A detachable locking device is described which consists of a pair of standard box end wrenches with shortened handles having integral ears on the ends of the handles with openings therethrough. The wrenches are designed to be retrofittably placed behind the respective connecting nuts on the line termination point adapter assemblies which are to be joined. The preliminary connection and seal are made using conventional means and the connecting nuts are torqued to near their optimum value. The wrench heads of the locking device are then positioned on the nuts so that a connecting bolt can be passed through the openings in the ears on the handles, a nut attached thereto and then tightened to hold and secure the connecting nuts together and prevent the nuts from loosening or seal leaking during the operation of the fluid transmission line.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a removable locking device to hold and secure the connection between typical nut type end fittings on two fluid transmission lines being detachably joined together.
2. Background
Fluid transmission lines, such as those carrying reactive gases used in certain semiconductor manufacturing processes, are often vulnerable to leaks or breakage induced by stress from vibration, twisting, temperature change or other environmental conditions. This frequently results in significant downtime, costly repairs and loss of production.
Standard, detachable nut type fittings such as, but not limited to those supplied by Cajon Company, Macedonia, Ohio and C.G.M.I., France, rely principally upon friction and threaded type connection to achieve and maintain tight, leak proof seals which are generally resistant to significant leakage or breakage. Experience has shown that such connections do fail, under continuous use, from vibration, line twisting and temperature change, often enough to affect significantly the above mentioned industrial operations. Experience has also shown that the failure occurs most frequently at the union of the lines, due to loosening of the detachable, nut type connecting fittings.
Review of the patent literature indicates that there are many lock type devices designed to hold a variety of nut type end fittings together. However most of them are of special, often complicated design, requiring customized components not readily adaptable to commercially available, standard detachable nut type fittings.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,768, entitled "Fluid Line Nut Locking Device," having common inventors with the present application, and assigned to Micron Technology, Inc. describes a very worthwhile device for locking fluid line valves. The above cited patent is ideally suited for new installation of transmission lines and valves.
However, there are a great many valves and fluid transmission lines already installed in semiconductor fabs throughout the world. It is a very difficult and cumbersome task to disassemble the fluid lines, drain the fluids, install a valve lock, and then, have the lines requalified for use in the manufacturing process. Thus, there exists a tremendous need to have a fluid line nut locking device that is capable of being retrofitted to the transmission lines already in place in existing semiconductor fabs.


After a program is inputted in the high-level synthesis of system design, blocks each for implementing at least one function and an HW resource connection graph showing a plurality of HW resources and a wiring structure connecting the HW resources are generated. From a database storing the HW resources, data on the size of each of the HW resources is inputted such that the HW resources are provisionally placed and a contribution rate of each of parameters which affect power consumption and the like in each of wires between blocks with respect to all the wires is calculated as a weight of signal lines between blocks. Block generation is performed repeatedly till the weight of signal lines between blocks in each of the wires between blocks becomes a threshold value or less. If the weight of signal lines between blocks becomes the threshold value or less, an HDL is outputted. By performing block generation in consideration of a reduction in power consumption and the like in the high-level synthesis on the high level design, overall design efficiency is increased.

