Different fastening techniques and fasteners are used.
It is common practice to provide welded connections between a wind turbine tower and a structural component attached to the tower. Nevertheless, the establishment of welded connections is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Exact measurements have to be carried out to locate the welding positions inside the tower. Furthermore, the welds can reduce the structural strength of the tower.
Besides, it is known to establish threaded non through-going holes in a steel tower, into which a bolt can be screwed. However, a sharp tool is needed to thread the holes and during the threading process, small cracks can emerge which under mechanical loads, can extend and decrease the stability of the wind turbine tower.

Arrangement for fixing a component inside of a wind turbine


In a drawing method of a metallic tube which includes: filling a high-pressure container with a lubricating oil, the container having a mother tube inserted thereinto; pressurizing the oil with a pressure booster; and drawing the forcedly lubricated mother tube, the oil having a kinetic viscosity of 100 to 2000 mm2/s at 40° C. and at normal pressure and a viscosity pressure coefficient of 15 to 24 GPa−1 at 40° C. is used for preventing seizing and vibrations in drawing and for suppressing the deterioration of surface roughness due to oil pits in tube. Herein, the oil preferably contains one or more of extreme-pressure (EP) additives in a total amount of 10 mass % or more, being selected from a sulfur-based additive, a chlorine-based additive, an organic calcium metallic salt, a phosphorus-based additive, an organic zinc-based additive, and an organic molybdenum-based additive, each having a prescribed amount of relevant element.

In the cold drawing of a metallic tube, lubrication treatment is performed in order to reduce the friction which occurs due to the contact of a mother tube, which is the material to be worked, with tools such as a die and a plug, thereby preventing the occurrence of seizing and vibrations/chattering. In general, in lubrication treatment, used is a method which involves forming chemical treatment lubrication films on the inner and outer surfaces of a mother tube. However, in obtaining a small-diameter longer-length tube by drawing, the mother tube is generally long enough, and hence in forming chemical treatment lubrication films on the mother tube, attention must be paid to sufficiently apply chemical treatment to the mother tube so as to fully cover the inner surface of the mother tube. For this reason, the treatment requires a large number of man-hours and chemical agents which are used are relatively expensive, resulting in an increase in operating cost.
A metallic tube made of a Ni-based high alloy is in heavy usage as a heat transfer tube in the steam generator of a nuclear power plant. In a mother tube made of a Ni-based high alloy, it is difficult to form chemical treatment lubrication films on the surfaces of the mother tube and, therefore, in the case where a metallic tube made of a Ni-based high alloy is produced by cold drawing, the operating cost required for the forming of chemical treatment lubrication films increases further.
Therefore, the forced lubricating drawing (the high-pressure drawing process) has been developed. The forced lubricating drawing is a kind of cold drawing in which lubrication treatment is directly performed by an oil lubricating film. The forced lubricating drawing stabilizes cold drawing and produces a great effect on the quality improvement in a drawn metallic tube.
Usually, the drawing of a metallic tube by the forced lubricating drawing is carried out by the following procedure:
(1) After filling a high-pressure container with a lubricating oil, the container holding a mother tube, which is a material to be worked and is inserted thereinto, the pressure of the lubricating oil is increased by a pressure booster.
(2) The lubricating oil thus pressurized forms lubricating oil films between the mother tube and tools such as a die and a plug, the die being tightly disposed to an open end of the high-pressure container, the plug being in place in a working position.
(3) With the inner and outer surfaces of the mother tube forcedly lubricated with the formed lubricating oil films, the mother tube is drawn and finished to prescribed dimensions determined by the tools, whereby a metallic tube is obtained.
With respect to drawing by this forced lubricating drawing, various proposals have hitherto been made and for example, there are Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2. Patent Literature 1 relates to a forced lubricating drawing apparatus used in the forced lubricating drawing. The forced lubricating drawing apparatus proposed in Patent Literature 1 comprises: a high-pressure container whose leading end is tightly secured to the back face of the die and which houses the mother tube; a plug supporting bar which is axially movably held in the high-pressure container; and a device which supplies a lubricating oil into the high-pressure container.
A forced lubricating drawing apparatus of such a configuration has such a telescopic construction that a foremost end portion of the high-pressure container can be elongated or shortened axially, while a movable part of the foremost end of the high-pressure container is configured such that the front outside diameter thereof is smaller than the rear inside diameter thereof, with the result that the movable part is able to push the back face of the die by the lubricating oil pressure in the high-pressure container, wherein the whole high-pressure container can be displaced to a mother tube insertion position as being off the drawing line. For this reason, in the drawing method using the forced lubricating drawing apparatus described in Patent Literature 1, it is claimed that a mother tube can be readily and positively subjected to drawing by the forced lubricating drawing.
Patent Literature 2 proposes a method of producing a small-diameter longer-length tube by cold working by use of the forced lubricating drawing in which at least final cold working as involving wall thinning is carried out by plug drawing with a high-pressure lubricating oil of not less than 500 kgf/cm3 in pressure. In Patent Literature 2 it is claimed that at least final cold working as involving wall thinning is performed by the forced lubricating drawing using a high-pressure lubricating oil, whereby dimensional variations along an axial direction of tube can be reduced without the occurrence of seizing in a resultant metallic tube.
In the case where a metallic tube used as a heat transfer tube in a steam generator is produced, in general, inspection by an inner probe type eddy-current flaw detection is conducted for inner surface defects of a metallic tube. In the drawing method of a metallic tube described in Patent Literature 2, it is claimed that because dimensional variations along a tube axial direction of an obtained metallic tube are small enough, the noises caused by dimensional variations of a metallic tube in the inner probe type eddy-current flaw detection is suppressed and hence inner surface defects can be strictly detected on the basis of outputs of a flaw detection device.
Lubrication is performed by forcedly forming lubrication oil films between a mother tube and tools using the drawing method by the forced lubricating drawing described in Patent Literature 1 or 2, whereby in many cases it is possible to prevent the seizing between the tools and the metallic tube. However, the seizing may sometimes occur even when the drawing method by the forced lubricating drawing described in Patent Literature 1 or 2 is used. In addition, in the case where a mother tube made of a Ni-based alloy is subjected to drawing, vibrations/chattering may sometimes occur due to the friction occurring between the plug and the mother tube.
Furthermore, in the drawing by the forced lubricating drawing, in some cases, a lubricating oil is locally trapped on the inner surface of the mother tube and minute recessed portions are formed, resulting in the occurrence of defects called oil pits. If such oil pits are formed in drawing, the inner surface roughness of an obtained metallic tube deteriorates.
On the other hand, with respect to the lubricating oils used in cold drawing, various proposals have hitherto been made, and there is Patent Literature 3, for example. Patent Literature 3 describes a lubrication method in which a wire, a rod or a tube blank made of carbon steel or alloy steel is subjected to acid pickling, a lubricating oil is then applied, and cold drawing is performed. On this occasion, the lubricating oil which is used is a lubricating oil which is adjusted with a thickening agent so that the viscosity becomes 100 to 3000 centipoises at 20° C. by mixing 5 to 40 parts of dialkyl polysulfide containing not less than 30 wt % of sulfur and 20 to 70 parts of one kind or two or more kinds selected from the group consisting of organic compounds containing not less than 15 wt % of sulfur.
In the lubrication method for cold drawing described in Patent Literature 3, it is claimed that by using the above-described lubricating oil, it is possible to perform drawing without the formation of a chemical treatment lubrication film on a material to be worked, that it is possible to reduce the operating cost required by lubrication treatment, and that the surface finish of the material to be worked after drawing is excellent. However, Patent Literature 3 relates to cold drawing which involves applying a lubricating oil at normal pressure and no study is made on the cold drawing by the forced lubricating drawing using a lubricating oil whose pressure is increased.

