Disclosed are an oxide superconductor, and an optimum process for producing the same. The oxide superconductor comprises a base material phase including an oxide superconducting material, the oxide superconducting material including barium (Ba) at least and being free from grain boundaries, and precipitation phases contained in an amount of 1 to 50% by volume in the base material phase and dotted therein in a manner like islands, the precipitation phases being oxides of a metal selected from the group consisting of silicon (Si), aluminum (Al), zirconium (Zr), magnesium (Mg), titanium (Ti), strontium (Sr), tungsten (W), cobalt (Co) and vanadium (V), and being products of decomposition reaction of the base material phase. In the production process, the constituent materials are treated thermally at a partially melting temperature in order to give the above-described novel structure to the oxide superconductor. Thus, the precipitation phases are dotted in a manner like islands in a sea of the base material phase being free from the grain boundaries, and the precipitation phases work as the pinning centers. Therefore, the oxide superconductor exhibits a high "Jc" value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oxide superconductor including barium (Ba) at least, and to a process for producing it. The oxide superconductor prepared by the present invention has a high critical current density, and is an extremely useful material for a superconducting wire, a superconducting tape and other applications.
2. Description of Related Art
In 1986, it was discovered that La-Ba-Cu-O oxide exhibited a sharply dropped electric resistance at around 30K. Since the discovery, the research and development on oxide superconductors have been carried out very actively. At present, Y-Ba-Cu-O oxide is known as a high temperature superconductor which has high critical temperature of around 90K, and it is investigated for many applications.
When making a superconducting magnet, it is required to make the superconductor into a wire or a tape. Accordingly, the superconductor has been first filled in a sheath comprising copper (Cu), silver (Ag) or the like. Then, the sheath filled with the superconductor is swaged and rolled, and thereafter it is heat treated.
Despite its name, a superconductor, it is impossible to flow a current over a certain critical value. The critical value is critical current density (hereinafter abbreviated to "Jc"). The "Jc" plays the most important role for characterizing the superconductor for an actual applications. However, other than superconductors formed in thin films, no "Jc" at a practical level value has not been attained so far. Therefore, an improved "Jc" value has been longed for a superconductor formed in a wire or a tape.
The presence of the grain boundaries and the magnetic flux pinning force has been known as causes which influence the "Jc" value greatly. Namely, it has been known that the presence of the grain boundaries causes to decrease the "Jc" value in polycrystalline sintered bodies. Further, it has been also known that precipitated particles work as pinning centers and improve the "Jc" value.
Accordingly, there has been proposed recently a production process, which relates to a melting method or the like, as set forth in an extra issue of a magazine, "Yoyu-En (Molten Salt)" Vol. 32, No. 3. The production process eliminates the grain boundaries from a Y-Ba-Cu-O oxide, and disperses the precipitates produced by melting and decomposing in the Y-Ba-Cu-O oxide. Since the Y-Ba-Cu-O oxide has no grain boundaries, and since the precipitates produced by melting and decomposing work as the pinning centers of magnetic flux, a high "Jc" value can be obtained by the production process.
According to the production process, i.e., a melting method as described above, an oxide powder is first heated at a high temperature, and thereafter the molten oxide is cooled rapidly so as to decompose the compositions. Then, precipitation phases to be the pinning centers and superconductor phases having no grain boundaries are generated by re-heating and slow cooling. In the production process, however, it is hard to control precisely the conditions during the rapid cooling, and it is also hard to control precisely the amount, grain size, distribution and the like of the precipitates produced by melting and decomposing. In addition, the product must be treated further under a grading temperature condition in order to obtain an oriented structure. Thus, the production process results in an increasing man-hour requirement.
Further, when producing a superconductor wire with a silver sheath, a thermal treatment is required at a temperature of the melting point of silver (i.e., 960.degree. C.) or less. However, in the case of YBa.sub.2 Cu.sub.3 O.sub.7-x, the grain boundaries are generated when it is heated and sintered at around 960.degree. C., and no high "Jc" value can be obtained accordingly. On the other hand, when a copper sheath is used, the heating and sintering temperature can be raised to 1000.degree. C. securely. However, since oxygen does not permeate through the copper sheath, and since copper takes oxygens from the oxides disposed in the copper sheath, there occurs an oxygen insufficiency in the copper sheath. Therefore, the copper or copper alloy sheath has not been used recently, and the expensive silver sheath is inevitably used at present. Thus, a degree of freedom is very limited in the selection of an oxide superconductor.

Oxide superconductor and process for producing the same

International Superconductivity Technology Center


An optical element for use in an optical pickup apparatus includes a substrate made of resin; an antireflection layer coating the substrate and having a low refractive index layer and a high refractive index layer,                wherein the resin includes a polymer with an alicyclic structure, the low refractive index layer is formed of a material selected from the group consisting of silicon oxide; aluminum fluoride; yttrium fluoride; magnesium fluoride; a mixture of silicon oxide and aluminum oxide; and a mixture thereof, the high refractive index layer is formed of a material selected from the group consisting of scandium oxide; niobium oxide; lanthanum oxide; praseodymium titanate; lanthanum titanate; lanthanum aluminate; yttrium oxide; hafnium oxide; zirconium oxide; tantalum oxide; a mixture of tantalum oxide and titanium; silicon nitride; and a mixture thereof.

Recently, research and development of high density optical disk system capable of recording and/or reproducing information by the use of a semiconductor laser emitting violet light with wavelength of about 400 nm are rapidly progressed. For example, by an optical disk system for recording and/or reproducing information according to the specification of NA0.65 and light source wavelength of 407 nm, can reduced information of 20 to 30 GB per on one surface of a 12 cm optical disk which is the same size as a DVD having NA of 0.65, light wavelength of 650 nm, memory capacity of 4.7 GB (cf. patent document 1).
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Tokkai No. 2003-303436.

Optical element and optical pickup apparatus


An inflator mounting structure for a passenger's air bag system is formed of an inflator having a cylindrical body portion charged with a gas producing agent, and a retainer retaining the inflator therein and having an opening in its side for inserting the inflator thereinto. Further included is a bushing made of a resin or rubber and interposed between the inner circumference of the opening of the retainer and the outer circumference of the inflator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inflator mounting structure for a passenger's air bag system and, more particularly, to a structure having a cylindrical inflator fixed in a retainer.
2. Description of the Related Art
An inflator mounting structure for a passenger's air bag system according to the prior art will be described with reference to FIG. 2.
In the passenger's air bag system, as designated at 10, an air bag 14 is folded in a retainer 12, which has its front opening covered with a lid 16. An inflator 18 is disposed at the back of the retainer 12. Numeral 20 designates a partition plate which is made of a punched metal for allowing gases to pass therethrough.
A retainer 12 is formed with a first opening 22 at its one side face and a second opening 24 in its other side. Into the first opening 22, there is inserted a shaft portion 26 at the leading end of an inflator 18. By fastening a nut 30 on the external thread formed in the shaft portion 26, the inflator 18 is fixed in the retainer 12.
The inflator 18 has its rear end fitted loosely in the second opening 24. This second opening 24 is formed to admit the inflator 18 thereby to insert the shaft portion 26 into the first opening 22 when the inflator 18 is to be mounted in the retainer 12.
Due to the gap between the inner circumference of the second opening 24 and the outer circumference of the rear end of the inflator 18, the inflator mounting structure of the prior art described above has a problem that an abnormal noise is caused when the rear end of the inflator 18 abuts against the inner circumference of the second opening 24.

Inflator mounting structure for a passenger's air bag system


Sputtering targets having a reduced burn-in time are disclosed that comprise: a) a heat-modified surface material having a substantially uniform crystallographic orientation, wherein at least part of the surface material was melted during heat-treatment, and b) a core material having an average grain size. Sputtering targets are also disclosed that include a heat-modified surface material having network of shallow trenches, alternating rounded peaks and valleys in the surface of the target or a combination thereof, wherein at least part of the surface material was melted during heat-treatment, and a core material having an average grain size. Methods of producing sputtering targets having reduced burn-in times comprises: a) providing a sputtering target comprising a sputtering surface having a sputter material and a crystal lattice, and b) heat-modifying the sputtering surface in order to melt at least part of the surface material and modify the crystal lattice. Methods of producing a sputtering target having a reduced burn-in time are also disclosed comprising: providing a sputtering target having a sputtering surface, wherein the sputtering surface comprises a damage layer, and modifying the sputtering surface by deplating a layer of material, pulsed-plating a layer of material or a combination thereof.

