An imaging apparatus for capturing a moving image performs backlight correction of an image and outputs a natural image. The imaging apparatus electronically captures an image of a subject. An optical system has a light amount adjustment function. An imaging unit reads an optical image of the subject that is formed by the optical system. An A/D converter subjects an output of the imaging unit to A/D conversion. A backlight correction unit converts the tones of an image read by the A/D converter using a conversion characteristic selected differently according to a spatial position and at least increases the luminance level of a dark region of the image. An instruction unit instructs to start backlight correction. A control unit operates the backlight correction unit based on an instruction signal output from the instruction unit, and decreases an exposure light amount of the optical system by a predetermined amount.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus that appropriately captures an image of a scene in which a main subject is dark and a scene with a large dynamic range, an imaging method used in the imaging apparatus, an integrated circuit that functions as the imaging apparatus, and a storage medium storing an imaging program used in the imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Imaging apparatuses, such as a digital still camera for capturing still images and a digital video camera for capturing moving images, capture images in the following manner. In an imaging apparatus, an optical system focuses light and forms an image through exposure control, and a solid-state image sensor, such as a CCD (charge-coupled device) image sensor or a CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) image sensor, converts the image to electric signals, which are analogue image signals. In the imaging apparatus, a circuit that performs signal processing, such as analogue front end processing, then processes the analogue image signals, and an A/D (analogue-to-digital) converter converts the analogue image signals to digital image data. The digital image data obtained by the imaging apparatus is subsequently subjected to image processing, such as video gamma correction (gamma correction with a gamma of 0.45), knee adjustment, luminance conversion, and color difference conversion. The processed digital image data is converted to data in a standardized format. More specifically, when the digital image data is still image data, the data is converted to, for example, JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) data. When the digital image data is moving image data, the data is converted to, for example, MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) data or DV (Digital Video) data. The digital image data in the standardized format is recorded onto a recording medium, such as a memory card, a hard disk, an optical disc, or a magnetic tape.
The exposure light amount of the optical system (exposure light amount determined by the aperture value or the shutter speed) in the imaging apparatus (camera) is typically determined based on results of, for example, light amount detection units corresponding to a plurality of imaging areas into which the imaging surface is divided. When capturing an image of a backlit scene in which a main subject is dark, the imaging apparatus increases the luminance level of the captured image by setting a large aperture or setting a slow shutter speed and increasing the light exposure amount (increasing the amount of light entering the image sensor of the imaging apparatus). Also, the imaging apparatus performs processing to increase the luminance level of a captured image (backlit image) by converting the tones of the captured image using a tone curve (tone conversion characteristic) with which the luminance level of a dark region of the captured image (region with low tones) is increased.
When capturing an image of a backlit scene, which typically contains a dark backlit person as a main subject and a bright background such as sky, the imaging apparatus (camera) sets its exposure light amount in the manners (A) to (C) described below.
(A) The exposure light amount is set in a manner to prevent a sky region of a captured image from being overexposed and failing to reproduce color (to prevent the sky region from losing its tones) (the aperture is set smaller).
(B) The exposure light amount is set in a manner to expose a person region of a captured image with an optimum light amount (expose the person region to have appropriate tones (or luminance levels)) (the aperture is set larger).
(C) The exposure light amount is set as an intermediate value between the exposure light amounts set in the cases (A) and (B).
In the case (A), the captured image is in a severely backlit state. The person region of the captured image is extremely dark, whereas the sky region of the captured image is prevented from being overexposed and failing to reproduce color (the sky region of the captured image is prevented from losing its tones). In the case (B), the luminance level of the person region of the captured image is increased, whereas the sky region of the captured image is completely overexposed and fails to reproduce color. Both the images captured in the cases (A) and (B) are not favorable. To avoid such unfavorable images, the imaging apparatus usually uses the intermediate exposure light amount set in the case (C).
In the case (C), however, the sky region of the captured image is overexposed slightly, whereas the person region of the captured image is not sufficiently bright. The imaging apparatus fails to capture an image in which both the sky region and the person region have appropriate luminance levels in the case (C). In this manner, the imaging apparatus fails to capture an image with a satisfactory image quality even in the case (C).
The conventional imaging apparatus may also have a "backlight correction mode", which permits the user to explicitly choose the case (B). The conventional imaging apparatus with the backlight correction mode can increase the exposure light amount to the exposure light amount set in the case (B) as instructed by the user. The imaging apparatus with the backlight correction mode also recognizes a face and uses the luminance level of the face as a reference when determining the degree by which the exposure light amount is increased. In the image captured using the backlight correction mode, the person would be bright but the background would be completely overexposed and fail to reproduce color. As a result, the image captured using the backlight correction mode may fail to have a high image quality.
The technique of increasing the exposure light amount is not the only technique of backlight correction. Another backlight correction technique is to increase the luminance level of a dark region of a captured image by converting the tones of the captured image using tone curves (tone conversion characteristic curves). Such a backlight correction technique will now be described with reference to FIG. 18.
FIG. 18 shows the characteristics of backlight correction performed using conventional tone curves (tone conversion characteristic curves). In FIG. 18, the horizontal axis indicates the input luminance level, whereas the vertical axis indicates the output luminance level. The backlight correction needs a tone curve (tone conversion characteristic curve) with which the luminance level of a dark region is increased as indicated by arrows in FIG. 18.
With a tone curve (tone conversion characteristic curve) X, the luminance level of a dark region of a captured image is increased intensively while the luminance level of a bright region of the captured image is being unchanged. However, the backlight correction is not performed in an appropriate manner through the tone conversion performed using the tone curve X. The image resulting from the tone conversion performed using the tone curve X would be an unnatural image with an extremely low contrast of only intermediate tones (for example, the tones of an image region indicated by a circle drawn with a dotted line in FIG. 18) as shown in FIG. 2 of Non-Patent Citation 1.
With a tone curve Y, the tones of the entire image decrease. The image resulting from the tone conversion performed using the tone curve Y would be less unnatural. Thus, the backlight correction can be performed through the tone conversion using the tone curve Y. However, the tone conversion using the tone curve Y increases the luminance level of not only a dark backlit region of the captured image but also a bright region of the image. The tone conversion using the tone curve Y lowers the contrast of, for example, a background sky region of the captured image. As a result, the background sky region may easily be overexposed and fail to reproduce color (the tones of a highlight region, such as a sky region, may easily be saturated). The tone conversion (backlight correction) using the tone curve Y is practically possible only when the contrast of the captured image is lowered to a permissible level and the highlight region of the captured image is overexposed and fails to reproduce color at a permissible level. In other words, the tone conversion (backlight correction) using the tone curve Y is possible only when such tone conversion does not correspond to drastic correction but corresponds to moderate correction. The tone conversion (backlight correction) using the tone curve Y is possible within a range in which unnaturalness of the resulting image is permissible. Therefore, the tone conversion (backlight correction) using the tone curve Y cannot be used to perform drastic backlight correction.
Also, when the tone conversion is performed using a curve (tone conversion characteristic curve) with which the luminance level of not only a dark region but also an image region with an intermediate luminance level is increased, the image resulting from the tone conversion would be less unnatural. However, a highlight region of the image resulting from such tone conversion would be too bright in the same manner as in the case (B). For example, a sky region of the image resulting from the tone conversion performed using such a curve (tone conversion characteristic curve) may be overexposed and fail to reproduce color (a sky region may lose its tones). Also, the image resulting from such tone conversion may fail to have a sufficiently high contrast across the entire image. As a result, even the tone conversion (backlight correction) performed using the curve (tone conversion characteristic curve) with which the luminance level of not only a dark region but also an image region with an intermediate luminance level is increased cannot be used to perform drastic backlight correction.
To solve the above problem, one technique uses different tone conversion characteristics according to positions across an image. For example, an imaging apparatus with such a technique partially (or locally) increases the luminance level of a dark region of an image, such as a backlit person region of an image, by processing the dark region using a tone conversion characteristic different from a tone conversion characteristic used to process a sky region of the image for example. Such a tone conversion (backlight correction) technique is known in the art as a visualization-characteristic-based technique (see FIGS. 3 to 5 of Non-Patent Citation 1, Patent Citation 1, and Patent Citation 2). Human eyes increase sensitivity when viewing a bright region and decrease sensitivity when viewing a dark region. The local backlight correction using such human eye's characteristics enables the contrast to be perceived by the human eyes, and enables visually natural processing to be performed. Such local backlight correction using the visualization-characteristic-based technique can therefore be used to perform drastic correction. Such local backlight correction enables the luminance level of an extremely dark person region of an image to be increased while maintaining the local contrast in the image.
Patent Citation 1 (International Publication No. WO 2005/027041) describes one such technique. More specifically, the patent document describes a technique for using a region surrounding a processing target pixel of an image. With this technique, for example, the histogram of a region surrounding a processing target pixel of an image is measured, and the tone curve (tone conversion characteristic curve) used for the target pixel is determined based on the distribution of values of the histogram. Alternatively, the average luminance level of the region surrounding the processing target pixel is calculated, and the tone curve (tone conversion characteristic curve) used for the target pixel is determined according to the luminance level of the region surrounding the processing target pixel.
Non-Patent Citation 1: "Contrast-Gain Based Visual Tone Mapping for Digital Photo Prints", Yamashita et al., The Journal of Imaging Science and Technology, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 458-468 (2006).
Patent Citation 1: International Publication No. WO 2005/027041
Patent Citation 2: International Publication No. WO 2005/027043