Drawing method of metallic tube and producing method of metallic tube using same

NIPPON STEEL & SUMITOMO METAL CORPORATION


A magnetic levitation apparatus supports a magnetic element in a magnetic field. A control system controls a variable magnetic field to maintain the magnetic element at an equilibrium location relative to an unstable axis. In some embodiments the variable magnetic field has a gradient in the direction of the unstable axis but no field component. In some embodiments the magnetic field is provided by an array of four discrete magnets. In some embodiments additional magnets provide increased field intensity at the equilibrium location this increases stability of the levitated magnetic element against overturning. Light and electrical power may be supplied to the levitating magnetic element.

A levitated object is interesting to observe and can be useful in various applications. Magnetic fields provide one tool which can be used for levitating magnetic objects. According to Earnshaw's theorem, it is not possible to support a magnetic object in a stable manner using only static magnetic fields. One statement of Eamshaw's theorem is that a levitated magnet cannot be held in stable equilibrium by any combination of static magnetic or gravitational forces.
Whitehead, U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,183 discloses a magnetic levitation system in which an arrangement of magnets on one side of a separation plane can support a levitated magnetic element on an opposite side of the separation plane. The magnetic arrangement provides a static magnetic field such that, for displacements of the levitated element in directions parallel to a stability plane, the potential energy of the magnetic interaction between the levitated element and the static magnetic field increases. The magnetic arrangement includes a control system which controls a variable force, which may be a variable magnetic field, to stabilize the levitated element in a direction perpendicular to the stability plane.
The inventors have determined that the magnetic fields generated by the embodiments disclosed by Whitehead tend to apply torque to levitated magnetic elements. This is because the magnetic dipole of the levitated magnetic element aligns generally with the static magnetic field while the variable magnetic field used to control the position of the levitated magnetic element in the "unstable" direction is directed generally perpendicularly to the static magnetic field at the equilibrium location of the levitated magnetic element. The rotation caused by this torque can lead to combined torsional and translational oscillation of the levitated element. In some cases this adversely affects stable feedback control and thus the stability of the levitated magnetic element.
There is a need for magnetic levitation systems of the general type disclosed by Whitehead which have desirable operating characteristics, such as increased stability of the levitated magnetic element, and/or are simple in construction. For certain applications, there is a particular need for such levitation systems which incorporate a reduced amount of magnetic material and can be made at relatively low cost.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


According to example embodiments, an automatic packing apparatus includes at least one box supply unit configured to move a box stack upwards such that a product is inserted into a packing box of the box stack, the packing box being the uppermost box of the box stack, an inlet formation unit configured to lift the upper surface of the packing box to form an inlet on at least one unbonded side surface of the packing box, a product supply unit configured to transfer the product to the inlet; and a side surface bonding unit configured to bond the at least one unbonded side surface of the packing box. The at least one unbonded side surface includes the inlet and the packing box includes the product inserted therein.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to an automatic packing apparatus which automatically packs products in boxes and an automatic packing method using the same.
2. Description
In general, after various products are manufactured, the products are packed in boxes in order to prevent the products from being damaged and to ship/handle the products.
The packing boxes are made of a material, such as thick corrugated cardboard, so as to protect the products from external impact. The manufactured packing boxes are stored in an unassembled state in which the boxes are unfolded in a flat shape so as to reduce a space occupied thereby before being used to pack the products. Then, when the packing boxes are used to pack the products, the packing boxes are assembled (folded) to pack the products.
A worker folds a packing box into an original shape, and then covers a product with the packing box, thereby packing the product in the packing box. Here, the product is covered with the box downwardly from above. Packing of a large-sized home appliance product, such as a refrigerator, a TV or an air conditioner, in such a box requires at least two workers.
As described above, workers manually pack products in boxes and thus packing requires considerable manpower, and a large amount of time is consumed packing each product and thus productivity is reduced.