The present invention relates to a method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device. More particularly, it relates to an approach to improving the efficiency of the overall design process, while reducing power consumption.
In the design of a semiconductor integrated circuit device, high-level synthesis has been performed conventionally by the process of gradually specifying, in a programming language, the individual components of the semiconductor integrated circuit device and the functions thereof in accordance with the specifications, behavior, RT, and the like of the semiconductor integrated circuit. After the high-level synthesis, logic synthesis is performed in accordance with design data described in an HDL to generate a logic circuit (net list) and then placement and routing is performed. At this stage, the specific circuit components and wires are becoming apparent so that an optimization process utilizing the estimation of power consumption, a processing speed, and the like effected by simulation is performed.
For example, the optimization process is performed in consideration of a tradeoff between the operating speed of a circuit and a chip area.
However, with the advent of a large-scale semiconductor integrated circuit device such as a system LSI in recent years, the degree of optimization after logic synthesis varies depending on the degree of properness with which the design has been performed in high-level synthesis preceding the logic synthesis. This is because, since block partitioning and the like have been performed almost definitely prior to the logic synthesis, the flexibility with which a change is permitted in the subsequent optimization process is low.
In the conventional design of a semiconductor integrated circuit device, however, whether or not high-level synthesis is proper depends on the skillfulness of the designer and means for optimization in the high-level synthesis remains undeveloped. This presents a serious obstacle to implementing more efficient design after logic synthesis.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the efficiency of the overall design process by providing means for optimizing high-level synthesis and implement the design of a semiconductor integrated circuit device which is particularly low in power consumption. A method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device according to the present invention comprises the steps of: (a) inputting an application program including a behavioral description for designing the semiconductor integrated circuit device, partitioning, on a function-by-function basis, the application program including the behavioral description into blocks in which HW resources are to be placed, and generating an HW resource connection graph representing respective positions of the HW resources in each of the blocks and wires connecting the individual blocks; (b) inputting at least data on respective sizes of the HW resources from an HW library, provisionally placing the HW resources which are the HW resource connection graph, and outputting provisional placement data; (c) calculating, as weights of signal lines between blocks, ratios of a parameter between the individual wires connecting the blocks which affects at least either one of power consumption and each wire delay; (d) judging whether or not each of the weights of signal lines between blocks is equal to or less than a threshold value; and (e) outputting, when each of the weights of signal lines between blocks becomes equal to or less than the threshold value, an RTL logic circuit described in an HDL, the generation of the blocks in the step (a) and the steps (b) to (d) being repeatedly performed till each of the weights of signal lines between blocks is judged equal to or less than the threshold value in the step (d).
In accordance with the method, it becomes possible to perform effective block partitioning which allows optimization of a parameter affecting power consumption and delay to be judged quantitatively instead of block partitioning based on a description in an application program or on the experience of the designer. This allows placement and routing and the like to be performed by placing blocks resulting from rather proper partitioning on the low level design and thereby improves the efficiency of the overall design.
In the method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device, the step (a) includes the sub-steps of: (a1) partitioning the description in the application program into blocks representing tasks and generating a first data flow chart showing data flows between the individual tasks; (a2) simulating the application program; (a3) calculating, as first weight of signal lines between blocks, ratios between transition frequencies in the respective wires between blocks obtained in the sub-step (a2); (a4) judging whether or not each of the initial weights of signal lines between blocks is equal to or less than an initial threshold value; (a5) generating, when the initial weight of signal lines between blocks becomes equal to or less than the initial threshold value, a second data flow chart to allow the HW resources stored in the HW library to be placed in each of the blocks in the first data flow chart; and (a6) determining an execution timing for each of the blocks in the second data flow chart and placing the HW resources to generate the HW resource connection graph, block repartitioning in the sub-step (a1) and the sub-steps (a2) to (a4) being repeated till the initial weight of signal lines between block becomes equal to or less than the initial threshold value. As a consequence, block partitioning using characteristics inherent to the application is roughly optimized first and then fine block repartitioning using the provisional placement data is performed. This improves the efficiency of block partitioning performed in two stages.
In the method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device, the step (a) includes the sub-steps of: (a1) partitioning the description in the application program into modules each composed of a plurality of operational functions and generating a first data flow chart showing data flows between the individual modules; (a2) simulating the application program; (a3) calculating, as first weights of signal lines between modules, ratios of a parameter between respective wires connecting the modules obtained in the sub-step (a2) which affects at least either one of power consumption and each wire delay; (a4) grouping the plurality of modules into the plurality of blocks each composed of the plurality of modules; (a5) generating a second data flow chart which allows the HW resources stored in the HW library to be placed in each of the modules in the first data flow chart; and (a6) determining an execution timing for each of the modules in the second data flow chart and allocating the HW resources to generate the HW resource connection graph and the step (c) includes calculating second weights of signal lines between modules from the provisional placement data and the first weights of signal lines between modules and designating, as the weights of signal lines between blocks, the respective second weights of signal lines between modules of the wires connecting the blocks. As a consequence, modules as small circuit units composing the blocks are generated first and then the plurality of generated modules are combined to generate the blocks. This reduces constraints placed on block generation and module generation and allows optimum generation of the modules and blocks in accordance with the first CDFG.
In the method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device, the step (a) includes the sub-steps of: (a1) analyzing the description in the application program to generate a first data flow chart showing data flows between operational functions each implementing a behavior to allow the HW resources stored in the HW library to be placed; (a2) generating, from the plurality of operational functions, modules each composed of the plurality of operational functions and generating, from the first data flow chart, a second data flow chart showing data flows between the individual modules; (a3) simulating the application program; (a4) calculating, as first weights of signal lines between modules, ratios of a parameter between respective wires connecting the modules which affects at least either one of power consumption and each wire delay; (a5) grouping the plurality of modules into the plurality of blocks composed of the plurality of modules; and (a6) determining an execution timing for each of the modules in the second data flow chart and allocating the HW resources to generate the HW resource connection graph and the step (c) includes calculating second weights of signal lines between modules from the provisional data and the first weights of signal lines between modules and designating, as the weights of signal lines between blocks, the respective second weights of signal lines between modules of the wires connecting the blocks.
As a consequence, so-called transformation is performed prior to module generation. This adds optimization by the transformation to module generation.
In the method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device, the step (a) includes the sub-steps of: (a1) analyzing the behavioral description in the application program to generate a first data flow chart showing data flows between operational functions to allow the HW resources stored in the HW library to be placed; (a2) determining an execution timing for each of the operational functions in the first data flow chart and allocating the HW resources to generate the HW resource connection graph; (a3) generating, from the plurality of operational functions, modules each composed of the plurality of operational functions; (a4) simulating the application program; (a5) calculating, as first weights of signal lines between modules, ratios of a parameter between respective wires connecting the modules obtained in the sub-step (a3) which affects at least either one of power consumption and each wire delay; and (a6) grouping the plurality of modules into the plurality of blocks each composed of the plurality of modules and the step (c) includes calculating second weights of signal lines between modules from the provisional placement data and the first weights of signal lines between modules and designating, as the weights of signal lines between blocks, the second weights of signal lines between blocks. As a consequence, module generation and block generation are performed by using data obtained from so-called transformation and binding. This adds optimization by the transformation and binding to module generation.
The method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device further comprises, after the step (e), the steps of: (f) performing logic synthesis using design data described in the HDL to represent data on the blocks and a wiring structure between the blocks in a net list; and (g) performing placement and routing using the net list and outputting layout data, wherein the placement and routing is performed in the step (g) by using, as position determining data, the provisional placement data obtained in the step (b) and data on the blocks obtained in the step (c). This allows prompt placement and routing to be performed by placing blocks resulting from partitioning in high-level synthesis.
The method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device further comprises, after the step (e), the steps of: (f) performing logic synthesis using design data described in the HDL to represent data on the modules and a wiring structure between the modules in a net list; and (g) performing placement and routing using the net list and outputting layout data, wherein placement and routing is performed in the step (g) by using the provisional placement data obtained in the step (b) and data on the blocks obtained in the step (c) and after the step (e) and before the step (f), RTL simulation is performed and data resulting from the RTL simulation is feedbacked to the step (c). This allows more proper block partitioning to be performed based on data using the HDL data.
The method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device further comprises, after the step (e), the steps of: (f) performing logic synthesis using design data described in the HDL to represent data on the modules and a wiring structure between the modules in a net list; and (g) performing placement and routing using the net list and outputting layout data, wherein placement and routing is performed in the step (g) by using the provisional placement data obtained in the step (b) and data on the blocks obtained in the step (c) and after the step (f) and before the step (g), provisional wiring using the net list and simulation with provisional wiring load using a result of the provisional wiring are performed and data obtained as a result of the simulation with provisional wiring load is feedbacked to the step (c). This allows more proper block partitioning to be performed based on the provisional wire load.
The method of designing a semiconductor integrated circuit device further comprises, after the step (e), the steps of: (f) performing logic synthesis using design data described in the HDL to represent data on the modules and a wiring structure between the modules in a net list; and (g) performing placement and routing using the net list and outputting layout data, wherein placement and routing is performed in the step (g) by using the provisional placement data obtained in the step (b) and data on the blocks obtained in the step (c) and after the step (g), simulation with actual wire load using the layout data is performed and data obtained as a result of the simulation with actual wire load is feedbacked to the step (c). This allows more proper block partitioning to be performed based on the actual wire load.
More preferably, any two or more of the data obtained as a result of the RTL simulation, the data obtained as a result of the simulation with provisional wiring load, and the data obtained as a result of the actual wire load are feedbacked.
In the step (c), respective contribution rates of lengths of the wires between blocks are designated as the weights of signal lines between blocks. This allows block partitioning to be performed in consideration of delay.
In the step (c), respective contribution rates of capacitances of the wires between blocks are designated as the weights signal lines between blocks.
In the step (c), respective contribution rates of transition frequencies of the wires between blocks are designated as the weights of signal lines between blocks. This also allows block partitioning to be performed in consideration of a reduction in power consumption.
In the step (c), respective contribution rates of lengths and transition frequencies of the wires between blocks are more preferably designated as the weights of signal lines between blocks.
By feedbacking the data obtained as a result of the RTL simulation, the data obtained as a result of the simulation with provisional wiring load, the data obtained as a result of the actual wire load, or the like to the sub-step (a1) in the step (a), block partitioning can be performed after performing optimum transformation by using the result of simulation on the low level design.
By feedbacking the data obtained as a result of the RTL simulation, the data obtained as a result of the simulation with provisional wiring load, the data obtained as a result of the actual wire load, or the like to the sub-step (a2) in the step (a), block partitioning can be performed after performing optimum allocation and binding by using the result of simulation on the low level design.