Imaging apparatus, imaging method, storage medium, and integrated circuit


An image forming apparatus includes a fixing unit, wherein the fixing unit includes a first temperature detection member detecting the temperature of a first non-passing area of the fixing unit; a second temperature detection member detecting the temperature of a second non-passing area; and a cooling unit supplying air so as to simultaneously cool the first non-passing area and the second non-passing area, wherein the image forming apparatus is configured, when the absolute value of the difference between the detection temperature of the temperature detection members becomes not less than a threshold value, while air is being supplied to the non-passing area and the second non-passing area, to stop the supplying of air by the cooling unit and continue recording material fixing processing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus employing electrophotographic system such as a copying machine or a printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an image forming apparatus employing electrophotographic system as a fixing unit for fixing an unfixed toner image to a recording material, a heat roller type and a film fixing type is widely used.
In the above-described fixing unit, when small-sized recording materials whose width is smaller than that of a recording material of a maximum width which the apparatus can convey, are to be successively conveyed, there is a problem called non-passing part temperature rise, in which the temperature of the non-passing area of the fixing member excessively increases.
As a countermeasure against the problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 4-51179 discusses a fixing unit in which cooling air is selectively supplied to the non-passing areas at both end portions of the fixing unit from an air supplying fan arranged in the fixing unit.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-076209 discusses a fixing unit in which when supplying cooling air to the non-passing areas from the air supplying fan, the length in the width direction of the air supplying fan outlet is adjusted according to the width of the recording material in a direction orthogonal to the recording material conveyance direction, whereby it is possible to prevent an increase in temperature in the non-passing parts even in the case of recording materials differing in the above described width.
However, in the case of the fixing unit in which a cooling system to supply air to the non-passing areas of the fixing unit by providing the above-described air supplying fan is mounted, the following problems are involved.
First, the sheet is conveyed while being deviated with respect to a conveyance reference position in a direction orthogonal to the recording material conveyance direction. When above described deviated sheet-passing occurs, an image defect is generated at the edge portions of the recording material in the direction orthogonal to the recording material conveyance direction. FIGS. 13A and 13B are diagrams illustrating the positional relationship between the recording material and the fixing unit in which the above-described cooling system is mounted. FIG. 13A illustrates the state in which the recording material is conveyed at conveyance reference position. The diagram illustrates a recording material 2001, a film 2004, and air supplying fans 2002 and 2003. The recording material 2001 is conveyed such that a broken line M extending through the central portion of the film 2004 becomes a conveyance reference position. In the film 2004, non-passing part temperature rise occurs in areas G and H where the recording material 2001 does not pass. By supplying air to the areas G and H by the air supplying fans 2002 and 2003, respectively, it is possible to suppress the non-passing part temperature rise.
On the other hand, FIG. 13B illustrates a deviated sheet-passing state, in which the recording material is conveyed while being deviated from the conveyance reference position. Suppose the recording material 2001 is conveyed while being deviated in the direction close to the air supplying fan 2002 and orthogonal to the recording material conveyance direction. Non-passing part temperature rise occurs in an area I and an area K+H. The problem with this situation is that the recording material 2001 passes an area J which is cooled by the air supplying fan 2002, so that the area J does not reach a temperature enough to fix the toner to the recording material, resulting, in some cases, in occurrence of defective fixing. Further, although the area K is an area where non-passing part temperature rise occurs, no cooling air is supplied thereto, so that the temperature rise ratio is higher than in the other areas. Thus, it can be seen that when air is supplied by the air supplying fan at the time of generation of deviated sheet-passing, the difference in temperature between the area J and the area K increases as compared with the case where no air is supplied. In particular, in the case of the film fixing type, when an unsymmetrical temperature distribution is generated in the film, the thermal expansion amount of the pressure roller is also unsymmetrical. As a result, the difference in conveyance force between both end portions of the film in the direction orthogonal to the recording material conveyance direction is also large, resulting in occurrence of deviation of the film. As a result, the end portions of the film reach fracture in some cases.
Second, in the case where imbalance in the amount of air supplied to both end portions of the film is generated due to abnormal operation of the cooling system, the end portions of the film can reach fracture for the same reason as described above. Such imbalance in the amount of air supplied to both end portions occurs, for example, due to deterioration in the characteristics of the air supplying fans individually provided at both end portions of the film.


An inverse synthetic array radar (ISAR) system provides for improving the resolution of an ISAR image by providing compensation for non-uniformity in the magnitude of the angular velocity of a rotating target as the target rotates to generate the synthetic-aperture-angle, and enables use of a larger synthetic-aperture angle, without compromising ISAR image quality with respect to smear. The preferred embodiment records sampled data signals to generate a collected-data matrix indexed in each of two dimensions on the basis of uniform increments of time, and performs data processing to produce a translated data matrix indexed in a dimension on the basis of uniform increments of synthetic-aperture angle. Further processing of the translated data matrix produces data in a buffer for controlling a display device for the ISAR image.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to inverse synthetic array radar (ISAR); more particularly, it relates to an ISAR system and method for improving the resolution of an ISAR image by providing compensation for non-uniformity in the magnitude of the angular velocity of a rotating target as the target rotates to generate the synthetic-aperture-angle.
A target ship moving in pitch can take many seconds, e.g., more than five seconds, in the course of rotating between the point at which its bow is deepest in the water to the opposite point at which the bow is up. At each such opposite end of a half pitch cycle, the magnitude of the pitch component of the ship's angular velocity is zero. At some point near the midpoint, the magnitude has a maximum value.
As a result of such non-uniformity in the magnitude of the angular velocity, a given scatterer causes a non-uniform or time-varying doppler shift in the radar pulses it reflects.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art ISAR systems have been organized to provide short, overlapping processing intervals in an effort to deal with the problems arising from non-uniformity in the magnitude of the angular velocity of a rotating target.
Such a "short" processing interval constitutes an interval short enough to be consistent with the angular motion of the target remaining constant, (i.e., within narrow limits) throughout the processing interval. If the angular motion remains constant throughout the processing interval, a given scatterer will produce a doppler shift that remains constant throughout the processing interval. In other words, a scatterer will not drift from one doppler filter to the next if the processing interval is short enough. Because of the use of such short processing intervals, images produced by such prior art ISAR systems have less smear than would otherwise result from scatterer drift. However, this advantage of reduced smear has been gained as a compromise that entails a countervailing disadvantage of loss of resolution.
A substantial need has existed for an improved ISAR system and method to provide better resolution so that more detailed and more easily interpreted ISAR images can be displayed, and to provide such better resolution without sacrificing performance in another important respect such as performances in preventing excessive smear.
This substantial need has been a longstanding one, and has received extensive attention for numerous reasons including the widely recognized desirability of improving resolution.

