A composite container having a barrier property and comprising a packaging material which comprises an inner surface layer, a barrier layer, and a base material layer wherein the barrier layer comprises one selected from nylon MXD 6 and a semi-aromatic polyamide resin, which is a copolymer comprising an aromatic polyamide forming component and an aliphatic polyamide forming component wherein the aromatic polyamide forming component comprises an aliphatic diamine and isophthalic acid and/or terephthalic acid, and the aliphatic polyamide forming component comprises a lactam or an aliphatic diamine, and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid. The above packaging material may also comprise an inner surface layer having a barrier property and a base material layer wherein the inner surface layer having a barrier property comprises the above semi-aromatic polyamide resin. Such a composite container having a barrier property has both of a good barrier property and a sufficient strength, and is capable of being produced at a low cost without complicating the production process to be used therefor.

The present invention relates to a composite container having a barrier property, particularly to a composite container which has a good barrier property and a sufficient strength, and is capable of being produced at a low cost without complicating the production process to be used therefor.
Hitherto, when a composite container which is required to have a gas barrier property is produced, there has generally been used a production process wherein the packaging material for constituting such a container is caused to, have a laminate structure, and a layer of an aluminum foil is disposed or interposed in the laminate structure. In addition, such a container is generally disposable, i.e.; is thrown away after a single use thereof.
However, it has recently been required that the resources (or natural resources) are to be recycled. From such a viewpoint, there has been demanded a container which is capable of being collected after the use thereof and being separated into the respective materials constituting the container so that the thus separated materials can be recycled or reused. However, in the case of the conventional container formed from the packaging material as described above using the aluminum foil, there has been posed a problem such that the aluminum foil disposed or laminated between the layers of resins or papers cannot be easily separated and collected.
In order to solve such a problem, there have been developed containers of various types which have a good barrier property without using a metal thin film such as an aluminum foil. For example, Japanese Laid Open Patent Application (JP A, KOKAI) No. 22624/1988 discloses a container which is formed from a packaging material having a five layer structure comprising a polyethylene (PE) resin layer/a paper layer/ a PE resin layer/a nylon 6 layer/and a PE resin layer disposed from the inner side of the container; Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 312143/1988 discloses a container which is formed from a packaging material having a five layer structure comprising a polyethylene (PE) resin layer/a paper layer/a PE resin layer/an ethylene-vinylalcohol copolymer (EVOH) layer/and a PE resin layer disposed from the inner side of the container; Japanese Laid Open Patent Application No. 160551/1990 discloses a container which is formed from a packaging material having a six layer structure comprising a polyethylene (PE) resin layer/a paper layer/a PE resin layer/an EVOH layer/a nylon 6 layer/and a PE resin layer disposed from the inner side of the container; etc.
However, among these conventional containers, the first container as described above has a problem such that the Nylon 6 layer only provides an insufficient gas barrier property. Further, in the case of the second container as described above, the EVOH layer may provide a good barrier property but it does not have a sufficient strength. In addition, when such a container is used as one for containing a soft drink, since the EVOH layer may take up water and the barrier property of the EVOH layer may extremely decrease when the EVOH layer contacts such a content, it is required to subject the end surface disposed inside of the container to a treatment such as skiving so that the EVOH layer may be covered with another material. As a result, the second container has a problem such that it requires a complicated production process. Further, in the case of the third container as described above, since the substrate material layer is disposed outside the EVOH layer and the nylon 6 layer, the container can have both of an excellent barrier property and a sufficient strength but it requires a higher production cost because it has both of the EVOH layer and the nylon 6 layer.
On the other hand, in a case where a pouring member is mounted the above composite container having a barrier property, it has been used a method wherein a pouring member, e.g., comprising a polyolefin resin such as polyethylene is inserted into an opening formed in the main body of the composite container so that it is penetrated from the inner side of the main body of the composite container, and a flange portion of the pouring member is fixed to the inner peripheral surface of the main body of the composite container.
In the case of the conventional composite container having such a pouring member mounted thereto, when the polyolefin type resin layer is formed at the time of the production of the laminate sheet as a material constituting the container, or when the container is formed from the laminate sheet, the polyolefin type resin is subjected to pyrolysis to produce a volatile component such as aliphatic hydrocarbons. Therefore, such a container has a problem such that the volatile component may migrate to the content such as an orange juice contained in the container so that the taste of the content may be changed or an odor is imparted to the content; or the flavor or taste of the content is impaired because the polyolefin type resin layer constituting the inner peripheral surface layer is liable to adsorb or transmit the flavor component of the content such as the orange juice.
From such a viewpoint, there has been investigated or researched, as a composite container which is excellent in a flavor component retaining property, a composite container wherein the inner layer comprises a layer of a semi-aromatic polyamide resin which is a copolymer comprises an aromatic polyamide forming component comprising an aliphatic diamine and isophthalic acid and/or terephthalic acid; and an aliphatic polyamide forming component comprising a lactam or an aliphatic diamine and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid.
However, according to the present inventor""s investigation, when a pouring member comprising an integrally molded member comprising a polyolefin type resin such as polyethylene is intended to be applied or mounted to such a composite container having a flavor component retaining property, a sufficient adhesion property between the container and the pouring member has not been obtained.
An object of the present invention is, in view of the above problems encountered in the prior art, to provide a composite container having a barrier property which has both of a good barrier property and a sufficient strength, and is capable of being produced at a low cost without complicating the production process to be used therefor.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a composite container having a barrier property which is equipped with a pouring member.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a composite container having a barrier property and comprising a packaging material which comprises:
an inner surface layer comprising a polyolefin type resin,
a barrier layer, and
a base material layer wherein at least the outermost layer thereof comprises an olefin type resin,
wherein the barrier layer comprises one selected from nylon MXD6 and a semi-aromatic polyamide resin, which is a copolymer comprising an aromatic polyamide forming component and an aliphatic polyamide forming component wherein the aromatic polyamide forming component comprises an aliphatic diamine and isophthalic acid and/or terephthalic acid, and the aliphatic polyamide forming component comprises a lactam or an aliphatic diamine, and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid.
According to the above first aspect of the present invention, the resultant container has both of a barrier property and a strength. In addition, since a reinforcing layer is not required to be disposed therein, the production process for producing such a container can be simplified and the production cost can be reduced.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a composite container having a barrier property and comprising a packaging material which comprises:
an inner surface layer having a barrier property, and
a base material layer wherein at least the outermost layer thereof comprises an olefin type resin,
wherein the inner layer having a barrier property comprises a semi-aromatic polyamide resin, which is a copolymer comprising an aromatic polyamide forming component and an aliphatic polyamide forming component wherein the aromatic polyamide forming component comprises an aliphatic diamine and isophthalic acid and/or terephthalic acid, and the aliphatic polyamide forming component comprises a lactam or an aliphatic diamine, and an aliphatic dicarboxylic-acid.
According to the above second aspect of the present invention, there may be provided a composite container having a barrier property which has not only an excellent gas barrier property, an excellent flavor barrier property and a sufficient strength, but also has an excellent suitability to a container for a drink, and is capable of being produced at a low cost by use of a simplified production process.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a composite container having a barrier property and comprising a container main body having an opening and a pouring member which has been inserted into the opening formed in the container main body from the inside of the container main body,
wherein the container main body comprises an inner surface layer comprising a semi-aromatic polyamide resin, which is a copolymer comprising an aromatic polyamide forming component and an aliphatic polyamide forming component wherein the aromatic polyamide forming component comprises an aliphatic diamine and isophthalic acid and/or terephthalic acid, and the aliphatic polyamide forming component comprises a lactam or an aliphatic diamine, and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid; the pouring member comprises a pouring member forming material comprising an adhesive polyolefin type resin, and has a flange portion; and the flange portion is fixed to the inner surface layer of the container main body.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a composite container having a barrier property and comprising a container main body having an opening and a pouring member which has been inserted into the opening formed in the container main body from the inside of the container main body,
wherein the container main body comprises an inner surface layer comprising a semi-aromatic polyamide resin, which is a copolymer comprising an aromatic polyamide forming component and an aliphatic polyamide forming component wherein the aromatic polyamide forming component comprises an aliphatic diamine and isophthalic acid and/or terephthalic acid, and the aliphatic polyamide forming component comprises a lactam or an aliphatic diamine, and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid; the pouring member comprises a pouring member, forming material comprising the semi-aromatic polyamide resin, and has a flange portion; and the flange portion is fixed to the inner surface layer of the container main body.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a composite container having a barrier property and comprising a container main body having an opening and a pouring member which has been inserted into the opening formed in the container main body from the inside of the container main body,
wherein the container main body comprises an inner surface layer comprising a semi-aromatic polyamide resin, which is a copolymer comprising an aromatic polyamide forming component and an aliphatic polyamide forming component wherein the aromatic polyamide forming component comprises an aliphatic diamine and isophthalic acid and/or terephthalic acid, and the aliphatic polyamide forming component comprises a lactam or an aliphatic diamine, and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid; the pouring member comprises a pouring member forming material comprising a polyolefin type resin, and has a flange portion; and the flange portion is fixed to the inner surface layer of the container main body by the medium of a laminating material comprising a semi-aromatic polyamide resin layer comprising the semi-aromatic polyamide resin.
According to the above third, fourth and fifth aspects of the present invention, there may be provided a composite container equipped with a pouring member which has not only an excellent gas barrier property, an excellent flavor barrier property and a practical (or a practically acceptable) strength, but also has a good adhesion property between the pouring member and the main body of the container so that the pouring member and the main body of the composite container cannot be easily separated or peeled from each other.
The sixth embodiment of the present invention is the following lamination product and composite container:
A lamination product having a barrier property which comprises:
a base material layer comprising at least a polyolefin resin layer constituting an outermost layer and a paper support; and
five layers of a polyolefin resin layer, a second adhesive layer, a barrier layer, a first adhesive layer and a polyolefin resin layer constituting an innermost layer, said five layers being arranged in this order on an inner surface side of the base material layer,
wherein said five layers are laminated, at the same time, respectively, on an exposed surface of the paper support through a coextrusion of fused resins for the respective five layers; and,
A composite container having a barrier property and comprising a packaging material which comprises:
a base material layer comprising at least a polyolefin resin layer constituting an outermost layer and a paper support; and
five layers of a polyolefin resin layer, a second adhesive layer, a barrier layer, a first adhesive layer and a polyolefin resin layer constituting an innermost layer, said five layers being arranged in this order on an inner surface side of the base material layer,
wherein said five layers are laminated, at the same time, respectively, on an exposed surface of the paper support through a coextrusion of fused resins for the respective five layers.
According to the sixth embodiment of the characters mentioned above, the composite container has a suitable strength as well as barrier property and also provides a good adhesion property of the barrier layer with respect to the base material layer.
The seventh embodiment of the present invention is the following lamination product and composite container:
A lamination product having a barrier property and comprising a packaging material which comprises:
a base material layer comprising at least a polyolefin resin layer constituting an outermost layer and a paper support; and
three layers of a barrier layer, an adhesive layer and a polyolefin resin layer constituting an innermost layer, said three layers being arranged in this order on an inner surface side of the base material layer,
wherein said three layers are laminated, at the same time, respectively, on an exposed surface of the paper support through a coextrusion of fused resins for the respective three layers; and,
A composite container having a barrier property and comprising a packaging material which comprises:
a base material layer comprising at least a polyolefin resin layer constituting an outermost layer and a paper support; and
three layers of a barrier layer, an adhesive layer and a polyolefin resin layer constituting an innermost layer, the three layers being arranged in this order on an inner surface side of the base material layer,
wherein the three layers are laminated, at the same time, respectively, on an exposed surface of the paper support through a coextrusion of fused resins for the respective three layers.
According to the seventh embodiment of the characters mentioned above, the composite container has a suitable strength as well as barrier property and also provides a good adhesion property of the barrier layer with respect to the base material layer. Further, in this embodiment, the barrier layer is directly laminated to the exposed surface of the paper support without interposing any other layer therebetween, a lamination structure of the packaging material can be simplified. As a result, a rebound force (repulsive force) to be caused at a folding line when the packaging material is bent or folded to form a container can be sufficiently suppressed, so that a formability of the container is improved, as well as a manufacturing cost of the container can be also reduced.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent upon a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Composite container having barrier property


