A motor vehicle component with a drive having a motor, a gearing and a component which is movable by the drive, the motor being coupled to a driving side of the gearing and a driven side of the gearing being coupled to the movable component, a kinematic chain of the gearing between the driving side and the driven side having at least two transmission elements. The drive is operable in blocking operation by a displaceable blocking element that is movable into blocking engagement with the drive. The displaceable blocking element is in addition to the drive and the adjustable component, and is engaged in a controlling manner with the first transmission element of the kinematic chain so that, depending on the position of a first transmission element, it can be moved into blocking engagement with a second transmission element of the kinematic chain.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a motorized motor vehicle component with a drive having a motor and gearing and with a component which can be moved by means of the drive, the gearing having a drive side and a driven side, the motor being coupled to the driving side of the gearing and the driven side of the gearing being coupled to the movable component, the kinematic chain of the gearing, between the driving side and the driven side, having at least two transmission elements and the drive being operable in a blocking operation, and for this reason, an displaceable blocking element is movable into blocking engagement with the drive.
Here, the expression "motorized motor vehicle component" encompasses all those components of a motor vehicle which provide functions which can be triggered by a motor. Examples of functions which can be triggered by a motor include the central locking system, opening aid, closing aid or the mechanical redundancy of a motor vehicle door lock. Furthermore, motorized motor vehicle components from other areas are also encompassed, such as, for example, the motorized actuating means of the hatch, door or sliding door, the motorized seat or seat height adjustment, or the motorized window raiser of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
All motorized motor vehicle components have some kind of drive for executing the function which can be triggered by a motor—therefore for actuation of an adjustable component—, the drive in turn being composed, in any case, of a motor and gearing which is connected downstream of the motor.
It is important for reliable operation of the motorized motor vehicle component that the motor with the corresponding control of motion starts the mechanical states of the drive which are required at the time as reliably as possible.
In the case of an electric motor, one possibility for controlling motion involves short-circuiting the motor briefly before reaching the desired position—dynamic braking. The disadvantage in this approach is that, generally, sensors for determining the prevailing motor position are necessary and that reliability is subject to major fluctuations depending on the respective temperature.
Another possibility is to allow the drive to run against a stop when the desired position has been reached, so that the motor, after a predetermined time interval, or after detection of an overcurrent, can be turned off by the coordinating control—blocking operation.
The known motor vehicle component which underlies this invention (U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,253) shows one possible implementation of the above described blocking operation using a motorized opening aid function for a motor vehicle door lock. In this case, the motor vehicle door lock has a latch and a ratchet which keeps the latch in the closed position, and the ratchet can be raised by means of a drive into the position which releases the latch. For this purpose, the drive has an actuating element with a driver pin which presses the ratchet into its raised position in an actuating process. Toward the end of the actuating process, the driver pin engages the ratchet such that the motor of the drive is blocked by the ratchet, the motor current rises measurably and after a certain delay time, the motor is turned off. Here, the ratchet, therefore the adjustable component, with motion which is to be controlled by the drive, itself, forms an displaceable blocking element which is necessary for blocking operation. This fact alone leads to undesirable structural limitations in the implementation of the ratchet. It is especially disadvantageous in this respect if it is considered that, for the required high raising speeds of the ratchet, what is important is especially the optimum matching between the reset spring force which acts on the ratchet and the ratchet weight as well as the corresponding weight distribution. However, these structural boundary conditions are disadvantageous also with respect to the continuing demand to increase compactness of motorized motor vehicle components.
Finally the known construction is disadvantageous in that the high blocking force or the high blocking moment leads to undesirable striking noise which is generally considered to be disturbing. Furthermore, the high blocking force leads to the material of the actuating element and the ratchet, as well as the corresponding gears, having to be made especially rigid. This imposes a further undesirable structural limitation.


A Fabry-Perot laser generates a mode-locked channel having the same wavelength as that of light injected into the laser. The laser includes a semiconductor substrate and a lower cladding layer formed on the substrate. An active layer is formed on the lower cladding layer and has a band gap distribution that continuously varies in a longitudinal direction of the substrate. The laser further includes an upper cladding layer formed on the active layer and the lower cladding layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coherent light source, and more particularly to a coherent light source being usable in a wavelength division multiplexing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a passive wavelength-division multiplexing system, a signal is transmitted to a large number of subscribers by means of a single optical fiber. The commonest type of the passive wavelength-division multiplexing system is a double star structure, in which a local base station, connected to a central base station by a single optical fiber, is located adjacent to a plurality of the subscribers, and is connected to each of the subscribers.
U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 6,411,410, filed in 2002 by Ian Robert Wright, et al., and entitled "WAVELENGTH-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING IN PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORK", discloses the above-described passive wavelength-division multiplexing system. Downstream channels to subscribers are multiplexed to an optical signal which is transmitted to the local base station. The local base station demultiplexes the received signal among downstream channels having different wavelengths, and transmits the downward channels to each of the subscribers.
A semiconductor optical amplifier such as a Fabry-Perot laser is a semiconductor optical element that amplifies inputted light, and is used as a light source for generating the above-described downstream channels. The above passive wavelength-division multiplexing system injects light having a predetermined wavelength into the laser, thereby generating a mode-locked downstream channel having the same wavelength a s that of injected light.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional Fabry-Perot laser. With reference to FIG. 1, the above conventional Fabry-Perot laser has a MESA structure comprising a semiconductor substrate 110, a lower cladding layer 120 grown on the semiconductor substrate 110, an active layer 130 formed on the lower cladding layer such that a band gap in the active layer is uniformly distributed, an upper cladding layer 140 grown on the active layer, and a contact layer 150 stacked on the upper cladding layer.
Since the active layer 130 of the Fabry-Perot laser has a uniform band gap distribution, the Fabry-Perot laser generates a downstream channel in which a mode of a single wavelength is locked.
However, the band gap of the active layer is varied not only intentionally by a driving current, but easily varied unintentionally due to variation with external temperature. This latter effect on the band gap may cause a gain wavelength of the Fabry-Perot laser to stray from the wavelength of light inputted into the Fabry-Perot laser. The resulting mismatch reduces the gain of the downstream channel generated by the Fabry-Perot laser.

Fabry-perot laser generating mode-locked channel and method for fabricating the same


A circuit arrangement, including: a circuit configured to synthesize a resistor having a resistance value having a variation in time equivalent to a resistance variation of a sensor resistor applied with a resistance bias voltage and a resistance current bias, wherein the circuit includes: an amplifier comprising an input transistor; a bias current generator comprising a control node coupled to an output of the input transistor, wherein the bias current generator is configured to generate a bias current flowing in the input transistor; and a further current generator configured to generate a current at least proportional to the resistance bias current and coupled to the output of the input transistor, wherein the resistance bias voltage is applied to an input of the amplifier, and wherein a transconductance of the input transistor is at least proportional to the resistance of the sensor resistor.