Electronic and semiconductor components are used in ever increasing numbers of consumer and commercial electronic products, communications products and data-exchange products. As the demand for consumer and commercial electronics increases, there is also a demand for those same products to become smaller and more portable for the consumers and businesses.
As a result of the size decrease in these products, the components that comprise the products must also become smaller and/or thinner. Examples of some of those components that need to be reduced in size or scaled down are microelectronic chip interconnections, semiconductor chip components, resistors, capacitors, printed circuit or wiring boards, wiring, keyboards, touch pads, and chip packaging.
When electronic and semiconductor components are reduced in size or scaled down, any defects that are present in the larger components are going to be exaggerated in the scaled down components. Thus, the defects that are present or could be present in the larger component should be identified and corrected, if possible, before the component is scaled down for the smaller electronic products.
In order to identify and correct defects in electronic, semiconductor and communications components, the components, the materials used and the manufacturing processes for making those components should be broken down and analyzed. Electronic, semiconductor and communication/data-exchange components are composed, in some cases, of layers of materials, such as metals, metal alloys, ceramics, inorganic materials, polymers, or organometallic materials. The layers of materials are often thin (on the order of less than a few tens of angstroms in thickness). In order to improve on the quality of the layers of materials, the process of forming the layer—such as physical vapor deposition of a metal or other compound—should be evaluated and, if possible, improved.
In addition to improving the quality of the layers of materials that are deposited or applied to surfaces, users also want to improve the length of time components, such as sputtering targets, can be used before their effective lifetime diminishes. In other words, users are looking to get the most out of starting materials, such as those found on a sputtering target, in order to decrease costs and maintenance time.
In a typical vapor deposition process, such as physical vapor deposition (PVD), a sample or target is bombarded with an energy source such as a plasma, laser or ion beam, until atoms are released into the surrounding atmosphere. The atoms that are released from the sputtering target travel towards the surface of a substrate (typically a silicon wafer) and coat the surface forming a thin film or layer of a material. Atoms are released from the sputtering target 10 and travel on an ion/atom path 30 towards the wafer or substrate 20, where they are deposited in a layer.
When a sputtering target is initially utilized, there is a period of time called the "burn-in time" where the surface of the target is "cleaned" of any contaminants or surface deformities in order to produce stable films on surfaces. This burn-in time is usually measured in kilowatt hours. Depending on the method of manufacturing and finishing the sputtering targets, burn-in time can be severely impacted because of surface imperfections and debris. One of the problems with a long burn-in time is that this extended time impacts productivity and overall cost of ownership of the sputtering targets.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,030,514 issued to Dunlop et al. addresses the extended burn-in time problem by utilizing non-mechanical methods to clean and polish the surface of targets before covering the target with a metal enclosure and optionally a passivating barrier layer. The metallic enclosure is designed to help reduce the burn-in time, along with the method of cleaning step. The metallic enclosure or metal layer is an additional step in the process, which can add cost and production time to the product. In this patent, the methods of laser ablation and chemical etching are utilized to remove surface contaminants or bulk material from the surface; however, a portion of the surface is removed during either or both treatments. It would be desirable to merely reduce the overall crystallographic mis-orientation of the surface through annealing and to create the fine network of rounded peaks and valleys that cause burn-in to occur at a faster rate than normal without changing the weight of target.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,315 discloses methods of polishing and etching the target surface to reduce burn-in, but this patent cites minimization of the surface roughness as a critical aspect of the invention. In reality, surface roughness alone has nothing to do with the sputter performance of the target, since a fully burned-in target will have a very high surface roughness on the order of the average grain size of the target. The disclosure suggests that the surface roughness needs to be less than 1 micron Ra. In reality, the target should perform well with a surface roughness as high at 50 microns Ra (assuming a nominal 50 micron grain size), as long as the surface protuberances are not sharp enough to introduce arcing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,284,111 is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,315, but claims a surface roughness range of 0.4 to 4 microns. The target with the surface described in this patent can potentially work to reduce burn-in, but only if combined with a method such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,233 where the bulk of the target has a uniform texture. Targets containing bands of strong preferred orientation can still exhibit very long burn-in times, sometimes up to one fifth of the total target life, even if the surface of the target is free of crystallographic damage.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,632,869 discloses the use of a pre-texturizing method such as machining a grooved pattern into the surface of the target in order to artificially roughen the target surface to mimic the high roughness of a sputtered surface, modify the electric field lines and draw the plasma closer to the surface to increase the sputter rate. Unfortunately, by machining grooves into the target surface, the machining action will propagate crystallographic damage deeper below the surface of the target than flat machining would do. Distortion of the crystal lattice can be more than 3 times the depth of the machine cut. A depth of 0.05 millimeters, as disclosed in the patent can mean an increased sub-surface damage depth of 150 microns or 0.15 mm (generally, three times the depth) or more, which can have the effect of actually prolonging burn-in time rather than reducing it. Chemical etching alone would not distort the crystal lattice, but achieving the cited roughening action through chemical etching would likely require an etch chemistry harsh enough to cause deep pitting, which would result in sharp edges on the target surface and in turn encourage arcing and subsequent particle generation.
U.S. Patent Publication 2005/0040030 also discusses reducing the burn-in time of a target by dry treating the sputtering target using a sputtering ion plasma, however, this publication reduces the burn-in time of the target in a vacuum chamber, as opposed to pre-treating the surface material. The utilization of a vacuum chamber can add costs and maintenance time to the production of the target.
U.S. Patent Publication 2007/0215463 discloses similar subject matter to the other patents and patent applications described herein—and that is utilizing a pre-conditioning method to remove part of the sputtering target surface, but there is no discussion regarding heat-treating the surface material in order to melt it and thereby affect the crystallographic orientation without removing material from the surface. As a matter of fact, this publication discloses annealing the surface of a target, and suggests that the temperature ranges from 400-1000° C., however, this process is in no way designed to melt the surface material of the target, because it is significantly lower than the melting point of many desirable materials, such as tantalum, which has a melting point above 2000° C.
To this end, it would be desirable to produce a sputtering target that a) can be produced with a minimal amount of residual surface damage, b) can be produced to minimize burn-in times by at least 10% as compared to conventional sputtering targets, c) can be produced to minimize surface and near surface distortions of the crystallographic orientation, d) can be produced with a uniform, band-free crystallographic orientation, and e) can be produced efficiently.

Manufacturing design and processing methods and apparatus for sputtering targets


The present disclosure provides an air grille assembly for use especially with air conditioning and heating ducts, having a detachable grille constructed of a relatively thick material, such as wood, synthetic wood, vinyl or the like. The grille can mount against the structure and be coupled to a housing of thinner material that can fit in a standard-sized opening, and leave enough room for a standard-sized filter commensurate with such opening. Further, the disclosure can also provide an air grille assembly having a detachable grille with an exposed exterior frame with no movable or visible hardware, and can be removed from a housing by lifting the grille frame straight up or over, angling out the bottom and then sliding in the opposite direction. The grille assembly can be coupled into a structure's opening, and can include flanges to help ensure proper mounting without the use of special tools.

Heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems require both a supply duct system for output to the occupied space of a building structure and a return air duct system to re-circulate conditioned back to the HVAC system. Supply ducts have grilles that serve to diffuse the air going into the room and return air ducts have grilles that hide the view of the ducts or filters, as the case may be. To clean the circulated air, an HVAC system has filters in one of two locations in the return air portion accessible for periodic cleaning and replacement. The accessible locations are either immediately behind the return air grille or at the HVAC unit, which is typically in an attic or basement. When the filter is located just behind the grille, the grille assembly needs to provide easy access for filter removal and replacement. When the filter is located at the HVAC unit, the grille assembly needs to provide easy access for duct cleaning since dirty air is being returned through those ducts to the HVAC system.
Since return air grilles are most often prominently located and visible in the building, they do not commonly have visible screws or latches to hold them in place, unless they are "fixed" grilles which use visible screws to hold them in place. Even then, hiding the screw heads is preferable, if possible.
When a return air duct is located in a wall or ceiling and requires easy access behind the grille without visible screws, access is most commonly accomplished with a two-part assembly. One part is a framed housing designed to hold both the grille and a standard-sized filter and be screwed or nailed into a return air duct opening. The second part is either (i) a hinged grille attached to the framed housing or (ii) a removable grille with hardware that "catches" movable hardware (such as rotatable latches, pins, and screws), holes or "dimples" in the framed housing.
Currently, the most common return air grille assemblies are designed using only one material, both the framed housing and the hinged or removable grille. Materials most commonly used for such assemblies are metal, such as aluminum or steel, where the assemblies are generally manufactured by "stamping" relatively thin metal, often as thin as 0.030.″ Further, HVAC systems are typically designed with sizes contemplating the use of standard-sized return air openings, standard-sized removable air filters, and correspondingly sized steel or aluminum return air grilles. For example, one industry standard-sized opening has a nominal size of 20″×25″. The actual opening in the structure is about ⅛″ to ½″ larger across the face of the opening, such as side to side, to allow the housing to fit therein. The filter size also has a nominal size also of 20″×25″ with an actual size of about ¼″ to about ½″ less across the face of the filter to fit inside the relatively thin housing. The next smaller standard-sized opening for both dimensions is 18″×20″ and the next larger standard-sized opening is 20″×30″.
In less common instances, wood or wood-like material is used, which includes both (i) the visible grille and (ii) the framed housing that affixes at the return air opening. However, current wood grille designs pose installation problems and often require additional costs associated with modifying the opening or the grille's hardware for adequate installation.
The first problem occurs when installing a wood return air grille and its wood housing in an opening designed for a standard-sized metal grille assembly. Since the dimensions of a standard-sized opening accommodate a metal grille assembly that holds a commensurate standard-sized filter, such openings do not account for the additional thickness that a wood framed housing presents, assuming the same size filter is being used. Therefore, the standard-sized opening could only accommodate a smaller wood frame and commensurate smaller filter than the prior housing and filter, thereby restricting air flow in the return air system.
For those wishing to have a wood housing and grille with at least the same size filter, existing openings must be torn out and reframed (or new openings specially dimensioned) to a larger opening size to accommodate the thicker material of the framed housing.
Renovation requires modifying the opening of the sheetrock, wood paneling, or even brick or stone, as well as the framing behind it and, in most cases, is prohibitively expensive. This is one major reason wood return air grilles are rarely found in existing homes. Even with new construction, installation problems arise from the inexperience of contractors trained to work around industry standards and norms. Often, the opening is built incorrectly and requires on-sight modifications.
In the above example of the standard-sized opening with a nominal size of 20″×25″, the extra thickness of the wood framed housing with the wood grille precludes the use of the same size filter. Thus, the structure opening would have to be torn out or a smaller standard-sized filter used, such as with an 18″×20″ nominal size. Yet, the smaller size restricts air flow and can affect performance of the entire HVAC system.
Another wood grille commercially available attempts to solve the above size problem by completely eliminating the housing and simply installing the wood grille into the structure opening without the housing. However, problems persist with this design. First, this design can require that the opening be wider than one for a metal grille assembly, thus requiring modification of the opening. An additional problem results from this design's reliance on movable clasps that can be unreliable at holding the grille in the structure opening in the event the grille is inadvertently pulled, knocked, or requires a ceiling installation.
The second problem with some existing wood air grille assemblies is that the housing frame may not easily install flush with the wall or ceiling, in contrast to the standard metal grille assembly. A standard metal grille assembly installs a housing substantially flush with the wall or ceiling, and the housing accepts the grille for attachment to the housing. With some current wood designs, there is no mechanism or design feature to prevent the housing frame from being either "pushed" beyond the plane of the wall surface or "pulled" tight with the wall surface. When using hardware that hinges, catches or locks the two components of the assembly, it is important to install the framed housing even or "flush" with the wall surface for the mechanism to connect accurately and as designed. This could cause the frame to extend from the wall, or worse, inadvertently fall out. This problem can occur with both new construction and renovations.
A related issue with existing HVAC systems and return air grille assemblies is the ease of the grille's removal for access to the filter or duct space and yet provide a secure attachment to the framed housing. This access is accomplished with either a single-piece removable grille alone or with a two-part return air grille assembly. For the single-piece removable grille that does not use a housing, the return air grille has movable hardware fasteners that (i) holds the filter to the grille and (ii) affixes directly into the opening, which requires alterations to accommodate the thickness of the grille frame and movable hardware. This type of grille uses retaining clips to snap into a rough opening without the housing, where screws must be precisely positioned on the wall framing, so these screws catch the retaining clips.
For the two-part removable assembly, there are obstacles that current designs pose in addition to practical installation challenges. Current designs of both wood and metal grilles commonly have an exposed grille frame that is larger than the return air opening to conceal the rough edges of the return air opening in the wall. However, the size of an exposed grille frame that extends beyond the housing, such as a wood grille frame, is generally too large to hinge to the smaller housing and still allow the grille sufficient space to rotate away from the housing without hitting the structure. A larger, specialty hinge would obstruct a filter's installation or removal, so that would not be an option. This size difference helps explain why current wood grille designs require the grille to be inserted straight in without angling. Such grille assemblies typically utilizes movable hardware fasteners, such as a separable snap lock or "bullet catch," retaining clip, or the like. The grille assembly hardware must align with other hardware, such as a separable snap lock receiving end, screw, or the like, that are attached to the framed-housing component or rough opening in the wall in such a way that all the hardware fits or aligns properly to work together. Further, there is the potential cost of additional time and effort on the part of the homeowner or contractor to re-install the hardware if it is not installed properly.
A second installation challenge stems from the lack of flexibility that current designs offer if an installation error occurs. With the current design, the hardware must align precisely. Sometimes problems occur outside the grille or grille assembly itself, such as a wall framing for the return air opening being built out-of-level or out-of-square, or with the grille and/or its frame being misaligned, possibly causing the compatible hardware components to misalign and not work properly.
The third installation challenge is mitigating the potential for accidents once the grille is installed, especially when the design does not include a safety latch. Even when installed and all pieces are working properly, grilles without latches are designed to "pull out" from the return air opening or framed housing. A child holding onto the grille for support or bumping the grille could cause the grille to dislodge and fall, causing injury to the child. The potential for this problem is exacerbated by any warping or bending of the removable/retractable grille or its framed housing.
Therefore, there remains a need for an air grille assembly that can be made of thicker materials and still fit within a standardized opening, such as from a prior metal air grille assembly installation, while allowing a standardized filter to fit within the present assembly. There also remains a need for an improved securing and detachment system for the grille that minimizes manufacturing and installation costs.


According to this invention, there is provided a plasma display panel without reduction of luminance and with good contrast. The plasma display panel with high luminance and good contrast is provided by forming a photoreflection or photoabsorption layer for minimizing reflection of external light on the rear side of a fluorescence layer to directly radiate light emitted to the viewing side from the fluorescence layer as display light, and by reducing a reflectance on the fluorescence layer to below 25% in terms of reflection of external light which may cause contrast reduction.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a plasma display panel, in particular a plasma display panel with high luminance and high contrast.
2. Description of the Related Art
For improving image quality of a plasma display panel, for example, JP-A 8-287834/1996 has disclosed a technique of forming a photoabsorption layer on the viewing side of the panel. FIG. 3 shows a schematic sectional view of a cell as an example of a plasma display panel of the prior art.
In a color panel, each fluorescence layer 9 is colored in R(red), G(green) and B(blue) corresponding to luminescent colors of individual cells. UV generated in a discharge space cell is radiated on the fluorescence layer 9 to emit colors assigned to individual fluorescence layers.
In addition, light observed in the viewing side includes external light besides emission light. It is light generated by reflection of incident light into the cell from the outside, on the fluorescence layer 9 and a dielectric layer 11. It may increase luminance of black display, leading to reduction of contrast ratio. To remove the external light, a photoabsorption layer 15 is formed.
The photoabsorption layer plays a role as a dielectric layer required in AC type drive, i.e., a drive procedure in which voltages with different polarities are alternately applied to a discharge cell for light emission. External light passes through the photoabsorption layer 15 twice, i.e., at incidence and reflection. On the other hand, since emission light passes once, reducing a transmission may allow contrast to be improved.
There has been disclosed, for example in JP-A 8-138559/1996, a technique for effectively taking emission light in which a wavelength-selective reflection film is formed on a rear side for effectively reflecting only emission light. Specifically, a wavelength-selective reflection film is formed on the rear side of the fluorescence layer to reflect emission light from the fluorescence layer to the rear side for effectively utilizing the emission light.
JP-As 3-190039/1991 and 3-246857/1991 have disclosed a technique in which a fluorescence layer is formed on the rear-substrate side and a technique in which a reflection film is further formed on the rear-substrate side.
One problem in the prior art is that a display luminance is reduced due to a photoabsorption layer for improving display contrast. Display luminance may vary depending on a transmission of the photoabsorption layer. A resulting display may be of high contrast and low luminance or of low contrast and high luminance.
An adequately high quality of image cannot be, therefore, displayed because a photoabsorption layer is formed on the viewing-side substrate and a reflectance of the fluorescence layer is high.