The present disclosure provides an image recognition method and apparatus, a device and a non-volatile computer storage medium. In embodiments of the present disclosure, it is feasible to obtain the to-be-recognized image of the designated space, then perform image segmentation processing for the to-be-recognized image, to obtain at least one area image of the designated space, and then perform image matching processing for each area image in said at least one area image, to obtain a reference image corresponding to said each area image, so that it is possible to perform recognition processing for said each area image according to image information of the reference image corresponding to said each area image to obtain article information of said each area image. The so doing does not require manual participation and exhibits simple operations and a high rate of correctness, and thereby improves the recognition efficiency and reliability.

Usually, articles such as art works, beverages and snacks may be placed in storage equipment such as refrigerators, freezers, display cabinets or open-type goods shelves so that consumers may store, observe or select and purchase the articles.
In the prior art, a staff member makes statistics on the spot of the storage equipment to recognize basic situations of the internal space of the storage equipment, for example, placement positions of articles, the number of articles and so on. This causes complicated operations, long operation duration and likelihood of errors, and therefore causes reduction of the recognition efficiency and reliability.

Image recognition method, apparatus and device, and non-volatile computer storage medium

BAIDU ONLINE NETWORK TECHNOLOGY (BEIJING) CO., LTD.


An improved flash EEPROM memory-based storage subsystem includes one or more flash memory arrays, each with three data registers and a controller circuit. During a flash program operation, one data register is used to control the program operation, a second register is used to hold the target data value, and a third register is used to load the next sector""s data. Subsequent to a flash program operation, a sector""s data are read from a flash array into the first data register and compared to the target data stored in the second register. When the data is verified good, the data from the third register is copied into the first and second registers for the next program operation. This creates an improved performance system that doesn""t suffer data transfer latency during program operations that require data verification after the program operation is complete. Alternate embodiments perform the comparison using two register implementations and a single register implementations. The post-writer verification can be repeated and use different bias conditions for reading the data. The process can be automatic or executed by command that can specify the read conditions.