With the increasing data densities in Hard Disk Drives, sensing and control of the fly height of the tip over the disk is required.
A sensor represented by a thermal varying resistor, placed on the read and write head, is used to monitor the fly height between head and media. The sensor has to be properly biased with a constant voltage across it (or a constant current through it); when the head approaches to the disk the media acts as heat sinker and the sensor varies its resistance. This can be seen as a voltage signal generated inside the sensor, and this signal has to be filtered and amplified to have a precise detection of the fly height.
Signal is very small and detection needs to be accurate thus noise of the amplifier and filtering stage is critical: as well known the first stage of the amplifier is the most critical in terms of noise.
The first stage amplifier needs to:
apply a constant voltage to the sensor when voltage mode is selected;
apply a constant current through the sensor when current mode is selected;
amplify the signal coming from the resistance variation; have a band pass transfer function for the amplifier, in particular with high pass filter in the order of kHz and low pass filter in the order of tens of MHz.
The bias circuit has to work at very low frequency (bandwidth lower than the frequency pole of the minimum high pass filter) while the amplification circuit works on AC signals.
Therefore, in order to have a behavior as just described in a low noise amplifier for a thermal resistor varying its value in time according to the temperature variation, it is known to have in such first stage amplifier a bias circuit and an amplification circuit, separate with respect to the bias circuit.
This situation is shown schematically in FIG. 1 where a thermal resistor Rsns, e.g. a thermistor, representing a thermal varying resistance used as a sensor to monitor the fly height of a tip over a hard disk, supplies a sensor signal Ssns, present at its input terminals INp and INm. Such signal may be a sensor voltage or current occurring between such terminals and which variation is representative for instance of a temperature variation, to the two input terminals of a low noise amplifier first stage 10. The low noise amplifier first stage 10 includes a bias circuit 11 connected to the sensor signal Ssns terminals INp and INm to apply a voltage or current bias on such sensor signal Ssns and then an amplifying circuit 12 to amplify the biased sensor signal Ssns. A processing stage 99 may be arranged downstream the low noise amplifier first stage 10.
The bias circuit 11 has to be capable of driving significant currents and to be low noise, thus very big components are needed for this circuit. Moreover, the bandwidth has to be low too, i.e. the bias circuit cut-off frequency has to be low, in particular lower than the amplifier bandwidth, thus capacitors with a big size are needed.
In the same way, to have low noise and low high pass transfer function the amplifying circuit 12 which process the signal requires big components and capacitors too.
As it is shown, the requirements in terms of noise and bandwidths drive to very big stages with critical impacts in terms of area.
FIG. 2 shows a circuit implementing the prior art approach of FIG. 1, in voltage mode configuration. Two operational amplifiers 11m and 11p are used to apply the differential voltage across the sensor Rsns according to a desired bias value VBIAS which corresponds to the difference of respective bias voltage VBIASP and VBIASM sent to the input of such operational amplifiers. Their outputs drive a respective NMOS transistor 15p and PMOS transistor 15m having their sources connected to the two terminals of the sensor resistor Rsns. The transistors 15m, 15p are used to carry the high bias current flowing through the sensor Rsns and two capacitances Cm, Cp connected between their gates and the respective differential supply terminal VP or VN, to cut the bias loop at very low frequencies. Two current generators 13m, 13p, generating a fixed current Ix, are used to bias the input pair of the amplifier 12.
In an amplifier as just described gain variation can be significant accordingly to the sensor process variability and application, i.e. the value of the sensor resistance, in particular, thermal varying resistance, changes and it is also affected by other uncertainties tied to the production process. Also the transconductance gm of the gain input stage (i.e. the bias output stage) could vary over process and temperature. This leads to the need to compensate the gain variability to obtain a flat gain over sensor resistance and process and temperature, which are however to some extent unknown.
The amplifiers as just described are representative of the more general problem of a device operating with a dependence from the value of a resistance, i.e. the sensor resistance, which varies in time, for instance with temperature and it is subject to known bias conditions. This can be the dependence of gain in a low noise amplifier for sensing and control of fly height of the tip in Hard Disk Drives, and or can be another application, e.g. an application picking up the signal formed on a sensor resistor, which resistance is varying in time, such as varying thermal resistance in temperature measuring circuits. Such general problem thus regards in general estimating an unknown resistance starting from its biasing condition.
In view of the above, it is an objective of the present disclosure to provide solutions which overcome one or more of the above drawbacks.

Low noise amplifier circuit for a thermal varying resistance


A digital signal processor (DSP) realizes an image processing function by downloading at least one of a computer program and data to realize image processing. A DSP controller that controls the DSP includes a translating unit and a download request unit. The translating unit translates information from an operating unit to information that is recognized by the DSP controller. The download request unit makes a request for download of the program and the data to the DSP based on the information translated.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology to implement information processing and image processing by employing component-based software.
2) Description of the Related Art
An improved performance of a copying machine (multifunction Product (MFP)) has led to realization of image processing over wide range and with high speed. With this, products have become multifunctional and it has become possible to set a large number of requests in an operating unit. This has led to a requirement of an apparatus for controlling image processing that controls a large number of requests. On the other hand, an improved performance of a digital signal processor (DSP) has led to realization of image processing over wide range and with high speed. With this, products have become multifunctional and it has become possible to set a large number of requests in the operating unit. This has led a requirement of a DSP controller that controls a large number of requests.
As compared to a conventional application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), the DSP can realize various types of image processing by replacing a computer program or data. Thus, there is an increased variation of image processing. On the other hand, a controller that controls the DSP has become complicated. Moreover, since specifications can be changed easily, the control of image processing has to be prompt and assured to deal with changes in specifications expected to be made frequently.
However, since the DSP is costlier than ASIC, ASIC is used for image processing in which the changes are not frequent. A device that realizes such image processing is selected according to use or made compatible for both. Therefore, the controller is necessary. Moreover, with increased number of functions, the applications of printers, scanners, facsimile which are connected to copying machine and network have increased. The use by a plurality of users can also be considered by connecting the users to a network and resource management of resources of an apparatus for controlling image processing has been gaining importance. The resource management includes management of a resource condition (status) that is controlled currently by the apparatus for controlling image processing when a certain user is making a large number of copies, another user makes a print via the network and when a judgment of not both the users can execute the jobs simultaneously is made, waiting status of image-processing control is informed upon the latter request and the request is asked to be made again.
Conventional DSP controllers are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication Nos. H6-125411, H6-205301, and H7-221996.
However, in the disclosures in these patent documents, a control corresponding to a complicated request like that by a copying machine is not required. Since component-based functioning of the DSP controller as a unit is being considered, considerable changes are required to be made for porting to a similar image processing apparatus. Nowadays, the DSP has been used for image processing by a digital copying machine and the DSP controller is becoming more and more complicated with increase in functions. The DSP controllers are sought to deal with processes like fulfilling various requests that are input from an operating unit of the apparatus for controlling image processing and copying machines and deal with flexibility with changes in specifications. However, inventions disclosed in the patent documents mentioned above and conventional apparatuses have not been able to deal with such requests.

Information processing control method, image processing control method, image processing control apparatus, image forming apparatus, and computer product


The present invention provides duplex stainless steel superior in corrosion resistance in a chloride environment and impact properties suitable as a material for pumps for seawater desalination plants, facilities and equipment, and materials for chemical tanks, that is, duplex stainless steel characterized by containing, by mass %, C: 0.06% or less, Si: 0.05 to 3.0%, Mn: 0.1 to 6.0%, P: 0.05% or less, S: 0.010% or less, Ni: 1.0 to 10.0%, Cr: 18 to 30%, Mo: 5.0% or less, Cu: 3.0% or less, N: 0.10 to 0.40%, Al: 0.001 to 0.08% or less, Ti: 0.003 to 0.05%, Mg: 0.0001 to 0.0030%, and O: 0.010% or less, having a product of an activity coefficient fN of N, Ti content, and N content fN×Ti×N of 0.00004%2 or more, and having a product of Ti content and N content Ti×N of 0.008%2 or less.

Duplex stainless steel has a ferrite phase in addition to an austenite phase generally considered to be resistant to embrittlement fracture, so the toughness is generally inferior to that of austenitic stainless steel.
As a factor behind the drop in toughness, in addition to the amount of the ferrite phase, the size of the solidified structure of the ferrite phase also has an effect. That is, the toughness is generally improved the greater the fineness of the structure, but duplex stainless steel solidifies at the single ferrite phase. The solidified structure is generally comprised of a coarse ferrite phase and an austenite phase finely precipitating at the grain boundaries and in the grains, so particularly in cast products, thick-gauge plate products, etc., the effects of the coarse ferrite phase are carried over as is to the final products.
As the techniques for increasing the fineness of the solidified structure, the techniques of electromagnetically agitating the cast slab during casting, controlling the overheating degree ΔT of the casting temperature to be small, etc. have been known, but these methods have the problems that they require bulky facilities and induce porosity defects. As opposed to this, there is the technique of utilizing TiN as the solidification nuclei. While this problem is small, it is liable to invite a drop in the toughness due to the introduction of nonmetallic inclusions, so it is necessary to study in detail the effects of increased fineness of the solidified structure and the harm due to the introduction of nonmetallic inclusions.
The inventors discloses the method of utilization of the action of nuclei of TiN on the δ iron in Japanese Patent No. 3624732, Japanese Patent No. 3624804, Japanese Patent No. 3446667, Japanese Patent No. 3458831, Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2002-69592, Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2006-117991, and Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 1-100248.
Here, the first four patents relates to ferritic stainless steel, the next two patents relate to austenitic stainless steel having a high δ ferrite, and the final one patent relates to duplex stainless steel.
Among these, in particular the patents of Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2002-69592 and Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 1-1002482 relate to inventions covering duplex stainless steel similar to the present invention, but all of these aim at improvement of the hot workability. Toughness is not considered at all.
Further, the first four patents relating to the ferritic stainless steel aim at improvement of the cold workability and toughness, but do not clearly give quantitative values relating to duplex stainless steel.
In the final analysis, there is no document clearly showing a realistic technique, for duplex stainless steel, for improving the toughness of cast steel and thick-gauge plate products aimed at by the present inventors.

Nippon Steel & Sumikin Stainless Steel Corporation


Film-forming compositions for coating objects, such as seeds, are characterized by a cellulosic polymer, and a polyalkylene oxide polymer. The compositions may also include a glycol, microbial agents, gelling agents, surfactants, and antifoamants in an aqueous medium.. In a process for enveloping solid forms such as seeds with the above composition, the composition may be mixed with seed protectant chemicals, such as fungicides, prior to its application to seeds in seed treating equipment.

