A method is provided for compensating for factors affecting particulate matter accumulation within an aftertreatment element of an engine exhaust system. The method comprises determining rate of change of flow resistance through the aftertreatment element with time. Regeneration is periodically initiated to reduce particulate matter accumulation within the aftertreatment element. Rate of change of flow resistance through the aftertreatment element over time is correlated with at least a model of particulate matter accumulation within the aftertreatment element and a model of regeneration frequency of the aftertreatment element, based on predetermined values for particulate matter accumulation and regeneration frequency. Action, at least including increasing regeneration frequency, is initiated to compensate for an increased rate of particulate matter accumulation in the aftertreatment element.

Engines, including diesel engines, gasoline engines, natural gas engines, and other engines known in the art, may exhaust a complex mixture of emissions. The emissions may include both gaseous and solid material, such as, for example, particulate matter. Particulate matter may include ash and unburned carbon particles generally referred to as soot. Emissions also may include compounds containing sulfur. For example, engine fuels, including diesel engine fuels, may contain sulfur which ultimately finds its way into an engine exhaust system from which it may be emitted to the environment.
Environmental concerns have resulted in the development of systems to treat engine exhaust. Some of these systems may employ exhaust treatment devices, such as filter systems that include particulate filters, to remove particulate matter from the exhaust flow. A particulate filter may include filter material designed to capture particulate matter, and may have an associated catalytic component. After an extended period of use, however, the filter material may become partially saturated with particulate matter, such as soot. This partial saturation may result in plugging to the point that backpressure on the engine is excessive and adversely affects engine operation.
A large portion of the collected particulate matter, e.g. soot, may be removed from the filter material through a process called regeneration. Filter systems may be characterized as passive filters or active filter, depending on the primary mode of regeneration. For example, in passive filters, a catalyst component generally may be incorporated to aid oxidation of particulate matter (e.g. soot), and heat required for oxidation may be provided by exhaust system temperatures. Regeneration of active filters may be accomplished by increasing the temperature at the site of the filter system periodically to oxidize particulate matter during a regeneration cycle. Particulate matter, e.g. soot, may be consumed by the heat of the regeneration process.
Various factors may affect particulate matter emissions and lead to increased accumulation of particulate matter within an aftertreatment element. For example, it has been found that particulate matter emissions may increase where fuel of high sulfur content is consumed by an engine. On the other hand, use of fuel of low sulfur content (e.g. ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD)), may, in an otherwise properly operating engine system, not only result in less sulfur compounds being emitted to the environment, but also result in less particulate matter emissions. As another example, boost leaks in an engine system may alter expected air/fuel ratios and lead to increased particulate matter emissions. As yet another example, overcooling of the engine may lead to inefficient combustion and an increase in particulate matter emissions.
It is desirable that there be some effective manner for compensating for various factors affecting particulate matter accumulation within aftertreatment elements, such as fuel of high sulfur content, boost leaks, and engine overcooling, for example, and otherwise maintain particulate filter efficiency by accounting for such factors.
One system that addresses the effect of the sulfur component of engine fuel on exhaust aftertreatment is disclosed in European Patent Application No. EP 1 174 600 A2, published on Jan. 23, 2002 ("the '600 publication"). The '600 publication discloses an embodiment that includes a particulate filter for removing particulate matter, with the particulate filter including a NOx absorbent. The '600 publication discloses procedures and systems for addressing sulfur poisoning of the NOx catalyst (the poisoning being manifested as SOx) while avoiding thermal deterioration of the particulate filter. In one embodiment, the '600 publication separates a regeneration process to remove particulate matter from the particulate filter from a process for recovering NOx catalyst from sulfur poisoning. In another embodiment, the '600 publication controls an amount of fuel injected into the exhaust system in accordance with an estimated amount of particulate matter accumulation in order to consume the particulate matter before the higher temperature reduction process ensues for the sulfur poisoned NOx catalyst, thereby avoiding thermal deterioration.
While the procedures and systems of the '600 publication may address one factor affecting particulate matter accumulation within an aftertreatment element (i.e., sulfur poisoning), the systems of the '600 publication may be unduly complex to implement and operate reliably. In addition, the '600 publication focuses specifically on the issue of sulfur poisoning of NOx catalyst rather than a more generic approach that addresses a number of potential engine system failures. The '600 publication presumes, via a data map, that the NOx catalyst will be poisoned by sulfur and require the implementation of the procedures for alleviating the sulfur poisoning. The '600 publication does not take into account the factors that ultra low sulfur fuels may be employed normally, but that the engine may inadvertently or necessarily be fueled with higher sulfur containing fuel at times. Accordingly, the system of the '600 publication may lack the flexibility necessary to accommodate and compensate for various factors that may lead to an increased rate of accumulation of particulate matter in an aftertreatment element.
The disclosed methods and systems for maintaining aftertreatment efficiency are directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.

Method and system for maintaining aftertreatment efficiency


The present invention provides a closed type battery that is free from any sealing defects due to a sag of caulking with time, etc. The closed type battery is constructed of a monolithic electrode terminal that comprises an insulating member for covering the inner surface of a through-hole formed through a metal sheet for sealing up an opening of a battery can and both surfaces of the metal sheet around the through-hole, and an electrode-drawing sheet having a synthetic resin layer formed on one surface thereof, which sheet is located on the surface of the insulating member positioned on the outer surface of the battery while the synthetic resin layer comes in contact therewith, wherein the electrode-drawing sheet and the insulating member are integrated together by means of an electrode-leading pin passed through a through-hole in the electrode-drawing sheet.

The present invention relates generally to a closed type battery, and more particularly to a closed type battery comprising a battery can and an electrode-drawing sheet that becomes an electrode terminal, to which a battery terminal of polarity opposite to that of the battery can is attached via an insulating member.
Various batteries are used as power sources for electronic equipments of miniature size, and miniature yet large-capacity closed batteries are employed as power sources for cellular phones, notebook PCs, camcorders, etc. Typically, closed batteries using a non-aqueous electrolyte such as lithium batteries and lithium ion rechargeable batteries are now used.
To keep pace with the downsizing of equipments, closed batteries of rectangular shape capable of making effective use of a small space, to say nothing of cylindrical batteries, are enjoying wide applications. In a typical rectangular battery, a battery can working as one electrode of the battery is provided with an electrode terminal while isolated therefrom by an insulating member.
One such typical example of the closed type battery of rectangular shape is shown in FIG. 2.
A closed type battery shown generally at 1 comprises a cylindrical form of rectangular metal package 2 (hereinafter often called the battery can) made of stainless steel, soft steel nickeled on its surface, etc., in which there is a battery element comprising a roll form of cathode and anode stacked one upon another via a separator. At the upper end of the battery can 2, there is a header 7 formed by integrating an external insulating sheet 4A and a cathode-side electrode drawing sheet 5 with a metal sheet 3 by means of a cathode-side electrode leading pin 6; this header 7 is mounted and sealed at the opening of the battery can 2. One portion of the header 7 is made thinner (shown at 8) than the rest thereof so as to let an abnormally rising internal pressure escape from the battery and another portion of the header 7 is provided with a hole 9 from which an electrolyte is poured in the battery assembly and which is sealed up after the pouring of the electrolyte. After the electrolyte is poured from the hole 9 into the battery assembly, a metal member such as a stainless steel member is embedded in the hole 9, and then welded thereto for sealing purposes.
One exemplary header is shown in FIGS. 3(A) and 3(B). FIG. 3(A) is illustrative in perspective of the header, and FIG. 3(B) is illustrative in section of the header in which a cathode-leading pin is ready for caulking.
An internal insulating sheet 4B formed of a polypropylene, fluorocarbon resin, etc. is mounted on a metal sheet 3 formed of a stainless steel sheet, a nickeled soft steel sheet, etc. by inserting a projection on the sheet 4B into a through-hole 10 formed in the sheet 3 from below. Then, an external insulating sheet 4A is placed over the upper surface of the sheet 3 to form an insulating member. Then, an electrode-leading pin 6 formed of a metal of good conductivity such as aluminum or an aluminum alloy and having a collar 6A is inserted through a hollow portion of the projection on the internal insulating sheet 4B, and an electrode-drawing sheet 5 is fitted in the external insulating sheet 4A. Finally, the collar 6A and the tip of a shaft 6B of the electrode-leading pin are caulked from above and below to form a header 7.
After joined to the collar 6A of the electrode-leading pin 6 of the thus prepared header 7, an electrically conductive tab 12 joined to the battery element and covered with an insulating member 11 is fitted into an opening of the battery can, and then laser welded at its periphery to seal up the opening.
Upon header assembling, the electrode-leading pin 6 is crushed by caulking into contact with the plane of the electrode-drawing sheet 5, so that a conductive connection is made between the electrode-leading pin and the cathode-drawing sheet 5. On the other hand, the lower surface of the electrode-drawing sheet 5 comes in contact with the surface of the external insulating sheet 4A for hermetic or airtight purposes.
Since the tab for the connection of the battery to an external circuit is soldered, welded or otherwise joined to the electrode-drawing sheet, however, it is likely that there will be a drop of hermeticity due to shrinkage by thermal hysteresis upon joining of the synthetic resin of the external insulating sheet or a sag of caulking.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a closed type battery having an electrode-sealing structure sealed by caulking of an electrode-leading pin, which is improved in terms of insulation, hermecity and airtightness between an insulating sheet and an electrode-drawing sheet, and shows reduced changes with time and increased reliability.