Plasma display panel with photoreflection/absorption


A printing device includes a function adding unit detachable to the printing device; a display unit for displaying an error message; a detection unit for detecting that the function adding unit is attached to the printing device; and a device control unit for controlling the display unit to display the error message when the function adding unit is not attached to the printing device.

The present invention relates to a printing device having a function of storing device information.
A conventional printing device may be provided with a detachable non-volatile memory, and a printing collection information file is created in the detachable non-volatile memory. The printing collection information file includes a file that a printing device collects consumption information upon each printing. In such a printing device, when the printing collection function is turned on for collecting the consumption information (device information) upon each printing, a count or information of the device information in the printing collection information file is updated. The update is performed every time when the printing device prints or performs various operations, thereby collecting the device information.
There may be a case in which the printing device is turned off while the printing collection function is turned on, and the detachable non-volatile memory is removed from the printing device while the printing device is turned off. In this case, when the printing device is turned on again, it is recognized that the printing device does not have the printing collection information file. Accordingly, the printing device prints without performing the printing collection function, i.e., without collecting the device information.
A conventional printing device may be provided with a detachable auxiliary functional unit (option functional unit). In such a printing device, when the printing device is turned on or re-set, it is determined that the option functional unit is attached to the printing device. When the option functional unit is attached to the printing device, a corresponding control program is designated from a program memory according to a type of option functional unit, so that the option functional unit becomes functional. When the option functional unit is not attached to the printing device, the printing device completes a main operation as is (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 05-345457).
There may be a case in which the printing device is turned off while the printing collection function is turned on, and the detachable non-volatile memory is removed from the printing device while the printing device is turned off. In this case, when the printing device is turned on again, it is recognized that the printing device does not have the printing collection information file. Accordingly, the printing device prints without performing the printing collection function, i.e., without collecting the device information.
When the printing device prints without collecting the device information, it is difficult to accurately collect the device information. When a charging operation is performed based on the printing collection, it is difficult to accurately perform the charging operation. Further, it is difficult to recognize the option functional unit attached in advance by a user.
In the printing device disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 05-345457, when the printing device is turned on or re-set, it is determined that the option functional unit is attached to the printing device. When it is determined that the option functional unit is not attached to the printing device, a result is not notified externally.
In view of the problems described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a printing device capable of accurately collecting device information. When a charging operation is performed based on the printing collection, it is possible to accurately perform the charging operation. Further, it is possible to recognize an option functional unit attached in advance by a user.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.


This driving system can reduce ripple components included in the output torque of reluctance type motors. During a driving operation of a motor (3), a data selecting readout unit (51) decodes an output of an A/D converter (18a) which corresponds to a command exciting current value fed from a supply current control circuit, and selects one of memories (51a to 51e) corresponding to the command exciting current value. Further the torque ripple data from the selected memory is successively read out in accordance with an address output of an address counter (57) that is renewed every time a shaft encoder (6) sends out an output and, in turn, supplies it through a D/A converter (59) to the current supply control circuit (61). The current supply control circuit corrects the command exciting current based on the torque ripple data, and controls actuation of the motor by the corrected command exciting current to remove the torque ripple in the motor output torque.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving system for a reluctance type motor, particularly to a driving system capable of removing torque ripple components included in output torque of the reluctance type motor preferable for use as driving sources for various apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There has been known a reluctance type motor which comprises a stator having a plurality of magnetic poles and a rotor having a plurality of salient-poles and causes the rotor to rotate by magnetic attraction interacting between sequentially excited magnetic poles of said stator and corresponding salient-poles of said rotor facing the excited magnetic poles. The reluctance type motor has advantages such as remarkably large output torque, good efficiency, and inexpensive cost, but to the contrary, has a disadvantage such as limited application due to its large torque ripples. That is, in the reluctance type motor, remarkably large torque is generated shortly after salient-poles begin to face the magnetic poles. On the other hand, the torque becomes small just before the salient-poles completely face the magnetic poles.
Accordingly, output torque is generated with ripple components. And further, as exciting current increases, a curve representing the relationship between torque and rotor rotational angle increases its height as well as generating a point of its peak value advanced earlier. Therefore, conventional reluctance type motors cannot be used as driving sources for precise servo-motors etc. which need to satisfy the requirement that the torque ripple must be limited to less than a few % of the output torque under the condition that the reluctance type motor is driven with less than 30% of the rated output torque.
For removing torque ripples in a DC-motor with a magnetic rotor, there is known a technology that changes the exciting current in accordance with the rotational angle of the rotor (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application No. SHO 55-44555). According to this proposed technology, a curve representing the relationship between the torque and the rotor rotational angle for the DC-motor becomes flat and therefore torque ripple can be removed. That is, the torque-rotational angle curve merely varies in a similar way in response to the increase and decrease of the exciting current in a DC-motor. However, in reluctance type motors, this torque-rotational angle curve varies in a complicated way in response to the increase and decrease of the exciting current. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain a flat torque characteristic by removing torque ripples

Driving system for reluctance type motor


In a processor having an address translation table, a method includes providing a logical address and control signal. When the control signal has a first value, a first physical address is provided corresponding to the logical address, and when the control signal has a second value, a second physical address is provided. The first physical address and the second physical address are stored in at least one valid entry of the address translation table. In one case, the first physical address is stored in a first valid entry having a tag field which matches the logical address and the second physical address is stored in a second valid entry having a tag field which matches the logical address. Alternatively, the first physical address is stored in a first field of a first valid entry and the second physical address is stored in a second field of the first valid entry.

Data processing systems frequency include a variety of types of memories, some of which may have different timing specifications. If the data processing system is used in a real-time application system, it may be useful during development to temporarily overlay small blocks of readily programmed memory, such as SRAM (Static Random Access Memory) over a portion of more difficult to program memory such as flash EEPROM (electrically erasable programmable read only memory) or ROM (read only memory) in order to allow the values obtained form the memory to be temporarily changed more readily. Additionally, in control systems a calibration process is commonly implemented prior to final production in which there is a remapping of pages of memory that contain different control parameters for purposes of fine tuning final production control parameters. For example, to fine tune or calibrate the behavior of an application, a set of program constant that application code is accessing may have to be modified by a user using an external tool connected to the processing system. The set of program constants must be made available coherently to the application code, and usually at some specific location in the execution of the code.
For development purposes address translation information is therefore required to be altered for one or more pages of memory by an external agent, such as a software or hardware development tool. Because a memory management unit (MMU) in a processing system can only be manipulated by an associated processor, the altering of address translation information may require the halting of the processor's execution to permit address translation alteration by a debug or scan port. Alternatively, the processor may be interrupted to permit software to remap the addressing. The remapping of memory is typically an intrusive operation that negatively effects system operation.
Skilled artisans appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

Processor and method for altering address translation


The invention provides a novel semiconductive silicone rubber roller suitable for use as a development roller in a photocopying machine exhibiting high performance with stability and long durability. The rubber roller is prepared by (A) forming a cylindrical layer of a semi-conductive silicone rubber on and around a metallic core mandrel, (B) irradiating the surface of the rubber layer with ultraviolet light and (C) coating the ultraviolet-irradiated surface of the rubber layer with a silane coupling agent.