This invention pertains to the field of semiconductor non-volatile memory architectures and their methods of operation, and has application to flash electrically erasable and programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs).
A common application of flash EEPROM devices is as a mass data storage subsystem for electronic devices. Such subsystems are commonly implemented as either removable memory cards that can be inserted into multiple host systems or as non-removable embedded storage within the host system. In both implementations, the subsystem includes one or more flash devices and often a subsystem controller.
Flash EEPROM devices are composed of one or more arrays of transistor cells, each cell capable of non-volatile storage of one or more bits of data. Thus flash memory does not require power to retain the data programmed therein. Once programmed however, a cell must be erased before it can be reprogrammed with a new data value. These arrays of cells are partitioned into groups to provide for efficient implementation of read, program and erase functions. A typical flash memory architecture for mass storage arranges large groups of cells into erasable blocks. Each block is further partitioned into one or more addressable sectors that are the basic unit for read and program functions.
The subsystem controller performs a number of functions including the translation of the subsystem""s logical block address (LBA) to a physical chip, block, and sector address. The controller also manages the low level flash circuit operation through a series of commands that it issues to the flash memory devices via an interface bus. Another function the controller performs is to maintain the integrity of data stored to the subsystem through various means (e.g. by using an error correction code, or ECC).
FIG. 1 shows a typical prior art flash EEPROM device""s internal architecture 4000. The key features include an I/O bus 411 and control signals 412 to interface to an external controller, a memory control circuit 450 to control internal memory operations with registers for command, address and status, one or more arrays 400 of flash EEPROM cells, each array with its own row decoder (XDEC) 401 and column decoder (YDEC) 402, a group of sense amplifiers and program control circuitry (SA/PROG) 454 and a Data Register 404.
If desired, a plurality of arrays 400, together with related X decoders, Y decoders, program/verified circuitry, data registers, and the like is provided, for example as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,192; issued Mar. 30, 1999, and assigned to SanDisk Corporation, the assignee of this application, and which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The external interface I/O bus 411 and control signals 412 could be configured with the following signals:
This interface is given only as an example as other signal configurations can be used to give the same functionality. This diagram shows only one flash memory array 400 with its related components, but a multiplicity of arrays can exist on a single flash memory chip that share a common interface and memory control circuitry (MEMORY CONTROL) 450 including CMD REG, ADDR REG, and STATUS REG) but have separate XDEC, YDEC, SA/PROG and data registers (SLAVE DATA REGISTER 404 and MASTER DATA REGISTER 403) circuitry in order to allow parallel read and program operations.
Data from the EEPROM system 4000 data register (SLAVE DATA REGISTER) 404 to an external controller via the data registers coupling to the I/O bus AD[7:0] 411. The data register 404 is also coupled the sense amplifier/programming circuit 454. The number of elements of the data register coupled to each sense amplifier/programming circuit element may depend on the number of bits stored in each flash EEPROM cell. Each flash EEPROM cell may include a plurality of bits, such as 2 or 4, if multi-state memory cells are employed.
Row decoder 401 decodes row addresses for array 400 in order to select the physical sector being accessed. Row decoder 401 receives row addresses via internal row address lines 419 from memory control logic (MEMORY CONTROL) 450. Column decoder 402 receives column addresses via internal column address lines 429 from memory control logic (MEMORY CONTROL) 450. SA/PROG 454 receives PROG and READ form MEMORY CONTROL 450.
FIG. 2 shows a typical flash card architecture that has a single controller 301 that performs host and memory control functions and a flash memory array that is composed of one or more flash memory devices. The system controller and the flash memory are connected by bus 302 that allows controller 301 to load command, address, and transfer data to and from the flash memory array.
It is common practice that each sector""s worth of host data programmed into a sector is appended with an Error Detection and Correction Code (ECC) that is used to determine the validity of the stored data upon read back. Some such systems would use the occasion of the transfer from the memory device to the controller as an opportunity to check the validity of the data being read as a way to ensure that the data has not been corrupted.
In order to ensure the validity of the data programmed, some systems read the data from a sector immediately after it is programmed. The data is verified before the next operation proceeds by means of ECC, data comparison, or other mechanism. In prior art systems, this data verification, as it is known to those experienced in the art, occurs during the data transfer that takes place after the read. Thus there is an increase in the time to perform a program operation due to the addition of a read operation and the transfer of the data from the flash memory device to the controller circuit, where the verification is actually performed. The program verify operation indicates whether or not all cells have been programmed to or above the desired level and does not generally check if cells have over-shot the target state, possibly to the next state in the case of multi-state memory, but only if they have exceeded a particular verification condition. Due to the overall fidelity of these storage devices, the occurrence of failure during such verifications is rare.
FIG. 3 shows a timing diagram of a two-sector program/verify operation in which data is programmed into two destination addresses (DST[N] and DST[N+1]) and subsequently read in order to verify before programming to the next destination address (DST[N+2]). The READ signal indicates that a read is taking place from the source sector. The XFER signal indicates a data transfer between the flash data register and the controller. The R/W signal indicates the direction of the transfer (high being a read from the flash to the controller and low being write from the controller to the flash). The PROG signal indicates that a program operation is taking place upon the destination page.
FIG. 4 illustrates the sequence of events that occur during a program/verify operation:
1. Transfer data to master data register 403 from external controller circuit (not shown).
2. Transfer contents of master data register 403 to slave data register 404.
3. Program the data from slave data register 404 into flash memory array 400 (containing the DESTINATION SECTORS and SOURCE SECTORS).
4. Read back data from flash memory array 400 into slave data register 404.
5. Transfer data from slave register 404 to master data register 403.
6. Transfer data from master data register 403 to external controller circuit (not shown) for validation.
The exact cost of these verification operations varies depending on the times of various flash memory operations, the data set size, the I/O bus size and the I/O bus cycle time. But an example using some typical values is shown below:
TRD=25 xcexcs TX=26.4 xcexcs TPRG=300 xcexcs
The total time to program and verify a single sector (as shown in FIG. 4).
TPgm/Vfy=TX+TPRG+TRD+TX=377 xcexcs
Making the data verification time 14% of the overall program/verify operation.
It is a general trend in non-volatile memory design to increase the number of cells that can be programmed and read at one time in order to improve the write and read performance of these devices. This can be accomplished by increasing the number of memory cell arrays on a single die, increasing the page size within a single plane, programming multiple chips in parallel or some combination of these three techniques. The result of any of these is that the data transfer length increases for the larger number of cells being programmed or read with the program and read times changing little or not at all. Thus, the expense of data verification in a system that has such increased parallelism is that much higher. As an example, the same timing values as used in the above example show the impact on a system with a four-fold increase in parallelism:
TPgm/Vfy=4*TX+TPRG+TRD+4*TX=526.4 xcexcs
Making the data verification time 24% of the overall four-page copy operation.
A flash memory device is taught which is capable of performing a post-programming verification operation without transferring the data to an external controller circuit and which allows data transfer from the external controller during those program or verify operations. According to a principle aspect of the present invention, a copy of the data to be programmed is maintained on the memory device. After programming is complete, the data is read back compared with the maintained copy in a post-write read-verify process performed on the memory device itself.
In one set of embodiments, non-volatile memory system is designed with circuitry that includes three data registers. The first data register controls programming circuitry and stores data from read operations. The second data register holds a copy of the programming data for later verification. The third data register is used to transfer data during program, verify and read operations. This process of transferring in the next set of data to be programmed while a current set of data is being programmed can be termed stream-programming. Prior to a program operation, data is transferred into the first and second registers. Subsequent to the programming operation, the data are read back from the cells just programmed and are stored in the first register. The contents of that register are then compared with the contents of the second register. A match between the two sets of data indicates that the data was programmed correctly and status indicating a successful verification is produced. During the program and verify operations, the third data register can be used to receive the next set of data to be programmed.
An alternate set of embodiments is a two register implementation, in which a master register receives the incoming data and maintains a copy of the data subsequent to its programming. After the data is written, it is read out into a second register whose contents are then compared to the original data in the master register. Another alternate embodiment uses only a single master register, with the data again maintained in the master register subsequent to programming and the read data is compared directly with the contents of the master register as it is read out of the array. These variations allow for both destructive (wherein the data in register used for programming is lost in the process of program-verification) and non-destructive (wherein the data is maintained throughout) programming methods to be used.
In all of the embodiments, the post-programming verification operation can be repeated, where the additional verifications can be performed using different read conditions to ensure proper amounts of read margin exist. In another aspect of the invention, the various embodiments can write multiple data sectors in parallel, with the post-programming verification operation being performed on the different sectors either serially or in parallel. The post-programming verification can be an automatic process on the memory device or performed in response to a command from the controller. The it command can specify the type of read to be used in the verification or specify parameters, such as a set of margining levels, to use for the read. The memory can use either binary or multi-state memory cells. In a multi-state embodiment, the addressing can be memory level.
Additional aspects, features and advantages of the present invention are included in the following description of specific representative embodiments, which description should be taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Method and structure for efficient data verification operation for non-volatile memories


A shock absorber includes a valve disc defining two chambers, a flow passage formed in the valve disc, the flow passage allowing communication between the two chambers, a window formed in the valve disc, the window being connected to the flow passage, a valve seat formed on the valve disc, the valve seat surrounding the outer periphery of the window; and a plurality of leaf valves formed in the shape of annular plates, the plurality of leaf valves being stacked on the valve disc. The first leaf valve stacked on the valve disc is provided such that an outer peripheral part is seatable on and separable from the valve seat, and includes a rib recessed on a valve disc side and projecting on an opposite valve disc side at a position facing the valve seat.