Inverse synthetic array radar system and method


A method for removing free fatty acids from fats or oils of biological origin or their steam distillates by extracting the free fatty acids with a mixture of basic organic nitrogen compounds and water as an extraction medium at a temperature below the boiling point of the organic nitrogen compounds. The content of the basic organic nitrogen compounds in the extraction medium is 20-30% by weight. In this manner, the formation of a viscous soapstock which is difficult to remove is prevented. The boiling point of the basic organic nitrogen compounds used is the same as or above boiling point of water and below the boiling point of the fatty acids to be extracted in order to enable simple recovery of the extraction medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for removing free fatty acids from fats and oils of biological origin or their steam distillates by extraction.
2. Description of the Related Art
In human nutrition, and as raw materials for the chemical industry, oils and fats of biological origin play an important role. For example, they serve as raw materials for production of surfactants, plasticizers, waxes, lubricants, fatty alcohols etc. Essential components of fats and oils are the triesters of glycerides and fatty acids, the so-called triglycerides. The physical properties of fats and oils are determined a) by the chain length of the fatty acids, b) by the degree of saturation of the fatty acids and c) by the distribution of the various fatty acids on the three hydroxyl groups of the glycerol. Fats having a high saturated fatty acid content are generally solid at ambient temperature. Fats or oils, respectively, from predominantly unsaturated fatty acids are liquid at ambient temperature.
The fats and oils of biological origin comprise a number of secondary products which adversely affect the keeping quality, odour, flavour and appearance. The most important secondary products are: suspended matter, organic phosphorus compounds, free fatty acids, pigments and odour compounds. Mucilaginous material (gums) and other complex colloidal compounds can promote hydrolytic degradation of fats and oils during their storage and interfere during further refining. Therefore, they are removed by the process of what is termed degumming. Degumming is based on hydration with water or direct steam. The organic phosphorus compounds (phosphatides) take up water in the course of this, swell and become insoluble.
After phosphorus compounds and suspended matter have been removed by degumming and, if appropriate filtration, the further object is to separate off free fatty acids and pigments and odour compounds. Commercial crude fats and crude oils comprise on average from 1 to 3% by weight of free fatty acids, high-grade types 0.5% by weight or less, some palm, olive and fish oils 20% by weight or more. The fatty acid content of the refined fats and oils is, by comparison, generally to be below 0.1% by weight. Whereas relatively long-chain free fatty acids do not usually cause flavour impairment, the short-chain fatty acids have a soapy, rancid flavour. In practice, the deacidification performed for removing the free fatty acids is predominantly carried out by treatment with aqueous alkali solutions or by steaming at temperatures of approximately 220xc2x0 C. Removing the free fatty acids by esterification with glycerol or a monohydric alcohol, by selective solvent extraction or by adsorbents, is of lower importance, by comparison. Below, the deacidification processes known hitherto are described in more detail.
The treatment with alkaline solutions, as the method most employed, can be carried out batchwise or continuously. The higher the lye concentration, the more readily are unwanted accompanying substances taken up into the resulting soap, termed the soapstock. Weakly alkaline solutions are generally sprayed onto the oil at 90xc2x0 C. and percolate downwards through the heated oil. In contrast, stronger lyes (4n to 7n) are usually stirred into the oil at from 40 to 80xc2x0 C. After the deacidification and removal of the soapstock, the oil or fat is washed with highly dilute lye (approximately 0.5n) and thereafter with water, in order to remove soap residues down to at least 0.05% by weight. With the use of centrifuges, a completely continuous plant for neutralizing fats and oils can be constructed according to this method. If the fats and oils to be deacidified have a high content of free fatty acids, the deacidification using alkaline solutions leads to a relatively hard soapstock which can only be removed from the plant with difficulty.
Therefore, what is termed steam deacidification has been developed as an alternative In this process, which is also termed physical refining or deacidification by distillation, the free fatty acids are likewise continuously removed from the crude oils by hot steam under vacuum. This process does not depend on the free fatty acids being distilled off completely, since fatty acids remaining in a small amount can expediently be removed by a secondary lye refining. Before the deacidification by distillation, the crude fat must, however, be freed as completely as possible from gums, phosphatides and metal tracesxe2x80x94usually by treatment with phosphoric acidxe2x80x94since the accompanying substances can lead, during the distillation, to dark, unpleasant-tasting substances, which can then virtually no longer be removed. The steam deacidification takes place at relatively high temperatures; for example palm oil is deacidified by superheated direct steam at 220xc2x0 C. The high temperature destroys a great number of substances which are present in the oil (or fat) and are desirable per se, for example the antioxidants which improve the keeping quality of the oil, or forces these substances into what is termed the steam distillate which is produced after condensation of the superheated steam used for the deacidification.
The neutralization of oils and fats by separating off the free fatty acids from the crude fat by means of selective solvents is another method which is suitable, especially, for high-acidity oils and fats. For example, liquid extraction using ethanol makes possible the deacidification of olive oil having 22% by weight of free fatty acids down to approximately 3% by weight of free fatty acids. Another extraction medium which dissolves, at suitable temperatures, only free fatty acids and very highly unsaturated triglycerides, is furfural. In yet another process, the Selexol process, liquid propane is used as extraction medium in countercurrent. Liquid propane selectively dissolves saturated neutral oil, while fatty acids, oxidation products, unsaponifiables and highly unsaturated glycerides are hardly dissolved at all and remain behind. This process is chiefly used for fractionating fish oils and fish liver oils.
The selective extraction process is used industrially virtually exclusively for fats having a very high free fatty acid content. Examples of these are: cocoa butter from shells, olive oil from the press cake, low quality grades of rice oil and cottonseed oil. The alcohol used in this process is isopropyl alcohol. To deacidify one ton of oil, Bernardini (E. Bernardini, Oilseeds, Oils and fats, Publishing House Rome, 1985) quotes the following levels of consumption: energy and auxiliaries, steam 800 kg, electrical energy 14 kWh, hexane 15 kg, isopropanol 18 kg. Oil produced in this manner is not used as edible oil.
Although the degumming and alkali refining already lead to a certain clearing, generally, a decolourizing stage is further provided. Decolourizing is customarily performed using solid adsorbents, such as bleaching earth and activated carbon. Bleaching with air or chemicals plays a minor role in edible fats.
In the last phase of the refining process, odour and flavour substances are removed from the deacidified and bleached oils and fats. Deodorization is essentially a steam distillation in which the volatile compounds are separated off from the non-volatile glycerides. The odour and flavour substances are predominantly aldehydes and ketones which are formed by autoxidative or hydrolytic reactions during the processing and storage of the fats and oils. The low partial pressure of the compounds to be removed requires that the steaming is carried out under reduced pressure. Steaming is usually carried out from 180 to 220xc2x0 C. and a pressure of from 6 to 22 mbar.
For environmental protection reasons, wastewaters from the alkaline deacidification must be carefully treated, which is associated with costs. Therefore, most recently, the interest in physical processes for refining oils and fats has been revived. As early as in the 1920s, the possibilities of deacidification using liquid-liquid extraction with aqueous lower alcohols were studied (Baley, 5th edition 1996, volume 5). The best extraction medium was found to be aqueous ethyl alcohol. Although in its selectivity with respect to free fatty acids and triglycerides, pure methanol is more expedient, it has not been studied in more detail for its suitability as an extraction medium for deacidifying fats and oilsxe2x80x94presumably because of its toxicity.
Deacidifying oils and fats using amines was proposed as early as 1937 in U.S. Pat. No. 2,164,012. An alkanolamine, preferably ethanolamine, is proposed as alkaline extraction medium which dissolves the free fatty acids as soaps in the aqueous phase. Alkanolamine residues dissolved in the raffinate are extracted by washing with dilute sulphuric acid, acetic acid, lactic acid, citric acid or hydrochloric acid solutions.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,157,882 likewise proposes, instead of extracting the free fatty acids with sodium hydroxide solution, extracting with an alkanolamine to remove the majority of the free fatty acids and some of the pigments. However, the oil thus treated is cloudy and has a tendency to decompose during storage. Therefore, it is proposed to follow the wash with ethanolamine by a wash with a dilute sodium hydroxide solution. The deacidified oil is thereafter washed with water, in order to remove the last traces of alkali.
In an article which appeared in 1955 in Journal of the American Oil Chemist""s Society (JAOCS, vol. 32, 1955 pp. 561-564), experiments on refining rice oil with monoethanolamine, triethanolamine, tetraethanolammonium hydride, ethylenediamine, ethylamine and triethylamine are reported. Rice oils comprise approximately from 5 to 7% by weight of free fatty acids. The high fatty acid content usually leads, in alkaline refining, to high fat losses. These losses can be decreased to values of from 3 to 5% by weight by adding the said amines prior to the customary refining.
As can be seen by the above description of the various deacidification processes, these processes are either burdened with plant-engineering problems and/or are relatively cost-intensive, due to their consumption of auxiliaries and energy and a downstream work-up which may be required. In addition, in some processes, fat and oil constituents which are wanted per se are destroyed.
The object therefore underlying the invention is to specify an improved process for deacidifying oils and fats of biological origin which, firstly, can overcome even high contents of free fatty acids without plant-engineering problems and, secondly, enables the production of very high-quality grade fats and oils, as are wanted, for example, by the food industry.
This object is achieved according to the invention by the process described herein. The process of the invention is based on the fact that, surprisingly, when oils (or fats) having a high free fatty acid content are deacidified by aqueous solutions or organic bases, for example 2-dimethylaminoethanol, no viscous soapstock forms if the amine content in the aqueous solution is high. Instead, under such conditions, both the oil phase and the extract phase are low-viscosity liquids. The phase separation proceeds in this case rapidly within a few minutes; the resulting phases are clear.
In contrast, at aqueous solution amine contents which correspond to the concentrations of the sodium hydroxide solutions in the chemical deacidification, a high-viscosity soapstock formed. More detailed study found that the basic nitrogen compound must contain at least approximately 40% by weight of water so that two phases are formed in equilibrium with the oil to be deacidified. Conversely, the concentration of the organic base, for example 2-dimethylaminoethanol, in the aqueous solution must be at least approximately 20% by weight, even better 30 to 40% by weight so that no viscous soapstock or cloudy phases are formed. This means that the aqueous solution used for the deacidification must have according to the invention a content of approximately from 20% by weight to about 60% by weight of organic nitrogen compound.
If, for example, palm oil having a free fatty acid content of 4.5% by weight is mixed at 50xc2x0 C. with a solution of 55% by weight of 2-dimethylaminoethanol in water in a ratio of 1:1, after separating the phases an oil is obtained which, minus the extraction medium, comprises only 0.03% by weight of free fatty acids at an oil loss of merely 0.8% by weight. By means of the extraction process of the invention, a mild-temperature and efficient deacidification is thus possible at low oil losses in a few stages in countercurrent.
Residues of the basic nitrogen compounds dissolved in the raffinate are preferably extracted with water or with dilute acetic acid, lactic acid, citric acid, sulphuric acid or hydrochloric acid solutions. Alternatively, traces of the basic extraction medium in the raffinate are removed by stripping with carbon dioxide. During the stripping with carbon dioxide, at the same time, the oil is dried. The carbon dioxide can be used as dilute gas or as dense, supercritical gas for removing traces of the basic nitrogen compounds used from the raffinate.
Extraction of the extraction medium used according to the invention (for example an aqueous solution of 2-dimethylaminoethanol) from the extract may be performed in a simple manner by distillation. It is a precondition here that the vapour pressure of the water is approximately equal to or above the vapour pressure of the basic nitrogen compound(s) used. The water and the basic organic compound are distilled off together or the water is preferably distilled off first, the ratio of basic compounds to water being constant or increasing and the formation of a viscous soapstock being avoided. If the vapour pressure of the basic compound were to be higher than the water vapour pressure, the ratio of basic compound to water would decrease and finally a viscous soapstock would begin to form. In other words, the boiling point of the basic nitrogen compound(s) has to firstly be equal to or above the boiling point of water and secondly must be below the boiling point of the fatty acids to be extracted.
Suitable basic organic compounds for the process of this invention should have the following properties: a) the compound shall, if possible, not form amides with the free fatty acids; b) the compound shall be miscible with water in any ratio; c) the boiling point of the compound shall be equal to or above that of water, d) the odour nuisance due to the aqueous solutions shall be as small as possible. Examples of suitable organic nitrogen compounds are: N-methylmorpholine, 2-dimethylaminoethanol, 3-(diethylamino)-1-propanol, 2-diethylaminoethanol, 1-(dimethylamino)-2-propanol, dimethylformamide, N-methylmorpholine, 2-methylethylaminoethanol, 2-dibutylaminoethanol, dimethylformamide, morpholine, 2-diisopropylaminoethanol, etc. In general, tertiary amines, because of their higher basicity, are preferred to binary and monosubstituted amines.
Examples of starting materials which can readily be deacidified by the process of the invention are beef tallow, lard, fish oil, corn oil, rendered fats, palm oil, soy oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower seed oil, rice germ oil, cotton seed oil, olive oil, groundnut oil, safflower oil, coconut oil, palm kernel oil, grape-seed oil, wheat germ oil etc. Before the process of the invention is used, the oils and fats to be deacidified should be degummed and filtered, in particular if more than 100 ppm of phosphatides are present. The fat or oil thus prepared still contains dissolved oxygen which should likewise be removed before further processing. By means of the process according to the invention, the starting material is then deacidified with preservation of temperature-sensitive compounds, such as carotenes, tocotrienols, tocopherols etc. These compounds, which are, inter alia, also of nutritional importance, are largely destroyed or expelled during conventional physical refining which is carried out by means of direct steam, owing to the high temperatures.
In a somewhat modified form, the process according to the invention is also outstandingly suitable for removing the free fatty acids from the steam distillates of the fats and oils which have been deacidified using the abovementioned conventional physical refining, i.e. by steam deacidification.
These steam distillates generally comprise free fatty acids at very high concentrations, generally in the range from about 80 to 94% by weight. Because of the high free fatty acid content, the extraction medium used according to the invention, i.e. the mixture of organic base and water, must however be richer in the basic nitrogen compound than described above in connection with the deacidification of fats and oils. The content of organic nitrogen compound in the extraction medium should be at least approximately 40% by weight. If such a basic-nitrogen-compound-rich aqueous solution, for example 60% by weight of 2-dimethylaminoethanol and 40% by weight of water, is added to the liquid steam distillate as extraction medium, a liquid homogeneous mixture is obtained. To this liquid mixture are then added from one to four parts, preferably from two to four parts, of an alkane and/or an ester, in particular an acetate, to one part of liquid mixture. From the previously homogeneous mixture, as a result, two coexisting liquid phases are formed of which the aqueous phase highly selectively contains the free fatty acids.
In the alkane and/or ester phase are dissolved essentially the fats and oils present in the steam distillate. The secondary products also dissolved in the steam distillate, such as tocopherols, tocotrienols and phytosterols, likewise pass highly selectively over into the alkane phase. The aqueous phase having the free fatty acids present therein is of low viscosity, so that phase separation is performed approximately within 20 minutes after interrupting the mixing.
The raffinate (alkane phase or ester phase) resulting after separating off the aqueous phase is, depending on the starting product, highly enriched in secondary products such as tocopherols, phytosterols, tocotrienols. Producing these valuable secondary products from such concentrates is possible under economically attractive conditions.
Suitable alkanes are, for example, propane, butane, hexane, petroleum ether, heptane, heptane fractions, octane etc. When butane or propane is used as solvent for the formation of two phases, the pressure in the mixing vessel must at least correspond to the respective vapour pressure, so that the butane or propane is present in liquid form. Suitable esters are, in particular, the acetates, for example ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, butyl acetate or a mixture thereof.
In the process according to the invention, if the free fatty acid concentration in the starting material to be treated (oil, fat or steam condensate) is more than approximately 50% by weight, the addition of alkanes is generally required for the overall system (starting material and extraction medium) to remain in two phases. The addition of alkane or ester therefore, even at high free fatty acid concentrations in the starting mixture, ensures the formation of two easil handled liquid phases, and by means of the extraction medium used according to the invention, by an extraction in countercurrent, extracts having high free fatty acid concentrations can be obtained. The solvent ratio can therefore be low, which has an advantageous effect on the economic efficiency of the process according to the invention.