Method of designing semiconductor integrated circuit

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A method and apparatus for providing host server immunization from a failover process that may occur within a data switch that couples the host server to a storage volume. To facilitate such immunization, the method and apparatus caches non-read/write information that is generated by the switch during initialization of the storage volume to host server communication. Upon failover of a switch component within a failover pair of switch components in the switch, the read/write requests issued by the server are ignored and any non-read/write information commands are responded to using the cached information.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to high availability data storage systems and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for immunizing applications on a host server from a switch component failover within a switch that connects a storage volume to a server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern computer networks generally comprise a plurality of user computers connected to one another and to a computer server via a communication network. To provide redundancy and high availability of the information in applications that are executed upon the computer server, multiple computer servers maybe arranged in a cluster, i.e., forming a server cluster. Such server clusters are available under the trademark VERITAS CLUSTER SERVER from Veritas Software Corporation at Mountain View, Calif. In a center of a cluster, a plurality of servers communicate with one another to facilitate failover redundancy such that when software or hardware, i.e., computer resources, become inoperative on one server, another server can quickly execute the same software that was running on the inoperative server substantially without interruption. As such, user services that are supported by a server cluster would not be substantially impacted by inoperative server or software.
Within a server cluster, the servers are generally connected to at least one switch that controls routing of data to/from one or more storage volumes. Each switch contains a plurality of switch components that facilitate routing data and read/write requests to and from the storage volume or volumes. The switch component comprises a computer processor that executes storage volume manager software containing a virtualization engine. One example at storage volume manager software is the VERITAS VOLUME MANAGER (VxVM) available from Veritas Software Corporation of Mountain View, Calif. The virtualization engine provides virtual logic units (VLUNs) that are mapped to the various physical logical units of the storage volumes. Such virtualization enables the server to address the storage volume through the use of VLUNs.
The storage volume generally comprises two data ports that are each coupled to a host server via a data switch. Each of the data ports of the storage volume are coupled to a virtualization card within the switch. A virtualization card is a specific embodiment of a switch component that executes the volume manager software and provide virtualization services to the host server. The virtualization cards are coupled to separate data ports on the host server. A processor within the switch designates the two data ports as active, while one virtualization card is deemed active and the other virtualization card is deemed to be in a standby mode. As such, one card actively provides virtualization services and the other card awaits failure of the active card. Upon failure of the active card, the standby card is activated and begins to provide virtualization services. In this manner, the two virtualization cards supporting the two data ports form a failover pair of cards.
During the virtualization card failover process, the host server operates in a normal manner and continues to issue read/write requests. When the active virtualization card fails, the failover process begins and the read/write requests cannot be serviced from any of the ports until the failover process completes. When the read/write command is not answered by the storage volume, the host server will issue a "health command" or other form of status check request that will request information regarding the availability of the VLUN. Since the virtualization cards are in the midst of a failover process, status check requests of the VLUN are not serviced/responded. Such an occurrence may cause the host server to begin a failover process to another server, may cause an application to crash, or may cause the server operating system to crash.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus to immunize applications executing on the host server from the virtualization card failover process occurring in the switch such that the host server will not be affected by such a failover process.

Method and apparatus for immunizing applications on a host server from failover processing within a switch


A system and method for providing emergency broadcast interruption is provided for a vehicle. The system and method include monitoring one or more radio broadcast transmissions, detecting for emergency alert messages on the one or more radio broadcast transmissions, recording the one or more emergency alert messages from the one or more radio broadcast transmissions in which the one or more emergency alert messages are detected, and enabling immediate playing of the one or more emergency alert messages.

Vehicle manufacturers are increasingly designing safety features within vehicles with the intent of increasing the safety of passengers. Many of these systems include safety warning features that are designed to warn the driver of driving related risks. In some instances, these safety measures take into account environmental conditions such as inclement weather that influence sensors that are attached to the vehicle to alert the driver for issues that can affect the safety during vehicle operation. However, these systems often are unable to warn of possible or arising emergencies that take place in the broader environment that can affect the safety of occupants in the vehicle.
In the United States, the Emergency Alert System (EAS) (formally the Emergency Broadcast System) is designed to communicate civil emergency messages and warnings that can affect people that are located in a certain location (i.e., nationally, statewide or local). The EAS requires television and radio broadcasters (including terrestrial and satellite radio service providers) to broadcast emergency alert messages related to national, state, and local emergencies. In many instances, the emergency alert messages contain important emergency information provided by many national, state, and/or local agencies to promote and ensure the safety of those in viewing or listening range of the broadcasts.
In many instances, the emergency alert messages can be very impactful in ensuring that those in the viewing or listening range of the EAS broadcast are properly warned and can take adequate measures to protect themselves against a potential or impending emergency. In many instances, the measures that can be taken by a driver and/or passengers in adequately reacting to the emergency alert message can translate into life saving measures. For example, an emergency alert message may contain a tornado warning which can alert the driver of the vehicle to steer away from a certain area.
There are some shortfalls with the EAS system that can affect the vehicle occupants from receiving emergency alert message broadcasts. One key shortfall of the current EAS system is that if the vehicle is not in operation (i.e., turned OFF), the vehicle occupants can not receive the emergency alert message if they are not listening or viewing a broadcast containing the emergency alert message outside of the vehicle. Another shortfall of the current EAS system lies in the fact that the listener (i.e., driver and/or passenger) must be utilizing the radio function of the audio system of the vehicle and the radio must be tuned in to the radio station channel (i.e., frequency) that is broadcasting the emergency alert message. In addition, the likelihood of vehicle occupants missing the broadcast of an emergency alert message is highly increased in modern vehicles that include many other infotainment options and features (other then radio) that are utilized by the vehicle occupants.