1. Field Of the Invention
This invention is directed to film-forming compositions for enveloping solid forms, particularly seeds. In another aspect, the invention relates to a process for enveloping with the aid of these compositions. In a further aspect, the invention is concerned with the seeds coated with the compositions of this invention.
Seeds are treated to promote good seedling establishment, to minimize yield loss, to maintain and improve the quality of the seeds and to avoid the spread of harmful organisms.
Other benefits derived from seed treatments include improved adhesion of any pesticidal formulation, the ability to maintain the distribution of said pesticides during the application of the treatment, improving the flow of seeds during treatment, enhancement of the appearance and perceived quality of the seeds, and greatly reducing the potential hazards from dust during treating and handling. Biological considerations for seed coatings include that the pesticides should: be consistently effective under various environmental conditions; be safe to operators during handling and sowing; be safe to wildlife; have a wide safety margin between the dose that controls harmful organisms and the dose that harms the plant; be compatible with other materials used on the seed; and not produce harmful residues in the plant or soil.
Protection of seeds and young seedlings from soil-borne pests during the early stages of plant growth is the main purpose of seed treatment. The use of fungicides and insecticides for protecting seeds and seedlings against seed and soil-borne diseases is well known and widely used. There is also the desire to develop systems containing biologically active materials and to exploit the potential of the seed as a carrier for highly targeted materials such as microorganisms, trace elements, growth regulators, and the like.
Successful and practical seed treatments should satisfy a range of commercial requirements. For example, the treatment should provide effective delivery of any active ingredient contained therein. As another example, the physico-chemical characteristics of the formulation should facilitate application to and retention on the seeds.
Additionally, a coloring agent, such as a dye is required by law in the seed coating so that an observer can immediately determine that the seeds are treated. The dye is also useful to indicate to the user the degree of uniformity of the coating applied.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a film-forming composition for seed coating. It is a further object of their invention to provide a seed coating composition with properties greater than any of the individual components of the composition.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a method for effectively coating seeds with this film forming composition. It is still a further object of this invention to provide final seed products obtained and coated with these compositions.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,513,019 and 4,576,646 describe a process for enveloping objects such as seeds with a composition comprising a cellulosic film-forming substance, at least one alpha-cellulose, and a suitable plasticizer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,370 describes a seed coating composition which includes cellulosic film-forming polymer, a pigment, a plasticizer, and optionally, a colloidal silica and a surfactant.
British Patent No. 2,040,684A describes a method and a composition for treating seeds including an active pesticide and adhesive sticker in admixture with suspending agents, surface active agents, and other adjuvants, applied to seeds to yield seeds with an adherent coating in which active pesticidal agent is dispersed.


A fly-through, three-dimensional computer aided design system is provided. Computational requirements are bounded, at least in part by defining a bounded volume or world defining the volume which may be displayed, in whole or in part. Preprocessing the data assists in organizing the data for high performance display. Full detail rendering is available. However in some situations, such as during fly-through, some or all portions of the image are rendered in a simplified fashion, e.g. to maintain a high frame rate. The volume-based simplification involves rendering faces of cells or collections of cells which are at least partly intersected by components of the item or system being displayed. A plurality of granularities, preferably organized as an octree, provide multiple levels of detail. Unnecessary rendering load is reduced by view frustum culling and considering certain cell face occlusion situations. As the scene is rendered, preferably slicewise, the level of detail for slices can be adjusted based on predictions of time-to-complete, in order to meet a frame rate target.

A computer-aided design system typically includes software for displaying on a two-dimensional computer display screen or other display device, an image of one or more predefined objects. In a typical application, the objects are parts or components of a product such as a machine or other device such as a vehicle, aircraft, ship, and the like. In a typical situation, a designer will provide input which defines the size and shape of the various components. The computer-aided design system provides a display indicating how the various components will mesh or fit together in three dimensions (or, in some cases, will indicate that the components do not properly fit together, thus alerting the designer that there is an error which needs to be corrected). In many computer-aided design systems, a user may select the point of view of the object or collection of objects, for example, the user may wish to see a front view, a side view, a top view, a perspective view, etc. In some systems, the definition of point of view is essentially static, i.e., the user inputs (e.g., via a keyboard or otherwise) a single point of view, and the software displays an image in accordance with the defined point of view.
In some systems, however, it is desired to simulate a real-time change in the point of view. For purposes of discussion, it is useful to consider the point of view in terms of a "virtual camera," i.e., what the collection of objects would look like if the display simulates the output of a camera as it moved with respect to the simulated objects. In theory, the virtual camera can rotate in any of three rotational directions, and can translate parallel any of three mutually perpendicular translational axes or any combination thereof. In a system in which all six types of motions are possible, the camera is said to possess six degrees of freedom. In such a system the virtual camera can translate or rotate in any direction with respect to the simulated collection of objects.
A particularly desirable design system provides a "fly-through" ability. In a fly-through system, a user may indicate a desired direction of movement and/or rotation of the virtual camera (e.g., using a mouse, joystick, trackball, head tracker, eye tracker, voice actuated command, and the like). In response, the computer display screen, under control of the design system software, will depict a series of images indicating the various views that would be taken by the virtual camera as it moves in the indicated direction.
A fly-through system is particularly useful in the design of complex structures such as aircraft or automobiles which may have thousands or millions of components. A fly-through system provides the user with the ability to inspect any desired portion of the device by quickly and easily moving to the region-of-interest and/or moving the virtual camera around the region-of-interest to inspect it from different points of view. In order to achieve a fly-through system which is useful for location and inspection purposes, and which can be used for relatively long periods of time without unduly tiring the viewer, the series of images presented on the screen during a fly-through operation must have a frame frequency sufficiently high that an illusion of motion, similar to a motion picture, is provided. A frame rate which is too low can make it difficult to locate desired volumes and can cause eye strain or other undesirable visual effect.
Although, for reasons noted above, a high frame-frequency fly-through design system is desirable, it has been difficult to implement, particularly at a reasonable cost, since rendering of images, particularly images which depict a three-dimensional object or scene, is one of the most computationally-intensive and resource-intensive (especially memory-intensive) tasks that can be performed on a computer. In particular, it has been difficult to implement a useful fly-through three-dimensional design system on a workstation-level system, at reasonable expense.
Accordingly, it would be useful to provide a design system which provides for fly-through capability at a high-frame rate, capable of use for designs having millions of components but which can be implemented on a system at reasonable cost, preferably with little or no special hardware requirements beyond those found on a workstation-level computer.

Fly-through computer aided design method and apparatus


A method for underwater installing of a wet mateable connection assembly includes the steps of: providing a submerged case having a seat; connecting one end of a guiding rope to the seat, the other end being kept over the sea level; appending a submersible case to the guiding rope by a guide handle; causing the submersible case to move along the rope until the guide handle engages with the seat; and pivoting the submersible case around the seat up to contact the submerged case.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to method for installing of a wet mateable connection assembly for undersea energy applications.
In particular the present invention especially refers to a wet mateable connection assembly for electrical and/or optical cables.
In particular, the present invention especially refers to a wet mateable connection assembly for medium and high voltage electrical cables. Typically, by medium voltage cables we mean cables suitable for more than 1 kV and up to about 30 KV, and for high voltage cables we mean cables suitable for operating above about 30 kV.
Description of the Related Art
The oceanic/undersea energy generation is growing at a fast speed and in this field the technologies used to generate energy are dominantly "wind mills" but wave and tidal generators are showing some promising results.
The wind mills are generally built with fixed bottom structures and inter array cables are used to go from one turbine to the next and to the shore.
In order to connect the wind mills or similar apparatus to an electric network, cables are used wherein the cable connections may be "dry mate", i.e. the ends of the cables coming from the wind mills and of the cables of the electric network or of intermediate stations are connected together (i.e. are mated, or unmated, by means of appropriate connectors) in a dry environment (e.g on the shore or on a suitable floating vessel or ship), to avoid the presence of water at the connector interface, which may produce partial discharges and the consequent cable faults in the presence of electrical field, and subsequently laid down underwater.
Cable hubs and/or cable substations can be used for connecting two or more underwater cables of an electric network. In these cases, and especially in places where water depths exceed 40 m depth, the dry mating is more cumbersome because it implies retrieving from underwater, for example to a ship, a sunken hub or substation having a significant weight.
In similar circumstances, the dry mating is often unpractical and generally economically disadvantageous.
In offshore windmills and other submarine applications, wet mateable connection assemblies are known.
The wet mateable connection assemblies are configured to allow the cable connection to be realized directly undersea.
Known wet mateable connection assemblies utilize two connectors attached to the relevant cable ends, to be mated together. As disclosed, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,545, such connectors generally comprise a plug unit containing one or more contact probes and a receptacle unit containing an equivalent number of contacts or junctions for engagement with the contact probes, which extend into the receptacle unit when the units are connected to each other. Typically, the probes enter the container via one or more openings which are sealed when the connector elements are separated.
The installation of a wet mateable connection assembly on the seabed generally comprises:                providing on the seabed a first connector case, connected to a submersed cable;        providing a second connector case, connected to a submersible cable, in a position close to the first connector case,        moving one of the connector cases in order to put in contact the two connector cases.
The moving step comprises positioning one case in alignment with the other. This step is typically performed by operators or, when the depth exceeds the safety requirements, by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV).