Automatic packing apparatus and automatic packing method using the same


Bankruptcy relief calculator. A calculation program can make a relatively objective determination as to whether to file for relief from a bankruptcy stay relative to a particular account and associated collateral. Using historical statistics on bankruptcy filings as well as information about the collateral and depreciation of the collateral, the calculator can make an estimate of depreciation saved by the filing and compare that estimate to the cost of a filing. The calculator can then produce a recommendation as to whether to file for relief or to wait for the bankruptcy to be discharged in its normal course. The invention can be implemented via a stand-alone computing system or such a system interconnected with other platforms or data stores by a network, such as a corporate intranet, a local area network, or the Internet.

Filing bankruptcy, at least in the United States, automatically stays (stops) most actions by creditors against the debtor or the debtor's property. For example, the stay prevents a secured creditor from foreclosing or repossessing the collateral for the loan. The stay is designed to preserve the debtor's property and to give the debtor a break from litigation. The stay is neither absolute nor permanent. A creditor can file for "relief" from the bankruptcy stay and will be allowed to seek a remedy against the debtor in spite of the stay if the creditor can show good cause to do so.
Once the bankruptcy proceeding reaches its end and the debtor is "discharged" a creditor can proceed to repossess collateral or foreclose in order to protect its interest. However, the bankruptcy cycle time can be many months. For some types of property, especially personal property such as automobiles, the depreciation of the value of the property during the bankruptcy proceeding results in additional loss to the creditor. Thus, one reason a creditor might be granted relief from the bankruptcy stay is that its interest in the collateral is not adequately protected because the collateral is depreciating due to the passage of time and the debtor's use of the collateral, while all the while the debtor is making no payments to the creditor.
Financial institutions with large numbers of outstanding loans must continuously review accounts for debtors in bankruptcy and make determinations as to whether there is enough at stake to justify the cost of filing for relief from the bankruptcy stay. This review is often a largely manual process.


A motor control device for controlling a permanent magnet motor includes a current detector detecting current flowing through three-phase windings, an induced voltage computing unit obtaining voltage induced at each phase from the detected three-phase winding current based on a phase voltage equation, a position detector detecting a rotational position of the rotor from the induced voltage of each phase computed by the induced current computing unit, the rotational position of the rotor having a 6n resolution where n is an integer equal to or larger than 1, an energization phase control unit determining a phase to be energized based on the rotational position of the rotor and a phase command, an energization signal forming unit forming a 6n-resolution three-phase energization signal, and an energizing unit carrying out PWM modulation for the three-phase energization signal, supplying voltage according to the modulated three-phase energization signal to each of the three-phase windings.

The present disclosure relates to a motor control device that realizes sensorless drive of a permanent magnet motor, and more particularly to such a motor control device that enables sinusoidal drive of the permanent magnet motor.
Brushless motors have recently been used with household appliances and industrial equipment for their superior efficiency. JP-A1-001-039358, JP-A-2003-339143 and JP-A-2004-242417 all disclose brushless motors used as spindle motors for driving a disc recording medium such as a digital versatile disc (DVD), a compact disc (CD) and a hard disc drive (HDD). A driving device described in each gazette includes Hall elements for detecting a rotor position of the brushless motor and is arranged to generate an energizing signal by a 120-degree energization mode or sinusoidal pulse width modulation (PWM) mode.
Each of JP-A-H09-74790, JP-A-H10-75597 and JP-A-H10-290592 discloses a driving device including Hall elements for detecting a rotational position of the rotor of the brushless motor and is arranged to generate an energizing signal by the sinusoidal PWM mode on the basis of the detected position signal.
The sensorless drive that is employed for miniaturization and low cost of the motor needs to be compatible with the sinusoidal drive for reduction in oscillation and noise in the aforementioned household appliances and industrial equipment. However, the arrangement of a motor control device becomes complicated and accordingly, the cost thereof is increased when operation such as sensorless vector control is carried out using a high-speed processor such as a digital signal processor (DSP).
JP-A-01-8890 discloses a sensorless drive system with a relatively simpler arrangement. Current is caused to flow through two of three phases while the other phase is kept open. Zero cross of an induced voltage is detected by comparison of voltage of the open phase and a reference voltage. A phase to be energized is determined on the basis of the detected zero cross. However, since this system necessitates an open phase, continuous energization such as by use of sinusoidal waveform is impossible, whereupon production of oscillation and noise is inevitable.


The subject invention provides a novel SL that is widely applicable to various fields including food or beverages, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and quasi-drugs.

Biosurfactants (hereinafter also referred to as BS), which are surfactants derived from living organisms, have high biodegradability and a high degree of safety, and are expected to be used industrially as next-generation surfactants.
A sophorolipid (hereinafter also referred to as SL), which is known as a glycolipid-type BS, is a fermentation product obtained from fermentation by yeast. An SL can be easily produced by, for example, inoculating yeast on a liquid medium containing carbon sources, such as sugars including glucose, and vegetable oils and fats, and stirring the medium while aerating the medium at a mild temperature and under pressure. Since SL has greater productivity (for example, about 100 g/L) than the other BS, it is widely used in industrial fields (Non-patent Document 1, Patent Document 1). Further, since SL is highly safe for the human body, SL has also been applied to detergents for dish-washing machines, and to cosmetics (Patent Document 2).
Further, in order to expand the application of SL, a great deal of research is currently being conducted, including concerning SL production by fermentation under different medium conditions (in particular, carbon sources) (Non-patent Documents 2 and 3), or chemical synthesis of SL derivatives (Patent Document 3).
However, there are general concerns regarding adverse environmental consequences or safety during the chemical synthesis of compounds. Nowadays, in view of LCA (Life-Cycle Assessment), the establishment of safer production methods, including raw material production, is recognized as important. Therefore, for the SL as well, which is derived from natural products and is thus considered highly safe, it is important to establish a production method that does not require the use and discharge of toxic organic solvents.