A system and method to preserve the integrity of data being extracted from an electronic data recorder (“EDR”) of an electronic control module (“ECM”) makes use of a forensic link adapter and, optionally, a sensor simulator (when ECM is out of the vehicle). The forensic link adapter has one or more first microprocessors and a first software means which prevent any message being sent by an external network from corrupting the previously recorded data measurements. The data measurements are then extracted, verified, and stored in a separate file. The sensor simulator has one or more second microprocessors, a second software means, and a bank of resistors that mimic sensors normally in communication with the ECM. The simulator “tricks” the ECM into thinking it is still in the vehicle by using the replicating vehicle system values the ECM normally sees when in the vehicle.

This invention relates generally to systems, apparatuses and methods for retrieving data from an event data recorder ("EDR") of a motor vehicle. More specifically, the invention relates to systems, apparatuses and methods for extracting the data and storing the extracted data in a forensically sound manner.
Modern vehicles often have event data recording capabilities built into different electronic control modules ("ECMs") of the vehicle. Whether integrated into an existing ECM, or working as a standalone device, EDRs may contain information of importance to help answer legal questions. In these cases, the data must be extracted and preserved in a forensically sound manner. As of yet, data captured from these devices may not be preserved in a forensically sound way. Furthermore, a cumbersome process is needed to gather EDR information, especially from heavy trucks (see e.g., William Messerschmidt et al., Minimizing the Risk of Losing Valuable Forensic Data When Downloading the Electronic Control Modules (ECMs) of Heavy Commercial Vehicles (2011), available from Messerschmidt Safety Consultants; Timothy Austin and William Messerschmidt, Electronic Control Module Field Guide (January 2010 ed.), available from Harris Technical Services; Plant et al. Data Extraction Methods and their Effects on the Retention of Event Data Contained in the Electronic Control Modules of Detroit Diesel and Mercedes-Benz Engines, SAE Paper 2011-01-0808). The data extraction process uses original equipment manufacturer software designed for maintenance, not forensic use. The most common way to access the EDR and its data is through the vehicle network using a vehicle diagnostic adapter ("VDA") interfacing a PC with the vehicle.
There are three main methods for downloading event data from ECMs when they cannot be accessed through the vehicle network: reprogramming harness, surrogate vehicle download, and a passive interface system (see e.g. Boggess et al., A New Passive Interface to Simulate On-Vehicle Systems for Direct-to-Module (DTM) Engine Control Module (ECM) Data Recovery, SAE Paper 2010-01-1994).
Use of a reprogramming harness involves disconnecting the vehicle harness and then connecting the reprogramming harness, which is powered by an external power source, directly to the ECM. The problem with this method is that it almost always creates new fault codes which are completely unrelated to the crash or event of interest. Depending on the ECM, these new fault codes can overwrite previous fault codes that may have had useful data.
A surrogate vehicle download requires that the ECM be removed from the subject vehicle; placed into an undamaged, substantially similar vehicle; and then downloaded using the in-cab diagnostic connector. This method is reliable but finding a suitable surrogate vehicle can be difficult and expensive. Further, this method is feasible only for large fleets of similar vehicles, but the opportunity cost of not having the surrogate vehicle in service can be considerable.
The passive interface system is a specialized custom-configured device built using either actual truck components, simulated truck components or both. The interface system simulates the normal connections between a vehicle and an ECM and does not create new fault codes when the ECM is being downloaded. This method is limited to the truck configuration which the box is designed to simulate and is expensive because of the cost of the truck components used to build the box.
Data from the ECM that is interpreted and stored by the original equipment manufacturer's software are usually stored on a general purpose host computer running a Windows operating system. These data file formats are not encrypted or hashed with a verifiable hash. As such, the data can be manipulated after it is obtained from the ECM without being detected. Furthermore, the ECM may be put back into service, which means the original digital record is no longer available. This means there is no rigorous method available to verify the authenticity and integrity of the ECM data, other than having agreements in place before the download occurs.
Original Equipment Manufacturer software contains provisions to reset data within an ECM, like the date and time stamps. Because the time record of an ECM is useful in correlating data to an event, resetting these data is detrimental to being able to verify the time of the recorded data. As such, some sort of command filtering mechanism is needed. International Publication No. WO 2013/144962 A1 (PCT/IL2013/050290) Security System and Method for Protecting a Vehicle Electronic System provides some overarching concepts regarding the idea of message filtering from a cyber-security perspective. That application and its references are hereby incorporated by reference.
Therefore, a need exists for a general purpose wheeled vehicle EDR forensic recovery and preservation system that is less expensive and more reliable (and, as a result, defensible in a court of law) than existing recovery methods.

Wheeled vehicle event data recorder forensic recovery and preservation system


A supplementary heat and air supply system for a building includes a solar panel mounted to the exterior of the building, and a solar panel duct extending between the solar panel and the return air manifold of the building's conventional heating system. A fan or blower is positioned within the solar panel duct. The solar panel has a fresh air intake to provide fresh outdoor air to the interior of the solar panel. During daytime hours, when the temperature of air within the solar panel attains a predetermined level, the blower is operated to supply the heated air to the interior of the structure through the solar panel duct, with the heated air being supplied through the return air manifold. When the building's furnace operates, it draws air from the return air manifold, which also acts to draw air from the solar panel through the solar panel duct. The system acts to pressurize the building's interior during operation of the blower, to deter seepage of gases, such as radon, into the building's interior. When the blower is not operating and the furnace is operating, the furnace draws air from the solar panel along with the indoor air. This additionally reduces the amount of pressure drop in the building interior, to again deter seepage of gases into the building.

This invention relates to a supplementary heating and air supply system, and more particularly to such a system which functions to pressurize or to prevent depressurization of, the interior of a structure and to reduce the concentration of any gases, such as radon, which may seep into the structure.
In heating the interior of a structure, such as a residential or commercial building, it is common to employ a forced air furnace, with duct work extending from the furnace to the various rooms of the building for supplying heated air under pressure during operation of the furnace. Such a system typically includes a return air system for returning air from the rooms to the furnace, which reheats the air and supplies such air to a living area within the building. The return air is supplied to the furnace from the interior of the building.
One problem with a conventional heating system as described is that it draws air for combustion from the interior of the building. Such indoor air typically contains more moisture than outdoor air during the cold weather heating season. In addition, drawing indoor air for combustion reduces the internal air pressure within the building.
In some geographical areas, it has been discovered and well documented that radon gas seeps into the basement of a building through cracks or the like in the foundation, basement walls, floor slab or the waste water discharge system. This problem is compounded when, during operation of the furnace, the pressure within the basement is reduced. Such reduction in pressure results in increased seepage of radon gas into the building's basement.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a supplementary heating and air supply system for use with a conventional heating system, to provide outdoor make-up air to the furnace for combustion during operation of the furnace. It is a further object of the invention to provide a system for reducing seepage of radon gas or the like into the basement of a building.
The invention is employed in connection with a conventional heating system including a furnace and a return air duct extending between the furnace and a return air inlet, which is in communication with the interior of the building. In accordance with the invention, a solar panel is mounted to the exterior of the building, and includes a fresh air intake for receiving air from the exterior of the building, and an outlet for discharging air from the solar panel. A solar panel duct is connected between the solar panel outlet and the return air duct, having a first end in communication with the solar panel outlet and a second end in communication with the return air duct adjacent the return air inlet. A blower is mounted in the solar panel duct. The blower is interconnected with a temperature-sensitive switch associated with the solar panel, such that operation of the blower is initiated when the temperature of air within the solar panel attains a predetermined level. Operation of the blower draws air from the solar panel and supplies such air under pressure through the solar panel duct to the return air duct. When the furnace is not operating, the air supplied by the blower passes through the solar panel duct and the return air inlet, into the interior of the building to provide heat thereto. Upon operation of the furnace, air is supplied to the furnace from the return air inlet. A portion of the return air comes from the room in which the return air inlet is located, and a portion comes from the outlet of the solar panel duct.
With the invention as summarized above, heated air is supplied to the building interior upon operation of the blower. Such supply of heated air not only heats the building interior, but also increases the air pressure in the interior of the building, due to air being supplied to the solar panel from outside the building. This acts to reduce seepage of radon, or other gases, into the building through the basement. During operation of the furnace, a portion of the return air is supplied to the furnace from the solar panel duct. Since the air from the solar panel duct is drawn from outside, it generally contains less moisture than the indoor air and is more efficiently combusted by the furnace along with the fuel.
The invention further contemplates a method of supplying supplementary heat and air, and for reducing the concentration of a gas in the interior of a building, substantially in accordance with the foregoing summary.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.


The two halves of a conventional RF saddle coil, such as spirals or other related structures for use in high resolution NMR or MRI, are disposed on opposite sides of a cylindrical coilform, and rotated from the conventional orientation 90 degrees about the B1 axis, so that the leads are paralleled near the axial center of the RF coil.