Method for installing of a wet mateable connection assembly for electrical and/or optical cables


A method of deck construction using polymer plastic lumber. Firstly, form a frame structure. Secondly, provide a plurality of polymer plastic boards having at least one axially extending groove. Thirdly, secure each of the polymer plastic boards to the frame structure by means of clips having projecting tabs that fit into the axially extending groove of the polymer plastic board. This securely fastens the polymer plastic board to the frame structure while permitting the axially extending groove to move along the tabs of the fixed clips upon thermal expansion and contraction of the polymer plastic board.

As construction grade lumber becomes increasingly scarce and, consequently, more expensive, polymer plastic lumber has come into wide spread usage for building decks. The same construction techniques used with wood lumber have been used in the construction of decks out of polymer plastic lumber, with disastrous results. Unlike wood lumber, polymer plastic lumber experiences wide variations in length with variations in temperature. A 16 foot length of polymer plastic lumber may experience a variation in length of as much as 2 inches. During the coldest day of winter the polymer plastic lumber will have a length of 15 feet 11 inches. During the warmest day of summer the polymer plastic lumber will have a length of 16 feet 1 inches. This thermal expansion and contraction has the effect of pulling out fasteners and buckling materials.

Method of deck construction using polymer plastic lumber


A chip package device comprises on its outside surface a plurality of wire bonding electrodes adjacent a plurality of facedown electrodes. The chip package device comprises an IC chip having a plurality of chip electrodes on its face surface and a contact sheet having an inside surface on the face surface and comprising on the outside surface a plurality of conductor patterns which comprises portions extending through the contact sheet to the chip electrodes, respectively, and defines the facedown and the wire bonding electrodes. Such chip package devices can be mounted on a printed circuit board in whichever of a facedown and a wire bonding manner when primary and secondary pads are formed on the board for mechanical and electrical connection to the facedown electrodes, respectively, and for electric connection by bonding wires to the wire bonding electrodes, respectively.

This invention relates to a chip package device or unit and to a multi-chip module which comprises a plurality of chip package devices on a printed circuit board used as a mother board. The chip package device is, for example, a CSP (chip size or scale package) device.
Various manners are known on mounting an IC chip on a mother board. For example, Japanese Patent Prepublication (A) No. 288,245 of 1990 discloses a method in which the IC chip is mounted primarily in a facedown or flipchip manner directly on the mother board to provide an IC package according to a COB (chip on board) technique. A plurality of lead wires are preliminarily bonded to the IC chip and are "outer-bonded" to respective bonding lands formed on the mother board with the lead wires preferably fixed onto a polyimide film to provide a lead frame. As another example, Japanese Patent Prepublication (A) No. 5,649 of 1987 reveals an IC package having a predetermined number of pins including a power supply pin and a grounding pin and furthermore having a greater number of internal terminals which are connected to an IC chip and to the pins and includes at least one additional power supply terminal and at least one additional grounding terminal.
In any event, an IC chip has a face surface and comprises a plurality of electrodes on the face surface. These electrodes will herein be called facedown electrodes merely for convenience of the description which follows. The facedown electrodes are alternatively called electrodes for flipchip mounting. For mounting such an IC chip, a printed circuit board comprises a plurality of pads surrounding an area on which the IC chip can be supported. The pads are called the bonding lands heretobefore and will hereafter be called board pads. According to the above-cited Patent Prepublication No. 288,245 of 1990, the IC chip is mounted primarily facedown on the printed circuit board with the facedown electrodes electrically bonded to the board pads, respectively, by a plurality of bonding wires used as the lead wires. In this structure, the IC chip is mounted on the mother board in a facedown manner, which is known as a flipchip bonding (FCB) technique. According to the above-referenced Patent Prepublication No. 5,649 of 1987, the IC chip is faceup mounted, with the facedown electrodes connected to the internal terminals by the bonding wires, on a mother board which has the pins and on which the internal electrodes are used as the board pads. In this latter structure, the IC chip will be said to be mounted on the mother board in a wire bonding or bonded manner or structure.
On mounting the IC chip directly on the mother board, it is preferred that such IC chips are known good dice, as called in the art, on each of which all tests are already carried out. It is, however, impossible to perform all tests on each IC chip. This is because it is difficult to connect the lead wires to each IC chip for automatic control of the tests. If each chip is tested after mounted on the mother board, characteristics of the IC chip may be subjected to changes. This is because the IC chip is usually sealed in a resin overcoat on the mother board. The resin overcoat inevitably applies stress to the IC chip and a piezoelectric effect on its characteristics. It has consequently been the practice on mounting the IC chips on the mother board to take a certain margin into account in order to achieve a desirable yield.
When IC packages are mounted on the mother board, it is readily possible to test each IC package before mounting on the mother board. The wire bonding structure is therefore preferable insofar as the yield is concerned. It should, however, be noted in the manner described above that a conventional IC package has been one of those used in the facedown and the wire bonding manners. This has restricted a freedom in mounting such an IC package on the mother board.
In the meanwhile, a CSP device is recently developed in which the IC chip is covered with a contact or wired sheet which has an inside surface of a slightly greater area than a chip surface of the IC chip. This recent CSP device enables an electronic device small sized and compactly integrated on the mother board with a high integration density. The recent CSP device is for facedown mounting alone. It is difficult to adopt this CSP device to the wire bonding structure although the wire bonding structure provides merits of a raised reliability of visually confirming connection of the bonding wires to the facedown electrodes.
On the other hand, a CSP device is known as will later be described more in detail. In this CSP device which has an overall size of a known barechip in order to attain the high integration density, the contact sheet comprises the facedown electrodes on its outside or obverse surface in a grid-like configuration of a grid pitch of about 0.5 mm. With a solder ball or bump preliminarily formed on each facedown electrode and with the board pads with creamy solder formed on the mother board in correspondence to the facedown electrodes, the solder balls are brought into contact with the creamy solder of the board pads. An assembly of the mother board and such CSP devices is caused to pass through a heated furnace to make up a multi-chip module.
In general, such a CSP device has a fan-in structure in which the facedown electrodes are formed inside an outline of the device. This restricts the grid pitch and the number of the facedown electrodes.
The CSP device has various tasks which must be solved. One of the tasks is to get rid of a difficulty of applying a predetermined amount of the creamy solder to individual board pads. An unbalanced amount results in deterioration in mechanical attachment and electric connection between each CSP device and the mother board. More particularly, it is usual to mount the CSP device on the mother board together with other electronic components, such as resistors. The creamy solder is applied by screen printing. Under these circumstances, it is next to impossible to apply the creamy solder in an amount desirable for respective electronic components including the CSP devices.
Another of the tasks is to remove a difficulty in coping with a temperature cycle to which the multi-chip module is subjected. In more detail, the CSP device has a thermal expansion coefficient which is far smaller than the printed circuit boards. As a result, a damage takes place in a solder mass composed of each solder ball and the creamy solder when the multi-chip module is taken out of the furnace and also when the multi-chip module is subjected thereafter to a change in ambient temperature.
Still another task arises from the fact that the CSP device is for soldering alone. In other words, it is difficult to resort to the COB technique.

Chip package device mountable on a mother board in whichever of facedown and wire bonding manners


A dozing system for use in a bulldozer, which is capable of performing an automatic dozing operation, according to working conditions and soil properties in the field. In this system, data on the relationships of the actual traveling distance of the bulldozer with actual tractive force exerted on the blade, with the position of the cutting edge of the blade relative to the ground, with the ratio of the amount of excavated soil loaded on the front surface of the blade to the loading capacity of the front surface of the blade, and with the pitch angle of the blade are stored, and based on the stored data, the blade is controlled so as to assume the desired position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a dozing system well suited for use in bulldozers; and more particularly, to a technique for automating the work cycle of digging, carrying and dumping according to data input by operator teaching.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Normally, the dozing operation of a bulldozer is manually controlled by the operator. The operator manipulates the blade of a bulldozer by lifting, lowering, tilting and pitching in order to constantly maintain the forces exerted on the blade during digging and carrying of earth, while trying to avoid the running slippage (shoe slippage) of the vehicle body.
Such manually controlled dozing operation requires operator's skill. Moreover, the operator will get tremendous fatigue after frequent operation of the blade, no matter how skillful he is. Up to now, many attempts have been made to solve this problem and some automatic dozing techniques have been, in fact, put to practical use. One of such automatic dozing techniques is disclosed in Japanese Patent Examined Publication No. 55-36776 (1980), in which the lift amount of the blade is controlled according to the forces exerted on the blade. Another example, which is disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 7-48855 (1995), proposes automatic dozing which is performed by controlling the position of the cutting edge of the blade relative to the ground.
The conventional automatic dozing techniques including the above are not designed to take into account factors (such as, working conditions and soil properties in the field); and therefore, often encounter difficulties in meeting particular field conditions.
The objects of the present invention are to overcome the above discussed problems of the conventional art and to provide a dozing system for bulldozers which is capable of performing appropriate automatic dozing operation according to working conditions and soil properties in the field.


