An anti-stick coating that inhibits the adhesion of contaminants that form deposits on the internal cooling passages of gas turbine engine components. The anti-stick coating is formed as an outer coating of the internal cooling passages, and preferably overlies an environmental coating such as a diffusion aluminide coating formed on the passage surfaces. The outer coating has a thickness of not greater than three micrometers, and is resistant to adhesion by dirt contaminants as a result of comprising at least one layer of tantala, titania, hafnia, niobium oxide, yttria, silica and/or alumina. The outer coating is preferably deposited directly on the environmental coating by chemical vapor deposition.

Not applicable.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to protective coatings for components exposed to high temperatures within a chemically and thermally hostile environment. More particularly, this invention is directed to an anti-stick coating for the internal passages of gas turbine engine components, so as to inhibit the build up within the passages of deposits of adherent contaminants typically entrained in the inlet air of a gas turbine engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
The operating environment within a gas turbine engine is well known to be both thermally and chemically hostile. Nonetheless, higher operating temperatures for gas turbine engines are continuously sought in order to increase their efficiency. However, as operating temperatures increase, the high temperature durability of the components within the hot gas path of the engine must correspondingly increase. Significant advances in high temperature capabilities have been achieved through the formulation of nickel and cobalt-base superalloys. Nonetheless, when used to form components of the turbine, combustor and augmentor sections of a gas turbine engine, superalloys are often susceptible to damage by oxidation and hot corrosion attack and may not retain adequate mechanical properties.
A common solution is to protect the surfaces of such components with an environmental coating, i.e., a coating that is resistant to oxidation and hot corrosion. Coatings that have found wide use for this purpose include diffusion aluminide coatings and overlay coatings such as MCrAlX, where M is nickel, cobalt and/or iron and X is yttrium and/or another rare earth element. During high temperature exposure in air, these coatings form a protective aluminum oxide (alumina) scale that inhibits oxidation of the coating and the underlying substrate. Diffusion aluminide coatings are particularly useful for providing environmental protection to components equipped with internal cooling passages, such as high pressure turbine blades, because aluminides are able to provide environmental protection without significantly reducing the cross-sections of the cooling passages. However, with more advanced cooling designs having complex serpentine passages, certain surfaces may have diminished protection as a result of a very thin aluminide coating.
Hot corrosion of gas turbine engine components generally occurs when sulfur and sodium react during combustion to form sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), which condenses on and subsequently attacks the external component surfaces. Alkali sulfate contaminants also tend to deposit from the inlet air and cause corrosion of the internal cooling surfaces of air-cooled components. Sources of sulfur and sodium for hot corrosion reactions include impurities in the fuel being combusted as well as the intake of alkali laden dust and/or ingestion of sea salt. In the latter situation, hot corrosion typically occurs on hot section turbine blades and vanes under conditions where salt deposits on the component surface as a solid or liquid. The salt deposits can break down the protective alumina scale on a diffusion aluminide coating, resulting in rapid attack of the coating and the underlying superalloy substrate. Hot corrosion produces a loosely adherent external scale with various internal oxides and sulfides penetrating below the external scale. These products are generally sulfur and sodium compounds with elements present in the alloy and possibly other elements from the environment, such as calcium, magnesium, chlorine, etc. As such, hot corrosion products are distinguishable from oxides that normally form or are deposited on gas turbine engine components as a result of the oxidizing environment to which they are exposed.
The internal cooling passages of high pressure turbine components such as blades and vanes have been observed to be particularly susceptible to a build up of contaminants such as silica and alkaline metal-containing compounds, which tend to firmly adhere to the passage walls. The thickness of a layer of these accumulated contaminants can at times be in excess of 0.004 inch (about 0.1 millimeter), which not only reduces cooling flow but is also sufficiently thick to thermally insulate the walls of the cooling passages and reduce the effective height of any turbulence promoters within the passages. As a result, an air-cooled component may experience higher operating temperatures that can significantly reduce its service life. Finally, alkaline metal-containing compounds have been shown to promote hot corrosion attack of cooling passage surfaces during exposures to elevated temperatures.
In view of the above, the surfaces of gas turbine engine components are typically cleaned and, if necessary, their environmental coatings replaced or rejuvenated during engine overhaul and repair. During cleaning, any dirt or other foreign matter that has accumulated in the internal cooling passages of a component is also removed in order to restore cooling flow to an acceptable level and thereby promote the service life of the component. Though coating rejuvenation of gas turbine engine components is becoming more widely practiced, it is very difficult to clean and rejuvenate their internal cooling passages. Removal of contaminants of the type noted above is further complicated if the component has a complex cooling scheme. As a result, a gradual buildup of these contaminants often occurs, with the undesirable effect of reducing cooling efficiency, increasing component operating temperatures, and promoting hot corrosion attack. Vibratory tumbling techniques employed to clean gas turbine engine components have been successful at removing dirt from the external surfaces of gas turbine components, but with little affect on dirt, silica and calcium compounds adhered to the internal cooling passage surfaces of components. Removal of internal dirt and contamination by chemical treatments can be effective but may be impractical for field servicing, and may be aggressive toward the protective diffusion aluminide coating on the cooling passage walls.
From the above, it can be appreciated that the buildup of dirt and contaminants on the internal cooling surfaces of gas turbine engine components is detrimental to the service lives of such components, yet their removal can considerably complicate the cleaning and refurbishing of these components.
The present invention generally provides an anti-stick coating that inhibits the adhesion of contaminants and dirt entrained in the inlet air of a gas turbine engine. More particularly, the anti-stick coating is formed as an outer coating of the internal cooling passages of a gas turbine engine component. The outer coating preferably overlies an environmental coating such as a diffusion aluminide coating formed on the passage surfaces. The outer coating has a thickness of not greater than three micrometers, and is resistant to adhesion by dirt contaminants as a result of comprising at least one layer of tantala (Ta2O5), titania (TiO2), hafnia (HfO2), niobium oxide (Nb2O5), yttria (Y2O3), silica (SiO2) and/or alumina (Al2O3). Because of the internal surfaces being coated, the outer coating is preferably deposited on the environmental coating by a non-line-of-sight deposition process such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
Accordance to the invention, the no-stick outer coating significantly inhibits the adhesion of dirt and other contaminants on the walls of internal cooling passages, to the extent that a buildup of such contaminants does not occur or can be more easily removed during cleaning and refurbishment of the component. As a result, the outer coating of this invention is able to maintain an acceptable level of cooling efficiency for the component, thereby minimizing its operating temperatures, as well as inhibits hot corrosion attack during exposures to elevated temperatures. In addition, the outer coating achieves these benefits while eliminating or at least reducing the amount of vibratory tumbling or chemical treatment necessary to remove dirt from the internal surfaces of a component, thereby minimizing potential damage to the protective diffusion aluminide coating by such treatments.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be better appreciated from the following detailed description.

Anti-stick coating for internal passages of turbine components


A water distillation system (10) includes a boiling chamber (11) and a condensation chamber (12). Water is fed via an inlet pipe (13) to a degassing chamber (15) where volatile gases are removed from the water. The water is evaporated in the boiling chamber (11) and vapour is, in turn, condensed in the condensing chamber (12). Distilled water is collected in a water storage tank (30) and is used, with a pump (28) and entrainment device (27), to provide a substantial vacuum within the system (10).

There are a variety of methods of purifying water, one of these methods being distillation. One method of distilling water includes vaporising the liquid water under a vacuum and then condensing the water vapour, once again under vacuum so that the liquid water which has been condensed does not include any impurities.