Process for removing free fatty acids from fats and oils of biological origin or their steam distillates


A heterocyclic compound, organic light-emitting device, and a flat panel display device, the heterocyclic compound being represented by Formula 1 or 2 below:

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a heterocyclic compound and an organic light-emitting device including the heterocyclic compound.
2. Description of the Related Art
Light-emitting devices are self-emission type display devices that have a wide viewing angle, a high contrast ratio, and a short response time. Due to these characteristics, light-emitting devices are drawing more attention. Such light-emitting devices may be roughly classified into inorganic light-emitting devices that include emission layers containing inorganic compounds, and organic light-emitting devices that include emission layers containing organic compounds. For example, organic light-emitting devices may have higher brightness, lower driving voltages, and shorter response times than inorganic light-emitting devices, and may render multi-colored displays. Thus, much research into such organic light-emitting devices has been conducted. Generally, an organic light-emitting device may have a stack structure including an anode, a cathode, and an organic emission layer interposed therebetween. However, a hole injection layer and/or a hole transport layer may be further stacked between the anode and the organic emission layer, and/or an electron transport layer may be further stacked between the organic emission layer and the cathode. For example, an organic light-emitting device may have a stack structure of anode/hole transport layer/organic emission layer/cathode or a stack structure of anode/hole transport layer/organic emission layer/electron transport layer/cathode.

Heterocyclic compound and organic light-emitting device containing same


Optical fiber measuring systems using an interferometer are disclosed. The measuring range of the system are extended by the use two wavelengths of radiation during the measurement. The phases of the light at each wavelength may be compared, or the radiation of one wavelength may be used to calibrate the radiation of the other wavelength.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an optical fiber measuring system using an interferometer.
2. SUMMARY OF THE PRIOR ART
It is known to supply radiation, from e.g. a laser diode, to an interferometer and then, by monitoring by any changes in the output of the interferometer, to detect changes in that interferometer. These latter changes may be caused, for example, by temperature changes or vibrations which alter parameters of the interferometer, and by monitoring the changes in the output the changes in the interferometer may be determined and so determine the temperature change involved.
When radiation is passed through a single fiber optic interferometer system, its intensity is modulated in proportion to the cosine of the optical path inbalance of the system. Methods are known for detecting and measuring accurately the phase of this cosine function. Provided that the coherence length of the radiation source is greater than the optical path length of the interferometer, such cosine modulation will be reduced. Furthermore, the change in phase of the interferometer output is inversely proportional to the wavelength used and directly proportional to the change in optical path difference.
However, a sensor utilising this principle gives unambiguous results over only one interferometer period. Since this is related to, and is of the order of, the wavelength of radiation employed the dynamic range of sensor is severely limited, particularly when optical wavelengths are used. Any larger change results in a change in an unknown number of integral interferometer periods, in addition to the fraction of the period which can be detected (it is only possible from phase relationship to determine fractions of a period). It would be possible to provide a system in which the number of integral period changes was counted, and then the fraction of a period determined from the phase, but this method is both difficult to achieve and depends on having some suitable reference from which the count may be started. Thus, it would be possible to calibrate such a system to a known temperature, and then detect the changes from that temperature by counting integral period changes and then determining the additional fractional change, but clearly the system is dependent on the accuracy of the reference, and also the information about that reference is lost when the sensor is turned off, whether deliberately or due to accidental power failure.

c/o The Physics Laboratory, University of Kent,

c/o Research and Development Division, Sira Limited,


An apparatus comprises a cooled mould mounted on a bottom plate and at least two consumable electrodes positioned so that their melting ends are at different levels relative to the bottom plate. The electrodes are connected to respective terminals of the secondary winding of a single-phase transformer and the bottom plate is connected to one of these terminals, with the electrode having a melting end at a higher level, being connected to the same terminal as the bottom plate. The electrodes are melted by passing an operating current, first through the electrode with the melting end being at a lower level to the bottom plate and then by passing the operating current from one electrode to the other, respectively, forming a portion of the casting, having a smaller cross-section, and then a portion of the casting, having a larger cross-section.. Thus the present invention is especially well suited for manufacturing workpieces for vital parts such as connecting rods, piston rods, valves for ship engines, etc.