This invention pertains to improving the tunability of NMR and MRI coils, particularly in double-resonance multinuclear experiments on large samples at high fields, by means of novel paralleling and rf feed arrangement on saddle coils and the like for use on cylindrical surfaces aligned with Bo. Related NMR coils are described by Zens in U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,149, Hill and Zens in U.S. Pat. No. 4,517,516, and Doty in U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,098, and again by Doty in a copending application.
Center-fed Alderman-Grant resonators (J. Magn. Reson. 36, 1979) are disclosed by Nishihara and Yoda in U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,515. Hayes uses center feeding in his low-pass birdcage in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,255. Unsegmented saddle coils (saddle coils of at least one full turn without a segmenting capacitor) have always been fed from one end for the simple reason that this reduces lead inductance and lead resistance. Also, notwithstanding U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,911 by Hill and Cummings, for at least the past twelve years, it has been standard practice to fully shield the leads and tuning elements from the sample with internal rf shields.
The Zens U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,149 illustrates the traditional methods of connecting spiral windings (referred to as semicoils) on opposite sides of a cylinder in series. More recently, as magnet technology has progressed to higher fields, it has become common to connect 2-turn semicoils in parallel, thereby achieving the higher B.sub.1 homogeneity that is possible with the conventional 4-turn saddle coil but at the lower inductance of the 2-turn saddle coil.
Prior art inter-connections of semi-coils, whether series or parallel, have always been made beyond the axial end of the high-B.sub.1 sample region. There are a number of convincing reasons for this tradition: (1) it reduces disturbances in B.sub.0 homogeneity within the sample region caused by the unavoidable use of slightly magnetic materials (such as copper, silver, and dielectrics); (2) it reduces disturbances in B.sub.1 homogeneity within the sample region from both induced and driven currents in the jumpers and leads; (3) it permits reduced parasitic lead capacitance, inductance, and resistance. However, there are a number of applications where it is desirable to sacrifice all of the above advantages for a single compelling reason: to be able to provide double-resonance multi-nuclear capability in large samples at high fields with minimal tuning complications and loss in efficiency from spurious resonances.
The NMR spectroscopist often finds it necessary to observe a wide variety of nuclides, especially. .sup.13 C, .sup.1 H, .sup.19 F, .sup.27 Al, .sup.29 Si, .sup.23 Na, .sup.2 H, and .sup.15 N in the study of commercially and scientifically important chemicals, and considerable interest is developing in multi-nuclear localized MR spectroscopy. Often it is important to simultaneously decouple dipolar effects of .sup.1 H; and inverse experiments, in which the effects of decoupling a low-gamma nuclide are observed in the .sup.1 H spectra, have become extremely powerful and popular. Multi-nuclear double-tuning is readily achieved in prior art designs with sample diameters up to 12 mm at fields up to 9.4 T with multi-turn saddle coils having inductance typically in the range of 30 to 70 nH. Multi-nuclear triple-resonance is available for 5-mm samples at fields up to 17.6 T (750 MHZ). A copending application discloses coil geometries suitable for double-resonance multinuclear tuning for large samples at high fields with improved B.sub.1 homogeneity.
We have discovered that paralleled semi-coils are susceptible to twin-line (parallel transmission wires) resonance modes, in which each entire semi-coil on each side behaves as if it were a solid planar conductor (rather than a spiral or parallel spirals, for example) at frequencies that may cause serious tuning difficulties. That is, at sufficiently high frequencies, the currents in all axially aligned portions of the spiral are in phase with respect to the z axis rather than with respect to the low-frequency (LF) spiral path (curl of transverse B.sub.1). As a result of the relatively large capacitance to the internal floating rt cylindrical shield and perhaps to another orthogonal coil and closely spaced external shield, the lowest frequency twin-line semi-coil mode is generally the differential mode. For the conventional configuration with the leads from each semi-coil oriented toward one end of the coil form, the if voltages in this mode on ea Of each the leads is zero somewhere near the point where they are paralleled, the voltage at the remote end of one semi-coil is a maximum with phase .phi. and the voltage at the remote end of the opposite semi-coil is a maximum with phase .phi.+.pi.. The B.sub.1 from the differential twin-line mode is generally orthogonal to the z axis and to the LF B.sub.1 axis.
The twin-line modes of paralleled semi-coils are not known to cause problems in single-tuned multinuclear applications, as one is normally limited in these cases to operation at frequencies below the fundamental self-resonance of the complete coil, which is normally much lower than the lowest twin-line mode. However, when two orthogonal saddle coils are used in double-tuned multinuclear situations such as .sup.1 H-X.sub.1 the differential twin-line mode of the multi-X (low-gamma) coil could easily be very near the .sup.1 H frequency. It is usually not difficult to shift this twin-line mode downward a substantial amount by adding capacitance between the remote ends of the problematic saddle coil, but since the B.sub.1 from the twin-line mode is approximately collinear with the B.sub.1 from the normally behaving orthogonal .sup.1 H (proton) coil, these two modes are strongly coupled and the proton Q is severely degraded unless this spurious resonance is well above the proton frequency.
The instant invention provides a simple method of approximately doubling the frequency of the differential twin-line line mode of paralleled semi-coils. This nearly doubles the limiting frequency-diameter product for which efficient multinuclear double resonance is practical.


A fluid recovery system, such as a chest or thoracic cavity drain, having a collection chamber for collecting fluid from a patient includes a base and a front face having a translucent portion for viewing the collected fluid and monitoring operation of the system. The front face is coupled to the base at an acute angle to facilitate viewing of the collected fluid, and measurement of the fluid volume, from a position substantially above the fluid recovery system. Additionally, a column insert can be positioned within the collection chamber to collect an initial volume of the fluid and to allow precise determination of its volume.

The present invention relates to apparatuses for draining fluid from a patient, and more particularly, to fluid recovery systems for draining blood from the thoracic cavity of the patient.
Various devices have been developed to drain and collect fluids such as blood from the body cavity of a patient. Such devices typically employ a vacuum to the body cavity of the patient sufficient enough to maintain high "siphon" potential for the removal of blood or other fluid following trauma or surgery. One example of such a draining device is a chest drain, also known as a thoracic cavity drain. Generally, a chest drain is a relatively compact bedside vessel employed to collect fluids postoperatively from a closed surgical site, for example, through a drain tube implanted in the patient's chest.
In many medical situations in which fluids are drawn from a patient, it is critical to accurately measure and monitor the initial volume, for example the first 100, of fluid collected from the patient. Conventional fluid recovery systems generally include a collection chamber having a cut-away portion that provides a section of reduced volume within the collection chamber for receiving the initial volume of fluid collected from the patient. The reduced volume section of the collection chamber permits more accurate monitoring and measuring of the initial fluid collected as changes in the fluid volume collected within the reduced volume section can be measured in smaller increments and at higher resolution.
However, provision of the reduced volume section within the collection chamber has a number of disadvantages. For example, providing a cut-away portion in the collection chamber reduces the total volume of the collection chamber and results in the collection chamber having a non-uniform cross-section, which can complicate manufacturing of the chest drain and can increase production costs. This is particularly true if the fluid recovery system is manufactured through an injection molding process, as a complicated mold must be constructed to produce the reduced volume section of the collection chamber. Moreover, provision of the cut-away portion of the collection chamber can reduce the stability of the fluid recovery system, rendering the chest drain susceptible knock-over, which can adversely effect the operation of the chest drain.
In a hospital setting, a fluid recovery system is typically positioned on the floor further increasing the difficulty in monitoring the volume of fluid collected within the collection chamber of the system. Often, medical personnel must either lift the entire system to bring the system to eye-level or bend-over to accurately measure the fluid volume within the system and monitor the operation of the system. Moreover, glare from overhead lights on the translucent face of the collection chamber can interfere with accurate and reliable monitoring of the fluid volume within the collection chamber.
Accordingly, there is a need for a fluid recovery system that provides for reliable and accurate monitoring of the fluid collected from the patient, particularly the initial volume of fluid collected from the patient.


An electrical contact 47 includes a tubular liner 1 stamped and rolled from a sheet of an electrically conductive material with an annular connector retention recess 13 provided in the external surface thereof between a mating end and a wire receiving end. One or more sleeves 21, 27 are telescoped over the liner 1 with at least one sleeve deformed in place into the annular recess 13. One of the sleeves 21 can be axially aligned preparatory to deforming it into the recess by an internal projection 25 which engages an annular groove 19 on the liner 1. A second sleeve can be axially aligned by lancing it to the liner 1 and by prick-punching the sleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical contact assemblies and especially to miniature contact assemblies of the socket and pin type used in multicontact electrical connectors.
2. Prior Art
With the increasing complexity of modern electronic systems and the trend toward miniaturization of system components, interest has been created in reducing the size of the connectors required to interconnect the wires extending between the various system modules. It has long been the practice to utilize multiwire socket and pin connectors for such purposes. In such connectors the wires interconnecting the system modules are inserted into elongated contacts and crimped in place. The contacts are then inserted in a connector where they are removably retained by a retention mechanism. Dozens of such contacts may be provided in a single connector.
A common practice is to machine each individual contact, however, this is expensive and therefore many inventors have turned to stamping and rolling the contacts from sheet material. Examples of contacts formed in this manner are disclosed in U.S. Pats. No. 3,286,223, No. 3,317,887, No. 3,721,943, No. 4,072,394 and No. 4,120,556. Many of these contacts include an inner tubular liner forming the contact with one or more sleeves coaxially mounted over the tubular liner to protect and strengthen the contact. These assemblies generally have an annular projection near their midpoint which cooperates with the retaining mechanism to removably secure the contact in a connector. Examples of arrangements for thus securing the contacts are shown in U.S. Pats. No. 4,072,394, No. 4,082,398 and No. 4,120,556. Other types of socket and pin contacts have an annular recess which cooperates with a retaining mechanism to secure the contact in a connector. These types of contacts have heretofore been machined to form the recess.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved electrical contact of the type having an annular retention recess which can be easily and inexpensively fabricated.
It is another object of the invention to provide such an electrical contact which can be rolled from sheet material and in which the contact sleeves can be secured to the contact liner by deforming the sleeves in place on the liner.