A shock absorber is used in vehicles, devices, structures and the like. Generally, such a shock absorber includes a cylinder in which working fluid is sealed, a piston in sliding contact with the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder to partition the interior of the cylinder into two chambers, a piston rod having one end part coupled to the piston and the other end side extending outwardly of the cylinder, a flow passage allowing communication between the two chambers and damping force generation means for applying resistance to the working fluid passing in the flow passage.
For example, in a shock absorber used as the one for vehicle, a cylinder is coupled to one of a vehicle body side as a vibration damping target and a wheel side as a vibration input part and a piston rod is coupled to the other of the vehicle body side and the wheel side. In such a shock absorber, a piston moves in the cylinder by the input of vibration and the working fluid in one chamber pressurized by the piston moves to the other chamber through the flow passage. Thus, the shock absorber can suppress vibration by generating a damping force resulting from the resistance of damping force generation means.
A shock absorber disclosed in JP1992-97133U includes a piston as a valve disc defining two chambers, a flow passage formed in the piston to allow communication between the two chambers, a window formed in the piston and connected to the flow passage, a valve seat formed on the piston and surrounding the outer periphery of the window, a plurality of leaf valves in the form of annular plates stacked on the piston, and an inner leaf valve and an outer leaf valve arranged substantially in the middle of these leaf valves. In the shock absorber disclosed in JP1992-97133U, the leaf valves, the inner leaf valve and the outer leaf valve serve as damping force generation means for applying resistance to working fluid passing in the flow passage.
Further, the outer leaf valve is arranged on the outer periphery of the inner leaf valve and formed to be thicker than the inner leaf valve. Thus, in the shock absorber disclosed in JP1992-97133U, a valve opening pressure of the leaf valves can be set high by applying initial deflection to the leaf valves stacked at an opposite piston side of the outer leaf valve and a large damping force can be generated when a piston speed is in a medium/high speed region.
When the piston speed is in the low-speed region, the working fluid passes through a known orifice formed by cuts provided on the leaf valves and a groove provided on the valve seat. Thus, the shock absorber can generate a damping force resulting from the resistance of the orifice.


A method, system, and computer-readable medium are provided for calibrating elements of a MIMO array. The method includes the steps of receiving samples of a signal from a plurality of antenna units included in the MIMO array, generating an antenna domain channel estimate based on the samples of the signal received from each antenna unit, estimating a set of spatial parameters based on the antenna domain channel estimate, generating a reconstructed channel based on the estimated set of spatial parameters, comparing the antenna domain channel estimate and the reconstructed channel to determine errors associated with a set of mismatch parameters for each antenna unit, and adjusting the set of mismatch parameters based on the errors. Each antenna unit in the plurality of antenna units is configured to sample the signal based on a clock corresponding with the antenna unit.

Wireless networks rely on radio frequency transmission of wireless signals. Each node of a wireless network includes a radio having one or more transceivers for sampling wireless signals on one or more channels. However, the spectrum on which wireless signals can be transmitted is limited (i.e., there are only so many frequencies on which signals can be transmitted, and the spectrum must be shared by a large number of users). Additional techniques need to be utilized to increase the bandwidth of these wireless networks without expanding the spectrum.
MIMO arrays utilize a plurality of antennas to send and receive multiple signals via a single radio frequency channel, thereby increasing the bandwidth of the wireless network without increasing the spectrum over which signals are transmitted. These techniques increase the complexity of the data processing for demodulating the multiple signals and require special calibration of each antenna unit in the MIMO array. Calibration of the antenna units requires additional components that increase the overall cost and complexity of the MIMO array. Additional techniques for calibrating the MIMO array without the additional components could reduce costs and enable MIMO arrays to be utilized in more deployments.

Method for calibration of a MIMO array based on an opportunistic signal


In order to eliminate the need for spread-spectrum code synchronization, a code divided into a suitable number of digits is applied to a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter multiplies an original signal by each subdivision of the code to produce n-number of new baseband signals. Carrier waves having n-types of frequencies are modulated by these signals and the modulated signals are added to obtain an ultra-wide band signal, which is then transmitted to the receiver. The receiver separates the received signal into the narrow band components which prevailed prior to the adding operation in the transmitter, and then demodulates each component into a baseband signal. Each of these demodulated signals is multiplied by a code the same as that on the transmitting side, whereby n-number of original signals are obtained. Original signals obtained from a signal spread by a code different from that of the receiver are not n in number. Thus, spread-spectrum communication can be realized without requiring spread-spectrum code synchronization.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a spread-spectrum communication system in which, when information is transmitted by wire or wirelessly, the information is converted into a signal having a bandwidth much greater than that of the information band.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A spread-spectrum communication system is one in which information data is transmitted as a signal whose bandwidth is made much larger than that of the data. Broadly classified, two methods are available for achieving such communication. One method is a so-called direct-sequence (DS) method, in which the transmitting side multiplies a digitized baseband signal by a spread spectrum code such as a high-speed pseudorandom noise code to generate a baseband signal having a bandwidth much greater than that of the original data. The generated signal is modulated as by phase-shift keying (PSK) or frequency-shift keying (FSK) to be converted into a radio-frequency (RF) signal before being transmitted. On the receiving side, a spread-spectrum code the same as that on the transmitting side is used to perform reverse spreading, which is for establishing correlation with the received signal. Thus, demodulation is performed to obtain the original data.
The second method is referred to as so-called frequency hopping (FH), in which the transmitting side modulates a carrier wave by a baseband signal and transmits a signal by periodically changing frequency, in accordance with a spread-spectrum code, every data bit or at a time interval which is a whole-number fraction or a whole-number multiple thereof. On the receiving side, demodulation is performed to obtain the original data by carrying out reverse spreading. This is accomplished by performing a correlating operation, in which the local carrier wave on the receiving side is brought in tune with the transmitting side by using a spread-spectrum code the same as that on the transmitting side.
In order to achieve correct correlation on the receiving side in these systems, it is necessary for the spread-spectrum code on the transmitting side and that on the receiving side to be synchronized accurately. In the prior art, synchronizing circuits for achieving this synchronization employ a so-called sliding correlation loop.
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a sliding correlation loop for the DS method. As shown in FIG. 4, a received spread-spectrum signal enters a mixer 401, which multiplies this input by a spread-spectrum code sequence generated by a spread-spectrum code-sequence generator 406. The output of the mixer 401 enters a band-pass filter (BPF) 402 having a bandwidth corresponding to that of the original data prior to spreading. The filtered output of the BPF 402 enters a detector circuit 403, which subjects this input signal to envelope detection. The output of the detector circuit 403 enters a low-pass filter (LPF) 404 to be smoothened thereby.
If autocorrelation is achieved, the output of the mixer 401 will be a signal resulting from reverse spreading of the received spread-spectrum signal. This output signal passes through the BPF 402 and has its envelope detected by the detector circuit 403. The output signal of the detector circuit 403 enters the LPF 404, which proceeds to smoothen the signal to obtain a DC level.
If autocorrelation is not achieved, a signal which is the result of reverse spreading of the received spread-spectrum signal is not obtained at the output of mixer 401, and therefore almost all of the power of the received spread-spectrum signal is blocked by the BPF 402. The output of the BPF 402 is subjected to envelope detection by the detector circuit 403, whose output signal is smoothened by the LPF 404. As a result, the DC level obtained is sufficiently small in comparison with that obtained at autocorrelation.
The DC-level output of the LPF 404 is supplied to a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) 405. Since the output of the LPF 404 has a sufficiently small DC level when autocorrelation is not achieved, the VCO 405 in such case produces an output whose frequency is somewhat different from that of the spread-spectrum code contained in the received spread-spectrum signal. The VCO 405 supplies this output to the spread-spectrum code-sequence generator 406 as a clock signal. In this case, since the speed of the clock of the spread. spectrum code generated by the spread-spectrum code. sequence generator 406 is offset slightly from the clock speed of the received spread-spectrum signal, the phases of the two signals gradually become displaced from each other. As a result, by the time the two phases shift by an amount equivalent to one period of the spread. spectrum code, coincidence is achieved between the spread-spectrum code in the received spread-spectrum signal and the spread spectrum generated by the code-sequence generator 406, and therefore autocorrelation is obtained. When this occurs, the DC output level of the LPF 404 rises, so that the oscillation frequency of the VCO 405 changes to a frequency synchronized to the received spread-spectrum signal, and the system stabilizes at this frequency. Thus, synchronization is achieved between the received spread-spectrum code and the spread-spectrum code generated by the spread-spectrum code sequence generator 406. The time needed to obtain synchronization with this method generally is very long since the phase of the received spread-spectrum code shifts only in gradual fashion.
FIG. 5 illustrates a sliding correlation loop for the FH method. The construction of the loop in FIG. 5 is similar to that of FIG. 4 except that a frequency synthesizer 507 is added.
In FIG. 5, the synthesizer 507 changes the frequency of the output signal in accordance with the pseudorandom noise signal which enters from a spread-spectrum code-sequence generator 506. A mixer 501 multiplies the output signal of the synthesizer 507 and the received spread-spectrum signal together. If the spread-spectrum code on the receiving side is in synchronism with that on the transmitting side, the signal obtained at the output of the mixer 501 will be a signal whose frequency band is the same as that of the signal prior to spreading. Operations performed by a BPF 502, detector circuit 503, LPF 504, VCO 505 and the code-sequence generator 506 are the same as in the DS method.
Thus, in conventional spread-spectrum communication systems, the spread-spectrum code is changed along a time axis. This means that circuitry for achieving spread-spectrum code synchronization is required on the receiving side, and that the time needed for achieving such synchronization by this circuitry is very long. These are some of the drawbacks encountered in the prior art.