Thermoplastic segmented copolyester elastomer consisting essentially of a multiplicity of recurring short chain ester units and long chain ester units joined through ester linkages, said short chain ester units amounting to 15 to 75 percent by weight of said copolyester and being derived from dicarboxylic acid such as an aromatic acid, e.g., terephthalic acid or a mixture of terephthalic acid and isophthalic acid, and an organic diol such as butanediol, and said long chain ester units amounting to 25 to 85 percent by weight of said copolyester and being derived from dicarboxylic acid such as an aromatic acid, e.g., terephthalic acid, or a mixture of terephthalic and isophthalic acids, and a long chain glycol such as polytetramethylene ether glycol, said copolyester having a melt index of less than 150 and a melting point of at least 90.degree. C., modified with 0.75 to 20 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of elastomer, of a multi-functional carboxylic compound taken from the group consisting of aromatic and aliphatic anhydrides having at least two anhydride groups. The modified elastomer possesses improved adhesion particularly at high temperatures and under high applied stress. A useful adhesive composition comprises (A) 1 to 99 percent by weight of the segmented copolyester elastomer, and (B) 99 to 1 percent by weight of a compatible low molecular weight thermoplastic resin. The adhesive composition can contain stabilizers as well as other ingredients.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to modified thermoplastic, segmented copolyester elastomers having improved adhesion properties, to blends of such modified elastomers with one or more compatible low molecular weight thermoplastic resins and to a method for preparing such blends.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Segmented copolyester elastomers and thermoplastic compositions containing such elastomers and low molecular weight thermoplastic resins are known.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,832,314 there are disclosed thermoplastic compositions containing (A) 1 to 99 percent by weight of thermoplastic segmented copolyester elastomer consisting essentially of a multiplicity of recurring short chain ester units and long chain ester units joined through ester linkages, said short chain ester units amounting to 15 to 75 percent by weight of said copolyester and being of the formula ##STR1## and said long chain ester units amounting to 25 to 85 percent by weight of said copolyester and being of the formula ##STR2## wherein R is the divalent aromatic radical remaining after removal of the carboxyl groups from aromatic dicarboxylic acid having a molecular weight of less than 350, D is the divalent radical remaining after removal of the hydroxyl groups from organic diol having a molecular weight of less than 250, and G is the divalent radical remaining after removal of the terminal hydroxyl groups from long chain glycol having an average molecular weight of 350 to 6000, said copolyester having a melt index of less than 150 and a melting point of at least 125.degree. C. (DTA), and (B) 1 to 99 percent by weight of low molecular weight thermoplastic resin which forms compatible mixtures with the segmented copolyester, is thermally stable at 150.degree. C., and has a melt viscosity of less than 10,000 centipoises at 200.degree. C. Belgain Pat. No. 811,307 teaches soft thermoplastic segmented copolyester elastomer consisting essentially of a multiplicity of recurring short chain ester units and long chain ester units joined through ester linkages, said short chain ester units amounting to 15 to 50 percent by weight of said copolyester and being of the formula ##STR3## and said long chain ester units amounting to 50 to 85 percent by weight of said copolyester and being of the formula ##STR4## wherein R is the divalent aromatic radical remaining after removal of the carboxyl groups from aromatic dicarboxylic acid having a molecular weight of less than 350, said aromatic dicarboxylic acid being 55 to 95 percent by weight terephthalic acid, D is the divalent radical remaining after removel of the hydroxyl groups from butanediol, and G is the divalent radical remaining after removal of the terminal hydroxyl groups from polytetramethylene ether glycol having an average molecular weight of 1500 to 3500, said copolyester having a melt index of less than 30 and a melting point of 90.degree. to 160.degree. C. (TMA).
The compositions of U.S. Pat. No. 3,832,314 have good bond strength as hot melt adhesives and the compositions of Belgian Pat. No. 811,307 are particularly useful as pressure sensitive adhesives. In order to provide good adhesive properties, the viscosity of the adhesive blend must be maintained at a relatively constant level. It has been found that at elevated temperatures, particularly in the range of 170.degree. to 200.degree. C., over a period of several hours the aforementioned adhesive compositions lose viscosity and hence their bonding properties are reduced.
In copending application Ser. No. 370,543, filed June 15, 1973, now abandoned, Eastman teaches that the aforementioned segmented copolyester elastomers can contain a stabilizer mixture, 1.75 to 15.0 percent by weight, based on the weight of elastomer, comprising (a) 0.25 to 2.5 percent by weight of a substantially linear polycarbodiimide having an average of at least two carbodiimide groups per molecule, and at least one compound of (b) 0.5 to 2.5 percent by weight of a hindered phenol, nitrogen-containing hindered phenol or secondary aromatic amine, (c) 0.5 to 5.0 percent by weight of phosphorous acid esters and (d) 0.5 to 5.0 percent by weight of an amino acrylate, a homopolymer thereof, or a random copolymer of ethylene and 20 to 40 percent by weight of amino acrylate compound, each of compounds (b), (c) and (d) being compatible with each other and with (a). Such stabilized elastomer compositions do not suffer appreciable loss in viscosity and have good pot life when heated to 170.degree. to 200.degree. C. for extended periods of time within the period of 12 to 24 hours.
Caldwell U.S. Pat. No. 3,459,584 teaches that tetracarboxylic acid dianhydrides, preferably pyromellitic acid dianhydride, can be reacted with certain low molecular weight hydroxyl-terminated polyesters to provide a prime coating composition. The polyesters are reacted with stoichiometric amounts of acid dianhydride. The polyester-dianhydride adducts contain about 1.2 to 15 weight percent free carboxyl groups and have a molecular weight of 400 to 8000. A related Caldwell U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,339 teaches that the reaction product of the tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride and low molecular weight polyester can be blended with particular polymers to provide, as disclosed, compositions with an improved degree of adhesion.

Adhesion promoted block copolyester composition with multi-functional carboxylic compound