An apparatus, system and method for desalination and purification of water where fresh water is extracted from salt water, leaving behind the higher salinity salt water. Salt water is bubbled, aerated, sprayed, or otherwise agitated to cause breaking bubbles along the surface of the salt water. An electric field is applied above the surface of the salt water; fresh water droplets and vapor are released in the process of bubble rupture, pulled away from the surface of the salt water, and collected for consumption. The present invention may also be used to purify fresh water by leaving impurities behind.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to fresh water production, and more particularly to an apparatus, system and method for electrostatic desalination and water purification.
2. Description of Related Art
One of the growing problems facing mankind in the 21st century is the ability of the earth to sustain an ever growing population. Natural resources such as food and water supplies are being depleted or damaged by the activities of man in ways that impact all of humanity, particularly those that live in poor regions of the world.
Clean drinking water is essential for all life to exist on this planet. In addition, water is necessary to grow crops and sustain food production. Unfortunately our fresh water resources have not been protected in ways that will ensure that future generations will have adequate fresh water supplies. Fresh water has been overused, aquifers have been depleted, and pollution has spoiled water quality in many regions of the world. Fresh water supplies were treated as a never ending resource; unfortunately, this is not reality, and water shortages as well as the spread of disease and sickness through contaminated water is a major problem of this century. Technical advances are needed to provide adequate water supplies to sustain life in the future. These advances may include techniques to clean polluted water as well as techniques to utilize the earth's available water in ways that have heretofore been impossible.
According to the NASA Earth Observatory website www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov, 75 percent of the earth's surface is covered by water, with 96.5 percent being in the global oceans. Unfortunately, ocean water is not drinkable in its present form. This has been a monumental difficulty throughout humanity, and the frustration of having plentiful, albeit non-drinkable, water is described well in the famous line from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner—"Water, water, everywhere Nor any drop to drink".
There are techniques to extract fresh water from salt water, one of the oldest being boiling or distillation. As salt water is boiled, the steam leaving the salt water is condensed, the steam being essentially fresh water. This technique was known by mariners hundreds of years ago, and still manifests itself in commercial flash distillation plants. Distillation is an energy intensive process due to the heat required. This makes distillation not only expensive, but also contributes to the growing problem of carbon dioxide emissions, as well as other pollutants, and their subsequent impact on the environment. Reverse Osmosis is a fairly recent technique that has gained widespread attention as an alternative to distillation. This process is also energy intensive due to the pressures needed to move water through the reverse osmosis membrane.
There have been other attempts to desalinate ocean water including freezing, various chemical processes, and others.
In the 1960's, Yukichi Asakawa observed that the evaporation of water can be increased or assisted by an electric field. In a 1967 symposium this information was presented to the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineering.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,993 Method and Apparatus For Removing Salt From Sea Water, now expired, Arbisi describes an apparatus and method that used a supply tank containing salt water where bubbles are discharged in the chamber and a crossflow of air is applied along with an electric field to obtain water of lesser salinity than the starting salt water. In the '993 patent, techniques to further reduce the salinity of the product water are disclosed, including reverse osmosis and electrodialysis desalination. It appears from the disclosure that the apparatus of Arbisi was not able to generate fresh water without the addition of a secondary system such as reverse osmosis or electrodialysis desalination. In addition, the apparatus of Arbisi uses supply tanks and collection tanks, making the apparatus unsuitable for continuous processing of fresh water. These and other shortcomings are solved by the present invention and the various embodiments described herein. The entire disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,993 is incorporated herein by reference.
It is known that an electric field is capable of interacting with water vapor. U.S. Pat. No. 6,302,944 to Hoenig describes an Apparatus For Extracting Water Vapor From Air. The entire disclosure of this patent is incorporated herein by reference.
Therefore, there currently exists an unmet need for a system to remove impurities from sea water to make it fit for human consumption without the need for massive energy consumption and its associated pollution, carbon emissions, and other environmental impacts. It is expected that this unmet need will continue to increase with the rise in world populations and the increase in global temperatures and associated water shortages. There is further an unmet need to provide a system to convert sea water into fresh water that can be economically scaled in size to provide both small systems that can be economically operated in poor regions of the world as well as larger commercial systems that can supply fresh water on a municipal or regional basis. It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, system and method for desalination and purification of water, in particular but not limited to, the desalination of sea water. It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, system and method for desalination and purification of water that requires very little energy consumption. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, system and method for desalination and purification of water that has very low maintenance requirements and is simple to operate. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, system and method for desalination and purification of water that operates on either a continuous or a batch process. These and other objects of the present invention will be further brought to light upon reading this specification and claims and viewing the attached drawings.

Electrostatic desalination and water purification


A glove for facilitating grasping a fish while scaling, gutting, cleaning, and cutting the fish. The glove has four elongated finger portions and an elongated thumb portion extending from a palm region. A plurality of fish scaling blades is disposed on several outer surface of the glove. The glove is typically formed from a material typically having a roughened texture and is impervious to the fish cleaning by-products such as fish entrails, fish scales, and the like. An opening allows access of a hand of a wearer to a hollow interior portion and to fingers and the thumb. An optional flashlight and/or sharpening stone may be attached to the glove.

An important process in the commercial fishing industry is the scaling, gutting and cleaning of fish. There are some mechanical devices that may be available to aid in these processes. However, to avoid damage to the fish bodies, usually newly caught fish, the scaling, gutting and cleaning processing typically involves handling the fish by humans. Fish scalers that are mechanical devices used to remove scales from fish prior to cleaning are well known in the art. However all known fish scalers typically are manually operated in a reciprocating motion parallel to the surface of a fish whose scales are being removed. Scalers typically have a number of sharp protrusions or points that are raked along the outer skin of a fish in a direction opposite to the direction of growth or attachment of the scales. These points engage the external edges of the fish scales and pull or force the scale to detach from the skin of the fish.
Newly caught fish are frequently wet or slippery from having been in the water. In addition, when the fish are scaled after returning to the dock, water is sometimes used as a rinsing agent during the process of cleaning the fish, to wash away the scales and other tissue that may be removed during the cleaning process. Because the skin of the fish is slippery, it is necessary to grasp the fish firmly, and to hold it tightly, during the scaling process. If heavy duty gloves are not used, it is possible for the person doing the scaling to nick, catch, abrade, or otherwise injure the hand that is holding the fish, especially with the sharp points of the scalar.
Numerous devices have been provided for assisting in the preparation of a fish for human consumption. Among these devices have been numerous gloves with various surfaces and attachments for easily performing the necessary cleaning, scaling, and gutting operations. However, the location, configuration, positioning, and design of the glove surfaces and implements have been unsatisfactory for performing these required fish preparation operations.
It would, therefore, be advantageous to provide suitable hand protection to prevent injuries that can occur when a fish scalar inadvertently comes into contact with the hand holding the fish during a scaling operation. It would be further advantageous to provide hand protection that includes fish scaling apparatus to improve the efficiency of the fish scaling operation while protecting the hands of the wearer.

Fish scaling, cutting blade glove with attached knife sharpener and flash light


According to one embodiment, a method of transferring data across a semiconductor chip comprises transmitting data from a first Rambus asic cell to a second Rambus asic cell using clock pulses generated at a first clock generator and sampling the data at the second Rambus asic cell using clock pulses generated at a second clock generator.