A composite thermal transfer sheet 100 comprising: a thermal transfer film 10 comprising a base film 11 and a heat-fusible ink layer 13 formed on the base film 11; and a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet 20 comprising a substrate 21 and at least one receptor layer 22 formed on the substrate 21, the thermal transfer film 10 and the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet 20 being peelably bonded at the sides of the heat-fusible ink layer 13 and the receptor layer 22 respectively, the receptor layer 22 including colorant and binder, the binder including pyroxyline or polyamide resin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a so-called composite thermal transfer sheet constructed of a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet having a receptor layer on a substrate and a thermal transfer film having a heat-fusible ink layer on a base film, peelably bonded to each other, such that the receptor layer of the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet and the heat-fusible ink layer of the thermal transfer film are peelably attached to each other.
The present invention also relates to a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet having a receptor layer on a substrate to be used for the composite thermal transfer sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a thermal transfer medium of a heat-fusible transfer type is often used for output prints of a computer, a processor or the like.
As one example of such a thermal transfer medium of the heat-fusible transfer type, a thermal transfer film of the heat-fusible transfer type is constructed of: a base film composed of a plastic film having a thickness of about 3.mu.m! to 20.mu.m! such as a polyester film or a cellophane film; and a heat-fusible ink layer, which is coated on the base film and which is composed of a mixture of vehicle (e.g. wax) and colorant such as pigment or dye.
When printing is affected on a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet using the aforementioned thermal transfer film, the thermal transfer film is supplied from a roll thereof, while a continuous or cut-sheet-like thermal transfer image-receiving sheet is also supplied, so that the former and the latter are superposed on each other on a platen. Then, in such a state, heat is applied to the thermal transfer film from the back side surface thereof by a thermal head, so that the heat-fusible ink layer of the thermal transfer film is melted and transferred to the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet. Therefore, a desired image is formed on the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet.
However, if the aforementioned thermal transfer film would be applied to a thermal printer used for printing on a heat-sensitive color-forming paper, a problem is posed as followings. Namely, the heat-sensitive color-forming paper develops coloring by itself (i.e. without the thermal transfer film). Therefore, the thermal printer used for printing on a heat-sensitive color-forming paper does not have any means for transporting the thermal transfer film. Thus, the thermal transfer film cannot be used in the aforementioned thermal printer.
In order to solve the aforementioned problem, the composite thermal transfer sheet is proposed. The composite thermal transfer sheet is constructed by peelably bonding a thermal transfer film and a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet. The thermal transfer film is constructed of a base film and a heat-fusible ink layer formed thereon, and a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet is constructed of, for example, a plain paper, a synthetic paper, a coated paper and so on. Further, the thermal transfer film and the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet are peelably bonded through a temporary adhesive layer formed on the heat-fusible ink layer of the thermal transfer film. Furthermore, in the composite thermal transfer sheet, the thermal transfer film is peeled from the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet after printing, and thus, an image is formed on the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet.
Here, The demand for various multicolor printing matter is increasing. Thus, it is required to provide a composite thermal transfer sheet for multicolor printing, which has a colored thermal transfer image-receiving sheet. By using the aforementioned composite thermal transfer sheet for multicolor printing, the contrast between the heat-fusible ink and the colored thermal transfer image-receiving sheet can be improved, and the visibility of the printing matter is improved, so that the attractive printing matter is produced.
However, in this case, If a colored sheet such as colored plain paper on the market would be used as the colored thermal transfer image-receiving sheet of the composite thermal transfer sheet for multicolor printing, the concentration of a letter printed on the colored sheet is not uniform, and the unevenness of transfer is occurred, so that the printing quality is not stable. Further, there are not many kinds of color of the colored sheet, so that it is difficult to obtain the color sheet which has a desired or favorite color.
Furthermore, there is a problem of the background pollution, which the ink included in the thermal transfer film is removed and adhered onto a blank portion of the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet, when composite thermal transfer sheet is preserved for a long period, or preserved in a condition of high temperature. If the colored thermal transfer image-receiving sheet is used, since the contrast between the heat-fusible ink and the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet is improved, the background pollution is more noticeable in the colored thermal transfer image-receiving sheet. Therefore, a preservation environment and a preservation period are considerably restricted.

Composite thermal transfer sheet and thermal transfer image-receiving sheet


There is disclosed a piezoelectric/electrostrictive body which has superior piezoelectric/electrostrictive properties and which exhibits a sufficient durability even in a case where a flexural displacement is repeated a large number of times. A piezoelectric/electrostrictive body 30 is constituted of a large number of crystal grains 31 having the piezoelectric/electrostrictive properties in the form of a film or a layer having one or more layers. A number ratio of crystal grains 32, a part of which is exposed to at least one of interfaces 35a, 35b between the bodies and the outside in a thickness direction, is 80% or more of a large number of crystal grains 31 observed in an arbitrary section in the thickness direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piezoelectric/electrostrictive body, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive laminate, and a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film type actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator has been known as an actuator capable of controlling a micro displacement of the order of sub-microns. Especially, in a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film type actuator, a piezoelectric/electrostrictive portion constituted of a piezoelectric/electrostrictive porcelain composition, and a piezoelectric/electrostrictive driving portion having an electrode portion to which a voltage is applied are disposed on a substrate made of a ceramic. This actuator is suitable for the control of the micro displacement, and additionally has superior properties such as a high electromechanical conversion efficiency, a high-speed response, a high durability, and a saved power consumption. These piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuators are used in various applications such as a piezoelectric pressure sensor, a probe moving mechanism of a scanning type tunnel microscope, a rectilinear guide mechanism in an ultra-precision working device, a servo valve for a hydraulic control, a head of a VTR device, a pixel constituting a flat panel type image display device, and a head of an ink jet printer.
Moreover, various investigations are also made with respect to the piezoelectric/electrostrictive porcelain composition constituting the piezoelectric/electrostrictive portion. For example, there is disclosed a Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3—PbTiO3—PbZrO3 ternary solid solution system composition or a piezoelectric/electrostrictive porcelain composition in which a part of Pb of the composition is replaced with Sr, La or the like (see, e.g., JP-B-44-17103 and JP-B-45-8145). It is expected that a piezoelectric/electrostrictive element having superior piezoelectric/electrostrictive properties (e.g., a piezoelectric d constant) is obtained with respect to a piezoelectric/electrostrictive portion itself that is the most important portion for determining the piezoelectric/electrostrictive properties of the piezoelectric/electrostrictive element.
In recent years, with a rapid industrial development, there is required to be developed a piezoelectric/electrostrictive body or a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film type actuator having more superior piezoelectric/electrostrictive properties that a sufficiently large displacement can be obtained even in a low electric field. However, it cannot be said that a conventional piezoelectric/electrostrictive body or the like sufficiently satisfies such requirement, and there is room for further improvement.
Moreover, in a case where a flexural displacement is repeated a large number of times, there are problems that structural disadvantages such as micro cracks are easily generated in the piezoelectric/electrostrictive portion, a durability rapidly drops, and initial piezoelectric/electrostrictive properties are not exhibited. Furthermore, since a disadvantage such as dielectric breakdown is also easily generated, there is a demand for development of a piezoelectric/electrostrictive body or a piezoelectric/electrostrictive film type actuator which exhibits a sufficient durability even in a case where the flexural displacement is repeated a large number of times.

Piezoelectric/electrostrictive body, piezoelectric/electrostrictive laminate, and piezoelectric/electrostrictive actuator


To reduce bad connections of a BGA optical module as an optical fiber interface during mounting by reflowing. An optical module includes: a substrate to which an optical fiber is connected and fixed and on which an electronic circuit, an optical circuit or the like is formed; a ball grid array provided on one face of the substrate as an electrical interface used when the optical module is mounted on a mounting substrate; a lid having a thermal conductivity provided on another face of the substrate; and a fiber routing mechanism provided in contact with the lid, the fiber routing mechanism having a thermal conductivity and shaped to enable the optical fiber to be wound around the fiber routing mechanism.

Against a background of rapid growth of the demand for telecommunications, active investigations are being carried out to increase the capacity of communication networks. As for optical modules, there is an intense demand for downsizing that allows improvement of the bitrate per unit volume and reduction of the power consumption of communication facilities. Ball grid array (BGA), which is an example of external electrodes, is a key technology for achieving the downsizing of optical modules through downsizing of electrical interfaces. BGA packages are mounted on substrates by reflowing and therefore are expected to lead to a reduction of the packaging cost (See Non-Patent Literature 1).

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


The present invention relates to a particulate textile treatment composition comprising silicone, clay and anionic surfactant, wherein the composition comprises at least three particulate components: wherein the first particulate component comprises silicone, clay and a first anionic surfactant; wherein the second particulate component comprises a second anionic surfactant; and wherein the third particulate component comprises a third anionic surfactant; wherein the concentration of the second anionic surfactant in the second particulate component is greater than the concentration of the third anionic surfactant in the third particulate component.