Sophorolipid compound and composition comprising same

Abstract: A sophorolipid compound represented by Formula (I) below:

Abstract: (in Formula (I), R1 represents H or a methyl group; R3 and R4 each represents H or an acetyl group; one of five R5 is a saturated or unsaturated fatty acid residue that may have an OH group, and the remaining four R5 are H; R2 represents a C9-18 alkylene group, or C9-18 alkenylene group having 1 to 3 double bonds; R6 represents hydroxy, or may form a single bond together with one of five R7 in the compound represented by Formula (II) below)

Abstract: (in Formula (II), R1′ represents H or methyl group; R3′ and R4′ each represents H or an acetyl group; R2′ represents a C9-18 alkylene group, or C9-18 alkenylene group having 1 to 3 double bonds).


The invention efficiently determines consistency of a database by a system including a reading section that sequentially reads from the respective segment data included in the database pointers to other segment data, an address recording section that records storage addresses of segment data from which the pointers have been read by the reading section, and a pointer recording section that records the pointers read by the reading section. Then, when segment data is updated in an area in which the pointer reading has been completed, a storage address recorded in the address recording section is modified and a pointer recorded in the pointer recording section is modified. Then, it is determined that the database is consistent on condition that the respective storage addresses recorded in the address recording section coincide with the respective pointers recorded in the pointer recording section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system, a method and a program for determining consistency of a database.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to determine consistency of a database, it has conventionally been necessary to compare a storage address of each segment data included in the database and each pointer included in the database and to determine whether they coincide with each other. For example, such a consistency determination is implemented and used in a database management system developed by the present applicant. See, for example, "IMS High Performance Pointer Checker User's Guide, URL publibfi.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/fabp lb 10/CCONTENTS".
Here, when a database is updated between starting reading any one of the pointers and completely reading all the pointers, the segment data addresses may be compared with the pointers before and after updating. For this reason, during processing the determination of consistency, it has conventionally been general to stop updating a database or to perform exclusive control for access to at least a part of a database. See, for example, Japanese Published Patent Application No. 8-249222.
However, when the data size of a database is large, the updating may be stopped or delayed for a long time so that the user's convenience may be reduced. In contrast, a technique for determining consistency without stopping the updating is proposed as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2001-142765.
According to a technique disclosed in Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2001-142765, a consistency verifying apparatus takes out data for use in consistency verification from a database file without performing exclusive control. Then, the consistency verifying apparatus repeats the process for performing the consistency verification using the taken-out data by a predetermined number of times, and determines whether the database file is consistent based on the verification result of the process and a preset condition for determining the consistency. Therefore, it is considered that, according to this technique, a possibility of satisfying the consistency can be evaluated, but it is not possible to surely determine the consistency. From a different viewpoint, the number of times for performing the consistency verification should be increased to surely determine the consistency, which would result in a longer processing time.

Apparatus, system, and program for determining consistency of a database

International Business Machines Corporation


A dry air filter for combustion engines of commercial vehicles with a device to produce compressed air, whereby the dry air filter (4) consisting of a filter housing (5) containing a filter cartridge (7) and a dust preliminary filtering stage (6), with an exhaust (8) for the dust discharged from the preliminary filtering stage which has a nozzle shaped section in which compressed air that is produced is blown through a conduit in the direction of the free opening by an ejector effect. In order that the air filter is easier to service and maintain, the compressed air is fed over a ring slot (28) into the exhaust (8) and is blown in the direction of the open outlet (21) for the purpose of creating an ejector effect to keep the exhaust free from dust. Compressed air is blown through the exhaust so that blockages cannot build up there nor in the area of the preliminary filtering stage. Specific, regular supervision of this area therefore becomes necessary.

The invention concerns a dry air filter for combustion engines of vehicles with a device to produce compressed air, whereby the dry air filter consists of a filter housing containing a filter cartridge and a dust preliminary filtering stage, with an exhaust for the dust discharged from the preliminary filtering stage, which has a nozzle shaped section into which compressed air that is produced is blown through a conduit in the direction of the free opening by means of an ejector effect.
The task of the invention concerns designing a dry air filter in such a way that it ensures that proper discharge through the exhaust in all conditions of dust that has collected in the dust preliminary filtering stage.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a dry air filter including a ring slot that is realized by producing recesses separated by ridges in the rim of the outlet of the conduit, and a conical insert which engages with the outlet to define the ring slots.
A piece abuts the ridges by means of the force of an elastic component (member), and allows the desired width of the ring slot to be maintained in spite of the technical production inaccuracies of the individual parts.
Various objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment, when read in light of the accompanying drawings.

Dry air filter for combusion engines of vehicles


Provided is a polymer composition including (A) an ionomer containing an ethylene/α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid copolymer and an ethylene/α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid/α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid ester terpolymer, and (B) a propylene-based polymer, wherein the mass of constituent units derived from the α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid ester is from 1 to 4.5% by mass of the entire mass of the ionomer. Through this, a high seal strength may be obtained in a high-temperature range when forming a lock seal, while a high seal strength, as compared with the related art, can be stably obtained over a wide temperature range with a temperature dependence suppressed when forming a peelable seal.