Metallic, ash-producing residues which remain in poly(vinyl alcohol) polymer after its preparation from poly(vinyl acetate) are removed by a process which involves contacting a slurry of the poly(vinyl alcohol) polymer, after preparation and before polymer isolation, with ion-exchange resin particles, followed by removal of the ion-exchange resin particles from the poly(vinyl alcohol) polymer particles utilizing size or weight differences between them. The poly(vinyl alcohol) polymer remains in the solid state throughout, avoiding dissolution and the need for re-precipitation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for removing basic, metallic, ash-producing residues remaining in the base-assisted production of poly(vinyl alcohol) polymers from poly(vinyl acetate) polymers. More particularly, it relates to a slurry process which utilizes an ion-exchange resin to separate the basic, metallic ash-producing residues before, rather than after, isolation of the poly(vinyl alcohol) polymer.
2. Description of Related Art
Poly(vinyl alcohol) homopolymer and poly(vinyl alcohol) copolymers, (collectively referred to hereinafter as poly(vinyl alcohol) polymers, or by the abbreviation PVA or PVAs) are produced from the corresponding poly(vinyl acetate) homopolymer and poly(vinyl acetate) copolymers (collectively hereinafter referred to as poly(vinyl acetate) polymers or by the abbreviation PVAC or PVACs) by use of acid or base reactions. The reaction may be, but is not necessarily, catalytic in nature. The process may be catalyzed or otherwise brought about by use of either strong acids or strong bases, and is known as hydrolysis (or saponification) or alcoholysis, depending on the particular reaction. Reactions using base are generally preferred due to greater efficiency and reaction rate. Unfortunately, any unremoved remaining base tends to destabilize the PVA after isolation, during subsequent processing.
Bases are difficult to wash out of the isolated PVA completely, since they tend to be quite strongly absorbed. Base instability may be countered by neutralization of any base remaining before PVA isolation, using weak acids. This produces weakly basic salts such as sodium acetate which are somewhat more amenable to washing out. Such salts themselves, while less destabilizing are, however, still somewhat destabilizing, particularly vis-a-vis recent more demanding uses of PVA. In addition, like other metallic residues, they are ash precursors, in that ash results on subsequent thermal processing of PVA derived products. (Ash, as used here, is the oxide, hydroxide or related complex that results from heating metallic residues).
Metallic ash-producing residues can mount to up to several percent in PVA, if not reduced. In transparent PVA derived products, such as butyrated poly(vinyl alcohol), i.e. poly(vinyl butyral), which is used as a windshield interlayer, ash produces haze at levels above about 0.2 weight percent, and even below this level, can affect weatherability. There is therefore a strong incentive to reduce metallic, ash-producing residues to very low levels.
Remaining metallic residues, when they have been neutralized to form salts, may be removed or reduced by extensive washing of the PVA with water or other solvents, as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 2,642,419. However low salt levels are only achieved by the use of large amounts of solvent, which is inefficient.
Ion-exchange resins (IERs) are known in the removal of metal residues from PVA, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,940,948. However, their use required use of an aqueous solution of the PVA. Although this allows ready removal of the IER particles by simple filtration, solid PVA, when required, has to be subsequently isolated by various means. This may involve complex or difficult processes such as re-precipitation, or evaporation and comminution of resulting PVA sheet to particles if PVA is required in particulate form.
The above processes of metal residue removal have been applied either to solid PVA particles, i.e. after PVA isolation (usually removing salts, having neutralized the base residues before isolation), or to PVA prepared as, or converted to, an aqueous solution. It would be highly desirable to have a process to remove ash-precursor metal residues before the steps required to isolate solid PVA, i.e. by removing the basic ash-precursor residues immediately after PVA production, even without neutralization, yet also avoiding solutions of PVA.

Removal of base residues from poly(vinyl alcohol) reaction-slurries


A paint ball gun comprises a receiver including an upper compartment and a lower compartment. A bolt is slidably mounted in the upper compartment and includes a chamber in a front end thereof for receiving a bolt pin. A gas control device is mounted in the lower compartment and includes a valve assembly, a striker, and a striker spring, the bolt and the striker being connected together to move jointly. The valve assembly comprises a positioning sleeve secured in the lower compartment, a valve pin, a valve spring mounted in the positioning sleeve, a seal member mounted to a front end of the positioning sleeve, and a cap secured to an end of the valve pin. The valve pin extends through the valve spring and located in the positioning sleeve. The valve pin includes a rear end extending beyond a hole in a rear end of the positioning sleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paint ball gun providing an improved accuracy.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 6 of the drawings illustrates a conventional paint ball gun comprising a receiver 70 with an upper compartment 71 and a lower compartment 72 parallel to the upper compartment 71. A ball-feeding tube 73 is attached to a side of the receiver 70. A barrel 74 is attached to a front end of the upper compartment 71. A venturic bolt 75 is mounted in the upper compartment 71. A gas control device 77 is mounted in the lower compartment 72 and includes front striker plug 771, a valve body 90, a striker 772, and a rear striker plug 774. A passageway 79 is provided between the upper compartment 71 and the lower compartment 72. A connecting member 78 is provided to connect the striker 772 with the venturic bolt 75 to allow joint movement. A grip means 80 is attached to an underside of the receiver 70 and includes a trigger 81 and a grip 82. An adaptor 83 is attached to a lower side of the grip 82 for attachment of a container containing pressurized gas or the like. The adaptor 83 is communicated with a gasifier 85 via a tube 84.
In firing, when the trigger 81 is pulled to a firing position, gas is fed to the gasifier 85 and then enters a space between the front striker plug 771 and the valve body 90 through a reservior 86 in a front end of the lower compartment 72. The venturic bolt 75 and the striker 772 are moved rearward and then positioned. At this time, a paint ball 94 is fed into the upper compartment 71 through the ball-feeding tube 73 and located in front of the venturic bolt 75. When the trigger 81 is pulled further rearward, the stored energy of the striker spring 773 is released and thus moves the striker 772 to impact the valve pin 91 of the valve body 90. Thus, the valve pin 91 moves forward and compresses the valve spring 93 between the front striker plug 771 and the valve body 90. The pressurized gas enters the valve body 90 and then a chamber 751 in the venturic bolt pin 75 through an orifice 92. Then, the pressurized gas impacts the paint ball 94 after passing through passageways between the wings 761 of the venturic bolt pin 76. Thus, the paint ball 94 is fired through the barrel 74. At the moment of firing, the trigger 81 releases the stored energy of the striker spring 773 to urge the striker 772 to impact the valve pin 91 of the valve body 90. The valve spring 93 between the front striker plug 771 and the valve body 90 is compressed rapidly and thus releases the pressurized gas. Thus, the pressurized gas impacts the paint ball 94 and moves the striker 772 rearward for next firing.
However, flexibility of the valve spring 93 mounted between the front striker plug 771 and the valve body 90 adversely affects returning of the valve pin 91. The gas flowing through the passageways between the wings 761 of the venturic bolt pin 76 located in the compartment 751 of the venturic bolt 75 diverts and thus could not provide a balanced impact force for firing the paint ball 94. As a result, the accuracy of the fired paint ball 94 is adversely affected.
An object of the present invention is to provide a paint ball gun providing an improved accuracy.
A paint ball gun in accordance with the present invention comprises:
a receiver including an upper compartment and a lower compartment parallel to the upper compartment;
a barrel attached to a front end of the upper compartment;
a ball-feeding tube attached to a side of the receiver for feeding a paint ball into the upper compartment;
a bolt slidably mounted in the upper compartment and including a chamber in a front end thereof;
a bolt pin mounted in the chamber of the bolt;
a gas control device mounted in the lower compartment and including a front striker plug, a valve assembly, a striker, a striker spring, and a rear striker plug, the bolt and the striker being connected together to move jointly;
an orifice defined between the upper compartment and the lower compartment; and
a trigger operably connected to the striker spring;
the valve assembly comprising a positioning sleeve secured in the lower compartment, a valve pin, a valve spring mounted in the positioning sleeve, a seal member, and a cap, the valve pin extending through the valve spring and located in the positioning sleeve, the valve pin including a rear end extending beyond a hole in a rear end of the positioning sleeve, the positioning sleeve including a front end to which the seal member is mounted, the valve pin including a front end extending beyond the seal member with the cap securely attached to the front end of the valve pin to move therewith;
the valve pin being actuated forward by the striker when the trigger is pulled beyond a predetermined position, the cap being moved away from the seal member to allow gas from the front striker plug to enter the positioning sleeve, a portion of the gas entering the chamber of the bolt through the orifice for firing the paint ball through the barrel, another portion of the gas exiting the hole in the rear end of the positioning sleeve to move the striker rearward.
The positioning sleeve includes an inner threading in a front end thereof and a vent in an outer periphery thereof. The front end of the valve pin includes an outer threading. The rear end of the valve pin includes a beveled section with a beveled face for providing a passageway to the vent. A stop is formed on the beveled section. The seal member includes a flange on an inner periphery of a front end thereof. The seal member further includes a threaded section on an outer periphery thereof for engaging with the inner threading of the positioning sleeve. The valve spring includes a rear end attached to the stop and a front end attached to the flange of the seal member. A washer is mounted around the front end of the valve pin and located in the cap. The cap includes an inner threading for engaging with the outer threading of the valve pin.
The bolt pin includes a first end and a reduced second end. A conic portion is formed between the first end and the reduced second end of the bolt pin. A concave face is defined in the first end of the bolt pin. The reduced second end of the bolt pin is securely engaged in the chamber of the bolt. At least one longitudinal passageway is defined between the conic portion and the concave face of the bolt pin. The paint ball is fired by the portion of the gas passing through the orifice and the longitudinal passageway.
Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