Laundry detergent compositions that both clean and soften fabric during a laundering process are known and have been developed and sold by laundry detergent manufacturers for many years. Typically, these laundry detergent compositions comprise components that are capable of providing a fabric-softening benefit to the laundered fabric; these fabric-softening components include clays and silicones.
The incorporation of clay into laundry detergent compositions to impart a fabric-softening benefit to the laundered fabric is described in the following references. A granular, built laundry detergent composition comprising a smectite clay that is capable of both cleaning and softening a fabric during a laundering process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,062,647 (Storm, T. D., and Nirschl, J. P.; The Procter & Gamble Company). A heavy duty fabric-softening detergent comprising bentonite clay agglomerates is described in GB 2 138 037 (Allen, E., Coutureau, M., and Dillarstone, A.; Colgate-Palmolive Company). Laundry detergent compositions containing fabric-softening clays of between 150 and 2,000 microns in size are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,101 (Tai, H. T.; Lever Brothers Company).
The fabric-softening performance of clay-containing laundry detergent compositions is improved by the incorporation of a flocculant to the clay-containing laundry detergent composition. For example, a detergent composition comprising a smectite type clay and a polymeric clay-flocculating agent is described in EP 0 299 575 (Raemdonck, H., and Busch, A.; The Procter & Gamble Company).
The use of silicones to provide a fabric-softening benefit to laundered fabric during a laundering process is also known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,563 (Busch, A., and Kosmas, S.; The Procter & Gamble Company) describes that specific organo-functional polydialkylsiloxanes can advantageously be incorporated in granular detergents to provide remarkable benefits inclusive of through-the-wash softening and further textile handling improvements. U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,968 (Canivenc, E.; Rhone-Poulenc Chemie) describes a process for the conditioning of textile substrates to allegedly impart a pleasant feel and good hydrophobicity thereto, comprising treating such textile substances with an effective conditioning amount of a specific polydiorganosiloxane.
Detergent Manufacturers have attempted to incorporate both clay and silicone in the same laundry detergent composition. For example, siliconates were incorporated in clay-containing compositions to allegedly improve their dispensing performance. U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,250 (Allen, E., Dillarstone, R., and Reul, J. A.; Colgate-Palmolive Company) describes agglomerated bentonite particles that comprise a salt of a lower alkyl siliconic acid and/or a polymerization product(s) thereof. U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,657 (Allen, E., Dillarstone, R., and Reul, J. A.; Colgate-Palmolive Company) describes a particulate heavy-duty laundering and textile-softening composition comprising bentonite clay and a siliconate. U.S. Pat. No. 4,482,477 (Allen, E., Dillarstone, R., and Reul, J. A.; Colgate-Palmolive Company) describes a particulate built synthetic organic detergent composition which includes a dispensing assisting proportion of a siliconate and preferably bentonite as a fabric-softening agent. In another example, EP 0 163 352 (York, D. W.; The Procter & Gamble Company) describes the incorporation of silicone into a clay-containing laundry detergent composition in an attempt to control the excessive suds that are generated by the clay-containing laundry detergent composition during the laundering process. EP 0 381 487 (Biggin, I. S., and Cartwright, P. S.; BP Chemicals Limited) describes an aqueous based liquid detergent formulation comprising clay that is pre-treated with a barrier material such as a polysiloxane.
Detergent manufacturers have also attempted to incorporate a silicone, clay and a flocculant in a laundry detergent composition. For example, a fabric treatment composition comprising substituted polysiloxanes, softening clay and a clay flocculant is described in WO92/07927 (Marteleur, C. A. A. V. J., and Convents, A. C.; The Procter & Gamble Company).
More recently, fabric care compositions comprising an organophilic clay and functionalised oil are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,656,901 B2 (Moorfield, D., and Whilton, N.; Unilever Home & Personal Care USA division of Conopco, Inc.). WO02/092748 (Instone, T. et al; Unilever PLC) describes a granular composition comprising an intimate blend of a non-ionic surfactant and a water-insoluble liquid, which may a silicone, and a granular carrier material, which may be a clay. WO03/055966 (Cocardo, D. M., et al; Hindustain Lever Limited) describes a fabric care composition comprising a solid carrier, which may be a clay, and an anti-wrinkle agent, which may be a silicone.
The Inventors have found that the optimal balance of fabric-softness performance to good physical property profile of particulate textile treatment compositions that comprise silicone, clay and anionic surfactant occurs when a specific anionic surfactant concentration gradient exists across the population of particles that make up the textile treatment composition.

Particulate textile treatment composition comprising silicone, clay and anionic surfactant


In a hydraulic slide valve control for working cylinders with unequal piston speeds, in which the volume stream of the hydraulic working medium that loads the piston is adjusted to the prevailing piston speed and the direction of motion of the piston is set with a pilot-operated distribution valve, it is provided according to the invention that the redirecting valve (S3) is hydraulically pilot-operated with a pilot valve (A), which is adjustable by the control impulses for the working cylinder (1) and that between the pilot control paths (11, 12) from the pilot valve (A) to the redirecting valve (S3) a hydraulically pilot-operated control valve (B) is installed, through which runs one of the two volume streams of the hydraulic working medium, where a piston speed is assigned to each position of the control valve (B).

The invention pertains to a hydraulic slide valve control for working cylinders.
Hydraulic working cylinders are primarily used in mechanical engineering for the conveyance of kinetic energy in two opposite directions. This allows the back-and-forth motion of movable parts. The kinetic energy of such a hydraulic drive depends on the volume stream of the hydraulic medium that is directed to the respective side of the piston in the hydraulic cylinder. While in general the piston develops an essentially uniform speed in the back-and-forth travel in the hydraulic working cylinder, the invention provides that the piston is propelled over at least one of its paths at varying speeds. This satisfies practical requirements putting varying demands on the hydraulic drive. For example, it may be important to start the motion at a slow speed, then accelerate it in the medium range, and to slow it down again at the end of the motion. Another requirement consists of starting the motion at a high speed, slowing it down toward midrange and, if so required, bring it to a short halt, and then to accelerate it again at the end. These are only examples. In actual application a multitude of other combinations of motion courses may be required, for which in freely selectable sequence, the piston must be accelerated and delayed.
Such hydraulic working cylinders are known in principle. One of the known design forms provides for a volume control of the hydraulic volume stream, that corresponds to the respective piston speed in the working cylinder, through the hydraulic pressure generator. This requires as a rule volume adjustable pumps where, e.g., for a variable axial piston pump, the slope of the control level determines the respective volume stream. Such pumps are relatively costly. Furthermore, it is not always possible to provide such controlled pumps for the working cylinder. If such pumps are necessary in a control loop from which the control loop of the hydraulic working cylinder branches off, one may often not be able to directly realize varying piston speeds.

Hydraulic control device for working cylinders with unequal piston speeds


A milling cutter using a wedge to secure an insert within a pocket of the milling cutter wherein the wedge is tapered in both the axial direction and the radial direction. A screw urges the wedge within a tapered cavity to press the insert within the pocket along the axial wedge angle while rotation of the cutter creates centrifugal forces urging the wedge radially outward, thereby forcing the wedge against the radial wedge surface to further compress the insert within the pocket. The insert pocket may be extended to radially encompass the insert, thereby providing additional support against centrifugal forces for the insert.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to milling cutters and, more specifically, to a milling cutter having indexable inserts secured with a wedge-type clamp capable of high speed operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A major factor affecting the design of milling cutters utilizing indexable inserts about the periphery of the milling cutter body is the influence of centrifugal forces upon the indexable inserts and upon the hardware utilized to retain the indexable inserts within the milling cutter body. These centrifugal forces increase by the square of the rotational speed with a linear increase in rotational speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,665 discloses a rotary cutting tool utilizing a wedge clamp urging the insert against a pocket in the cutting tool. However, as the rotational speed of the cutter increases, the wedges which are restrained by pitch screws may move radially outward thereby lessening the compressive force upon the insert. At higher speeds the wedge may become disengaged from the insert thereby permitting the insert to fall from the cutter body.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,716,167 entitled "High Speed Cartridge Type Milling Cutter," assigned to Kennametal Inc. and hereby incorporated by reference, discloses a milling cutter utilizing a cartridge mounting mechanism having a dovetail configuration which is positively restrained within a matching dovetail configuration in the cutter body. Indexable inserts are connected to the cartridge utilizing tangentially mounted screws. While the insert cartridge may be restrained against outward radial movement during high rotational speeds, the mounting screw of the indexable inserts will be subjected to shear, and this will be a limiting factor in the rotational speed.
An object of the subject invention is to provide a milling cutter with indexable inserts clamped therein which is capable of securing the inserts within the milling cutter body such that the milling cutter body is tolerant of high speeds and such that the clamping force upon the insert by the milling cutter body increases as the rotational speed of the milling cutter increases.