Conventionally, enclosure and protection of contents during storage, transportation or the like by encapsulating the contents tightly with a packaging material in the form of a tube or a flat film by heat sealing (lock seal) has been carried out. As for the improvement of seal strength in forming a lock seal, various investigations on aspects such as packaging materials, packaging machines, packaging conditions and the like have been conducted, and thus, for example, as the packaging materials, ethylene-based polymers such as polyethylene and an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer are known. Among these, ionomers are widely used since they are excellent in, for example, hot tack property, low-temperature seal property, and oil resistance.
On the other hand, when it is desired that the contents be taken out of the packaging material while keeping the contents intact, with a certain degree of a lock seal property, a method for heat sealing in which a sealing section can be peeled and opened by an opening force (peelable seal) is also carried out.
For example, a polymer material containing 80 to 93% by mass of an ethylene/acid ionomer and 7 to 20% by mass of a propylene/α-olefin copolymer is disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 1), in which the lock seal and the peelable seal can be formed under the control of temperatures. When this polymer material is used to form a film or a laminate for filling and packaging by a packaging machine, it is possible to obtain a package having both a lock seal section and a peelable seal section in one packaging material, by forming the lock seal on the back side or bottom under high temperature conditions and forming the peelable seal at the top under low temperature conditions. As the polymer material to be used for such a package, for example, a laminated packaging material in which a base layer such as a polyester layer, and an ionomer layer are laminated with an adhesive layer interposed therebetween, and the like are known. In this laminated packaging material, it is necessary to exhibit a seal strength of about 4 N/10 mm width under low-temperature sealing conditions (e.g.: about 100 to 130° C.) and a seal strength of 10 N/10 mm width or higher at high-temperature sealing conditions (e.g.: 150° C. or higher) in terms of the relationship between the sealing temperature and the seal strength.
Furthermore, in practice, it is necessary to stably form the lock seal and the peelable seal. In particular, it is required to have a temperature range in which the peelable seal can be formed stably, that is, the temperature range in which the seal strength of the peelable seal section does not vary significantly depending on the temperature.
As a technique regarding such a seal form, a laminated film for packaging, which is provided a seal layer of a polymer composition formed of 60 to 95 parts by mass of a metal salt of an ethylene/α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid-based copolymer and 40 to 5 parts by mass of an ethylene/α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid ester copolymer, is disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 2). Here, it is considered that a seal strength that is relatively low and also constant over a wide temperature range can be obtained, and a high seal strength is exhibited under high-temperature sealing conditions.
Furthermore, a blend of an ionomer containing 5 to 25% by mass of a unit derived from isobutyl acrylate, in addition to a unit derived from ethylene and an acid, and a propylene copolymer is disclosed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Moreover, as for a means for establishing a difference in the seal strength by changing the seal temperature, it is disclosed that a sealant layer of a composition containing an ionomer resin or a composition obtained by the blending of two or more kinds of resins having different melting points and an ionomer resin is provided as the seal layer (see, for example, Patent Document 3). The sealant layer including this ionomer resin is characterized in that there is a slope rising gently toward one side along with the elevation of the seal temperature.
In addition, there is a disclosure of a seal layer having an easily peelable property, in which the seal layer is formed of the composition of an ionomer, an ethylene/methacrylic acid copolymer, polypropylene, and an inorganic filler (see, for example, Patent Document 4). The seal layer including this composition is considered to exhibit a seal strength of 1.5 to 2 N/15 mm.


An approach for determining remote terminal antenna alignment in a satellite communications system is provided. A point in time for an expected conjunction of an a remote terminal antenna, a satellite in communication with the remote terminal and the Sun is determined based on predetermined positional data. An interference level imposed by the Sun on communication signals between the antenna and the satellite is measured at a number of respective points in time. A one of the points in time is determined when the interference is at a peak level. Then information regarding alignment of the antenna with respect to the satellite is determined, wherein the determination of the antenna alignment information is based on a comparison between the one point in time of the peak interference level and the expected point in time of the conjunction of the antenna, the satellite and the Sun.

In a communications system, such as one employing a number of Earth-based antennae directed to an orbiting satellite, preferably in geosynchronous orbit, the determination of antennae direction or pointing is critical, particularly in systems where the antennae have no or little tracking capability. For example, in the consumer satellite broadcast market (e.g., satellite broadcast television), thousands of consumer antennae or dishes point to a geosynchronous satellite for broadcast data signals (e.g., broadcast television channel content). If the alignment of a given antennae were off, then the signal quality would be diminished, the service would be degraded and the customer relationship affected.
With potentially millions of individual customers, it is difficult to regularly service each customer to determine if their antenna is properly optimized or aligned. Further, existing communications systems are generally unable to determine particular maladjusted antennae or dishes within a population of subscribers. With satellite TV and other satellite-signal services becoming more integral and critical in modern consumer entertainment and communications services, the problem of optimization, determination and correction requires attention.
Another concern of communications system owners is to maintain the fidelity of subscriber membership. Often, parties illegally intercept and pirate content by high jacking the signal feed from a subscriber satellite. The interdiction of these illegal connections is quite desirous, and a technique that both combines the improvement of signal connectivity and membership verification is greatly desired as well.
There is, therefore, a need for communications systems to ascertain the directional alignment status of antennae pointed to satellites, enabling discrete corrective measures to fix only those antennae out of alignment, thereby maintaining quality signal reception and system performance. There is also a need for a technique to better identify unauthorized users of a satellite-based subscriber service and better interdict inappropriate usage of those services.

Method and apparatus for optimal antenna alignment


A method for controlling a wearable robot includes deducing a knee joint angle value of a robot using a joint angle sensor in a control unit, comparing the deduced knee joint angle value with a reference knee joint angle value previously stored in the control unit, deducing a thigh angle value using a thigh angle sensor in the control unit when the deduced knee joint angle value exceeds the reference knee joint angle value, comparing the deduced thigh angle value with a reference thigh angle value previously stored in the control unit, and setting an operation mode of the robot to a lift-up mode in the control unit when the thigh angle value exceeds the reference thigh angle value.