The present invention relates to electroslag melting of metals and, particularly, to a method and apparatus for producing castings having one end portion of a larger cross-section, such as workpieces for connecting rods, piston rods, valves of ship engines by electroslag casting of metals.
Most frequently such workpieces are made from steel by forging pressing. With electroslag melting one can produce metals suitable for manufacture of vital parts. These metals have a minimum content of detrimental impurities and a high degree of chemical and physical homogeneity. The electroslag melting is known to be used, at present, for producing a great variety of ingots relatively simple in form. However, attempts to produce shaped castings encounter a number of difficulties.
For producing castings of a variable cross-section by electroslag melting use is made of either one consumable electrode of a variable cross-section or several electrodes having different cross-section, and during the whole melting operation the electrode (electrodes) is melted being connected to the electric power source applying one and the same circuit arrangement which is, as a rule, a single-phase "electrode-bottom plate" circuit. (cf. Latash Yu. V;, Medovar B. I. "Electroslag Remelting," "Metallurgia" Publishers, Moscow, 1970, pp. 125-127/in Russian/).
At present the main types of commercial installations for electroslag melting are single-phase (single-electrode) installations used for casting conversion ingots of square section and ingots of round cross-section for forging.
Certain conventional single-phase apparatus for electroslag casting of ingots are provided with uncompensated power leads having a great length of a circuit comprising an electrode made, in most cases, of magnetic steel and therefore having a high reactance and relatively low operating characteristics and hence low economic factor.
With an increase of the ingot weight and cross-section the electrode cross-section has also to be increased. As a result electroslag melting requires still heavier and heavier current. The reactance of the existing single-phase apparatus considerably increases with the increase of the ingot weight and a cos Y value and the efficiency drop below permissible limits.
In addition, in the existing single-phase apparatus due to the gradual shortening of the consumable electrode, the circuit length and shape considerably change in the process of melting, which brings about a voltage change on the slag pool and changes conditions of the electrode melting and metal solidification, which, in turn, affects the metal quality.
The problem of the efficiency of utilization of the useful electric power has been solved in an apparatus which was disclosed and claimed in the British patent specification, No. 1,117,202 granted to the present applicant. In this apparatus it has been proposed to connect two electrodes in series in a circuit with the secondary winding of the single-phase transformer, which will cause the current to flow from one electrode through the slag pool and partially molten metal to the second electrode. In this electric circuit, which will be called furtheron an "electrode-electrode" circuit, all elements thereof are arranged anti-parallelly at a distance providing for its compensation, like in a bifilar winding of resistors.
In producing castings with a variable cross-section, applying the existing installations for electroslag melting, there arise difficulties in selecting consumable electrodes which would ensure a uniform filling of the mould without reduction of the power factor.
In producing the above castings on the single-phase installations with one (or several) consumable electrodes connected in an "electrode-bottom plate" circuit, in addition to the above difficulties, there arises a necessity to readjust the installation when a part of the mould, having a larger cross-section, is to be filled with metal. For this purposes either several electrodes or one electrode of a large cross-section should be used.
On the other hand, production of castings of said shape on the single-phase installations equipped with at least two electrodes connected in an "electrode-electrode" circuit, in spite of improved economy, presents difficulties in filling with metal a part of the mould, having a smaller cross-section, when the electrodes are arranged to provide for a uniform filling of that portion of the mould, which has a larger cross-section. This is acounted for by the fact that the electrodes are impossible to be introduced into the part of the mould, having a smaller cross-section.
Disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,168 and British patent specification No. 1,362,889 is apparatus for the production of castings by electroslag melting of metals, comprising a cooled mould mounted on a bottom plate connected through a switch to one of the two terminals of the electric power source, and at least two consumable electrodes one of which is connected to the same terminal as the bottom plate, and the second electrode being connected to the other terminal of the electric power source. This apparatus provides for the production of a great variety of ingots of a relatively simple form. However attempts to produce shaped castings, and, in particular, castings of the above shape, encounter difficulties mentioned above.

Method and apparatus for electroslag casting of metals

ulitsa Vladimiro-Lybedenskaya, 16, kv. 106


An oxygen-fuel firing system for a furnace comprising separate, spread apart nozzles for introducing gaseous streams of oxygen and fuel into the furnace at spaced apart locations. The gaseous streams merge within the furnace away from the furnace walls and crown. Thus, the main combustion within the furnace takes place in the central portion of the furnace where a broad flame cloud is created. The broad flame cloud provides a more uniform temperature profile within the furnace for a more efficient processing of materials being melted in the furnace.

Regenerative furnaces have been the workhorse for fuel fired melting of materials such as glass. Recuperative furnaces are also commonly used. Regenerative and recuperative furnaces use hot air preheated with hot exhaust gases to mix with fuel for combustion to provide the heat energy and temperature needed in the furnaces. It has become common practice to supplement the hot air with some oxygen to compensate for a damaged regenerative stove or recuperator or to modify the flame shape as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,299 and European patent application 0,335,728. Another way of oxygen boosting regenerative melters is to mount and fire oxy-fuel burners, of the type described in the next paragraph, in the furnace in addition to the normal hot air port firing as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,438. All of these furnaces, however, continue to rely on large quantities of hot air containing over 70% nitrogen for firing which produces emission problems and heat recovery equipment capital and operating cost and maintenance problems, and also problems caused by excessive refractory temperatures.
In the firing of furnaces using relative pure oxygen, at least 75% oxygen, as the oxidant for a gaseous or liquid fuel it is known to use various kinds of burners to achieve the desired result as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,592,622, 4,376,205, 4,531,960, 4,541,796, 4,622,007, 4,642,047, 4,690,635, 4,761,132, 4,986,748, 5,145,361, 5,147,438, 5,199,366, and Combustion Tec, Inc's Cleanfire (trademark) burner. All of these burners introduce the oxygen into a burner block in the wall of a furnace or into the furnace in close proximity to the fuel stream creating an intense flame of concentrated energy in the furnace. When several of these burners are placed in a furnace wall in spaced apart arrangement and fired, a plurality of intense flames are created with relatively cooler spaces between the flame boundaries. This condition, though improved over previous air-fuel firing technology for applications such as glass melting, still leaves room for improvement in temperature uniformity of the furnace and the work product in the furnace and in reducing refractory wall temperatures.

Oxygen/fuel fired furnaces having massive, low velocity, turbulent flame clouds


A fuel supply system having a low pressure region, a pumping device to deliver fuel from the low pressure region to a high pressure region. In the high pressure region between the pumping device and injectors there is a pressure storage system that is permanently under high pressure. The pressure storage system has a plurality of distributor units each with at least three connections connected in series. A respective injector connection of each distributor unit is connected to at least one injector each via a high pressure line that is under high pressure at times dependent on the injection cycle. Each distributor unit of the pressure storage system is assigned an individual leakage detection device. Each distributor unit is assigned a non-return valve, which allows a leakage flow starting out from the respective distributor unit in the direction of the pumping device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fuel supply system of an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 shows the fundamental construction of a common rail fuel supply system of an internal combustion engine known from the prior art, namely a marine diesel engine operated with heavy fuel oil. This construction is known from DE 101 57 135 B4. Accordingly, the common rail fuel supply system of FIG. 1 comprises at least one injector 1 for each cylinder of the internal combustion engine. By way of the injectors 1, the fuel is injectable into each of the cylinders of the internal combustion engine. The common rail fuel supply system furthermore comprises a pumping device 3 having at least one low pressure pump 5, at least one high pressure pump 2 and a high pressure pump storage unit 8, in order to deliver fuel from a low pressure region 4 of the common rail fuel supply system into a high pressure region 6 of the same, wherein in the high pressure region 6 between the pumping device 3 and the injectors 1 a pressure storage system 7 that is permanently under high pressure is provided. The pressure storage system 7 that is permanently under high pressure, which is also called common rail, has a plurality of distributor units 9. The distributor units 9 are connected to the pumping device 3 and among themselves via high pressure lines 10 that are permanently under high pressure. The pressure storage system 7, namely the distributor units 9, are furthermore connected to the injectors 1 via high pressure lines 11 that are under high pressure at times depending on the injection cycle. The high pressure lines 11, which are under high pressure at times dependent on the injection cycle that connect the injectors 1 to the distributors 9, are assigned switching valves 12, which, dependent on the injection cycle, feed fuel to the injectors. With regard to further details, reference is made to DE 101 57 135 B4.
Such a fuel supply system of an internal combustion engine known from the prior art has a multiplicity of sealing points in the high pressure region 6, in particular in the region of the pressure storage system 7, which comprises the distributor units 9 that are coupled via the high pressure lines 10. In the region of these sealing points leakages can occur. When a leakage quantity becomes excessive, an orderly operation of the fuel supply system can no longer be ensured. Furthermore, the high pressure lines 10 as such can be damaged which can likewise cause an impermissibly high leakage. It is known to embody the high pressure lines 10 as jacketed high pressure lines 10 in order to discharge the leakage via jacket tubes of the high pressure lines 10, namely from distributor unit 9 to distributor unit 9 up to the region of the pumping device 3.
From DE 10 2013 000 606 A1 a further fuel supply system of an internal combustion engine is known. According to the prior art, all distributor units of the pressure storage system are connected to a common leakage collection line with a leakage sensor that is common for all distributor units to detect a leakage quantity that exceeds a limit value. Furthermore, each distributor unit of the pressure storage system is assigned an individual leakage detection device designed as a visual inspection device, to assign the leakage detected via the leakage sensor to at least one distributor unit.
Although in the fuel supply system known from DE 10 2013 000 606 A1 a time needed for the leakage detection and assigning of the leakage can be reduced, there is a need for a fuel supply system with which the exact assignment of a leakage to a distributor unit of the fuel supply system can take place even faster, more efficiently and reliably.