A liquid ejecting head is operable to eject liquid toward a target medium. A medium supporting member is opposing to the liquid ejecting head and supporting the target medium from below. A liquid absorber is adapted to receive and absorb liquid ejected to the outside of the target medium. A holder is holding the liquid absorber and being detachably provided with the medium supporting member.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejection apparatus adapted to eject liquid on a target medium supported on a platen, and relates to a holder for a liquid absorber incorporated in the platen.
2. Related Art
For example, as an ink jet printer serving as a liquid ejecting apparatus, there is a type which performs printing without remaining any margin on the entire surface of sheet serving as a target medium, that is, which can execute a so-called marginless printing. In such an ink jet printer, a platen which supports paper and defines the position of the paper with respect to a printing head is provided with recesses for discarding ink droplets ejected outside of the edges of the paper. An ink absorber made of material such as polypropylene in a sponge state, which is high in porosity and good in ink absorbability, is integrally attached into the recesses for discarding ink. Such a configuration is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2004-155109A (JP-A-2004-155109).
In the aforesaid ink jet printer, an amount of ink capable of being absorbed into the ink absorber is limited. Thus, when the absorbed amount of the ink reaches the limited value, the ink absorber is required to be replaced. In this case, since the ink absorber is integrally attached to the platen, it is required to replacement the platen entirely. However, it is difficult to make the state of the platen after the replacement coincide completely with the state of the platen before the replacement, and so the printing state may change between the state before the replacement and the state after the replacement.

Holder for liquid absorber and liquid ejecting apparatus incorporating the same


There is provided a technique that includes: forming an oxide film containing a central atom X of a precursor on a substrate by performing a cycle a predetermined number of times, the cycle including non-simultaneously performing: (a) forming a first layer containing a component in which a first group is bonded to the central atom X on the substrate by supplying the precursor having a molecular structure in which the first group and a second group are bonded to the central atom X and having a bonding energy between the first group and the central atom X that is higher than a bonding energy between the second group and the central atom X, to the substrate; and (b) forming a second layer containing the central atom X by supplying an oxidizing agent to the substrate to oxidize the first layer, wherein in (a), the precursor is supplied under a condition in which the second group is desorbed and the first group is not desorbed from the central atom X contained in the precursor and the central atom X is adsorbed on a surface of the substrate in a state where the second group is desorbed from the central atom X and the bonding of the first group and the central atom X is maintained.

In the related art, as an example of processes of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a process of forming an oxide film on a substrate is often carried out by alternately repeating a step of supplying a precursor to the substrate and a step of supplying an oxidizing agent to the substrate.

Method of processing substrate, substrate processing apparatus, recording medium, and method of manufacturing semiconductor device


A holographic screen of a rear projection type for use in a projector for transmitting projection light received from a rear end of the projector onto a viewing surface. The holographic screen includes a holographic sheet having an incident surface for receiving projection light, a viewing surface for forming the projection light received by the incident surface into a viewable image, a plurality of protrusions disposed in parallel with each other for scattering the received projection light; and a plurality of light absorbers which are formed between the plurality of the protrusions on the viewing surface, for absorbing ambient light incident to the viewing surface. Thus, an image whose contrast is improved is displayed on a viewing surface.

The present invention relates to a rear projection screen for use in a projector, and more particularly, to a holographic screen for use in a rear projection screen.
A conventional rear projection screen contains a diffusion material. Rear projection screens commonly use a lenticular lens and a Fresnel lens. However, such a lenticular-Fresnel screen has a narrow angle of view and limited luminescence. As a result, a holographic screen has been proposed to overcome these problems.
Since holographic screens are manufactured easily once a master is fabricated and the features of the screen can be adjusted easily, holographic screens are popular in rear projection screens.
FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing a conventional holographic screen which is used as a rear projection screen. FIG. 1B is a sectional view cut along line 1--1 of the screen of FIG. 1A. The holographic screen, having a variety of shapes, comprises a Fresnel lens sheet 6 and a holographic sheet 8. The holographic screen is made of a polymer of a transparent acryl-group such as acryl and polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA). The Fresnel lens sheet 6 is located between a projection light source and the holographic sheet 8, and has an uneven shape on the surface opposite the light source, which varies a focal point of projection light incident from a light source, on the surface opposite the light source. Thus, the projection light transmitting the Fresnel lens sheet 6 has a substantially uniform light distribution on the surface of the holographic screen. The projection light output from the Fresnel lens sheet 6 is incident to the holographic sheet 8. The holographic sheet 8 is formed on the viewing surface of the holographic screen, and has a diffusion plate function for forming an image by scattering the light incident from the Fresnel lens sheet 6. Protrusions 4 constituting the holographic sheet 8 are formed on the viewing surface of the screen and are disposed in parallel with the vertical axis of the holographic sheet 8. The protrusions 4 are spaced from each other in predetermined intervals along the horizontal direction of the screen. Most of the light incident from the Fresnel lens sheet 6 projects onto the holographic sheet 8. The projection light incident to the holographic sheet 8 is scattered by the protrusions 4 to form an image.
However, due to low contrast, an image formed on the holographic screen is not completely discernable in ambient light.

Holographic screen having light absorbers for absorbing ambient light


Optical integrated circuits are disclosed having a gap traversing the lens or the waveguide grating and an actuator that controllably positions the optical integrated circuit on each side of the gap. As a result, the thermal sensitivity of the optical integrated circuits, for example, arrayed waveguide gratings, is mitigated. Also disclosed are methods for fabricating optical integrated circuits employing the gap and actuator.

The present invention relates to the art of optical integrated circuits and more particularly to apparatus and methods for providing arrayed waveguides having a center wavelength that is independent of temperature.
Optical integrated circuits (OICs) come in many forms such as 1xc3x97N optical splitters, optical switches, wavelength division multiplexers (WDMs), demultiplexers, optical add/drop multiplexers (OADMs), and the like. Such OICs are employed in constructing optical networks in which light signals are transmitted between optical devices for carrying data and other information. For instance, traditional signal exchanges within telecommunications networks and data communications networks using transmission of electrical signals via electrically conductive lines are being replaced with optical fibers and circuits through which optical (e.g., light) signals are transmitted. Such optical signals may carry data or other information through modulation techniques, for transmission of such information through an optical network. Optical circuits allow branching, coupling, switching, separating, multiplexing and demultiplexing of optical signals without intermediate transformation between optical and electrical media.
Such optical circuits include planar lightwave circuits (PLCs) having optical waveguides on flat substrates, which can be used for routing optical signals from one of a number of input optical fibers to any one of a number of output optical fibers or optical circuitry. PLCs make it possible to achieve higher densities, greater production volume and more diverse functions than are available with fiber components through employment of manufacturing techniques typically associated with the semiconductor industry. For instance, PLCs contain optical paths known as waveguides formed on a silicon wafer substrate using lithographic processing, wherein the waveguides are made from transmissive media, which have a higher index of refraction than the chip substrate or the outlying cladding layers in order to guide light along the optical path. By using advanced photolithographic and other processes, PLCs are fashioned to integrate multiple components and functionalities into a single optical chip.
One important application of PLCs in particular and OICs generally involves wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) including dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM). DWDM allows optical signals of different wavelengths, each carrying separate information, to be transmitted via a single optical channel or fiber in an optical network. For example, early systems provided four different wavelengths separated by 400 GHz, wherein each wavelength transferred data at 2.5 Gbits per second. Current multiplexed optical systems employ as many as 160 wavelengths on each optical fiber.
In order to provide advanced multiplexing and demultiplexing (e.g., DWDM) and other functions in such networks, arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWGs) have been developed in the form of PLCs. Existing AWGs can provide multiplexing or demultiplexing of up to 80 channels or wavelengths spaced as close as 50 GHz. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a conventional demultiplexing AWG 2 includes a single input port 3, and multiple output ports 4. Multiple wavelength light is received at the input port 3 (e.g., from an optical fiber in a network, not shown) and provided to an input lens 5 via an input optical path or waveguide 6.
The input lens 5 spreads the multiple wavelength light into an array of waveguides 7, sometimes referred to a waveguide grating. Each of the waveguides 7 has a different optical path length from the input lens 5 to an output lens 8, resulting in a different phase tilt at the input to the output lens 8 depending on wavelength. This phase tilt, in turn, affects how the light recombines in the output lens 8 through constructive interference. The output lens 8 thus provides different wavelengths at the output ports 4 via individual output waveguides 9, whereby the AWG 2 can be employed in demultiplexing light signals entering the input port 6 into two or more demultiplexed signals at the output port 4. The AWG 2 can alternatively be used to multiplex light signals from the ports 4 into a multiplexed signal having two or more wavelength components at the port 3.
One of the problems with optical integrated circuits, such as the conventional AWG 2 of FIG. 1 is temperature sensitivity. Since the waveguide material usually has a temperature dependent refractive index, the channel wavelengths of multi/demultiplexer shift as the temperature varies. This shift is typically of the order of 0.01 nm/E C in silica-based devices and 0.1 nm/E C in InP based devices. This wavelength shift can result in a loss of signal and/or cross talk in communication system(s) employing the AWG 2. As communication system(s) are designed with increasingly smaller channel spacing, even a small temperature dependent wavelength shift can have a significant effect on system performance. Presently, AWG=s must have active stabilization of the device operating temperature in order to perform acceptably. This stabilization is typically achieved by the addition of resistive heaters, temperature sensors, active electronics, and in some cases also thermoelectric coolers. Even though an AWG is a passive filter, currently it requires significant electronics and a few watts of power to operate effectively.
Accordingly, there remains a need for better solutions to temperature sensitivity in optical integrated circuits such as AWGs, which avoid or mitigate the performance reductions associated with conventional optical integrated circuits and provide for mitigation of active temperature stabilization and its associated costs.
The following presents a simplified summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of the invention nor delineate the scope of the invention. Rather, the sole purpose of this summary is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented hereinafter.
The present invention provides athermal optical integrated circuits and methods for athermalizing optical integrated circuits mitigating and/or overcoming the shortcomings associated with conventional optical integrated circuit(s) and other devices. The invention further comprises methods for fabricating OICs and for mitigating temperature sensitivity utilizing a groove and an actuator. Markedly lower power consumption also results from employing temperature responsive mechanical actuators in another aspect of the present invention.
According to an aspect of the present invention, an optical integrated circuit is provided that contains a base containing a first region and a second region separated by a hinge, and an AWG chip over the base, where a groove traverses one or more of one of the lenses and the waveguide grating, and an actuator connecting the first region and the second region of the base. The base and actuator have different thermal expansion coefficients. The actuator expands and/or contracts with temperature changes causing the first region and at least a portion of the AWG chip thereover to move with respect to the portion of the AWG chip over the second region. Thus, wavelength shift associated with waveguide temperature dependent refractive index can be mitigated.
According to another aspect of the present invention, optical integrated circuit is provided that contains an AWG chip with a groove traversing one or more of the lenses and the waveguide grating. The AWG chip contains a first region and a second region connected by a hinge and separated by the groove. An actuator connects the first region and the second region of the AWG chip. The AWG chip substrate and actuator have different thermal expansion coefficients. The actuator expands and/or contracts with temperature changes causing the first region of the AWG chip to move with respect to the second region. Thus, wavelength shift associated with waveguide temperature dependent refractive index can be mitigated.
Another aspect of the invention provides a methodology for fabricating an OIC capable of mitigating wavelength shift associated with waveguide temperature dependent refractive index. Fabrication of the OIC includes forming a groove in the AWG chip so that an actuator can induce relative movement between different portions of the chip in response to temperature changes.