System and method for providing emergency alert message broadcast interruption in a vehicle


An external seatbelt indicator provides a red indicator light that appears on the front and rear of the vehicle when the driver's seat is occupied, the vehicle's ignition switch is in the on position, the vehicle is in any forward or reverse gear, and the driver's seatbelt is unfastened. The red indicator light may include, but is not limited to a written message, such as, “No Seat Belt,” or it may be in another form, such as a silhouette of a seated person wearing a seatbelt and shoulder harness.

The invention relates generally to vehicle safety systems and in particular to an external seatbelt status indicator. The laws of all 50 states require vehicle drivers to fasten their seatbelts when the vehicle is in motion, and with the use of retracting seatbelts and shoulder harnesses. However, the position of the seatbelt is not easily discernible from a substantial distance by law enforcement officers. An external seatbelt indicator light, displaying an indication that the seatbelt is unfastened, that is clearly visible by day or night would assist in enforcement, both by advertising to law enforcement officers that the seatbelt is not fastened and by advertising to the general public, thereby subjecting an un-seatbelted driver to social enforcement mechanisms. The result would be saved lives and reduced injuries in accidents from increased seatbelt usage. It would also increase revenue for government units, by enabling law enforcement officers to write more tickets for seatbelt violations.


The invention relates to a rotary screw machine in which the shaft journals (20, 22) of the rotors (10) are journalled in a main thrust bearing (24) and a thrust balancing bearing (26). The thrust balancing bearing (26) is preloaded by springs (36) and by fluid pressure means (40, 44). According to the invention the fluid pressure means (40, 44) can excert a force on the thrust balancing bearing (26) in either axial direction. This increases the possibility for an optimal distribution of the forces on the thrust bearings (24, 26) at various running conditions.

The present invention relates to a rotary screw machine having at least one pair of rotors which are affected by forces from the working fluid in a first axial direction, at least one of the rotors being provided with shaft journals supported by bearing means, including main thrust bearing means and thrust balancing bearing means having a rotating ring and a stationary ring and being provided with thrust balancing means, said thrust balancing means including spring means acting on said stationary ring in said first direction and fluid pressure means acting axially on said stationary ring.
A compressor of this kind is known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,388,854. In that disclosure, the stationary ring of the thrust balancing bearing is pre-loaded by a spring 35 acting in the same direction as the axial gas forces on the rotors. The stationary ring also abuts a fluid actuated piston 36, through which a force can be applied to the ring counteracting the force from the spring. The pressure chamber 37, through which a pressure can be applied to the piston 36 can be connected to a pressure source, i.e. the outlet channel. This is the case under normal operating conditions, whereby the thrust load will be distributed to the thrust bearings on both ends of the rotor. When the compressor is idling, the pressure chamber is relieved to the atmosphere so that only the spring pre-loads the stationary ring. Through this known device, in many cases, a satisfactory distribution of the axial forces on the thrust bearings is attained, but it entails still some limitations regarding an optimal distribution of these forces.
The object of the present invention is to improve the known thrust balancing device in order to reach such a force distribution on the thrust bearings so that the resultant force on each thrust bearing falls within a more narrow range, thereby increasing the possibility to meet the requirements for a sufficient working life for each of the thrust bearings.

Rotary screw machine having thrust balancing means


A vertical cavity surface emitting laser array is disclosed which allows wires for individually driving devices arrayed at a small pitch to be provided on the laser array with ease and with a high degree of freedom is provided. The vertical cavity surface emitting laser array includes a first substrate including a plurality of vertical cavity surface emitting laser devices each having an active layer disposed between reflection mirrors constituting a resonator, and a second substrate including wires for providing electrical contact with the surface emitting laser devices and having a configuration which permits transmission of light emitted from the surface emitting laser devices. In the vertical cavity surface emitting laser array, the second substrate is bonded to the first substrate on the laser emitting side of the first substrate.