In recent years, robots have come to be widely used in many industrial fields. Wearable robots which are used by being worn by persons, as well as robots which are equipped with artificial intelligence so as to operate autonomously have been researched and developed.
The core technique in wearable robots is to detect the operation intended by a wearer and operate a robot according to the wearer's intention. Accordingly, in order to detect a wearer's intention and control a wearable robot, there are various control methods which may deduce the torque applied to joint drive units of the robots using the force applied to the robots by the movement of the wearer.
However, since these control methods are methods applied during typical walking, it is difficult to apply the methods to special cases, such as when climbing stairs.
In particular, when a wearer ascends stairs in the state of wearing a wearable robot, the wearer needs greater force in order to bear the weight of the robot. Therefore, the wearer's legs experience an increased load, related to bearing the weight, when the wearer walks up stairs.
Thus, in the case of using an existing method for controlling the operation of a wearable robot, since the load applied to a wearer while ascending stairs is greater than when the wearer is not wearing a robot, there are resultant problems related to the usefulness and efficiency of the robot.
The foregoing is intended merely to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and is not intended to mean that the present disclosure falls within the purview of the related art that is already known to those skilled in the art.

Method and system for controlling wearable robot


A retrofitable attachment for easily and quickly converting most conventional wheelchairs into self-propelled, steerable wheelchairs. The invention includes a drive arrangement easily attachable to one of the rear wheels of the wheelchair, an elongated arm unit easily attachable adjacent one of the front casters of the wheelchair, and a connecting member extending between the arm and rear drive arrangement. The elongated arm unit has an outer drive arm portion and an inner steering arm portion, both of which are mounted for pivotal movement together about a first axis to activate the drive arrangement. Additionally, the occupant of the wheelchair can twist or rotate the inner steering arm position about a second axis to steer the front caster of the wheelchair. The steering arrangement further includes a unique gearing system that eliminates dead spots in the steering and allows for easy and uniform manipulation of the steering arm and front caster. In use and with a single hand, the occupant of the chair can both propel and steer the wheelchair as desired.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of wheelchairs and more particularly to the field of self-propelled, steerable wheelchairs that are operable by manipulation of a single arm or lever.
2. Discussion of the Background
Several self-propelled, steerable wheelchairs are commercially available which are operable by manipulating a single arm or lever; however, virtually all of them must be specially made at the factory and are considerably more expensive than conventional wheelchairs. Additionally, such arrangements either cannot or cannot easily be retrofitted onto existing wheelchairs of conventional design without considerable modifications and expense. Some attempts have been made to provide easily retrofitable designs for conventional wheelchairs but to date, none has been successful.
With this in mind, the present invention was developed. With it, the most common and popular designs of conventional wheelchairs can be easily and quickly converted to self-propelled, steerable wheelchairs at relatively low cost and with very few modifications to the wheelchair itself.


In this fastening system two or more layers of material are fastened together by inserting a hollow sleeved fastener such as a rivet or a bolt into the hole in a high interference fit to expand the hole radially. The sleeve is configured either as a collar and a straight shank or as an angled upper portion combined with a shank for counterbored applications. The intersections between either the collar and the shank or the angle portion and the straight shank are designed with an enlarged radius such that when the sleeve is expanded after the insertion of the fastener inside of it, this radius is expanded, which in turn stress coins the adjacent edge of the hole in the layers. This localized stress coining as well as the hoop stress in the hole surrounding the hole dramatically increases the fatigue strength of the fastened layers in a structure assembly.

This invention relates to a method for installing sleeved fasteners though multiple layers to achieve a high interference fit of the sleeved fasteners within their respective holes in the layers. More particularly, this invention relates in one embodiment to a method for installing fasteners in which the sleeves for the fasteners are initially inserted in a sliding fit into the holes followed by a high interference fit forcing of the fastener into the sleeve. Still more particularly, this invention relates to a method for installing sleeve fasteners in which the sleeves have uniquely formed radii at specified edges in the holes to stress coin these edges when the fasteners are inserted in the interference fit within the sleeves.
Normal practice for fastening multiple layers together is to clamp up the layers, drill holes, and then insert some type of fastener into the holes and thereby secure the layers together. The fasteners are usually inserted in a net or sliding fit in the receiving holes in the layers. For many applications this will be sufficient. However, when the assembled structure is subjected to cyclic loading, the looseness of the fit of the fasteners within their holes will result in continual working of the fasteners within their holes. This in turn leads to fretting corrosion and fatigue failure of either the fastener or the surrounding region of the layers adjacent a particular hole.
However, it is known that the utilization of a high interference fit of the fastener of the hole can effectively prevent the majority of this fretting corrosion due to cyclic loading of the assembled structure. In many cases an oversized fastener will be driven directly into the receiving hole in the layers. In other cases the use of a sleeve which is slipped into the hole in a net or sliding fit followed by the drive-in of the oversized fastener is utilized. For these last systems, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,297 for an interference fit blind fastener and also U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,661 for a fastener means and joint for laminates, assigned to the assignee of this invention, McDonnell Douglas Corporation.
Nevertheless, there remains a need for a fastener system which combines the concept of interference fit sleeved fasteners with the added benefit of stress coining and total hole filling at the edges of the hole.

Method of installing interference fit sleeved fasteners having radiused intersection for stress coining


Methods and system for determining a likelihood of possible retinopathy of prematurity and alerting a caregiver of such likelihood may employ oxygen saturation measurements. According to certain embodiments, an apparatus for determining a risk of retinopathy of prematurity in a patient may include a processing unit. The processing unit is configured to determine whether an oxygen saturation level of the patient extends beyond an oxygen saturation threshold, determine an extent that the oxygen saturation level of the patient extends beyond the oxygen saturation threshold, and trigger an alarm when the extent that the oxygen saturation level of the patient extends beyond the oxygen saturation threshold exceeds a threshold at which the patient may be at risk of developing retinopathy of prematurity. The apparatus may also include a display unit configured to present the alarm in response to the trigger from the processing unit.