The present invention relates to a semiconductive rubber roller or, more particularly, to a rubber roller of which the cylindrical rubber layer on and around a conductive core mandrel has semiconductivity and suitable for use in a development unit of a photocopying machine as a development roller or as a toner-transfer roller.
It is known that a so-called semiconductive rubber roller consisting of a core mandrel of an electroconductive material such as metals and a semiconductive rubber layer on and around the core mandrel is used in a development unit of a photocopying machine, which is a device to visualize the electrostatic latent images built up in a photosensitive drum as a latent image carrier, by using a triboelectrically charged toner in the form of a thin layer on the outer surface of a toner carrier of which the surface layer is made from a semiconductive rubber. The semiconductive rubber layer in the semiconductive rubber roller is required to have an adequate electroconductivity, high weatherability to withstand adverse ambient conditions, low rubber hardness and good triboelectric chargeability. In this regard, the semiconductive rubber layer is formed usually from a rubber composition composed of a urethane rubber, NBR or silicone rubber as the base component with admixture of an electroconductivity-imparting agent which is an ionically conductive compound or an electroconductive filler.
As a method for controlling the quantity of electrostatic charges borne on the toner carrier, an article entitled "Contact Charging of Aminosilane-treated Silica Particles" by T. Oguchi, et al. appearing in "Shikizai" (Coloring Materials), volume 56 (9), pages 630-636 (1982) teaches that the quantity of contact charges can be controlled by adequately selecting the kind and amount of the polar groups such as amino and hydroxyl groups to be adsorbed on the surface of the toner particles.
As is known, the chargeability of an organic compound is determined by the electron-accepting and electron-donating behavior of the molecules constituting the compound. According to an article entitled "Capturing Surfaces and Interfaces with Static Electricity" by T. Oguchi appearing in "Hyomen" (Surface), volume 33, No. 3 (1995), the electron-accepting group, i.e. acidic group, is exemplified by nitro, halogen and sulfone groups and an organic compound having these groups introduced into the molecular structure exhibits negative chargeability while the electron-donating group, i.e. basic group, is exemplified by amino and ammonium groups and an organic compound having these groups introduced into the molecular structure exhibits positive chargeability. Japanese Patent Kokai 61-173270 discloses a triboelectrically chargeable blade as an application of the above mentioned information.
It is usual that the conventional semiconductive rubbers for semiconductive rubber rollers based on a urethane rubber or NBR are compounded with various kinds of process oils and softening agents with an object of decreasing the rubber hardness. Since these oily additives added in the rubber necessarily cause the phenomenon of bleeding on the surface of the roller, the surface of a semiconductive rubber roller is usually provided with a protective coating layer from a resinous material such as urethane resins and nylon resins. A problem in such a resin-coated semiconductive rubber roller is that the weatherability of the resinous coating layer is not always very high so that, when the semiconductive rubber roller is kept prolongedly in an atmosphere of high temperature and high humidity, the resinous ingredient in the coating layer is subject to a hydrolysis reaction to cause troubles that the rubber roller adheres to the photosensitive drum or the chargeability behavior of the semiconductive rubber roller is greatly affected depending on the changes in the ambient temperature and humidity in an extreme case. Furthermore, the chargeability characteristic of conventional semiconductive rubber rollers relative to toner particles is more or less dependent on the ambient conditions so that the distribution of electrostatic charging is sometimes very broad resulting in defective development with grayish background or so-called fogging due to local deficiency of electrostatic charging.
On the other hand, a semiconductive rubber roller using a semiconductive silicone rubber has excellent stability and little dependency on the ambient conditions in the chargeability characteristic against negatively charged toner particles with very uniform distribution of charging though with a problem that the trouble of fogging in printing is sometimes caused due to insufficient transfer of the static electricity to the toner particles but this measure is not very satisfactory because of the frequent occurrence of fogging in the initial stages under adverse ambient conditions of high temperature and high humidity.


A bicycle chain includes a plurality pairs of outer plates and inner plates. Each pair of the outer plates is connected at two opposite ends to two pairs of the inner plates by connectors connected to the inner plates. Each connector has a rivet extending therethrough and two ends of the rivet are respectively connected to the two opposite ends of the outer plates. Each rivet has a protrusion extending radially outward from the outer periphery thereof and the protrusion is in contact with an inner periphery of a central passage of the connector corresponding thereto. There is a gap defined between the rivet and the inner periphery of the central passage so that the chain has more flexibility.

A conventional bicycle chain 90 is shown in FIG. 12 and generally includes a plurality of inner plates 94 and outer plates 93, each of the inner plates 94 has two first holes and each of the outer plates 93 has two second holes. Two connectors 92 are connected between two parallel inner plates 94 and two respective ends of each connector 92 are engaged with the first holes of the two parallel inner plates 94. Two outer plates 93 are located outside of two sets of the inner plates 94 and two ends of the two outer plates 93 are connected to two adjacent ends of the two sets of the inner plates 94 by extending two rivets 92 through the two connectors 92 at the two adjacent ends of the two sets of the inner plates 94. Two ends of each pin 91 are engaged with two respective second holes of the two parallel outer plates 93. By this way, the inner plates 94 and the outer plates 93 are continuously connected to form a loop of the chain 90 as shown in FIG. 13.
However, the conventional chain 90 is stiff and lacks flexibility so that when the chain 90 is shifted from one gear to another, a noise is generated and might not be precisely shifted to desired position. This is because there is no gap defined between the rivets 91 and the connectors 92. On the contrary, if the rivets 91 are made to be smaller than the size of the central hole of the connectors 92, the structural strength will not be strong enough to bear the severe operation of the chain 90.
The present invention intends to provide a chain that has better flexibility while the structural strength is maintained.


An expansion ring assembly for sealing a gasket within an opening in the wall of a structure, the assembly including a drive mechanism having a pair of block members each having a threaded bore, and a bolt having oppositely threaded ends respectively threaded within the bores. The block members are removably engaged with respective ends of the expansion ring. An oversleeve is disposed in overlapping relationship with the expansion ring ends, and the expansion ring ends and the oversleeve include cooperating ratcheting structures. Rotation of the bolt of the drive mechanism in a first direction causes the block members to move outwardly along the bolt to expand the expansion ring and concurrently sequentially engage the ratcheting structures of the expansion ring ends and the oversleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an expansion ring assembly, and associated method, for sealing an annular gasket to a rigid structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In underground pipe systems, it is often necessary to connect a pipe in a sealed manner within an opening in the wall of a rigid structure, such as a manhole riser or monolithic base, for example. Typically, an annular, flexible elastomeric gasket is placed within the opening in the wall, followed by fitting an expansion ring against the interior surface of the gasket. Thereafter, an expansion mechanism is used to radially expand the expansion ring and lock same in an expanded condition in which the gasket is sealingly compressed between the expansion ring and the opening in the wall of the structure. Finally, a pipe is inserted through the gasket, and one or more clamps are installed around a portion of the gasket which extends from the wall to sealingly compress the extending portion of the gasket between the clamps and the outer surface of the pipe. In this manner, a sealed connection is made between the pipe and the structure.
One known expansion ring assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,150,927, assigned to the assignee of the present invention. This assembly includes an expansion ring, or compression sleeve, having ends with ratcheting teeth. An arcuate locking section overlaps the expansion ring ends and includes two sets of ratcheting teeth in respective engagement with the ratcheting teeth of the expansion ring ends. A scissors-type, hinged installation tool, usually operated with a hydraulic drive device, is used to expand the expansion ring such that the ratcheting teeth of the ring ends sequentially engage the ratcheting teeth of the locking section until the expansion ring has been expanded to a desired extent. Thereafter, the installation tool is removed from the expansion ring, and the ratcheting engagement between the expansion ring ends and the locking section maintain the expansion ring in its expanded condition.
Although the foregoing expansion ring assembly is effective for installing a gasket within an opening in a structure, the scissors-type installation tool and hydraulic drive device can be heavy and cumbersome to use in the field during installation.
To address the foregoing concern, another known expansion ring assembly includes a drive mechanism having a pair of block members with oppositely threaded bores therethrough, and a bolt having oppositely threaded ends threaded within the respective threaded bores of the block members. The bolt additionally includes a central nut which may be engaged by a suitable tool to rotate the bolt. The block members are respectively engaged with opposite ends of the expansion ring, and rotation of the bolt in a first direction simultaneously drives the block members apart from one another along the bolt to radially expand the expansion ring. The foregoing expansion ring assembly is discussed in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/280,917, entitled EXPANSION RING ASSEMBLY, filed on Oct. 25, 2002, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Among other advantages which are discussed in detail in the above-incorporated U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/280,917, the drive mechanism of the foregoing expansion ring assembly is easily operated with a simple tool such as a torque wrench, for example, allowing easy installation of the expansion ring assembly in the field. However, after the drive mechanism is actuated to expand the expansion ring and sealingly compress a gasket against an annular opening in a structure, the drive mechanism must remain in place to maintain the expansion ring in its expanded condition and in turn maintain compression of the gasket against the annular opening in the structure. This increases the overall cost of each expansion ring assembly.
What is needed is an expansion ring assembly which is an improvement over the foregoing.