The present invention relates to memory systems; more particularly, the present invention relates to transferring data across a memory repeater chip in a Rambus memory subsystem.
A Rambus Dynamic RAM (RDRAM) developed by Rambus, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif., is a type of memory that permits data transfer operations at speeds up to 1.2-1.6 gigabytes per second. RDRAM devices are typically housed in Rambus in-line memory modules (RIMMs) that are coupled to one or more Rambus channels. Typically, the expansion channels couple each RDRAM device to a memory controller. The memory controller enables other devices, such as a Central Processing Unit (CPU), to access the RDRAMs.
RDRAM based memory subsystems may include repeaters coupled to the expansion channel that monitor the expansion channel for activity and repeat the activity on one or more of the stick channels coupled thereto. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary repeater. The repeater includes a slave Rambus Asic Cell (RAC) and two master RACs. The slave RAC is coupled to the expansion channel, while the master RACs are each coupled to a stick channel. The RACs are used to interface with the high frequency expansion or stick channels. Typically, a plurality of RDRAM devices are coupled to each of the stick channels.
The slave RAC operates various portions of its logic on one of three clocks (e.g., a slave receive clock and two slave transmit clocks). The master RACs also operate their logic using three different clocks (e.g., a master receive clock and two master transmit clocks). In the described mechanism, the receive clocks in the slave RAC and master RACs are synchronized via a phase locked-loop (PLL) in order to transfer data within the repeater at speeds up to 400 Mhz. Whenever commands and data is to be written to an RDRAM on one of the stick channels, the data must be transmitted from the expansion channel through the slave RAC and across the repeater chip to a master RAC. The slave RAC receives commands and data with the slave receive clock and uses the slave receive clock to transmit the commands and data across the chip to the particular master RAC.
A problem exists, however, in sampling the command and data signals at a master RAC at such a high speed. Considering clock jitters and phase errors, sampling the signals reliably in a master RAC with the master receive clock is often difficult because the lack of sufficient hold times. For instance, hold time violations would imply that delay must be added to the signal path. However, adding the requisite time delay to fix the hold time problem could potentially cause a setup time violation. Taking into consideration the problems stated above and the long cross chip distance for data transfer, it would be desirable to provide a mechanism for providing cross chip transfers at high speeds of communication.

Cross chip transfer mechanism for a memory repeater chip in a Dram memory system


A balanced-unbalanced conversion circuit includes a first coupling line, an unbalanced terminal connected to the first coupling line, a ground terminal connected to the unbalanced terminal through the first coupling line, a second coupling line electromagnetically coupled to the first coupling line, a first balanced terminal connected to the second coupling line, a second balanced terminal connected to the first balanced terminal through the second coupling line, and a band-reject filter serially connected to the first coupling line to remove predetermined-band signals of high frequency signals transmitted through the first coupling line.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a balanced-unbalanced conversion circuit having a filtering function of attenuating interference waves, in addition to a balanced-unbalanced conversion function.
2. Related Art
Balanced-unbalanced conversion circuits (Balun) have been used for connection between an unbalanced type device and a balanced type device and between devices having different impedance. Recently, a circuit provided with a trap circuit has been proposed to prevent interference waves from being transmitted to a rear end circuit in various electronic apparatuses such as communication apparatuses.
FIG. 9 is a schematic circuit diagram illustrating the known balun. As shown in FIG. 9, the balun 100 mainly includes an unbalanced terminal 101, a first coupling line 102 connected between the unbalanced terminal 101 and a reference potential (ground), two balanced terminals 103 and 104, and a second coupling line 105 connected between the balanced terminals 103 and 104 and coupled to the first coupling line 102. A trap circuit includes an LC parallel resonant circuit 106 connected between one end of the second coupling line 105 and one balanced terminal 103, and an LC parallel resonant circuit 107 connected between the other end of the second coupling line 105 and the other balanced terminal 104. The LC parallel resonant circuits 106 and 107 establish attenuation poles in a frequency band adjacent to a pass band.
According to the balun 100 with such a configuration, an unbalanced signal input from the unbalanced terminal 101 is converted into a balanced signal between the first coupling line 102 and the second coupling line 105, and the converted signal is output from the balanced terminals 103 and 104. In this case, interference waves are removed by the trap circuit (106, 107) having the attenuation poles in a frequency band of the interference waves, so as to prevent the interference waves from being transmitted to a rear end circuit 108.
As shown with a dotted line in FIG. 9, the interference waves included in the signal transmitted from the second coupling line 105 to the balanced terminals 103 and 104 are removed by the trap circuit (106, 107), but the interference waves from the ground terminal of the first coupling line 102 cannot be prevented from being input to the rear end circuit 108 through the ground. Particularly, at high frequency, it is difficult to make a ground having invariable potential, and thus it is important to provide for the prevention of the interference waves transmitted through the ground.


A terminal is provided with an input unit configured to detect contact of an object and a position of the object, and a controller configured to generate a control signal corresponding to a recognition of a gesture of the object, which is detected at a position spaced apart from the input unit when touched by the object. The terminal may allow an operation command desired by the user to be completed since a gesture is initiated at a surface of the terminal, and terminated at the surface of the terminal again after being performed in a space on the surface of the terminal. By specifying a start or an end of the gesture, the intention of the user may be clearly presented and may improve the recognition rate. Therefore, the user may easily manipulate mobile phones and various equipments while driving.

Besides driving function, a vehicle further includes additional functions such as audio function, video function, navigation, air conditioning system, seat control, and lighting control for the user convenience.
To perform those functions, a vehicle is provided with a terminal configured to display menu screen or control screen by receiving an operation command about selected menu, or by receiving selected menu from the user according to a hard key method, a touch screen method and a gesture recognition method.
In the case of applying the hard key method to input a command to the terminal, a physically large space may be consumed to be provided with a plurality of hard keys. Alternatively, there is may be problems of increasing load of manipulation of the user to receive an operation command by a few hard keys, and in addition, at night, a lighting button, such as, a light-emitting diode (LED), and a button instrument may be needed for the identification of the physical buttons, and thereby increasing a manufacturing cost of the terminal.
In the case of applying the touch screen method to input a command to the terminal, drivers may touch each time the terminal to input an operation command so it is possible to affect safe driving.
In the case of applying the gesture recognition method to input a command to the terminal, the gesture is composed of touching, dragging and releasing. As such, manipulating may be performed only when being bound to a surface thereof.
In addition, when recognizing touching gestures and space gestures on the touch screen, a certain shape of hand or using a motion, such as a predetermined time stop are used. At this time, when a motion of hand is unnatural or hand movement is unintentional, the motion command may be wrongly recognized. Moreover, distinguishing the start of a gesture from the end of the gesture may be accomplished in a natural continuous operation. As such, the terminal may not accurately recognize the gesture that the user intended.
Therefore, by using the gesture recognition method input the operation command, there may be a problem that the terminal malfunctions because the operation command the user intended may not be accurately recognize

Terminal, for gesture recognition and operation command determination, vehicle having the same and method for controlling the same

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology


A turbine guide vane having an aerodynamically bent vane airfoil with a channel system equipped with a throttle element is provided herein. The channel system includes channel sections for the guidance of coolant. In order to provide an alternative turbine guide vane by means of which both a partial coolant flow flowing in the interior and a partial coolant flow guided out of the turbine guide vane are adjustable; therefore, in an embodiment, the throttle element is designed for the removal of coolant.

Such a turbine vane is known for example from WO 01/36790 A1. The throttling of the cooling air consumption of the known turbine vane takes place with the aid of a plug, which is provided in the turbine guide vane from the outside, at a point of reversal of the cooling channel. Depending on the depth of penetration of the plug, the cross section of the point of reversal through which flow can pass, and consequently the throughflow of cooling air, can be set to a predetermined degree in a simple manner. Casting-dependent dimensional differences that result from the production of the turbine vane can be compensated with the aid of the plug, whereby excessive consumption of cooling air can be avoided.
Furthermore, it is known that, instead of a throttle, an opening may also be situated at the point of reversal for the removal of cooling air. In this case, the use of a throttle has not so far been possible at this position.

Turbine guide vane with a throttle element


A power supply with a waveform control function is provided. The power supply includes a waveform type selector that selects a desired shape for an output waveform and a setpoint selector that sets an output setpoint for the power supply. The power supply further includes a waveform generator that generates a reference waveform signal. The waveform generator includes a target generation circuit that generates a plurality of target values corresponding to the reference waveform signal. The waveform generator also includes a transition circuit that performs a series of transitions between the plurality of target values to generate the reference waveform signal, and a ramp circuit that controls a ramp speed of at least one transition of the series of transitions based on the desired shape. The generation of a target value corresponding to a peak value of the reference waveform signal is based on at least the output setpoint.

In related art power supplies for brazing, cladding, building up, filling, hard-facing overlaying, joining and welding applications, for example gas shielded tungsten arc welding (GTAW) systems, some power supplies allow the operator to select between different welding waveforms. Typically, the operator is given a choice between an advanced ("crisp") square wave, a "soft" square wave, a sine wave, and a triangle wave. Each of these waveforms has certain advantages and the operator chooses the best waveform for the specific application. For example, the advanced square wave provides fast transitions for a responsive, dynamic, and focused arc and better directional control. The soft square wave provides a smoother, softer arc with a more fluid weld puddle than the advanced square wave. The sine wave provides the soft-arc feel of a conventional power source. The triangular wave combines the effect of peak amperage while reducing overall heat input. This leads to quick puddle formation and, because of the lower heat input, reduced weld distortion, especially on thin metal.
However, each waveform also has it disadvantages. For example, because noise is proportional to how fast the current changes, the advanced square wave has the most noise, with the soft square wave, sine wave, and the triangle wave following in descending order of noise. Similarly, the square wave has the most heat input to the workpiece with the triangle wave the least. However, the other waveforms do not provide the responsiveness and control of the square wave. Accordingly, the operator must balance responsiveness and control of the arc with noise. With related arc welding machines, the selection is limited to the four waveforms discussed above. There is no way for the operator to choose a waveform that is between, for example, a sine wave and a triangle wave in order to get the optimum waveform for a particular application.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional, traditional, and proposed approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such approaches with embodiments of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Arc welding with waveform control function


A hinge base plate mounting tool includes a substrate having an inner wall forming an opening through the substrate for receiving and holding a hinge base plate. The inner walls are configured to frictionally engage and hold the base plate against inadvertent slipping out so that the base plate may be placed in the opening and supported in a predetermined position by the base plate mounting tool while fasteners are engaged to mount the base on a receiving wall of a cabinet. The base plate mounting tool is supported in the predetermined position by engagement of a first stop for positive depthwise location of the tool and the base. The base plate mounting tool may be supported in the predetermined position by engagement of a second stop with a wall that adjoins the receiving wall for positive height location of the tool and the base along the receiving wall.