Live water solutions containing natural fresh water or saltwater microorganisms, is used in the bio-cycling of aquariums and to provide a healthy aquatic environment. Live water obtained from natural bodies of water, such as an ocean, sea, lake, river, or stream is filtered through filter media having a pore size between 5 and 20 microns to remove contaminants and debris while allowing microorganisms to remain in suspension. The live water is packaged in containers for retail sale thereby providing consumers with a source of live aquarium water for use in an aquarium during initial set-up, to replace water lost to evaporation, and for effecting quick water changes. An enrichment solution is disclosed to aid in maintaining the microorganisms metabolically and physiologically viable for extended periods. In an alternate embodiment, the live water is concentrated to a salinity level not less than 0.8 aw thereby reducing volume while maintaining microorganism viability. Rapid biochemical cycling of an aquarium is achieved by introducing the live water into an aquarium whereby marine microorganisms instantly contribute to establishing a healthy aquatic environment by reducing harmful ammonia levels and through denitrification.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the biochemical cycling of freshwater and saltwater marine aquariums, and, more particularly to a method of rapid biochemical cycling of aquariums using live ocean water, live fresh water, or concentrates thereof to enhance the nitrogen cycle in order to rapidly denitrify the aquatic environment and to establish biochemical conditions that are favorable to the survival and viability of fish, crustaceans, invertebrates, and other aquatic life.
2. Description of Related Art
Aquariums have experienced a boom in popularity in recent years. Many saltwater and freshwater aquariums include a diverse mix of tropical fish, live coral formations, and other exotic marine life. Aquatic life is directly affected by the chemical, biological, and physical characteristics of their environment. A number of environmental factors are critical to maintaining the delicate balance required for a healthy aquarium environment. Water temperature, pH level, lighting conditions, and complex chemical balances must constantly be maintained and monitored. The introduction of waste from fish and other marine life in an aquarium causes a series of chemical changes often resulting in chemical imbalances that are not conducive to aquatic life. It is therefore crucial to maintain a high level of water quality to provide a healthy aquatic environment.
The initial set up of a marine aquarium typically requires a "conditioning period" that can take up to six (6) weeks depending upon the aquarium conditions and temperature. During the conditioning period the chemical composition of the water undergoes a series of changes and waste products can quickly build-up to levels that are toxic to aquarium life. The introduction of fish, plants, and food into an aquarium begins a natural process often referred to a "biochemical cycling".
A significant change in the chemical composition of the water involves the accumulation of ammonia. The process begins when fish and invertebrates excrete waste. The excreted waste, and decaying food and organic compounds, increases the amount of ammonia present in the water. Harmful ammonia and nitrite are constantly converted into less harmful nitrates, which in turn is used by plants and algae for food. Aquariums are full of both autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria that attach, grow, and form biofilm colonies wherein the bacteria convert toxic nitrogeneous compounds and ammonia into harmless products. Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas are examples of autotrophic bacteria that use oxygen to oxidize ammonia (NH4) to nitrite (NO2) and Nitrate (NO3).
Ammonia is a toxic waste product which, if unchecked, can accumulate and cause injury or death to aquarium inhabitants. In fact, the presence of ammonia in aquarium water is the main cause of death in aquarium fish. The primary sources of ammonia are decaying organic material (such as uneaten food) and waste excreted by fish, other animals and organisms. An ammonia level as low as 0.5 parts-per-million (PPM) creates stress in fish and compromises the natural immune systems of fish and other aquarium inhabitants. An ammonia level of 2 PPM has been found to cause the natural immune system of the fish and other aquarium inhabitants to fail or otherwise cease functioning. Accordingly, maintaining ammonia levels is critical to the health of the aquarium habitat.
The accumulation of ammonia is often caused by the lack of sufficient numbers of Nitrosomonas. Nitrosomonas is a genus of bacteria in aquaria that oxidize ammonia thereby regulating the ammonia level. Nitrosomonas, and other ammonia oxidizing bacteria, are found in natural abundance in natural ocean water and fresh water, in marine materials, such as sand, aragonite, and crushed coral, harvested from the ocean floor. Nature provides many types of bacteria that, in the presence of oxygen, carry out the oxidation of ammonia to nitrites and eventually to nitrates in a process known as nitrification. It has been found that such bacteria settle on marine materials, such as aragonite (reef sand), and eventually form a biofilm. Marine nitrifying bacteria in the biofilm oxidize ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate. Accordingly, these natural marine materials provide a natural source of ammonia oxidizing bacteria for use in maintaining ammonia levels in aquarium environments. Nitrate not utilized by plants is removed by other bacteria in the absence of oxygen (the anaerobic environment found in the lower levels of the sediment) in a process called denitrification.
While marine nitrifying bacteria are found in abundance in natural materials, such as aragonite harvested from the ocean floor, it has been found that there are generally three conditions that are required to maintain the nitrification process. These conditions are: (1) a surface upon which bacteria can attach, grow, and form a biofilm; (2) ammonia to start the process; and (3) an aerobic environment. The absence of any of the above-referenced conditions will either prevent or delay the nitrification process.
The initial set-up of aquariums presents unique biochemical circumstances that must be addressed in order to produce and maintain a healthy environment for marine life. The initial cycling of organic compounds in an aquarium started with dry sand or gravel often takes a period of several weeks during which an ammonia source (often only one or two small fish). provides an environment wherein beneficial bacteria to establish and begin to flourish eventually forming a biofilm. It has been found that the long initial cycling period realized when starting an aquarium with dry sand or gravel results from the time required for bacteria to attach, grow and form a biofilm on the previously dry, and organically inactive, sand and gravel. It has been shown that the initial cycling period can be substantially reduced by the introduction of natural marine bacteria. There are various sources of marine bacteria, including bacteria present in natural seawater, and bacteria-rich "wet" sand and gravel that has been recently harvested from the ocean and thus contains an abundance of bacterial biofilm. Marine sand and gravel harvested from the ocean or riverbeds contain both autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria in their natural state (i.e. established biofilms on the sand particles), each of which facilitate the rapid cycling of an aquarium.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a method of harvesting and packaging marine materials, such as live ocean water, live fresh water, and substrate material such as aragonite reef sand, gravel, crushed coral and the like, such that the bacteria remain metabolically and physiologically active for extended periods of time in excess of twelve (12) months in retail packaging at room temperature. There further exists a need for a method of introducing a harvested and packaged natural granular marine substrate material into an aquarium such that the biochemical cycling process performs rapidly, and the aquatic life is stabilized and maintained naturally.
It has proven difficult, however, to maintain ammonia oxidizing bacteria and other useful bacteria in a biologically active state during the extended period beginning with the harvesting of the material and ending with the purchase by a consumer and delivery into an aquarium; a time period often reaching up to six (6) months or more. The difficulty is increased where the harvested materials must be stored for extended periods in retail packaging at room temperatures. It has also proven difficult to provide a rapid biochemical cycling method containing an abundance of marine bacterial biofilm that closely resembles the natural ocean process in a miniature ecosystem such as an aquarium.
The background art reveals several references directed to preserving bacteria and the like, but none of the references adequately address the problems encountered in maintaining ammonia oxidizing bacteria in a bio-actively viable bio-film for extended periods. The background art also reveals several references directed to the biochemical cycling process involving artificial and external filtration methods, however, none adequately address the problems encountered when attempting to easily and effectively introduce natural granular substrate material into an aquarium, whereby rapid bio-cycling occurs, promoting a healthy and stable environment for aquatic life.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,707, issued to Bock, discloses a complex laboratory process for producing an aqueous suspension of nitrifying bacteria using a growth medium containing ammonia or nitrite, in which the bacteria remain metabolically and physiologically active even after a storage period of one year or more at 30° C. (i.e. approximately room temperature). According to Bock, air, pure oxygen, or a mixture of air and pure oxygen is passed through a gas permeable non-porous tube submerged in a suitable culture medium. As a result of positive aerotaxis, nitrifying bacteria adhere on the tube surface, forming a biofilm of extracellular polymers. The bacteria are grown in the dark at a constant temperature of 30° C. When a stationary growth phase has been reached the oxygen supply is stopped.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,301, issued to Bryan-Jones, a method whereby microorganisms are stored for long periods of time in storage mediums containing a high concentration of nutrients and growth inhibiting substances to maintain the microorganisms, such as bacteria, in the stationary phase of their growth cycle. The concentrated medium disclosed by Bryan-Jones contains an excess of essential nutrients while the microorganisms are in the "death phase." When the concentrated medium is diluted to below the concentration that inhibits microorganism growth, the microorganisms will start to increase in number and grow. The claims of the Bryan-Jones reference are limited to bacteria selected from the group comprising Lactobacillus plantarum and Bacillus subtilus. E.g. claim 1. In addition, the '301 patent claims a bacterial culture kit having bacteria in a growth medium comprising from 10% to about 30% solids which function to delay the onset of the normal "death phase". The solids are disclosed as waste products from a food manufacturing process or an alcohol fermentation process. See, e.g. Column 2, lines 46-58. Bryan-Jones discloses a storage medium consisting of wheat spent wash syrup and acetate/acetic acid buffer and sucrose. Bryan-Jones claims that an advantage of such a kit is that a sufficient number of the microorganisms will remain viable when the kit is sold to a consumer such that the microorganisms will start to increase in number and grow after purchase.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,542, issued to Cassidy et al., discloses a culture of Nitrosomonas packaged in a manner to induce a metabolic state of dormancy under conditions favorable for survival of up to at least one year at room temperature. Upon obtaining culturing media with the maximum obtainable cell concentration, the media is concentrated to approximately one twenty-fifth ( 1/25) of its volume by centrifugation or filtration. See Col. 3, lines 5-9. The concentrate is re-suspended in sterile water of "suitable salinity" and packaged in sterile opaque containers wherein Cassidy et al. claim that the cells will remain viable for at least one year. According to Cassidy et al., the majority of the re-suspended cells packaged in this manner enter a metabolic state of inactivity (i.e. dormancy). The disclosure further states that the preserved cells can at any time be returned to their metabolically active state by adding ammonium chloride (or other suitable salt) to the opaque container to bring the ammonia concentration to about 200 ppm. There is also disclosed a method for rapid reactivation to complete metabolic activity within about 72 hours and subsequent addition into aquaria to begin oxidation and prevention of harmful ammonia accumulation in aquaria.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,774, issued to Jin et al., discloses stabilized bacteria that can survive long term storage at high temperatures. According to the method disclosed by Jin et al., bacteria are dried until they reach a dormant state. Suitable methods include air-drying, vacuum drying etc. See, Col. 2, lines 1-3. Next Oxygen is then removed from the environment surrounding the bacteria to prevent oxidative damage to the dormant cells. The bacteria is then packaged and stored in material impermeable to gas and water vapor, whereby Jin claims the bacteria will remain stable and efficacious for at least a year.
Several patents have been issued in reference to biochemical cycling and filtration methods. U.S. Pat. No. 3,957,634, issued to Orensten, et al., discloses a filtration means and method for aquarium systems in which water in the tank is purified in a biological/mechanical external filtration device. The biological portion of the filtering process contains nitrifying bacteria to assist in keeping the ammonia concentration in the aquarium system at a safe, nontoxic level.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,914, issued to Englert, discloses an undergravel filtration system for an aquarium that assists in the removal of toxic waste products in the tank by creating and maintaining colonies of aquatic anaerobic bacteria.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,679,253, issued to Fuerst, et al., discloses a rotating biological aquarium filter system that fosters the growth of aerobic bacteria on the surface of the filter body, reducing the level of toxins within the aquarium water.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,921, issued to Gargas, et al., discloses a fluidized bed aquarium filtration method for removing chemical and physical waste from an aquarium. The fluidized bed can include particles, such as sand, for removing ammonia from the water.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 6,376,229, methods and compositions are disclosed for use in rapid bio-cycling of aquaria. We disclose the harvesting, and packaging of natural marine bacterial biofilm associated with marine sediments (e.g. live sand, live aragonite, etc.), packaging methods and compositions for preserving metabolic and physiological activity, and use of marine sediments to rapid cycle marine aquariums.
The background art, however, fails to teach or suggest the use of "live" ocean water or live fresh water to jump start or enhance the nitrogen cycle and rapid bio-cycling of aquaria. More particularly, ocean water and fresh water each contain microscopic organisms, such as Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas autotrophic bacteria that use oxygen to oxidize ammonia (NH4) to nitrite (NO2) and Nitrate (NO3).
Accordingly, there exists a need for a method of rapid cycling an aquarium using preserved ammonia-oxidizing bacteria available to consumers via retail sale and use in connection with saltwater and fresh water aquaria. Furthermore, the background art fails to disclose a biochemical cycling method that includes the use of naturally occurring bacteria present in water (i.e. live water) obtained directly from a body of water, such as the ocean, lake, river, or stream.

Live water compositions for bio-cycling of aquariums


A power source apparatus and a system incorporating said power source for medical capsules are disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention allow the medical capsule to enable/disable electrical power supplied to a sub-system in the capsule device without special tools and/or skills after the medical capsule is manufactured. In one embodiment, the power source apparatus comprises a plunger responsive to a magnetic field, a spring to interact with the plunger, a battery and a control piece. The plunger is moved between first and second positions according to a magnetic field applied externally. Accordingly, the control piece enables or disables the power depending on the plunger positions. In another embodiment, a capsule system uses an electrical interconnect with pressure contacts between the power source and the capsule sub-system connecting the second circuit board to the power-output nodes.