An information processing system for controlling usage of a service to be provided to a user via a device, obtains information on an amount of resource usage by a server in providing the service, determines whether the amount of resource usage satisfies at least one condition of a plurality of conditions previously set, and when the amount of resource usage is determined to satisfy at least one condition of the plurality of conditions, performs, in accordance with the at least one condition, at least one of a plurality of control operations including a control operation for changing a screen displayed by the device and a control operation for restricting accumulation of the jobs in the second server.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to an information processing system, an information processing apparatus, and an information processing method.
Description of the Related Art
Currently, a form of service called Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) in which a virtual machine (VM) instance is provided via a network, such as the Internet, is available. In some cases, software is installed in a VM instance that is provided as IaaS to provide some cloud service (for example, a print service in which the VM instance is caused to function as a print server).
For a printer that stores a print job transmitted from a personal computer (PC) in a memory area thereof, a technique for controlling in accordance with free space of the memory area whether to store a new print job in the memory is available.

Information processing system, information processing apparatus, and information processing method


A ceramic ferrule, an array of ceramic ferrules, and a ceramic ferrule refractory wall, all for shielding a tube sheet/boiler tube assembly of a heat exchanger connected to an industrial heat source. The head portion of each ferrule replaces conventional cast refractory walls, and has an outer-peripheral shape that allows the ferrules to mate at the operating temperature of the industrial heat source. The mated ferrules expand and contract substantially independently of one another, but form a substantially gas-tight barrier for shielding the tube sheet/boiler tube assembly from the waste gas of the industrial heat source.

Waste heat boilers are commonly used with many types of industrial heat sources to extract heat from waste gases of an industrial process. It may be necessary to extract heat from the waste gas to cause a component thereof to condense, or it may be advantageous to extract heat from the waste gas and use that heat in another process or even to provide heat for the industrial facility.
Generally speaking, a waste heat boiler includes a plurality of metal boiler tubes supported by opposed metal tube sheets. The tube sheets define a vessel for holding water or some other form of heat transfer medium. Hot waste gas passes through the boiler tubes arranged in the inlet tube sheet and heat is extracted therefrom via heat transfer from the hot gas to the water contained within the confines of the tube sheets.
It is well known that it is necessary to shield the inlet ends of the boiler tubes from the heat and corrosive nature of the waste gas. It is therefore common to employ ceramic ferrules, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,612, in the inlet ends of the boiler tubes. As shown in FIG. 1, a portion of each ceramic ferrule 10 extends out of the inlet face of each boiler tube 22. A castable refractory wall 30 is formed around the ferrules to hold the ferrules in place and to provide a heat shield for the inlet tube sheet 24. Thus, the ceramic ferrules and the castable refractory wall respectively shield the inlet ends of the boiler tubes 22 and the inlet tube sheet 24 from the waste gas.
There are several problems with this type of conventional ferrule/refractory wall system. First, it is extremely labor intensive to form the refractory wall 30 around the ferrules 10 extending out of the inlet tube sheet 24. Second, since the refractory wall 30 is typically several inches thick, its weight induces significant stresses on the ferrules 10, thus requiring that the thickness of the ferrule walls be relatively large. Larger ferrule wall thickness equates to lower throughput (i.e., lower open area and higher pressure drop) of waste gas through the waste heat boiler. Third, the refractory wall 30 and ferrules 10 become a monolithic body after the castable refractory sets. Such a large refractory body does not handle thermal cycling well and will crack after repeated heating/cooling cycles. The cracked refractory wall/ferrule body requires regular repair and replacement.

Ceramic ferrule and ceramic ferrule refractory wall for shielding tube sheet/boiler tube assembly of heat exchanger


A method and bipolar membrane stack for the generation of acid and base solutions from a salt by electrodialysis. The unit cells of the stack comprise a novel arrangement of membranes which provide four liquid flow channels. One of the channels has circulating therein a multivalent acid solution which acts as a buffer and presents leakage of the salt anion through the bipolar membrane, thereby producing base solution of substantially reduced salt-anion contamination. The method can be operated on a continuous basis.

This invention relates generally to electrodialysis of a salt solution for generating acid and base solutions and, more particularly, to an improved method and four channel bipolar membrane stack for producing low chloride sodium hydroxide.
It is well known in the art that acid and base solutions may be generated from a salt solution by the electrodialysis water splitting process. In general, the electrodialysis process consists of a stack containing a plurality of cation-selective membranes, bipolar membranes, and anion-selective membranes positioned between a pair of electrodes. The stack itself comprises an assembly of a plurality of unit cells, each unit cell comprising the said membranes arranged to provide a plurality of parallel flow paths or channels therebetween. When a direct electrical current is applied to the bipolar membrane, water is split into hydroxyl ions and hydrogen ions which migrate or travel to the anode and cathode respectively. At the same time, the cation-selective membrane passes cations traveling toward the cathode while blocking anions, and the anion-selective membrane passes anions traveling toward the anion while blocking cations. If a salt solution such as sodium chloride is directed through the channel between the cation and anion-selective membranes, the concentration of that solution is depleted as hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide are formed in adjacent acid and base containing channels. With suitable controls, pumps and associated collecting vessels, the acid and base may be withdrawn for subsequent use and the concentration of the salt solution replenished as required.
An electrodialysis process of the type indicated is fully described in the commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,513, and the teachings of that patent are incorporated herein by reference. The method disclosed in said patent is a fill and draw or batch method wherein various controls, such as pH and liquid level switches are utilized to periodically withdraw the desired acid and base and replenish the raw material salt solution. That process also utilizes a common bipolar membrane stack consisting of three-channel unit cells comprising a bipolar membrane having an anion-selective membrane on one side thereof and a cation-selective membrane on the opposite side thereof.
It has been found that the production of sodium hydroxide from a plentiful salt like sodium chloride in a bipolar membrane stack produces sodium hydroxide that may be contaminated with small amounts of chloride ions, apparently resulting from leakage of chloride ions through the bipolar membrane. For certain applications, such as regenerating anion-exchange resins for use in nuclear power stations, low chloride or substantially pure sodium hydroxide is required. The chloride level in sodium hydroxide produced by a bipolar membrane stack can be reduced by improvements in the anion side of the bipolar membrane, but usually only at the expense of higher membrane resistance which requires more power and cooling water to operate the stack.
The chloride level in sodium hydroxide produced by a bipolar membrane stack can also be lowered by operation in a fill and draw batch method of the type described. That method utilizes the fact that the amount of chloride contamination increases as the concentration of the sodium hydroxide is increased. However, that process must be operated as a batch process and there are upper limits to the sodium hydroxide concentration for a given chloride contamination.
There thus exists a need for a low-cost method and apparatus for producing sodium hydroxide with reduced chloride contamination by electrodialysis of a salt in a bipolar membrane stack.