1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to a hinge base mounting tool, and more particularly to a non-continuous hinge base plate mounting tool.
2. State of the Art
Several templates have been developed for marking doors and jams for placement of hinge fasteners and hinges themselves. Templates for marking locations for hinges for subsequent removal of wood to form recesses for leaves of a hinge are also known. These devices have a variety of stops including adjustable stops, many of which are provided by complex mechanisms.
Very little has been done in the area of hinge base plate mounting tools. The only activity in this specific area appears to have been directed to mounting of continuous hinges that have very distinct elongate structure. As such, the base plate mounting tools for this type of hinge is also very distinct and elongate. Because of the unique structure of the continuous hinges to which these base plate mounting tools are applied, specific mechanisms that are best adapted to such structures have been applied. Furthermore, the continuous hinges for which the base plate mounting tools have been developed appear to always have a pair of base plates for respective opposite ends of the continuous hinge. This in combination with the fact that longitudinal positioning of the base plates for these types of hinges is relatively unimportant has caused the heretofore known base plate mounting tools, (i.e., those configured for continuous hinges), to be very specific to that type of hinge.


Film-backed and paper-backed coated abrasives and methods of making same are described using coatable urea-aldehyde binder precursor compositions including a urea-aldehyde resin and a cocatalyst, which yield more consistent quality coated abrasives. In addition, the compositions have longer pot life and allow curing at lower temperatures. The urea-aldehyde resins have an aldehyde/urea molar ratio of at least about 1.0, more preferably ranging from about 1.0 to about 2.0, and a free aldehyde content ranging from about 0.1 to about 3.0 weight percent based on weight of total aldehyde. The cocatalyst consists essentially of a Lewis acid and a salt selected from the group consisting of ammonium ion salts and organic amine salts. Paper-backed abrasive articles may employ a fabric nonwoven layer between the abrasive coating and the paper layer to reduce abrasive particle shelling.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to coatable urea-aldehyde binder precursor compositions having low free aldehyde content which are catalyzed to cured binders by a cocatalyst. The catalyst is described as a "cocatalyst" because it has two components: an ammonium salt (such as ammonium chloride, ammonium nitrate, ammonium thiocyanate, and the like) and a Lewis acid (such as aluminum chloride, ferric chloride, and the like). The cocatalyst is especially useful in the production of coated abrasive articles.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Generally, coated abrasives comprise a backing onto which a plurality of abrasive particles are bonded thereto. In one major form of the coated abrasive, the abrasive particles are secured to the backing by means of a first binder coat, called a make coating, which is adhered to the backing. Abrasive particles are applied while the make coating is in its uncured state, followed by precure of the make coating. Over the make coating abrasive particles is applied a second binder coat, commonly called a size coating. The purpose of the size coating is to reinforce the abrasive particles.
In a second major form of coated abrasive, the abrasive particles are dispersed in a binder to form an abrasive composite, and this abrasive composite is bonded to the backing by means of the binder. Coated abrasives are used in a variety of different applications from gate removal on forged metal parts to finishing eye glasses. Additionally, coated abrasives are converted into a wide variety of different forms including endless belts, sheets, cones, discs, and the like.
Examples of popular coated abrasive backings include paper, nonwoven webs, cloth, vulcanized fiber, polymeric film and treated versions thereof, and combinations thereof. The polymeric film, especially polyester film, has found wide commercial success in fine grade abrasives, i.e., the fine particle size of the abrasive particles. These fine grades are those in which the average particle size of the abrasive particle is less than about 150 micrometers, typically less than 100 micrometers. Polymeric film is consistently very flat and smooth, thus it does not have surface roughness like the other fibrous backings. This flatness and smoothness results in most, if not all, of the abrasive particles being substantially in one plane, and thus substantially all of the abrasive particles are able to contact the workpiece being abraded and typically a higher cut rate results. If the coated abrasive backing is rough, especially in the fine grades, the tendency is that not all of the abrasive particles will be in one plane and thus not contacting the workpiece at the same time. This in turn leads to a coarser surface finish and a lower rate of cut.
However, one problem associated with the smooth polymeric films is the adhesion of binders to that type of surface, in particular urea-aldehyde binders. Primers are routinely utilized on the front surface of the polymeric film to increase the adhesion of the make coating. Examples of primers include mechanical and chemical primers. It is one object of the present invention to provide improved coated abrasives of the type having a polymeric film backing having coated thereon an abrasive coating comprising a urea-aldehyde binder.
The use of acid/base reactions to control the addition and condensation reactions of urea-formaldehyde (UF) dates back to the 1918 work of Hanns John. It is generally accepted that a nucleophilic component is necessary for an amino-carbonyl condensation via reactions 1-3 (all aqueous): ##STR1##
Although the addition reaction (reaction 2) is both acid and base catalyzed, the condensation reaction (reaction 4) is exclusively acid catalyzed: ##STR2##
The nucleophilic component necessary for amino-carbonyl condensations can be provided by any of a variety of proton donors. The most common classes are mineral acids, OH--acidic compounds, acidic SH, NH and CH moieties, and some olefins.
UF was first patented for use as an adhesive for coated abrasives by Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company ("3M") in the mid 1930's (Great Britain Pat. No. 419,812). Since that time a number of different coated abrasive products have been made with acid catalyzed UF resins. Today, the two most common catalysts used with UF resins are aluminum chloride (AlCl.sub.3) and ammonium chloride (NH.sub.4 Cl).
Although urea-aldehyde resins have enjoyed great success in coated abrasives, the need to reduce the use of solvents and unreacted reactants which contribute to release of volatile organic hydrocarbons (VOC) in the process of making coated abrasives, and the need to increase the quality of the abrasives while maintaining or increasing their level of performance is challenging the industry.
Meanwhile, the appearance to the user of the coated abrasive is important. It has been interestingly found that, when attempting to increase the abrading performance of coated abrasives made using urea-aldehyde resins when aluminum chloride is used alone as the catalyst, a higher temperature than normal must be used to cure the urea-aldehyde resin, which in turn leads to curling of edges of paper-backed coated abrasives. (The use of aluminum chloride as a catalyst for urea-formaldehyde resins in the making of coated abrasive articles is known.) Therefore, it would be advantageous if the abrading performance of paper-backed coated abrasives made using urea-aldehyde resins could be increased without sacrificing the appearance or increasing the waste of coated abrasive.
When the AlCl.sub.3 catalyst is used alone, the gel time, pot life and peak exotherm temperatures are all dependent on the concentration of the AlCl.sub.3. Thus, the performance of the coated abrasive is dependent upon the concentration of the AlCl.sub.3, and the cure conditions (time and temperature).
In order to achieve a good performing product using factory cure conditions (i.e temperature ranging from about 65.degree. C. to about 95.degree. C.), the concentration of AlCl.sub.3 should be near 1 weight percent, based on weight of binder precursor. The drawback with a 1 weight percent concentration of AlCl.sub.3 is that the pot-life may be too short for batch operations typically used in the factory with urea-aldehyde resins having low (about 0.1 to about 1.0 weight percent) free aldehyde content, based on total weight of aldehyde.
When NH.sub.4 Cl is used alone as the catalyst, the gel time, pot life and peak exotherm temperatures are all independent of the NH.sub.4 Cl concentration, affording an advantage over the use of a Lewis acid catalyst. However, the activity (ability of the catalyst to catalyze the reaction) of the NH.sub.4 Cl was dependent on the free formaldehyde concentration in the binder precursor composition due to the following reaction: EQU 6CH.sub.2 (OH).sub.2 +4NH.sub.4 Cl.fwdarw.(CH.sub.2).sub.6 N.sub.4 +4HCl+12H.sub.2 O 5)
With low free aldehyde resins, such as that known under the trade designation "AL3029R", from Borden Chemical, the NH.sub.4 Cl does not activate the condensation reaction (4) very readily until the temperature of the reaction is increased above that normally used. However, as mentioned above, increased temperature tends to curl the edges of paper-backed coated abrasives and without performance improvements. The performance of the coated abrasive is independent of the NH.sub.4 Cl concentration. Thus, the drawbacks of this system are the long gel times, and only moderate performance levels are obtained with typical factory cure conditions.
Therefore, it would be an advance in the art to provide a binder precursor composition (preferably a solution or dispersion) which includes a urea-aldehyde resin and cocatalyst system and coated abrasives which meet these needs. It is the primary object of the present invention to provide such compositions which will, when cured, provide a coated abrasive binder having uniformity of physical properties as is previously known, but which also allow higher production runs of coated abrasives without curling of the edges of the coated abrasive web and increased abrasion performance.