Various types of medical capsules have been widely used in the field, where the medical capsules are ingested into a human body for in vivo monitoring or examining purposes. For example, a medical capsule can be used to monitor the pH value of the gastrointestinal tract or temperature of different human organs. A medical capsule may also be used to deliver medicines to desired spots inside the human body or to collect samples, such as body fluids, inside a human body. Usually, the medical capsule includes a power source, such as batteries, so that the capsule can monitor/measure data, dispense medicine, or collect samples inside the human body without the need of external power. The power source along and other components of the medical capsule are enclosed inside a smooth housing adapted for easy swallowing. The power source and other components of the medical capsule are sealed in a housing. It is not easy to access the power source and other components of the medical capsule, after the medical capsule is manufactured, to enable or disable the power without special tools and/or skills. Furthermore, the medical capsule may not be administered soon after it is manufactured. Also, the medical capsule may have to be operational for extended hours during the course of travelling through the human tract; the power source is preferred to be disabled until right before it is administered into the human body. In other words, the power source to the medical capsule is enabled when the capsule is ready for administering into a patient's body. It is desirable to develop power-efficient, reliable and compact apparatus of power source control for medical capsules. The housing for the medical capsule may be fully sealed or watertight so that there is no direct access to any components inside the housing. Therefore, the power source has to be operated without opening the housing.

Power source control for medical capsules


A bolt and screw repairing tool comprises mainly a main body, a rotating cutting and pressing body, and a positioning cutting and pressing body. The main body comprises a handle, a protruded portion, and a recessed portion. The protruded portion is provided with a through hole and a threaded hole in communication with the through hole. The threaded hole receives a thumbscrew. The protruded portion further comprises a slot. The recessed portion is provided with a receiving hole. The rotating cutting and pressing body comprises a clamping head having a cutting and pressing plate with a triangular edge attached thereto. The rotating cutting and pressing body is received securely in the receiving hole of the recessed portion of main body by means of a shaft which can be rotated to the left and to the right for an angle of 15 degrees respectively. The positioning cutting and pressing body comprises a vertical cutting and pressing plate fastened to a long threaded rod emerging from other side of main body by passing through the through hole and engaging with adjusting wheel. The cutting and pressing bodies are used to clamp the damaged work piece (bolt) for repairing by rotating the main body to move along the paths of threaded portion of the work piece (bolt).

Bolts and screws are vulnerable to damage after a prolonged usage or under a rough usage. This is often the case with the threaded portions of bolts and screws. Of course, the damaged bolts and screws can be easily replaced with the new ones which are often readily available. However, if the damaged bolts and screws happen to be the ones with specific sizes, the replacement thereof is often a problem causing the stoppage of work in the shop. Such problem can not be easily solved, because the order of new bolts and screws may take time to fill.
The inventor of the present invention has been troubled for a long time by the problem described above and has incurred a substantial material loss as a result. This inventor was therefore determined to come out with an effective solution to the problem. After having done a series of research and testing for years, this inventor has finally and successfully invented a perfect tool for repairing bolts and screws.


A method for driving a pixel circuit is disclosed. The method includes: a time for displaying a frame including N initialization phases and N data signal voltage writing phases before a light-emitting phase. The ith of the N data signal voltage writing phases is after the ith of the N initialization phases and before the (i+1)th of the N initialization phases, and the Nth data signal voltage writing phase is after the Nth initialization phase, 1≤i≤N−1, i is an integer and N is an integer greater than 1. In the initialization phase, an initialization voltage is applied to the gate electrode of the driving transistor by the initialization module. In the data signal voltage writing phase, a data signal voltage is applied to the gate electrode of the driving transistor by the data signal voltage writing module.

Compared with liquid crystal displays, organic light-emitting displays (OLED) have advantages such as low production cost, low energy consumption, self-luminescence, wide viewing angle and fast response, and are currently widely used in the display fields such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants and digital cameras. An organic light-emitting display panel is provided with a plurality of pixel circuits.
The pixel circuit generally includes a driving transistor, one or more switching transistors, and a storage capacitor. A driving current generated by the driving transistor drives an organic light emitting element to emit light for displaying an image. When pixels display a large number of frames of black image, the driving transistor is turned off for a long time. In this case, a gate electrode of the driving transistor is at a high electric potential, so a positive bias voltage is applied to the driving transistor for a long time, and a threshold voltage drifts. After switching to a white image, since the threshold voltage of the driving transistor cannot be recovered in time, that is, a hysteresis effect of the driving transistor, the display brightness of the first frame of white image is low and the display effect is poor.

SHANGHAI TIANMA MICRO-ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


An effective receiver is achieved for situations where the receiver is mobile, and may be traveling at relatively high speed, and where the receiver's internal demodulation oscillator causes a frequency offset, with processing that shares a common algorithm for both frequency offset and channel characteristics estimations. Specifically, the commonly employed algorithm, such as the LMS algorithm, computes an estimate of the frequency offset, and that very same algorithm is also used to estimate the channel characteristics. When the LMS algorithm is used, a frequency offset estimate can be derived from signals derived in the course of executing the LMS algorithm. A frequency compensation factor is then developed and applied to the incoming signal to create a signal that that not have an appreciable frequency offset. That signal is then applied to a process that also employs the LMS algorithm, in combination with a detection algorithm, such as, for example, the Viterbi algorithm, to recover from the incoming signal the information signals that had been encoded into the incoming signals.

This invention relates to signal detection and, more particularly, to channel tracking techniques in mobile receivers adapted to receive phase-modulated signals.
One well-known technique for transmitting information to mobile receivers is to convert the signal to digital symbols, to map those symbols onto a two-dimensional space, to modulate a carrier with the mapped symbols, and to transmit the modulated carrier to the receiver. The modulation of a symbol mapped onto a two-dimensional space (having x and y coordinates) takes place by amplitude-modulating the x component of the symbol by a carrier signal, amplitude-modulating the y component of the symbol by the carrier signal shifted by 90 degrees, and adding the two modulation products. In some applications the mapping is restricted to a circle, and that, effectively, results in phase modulation of the carrier.
A mobile unit receives signals that are corrupted by inter-symbol interference (ISI) as well as by thermal noise, and the challenge is to detect the so-distorted symbols. The ISI is a non-stationary process when the mobile unit is moving. That is, the characteristics of the channel are based on the location of the mobile unit relative to the transmitter, and when that location changes, the channel characteristics change. Prior art systems allow for adapting a receiver's response to the channel characteristics, but this adapting requires processing, and the processing requires time. As long as the channel characteristics change slowly, there is no problem. When the channel characteristics change rapidly, such as when the mobile unit changes its location rapidly (e.g. the mobile unit is in a car, or a plane), the currently-used adapting processes are able to keep up with the changes under ideal conditions.
The challenge to track the changing channel characteristics is compounded by the fact that the mobile unit has no information about the precise time when symbols are applied to the transmitter's modulator, and therefore does not know precisely when to sample the received signal. Furthermore, although the receiver nominally knows what the transmitter's carrier frequency is, the actual carrier frequency may be off and, in any event, the receiver's local frequency may be off from its specified value because of normal manufacturing tolerance issues, temperature variations, etc.
When the receiver's local oscillator is not equal to the transmitter's oscillator, an offset in frequency is said to exist. When there is no offset in frequency, the received signal is sampled, converted to digital form, and applied to a detection algorithm. The detection algorithm must remove the ISI introduced by the channel and must also compensate for the changing characteristics of the channel due to the movements of the mobile unit (e.g., in a car moving at 60 miles per hour, the channel characteristics change fairly rapidly). One technique that accomplishes channel tracking is the Least-Mean-Squared (LMS) algorithm. The LMS algorithm, however, is not thought of as being able to handle changing channel characteristics when there is a significant frequency offset.
When the receiver's frequency does have a significant offset, conventional differential detectors can be used to estimate the frequency offset and to compensate therefor. Differential detectors are described, for example, by Proakis in "Digital Communication," McGraw Hill, 1989, Chapter 4.2.6. However, differential detectors fail when the channel characteristics change rapidly.
To overcome the problem of both a frequency offset and a rapidly changing channel, practitioners have included a training word in the symbol sequence, and once the training word is detected and its position is ascertained, the frequency offset can be extracted. An algorithm for accomplishing this, which is quite complex, is presented, for example, by Bahai and Sarraf in "A Frequency Offset Estimation for Nonstationary Channels," Proc. of ICASSP 97, pp. 3897-3900, April, 1997.
A simpler solution would obviously be advantageous.


Cementing plug container having improved fluid inlets thereto.