1.Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to vertical cavity surface emitting laser arrays and methods for manufacturing, and image forming apparatuses using the vertical cavity surface emitting laser arrays.
2.Description of the Related Art
Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) having resonators formed to be perpendicular to substrate surfaces are known as one configuration of surface emitting lasers. Resonators in VCSELs are composed of two reflector mirrors disposed at opposite sides of active regions to emit beams perpendicular to the substrate surfaces.
For such surface emitting lasers, in general, distributed Bragg reflectors composed of alternately disposed layers of high and low refractive indices are used.
Extensive research and development of VCSELs has been performed since they have the following advantageous features.
Specifically, VCSELs have advantages of low threshold current and low power consumption. In addition, VCSELs have circular spots which facilitate coupling with optical devices and allow production of arrays.
Therefore, VCSELs have been expected to be applied as light sources for optical communication, optical recording, and electrophotography.
For example, for electrophotography, two-dimensionally arrayed surface emitting lasers can realize high-speed printing and high-definition image quality.
In particular, high-speed operation and high-definition images can be achieved by reducing the pitch of VCSEL devices so that many devices are densely arrayed.
However a reduced pitch of VCSEL devices results in spaces of insufficient size in order to provide wires for individually driving the two-dimensionally arrayed VCSEL devices. This makes it difficult to provide such wires.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-5386 discloses a surface emitting layer device with the aim of ensuring spaces of sufficient size in which wires are to be arranged for individually driving two-dimensionally and densely arrayed surface emitting laser devices in a surface emitting laser array while maintaining the size of the devices as practical.
Specifically, a surface emitting laser array disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-5386 has a first mesa structure which includes at least a part of a first reflector mirror and does not include an active layer and a second mesa structure which includes at least an active layer. In this surface emitting laser array, the outer diameter of the second mesa structure is larger than that of the first mesa structure.
In addition, this surface emitting laser array has an electrically connected electrode on the first reflector mirror.
Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 8, a plurality of devices are separated by forming the first and second mesa structures, and an insulating film is provided over an area except the upper surfaces of the first mesas having the electrodes provided thereon.
Further, by connecting wirings formed on the insulating film to the electrodes provided on the first mesas, the devices in the array can be individually driven.
As described above, in the surface emitting laser array disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-5386, by providing two-stage mesa structure including the first mesa structure and the second mesa structure having different diameters, areas for wiring arrangement are ensured.
On the other hand, a surface emitting device having a wiring arranged on a separate substrate has also been proposed. The separate substrate is provided on the bottom surface of a device, which is a surface opposite to the surface where apertures are provided. Thus, there is an increased degree of freedom in arranging wires on the substrate since no restriction due to the apertures is imposed.
FIG. 9 illustrates a configuration of the surface emitting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-168262.
As illustrated in FIG. 9, the device has light-emitting regions (VCSELs) 915 each defining the outer diameter of an active layer, and light-emitting layers 916 constituting the active layer itself.
In this surface emitting device, a surface emitting laser array having the plural active layers 916 provided on a semiconductor substrate 901 is bonded to another substrate 912 on which wires can be arranged.
Specifically, the substrate 912 is disposed on the lower surface of the device, which is opposite the surface where apertures are provided.
In the semiconductor substrate 901, which has the apertures, portions of the semiconductor substrate 901, which is an absorber, are selectively removed to expose the apertures, and as a result the semiconductor substrate 901 is left in a frame-like shape that encloses the array area.
However, the techniques described above have the following problems.
For the surface emitting laser array disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2007-5386,it is necessary to form the two-stage mesa structure and thus complicated fabrication processes are required. In addition, it is difficult to obtain a surface emitting laser having uniform characteristics.
In the surface emitting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-168262,the other substrate that permits wiring arrangement is disposed on the opposite side to the one where the apertures are provided. Thus, it is necessary to selectively remove portions of the semiconductor substrate, which is an absorber, since the apertures are blocked.
This results in complicated fabrication processes. In addition, it is necessary to attach the surface emitting array to the other substrate that permits wiring arrangement while taking into account the stress applied to the semiconductor substrate that has had portions thereof selectively removed to be formed into a very thin shape.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. Accordingly, there is a need for a vertical cavity surface emitting laser array which allows wires for individually driving devices arrayed at a small pitch to be provided on the laser array with ease and a high degree of freedom. There is also need for a method for manufacturing such a vertical cavity surface emitting laser array and an image forming apparatus using the vertical cavity surface emitting laser array.

Vertical cavity surface emitting laser array and method for manufacturing, and image forming apparatus using vertical cavity surface emitting laser array


Devices and methods for collecting and distributing light from a light emitting diode (LED) emitter onto a phosphor layer to produce substantially white light are provided. The devices may include a reflective cavity with a reflective material, surrounding the reflective cavity, with a reflective side of the reflective material facing towards the inside of the reflective cavity. Further, the devices may incorporate an LED on one end of the reflective cavity and a phosphor layer on another end. Additionally, the devices may use a gradient index (GRIN) rod lens to refract light produced from the LED onto a phosphor surface with an LED on one end of the GRIN rod lens and the phosphor layer on the other end.

This disclosure is directed to devices and methods for collecting and distributing light from a light emitting diode (LED) emitter onto a phosphor.
LEDs are commonly used in lighting markets as light sources and typically produce light which is perceived by the human eye as a single color. For example, some of the colored light emitted by an LED may include red, blue and green. However, lighting markets such as task lighting for outdoor and interior uses, automotive lights, copier lamps in xerographic machines, and lamps in scanners use white light. Therefore, an approach for using the colored light emitted from an LED to generate white light involves using a phosphor layer to absorb some or all of the light emitted from the LED. After the light passes through the phosphor layer, some of the light is absorbed, converted, and emitted in a range of lower wavelengths. Some of the light is transmitted through the phosphor. The combination of the phosphor converted light and the transmitted light is perceived as white.
Conventional devices combining LEDs with phosphor layers to collect and combine the light emitted from the LED to generate white light are known. Some conventional solutions use total internal reflection to collect the light generated from the LED, as disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0117125, which requires optical alignment and surfaces which must remain free of contact in order to provide the required functionality. Further, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2006/0170335 discloses a device using a reflector cup where the sides of the reflector cup are a rough surface. Additionally, the use of short wave pass filters and long wave pass filters, in addition to the phosphor layers, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,752; U.S. Pat. No. 6,994,453; and U.S. Pat. No. 7,210,977.
Additionally, conventional devices use refraction to collect and distribute the light from the LED to the phosphor layer, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,108,386, which discloses a non-imaging optical coupler to collect the light from the LED.
Another conventional solution for collecting and distributing light emitted from an LED onto a phosphor surface includes forming a small hollow reflective cavity by rolling a high reflectance film and inserting the rolled film into a molded plastic part, as illustrated in FIG. 1. However, in this solution, since the reflectance film is inserted into the molded plastic part, it is difficult to adopt a consistent configuration within the cavity. Further, the film may become twisted and folded preventing efficient collection of light from the LED.
Drawbacks of the above-discussed conventional devices and methods for collecting and distributing light emitted from an LED onto a phosphor surface include difficulty in obtaining consistent geometry when using the rolled film and difficulty of assembly of the hollow reflective cavity. Conventional solutions also require the phosphor surface to be larger in area than the LED emitter surface.

Phosphor illumination optics for LED light sources


An energy-saving hub is connected to an electronic device, an AC power source and a mobile device. The energy-saving hug includes a power supply interface, a power module, an upstream connector, a downstream connector, a main control circuit, and a system circuit. The power supply interface is used to connect to the AC power source, the power module is connected to the power supply interface, the upstream connector and the downstream are connected to the power module, and the main control circuit is connected to the power module and the upstream connector. The system circuit is connected to the upstream connector, the downstream connector and the main control circuit, wherein the system circuit is maintained in a sleep mode. When the energy-saving hub connects to the electronic device or the mobile device, the main control circuit transmits a wake-up signal to the system circuit to wake up the system circuit.