Expansion ring assembly with removable drive mechanism


The present invention provides a method for the staining of fungi and microsporidia for observation with a light microscope based upon the presence of chitin in the composition of these organisms. With the method of the present invention a sample to be analyzed is treated with a solution of Ponceau S and Stains-all dye. The sample is then selectively decolorized and rinsed. The resulting sample is examined with a light microscope, or photographed for a permanent record, to identify the presence of a variety of microorganisms, to include fungi and microsporidia.

This invention is a novel method of staining and detecting protozoa and fungi for observation under a light microscope, and with application to the qualitative and quantitative detection of microsporidia in environmental water samples.
Fungi and microsporidia can be differentiated from other microorganisms based on their chitin content. Current dyes used to stain chitin in fungi and microsporidia are based on fluorescent optical brighteners (Review by Ruchel et al., 2001), requiring a fluorescent microscope for observation. Details are not observable by this method.
A need exists in the art for the identification of the characteristic structures in microsporidian spores, including but not limited to thick spore walls, vacuole, belt-like stripe and sporoplasm, that can be implemented using a light microscope, and recorded using a digital camera.


An interface for users to gain access and manipulate unstructured data is provided. In response to receiving a user query associated with a first database format, a system can request unstructured data associated with a second database format from a second database. The unstructured data can include a set of data groups where each data group has a set of values. Each value can be associated with a different tag. To generate a structured database, some embodiments can determine the number of data groups and the number of unique tags across the data groups and populate the table with data from the unstructured data. Subsequently, the system can apply the user query to the table to obtain a query result and transmit the query result to the user device.

The present disclosure relates generally to, among other things, the accessing of data in an electronic environment, and in particular to dynamically transforming unstructured data into structured data based on a user query.
As the number of computing users increase, machine data generated by applications, systems, and information technology infrastructure that run a business increases. Specialized search engines (e.g., Splunk®) can sort through vast amounts of unstructured and dynamic machine data (also referred to as unstructured data) such as event logs, performance information, file system information, etc. and provide the compiled data to users. However, the complexity of the unstructured data presented to users prevents many users from freely comprehending, accessing, and manipulating the data. Additionally, unstructured data such as event logs is constantly generated by the bulk, constantly changing and is fairly unpredictable. This adds to the difficulty in using such unstructured data. It is therefore desirable to provide new methods and system for accessing unstructured data.


A method and system for creating geometry for ADAS are described. Link chains, which are a sequence of segments, are created. The link chains are used to create 2D splines. The link chains, the 2D splines, and height data are used to create 3D splines. The 3D splines and possibly the 2D splines are converted to Bezier curves, which can be used to create a 2D polyline. ADAS applications can use the Bezier curves and the 2D polylines to provide ADAS functions.

ADAS was developed to improve the comfort, efficiency, safety, and overall satisfaction of driving. Examples of these advanced driver assistance systems include adaptive headlight aiming, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and control, curve warning, speed limit notification, hazard warning, predictive cruise control, adaptive shift control, as well as others. Some of these advanced driver assistance systems use a variety of sensor mechanisms in the vehicle to determine the current state of the vehicle and the current state of the roadway in front of the vehicle. These sensor mechanisms may include radar, infrared, ultrasonic, and vision-oriented sensors, such as digital video cameras and LIDAR.
Some advanced driver assistance systems also use digital map data. These systems are sometimes referred to as map-enhanced ADAS. The digital map data can be used in advanced driver assistance systems to provide information about the road network, road geometry, road conditions, and other items associated with the road and terrain around the vehicle. Unlike some sensors, the digital map data is not affected by environmental conditions, such as fog, rain, or snow. In addition, the digital map data can provide useful information that cannot reliably be provided by sensors, such as curvature, grade, bank, speed limits that are not indicated by signage, lane restrictions, and so on. Further, digital map data can provide a predictive capability well beyond the range of sensors or even beyond the driver's vision to determine the road ahead of the vehicle, around corners, over hills, or beyond obstructions. Accordingly, the digital map data can be a useful addition for some advanced driver assistance systems.
The map-enhanced advanced driver assistance systems commonly use data from a geographic database associated with a navigation system in a vehicle. The navigation system database contains data that represents the road network in the region, such as the locations (geographic coordinates, including altitude) of roads and intersections, road names, speed limits along roads, turn restrictions at intersections, addresses or address ranges along roads, the number of lanes for each road, lane width, lane markings, functional classes of roads, the locations of medians, and so on. The navigation system database may also contain information about other geographic features, such as bodies of water, parks, administrative areas (including municipal, state, and country boundaries), and locations of points of interest, such as businesses, hospitals, police stations, and so on.
The navigation system database has much more data than an advanced driver assistance system needs. Additionally, a geographic database designed for navigation may not have all the data and/or may not have data with the accuracy levels needed by the advanced driver assistance system. As a result, there has been some effort in designing a geographic database specifically for advanced driver assistance systems. For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2006/0100780 describes a geographic database having a data storage format designed for a sensor device in a motor vehicle system. However, there is room for improvement in a geographic database designed specifically for advanced driver assistance systems.

Creating geometry for advanced driver assistance systems


A damping device includes a support base, a housing, a pivot shaft, a resistance wheel, a magnetic disk, a fixing disk, an action block, two urging balls, and a motor. Thus, the fixing disk is pushed to move relative to the magnetic disk by rotation of the action block to change the distance between the magnetic members of the fixing disk and the magnetic disk, so as to adjust the damping force applied by the resistance wheel on the rear wheel of the exercising cycle, so that the resistance values of the damping device can be adjusted arbitrarily so as to fit the requirements of different users.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a damping device, and more particularly to a damping device for an exercising cycle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional damping device for an exercising cycle comprises a resistance wheel rested on the rear wheel of the exercising cycle for providing a damping effect to the rear wheel of the exercising cycle, thereby achieving the exercising effect. However, the resistance values of the damping device cannot be adjusted arbitrarily so as to fit the requirements of different users.


A retractable luggage handle assembly includes a base unit consisting of two outer sleeves, a retractable handle consisting of two retractable bars, two actuation members and a grip and mounted in the base unit and movable relative to the base unit between an extended position and a received position, and a pullback and buffer unit consisting of two rails, two sliding blocks, two movable member sets, two spring-loaded guide members, two buffers, and two locating caps and adapted for pulling the retractable bars back to the inside of the outer sleeves of the base unit and moving the buffers to buffer the movement of the sliding blocks when the user operates a control button at the grip to receive the retractable handle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to retractable handle technology and more particularly, to a retractable luggage handle assembly, which uses a pullback and buffer unit to automatically pull the retractable handle from the extended position back to the received position and to buffer the downward movement of the sliding blocks at the bottom side of the retractable handle after the user unlocked the retractable handle, preventing the collapsing retractable handle from making noise.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the rapid development of the society and continuous increasing of the national income, people gradually change their lifestyles, and due to the popularity and convenience of transport vehicles, people frequently take transportation vehicles for business travel, or for leisure and entertainment. When traveling, people usually will use a luggage to take their clothes, daily necessities, documents, and other personal items. To facilitate carrying, commercial luggage are commonly equipped with a retractable handle that can be extended out for enabling the user to drag the luggage, or received for enabling the user to store or deliver the luggage.
Conventional retractable luggage handle generally comprise a control button at the top side thereof for pressing by the user to unlock engagement members so that the user can pull the retractable handle from the received position to the extended position, or push the retractable handle from the extended position to the received position. However, if the retractable handle is not positively locked in the received position during delivery of the luggage, the retractable handle can be easily damaged. Further, when the user pushes the retractable handle from the extended position back to the received position, a noise can be made, resulting in user's psychological and emotional discomfort and shortening the lifespan of the luggage.