This invention relates to an improved plug container for well cementing operations.
Prior to the cementing of casing in an oil or gas well, in most instances, continuity of the circulation of fluids in the well bore around the outside of the casing from the interior thereof is desired as a precautionary measure to help in preventing the casing from sticking. Rather than opening the top of the casing to insert cementing plugs therein prior to the cementing operation, a plug container in which the cementing plugs are initially contained is installed on the top of the casing having flow lines and cementing lines connected thereto.
A typical prior art plug container is shown in Halliburton Sales and Service Catalog Number 39, page 3138. The prior art plug container shown on page 3138 is designed for continuous operation in casing cementing operations. The bottom cementing plug is inserted through the plug container into the casing before the mixing of cement starts. The top cementing plug is inserted or loaded into the plug container, resting on the releasing pin contained therein, at the same time as the insertion of the bottom cementing plug. The top cementing plug is released to follow the cement down the casing, by turning the releasing handle connected to the releasing pin. A lever type indicator installed in the plug container shows the passage of the top cementing plug as it leaves the plug container and enters the casing.
The design of this prior art plug container permits the use of multiple plug containers in series, the top thread of one mating with the bottom thread of the other, after the removal of the lower nipple from the upper plug container. In this manner, a double plug container is created having continuous operating capabilities. Utilizing a double plug container, the bottom cementing plug is released ahead of the cement while the top cementing plug is released behind the cement.
Typically, this prior art plug container is constructed from a casting having the fluid inlet ports to the plug container being located approximately perpendicular to the bore through the plug container through which the cementing plugs pass. While this prior art plug container is simple to construct, obtaining crack-free castings to manufacture the plug container can be a problem. Also, since the fluid inlets to the plug container enter approximately perpendicular to the bore of the plug container, in some instances, the cementing plug may never be pumped down the casing after being released by the releasing pin because the cementing plug may float in the plug container on the cement being pumped therethrough without being carried downwardly therewith.
Another typical prior art plug container is constructed as a weldment having the fluid inlet ports to the plug container being located approximately perpendicular to the bore through the plug container through which the cementing plugs pass. Since this plug container is simple to construct and is fabricated as a weldment, it is not subject to cracks during casting operations. However, since the fluid inlets to the plug container enter approximately perpendicular to the bore of the plug container, in some instances, the cementing plug may never be pumped down the casing after being released by the releasing pin because the cementing plug may float in the plug container on the cement being pumped therethrough without being carried downwardly therewith.


High frequency power supplied to the primary coil from the high frequency power supply is transferred to the secondary coil by magnetic induction, and secondary coil AC is rectified to charge the battery pack housed in the portable electronic equipment. The battery charger is provided with internal batteries that are charged by input power and supply power to the high frequency power supply, and with a charging circuit to charge the internal batteries. The external case is provided with storage space between its top plate and bottom plate, and internal batteries, which are rectangular batteries, and a planar primary coil wound in a spiral shape are disposed in that storage space. The battery charger charges the internal batteries with input power, and when no power is input, internal battery power is converted to high frequency power and supplied to the primary coil to charge the battery pack.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a battery charger without electrical contacts, and to the combination of this battery charger without electrical contacts and portable electronic equipment.
2. Description of Related Art
A battery charger without electrical contacts is cited, for example, in Japanese Patent Application Disclosure 2005-6440. In this type of battery charger, a battery pack contained in portable electronic equipment can be charged by placing the portable electronic equipment on top of the battery charger without connecting any electrical connectors or contacts. Consequently, the battery charger has the characteristic that batteries inside portable electronic equipment of various different forms can be charged by setting the electronic equipment on a single battery charger with no electrical contacts. For example, this characteristic allows use of many different forms of portable electronic equipment, and is particularly convenient for charging portable telephones, which rapidly change model styles.
The battery charger without electrical contacts cited in the Japanese Patent Application Disclosure 2005-6440 is provided with a pocket for inserting portable electronic equipment on a charging pad having a primary coil as shown in FIG. 5 of that disclosure. A secondary coil is housed in the portable electronic equipment. The secondary coil of the portable electronic equipment inserted in the pocket magnetically couples to the primary coil. Consequently, if high frequency electrical power is supplied to the primary coil, high frequency electrical power is induced in the secondary coil. The portable electronic equipment converts the alternating current (AC) induced in the secondary coil to direct current (DC) to charge batteries housed in the electronic equipment.
In the battery charger without electrical contacts of Japanese Patent Application Disclosure 2005-6440, the charging pad is connected to a high frequency power supply via wire leads and high frequency electrical power is supplied to the primary coil. Specifically, high frequency electrical power is input from wire leads to charge batteries in the portable electronic equipment placed in the pocket of the charging pad. Portable electronic equipment batteries cannot be charged unless the wire leads of this battery charger are connected to a high frequency power supply. In practical application, there are time constraints on portable electronic equipment such as the portable telephone, and there can be times when it is necessary to disconnect and take a telephone away from the battery charger in a state of incomplete charge. For this type of usage, the battery charger without electrical contacts of Japanese Patent Application Disclosure 2005-6440 can become unable to charge the batteries of the portable electronic equipment.
The present invention was developed to resolve this drawback. Thus, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a battery charger without electrical contacts that can charge portable electronic equipment batteries even when input power has been cut-off.


A coated abrasive having an abrasive surface comprising a plurality of individual abrasive structures can be modified to convey information by changing the appearance, for example by changing the size, shape or spacing of the structures to create patterns conveying the information.

This invention relates to coated abrasives and more particularly to coated abrasives in which the abrasive surface comprises a plurality of generally regular composite structures each of which comprises abrasive grain dispersed within a cured binder. The shape, spacing, size and composition of the composites can be manipulated to achieve a wide range of abrasive properties and for this reason the products are frequently referred to as xe2x80x9cengineered abrasivesxe2x80x9d and this convention is adopted herein.
Engineered abrasives share a drawback, or more accurately an inconvenience, with all coated abrasives. Once they have been placed in position on a backup pad in the case of an abrasive disc, or on a machine in the case of a belt, it is difficult to identify the nature or source of the product being used without taking the abrasive off the device to which it is attached.
Various options have been identified to overcome this problem. These include most notably the use of different colors to indicate different grit sizes or types of surface treatment. This technique has been used commercially with some success but the approach depends on the operator knowing the xe2x80x9ccodexe2x80x9d used by the manufacturer. With the advent of engineered abrasives a further technique becomes available for communicating information to the user in a convenient and very direct manner and this approach is at the heart of the present invention.
The present invention provides an engineered abrasive having an abrasive surface comprising a plurality of shaped abrasive structures wherein the structures are modified to create visible product indicia on the surface.
In the context of this invention the term xe2x80x9cindiciaxe2x80x9d is intended to convey any information, corporate name, trademark, or other product identifier appropriate to the coated abrasive bearing the indicia.
The modification can be for example in the form of structures of a different size, shape or spacing or a combination of these characteristics. It would also be considered a xe2x80x9cmodificationxe2x80x9d to eliminate individual structures altogether to create a pattern on the surface corresponding to the desired indicia. The most convenient modification is to change the shape of the structure. For example, if the structures on the surface are all square-based pyramids, the shapes within the space occupied by the indicia could be conical. If the surface comprises structures of identical size, (in terms of the distance of the distal end from the backing), and the indicia are not used extensively, the structures could additionally or alternatively be made uniformly smaller, (that is, with the distal ends closer to the backing), within the space occupied by the indicia. It would also be effective to connect adjacent structures by ridges so as to spell out letters or numbers. This can be particularly effective when the tool is an abrasive belt and the pattern on the surface is one of parallel ridges running across the width of the belt at an acute angle to the sides of the belt. A further variant would be to create grooves in the surface of selected structures such that the grooves spelled out the desired indicia. This technique can also be used to indicate the end of the useful life of the coated abrasive such that the product is deemed worn out when the grooves by which the indicia are created, are no longer visible
The indicia used are not restricted other than by law and good taste. It can for example be the name of the manufacturer, the trademark associated with the product and/or the grit size. If the amount of information conveyed in this way is too extensive and the extent of modifications required results in local disruption of the grinding patterns, then the overall drop in performance of the product would make the option unattractive. However if the performance effect is insignificant and the value of the information conveyed important, this technique offers a very valuable convenience to the user and an excellent means of differentiating the products of one manufacturer from those of another.

Saint-Gobain Abrasives Technology Company


A stripline laser has its HF voltage distribution optimized by grounding springs. A grounded electrode is connected to an outside wall with electrically conductive connector elements, and is preferably connected thereto at a plurality of locations along its axial extent.