Today, in the energy regulations of related AC power products, such as: the European Union's Energy-Related Products (ErP) Directive and the US Department of Energy (DOE), power supplies with multiple outputs must achieve energy loss of 0.3 W or less under no-load conditions. However, in order to maintain basic functional operations of a hub that combines digital electronic product with an AC power source, its static power loss usually cannot meet the above-mentioned energy regulations, so conventional hubs cannot be sold in the areas where the energy regulations belong. Therefore, in order to achieve a standby state with lower power loss, conventional hubs can reduce power consumption by allowing circuit components of the hub to enter a sleep mode. However, once the circuit components enter the sleep mode, it is not easy to return to the wake-up mode, resulting in the conventional hub being unable to immediately be in a normal working state.
Hence, how to wake up the circuit components from the sleep mode and how to make the hub immediately be in the normal working state, is worthy of consideration for those skilled in this field.


The reactant gas manifolds (12–15) of a PEM fuel cell are modified to provide insulated manifolds (14a) having inner and outer walls (30, 31) closed off by a peripheral wall (35) to provide a chamber (36) which may be filled with a vacuum, a low thermal conductivity gas, a VIP (59) or a GFP (63). Single walled manifolds (14d, 14e) may have VIPs or GFPs inside or outside thereof. An insulation panel (40) similarly has inner and outer walls (42, 43) closed with a peripheral wall (45) so as to form a chamber (46) that may contain a vacuum, a low thermal conductivity gas, a VIP or a GFP. The tie rods 9a may be recessed 50 into the pressure plate 11a of the fuel cell stack to allow a flush surface for the insulation panel 40.

A typical configuration for PEM fuel cells of the type that might be utilized to provide power for electric cars is illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. Typically, a plurality of contiguous fuel cells 7 are pressed together into a stack 8 so as to provide good electrical conductivity and no leakage of fluids, by means of tie rods 9 which draw together pressure plates 11 (sometimes referred to as "end plates"). All four sides of the fuel cell stack 8 are fitted with manifolds 12–15 for the various reactant gases, which are sealed to the stack by means of rubber sealants, gaskets and combinations thereof 18, as is described more fully with respect to FIG. 3 hereinafter. As an example, the manifold 12 may comprise an air inlet and air outlet manifold, the manifold 13 may comprise an air turnaround manifold, the manifold 14 may comprise a fuel inlet and outlet manifold, and a manifold 15 may comprise a fuel turnaround manifold. In addition, there may be a coolant inlet 20 which would feed an internal coolant manifold (not shown) and a coolant outlet 21, for coolant exiting from the internal coolant manifold. The coolant manifold may also be part of an external manifold configuration.
In the general case, vehicles must be able to be operated, parked and reoperated in ambient temperatures which fall below the freezing point of water. It is known that boot strap starts (without preheating) of fuel cell stacks from temperatures of about −20° C. cause a degradation of fuel cell performance, and many boot strap starts from freezing temperatures can render the fuel cell incapable of the performance required to operate a vehicle. In such a case, processes must be performed in order to regenerate the fuel cell and restore its performance.
To isolate a fuel cell from a freezing environment, it is obvious to consider the use of insulation. Typically, in order to prevent a fuel cell stack from reaching 0° C. in 60 hours when shut down in a −20° C. ambient, 9 centimeters of fiberglass insulation or 5 centimeters of closed foam insulation would typically be required. Use of common insulation, such as fiberglass, can more than triple the volume which the fuel cell power plant would occupy in a vehicle. When the fuel cell is to be utilized to provide electric power to a vehicle, the space taken up by the fuel cell's power plant is critical. An adequate amount of closed cell foam would approximately double the volume that a fuel cell power plant would occupy in a vehicle. It has been determined that the volumes with insulation described above are intolerable for fuel cell power plants in vehicles.