In an automatic analyzer such as blood analyzer, it is important to observe whether the sample, such as a blood sample, is sucked correctly or not. In an apparatus for observing suction of a sample, comprising a sample suction tube, a luminous element for emitting light toward the sample suction tube being driven by a driving circuit, a photo sensor for receiving the light from the sample suction tube, and a judging circuit for judging the sample suction on the basis of the signal from the photo sensor, a controller is provided in order to drive the luminous element so that the output (Vp) of the photo sensor may be nearly the reference value (Vr) before a sample suction, and to drive the luminous element so as to hold the driving state during the sample suction. Thus, the sensitivity adjustment of the apparatus for observing suction of a sample may be automated, and the observing capability of the apparatus is enhanced.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for observing the suction (aspiration) of a sample (liquid specimen) in an automatic analyzer such as a blood analyzer, and more particularly to an apparatus for observing the suction of a sample having an automatic regulation function for maintaining a favorable detection sensitivity.
Hitherto apparatuses have been known for observing whether a sample, such as a blood sample, is aspirated correctly or not. FIG. 1 shows an example thereof, which is intended to observe the suction of a sample by the change of transmitting light from a photo element.
Numeral 14 denotes a tube for sucking (aspirating) a sample, which is made of a synthetic resin of high transparency. A luminous element 10 such as an LED and a photo sensor 12 such as a photo transistor are disposed opposingly across the sample suction tube 14. A constant current circuit 16 composed of a transistor 18 and a resistance R3 is connected to the luminous element 10. A variable resistor VR is connected to the base B of the transistor 18, and the value of the current flowing in the luminous element 10 is varied by adjusting the variable resistor VR.
On the other hand, resistors R2, R1 are connected to the collector C and emitter E of the photo sensor 12, and the current corresponding to the quantity of light received that has been detected is converted into a voltage and taken out. The resistance R2 is not necessarily required. To the output of the photo sensor 12 is connected a judging circuit 20 for judging whether the sample suction is normal or abnormal depending on the change of the quantity of light transmitted at the time of suction of the sample.
Initially, the sample suction tube 14 is filled up entirely with a cleaning solution, and an air layer is provided at the front end of the tube. The portion of the sample suction tube 14 where the luminous element 10 and photo sensor 12 are disposed is high in transparency, the light transmits well, and the voltage Vp at test point Vp is high. By suction of the sample, when the blood reaches the observing area, the light is shielded by the blood corpuscle components, and the detected voltage Vp becomes low. By a comparator (not shown) in the judging circuit 20, the detected voltage Vp is set in a binary value showing whether the blood is sucked (aspirated) or not. On the basis of the binary signal, it is further judged whether the suction is normal or not. When the sample suction is over, the cleaning solution is poured into the tube, and the residue of the blood sample is washed away.
In this apparatus, incidentally, various fluctuations (scatter) occur. For example, fluctuations of the circuit components, such as the luminous element and the photo sensor, and fluctuations of the tube diameter and transparency are known. In order to maintain a high detection capability by absorbing such fluctuations, it is designed to adjust the current of the luminous element 10 by the variable resistor VR. In this adjustment, it is designed so that the detection voltage Vp at the test point TP may be a specified value in the specific conditions of the state in the sample suction tube 14 (for example, with the tube filled up with a clear liquid).
The existing apparatus had the following problems.
(1) Every time the tube is exchanged, the current of the luminous element must be adjusted by the VR depending on the tube diameter and transparency, and the operation is complicated. PA1 (2) The characteristics of the circuit components vary with the passing of time and change of temperature, and the detection sensitivity is lowered. PA1 (3) The detection sensitivity is also lowered by the contamination of tube or occurrence of injury. PA1 (4) In the case of a thin tube, a slight deviation of position of the tube, or dislocation of the luminous element or the photo sensor may lead to lowering of the detection sensitivity.

Apparatus for observing the suction of a sample having an automatic regulation fuction


An integrated circuit comprises a delta-sigma modulator incorporating a delta-sigma modulation loop having an analog-to-digital converter in a forward path and a digital-to-analog converter in a feedback path such that the ADC is arranged to receive samples of an analog input signal. The ADC is operably coupled to auto-ranging logic arranged to shift a digital output signal from the ADC representative of the analog input signal to counteract an effect of an input variation of the analog input signal. In this manner, the application of auto-ranging logic with a self-recovery technique supports a reduction of the number of comparators required in a multi-bit delta-sigma ADC.

With the increasing demand for electronic devices to have reduced current consumption, and to avoid the use of off-chip components, there has been an increasing trend for electronic devices to perform processing in the digital domain. Consequently, there has been an increasing demand for high-resolution, low-power, and inexpensive analog-to-digital converters (ADC).
One type of ADC that is commonly used for analog-to-digital conversion of signals is the over sampling ADC based upon delta-sigma Δ-Σ modulation. Over sampling ADCs use an over sampling ratio (OSR) that is the ratio of the sampling frequency of the delta-sigma modulator up to twice the bandwidth (Nyquist frequency) of the input signal. The over sampling ratio (OSR) is typically greater than one and will often be greater than a few tens. For conventional n-th order delta-sigma modulators (DSM), the signal to quantization noise ratio increases by n*6 dB+3 dB for each doubling of the OSR. Thus, better resolution is achieved by implementing a higher OSR.
Furthermore, multi-order modulators are arranged to provide noise shaping, such that the quantization noise is small in the frequency band of interest, and large elsewhere. For applications that operate with a low bandwidth, for example 20 kHz, a simple DSM, for example a 2nd order DSM, would be suitable for providing the required noise shaping.
However, more recently there has been a need to use ADCs in high bandwidth applications, such as cellular systems and wireless local area networks (WLAN). For example, a wireless wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) handset may be required to operate with a bandwidth of the order of 2 MHz. For a low order DSM to provide the required analog to digital conversion for a high bandwidth signal, with the required noise shaping, a high OSR would be required that would not only be difficult to design but would also result in a high power consumption for the DSM.
Such a requirement is unacceptable for battery-powered applications or products, such as mobile phones. It is possible for a DSM to provide the required noise shaping characteristics for high bandwidth applications, with a reduced OSR, by increasing the order of the DSM. However, for the DSM to have the dynamic range required for high bandwidth applications it is desirable for the DSM to include, or at least to be combined with, an embedded parallel (i.e. flash) ADC having a 2-bit or greater number of bits quantizer. However, the use of a high bit flash ADC again results in high power consumption. For example, the power dissipation for a 6-bit quantizer may correspond to approximately a quarter of the total DSM power dissipation.
In the field of the present invention, the document 'Multi-bit Delta-sigma ADC', authored by C. Petrie and M. Miller, Motorola Data Converter Conference, July 2001: describes a 2nd order 6-bit DSM.
European Patent Application EP1800342 describes a mechanism for dynamic control of a number of active bits in a multi-bit quantizer. EP1800342 describes a windowing technique to turn off unnecessary comparators in the quantizer. By turning off some comparators the power dissipation is reduced but the die size remains unchanged. Furthermore, the technique is impractical with a low voltage supply, as are used by wireless communication units.
Thus, a need exists for an improved electronic device, and an integrated circuit (IC), comprising a multi-bit delta-sigma converter and method of operation therefor that minimizes power dissipation, die size and voltage supply requirements. It is also desirable to improve the stability of such a delta-sigma converter in a presence of large 'out-of-band' interfering signals.

Electronic device and integrated circuit comprising a delta-sigma converter and method therefor


The present invention is a method of treating nitrogen oxides using an ozone and catalyst hybrid system, as well as an apparatus, specifically relating to a method of treating nitrogen oxide using an ozone and catalyst hybrid system comprising: 1)removing moisture from the nitrogen oxide polluted air to be treated; 2) contacting the moisture-removed nitrogen oxide polluted air with ozone to oxidize NO in said polluted air to NO2; 3) reacting the residual ozone with a catalyst to generate oxygen radicals and then, reacting the oxygen radicals with the nitrogen oxide polluted air from step 2) to oxidize NO2 in the polluted air to NO3−. The nitrogen oxide treatment method and apparatus according to the present invention can effectively treat harmful nitrogen oxides, such as NO, NO2, using an ozone and catalyst hybrid system at room temperature without requiring a high temperature reaction or an ammonia gas as a reducing agent. In addition, the method and apparatus according to the present invention can be useful in the removal of nitrogen oxides in various areas because they can prevent secondary air pollution resulting from the use of ozone.