Abrasive articles and methods of making same


A guide rail assembly for a submersible machine as well as a guide rail holder for such a guide rail assembly is described herein. The guide rail holder includes a radially extending support body and an axially extending post, which is rigidly connected to the support body and which is adapted to be inserted into an end of the guide rail. An engagement head is connected to the post at a distance from the support body and has a greater radial extension than the post. The engagement head includes a radially expandable member that is adapted to be reversibly manipulated between an active state, in which the expandable member is in engagement with the guide rail, and an inactive state, in which the expandable member is disengaged from the guide rail.

Traditionally the guide rail of a guide rail assembly has been supported and connected to a tank wall by means of guide rail holders comprising rigid pipe segments welded thereto, the pipe segments being inserted into the respective guide rail end such that the outer surface of the pipe segment abut the inner surface of the guide rail. U.S. Pat. No. 8,277,115 disclose such a rigid arrangement. However, a rigid connection of this type is impaired with several drawbacks. More specifically, the forces and bending moments that the submersible machine exerts the connection between the guide rail and the guide rail holder for, result in the guide rail ends experiencing great stress and they risk to split open due to the rigid connection. Thereto the mixer unit in operation generates pulsating forces acting on the guide rail and guide rail holders. This lead to the wall that the guide rail assembly is connected to is worn out and shredded.
US 2002/162936 disclose an alternative way of connecting two guide rails. It describes an adapter comprising a central body having squared cross section and from which body two sets of flexible members extend in the axial direction. The two sets are inserted into the end of the respective guide rail, whereby a connection of the guide rails is achieved. The flexible members entail that abutment against the inner surfaces of the guide rails is ensured. When the plant is in operation the guide rails may neither be displaced/bend in relation to each other nor in relation to the adapter, and thus also this connection is rigid and thereby impaired with the above drawbacks.

Guide rail assembly as well as guide rail holder


A game console includes a console main body and at least one game controlling device for inputting commands to the console main body. The at least one game controlling device is configured for selectively operating in an assembled mode where the at least one game controlling device is mechanically and communicatively coupled to the console main body, or in a dissembled mode where the at least one game controlling device is detached from the console main body and is communicatively coupled to the console main body.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to game device, particularly to a portable game console.
2. Description of Related Art
Handheld game consoles are handheld game consoles for playing video games. Since the first true handheld game console were sold and distributed by Milton-Bradley in 1979, handheld game consoles have become enormously popular in the world.
A typical handheld game console is a single unit including a plurality buttons, a screen, and a speaker. The handheld game console has a game program integrated therein. The screen is adapted for displaying content of the game program, and the speaker is configured for representing sound effect of the game program. Player can operate the buttons to control the process of the game program via views of the screen, while enjoying sound effects from the speaker. However, because a player must operate the buttons with hands so near to each other, the player hands will become fatigued. And if a player should play with one hand, again he will become fatigued but now because of the weight of the machine.
What is needed, therefore, is handheld game console which can overcome the above-described problem.

Handheld game console having assembled and disassembled modes


An electrical connector assembly includes first and second mezzanine electrical connectors that include respective first and second arrays of electrical contacts. The electrical contacts can be receptacle, or one can be a plug and the other can be a receptacle. Each electrical connector can further include at least one alignment member that cooperate to align the first and second arrays of electrical contacts relative to each other. Each electrical connector can further include at least one orientation member that allows the first and second electrical connectors to mate when in a predetermined orientation relative to each other.

Electrical connectors typically include a dielectric connector housing supporting a plurality of electrical contacts. Physical characteristics of the electrical contacts and/or the connector housing can typically govern signal integrity (SI) performance of the electrical connector. For example, mezzanine electrical connectors can be constructed with arrays of electrical contacts having fusible elements, and can be referred to as ball grid array (BGA) connectors. A pair of complementary mezzanine BGA connectors can define a stack height when mated to one another. A mezzanine BGA connector having a shorter stack height than that of typical mezzanine BGA connectors can exhibit enhanced SI characteristics relative to typical mezzanine BGA connectors. As the connector housing and the associated electrical contacts become smaller and smaller, contact retention becomes increasingly more difficult. As the amount of plastic or other suitable connector housing material is reduced, preventing the housing from warping or curling during reflow of solder masses or balls onto respective electrical contacts, during reflow of the electrical connector onto a substrate, during thermal expansion, or due to internal connector housing stress created by the electrical contacts are also a technical challenge. Preventing solder wicking along very short electrical contacts is also more difficult.

Electrical connector with reduced stack height


Line set-up detection circuit 22-1 detects N successive conformities in line information Sa from a network side line terminating set 1 and a signal Sb representing the result of detecting N successive conformities with an error correction code added thereto to the network side line terminating set 1. Network side line set-up control circuit 12 generates a line set-up permission signal Sc or a line set-up inhibition signal Sd on the basis of the signals Sb representing the result of detecting N successive conformities from all user's side line terminating sets 2-1 through 2-3 and transmits it to each of the user's side line terminating sets 2-1 through 2-3. User's side line set-up control circuits 24-1 writes the contents of line set-up primary memory 23-1 into line set-up main memory 25-1 when it receives a line set-up permission signal Sc and inhibits the contents of the line set-up primary memory 23-1 from being written into the line set-up main memory 25-1 when it receives a line set-up inhibition signal Sd.

The present invention generally relates to a line set-up system and, more particularly, to a line set-up system adapted for time division multiplex access for a subscriber optical telecommunication line network having an n-branch star configuration.
FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings schematically illustrates part of a conventional n-branch star configuration where a network side line terminating set 4 is connected to n user's side line terminating sets 5-j (j=1, 2, 3, . . . , n) by way of an optical splitter 3. The network side line terminating set 4 comprises a line information transfer circuit 41 and a network side line terminating circuit 42. The line information transfer circuit 41 transfers externally supplied line information Sa such as the phase of transmission and the burst length of transmission burst signals of each user's side line terminating set 5-j to the remaining user's side line terminating sets 5-j by way of the network side line terminating circuit 42.
The network side line terminating circuit 42 terminates n branched optical lines and inserts the line information Sa into the transmission/reception burst signal. On the other hand, each of the user's side line terminating sets 5-j comprises a user's side line terminating circuit 51-j (only 51-1 is shown), a user's side line set-up control circuit 52-j (only 52-1 is shown), a line set-up main memory 53-j (only 53-1 is shown) and a transmission burst control circuit 54-j (only 54-1 is shown).
The user's side line terminating circuits 51-j terminates the related one of the n branched optical lines and executes the extraction of the line information Sa and the line control information from the transmission/reception burst signal and the insertion of the line information detection output signal into the burst signal. The user's side line set-up control circuit 52-j, upon positively acknowledging a normal reception by detecting N successive conformities on the part of the line information from the network side line terminating set 4 or normal detection, transmits a write control signal to the line set-up main memory 53-j, whereas, upon negatively acknowledging a normal reception or abnormal detection, it transmits a stop control signal to the transmission burst control circuit 54-j. The line set-up main memory 53-j stores the line set-up information under the control of the user's side line set-up control circuit 52-j and transfers the stored information to the transmission burst control circuit 54-j. The transmission burst control circuit 54-j controls the phase and the bit length of the transmission burst signal according to the information stored in the line set-up main memory 53-j.
With a subscriber optical telecommunication network having a configuration as described above, if the line set-up information transmitted from the network side line terminating set to a user's side line terminating set is not properly detected due to a bit error occurred on the optical fiber or normal detection is determined, the transmission of burst signals has to be suspended to make the line unusable in order to prevent any interference of burst signals transmitted from other normal user's side line terminating sets by the burst signal transmitted on the basis of the not-properly-detected information.
While this problem may partly be dissolved by adding an error correction code to the line information, then the total number of bits to be transferred for line set-up operation inevitably increases and a complex error correction code decoding circuit adapted to decode such error correction codes has to be incorporated so that consequently the overall circuit configuration will become bulky and too redundant.


Methods and compositions are described for treating contaminants in material intended for in vivo use, and in particular blood and blood products for human use. Contaminants in blood cell preparations are inactivated prior to long term storage and transfusion. Inactivation is accomplished using a device having a unique temperature control design.