Reducing PEM fuel cell hard freeze cycles


The image processing method includes acquiring an input image produced by an image pickup system including at least one imaging optical system and causing light rays from a same point in an object space to respectively enter different image pickup pixels depending on light ray passing areas of a pupil through which the respective light rays pass, performing a shaping process including at least one of an image restoration process to restore a degraded image and a luminance estimation process to estimate a luminance of a saturated area, a reconstruction process to reconstruct a new image different from the input image, and performing a blur addition process to add an image blur component to an addition target image. The method performs the shaping process before the reconstruction process and the blur addition process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing technique to reconstruct various images using light ray information obtained by image capturing and output reconstructed images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Performing image capturing by introducing light from an imaging optical system to an image sensor through a microlens array or by using a combination of the imaging optical system and the image sensor (that is, an image pickup apparatus) can provide light ray information including intensities or directions of light rays from respective points in an object space. An image processing technique has been proposed which reconstructs, by using the light ray information, an image on which adjustment of a focus position, a depth of field or a viewpoint direction is performed. Ren Ng and seven others, "light field photography with a hand-held plenoptic camera", Stanford Tech Report CTSR 2005-02A discloses a method "Light Field Photography" that acquires information on positions and angles (directions) of light rays from an object and reconstructs an image focused on an arbitrary position or an image viewed from an arbitrary viewpoint direction using the acquired information.
In general, image capturing using a wide-angle lens or image capturing using an image pickup apparatus with a small image sensor can provide, due to its short focal length, an image with a large depth of field (that is, an entirely in-focus image). In addition, image capturing with a narrowed aperture also can provide an image with a large depth of field. An image process (hereinafter referred to as "a blur addition process") is sometimes performed on such images to intentionally add a blur (image blur component) thereto in order to emphasize a main object or soften atmosphere of the image.
Blurs appearing in images include a blur caused by defocus generated due to a position of an object whose distance is different from an in-focus distance and a blur caused by aberration or diffraction in an optical system. The above-mentioned blur which is intentionally added to the image is the blur caused by defocus (hereinafter simply referred to as "a blur" or "a defocus blur").
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-159357 discloses a technique which introduces light from an imaging optical system to an image sensor through a microlens array to obtain data of multiple pixels and performs weighting on the data corresponding to viewpoint directions to reconstruct an image in which a depth of field is adjusted or an image in which various blurs are expressed. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-18438 discloses an image pickup apparatus which acquires images having different blurs added thereto at a same time using multiple cameras having imaging optical systems with different optical characteristics.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-159357 controls a shape of the blur in the reconstruction to express the various blurs. The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-18438 expresses the different blurs on a basis of image information obtained by the multiple cameras. However, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2009-159357 and 2003-18438, a size of the blur to be expressed is defined depending on an F-number of the imaging optical system, and a blur addition process as an image process to add to an image a blur whose size corresponds to an F-number smaller than the F-number of the imaging optical system is not disclosed.
Moreover, the blur addition process has the following problems. A first problem is caused by an optical characteristic of an imaging optical system. An image obtained by image capturing includes more than a little blur caused by the above-mentioned aberration or diffraction in the imaging optical system, regardless of a defocus amount, a size of an image sensor and a focal length. Adding the defocus blur to such an image including the blur caused by the aberration or diffraction makes it difficult to express a natural blur.
For example, when a defocus blur with a circularly symmetric shape is added to an image of an object as a point light source shown in FIG. 18A, a natural blur is obtained as shown in FIG. 18B. However, for example, when the circularly symmetric defocus blur is added to an image in which a blur occurs due to coma aberration as shown in FIG. 18C, an unnatural blur is obtained as shown in FIG. 18D.
A second problem arises when a blur is added to a luminance saturated area. FIG. 19A shows a luminance distribution of one section of the luminance saturated area. A saturation value in FIG. 19A is a maximum luminance value which can be expressed by a digital image. When a blur is added to the luminance saturated area shown in FIG. 19A, a gentle curve-shaped luminance distribution shown in FIG. 19B is obtained. FIG. 19C shows a luminance distribution of an image captured under a condition that an F-number is less than that shown in FIG. 19A. The luminance distribution of the blur shown in FIG. 19B is less than that shown in FIG. 19C. That is, it is impossible to express a blur in the luminance saturated area of the image captured under the condition that the F-number is small, only by adding the blur to the luminance saturated area.

Image processing method, image processing apparatus, image pickup apparatus, and storage medium storing image processing program


A method, and DNA constructs useful therein, is provided for producing plasminogen activator in bacteria. Particular constructs are provided comprising a coding sequence for tissue plasminogen activator and the leader peptide thereof, which is used to transform E. coli to produce protein having activity of tissue plasminogen activator.

The present invention is directed to methods for expressing plasminogen activator in bacteria, to DNA vectors useful therein, and to protein products expressed thereby.
Blockage of blood flow in the circulatory system by the formation of blood clots is a major cause of diseases and death. The most serious problems occur when blood flow is cut off to the heart (heart attack), to the brain (stroke) or to the lungs (pulmonary embolism). To combat these problems, a group of biological compounds called the plasminogen activators functions to destroy blood clots through what is known as the fibrinolytic system. Through various mechanisms, the plasminogen activators generate the active enzyme plasmin, which in turn degrades the fibrin network of a clot to form soluble products. The two drugs which are commercially available for thrombolytic therapy which function as plasminogen activators are streptokinase, a bacterial protein, and urokinase, a serine protease isolated from human urine. Both of these drugs, however, suffer from a major drawback: they are not specific for blood clots. In addition to fibrin, they destroy such blood proteins as fibrinogen prothrombin, Factor V and Factor VIII, which may result in internal hemorrhage as a side effect of treatment. Therefore, administration of streptokinase and urokinase is usually performed by direct insertion to the site of the clot via a catheter. Since this procedure is rather intricate, it is rarely used. On the other hand, the plasminogen activators have been extracted from normal and tumor tissues and are presently classified according to the source from which they are derived: the urokinase-type plasminogen activators (uPA) and the tissue type plasminogen activators (tPA). It appears that the tPA has a higher affinity for fibrin compared to the uPA group of activators. It would thus be desirable to prepare tPA by genetic engineering techniques in order to increase the supply and variety of available tPAs.
Complementary DNA (cDNA) sequences encoding human tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) have been cloned and expressed in E. coli by Pennica, et al. (Nature 301: 214-221, 1983) and by Goeddel, et al. (European Patent Application Publication No. 93,619). In each of these cases, the tPA produced by the host cells was recovered through cell lysis and extraction under harsh conditions, i.e., 6M guanidine hydrochloride. The guanidine hydrochloride must subsequently be removed to permit renaturation of the protein. Goeddel, et al. show partial processing to the two-chain form of the tPA molecule, which could be inhibited by the addition of protease inhibitor.
Production of foreign proteins in bacterial cells is often hampered by difficulties in extracting the desired product from the cells. One potential solution to this problem is to direct the transformed bacterial cells to secrete the foreign protein by employing a leader peptide, but results are unpredictable. There have been attempts to produce and secrete mature foreign proteins in transformed bacterial cells using bacterial secretion signals or fused pre-sequences. Correct processing to remove the pre-sequence (bacterial or fused) has not been observed, except for limited success with some fused prepeptides. In order to obtain the desired mature foreign protein, additional (in vitro) processing is generally necessary.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide methods for producing mature single chain tPA in bacteria which is advantageously extracted from the cells.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide DNA vectors which are useful for expressing tPA in E. coli.
It is yet another object of the present invention to produce in E. coli a protein having the activity of human tPA.

Expression of tissue-type plasminogen activator in bacteria


A bicycle hub is made of shaped sheet metal. The bicycle hub comprises two flanges (6, 7) which are located at end sections (3, 4) of the hub. The flanges (6, 7) comprise holes (11) for accommodating spokes, and are bent radially outwards and held at a distance from one another by a sleeve (5; 50). The end sections (3, 4) further comprise internal ball tracks (8). The end sections (3, 4) are designed such that each of the end sections (3, 4) is formed as a double wall comprising an inner wall and a closely fitting and abutting outer wall at least in the ball track area (8), whereby the flange (6, 7) is attached to the outer wall.