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) generally refer to a variety of compounds comprising oxygen and nitrogen, such as nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4), dinitrogen pentoxide (N2O5), etc. In particular, NO and NO2, which account for most of nitrogen oxides in exhaust gas, are not only the main cause for acid rain along with sulfur oxides (SOx), but are air pollutants that induce photochemical smog.
Methods for removing such nitrogen oxides can be largely divided into a wet method and a dry method. Wet methods are advantageous in removing both nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides and are generally used in processes where nitrogen oxide is produced in a small amount. However, in the wet process, because NO has low water solubility, it should be oxidized to NO2 preceding absorption in the liquid solution. Such a conversion process is problematic since it involves high costs and may produce N2O3 and N2O4 as by-products resulting in potential water pollution.
The major dry processes for nitrogen oxides are the selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) method and the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) method. The SNCR method selectively reduces nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and water by injecting only ammonia at a high temperature between 850 and 1050° C. in the absence of a catalyst. The SCR method involves the use of gaseous ammonia as a reducing agent and a catalyst to reduce nitrogen oxides to nitrogen and water at a relatively low temperature (150-450° C.).
The SNCR method has the advantage of removing more than 50% of nitrogen oxides at a relatively low cost, but emitted, unreacted ammonia forms ammonium salts, which may clog up the end part of the reactor or cause corrosion. Further, due to the narrow operation temperature range, there are difficulties in commercializing the process. As a result, the SCR method is now being regarded as the most advanced, safest, and most cost effective technology for treating nitrogen oxides. This method has the advantage of having a nitrogen oxide removal ratio of 90% or higher and does not require any additional post-treatment processes. In SCR processes, catalyst performance is the key factor. Thus, various types of catalysts for SCR processes have been suggested, ranging from precious metal catalysts to base metal catalysts. Of the catalysts developed so far, vanadium-based catalysts using titanium oxide (TiO2) as a support have been most widely used in actual processing. A SCR process using a vanadium-based catalyst employing TiO2 as a support is a very efficient technology for converting NOx to N2 at a temperature of around 350° C. However, because the catalyst can be worn, exchanged, and toxic, the process has the problem of decreased NOx conversion ratios or side-reactions, such as oxidization of reducing agents prior to the removal reaction. Furthermore, in SCR processes, gaseous ammonia may trigger oxidization to lower the catalyst performance when the reaction temperature is above 450° C., or nitrogen oxides may be regenerated from the gaseous ammonia. If the reaction temperature is less than 150° C., the gaseous ammonia may react with moisture in the exhaust gas to form ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate, thereby hampering the process.
As a result, there is a need for a simple nitrogen oxide treatment method with high efficiency that can resolve the above-mentioned problems in the SCR process which uses gaseous ammonia as a reducing agent.

Method and apparatus for the treatment of nitrogen oxides using an ozone and catalyst hybrid system

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


A method for simultaneously testing a plurality of fuel rod assemblies for leakage of radioactive gas, comprising the steps of removing the cover from a nuclear vessel containing the fuel rods, positioning a fixture over the fuel rods, reducing the hydrostatic pressure surrounding the fuel rods allowing gas to leak into the surrounding water, collecting water from about each fuel rod assembly in a separate chamber, separating gas from the water and testing the gas for the presence of radioactivity.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for detecting the leakage of radioactive gas from a fuel assembly of a nuclear reactor. In particular, the present invention concerns a novel method of simultaneously testing a plurality of fuel rod assemblies to determine which, if any, are giving off radioactive gas produced in leaking fuel rods
While detecting devices have been used with nuclear reactors, known detectors have proven both complex and inefficient. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,993 issued Oct. 2, 1973 to Jones provides a complex detection assembly which separates several of the fuel rod assemblies for testing by lifting them from the reactor core. Since only one or a few of the fuel rod assemblies can be lifted at a time, the total testing time is relatively great, particularly if all of the fuel rod assemblies in the reactor core are examined. Because the reactor must be shut down during the testing period, the prolonged time required for testing by the Jones device has proven to be very costly with respect to the efficient operation of the reactor.
As will be discussed in detail hereinafter, applicant's new and useful invention solves the problems confronting Jones' and similar known devices, while at the same time providing a novel method and apparatus for simultaneously testing all of the fuel rod assemblies for leakage of radioactive gas. The present invention is capable of identifying which fuel rod assemblies, if any, are leaking radioactive gas without the need for physically separating individual fuel rod assemblies from the nuclear core.

Method of detecting leakage of radioactive gas from a nuclear fuel assembly


A vented platen capable of being heated or cooled is disclosed wherein a plurality of heat exchange channels bored through the width of a plate member are arranged in a plane. The plate member has a plurality of openings on a surface that are vented by vent passages disposed on a plane substantially parallel to the plane of the heat exchange channels.

This invention relates to heated platens in general and more particularly to an improved heated platen less subject to leaks. Heated platens are used for various functions. Typically platens of this nature are made of aluminum and contain within them a plurality of parallel channels through which a heat exchange fluid may be passed in order to heat the platen. In large platens, the head exchange passages are divided up into zones so that all areas of the platen are equally heated, otherwise, the fluid by the time it went from end of the platen to the other would be considerably cooled and there would be uneven heating.
One type of heated platen that is of particular interest is a platen used in carrying out the expansion of a thermoformable material using a process such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,810 and as also described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,909 granted to Donald R. Beasly and assigned to the Norfield Corporation, the same assignee as the present invention. In the process disclosed therein, a thermoformable plastic material is disposed between two platens, each of the platens having a surface containing a large number of vented openings. The platens are heated to a temperature of equal to or greater than 70.degree. C. at which point the thermoformable material bonds by hot tack adhesion to the platens at areas other than those containing openings. The platens are moved apart and venting occurs at the openings. Thus, as the platens are pulled apart a cellular structure results as more fully disclosed in the aforementioned patents. The platens are then cooled whereupon the expanded material can be removed from between the platens.
The type of platens which have been used commercially for this purpose contain a plurality of circular holes all of which are vented, the holes being arranged in rows and columns which are staggered. The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,909 describes the manner in which such platens can be supported so as to maintain a planar surface. Although the method and apparatus described therein has been used in commercial applications to produce large panels of for example 4.times.8 feet, various problems have occured with platens.
At the vent areas, vent passages have been previously drilled through the platens in a direction perpendicular to the plane surface of the platen. Only small holes can be used so as to avoid running into the heat exchange channels which contain the heat exchange fluid. As a result, because of the nature of the plastic material being expanded, the holes tended to become clogged. A further problem with platens containing the vent passages in their top surface in that cracks have formed in the area between the heat exchange channel and the vent passages. Such cracks are not accessible, as are cracks which might occur in the bottom of the platen. Thus, the occurence of such cracks, may mean that the whole platen has to be scrapped and a new one made.