Merrimack River Precision Industrial Corporation


A surgical needle assembly for attachment to an ultrasonic handpiece includes an elongated metal cannula having a distal end and a proximal end. A hub is insert molded onto the cannula generally towards the cannula proximal end and formed from a material having an ultimate strength at least twice a peak cyclical stress force at a joint between the elongated metal cannula and the hub when the surgical needle assembly is in use with the ultrasonic handpiece. The hub material has a stiffness sufficient to limit a motion of the elongated metal cannula to less than 1.5 times an expected peak to peak stroke length when the surgical needle assembly is in use with the ultrasonic handpiece. The hub includes structure for mating attachment to the ultrasonic handpiece.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
The hub and shaft portions of ultrasonic phacoemulsification (phaco) needle assemblies used in, for example cataract surgery, typically are machined monolithically out of a rigid metal, most commonly titanium. Soft compliant tips have been proposed for the distal end of phaco cannula shafts, but the use of non-metal materials for the hubs has not been proposed. The metal hub and metal cannula shaft are rigid and strong enough to withstand the forces exerted by ultrasonic vibration and to efficiently transmit the ultrasonic vibrations from a vibration source through the hub and cannula for emulsifying tissue at the distal end of the needle assembly.
Molding materials, such as polymers, are more compliant than metal and are less efficient in transferring ultrasonic energy compared to metal. Multi-part irrigation (non-vibrating) needle assemblies have been proposed that included a compliant o-ring between a substantially straight shaft and a larger hub, but these are not intended to transmit ultrasonic energy. In addition, it is also known for injection needle assemblies to have a hub molded on a metal needle; again these needle assemblies are not intended to transmit ultrasonic energy and there is no indication that such needle assemblies would withstand ultrasonic vibration.
Machining a hub and needle assembly is expensive and becomes increasingly expensive and difficult as the cannula outer diameter becomes smaller, as the cannula length becomes longer, and as the cannula wall thickness becomes thinner. The difficulty of machining a hub and needle assembly was experienced when attempting to build needle assemblies for posterior ultrasonic vitreous removal described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/020,386 entitled Vibrating Surgical Device for Removal of Vitreous and Other Tissue. The ultrasonic needle assembly for vitreous removal is longer than a typical phaco needle assembly to enable the needle assembly to span across the posterior segment of the eye. The ultrasonic vitreous cannula also has a smaller outer diameter (OD) compared to a typical phaco cannula to allow the vitreous needle assembly to pass through entry alignment cannulas used in sutureless posterior surgery. It is also desirable for the ultrasonic vitreous cannula to have an inner diameter (ID) as large as possible to remove vitreous as efficiently as possible. Since the OD of the vitreous cannula is limited by the entry alignment cannula, to maximize the vitreous cannula ID, it is desirable to minimize the wall thickness of the vitreous cannula.
Further, it is desirable to create an ultrasonic surgical needle assembly that is of low enough cost to be a single-use, disposable needle assembly. Producing an ultrasonic surgical needle assembly at a cost to justify a single-use needle assembly and that can accommodate especially small gauge needle assemblies of longer than standard length with thinner than normal needle assembly wall thickness would be desirable.
Corresponding reference numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Ultrasonic surgical aspiration needle assembly with molded hub


A method and apparatus for the detection of excess or insufficient solder conditions at electrical connections on printed circuit boards are disclosed. The invention analyzes a cross-sectional image of an electrical connection to obtain the average solder thickness of the connection. This average solder thickness is then compared to an upper threshold value to determine if the connection is an excess solder defect, and a lower threshold value to determine if the connection is an insufficient solder defect. In one embodiment, the present invention compensates for variations in image intensity due to the background by employing a first and second correction factor in the calibration technique. The first correction factor is the measured background gray scale value local to the connection, while the second correction factor is determined to have a substantially linear relationship to the background image intensity local to each solder connection. The present invention further includes a process control feedback system which detects and compensates for trends in the solder application process. This helps to insure that defective solder joints are avoided before they are produced. In one embodiment, the process control feedback system is fully automated.