The present disclosure relates generally to patient monitoring devices and, more particularly, to techniques for determining a likelihood of possible retinopathy of prematurity and alerting a caregiver of such likelihood.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
In the field of healthcare, caregivers (e.g., doctors and other healthcare professionals) often desire to monitor certain physiological characteristics of their patients. Accordingly, a wide variety of devices have been developed for monitoring many such characteristics of a patient. Such devices provide doctors and other healthcare personnel with the information they need to provide the best possible healthcare for their patients. As a result, such monitoring devices have become an indispensable part of modern medicine.
One technique for monitoring physiological characteristics of a patient is commonly referred to as pulse oximetry, and the devices built based upon pulse oximetry techniques are commonly referred to as pulse oximeters. Pulse oximeters may be used to measure and monitor various blood flow characteristics of a patient. For example, a pulse oximeter may be utilized to monitor the blood oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood, the volume of individual blood pulsations supplying the tissue, and/or the rate of blood pulsations corresponding to each heartbeat of a patient. In fact, the "pulse" in pulse oximetry refers to the time-varying amount of arterial blood in the tissue during each cardiac cycle.
Pulse oximeters typically utilize a non-invasive sensor that transmits light through a patient's tissue and that photoelectrically detects the absorption and/or scattering of the transmitted light in such tissue. A photo-plethysomograhpic waveform, which corresponds to the cyclic attenuation of optical energy through the patient's tissue, may be generated from the detected light. Additionally, one or more of the above physiological characteristics may be calculated based upon the amount of light absorbed or scattered. More specifically, the light passed through the tissue may be selected to be of one or more wavelengths that may be absorbed or scattered by the blood in an amount correlative to the amount of the blood constituent present in the blood. The amount of light absorbed and/or scattered may then be used to estimate the amount of blood constituent in the tissue using various algorithms.
In addition to monitoring a patient's physiological characteristics, a pulse oximeter or other patient monitor may alert a caregiver when certain physiological conditions are recognized. For example, a normal range for a particular physiological parameter of a patient may be defined by setting low and/or high threshold values for the physiological parameter, and an alarm may be generated by the patient monitor when a detected value of the physiological parameter is outside the normal range.

Retinopathy of prematurity determination and alarm system


A method of dry etching a GaAs/AlGaAs stacked system with high selectivity without employing a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gas. When selectively etching an n.sup.+ -GaAs layer stacked on an n.sup.+ -AlGaAs layer for forming e.g. a gate recess of a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT), a gas having a composition capable of yielding free sulfur (S) and fluorine radicals (F*) in a plasma under conditions of discharge dissociation is used as an etching gas. S is deposited on a pattern sidewall to form a sidewall protection film to contribute to anisotropic etching. On the other hand, F* plays the role of formation of AlF.sub.x with low vapor pressure on an exposed surface of the underlayer of n.sup.+ -AlGaAs to stop etching, to say nothing of a role of an etchant. Although a gas system which is by far the simplest is a mixed system of S.sub.2 F.sub.2 /Xe, a gas system may be employed which is capable of generating Cl* or Br* for producing a reaction product having a high vapor pressure or augmenting S deposition. More concretely, mixed systems of S.sub.2 F.sub.2 /Cl.sub.2, S.sub.2 F.sub.2 /S.sub.2 Cl.sub.2 or S.sub.2 Cl.sub.2 /ClF.sub.3 may be employed.

This invention relates to a dry etching method applicable to the fabrication of semiconductor devices. More particularly, it relates to a method of selective etching of GaAs/AlGaAs in a process step during formation of a gate recess of a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) without employing a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gas.
A monolithic microwave IC in which a GaAs MES-FET (metal semiconductor field effect transistor) is integrated on a single substrate, has characteristics such is high speed high frequency response, low noise or low power consumption, and is recently used as a device for mobile communication or satellite communication.
In 1980, the high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) has been developed from researches aimed at a higher operating speed of the above-mentioned GaAs MES-FET. The HEMT is a device in which advantage is taken of a two-dimensional electron gas at a hetero junction of the GaAs compound semiconductor being moved at a high velocity without being subject to scattering by impurities. Researches towards realization of a high integration in HEMT are proceeding currently and demands are raised for higher precision and higher selectivity ratio of the dry etching technique for realization of the higher integration.
The process of selective etching of a GaAs/AlGaAs stacked system for forming a gate recess is an important technique of determining a threshold voltage of a hereto-junction FET such as HEMT or hereto MIS structure FET. It is because the concentration of impurities and thicknesses etc. in the lower AlGaAs layer are preset so that an FET having a reasonable threshold voltage may be produced by removing only the upper GaAs layer. The method for selective etching of the GaAs layer on the AlGaAs layer may be typified by a method employing a gas mixture composed of chlorofluorocarbon gases (CFC gases), such as CCl.sub.2 F.sub.2, and rare gases. The reason is that the GaAs layer is removed mainly in forms of chlorides of Ga and As, and fluoride of As, and that ALF.sub.3 having a low vapor pressure is formed on the surface on exposure of the underlying AlGaAs layer to lower the etching rate to achieve a high selectivity ratio.
For example, a report has been made of an example of achieving a selectivity ratio of 200 using a CCl.sub.2 F.sub.2 /He mixed gas in e.g. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 20, No. 11 (1981) p. L847 to 850.
However, the above-mentioned selective dry etching method suffers from the following disadvantages.
First, the above-mentioned CFC gases, such as CCl.sub.2 F.sub.2, are thought to cause destruction of an ozone layer surrounding the earth in a known manner, so that a ban will be placed on the production and use of these gases in the near future. It is therefore incumbent to develop substitute gases and the technology of application of these substitute gases in the field of dry etching.
On the other hand, the CFC gasses tend to produce a large quantity of the fluorocarbon-based polymer in an etching reaction system. This polymer, while being deposited on the pattern sidewall to display sidewall protection effects to contribute to anisotropic etching, tends to produce instability of the etchrate and a deteriorated level of pollution by particles.
Besides, annealing at a temperature on the order of 300 .degree. C. becomes necessary for remedying damages by ion radiation during etching.