In one embodiment, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) system assigns a first priority level to a first USB endpoint and a second priority level that is lower than the first priority level to a second USB endpoint. The USB system has memory that stores first USB data packets corresponding to the first priority level and second USB data packets corresponding to the second priority level. The USB system also has a controller that manages transfers of (i) the first USB data packets to the first USB endpoint and (ii) the second USB data packets to the second USB endpoint. If the memory concurrently stores first and second USB data packets, then the controller determines an order for transferring the first and second USB data packets based on the second priority level being lower than the first priority level and/or detection of a starvation condition for the second endpoint.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to queuing systems, and more particularly to priority queue methods and apparatus in communication systems such as Universal Serial Bus systems, including wireless USB systems.
2. Background of the Related Art
Generally speaking, data to be transmitted (or received) is often passed through a transmit (or receive) queue. Once in a queue, data is generally transmitted in queue order.
In systems passing various types of data (e.g., voice, data, streaming video, etc.), data passing through the queue is given different priorities in an effort to transmit the highest priority data more quickly. One technique for ensuring that data of all priorities gets transmitted (or received) at a desired speed is to provide multiple queues, one for each priority level. In systems that do not offer multiple queues to support multiple priority class traffic scenarios, a boundary condition is effectively placed on the system software or driver requiring that in the transmit direction the software apply a minimum packet queuing strategy in the available system host transmit buffers in systems that want to establish multiple-class priority traffic scenarios. (Transmit being defined as packets from local system memory that traverse through the system out onto the medium. Receive is defined as incoming packets from the medium that are demodulated and placed into system memory.) This requirement is placed on the system in an effort to prevent a potentially large delay situation when a high priority packet is passed down to the driver from the operating system. The underlying assumption or solution is that such a priority frame cannot easily be 'inserted' in the existing queue, because the potential ownership or consumption of that available buffer is unknown (i.e., may have already been relinquished to the device already).
Quality of Service (QoS) is an all-encompassing phrase that denotes that different types of communications traffic are treated differently. In telecommunications systems, QoS is typically tied to voice and video services where users, who are accustomed to using the telephone, expect high quality voice (because historically, voice was considered the money maker and therefore that traffic received priority). In data communications systems, QoS is typically tied to multi-media services. In this context, multi-media refers to data systems that handle all kinds of data streams ('streaming services') that require no 'automatic' priority or re-transmission if a data packet is somehow lost in real-time.
Telecom systems are inherently stream oriented whereas data streams are inherently 'bursty' in nature. In the circuit switched world of telecom systems, 'control' is the model solution for all problems. This 'control', however, is fine for constant rate applications like voice and video where prediction of future is easy but loses some efficiency when handling data communications. On the other hand, data systems are complex and contain mixes of data sources and sinks called applications. Breaking data streams into packets makes it possible to serve many sources efficiently by multiplexing many data streams; the price of doing this, however, is in the form of delay. In many instances the application needs to bound or at the very least minimize this delay component, whereas some applications are immune to delivery latencies (herein referred to as 'best-effort' delivery.
Wireless systems also add a second level of uncertainty (and hence potential delay) in that the traffic flows are unpredictable in no small part due to the unpredictability of the radio links as well as external interference sources. Thus, use of rigid controls to manage traffic classes in wireless LANs can cause problems.
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a popular standard for personal computer (PC) peripheral devices because of its versatile peripheral interconnection specifications. USB not only provides simplified hardware connectors but also provides support for various bus traffic, such as isochronous and bulk transfer activities. Although the USB specifications do provide a way for users to specify the upper bound on the number of bytes for each data transfer in a 1 millisecond (mS) time frame, little work has been done within the industry to provide QoS guarantees for devices (e.g., the lower bound on the bytes for each device type in a 1 mS time frame) and a mechanism in enforcing those guarantees.
Conventional methods are generally employed at the Kernel level or via hardware to implement and reserve both "Bulk" and "Isoch" pipes for support. However, such conventional methods have several problems, including increased complexity, increased silicon area, and requiring separate and distinct buffers for each 'pipe', all of which leads to increased overall costs. Generally, too, the conventional solutions address only a 2-tiered priority strategy: high priority and non-priority data traffic classes. A key requirement in QoS-managed systems is that all devices have to implement a given model and policy and not play 'rogue'.
In present communications systems, transmit packets flow from host memory to an internal transmit buffer (e.g., a transmit packet buffer) usually under the control of a resident data movement or DMA engine, which in turn is commanded by the system driver or software. The Media Access Controller (MAC) retrieves transmit data from this packet buffer, frames it appropriately, and forwards it to a physical network layer. Likewise, receive packets flow to the MAC from the receiver. The MAC extracts packet data from surrounding header and CRC, while packet management logic determines whether each packet should be discarded, buffered, or merely decoded for network flow control and power management. Each packet which reaches the receive buffer is forwarded to the host computer via a data movement engine, again operating under host driver control. Generally, the functional implementation of on-device buffers limits the number of physical data that can be brought onto the device—i.e., packet memory is generally limited due to cost and area concerns.
FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of a conventional non-priority based management system in a media access controller (MAC).
In particular, FIG. 6 shows that in these present communication systems, packets are sequentially queued and managed on a 'best-effort' basis.
In non-priority managed system offerings, generally a single queuing structure is used to buffer up packets at the system level. Using this strategy when priority traffic is available, however, a boundary condition is effectively placed on the device driver requiring that in either the Tx or Rx directions, the software apply a minimum packet queuing strategy to the available buffer. This requirement is placed on the system in an effort to prevent a potential large delay situation when a high priority packet is passed down to the driver. This underlying assumption is that such a priority frame cannot easily be 'inserted' in the existing queue, because it is unknown if the ownership of the available buffer has been relinquished to the device already.
There is a need for a fair and efficient queuing method and apparatus useful in USB type systems, particularly in wireless USB systems.

Techniques for managing priority queues and escalation considerations in USB wireless communication systems


A process and apparatus described is for distributing hydrocarbon feed to catalyst in a riser. Hydrocarbon feed is delivered to a plenum in the riser. Nozzles from the plenum inject feed into the riser to contact the catalyst. Streams of regenerated catalyst and carbonized catalyst may be passed to the riser and mixed around an insert in a lower section of a riser. The plenum may be located in the riser.

The invention relates to a process and apparatus for distributing hydrocarbon feed to be contacted with catalyst. A field of the invention may be the field of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC).
FCC is a hydrocarbon conversion process accomplished by contacting hydrocarbons in a fluidized reaction zone with a catalyst composed of finely divided particulate material. The reaction in catalytic cracking, as opposed to hydrocracking, is carried out in the absence of substantial added hydrogen or the consumption of hydrogen. As the cracking reaction proceeds substantial amounts of highly carbonaceous material referred to as coke are deposited on the catalyst to provide coked or carbonized catalyst. This carbonized catalyst is often referred to as spent catalyst. However, this term may be misconstrued because the carbonized catalyst still has significant catalytic activity. Vaporous products are separated from carbonized catalyst in a reactor vessel. Carbonized catalyst may be subjected to stripping over an inert gas such as steam to strip entrained hydrocarbonaceous gases from the carbonized catalyst. A high temperature regeneration with oxygen within a regeneration zone operation burns coke from the carbonized catalyst which may have been stripped.
Although the carbonized catalyst carries coke deposits it may still have activity. U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,762 discloses mixing carbonized and regenerated catalyst for contact with the hydrocarbon feed. The regenerated catalyst may be in the range of 593° to 760° C. (1100° to 1400° F.) and the carbonized catalyst may be in the range of 482° to 621° C. (900° to 1150° F.). U.S. Pat. No. 5,597,537 discloses mixing the carbonized and regenerated catalyst in a blending vessel to allow the regenerated and carbonized catalyst to reach a temperature equilibrium before contacting the hydrocarbon feed. U.S. Pat. No. 7,935,314 B2 discloses baffles in the riser to obstruct upward catalyst flow to foster mixing. A mixed catalyst with more uniform temperature avoids undesirable hot spots that can generate nonselective cracking to reduce the value of the product hydrocarbons.
FCC can create a variety of products from heavier hydrocarbons. Often, a feed of heavier hydrocarbons, such as a vacuum gas oil, is provided to an FCC reactor. Various products may be produced, including a gasoline product and/or light olefins, such as at least one of propylene and ethylene. To produce more light olefins, product cuts from FCC effluent, such as naphtha, may be recycled to the riser reactor or to an additional riser reactor for additional catalytic cracking. These product cuts may be fed to the riser in a gaseous phase.
Current known methods of distributing a vapor stream to a riser are pose technical challenges. Typically, distribution would be accomplished by using a conventional feed distributor but due to the feed stream being in the vapor phase this would require a significant number of distributors to achieve sufficient mass distribution to the riser. Other known means of distributing the vapor stream, such as open pipes or pipes with slots at the end, are inefficient at evenly distributing the recycle stream in the riser.
It may be desirable to provide a distributor for distributing hydrocarbon feed to an FCC reactor.
It may be desirable to provide a distributor for distributing gaseous hydrocarbon feed to an FCC reactor.
It may also be desirable to provide a distributor for distributing hydrocarbon feed to an FCC reactor that assists with mixing of separate streams of catalyst.

Process and apparatus for distributing hydrocarbon feed to a catalyst stream


A layout structure is provided. The layout structure includes a substrate, a gate conductive layer, a first doped region having a first conductivity, a second doped region having the first conductivity, and a third doped region having a second conductivity. The gate conductive layer is formed on the substrate. The first doped region the second doped region are formed in the substrate and located at two sides of the gate conductive layer. The third doped region is formed in the substrate and adjacent to the second doped region. The third doped region and the second doped region form a diode. The gate conductive layer, the first doped region, and the third doped region are connected to ground, and the second doped region is connected to an input/output pad.

Technical Field
The disclosure relates in general to a layout structure, and more particularly to a layout structure with improved electrostatic discharge protection (ESD).
Description of the Related Art
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) has become one of the major issues affecting the stability and reliability of integrated circuits (IC). Despite the thermal dissipation disadvantages caused by the presence of a buried oxide in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology, a grounded-gate NMOS (GGNMOS) using SOI technology has been applied for improving ESD protection due to the advantages of low leakage, low capacitance, latch-up free, and etc.
However, the GGNMOS still cannot provide sufficient ESD protection. Therefore, there is still a continuing need to provide improved ESD protection of SOI technology.

Layout structure for electrostatic discharge protection


An automatic call blocking and routing system. The system includes input and output ports, a telephone line interface and an off-hook circuit in communication with the input port, an output port, a switch in communication with the input and output ports, memory, a user-operable control, and a microprocessor responsive to the user-operable control to store in the memory data indicative of blocked callers. The microprocessor is responsive to an incoming call to compare the stored data with caller ID data in the incoming call. If the caller ID data matches a blocked caller, the microprocessor blocks the call by causing the off-hook circuit to send an off-hook signal to the input port, waiting a predefined interval of time, and then causing the off-hook circuit to send an on-hook signal to the input port.

Telephone answering systems that automatically switch an incoming call to any of several telephone receivers and FAX machines are known. An example of such a system is disclosed in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,210.
Modern telephone systems send a caller ID signal, typically between the first and second ring signals, giving the telephone number from which a call is originating. The caller ID signal may be encoded by frequency shift keying (FSK) or dual tone multi frequency (DTMF) techniques.
The caller ID signal enables a telephone user who is receiving a call to determine the identity of the calling party before answering the phone. Typically this is done by observing the calling telephone number on an LCD screen on a control panel of the telephone. If the user does not wish to receive a call from the person whose number appears on the screen, the user may simply ignore the call.
Many telephone systems provide an option for special handling of calls received after business hours; this option may include automatically playing an outgoing message (OGM) to the caller to advise the caller of business hours during which a person may be available to take a call. The OGM may also invite the caller to leave a message which is thereupon stored. The OGM may also invite the caller to enter a predetermined code which rings directly through to connected telephone equipment associated with that code.

Automatic call blocking and routing system and method