The invention is directed to a HF-excited, diffusion-cooled stripline laser having a grounding electrode and a HF metal electrode arranged thereabove which are provided with means for mutual fixing. Respective cooling channels are provided and between which a discharge gap is formed. Parallel inductances are attached to the electrodes and are uniformly distributed over their length. An unstable resonator is provided. An electrically conductive, vacuum-tight housing containing a CO.sub.2 lasing gas surrounds the resonator and the electrodes and is composed of a first and a second face plate and of a cylindrical outside wall connected thereto.
Apart from the parallel inductances, such a stripline laser is disclosed by EP-A-0 477 865. Parallel inductances, but only for waveguide lasers, are disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,352, 188.
Until a few years ago, insurmountable difficulties opposed the design of a CO.sub.2 high-power laser in a compact structure. Due to the physical processes in the laser excitation, the efficiency is highly dependent on a gas temperature that is not excessively high, i.e., on an effective elimination of excess heat from the laser gas in practice. Given diffusion-cooled CO.sub.2 lasers, wherein the heat is conveyed by a stationary thermal conduction process from the hottest location in the center of the laser plasma to the cooled walls of the discharge vessel, it has been shown that the laser output power is only dependent on the length and not on the diameter of the discharge. As a result, complicated convolution designs were therefore developed on the one hand in order to retain compact dimensions of the laser, despite powers up into the kW range. On the other hand, rapidly flowed, i.e. convection-cooled lasers, were developed. Rapidly flowed lasers of the power class 500 up to more than 10,000 W are currently commercially obtainable. These lasers, which are not provided for sealed-off operation, however, are bulky, have a high power-associated weight, and are dependent on a cost-unfavorable, external gas supply and on pumping for rapid gas circulation.
For the stated reasons, only what are referred to as waveguide lasers having powers up to 200 W were previously obtainable as compact, diffusion-cooled CO.sub.2 lasers. In the meantime, however, the fundamentals of a stripline laser have been disclosed, for example by EP-A-0 305 893, the discharge space thereof--by contrast to the waveguide laser--not having a quadratic cross section but being based on planar waveguide structures that are open toward the side. The combination of such a quasi-one-dimensional waveguide with an unstable resonator in the orthogonal direction thereby enables a diffraction-limited, fundamental mode laser emission. Given this stripline design, the heat is absorbed in large-area fashion by the closely neighboring electrodes, and is then eliminated therefrom with the assistance of suitable coolants. It is therefore no longer necessary to pump the laser gas itself through the discharge space with a special cooling circulation.
The article by R. Vowack et al, "Diffusionsgekuehlte CO.sub.2 Hochleistungslaser in Kompaktbauweise" in "Laser und Optoelektronik", 23(3)/1991 is referenced to the prior art of stripline lasers. Up to now, considerable difficulties still oppose the conversion of the above-described stripline laser concept into a structure compatible with practice. The selection of a suitable electrode material proved especially problematical. The electrodes serve, on the one hand, for coupling in the high-frequency energy, i.e. are loaded with high currents. Moreover, they should form an optimally loss-free optical waveguide and eliminate the heat well. Over and above this, only component parts and materials are suitable with which an equilibrium condition of the gas mixture in the laser that is stable over the long term is guaranteed. In the article, for example, the anticipated, undesirably high CO.sub.2 decomposition due to copper electrodes is discussed. Further demands made of the construction of cooled electrodes provided with means for mutual distancing are the optimization of the weight, adequate stability with respect to mechanical or thermal stresses and, last but not least, cost-beneficial manufacturability.
For resolving these and other problems, the European application bearing Ser. No. 92114862.3, which does not enjoy prior publication, proposed that each electrode is designed as a composite composed of a carrier part having a mechanically stable profile and a plate-shaped electrode part with integrated cooling that faces toward the discharge gap and is hard-soldered or welded to the carrier part. The carrier part should thereby preferably comprise an approximately rectangular cross section. In this design, however, the problem of the HF voltage distribution between the two electrodes arranged above one another and the cylindrical outside wall that surrounds them, which simultaneously serves as HF shielding and as an outer conductor, is not yet resolved in a completely satisfactory fashion. These problems arise despite parallel inductances since, differing from waveguide lasers, the grounding electrodes and the outside wall are not identical for thermal reasons.

Stripline laser having HF voltage distribution optimized by grounding springs


A method is provided for creation of a substrate fluorescence mask having background color(s), UV mark color(s), and distraction color(s), to be printed as an image on a substrate containing optical brightening agents. The method includes selecting one or more UV mark colors for the mask such that the UV mark colors exhibit low contrast against the background color(s) under normal illumination and high contrast against the background color(s) under UV illumination. One or more distraction colors are also selected, such that the distraction color(s) exhibit low contrast against the background color(s) under UV illumination and exhibit high contrast against the background color(s) under normal illumination. A distraction pattern, formed from one or more distraction colors, is also selected.

This disclosure relates generally to methods and systems for steganographically embedding information, and more particularly to a system and method for utilizing a multiple color overlay in a substrate fluorescence mask to embed information in documents and/or images.
Current counterfeit prevention systems are mainly based on the use of digital watermarks, a technique which permits the insertion of information (e.g., copyright notices, security codes, identification data, etc.) to digital image signals and documents. Such data can be in a group of bits describing information pertaining to the signal or to the author of the signal (e.g., name, place, etc.). Most common watermarking methods for images work in spatial or frequency domains, with various spatial and frequency domain techniques used for adding watermarks to and removing them from signals.
For spatial digital watermarking the simplest method involves flipping the lowest-order bit of chosen pixels in a gray scale or color image. This works well only if the image will not be subject to any human or noisy modification. A more robust watermark can be embedded in an image in the same way that a watermark is added to paper. Such techniques may superimpose a watermark symbol over an area of the picture and then add some fixed intensity value for the watermark to the varied pixel values of the image. The resulting watermark may be visible or invisible depending upon the value (large or small, respectively) of the watermark intensity.
Spatial watermarking can also be applied using color separation. In this approach, the watermark appears in only one of the color bands. This type of watermark is visibly subtle and difficult to detect under normal viewing conditions. However, when the colors of the image are separated for printing or xerography, the watermark appears immediately. This renders the document useless to the printer unless the watermark can be removed from the color band. This approach is used commercially for journalists to inspect digital pictures from a stock photo agency before buying un-watermarked versions.
Alternatively, another approach uses ultra-violet (UV) ink rendering to encode a watermark that is not visible under normal illumination, but revealed under UV illumination. The traditional approach, often used in currency notes, is to render a watermark with special ultra-violet (UV) fluorescent inks and to subsequently identify the presence or absence of the watermark in a proffered document using a standard UV lamp. However, these inks are costly to employ, and thus are typically only economically viable in offset printing scenarios, and thus only truly avail themselves of long print runs. Additionally, these materials are often difficult to incorporate into standard electro-photographic or other non-impact printing systems like solid ink printers, either due to cost, availability or physical/chemical properties. This in turn discourages their use in variable data printing arrangements, such as for redeemable coupons, for example.
There is well established understanding in the printing industry regarding the utilization of fluorescent material inks in combination with ultra-violet light sources as employed for security marks, particularly as a technique to deter counterfeiting. However, there remains a long standing need for an approach to such a technique which will provide the same benefit but with lower complexity and cost, particularly in a digital printing environment, using only common consumables.
All U.S. patents and published U.S. patent applications cited herein are fully incorporated by reference. The following patents or publications are noted:
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0078851 to Jones et al. ("Multi-channel Digital Watermarking") describes a system for providing digital watermarks through multiple channels. The channels can include visible, ultraviolet and infrared channels. The non-visible channels can be selected to fluoresce either in the visible or IR/UV spectrums upon the appropriate illumination in the infrared or ultraviolet spectrums. The watermarks in the various multiple channels can cooperate to facilitate watermark detection or to authenticate an object in which the watermarks are embedded.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0005304 to Lawandy et al. ("Marking Articles Using a Covert Digitally Watermarked Image") describes a marking system for marking an article with an image not visible to the unaided human eye, with the image containing at least one digital watermark. The digitally watermarked image includes both emissive and photoabsorptive protions and is applied using a substance reactive to a predetermined excitation source and exposure to ultraviolet light. Alternate techniques, such as printing with fluorescent inks may be used in combination. The digitally watermarked image is subsequently observable upon exposure to the predetermined excitation source.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,373,965 to Liang ("Apparatus and Mehtods for Authentication Using Partially Fluorescent Graphic Images and OCR Characters") teaches a system combining a source of ultraviolet light with apparatus for capturing and recognizing either graphic images or characters, or both. In this patent either a visible sub-image, or a fluorescent sub-image, or a combination image, may further contain steganographic (digital watermark) information that is encoded and inserted using conventional techniques. The digital watermark information may be similarly encoded and inserted into visible and/or fluorescent sub-portions and or recombined OCR characters.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,127,112 to Sharma et al. ("Systems for Spectral Multiplexing of Source Images to Provide a Composite Image, for Rendering the Composite Image, and for Spectral Demultiplexing of the Composite Image by Use of an Image Capture Device") provides methods and systems for spectrally-encoding plural source images and for providing the spectrally-encoded plural source images in a composite image, for rendering the composite image on a substrate, and for recovering at least one of the encoded source images from the rendered composite image. Each source image is spectrally encoded by mapping values representative of each source image pixel to a corresponding pixel value in one or more of a plurality of colorant image planes. The encoding may include the conversion of each source image to a monochromatic, separation image, which is then directly mapped to a corresponding colorant image plane in the composite image. A plurality of source images can thereby be mapped to a corresponding plurality of colorant image planes in the composite image.
The disclosed embodiments provide examples of improved solutions to the problems noted in the above Background discussion and the art cited therein. There is shown in these examples an improved method for creation of a substrate fluorescence mask having background color(s), UV mark color(s), and distraction color(s), to be printed as an image on a substrate containing optical brightening agents. The method includes selecting one or more UV mark colors for the mask such that the UV mark colors exhibit low contrast against the background color(s) under normal illumination and high contrast against the background color(s) under UV illumination. One or more distraction colors are also selected, such that the distraction color(s) exhibit low contrast against the background color(s) under UV illumination and exhibit high contrast against the background color(s) under normal illumination. A distraction pattern, formed from one or more distraction colors, is also selected.
In an alternate embodiment there is disclosed a system for creation of a substrate fluorescence mask to be printed as an image on a substrate for the purpose of embedding information in printed documents. The substrate fluorescence mask includes at least one background color, at least one UV mark color, and at least one distraction color. The system includes a digital printing device for printing the fluorescence mask image on a substrate containing optical brightening agents. The one or more UV mark colors are selected to exhibit low contrast against the background color(s) under normal illumination and high contrast against the background color(s) under UV illumination. The distraction color is chosen to exhibit low contrast against the background color(s) under UV illumination and exhibit high contrast against the background color(s) under normal illumination. One or more distraction patterns are formed from at least one distraction color.
In another embodiment there is disclosed a substrate fluorescence mask to be printed as an image on a substrate containing optical brightening agents in order to embed information in printed documents. The substrate fluorescence mask includes at least one background color, at least one UV mark color, and at least one distraction color. The UV mark color is specified to exhibit low contrast against the background color under normal illumination and high contrast against the background color under UV illumination. The distraction color is specified to exhibit low contrast against the background color under UV illumination and exhibit high contrast against the background color under normal illumination. One or more distraction patterns is also specified, with the distraction pattern formed from at least one distraction color.
In yet another embodiment there is disclosed a computer-readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied in the medium which, when the program code is executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform method steps for creation of a substrate fluorescence mask having one or more background color(s), one or more UV mark color(s), and one or more distraction color(s), to be printed as an image on a substrate containing optical brightening agents. The method includes selecting background color(s) and also selecting UV mark color(s) for the mask such that the UV mark color(s) exhibits low contrast against the background color(s) under normal illumination and high contrast against the background color(s) under UV illumination. At least one distraction color is also selected, such that the distraction color exhibits low contrast against the background color(s) under UV illumination and exhibits high contrast against the background color(s) under normal illumination. One or more distraction patterns, formed from distraction color(s), is also selected.