A sound absorbing muffler used to attenuate noise carried by the exhaust gases of an internal combustion engine includes a straight-through flow tube of cross-section having no baffles or flow reversals. The muffler utilizes both reactive and dissipative components and includes an outer annular resonating chamber and an inner sound absorbing chamber. The muffler's configuration produces effective broad band noise attenuation even at lower frequencies, yet low backpressure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sound attenuating muffler, and more particularly to a muffler for damping sound waves of specific frequencies.
2. Discussion
Mufflers are generally incorporated in automobile exhaust systems to limit the sound pressure level of exhaust noise produced by engine operation. There are two general classifications of mufflers, reactive and dissipative. Reactive mufflers are generally composed of a number of resonating chambers of different volumes and shapes connected with pipes. Reactive mufflers may include baffles or flow reversals. However, these configurations produce a relatively high pressure drop, causing a backpressure at the exhaust of the engine, thus restricting engine performance. Dissipative mufflers are usually composed of ducts or chambers which are filled with acoustic absorbing materials such as fiberglass, steel wool, or a porous ceramic. These materials absorb the acoustic energy and transform it into thermal energy. Unfortunately, the sound absorbing material in dissipative mufflers tend to break down because of the velocity of the material and the high velocity and temperature of the exhaust. Mufflers consisting of a combination of the reactive and dissipative types are known in the art in a variety of configurations.
The prior art muffler systems generally fail to attenuate sound waves over a broad band of frequencies. Mufflers typically provide effective attenuation only at specified frequencies equal to or greater than a specific cut-off frequency. The transmission loss, or effectiveness under ideal conditions, of a typical dissipative muffler is generally an inclined straight line with respect to frequency, and provides effective attenuation only above approximately 500 Hertz. As a result, the typical dissipative muffler fails to attenuate low frequency sound. This failure is unacceptable in an automobile exhaust muffler because the sound produced by the engine has greatest amplitude at lower frequencies, such as below approximately 500 Hertz. The transmission loss of a typical reactive muffler or expansion can is generally a periodic series of sinusoidal "humps." As a result, a reactive muffler provides acceptable amplitude levels of low frequency attenuation, but exhibits a series of "zero frequencies" where the muffler provides no attenuation. It is desirable to combine the accoustic performance of both types of mufflers to achieve broad band low frequency attenuation in a low back pressure muffler.

Broad band low frequency passive muffler


A pneumatic ankle brace having a pair of relatively rigid side supports with inflatable main bladders attached to their inside surfaces. The inflatable main bladders are coupled to an interconnected foot pump. Additional support and back-up bladders may be placed distally upon the main bladders to provide further cushioning and support. The foot pump is activated through normal use, such as walking or running, whereby entrapped fluid is displaced back and forth between the main bladders and the pump. This creates a pulsing action which provides a massaging compression effect which helps reduce swelling and increase venous and lymphatic return.

After injury to an ankle, such as a fracture or severe sprain thereof, it is often necessary to completely immobilize the injured ankle through the use of a molded plaster or resin cast. Once the injury has been stabilized, however, recovery may be accelerated by removing the molded plaster or resin cast and replacing it with a removable functional walking brace so that the ankle can be exercised while healing.
Even if the injury is not severe enough to warrant complete immobilization of the ankle, it is still sometimes necessary to use a functional walking brace to stabilize the ankle against inversion (the foot rolling inward), eversion (the foot rolling outward) and/or anterior subluxation (partial dislocation) while still allowing the normal dorsiflexion and plantarflexion movements of the ankle.
A variety of ankle braces, walking casts and other orthopaedic ankle apparatuses have previously been proposed. For instance, in T. E. Grim, U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,891 ('891), an ankle brace comprising two relatively rigid side supports with inflatable bladders attached to them is described. The side supports are connected at their bottom by a flexible strap upon which is mounted an air pump. The air pump is activated by walking and running, and it causes the air bladders mounted on the side supports to inflate. The side supports are held firmly in place about the lower leg and ankle by straps. A relief valve and/or pin holes in the bladders prevent excessive pressure in the bladders and provide reduced support when the user is inactive. While this arrangement prevents undesired eversion, inversion and anterior subluxation caused by activity, it also allows for reduced pressure during rest periods.
Other ankle braces which have air inflatable bladders are shown in G. W. Johnson, Jr.'s U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,280,489 and 4,628,945. These prior art devices are intended to be worn within a separate shoe and are also inflatable with an external source of air pressure or they are preinflated.
Other arrangements have been proposed to promote healing of an injured foot, ankle and/or lower leg, as shown in C. G. Eischen, Sr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,805,601 in which the apparatus includes a bladder which completely encircles the ankle, connected by an opening to a bladder underlying the foot. In addition, various arrangements have been proposed for ventilating shoes by circulating air through the shoes. Typical patents showing this type of arrangement include M. Dunker, U.S. Pat. No. 2,552,711; D. W. Oltrogger, U.S. Pat. No. 2,560,591; A. C. Crawford, U.S. Pat. No. 2,676,422; C. N. Eaton, U.S. Pat. No. 3,029,530; E. Karras, U.S. Pat. No. 3,331,146; and J. Faiella, U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,760. These patents disclose the use of air pumping arrangements actuated by foot pressure for circulating air through a shoe. Reference is also made to German publication designated Offenlegungsschrift No. 2321817, published Nov. 15, 1973, which publication shows a ski boot with inflatable ankle bladders, a rigid sole and a pump mounted in the sole. The pump can be latched to an inactive state when the inflatable pads are pressurized.
The prior art walking braces set forth above do not stabilize the ankle against anterior subluxation and permit plantarflexion and dorsiflexion while simultaneously increasing venous and lymphatic circulation and reducing swelling in the lower leg extremity by exercising the muscle groups of the lower leg. Thus, a principal object of the present invention is to effectively accomplish all of these functions.

Pneumatic ankle brace with bladder and pump arrangement