Bipolar membrane stack and method for production of low chloride sodium hydroxide


Crystals of hydroxygallium phthalocyanine, a method of preparing the crystals, a photoconductive material containing the crystals, and an electrophotographic photoreceptor having the material. The photoreceptor has excellent electrophotographic characteristics. The crystals of hydroxygallium phthalocyanine have distinct diffraction peaks at (i) 7.5.degree., 9.9.degree., 12.5.degree., 16.3.degree., 18.6.degree., 25.1.degree. and 28.3.degree., or (ii) 7.7.degree., 16.5.degree., 25.1.degree. and 26.6.degree., or (iii) 7.9.degree., 16.5.degree., 24.4.degree. and 27.6.degree., or (iv) 7.0.degree., 7.5.degree., 10.5.degree., 11.7.degree., 12.7.degree., 17.3.degree., 18.1.degree., 24.5.degree., 26.2.degree. and 27.1.degree., or (v) 6.8.degree., 12.8.degree., 15.8.degree. and 26.0.degree. or (vi) 7.4.degree., 9.9.degree., 25.0.degree., 26.0.degree., and 28.2.degree. of the Bragg angle (2.theta..+-.0.2) in the X-ray diffraction spectrum. The electrophotographic photoreceptor has a light-sensitive layer containing the photoconductive material of the crystals.

Phthalocyanine compounds are useful as materials for paint compositions, printing inks and catalysts and as electronic materials and, in particular, they have been broadly investigated as materials for electrophotographic photoreceptors, materials for optical recording and materials for photo-electric conversion in these days.
Regarding electrophotographic photoreceptors, recently, the demand for extending the light-sensitive wavelength range of organic photoconductive materials which have heretofore been proposed up to the near infrared wavelength range of semiconductor lasers (780 to 830 nm) so as to use the materials as a photoreceptor for a digital recording system such as a laser printer. From the viewpoint, squalilium compounds (as disclosed, e.g., in JPA-49-105536 and JP-A-58-21414, triphenylamine trisazo compounds (as disclosed, e.g., in JP-A-61-151659) and phthalocyanine compounds (as disclosed, e.g., in JP-A-48-34189 and JP-A-57-148745) have been proposed as photoconductive materials for semiconductor lasers. (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application")
Where organic photoconductive materials are used as light-sensitive materials for semiconductor lasers, they are needed to satisfy the conditions that the light-sensitive wavelength range is extended up to a long wavelength range and that the sensitivity and durability of the photoreceptors to be formed therefrom are good. The above-mentioned organic photoconductive materials do not sufficiently meet the conditions.
In order to overcome various drawbacks of the known photoconductive materials, the materials have been investigated with respect to the relationship between the crystal form and the electrophotographic characteristics. In particular, many reports relating to phthalocyanine compounds have heretofore been disclosed.
In general, it is known that phthalocyanine compounds have various crystal forms, depending upon the difference in the manufacture method and treating method, and that the difference in the crystal form has a great influence on the photo-electric conversion characteristics of phthalocyanine compounds. Regarding crystal forms of phthalocyanine compounds, for example, with respect to copper phthalocyanine, various crystal forms of .alpha., .pi., .chi., .rho., .gamma., and .delta. are known in addition to a stable crystal form of .beta.. It is also known that these crystal forms are mutually transferable to each other by mechanical strain force, sulfuric acid treatment, organic solvent treatment or heat treatment (as described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,770,029, 3,160,635, 3,708,292 and 3,357,989). JP-A-50-38543 describes the relationship between the difference of crystal forms of copper phthalocyanine and the electrophotographic characteristics of them.
Regarding the relationship between the crystal forms of hydroxygallium phthalocyanine and the electrophotographic characteristics of them, JP-A-1-221459 mentions crystals obtained by an acid-pasting method.
However, not only the above-mentioned hydroxygallium phthalocyanine crystals but also phthalocyanine compounds which have heretofore been proposed are not sufficient in point of the light sensitivity and the durability when used as a light-sensitive material.
In addition, when hydroxyallium phthalocyanine crystals are used in the form of a dispersion in a binder resin, the crystals are inferior in the dispersibility and the coatability of the dispersion. Where the crystals are used as a photoreceptor, they have problems on the light-sensitivity and the charge retentiveness. Further, they often cause drawbacks of fog or black spots in images formed. Thus, the crystals do not have sufficient characteristics.
Therefore, development of novel crystals of phthalocyanine compounds, which have improved characteristics of light sensitivity, durability, charge retentiveness, coatability and image quality with still having the intrinsic favorable characteristics of the compounds of themselves as a photoconductive material, has been desired.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned situation.


A winch drum device includes a first winch drum with an outer surface adapted to accommodate axially displaced turns of wire rope and further includes a wire rope storage means, such as a recess, extending at least partially radially in from said outer surface. The wire rope storage means is adapted to accommodate one or more layers of the wire rope.

Winches used in the hoisting of loads are getting increasingly large due to requirements for lifting heavier loads. In particular, winches used on drilling rigs for hoisting top drives and pipe strings tend to get larger in order to satisfy the increased load requirements. In certain applications it might be necessary to lift several thousand tons. Recently, there has been a desire to deploy winches that accommodate only a single or a few layers of wire rope on the winch drum, primarily to reduce wear on the wire rope from overlaying layers. In order to have available sufficient length of wire rope on the winch drum, the winch drum needs to be made larger, both in diameter and in the axial direction. Hence, a single layer winch, or a winch with only a very few layers of wire rope, tends to take up more space. It might also be desirable to run a plurality of wire ropes in parallel, for instance due to security reasons, which will make the axial space requirements even more pronounced. Space on drilling rigs, ships etc. where the winch typically is to be used is often restricted. Use of single layer winches drilling rig hoisting systems with several parallel wire ropes was described in patent application PCT/NO2014/050113, incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference. International winch standards require three to five wire rope safety turns as a backup and safety measure. These safety turns increase the required length of a winch drum even more, especially for single layer winches.
The present disclosure has for its object to remedy or to reduce at least one of the drawbacks of the prior art, or at least provide a useful alternative to prior art by employing features that are specified in the description below and in the claims that follow.

Abstract: The winch drum device may be incorporated into a winch.