Substrate fluorescence mask utilizing a multiple color overlay for embedding information in printed documents


A rotation is corrected by rotationally driving a supercharger rotor (a turbine impeller (2), a compressor impeller (6) and a shaft (12)) by an electric motor (18) in a state of detaching a turbine housing (4) and a compressor housing (8), and detecting data necessary for correcting the rotation inbalance of a motor-driven supercharger (10). Further, the electric motor (18) is driven by using a dedicated motor driver (27) supplying a larger electric power than a power supply of an acceleration assisting motor driver.

1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotation balance correcting method of a motor-driven supercharger provided with an electric motor assisting a rotational drive of a supercharger rotor, and a rotation balance testing apparatus thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to improve a performance of an internal combustion engine, there has been widely used a supercharger (also called as "turbocharger") driven by an exhaust gas of the internal combustion engine so as to compress an intake air and supercharge. Further, there has been known a supercharger in which an acceleration response or the like is improved by incorporating an electric motor on the same axis as a shaft of a supercharger, and accelerating and assisting a rotational drive of a compressor. The supercharger having a motor-driven assist function by the electric motor is called a "motor-driven supercharger."
FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view showing a structure of a general motor-driven supercharger 10.
A compressor impeller 6 and a compressor housing 8 surrounding it are arranged in an air supply passage side of the motor-driven supercharger 10.
A turbine impeller 2 and a turbine housing 4 surrounding it are arranged in an exhaust passage side of the motor-driven supercharger 10.
The turbine impeller 2 is integrated with a shaft 12 by welding or the like, and the shaft 12 is fitted to a center portion of the compressor impeller 6. The compressor impeller 6 is fastened by a nut 7.
The shaft 12 is rotatably supported by a journal bearing 16 and a thrust bearing 17 built in a center housing 14.
On the basis of this structure, the turbine impeller 2, the compressor impeller 6 and the shaft 12 are integrally rotated. Hereinafter, a rotating body constituted by the turbine impeller 2, the compressor impeller 6 and the shaft 12 is called as "supercharger rotor".
Further, the center housing 14 has an electric motor 18 having a rotor 18A coaxially coupled to the shaft 12, and a stator 18B arranged around the rotor 18A built-in.
In the motor-driven supercharger 10 structured as mentioned above, the turbine impeller 2 is rotated by an exhaust gas from the internal combustion engine (the engine), the compressor impeller 6 coupled thereto is rotationally driven and the rotational driving is assisted by the electric motor 18, and an intake air is supercharged so as to be supplied to the internal combustion engine.
On the other hand, in the motor-driven supercharger 10, a rotation balance test is executed for every product before shipping the product so as to measure an unbalance amount, and a rotation balance correction is executed. Particularly, in the motor-driven supercharger 10, the shaft 12 becomes longer at a degree that the electric motor 18 is attached, in comparison with the supercharger in which the electric motor is not mounted, and a high-level balance correction is required.
The conventional rotation balance correcting method of the supercharger is disclosed, for example, in the following patent document 1. FIG. 1 is a view explaining the rotation balance correcting method in the patent document 1, and this method is constituted by the following steps (A) to (E).
(A) Attaching a turbine housing 51 of the supercharger 50 in a state of detaching only a compressor housing to a turbine housing mounting plate 53 of a vibration table 52.
(B) Attaching an accelerator pickup 54 to a flat surface 53a of the turbine housing mounting plate 53.
(C) Arranging a rotation detector 55 near a compressor impeller 56.
(D) Supplying a compressed air to a turbine impeller 57 and rotating the turbine impeller 57 at a high speed.
(E) If reaching a predetermined high-speed rotating speed, detecting an acceleration (a vibration) of the supercharger 50 by the accelerator pickup 54, detecting an angle of rotation of the compressor wheel 56 by the rotation detector 55, and correcting a high-speed unbalance amount of the supercharger rotor on the basis of a result of computation of the detected input signals in a computing element 58.
Further, the following patent document 2 discloses striking a rotation balance as an entire supercharger rotor while detecting a vibration by a vibration pickup provided in a supercharger housing, by driving a turbine rotor (a turbine impeller) by a compressed air having a high temperature equal to or more than 400° C.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-39904    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-116317
In the prior arts disclosed in the patent documents 1 and 2 mentioned above, the rotation balance correction is executed by driving the turbine impeller by the compressed air, rotating the supercharger rotor at a high speed, and detecting the data necessary for correcting the rotation balance. As mentioned above, since a compressed air source is necessary for rotating the supercharger rotor at a high speed, a rotation balance testing apparatus is enlarged in size.
Furthermore, the supercharger is generally designed so that a pressure balance in an inner portion of the supercharger is correctly adjusted; however, in the case that the supercharger is mounted on the engine, in accordance with the prior art disclosures mentioned above, because the rotation balance test is executed in the state in which only the compressor housing is detached, the normal pressure balance is not secured. In other words, explaining with reference to FIG. 4, if only the compressor housing 8 is detached, and the compressed air is supplied to the turbine impeller 2, a force in a left direction in FIG. 4 is applied to the turbine impeller 2 on the basis of the pressure balance in a periphery thereof. Accordingly, an excessive axial load (a counterthrust force) in the turbine side is applied to the thrust bearing 17 via the shaft 12, and the thrust bearing 17 is adversely affected.
Further, since the turbine impeller 2 is covered by the turbine housing 4, it is necessary to detach the turbine housing 4 and a piping connected thereto in the case that the balance correction is necessary in the turbine impeller 2 side, so that the balance correcting work is complicated.

Method and apparatus for balancing an electrically assisted turbocharger rotor


In a lifting truck of the type comprising a wheeled structure carrying a lifting arm articulated to the rear of the structure and a cab situated on one side of the structure at one side of the longitudinal axis of the structure, the internal combustion engine which propels the truck and operates the arm is disposed in a housing which is situated on the opposite side of the longitudinal axis to the cab and is spaced from the cab so as to form therewith a space at least as wide as the lifting arm. The arm is articulated to the structure of the truck in such a position that, in its completely lowered position, it is partly housed in the space so as not to interfere with the view of the operator working in the driving cab.