Whole blood collected from volunteer donors for transfusion recipients is typically separated into its components: red blood cells, platelets, and plasma. Each of these fractions is individually stored and used to treat a multiplicity of specific conditions and disease states. For example, the red blood cell component is used to treat anemia; the concentrated platelet component is used to control bleeding; and the plasma component is used frequently as a source of Clotting Factor VIII for the treatment of hemophilia.
Ideally, all blood cell preparations should be from freshly drawn blood and then immediately transfused to the recipient. However, the logistics of operating a blood donor center preclude this possibility in the vast majority of cases. Transfusions are needed day and night and it is difficult, if not impossible, to arrange for donor recruiting at unusual hours. Consequently, modern blood donor centers must use stored blood products.
In the United States, blood storage procedures are subject to regulation by the government. The maximum storage periods for the blood components collected in these systems are specifically prescribed. For example, whole blood components collected in an "open" (i.e. non-sterile) system must, under governmental rules, be transfused within twenty-four hours and in most cases within six to eight hours. By contrast, when whole blood components are collected in a "closed" (i.e. sterile) system the red blood cells can be stored up to forty-two days (depending upon the type of anticoagulant and storage medium used) and plasma may be frozen and stored for even longer periods.
Murphy and Gardner, New Eng. J. Med. 280:1094 (1969), demonstrated that platelets stored as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) at 22° C. possessed a better in vivo half-life than those stored at 4° C. Thus, more acceptable platelet concentrates could be transfused after storage at room temperature. Until recently, the rules allowed for platelet concentrate storage at room temperature for up to seven days (depending upon the type of storage container). However, it was recognized that the incidence of bacterial growth and subsequent transfusion reactions in the recipient increased to unacceptable levels with a seven day old platelet concentrate. Platelet concentrates may now be stored for no more than five days.
Blood bags used for platelet concentrate preparation are in themselves sterile, as are the connected satellite bags. One might believe, therefore, that it is a relatively simple matter to keep the blood preparation sterile during the manipulations needed to concentrate the platelets. However, bacteria can be introduced by at least two different means. First, if the donor is experiencing a mild bacteremia, the blood will be contaminated, regardless of the collection or storage method. Adequate donor histories and physicals will decrease but not eliminate this problem. See B. J. Grossman et al., Transfusion 31:500 (1991). A second, more pervasive source of contamination is the venepuncture. Even when "sterile" methods of skin preparation are employed, it is extremely difficult to sterilize the crypts around the sweat glands and hair follicles. During venepuncture, this contaminated skin is often cut out in a small "core" by a sharp needle. This core can serve to "seed" the blood bag with bacteria that may grow and become a risk to the recipient.
Indeed, many patients requiring platelet transfusions lack host-defense mechanisms for normal clearing and destruction of bacteria because of either chemotherapy or basic hematological disease. The growth of even seemingly innocuous organisms in stored platelets can, upon transfusion, result in recipient reaction and death. See e.g. B. A. Myhre JAMA 244:1333 (1980). J. M. Heal et al. Transfusion 27:2 (1987).
The reports assessing the extent of contamination in platelets have differed in their methods, sample size, and bacterial detection schemes. D. H. Buchholz, et al., Transfusion 13:268 (1973) reported an overall level of platelet contamination of 2.4% when a large (>1000 bags) sample was examined and extensive measures were taken for bacterial culturing. While some units were heavily contaminated after just 24 hours of storage, the incidence as a whole varied according to the age of the concentrate and increased with the widespread practice of pooling individual units; over 30% of pools were contaminated at 3 days. See also D. H. Buccholz, et al., New Eng. J. Med. 285:429 (1971). While other clinicians suggest lower numbers, recent studies indicate that septic platelet transfusions are significantly underreported. See e.g. J. F. Morrow et al. JAMA 266:555 (1991).
Pre-culturing platelets is not a solution to the bacterial contamination problem. The culture assay takes 48 hours to detect growth. Holding platelet units for an additional two days to await the results of the assay would create, ironically, a smaller margin of safety. See Table 2 in J. F. Morrow et al. JAMA 266:555 (1991). While heavily contaminated units would be detected at the outset, lightly contaminated units would be allowed to grow for two days. Older and potentially more contaminated units would end up being transfused.
Washing the blood cells (e.g. with saline) or filtering the bacteria are also not practical solutions. These techniques are time consuming and inefficient, as they can reduce the number of viable blood cells available for transfusion. Most importantly, they typically involve an "entry" into the storage system. Once an entry is made in a previously closed system, the system is considered "opened," and transfusion must occur quickly, regardless of the manner in which the blood was collected and processed in the first place.
Nor are antibiotics a reasonable solution. Contamination occurs from a wide spectrum of organisms. Antibiotics would be needed to cover this spectrum. Many recipients are allergic to antibiotics. In addition, there is an every increasing array of drug-resistant strains of bacteria that would not be inactivated.
There has been interest recently in inactivation of pathogens in blood using photoreactive compounds, such as psoralens. Psoralens are tricyclic compounds formed by the linear fusion of a furan ring with a coumarin. Psoralens can intercalate between the base pairs of double-stranded nucleic acids, forming covalent adducts to pyrimidine bases upon absorption of long wave ultraviolet light (UVA). G. D. Cimino et al., Ann. Rev. Biochem. 54:1151 (1985). Hearst et al., Quart. Rev. Biophys. 17:1 (1984). If there is a second pyrimidine adjacent to a psoralen-pyrimidine monoadduct and on the opposite strand, absorption of a second photon can lead to formation of a diadduct which functions as an interstrand crosslink. S. T. Isaacs et al., Biochemistry 16:1058 (1977). S. T. Isaacs et al., Trends in Photobiology (Plenum) pp. 279-294 (1982). J. Tessman et al., Biochem. 24:1669 (1985). Hearst et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,124,589, 4,169,204, and 4,196,281, hereby incorporated by reference.
Psoralens have been shown to inactivate viruses in some blood products. See H. J. Alter et al., The Lancet (ii:1446) (1988). L. Lin et al., Blood 74:517 (1989). G. P. Wiesehahn et al., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,727,027 and 4,748,120, hereby incorporated by reference, describe the use of a combination of 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) and irradiation. They show that 300 ug/ml of 8-MOP together with one hour or more of irradiation with ultraviolet light can effectively inactivate viruses. However, these treatment conditions cause harm to the blood product because of energy transfer. Their approach is only feasible if the damage to cells is specifically suppressed by limiting the concentration of molecular oxygen, a difficult and expensive process.
Isopsoralens, like psoralens, are tricyclic compounds formed by the fusion of a furan ring with a coumarin. See Baccichetti et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,883. F. Bordin et al., Experientia 35:1567 (1979). F. Dall'Acqua et al., Medeline Biologie Envir. 9:303 (1981). S. Caffieri et al., Medecine Biologie Envir. 11:386 (1983). F. Dall'Acqua et al., Photochem Photobio. 37:373 (1983). G. Guiotto et al., Eur. J. Med. Chem-Chim. Ther. 16:489 (1981). F. Dall'Acqua et al., J. Med. Chem. 24:178 (1984). Unlike psoralens, the rings of isopsoralen are not linearly annulated. While able to intercalate between the base pairs of double-stranded nucleic acids and form covalent adducts to nucleic acid bases upon absorption of longwave ultraviolet light, isopsoralens, due to their angular geometry, normally cannot form crosslinks with DNA. See generally, G. D. Cimino et al., Ann. Rev. Biochem. 54:1151 (1985).
There are devices presently employed which emit ultraviolet radiation for activating psoralens and other photoactivated compounds. U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,020, to Hearst, et al., discloses such a device for photoactivating psoralens. However, the disclosed device is structured for the irradiation of samples in tube like vessels. It does not disclose a device for use on blood bags. Further, although the patent discloses a cooling system for the irradiated samples, this system would not work for blood bags because it depends on the circulation of fluid around the sample vessels.
Other devices are not appropriate for activating psoralens, but can be used for other purposes with blood bags. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,726,949 and 4,866,282, to Miripol, disclose such an irradiation device for use in preventing alloimmunization. This device is not practical for use in laboratories which will process large quantities of blood for sterilization. The device only supports one blood container, which would bottleneck the processing of blood. (See FIG. 1, ref. no. 10, of either Miripol patent). Further, it provides radiation of wavelength from 280 to 320 nanometers, including the 313 band, (see claim 1 of the '282 patent) at which nucleic acids absorb radiation and could be damaged. The UVB range can also destroy platelet function. The Miripol patents state that UV-A range sources "do not provide good reduction of the lymphocyte alloimmunization effect." Column 2, line 61-64, of '949. Finally, the Miripol patents disclose the use of only one means for cooling the system during irradiation, an exhaust fan. The goal in those patents is to maintain the heat at 31 degrees C. or less. Column 3, line 44-46. However, platelets are currently stored at 22-24 degrees C. G. Stack and L. Snyder, "Storage of Platelet Concentrate," Blood Separation and Platelet Fractionation, pp. 9-125 (1991 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)
Last, there are devices disclosed which would neither be appropriate for activating psoralens nor for other uses on blood products. U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,987, to Herold, discloses an apparatus for irradiating dental objects which employs radiation in the spectral range of 400 to 500 nm, for bleaching treatment of dental parts. The device is fitted with a selective reflector which reflects from the total radiation emitted by the lamp only the spectral portion lying in the desired spectral range (approximately 400 to 500 nm) while transmitting or passing the portion of the radiation lying outside this desired spectral range. The device also has a temperature control system, employing the combination of a blower with an absorption filter which, like the reflector, removes radiation outside of the desired spectral range. This apparatus is not suited for the present purpose of a photodecontamination treatment, because it is designed for use with wavelengths of light which are damaging to some blood components, while it removes wavelengths necessary to activate certain photoreactive compounds. Further, it is not equipped with a temperature maintaining system which would keep the temperature of blood samples low enough to prevent damage.
In sum, there is a need for a means of inactivating bacteria in blood components prior to storage and transfusion in a way that lends itself to use in a closed system, such as a system of blood bags. This approach must be able to handle a high volume of blood and a variety of organisms while efficiently controlling the temperature and avoiding harm to the blood product or the transfusion recipient.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.