During the run-up of high-power synchronous machines (6), such as those used in pumped storage plants, in gas turbines sets and so forth, unwanted alternating currents with slip frequencies between those of the phase swings and the nominal frequency (50 Hz) of the synchronous machine (6) can also occur in the disturbed condition in addition to low-frequency plant-specific phase swings. These alternating currents are induced in the field windings of the synchronous machine (6) as a consequence of an unwanted asynchronous starting and can lead to inadmissible heating of the synchronous machine and to overvoltages in the field circuit. Alternating voltages (U1) associated with the slip frequencies are detected from use of a sensing resistor (4) in the exciter current (i.sub.f) of the synchronous machine (6), separated from the high-voltage potential in an isolating converter (10), subsequently filtered in a bandpass filter (11), controlled for constant amplitude in a function generator (12), triggered in a Schmitt trigger (13) and selected by means of two timing sections (15, 16). If a slip frequency is detected uninterrupted for longer than a predeterminable minimum period (T3), field and high-voltage switches (5, 7) in the circuits of the synchronous machine (6) are opened by a RS flip-flop (19).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is based on a protection method and on a protection device for detecting asynchronism during the synchronous starting of synchronous machines.
2. Background of the Invention
The present invention relates to a prior art system which is known from the Swiss house journal: Brown Review 7/8 (1983), pages 295-302. In this journal, various starting methods, selected and optimized depending on power system conditions, are specified for synchronous machines which are operated both as generators and as motors, such as pumped storage plants and gas turbine sets. During so-called fully synchronous starting, the two electrically connected salient-pole machines are already excited by static exciter devices when they are standing still. The mechanically driven generator initially supplies the motor with a stator current with a very low frequency which generates an electromagnetic torque in the motor. The motor becomes synchronized with the generator under certain specified conditions which have already been successfully used with a ratio of machine powers of 1:20. In this arrangement, the stators of both machines are electrically connected, if necessary, over long distances and with the interposition of several transformers if required. In so-called partially synchronous starting, the motor initially starts asynchronously. Excitation only occurs after the generator speed has been reached after and which the motor is synchronously run up to speed.
However, protective measure is specified for the case where the field current is too low or the turbine controller runs up the generator too fast so that the motor cannot follow. During synchronous run-up of the motor, loss of synchronism, i.e. too much slip, can occur which in turn can lead to inadmissibly high heating of the heavy-current parts of the motor and to overvoltages in the field circuit. It is therefore desirous to prevent these occurrences.

Protection method and protection device for detecting asynchronism in the synchronous starting of a synchronous machine


An electronic typewriter which has the capability of erasing characters automatically and which has the further improved capability of being able to back through unused space on the line, which results after a tabulation command, thereby allowing the repositioning of the type element over the characters typed prior to the tab command thereby allowing automatic erasure of those characters. The improvement of the typewriter as described permits the retrieving of characters from an electronic memory and the use of that memory to control the erase cycle even where the carrier position and the character to be erased are on opposite sides of space without printed characters due to a tab command. This is accomplished by the electronic control of the mechanical hardware and the ability to determine where the tab command was entered on the typing line and to prevent erasure cycles in the unprinted space until the carrier has returned to the point at which the tabulation command was entered.

There exists in the market place today typewriters which permit the erasure or correction of characters by the mere depression of the error correction key. These typewriters and printers have associated with them electronic controls and a memory. As the error correction key is depressed the memory is read to determine which character was previously printed and the typewriter is conditioned to cause correction of that character. In typewriters presently available which have this capability, the memory is read in reverse order. Where a tabulation command is entered there is no way for the electronics to recognize this and therefore if correction is attempted it is possible that the printer will attempt to correct a letter where no letter exists, particularly between the point where the tabulation command was initiated and the point representing the tab stop. Thus the characters cannot be automatically corrected where they are positioned before a tab stop where a tab command was utilized to position the carrier at that tab stop.
In view of this the automatic correction sequence and performance of the typewriter is diminished from that which is desirable and necessitates an alternate correction technique in order to cause the correction to be accomplished properly.
It is the object of this invention to correct errors on a typewritten page automatically where the errors are located previous to a location where a tab command was entered on the keyboard.
Another object of this invention is to correct typewritten errors on the same writing line regardless of the location of the errors on the writing line.
It is still another object of this invention to ease the operator's burden in correcting errors in typewritten copy.

International Business Machines Corporation


A recombinant DNA construct, useful for obtaining excretion from E. coli of a heterologous protein, comprises a coding region in which DNA coding for the heterologous protein in coupled in reading frame with DNA coding for the OmpA signal peptide, to enable secretion of the protein into the periplasm; and a control region linked operably with the coding region to enable expression thereof in an E. coli host, wherein the control region comprises the tac promoter, the lac operator and a consensus ribosome binding site. With this construct, the excretion of heterologous proteins from E. coli can be achieved, consistently and for a wide variety of such proteins, without assistance from carrier proteins or membrane-lytic agent and by using "healthy" hosts rather than mutant strains having defective outer membranes.

Techniques are now well established for directing E. coli-produced heterologous proteins across the inner membrane of the E. coli cell envelope, into a space between the inner and the outer membrane known as the periplasm. It has been shown that when a protein is expressed as a fusion protein, having an E. coli-recognized peptide or "signal peptide" attached to its N-terminus, the desired protein is secreted into the periplasm (see EP 177,343 Genentech Inc.). Several such signal peptides have now been identified by amino acid and DNA sequence (see Watson, M. Nucleic Acids Research, Vol 12, No. 13, 1984, pp. 5145-5164) and have been used successfully to direct heterologous proteins into the E. coli periplasm (see Oka et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., Vol 82, pp 7212-7216, November 1985 in which human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) was fused with the signal peptide of E. coli alkaline phosphatase to direct mature EGF into the E. coli periplasm; and see Hsiung et al, Biotechnology, Vol 4, November 1986, pp 991-995 where human growth hormone was directed into the E. coli periplasm using the signal peptide of outer membrane protein A (ompA) of E. coli).
While these periplasmic proteins are often described as "secreted" it should be understood that they are contained intracellularly by the outer membrane and, because they are not available in the medium, can be recovered only once the outer membrane is either disrupted or "permeabilized" to release the periplasmic components.
To facilitate the protein recovery process it is preferable that the protein accumulates in the culture medium during culturing of the protein-producing E. coli host, since there are relatively fewer contaminants and the protein can be recovered without damaging its cellular source. There have been various attempts at developing such a system, for excreting proteins to the medium, all of which include some tactic for overcoming the integrity of the outer membrane barrier.
One approach generally involves genetically engineering E. coli to co-express the desired protein in secretable form (bearing a signal peptide) together with a lytic protein which affects outer membrane integrity to the extent that it becomes permeable or "leaky" (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,658 in which the gene III product of the fI phage is used as the permeabilizing agent; Kobayashi et al, J. Bacteriol. June 1986, pp 728-732 in which activation of the cryptic kil protein is used; and see EP 140,864 in which a temperature sensitive lysogen is used). In these methods, careful control of lytic product expression is required to maintain host viability. Moreover, co-expression per se can be an energy drain on the host, reducing yield of the desired protein and reducing host cell biomass.
In another approach, the desired protein is expressed as a chimeric protein, in which the desired protein is fused to a carrier protein. The carrier proteins typically used are those naturally produced E. coli proteins, or fragments thereof, which are capable of being excreted (hemolysin) or which are bound to the outer membrane (ompF). For example, Mackman et al found that ompF, without its signal peptide, could be dragged through the E. coli envelope to the medium when fused with a C-terminal portion of hemolysin (EMBO J. Vol 6, No. 9, pp. 2835-2841, 1987). Nagahari et al found that human .beta.-endorphin was released to the medium when fused with at least a portion of the E. coli ompF protein (EMBO J. Vol 4, No. 13A, pp. 3589-3592, 1985). To recover proteins produced by such techniques, however, the desired protein must be cleaved from the carrier protein, which makes isolation difficult.
Yet another approach makes use of E. coli strains in which the integrity of the outer membrane has been compromised at the genetic level. Such strains, known as "leaky" hosts, are incapable of retaining periplasmic proteins. In practise, these strains are difficult to maintain in a viable condition without stringent control of environmental conditions.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method enabling heterologous proteins to be excreted to the culture medium in which the protein-producing E. coli host is grown.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a DNA vector enabling excretion from E. coli of a heterologous protein encoded thereon.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an E. coli strain that has been genetically engineered to express a desired heterologous protein which is excreted to the medium in which the E. coli strain is cultured.
It is an overall object of the present invention to facilitate recovery of E. coli-produced, heterologous proteins by enabling accumulation of those proteins in the E. coli culture medium.

Excretion of heterologous proteins from E. Coli