Athermal AWG and AWG with low power consumption using groove of changeable width


A bore path alignment system for accurately determining a desired bore pitch for a ground-boring device. The bore path alignment system includes a first pole, a first tube adjustably positioned upon the first tube, a guide tube with a pitch instrument pivotally attached to the first tube, a second pole, and a second tube including a spotter strip adjustably positioned upon the first tube. The user positions the first pole into the ground surface where boring is to begin and the second pole above a location where a specific depth is required. The user positions the second tube containing the spotter strip according to the depth in the second location. The user then adjusts the angle of the guide tube until the spotter strip is aligned thereby allowing the user to determine the required boring pitch by the pitch instrument.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to ground boring systems and more specifically it relates to a bore path alignment system for accurately determining a desired bore pitch for a ground-boring device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Directional ground boring devices have been in use for years. Typically, a ground-boring unit is comprised of a base structure, a motor, and a shaft having a bit. The base structure supports the shaft at an adjustable pitch for boring through the ground.
The main problem with conventional ground boring devices is that they are relatively difficult to align the pitch to avoid objects within the ground such as power lines and gas lines. Another problem with conventional ground boring devices is that they often times engage objects within the ground. A further problem with conventional boring devices is that they require the user to xe2x80x9cguessxe2x80x9d as to the desired boring pitch based upon the surface terrain that can be difficult to ascertain.
While these devices may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for accurately determining a desired bore pitch for a ground boring device. Conventional ground boring systems require the user to xe2x80x9cguessxe2x80x9d as to the proper boring pitch to utilize.
In these respects, the bore path alignment system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of accurately determine a desired bore pitch for a ground boring device.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of ground boring systems now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new bore path alignment system construction wherein the same can be utilized for accurately determining a desired bore pitch for a ground boring device.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new bore path alignment system that has many of the advantages of the ground boring systems mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new bore path alignment system which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art ground boring systems, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises a first pole, a first tube adjustably positioned upon the first tube, a guide tube with a pitch instrument pivotally attached to the first tube, a second pole, and a second tube including a spotter strip adjustably positioned upon the first tube. The user positions the first pole into the ground surface where boring is to begin and the second pole above a location where a specific depth is required. The user positions the second tube containing the spotter strip according to the depth in the second location. The user then adjusts the angle of the guide tube until the spotter strip is aligned thereby allowing the user to determine the required boring pitch by the pitch instrument.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and that will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of the description and should not be regarded as limiting.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a bore path alignment system that will overcome the shortcomings of the prior art devices.
A second object is to provide a bore path alignment system for accurately determining a desired bore pitch for a ground-boring device.
Another object is to provide a bore path alignment system that allows for accurately boring above or below objects and utilities such as gas lines, water lines, telephone lines, and power lines.
An additional object is to provide a bore path alignment system that increases the efficiency of a bore job.
A further object is to provide a bore path alignment system that makes directional boring more accurate and easier.
Another object is to provide a bore path alignment system that is easy and simple to understand and operate.
A further object is to provide a bore path alignment system that is able to accurately determine the depth of a ditch and the pitch of a slope.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become obvious to the reader and it is intended that these objects and advantages are within the scope of the present invention.
To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, this invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings, attention being called to the fact, however, that the drawings are illustrative only, and that changes may be made in the specific construction illustrated and described within the scope of the appended claims.


A unitary valve trim assembly that can be easily installed in and removed from a valve body of a process control valve. The valve trim assembly includes a valve cage and a valve seat. The valve cage has a first projection that extends in a first direction that is perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the valve cage. The valve seat has a second projection that extends in a second direction, opposite the first direction, that is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. The second projection is arranged to engage the first projection to removably couple the valve seat to the valve cage.

Process control systems often employ sliding stem valves, such as gate valves, globe valves, diaphragm valves, pinch valves, etc., to control the flow of process fluids. Sliding stem valves typically include a valve body that defines a fluid flow path, a valve seat installed in the valve body, a closure member (e.g., a valve plug) disposed in the valve body, and a valve stem that operatively couples the closure member to an actuator that moves the closure member relative to the valve seat to control fluid flow through the fluid flow path. Sliding stem valves often include a sealing element arranged between the valve seat and the valve body to prevent leakage therebetween, and a valve cage to provide and/or achieve certain flow characteristics of the process fluid flowing therethrough. The valve cage, which can be dropped in the valve body onto the valve seat and the sealing element or can be integrally formed with the valve seat and the sealing element, typically surrounds the closure member to provide stability, balance, and alignment to the closure member. The valve seat, the cage, the closure member, and the valve stem are retained in the desired position by a bonnet that is removably secured to the valve body and accommodates the valve stem (which can then be coupled to the actuator).

Modular valve trim assembly for use in a process control valve


A fixing device includes a cylindrical fixing roller, an endless belt and a pressure member. The endless belt rotates along with the fixing roller. The endless belt is disposed at a position facing the fixing roller. The pressure member is disposed inside the endless belt. The pressure member pressurizes the fixing roller via the endless belt. The pressure member includes a contact member and an adjustment member. The contact member directly contacts with the endless belt. The adjustment member adjusts distribution of pressure given to the contact member.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a fixing device for fixing an image formed on a sheet of paper by a copier, a printer or a facsimile of an electrophotography system, and an image formation apparatus using the fixing device.
2. Related Art
There is an image formation apparatus of the electrophotography system such as a copier and a printer, in which a fixing device for fixing a toner image transferred to a record medium such as paper uses a belt nip system. This fixing device causes a recording medium to pass through a nip portion formed of a heating roll and an endless pressure belt having a contact member inside the periphery of the belt, to thereby fix the toner onto the recording medium.
The contact member usually is made of a rigid body such as metal. The contact member has a staircase shape on its bottom, so that dimension variations of adjacent members hardly affects the contact member and desired pressure distribution in the nip portion can be achieved. Further, the staircase shape facilitates optimization of the pressure distribution. Thus, in manufacturing the contact member according to the related art, metal material is extruded out of a mold to form an outer shape of the contact member and then, a complicated staircase shape at its bottom is formed by press working.
However, in order to form the contact member, the complicated staircase shape is formed on the bottom of the contact member by press working as mentioned above. Thus, manufacturing of the contact member requires time and labor and the cost increases.

Fixing device and image formation apparatus