Rapid and precise quality control inspections of the soldering and assembly of electronic devices have become priority items in the electronics manufacturing industry. The reduced size of components and solder connections, the resulting increased density of components on circuit boards and the advent of surface mount technology (SMT), which places solder connections underneath device packages where they are hidden from view, have made rapid and precise inspections of electronic devices and the electrical connections between devices very difficult to perform in a manufacturing environment.
Many existing inspection systems for electronic devices and connections make use of penetrating radiation to form images which exhibit features representative of the internal structure of the devices and connections. These systems often utilize conventional radiographic techniques wherein the penetrating radiation comprises X-rays. Medical X-ray pictures of various parts of the human body, e.g., the chest, arms, legs, spine, etc., are perhaps the most familiar examples of conventional radiographic images. The images or pictures formed represent the X-ray shadow cast by an object being inspected when it is illuminated by a beam of X-rays. The X-ray shadow is detected and recorded by an X-ray sensitive material such as film or other suitable means.
The appearance of the X-ray shadow or radiograph is determined not only by the internal structural characteristics of the object, but also by the direction from which the incident X-rays strike the object. Therefore, a complete interpretation and analysis of X-ray shadow images, whether performed visually by a person or numerically by a computer, often requires that certain assumptions be made regarding the characteristics of the object and its orientation with respect to the X-ray beam. For example, it is often necessary to make specific assumptions regarding the shape, internal structure, etc. of the object and the direction of the incident X-rays upon the object. Based on these assumptions, features of the X-ray image may be analyzed to determine the location, size, shape, etc., of the corresponding structural characteristic of the object, e.g., a defect in a solder connection, which produced the image feature. These assumptions often create ambiguities which degrade the reliability of the interpretation of the images and the decisions based upon the analysis of the X-ray shadow images. One of the primary ambiguities resulting from the use of such assumptions in the analysis of conventional radiographs is that small variations of a structural characteristic within an object, such as the shape, density and size of a defect within a solder connection, are often masked by the overshadowing mass of the solder connection itself as well as by neighboring solder connections, electronic devices, circuit boards and other objects. Since the overshadowing mass and neighboring objects are usually different for each solder joint, it is extremely cumbersome and often nearly impossible to make enough assumptions to precisely determine shapes, sizes and locations of solder defects within individual solder joints.
In an attempt to compensate for these shortcomings, some systems incorporate the capability of viewing the object from a plurality of angles. The additional views enable these systems to partially resolve the ambiguities present in the X-ray shadow projection images. However, utilization of multiple viewing angles necessitates a complicated mechanical handling system, often requiring as many as five independent, non-orthogonal axes of motion. This degree of mechanical complication leads to increased expense, increased size and weight, longer inspection times, reduced throughput, impaired positioning precision due to the mechanical complications, and calibration and computer control complications due to the non-orthogonality of the axes of motion.
Many of the problems associated with the conventional radiography techniques discussed above may be alleviated by producing cross-sectional images of the object being inspected. Tomographic techniques such as laminography and computed tomography (CT) are often used in medical applications to produce cross-sectional or body section images. In medical applications, these techniques have met with widespread success, largely because relatively low resolution on the order of one or two millimeters (0.04 to 0.08 inches) is satisfactory and because speed and throughput requirements are not as severe as the corresponding industrial requirements. However, no laminography inspection system has yet met with commercial success in an industrial application because of shortcomings in precision and/or speed of inspection. This is because existing laminography systems have been incapable of achieving the high positional accuracies and image resolutions necessary to solve industrial inspection problems while operating at the speeds necessary to make them practical in a production environment.
In the case of electronics inspection, and more particularly, for inspection of electrical connections such as solder joints, image resolution on the order of several micrometers, for example, 20 micrometers (0.0008 inches) is necessary. Furthermore, an industrial solder joint inspection system must generate multiple images per second in order to be practical for use on an industrial production line. Heretofore, laminography systems have not been able to achieve these speed and accuracy requirements necessary for electronics inspection.
Laminography systems for the production of cross-sectional images have taken several forms. One system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,769 entitled "LAMINOGRAPHIC INSTRUMENT." The radiation source and the detector described therein are mechanically coupled to achieve the required geometry and synchronized motion of the source and detector. This type of system has the disadvantage of having to move the relatively high mass of some combination of high mass elements including the radiation source, object under inspection and detector. This becomes especially difficult when X-ray tubes and camera equipment are to be used. The speed of this system is severely restricted due to the fact that it is extremely difficult to move these relatively large masses rapidly and precisely. This system also has limitations on the resolution that can be obtained due to the imprecision and degradation over time of the many complicated moving parts.
In another system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,211,927 entitled "COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY SYSTEM," the mechanical motions of the radiation source and detector are electronically driven by separate stepper motors whose timing is controlled by the same computer. The motion of each component is referenced to a respective predetermined central calibration location. Thus, even though the source and detector are driven by the same computer, there is no direct link correlating the position of the source with the position of the detector. The performance of this system is also limited by the speed at which the massive radiation source and detector can be oscillated and by the precision, synchronization and stability of the moving parts.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,516,252 entitled "DEVICE FOR IMAGING LAYERS OF A BODY," a plurality of radiation sources, each fixed in space at a different location, is used in lieu of a single oscillating source. The location of an image detector is moved electronically in synchronization with the activation of the plural sources. While this approach eliminates the problems inherent with mechanically moving the radiation source and detector, it entails the disadvantage in cost of requiring multiple radiation sources. The resulting image quality is also degraded because the desired blurring of out of focus features is not continuous, but rather discretized, due to the finite number of radiation source positions. Thus, unwanted features remain in the image as a plurality of distinct artifacts.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,667,585 entitled "DEVICE FOR PRODUCING SCREENING IMAGES OF BODY SECTIONS" shows a stationary X-ray tube with the radiation source motion provided by electrostatic deflection of the electron beam in the X-ray tube, thus causing the electron beam to trace a path over the surface area of a flat target anode. Opposite the X-ray tube is a detector image tube containing electron optics which deflect the resulting electron image onto a stationary detector. The deflection circuit of the X-ray tube and the deflection circuit of the image tube are driven from the same voltage supply so as to simultaneously drive the motion of the X-ray source and the deflection of the resultant image in the detector. This system thus avoids many of the disadvantages associated with mechanically moving the radiation source and detector. However, this system has no provision for consistently maintaining the focus and energy of the electron beam as the beam is swept over the target surface. This causes the X-ray spot to vary in both size and intensity, which seriously limits the resolution achievable with the device. The use of electron optics to deflect the electron image also limits the detection resolution achievable with this device. This problem becomes especially severe as the image is deflected through large angles. Similarly, accuracy in the positioning of the X-ray spot is lost as the beam is deflected through severe angles. These characteristics substantially limit the resolution achievable with this technique. Furthermore, the technique is practical only for operation within a relatively small range of viewing angles, which limits the desired laminographic blurring effect of unwanted features and consequently limits the resolution in a direction normal to the plane of focus.
All of the above described laminography systems are directed to performing body section radiography and, as such, are not designed to produce high resolution images in rapid succession. Furthermore, such systems need not operate in a continuous duty cycle nor in an environment compatible with the manufacturing of electronics.
Many of the deficiencies found in presently used electronic inspection systems could be overcome with a high resolution, high speed laminographic inspection system. Such a system would be particularly well suited for the inspection of electrical connections such as solder joints in electronic assemblies. A high resolution laminograph of a solder joint should be capable of unambiguously revealing features in the solder joint which are indicative of the joint quality. Unfortunately, even though many attempts have been made to utilize laminographic techniques in industrial inspection environments, prior systems have consistently fallen short of optimum performance because of poor image resolution or prohibitively long inspection times, or both. Techniques previously used to improve resolution invariably resulted in long inspection times. Likewise, techniques previously used to decrease inspection time have generally sacrificed image resolution. A need thus exists for a high speed, high resolution industrial laminography system capable of inspecting electronics in industrial environments.
A particular type of solder defect is the deposition of too much solder on a connection pad, known as an excess solder defect, and the deposition of too little solder on a connection pad, known as an insufficient solder defect. Excess solder may result in the presence of solder on portions of the circuit board, the component, or the conductive pad regions, where solder is unnecessary or even detrimental to performance of the connection. Insufficient solder may result in poor fillet quality and may not provide sufficient strength to the connection between conductive pads of a component and circuit board. Thus, it is desirable to provide a procedure for detecting excess/insufficient solder defects which utilizes the advantages provided by laminographic circuit board inspection techniques.
In the past, methods for detecting excess/insufficient solder defects have been unduly complex, and many of these methods have been based on unreliable assumptions which lead to misleading measurements. In addition to this, some systems require that multiple procedures for detecting excess/insufficient solder defects be used. For example, in one prior system, separate procedures are used to detect excess solder on the bottom lead of a through-hole joint, excess solder on the top lead of a through-hole joint, and excess solder on the contact pad of a surface mount solder joint.
One obstacle with detecting excess/insufficient solder defects is that, with prior circuit board inspection systems, it is difficult to obtain an accurate measurement of the solder thickness of some types of solder joints. Thus, some systems attempt to determine solder thickness by indirect means such as measuring the angle at which solder bulges from a solder joint. One prior device takes multiple X-ray images of the same solder joint from different levels and angles in order to obtain information relating to the characteristics of the solder joint. Unfortunately, this technique is time consuming due to the multiple images which must be processed for each inspected solder joint. Also, each view requires that many different procedures be used for determining the characteristics of the solder connection. Thus, there also exists a need for a high resolution circuit board inspection device which can simply and accurately determine the characteristics of solder joints on a circuit board in a short time period.

Method and apparatus for detecting excess/insufficient solder defects


A detector system is disclosed herein that includes a plurality of light guides. Each light guide is guiding incoming light from a respective object in use, wherein the incoming light is provided by means of an illuminating means. The detector system comprises diffracting means for diffracting the incoming light in different wavelength ranges, at least one focuser for projecting the incoming light exiting the light guides onto the diffracting means, a detector having a detector area for receiving the diffracted light from the plurality of Sight guides, and a control unit. These are arranged to pulsate incoming light via only one light guide at a time based on a pulse timing parameter, and record a spectrum of light diffracted from each light guide and detected by the detector based on the pulse timing parameter.

There are a lot of different detector systems on the market today configured for a lot of different applications. One such application is the sorting bulk of objects, where the quality of the objects differs. Example of such objects may be different types of granules, such as grains. Such objects may be illuminated and the light reflected from or passing trough the object may be collected by a detector. The detector preferably generates a plurality of measurement variables, such that multivariate analysis may be performed in order to determine the quality of the object. Some detector systems comprises a standard spectrometer having a gate or port for incoming light. At the port there may be a grating or prism for diffracting the received light into different wavelength ranges. Also, such a detector system may comprise a number of mirrors and/or lenses for projecting the diffracted light onto the detector.
The most common detectors are made up by sensor arrays, i.e. there are a lot of small detectors or sensors arranged closely together. Such a detector is a Charge-Coupled Device, CCD, such as linear CCDs. It is also possible to use detectors in form of sensor arrays, without capacitors, provided with other amplification options.
The detector system may be arranged to detect different wavelength ranges. If an Indium Gallium Arsenic, InGaAs, diode array is used as detector; the normal range may be 900-1700 nm. If for example one diode array having 256 photodiodes is used, each photodiode will cover a wavelength range of 3,125 nm. Such a detector will have a resolution of 256 different wavelength ranges, ranging from 900 nm to 1700 nm and each being 3,125 nm wide. In use the amount of light that is collected by each pixel or photodiode will be monitored and a diagram showing the registered amount of light for each pixel or photodiode is called a spectrum. As for a camera it is often possible to select a time of exposure which is adapted to luminance of the object and the sensitivity of the pixels or photodiodes, i.e. how much light each pixel needs in order to get a good reading. There are also diode arrays, such as for example diode arrays based on Silicon, Si, which work in the wavelength range of 400-1050 nm. Such a Si diode array is much cheaper, but has the disadvantage that it predominantly needs more light in order to give qualitative reading, which indicates that the time of exposure needs to be longer than for the InGaAs diode array.
Devices for sorting objects, e.g. that referred to in WO2004/060585 A1, put high demands on the time for each exposure. Such a detector system is capable of sorting up to 250 granules per channel and second or 1 granule per each 4 ms.
However, there is a need for a detector system that gives readings from more pixels, including faster change of channel and lower delay, while simultaneously allowing for increased life span, lower light loss, but still being capable to determine an object characteristic with high accuracy.

Detector system comprising a plurality of light guides and a spectrometer comprising the detector system