The present invention relates to a lifting truck of the type comprising a wheeled structure carrying a telescopic lifting arm articulated to the rear of the structure about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the truck, an internal combustion engine supported by the structure for the propulsion of the truck and for the operation of the arm, and a driving and operating cab situated on one side of the structure to one side of the longitudinal axis of the structure.
Lifting trucks of the aforementioned type generally have the disadvantage that they do not provide sufficient visibility to the side and to the rear for the operator working in the operating and driving cab. In fact, in lifting trucks currently available on the market, the lifting arm is articulated on an axis which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle to the upper end of an upright which extends vertically above a rear housing of the structure in which the internal combustion engine is housed. The lifting arm thus obstructs in its completely lowered position, the operator's view to the side, and to the rear, which poses problems, particularly as regards working safety.
The particular object of the present invention is to produce a lifting truck of the type defined above which is formed in such a way as to improve the operator's field of view.

Lifting truck with a telescopic lifting arm


An image forming apparatus receives at least one setting file including a first item for specifying an application and a second item for specifying an operation target setting content from a server apparatus. If a value specifying an application is set in the first item included in the received setting file, the image forming apparatus operates a setting value of the application according to a value set in the second item included in the received setting file. If a predetermined value defined for operating a setting value of the image forming apparatus is set in the first item included in the received setting file, the image forming apparatus operates the setting value of the image forming apparatus by using a value set in the second item included in the received setting file. The image forming apparatus transmits an operation result to the server apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to migration of setting values of an application that operates in an image forming apparatus and setting values of an image forming apparatus main body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-164902 discusses a technique for preventing loss of setting information about an image forming apparatus when firmware is updated. According to this technique, when firmware is updated, if map information about setting values is changed, a setting migration program is simultaneously installed. This setting migration program determines a correspondence relationship between the map information before the update and the map information after the update and migrates the setting values.
This technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-164902 is directed to accurate migration of setting values even when map information (storage location) about setting values of an image forming apparatus main body is changed due to change of firmware.
Thus, the technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-164902 only assumes migration of setting values in an image forming apparatus when firmware is updated. Thus, the technique cannot be applied when setting values are migrated or changed due to other reasons.
For example, when a new application is added or when an application is updated in an image forming apparatus, there are cases where certain setting values of the image forming apparatus need to be changed for an operation of the application (setting values of the image forming apparatus main body that relate to the application).
More specifically, when Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) communication to a newly added or updated application needs to be improved to a higher security level, all the HTTP communication to the image forming apparatus needs to be set to HTTPS communication.
In addition, when single account information in an image forming apparatus is allocated for an operation of a certain application, appropriate account information that exists in the image forming apparatus needs to be allocated accurately.
In addition, setting needs to be made so that a certain application gives priority to a driver controlling an external apparatus such as a universal serial bus (USB) device connected to an image forming apparatus over a driver installed on the image forming apparatus.
In addition, when a certain application operates, administrator settings need to be activated to restrict use of an image forming apparatus, so that users without administrator authority cannot operate the image forming apparatus.
In addition, when a certain application refers to communication proxy server settings based on a certain protocol such as HTTP in an image forming apparatus, the settings need to be set in an appropriate proxy server.
In addition, when a certain application is activated, discharge bins of an image forming apparatus need to be set separately depending on the job type such as a print job or a copy job.
Thus, there are many cases where setting values of an image forming apparatus main body are changed depending on an application added to or updated in an image forming apparatus.
Since such setting values are changed by a request from an application added to the image forming apparatus or by an assumed use environment, a change of firmware or change of map information about setting values in the image forming apparatus is not always associated.
Thus, even when firmware or map information about setting values in the image forming apparatus is not changed, there are cases where setting values in the image forming apparatus need to be changed depending on a request from an application installed on the image forming apparatus.
In addition, migration of setting values associated with a request from an application is not always caused only within a single image forming apparatus. Thus, when a setting of an application is extracted from a first image forming apparatus and the setting is migrated to a second image forming apparatus, there are cases where setting values of the first image forming apparatus are migrated to the second image forming apparatus. In this way, a labor for setting can be reduced.
In such case, there are cases where the same setting values are set in different models. However, if the map information about setting values is different between the models, the setting values cannot be set accurately in the migration destination apparatus. Under such circumstances, a program (migration program) that interprets a map of each model and accurately migrates setting values is needed for each model. Thus, users are required to execute very cumbersome work of acquiring a migration program for each model and installing the programs for each of the models of a plurality of image forming apparatuses in advance prior to addition of an application and migration of setting values.

Management system, image forming apparatus, management system control method, and image forming apparatus control method for migration of setting values of an application that operates in the image forimng apparatus


The disclosure generally describes methods of preventing or treating ophthalmic diseases or conditions in a mammalian subject, such as diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, retinitis pigmentosa, glaucoma, macular degeneration, choroidal neovascularization, retinal degeneration, and oxygen-induced retinopathy. The methods comprise administering an effective amount of an aromatic-cationic peptide to subjects in need thereof.

The following description is provided to assist the understanding of the reader. None of the information provided or references cited is admitted to be prior art to the present invention.
Diseases and degenerative conditions of the optic nerve and retina are the leading causes of blindness in the world. A significant degenerative condition of the retina is age-related macular degeneration (ARMD). ARMD is the most common cause of blindness in people over 50 in the USA and its prevalence increases with age. ARMD is classified as either wet (neovascular) or dry (non-neovascular); the dry form of the disease is more common. Macular degeneration occurs when the central retina has become distorted and thinned usually associated with age but also characterized by intra-ocular inflammation and angiogenesis (wet ARMD only) and/or intra-ocular infection. The subsequent generation of free radicals, resulting in oxidative tissue damage, local inflammation and production of growth factors (such as VEGF and FGF) and inflammatory mediators, leads to inappropriate neovascularisation in common with the wet form of ARMD.
Retinopathy is a leading cause of blindness in type I diabetes, and is also common in type II diabetes. The degree of retinopathy depends on the duration of diabetes, and generally begins to occur ten or more years after onset of diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy may be classified as non-proliferative, where the retinopathy is characterized by increased capillary permeability, edema and exudates, or proliferative, where the retinopathy is characterized by neovascularisation extending from the retina to the vitreous, scarring, deposit of fibrous tissue and the potential for retinal detachment. Diabetic retinopathy is believed to be caused by the development of glycosylated proteins due to high blood glucose. Several other less common retinopathies include choroidal neovascular membrane (CNVM), cystoid macular edema (CME), epi-retinal membrane (ERM) and macular hole.
Glaucoma is made up of a collection of eye diseases that cause vision loss by damage to the optic nerve. Elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) due to inadequate ocular drainage is the primary cause of glaucoma. Glaucoma often develops as the eye ages, or it can occur as the result of an eye injury, inflammation, tumor or in advanced cases of cataract or diabetes. It can also be caused by the increase in IOP caused by treatment with steroids. Drug therapies that are proven to be effective in glaucoma reduce IOP either by decreasing vitreous humor production or by facilitating ocular draining. Such agents are often vasodilators and as such act on the sympathetic nervous system and include adrenergic antagonists.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and compositions for preventing or treating ophthalmic conditions


Provided is a display device capable of adequately displaying in accordance with a condition. In a HUD device including a projector projecting an image that is to be a virtual image, a screen to which an image from the projector is projected, a magnifying optic magnifying the image projected on the screen, the screen is moved by an actuator in a direction parallel to an optical axis of the projector.

Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a display device displaying a virtual image ahead of a visual line of an observer.
Description of the Related Art
Well known is a display device that is called head-up display in which a display unit emitting a driving data such as a running speed, and an optical member such as lens forming the driving data emitted from the display unit at a desired position as a desired-sized display image is embedded in a dashboard of a vehicle, and forms the display image that is overlapped on a scene at the desired position ahead of the vehicle by irradiating the driving data emitted from the display unit to a windshield.
This type of head-up display has better readability than a conventional guidance directly reading instrument due to reduction of visual line movement of a driver.
Disadvantageously, because when running speed of the vehicle increases a focal length of the driver moves far and a visual range becomes narrow, the conventional head-up display posed the following problems upon high speed travelling.
Shortness of a distance to the displaying image requires time to move the focal length of eye from background to the displaying image. Therefore, comparing alternately the background and the displaying image makes the driver (observer) further tired from. Moreover, narrowness of the visual range of the driver increases an occupancy ratio of the displaying image, making the driver feel intrusive.
Japanese Patent Publication No. H5-147456, in order to solve these problems, discloses that the display distance is made larger upon high-speed travelling, and that the number of dots per one character decreases.

Head-up display device for vehicle displaying a virtual image ahead of a virtual line of an observer