Bicycle hubs, especially those that have internal gear teeth for a backpedal brake with freewheel as well as internal gear teeth as the mating part for a hub gear, have until now been forged from a tube and finished by machining. The conventional method for producing a bicycle hub comprises steps of provisioning internal gear teeth and drilling holes in formed flanges, into which spokes are then mounted. Internal ball tracks at the ends of the bicycle hub are also finished by machining, specifically by turning.
These machining operations require considerable effort, which leads to correspondingly high finishing costs. Consequently, known bicycle hubs are exceptionally expensive when compared with other parts of a bicycle.
Furthermore, these forged bicycle hubs are relatively heavy, as their wall must be sufficiently thick to be shaped by means of forging and machining. However, this relatively high weight is contrary to a general desire to make bicycle parts as light weight as possible.
In order to avoid these disadvantages, it is recommended in DE 2906627 C2 (also published as U.S. Pat. No. 4,351,569) that a bicycle hub be formed as a sheet metal part with two hub elements, each of which is manufactured by deep drawing. Both the hub elements are connected to one another either by positive locking or bonding, whereby pressing or riveting is recommended for achieving positive locking, and adhesion or welding for bonding.
Deformation is necessary for pressing, which can affect the concentricity of the bicycle hub. Welding on the other hand leads to warping of the hub elements, which can only be rectified by subsequent straightening. In either case, additional cost-increasing operations are necessary in order to connect the two hub elements with one another.
Furthermore, the usual construction leads to the ball tracks having different diameters, which leads to drawbacks with respect to usage. In particular, it is not possible to use either of the hub elements as the base for different hub gears mounted on the inside of a bicycle hub.
Any desired optimization in the bicycle hub's weight is restricted by the loads arising in the ball track area during running, which requires the hub elements to have a certain wall thickness. This wall thickness is substantially constant across known bicycle hubs, i.e. the wall thickness is determined only by the load discussed above.
Another drawback of known bicycle hub is that both the wheel flanges are different with regard to their distance from the respective front side of the bicycle hub, such that one end of the bicycle hub projects outward beyond the attached spokes.
Both flanges shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,997,145 are affixed to the sleeve of the bicycle hub also mainly by welding or soldering. To this extent, the aforementioned drawbacks that arise from bonding also arise with this bicycle hub.

Bicycle hub and method for the production thereof


A fuel cell stack of at least two fuel cells, each fuel cell having a unitized electrode assembly (UEA) including a membrane electrode assembly (MEA), a sub-gasket and gas diffusion media (DM), and positioned between modified stamped field-flow plates. The sub-gasket frames the MEA resulting in an overlap area between the MEA and the inner perimeter of the sub-gasket. The UEA is disposed between a pair of stamped flow-field plates which align in adjacent fuel cells to form a bipolar plate. The bipolar plate has an active region, an overlap region and a seal region. The active region is configured with channel and land features which provide reactant flow channels and coolant passages for the fuel cell. The configuration of features in the overlap region, however, is modified from the configuration in the active region so that the overlap region may sustain sufficient mechanical sealing pressure, and to prevent coolant and reactant bypass without impeding coolant and reactant flow in the active area. Modified channel and land feature configurations for the overlap region are exemplified.

Hydrogen is a very attractive fuel because it is clean and can be used to efficiently produce electricity in a fuel cell. A hydrogen fuel cell is an electro-chemical device that includes an anode and a cathode separated by an electrolyte. The anode receives hydrogen gas and the cathode receives oxygen, typically via an air flow. The hydrogen gas is dissociated at the anode to generate free hydrogen protons and electrons. The hydrogen protons pass through the electrolyte to the cathode. The hydrogen protons react with the oxygen and the electrons in the cathode to generate water. The electrons from the anode cannot pass through the electrolyte, and thus are directed through a load to perform work before being sent to the cathode.
Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) are a popular fuel cell for vehicles. In a PEMFC, the electrolyte may be a solid polymer electrolyte proton conducting membrane, such as a perfluorosulfonic acid membrane. The anode and cathode typically include finely divided catalytic particles, usually platinum (Pt), supported on carbon particles and mixed with an ionomer. The catalytic mixture is deposited on opposing sides of the membrane. The combination of the anode catalytic mixture, the cathode catalytic mixture and the membrane define a membrane electrode assembly (MEA). MEAs require certain conditions for effective operation.
Several fuel cells are typically combined in a fuel cell stack to generate the desired power. For example, a typical fuel cell stack for a vehicle may have two hundred or more stacked fuel cells. The fuel cell stack receives a cathode input gas, typically a flow of air forced through the stack by a compressor. Not all of the oxygen is consumed by the stack and some of the air is output as a cathode exhaust gas that may include water as a stack by-product. The fuel cell stack also receives an anode hydrogen input gas that flows into the anode side of the stack.
The fuel cell stack includes a series of bipolar plates positioned between the several MEAs in the stack, where the bipolar plates and the MEAs are positioned between two end plates. In one preferred form, the bipolar plates include an anode side and a cathode side for adjacent fuel cells in the stack. Anode gas flow channels are provided on the anode side of the bipolar plates that allow the anode reactant gas to flow to the respective MEA. Cathode gas flow channels are provided on the cathode side of the bipolar plates that allow the cathode reactant gas to flow to the respective MEA. One end plate includes anode gas flow channels, and the other end plate includes cathode gas flow channels. The bipolar plates and end plates are made of a conductive material, such as stainless steel or a conductive composite. The end plates conduct the electricity generated by the fuel cells out of the stack. The bipolar plates may also include flow channels through which a cooling fluid flows.
Various techniques are known in the art for fabricating the bipolar plates. In one design, the bipolar plates are made of a composite material, such as graphite, where two plate halves are separately molded and then glued together so that anode flow channels are provided at one side of one of the plate halves, cathode flow channels are provided at an opposite side of the other plate half and cooling fluid flow channels are provided between the plate halves. In another design, two separate plate halves are stamped and then welded together so that anode flow channels are provided at one side of one of the plate halves, cathode flow channels are provided at an opposite side of the other plate half and cooling fluid flow channels are provided between the plate halves.
As is well understood in the art, the membranes within a fuel cell need to have a certain relative humidity so that the ionic resistance across the membrane is low enough to effectively conduct protons. During operation of the fuel cell, moisture from the MEAs and external humidification may enter the anode and cathode flow channels. At low cell power demands, typically below 0.2 A/cm2, the water may accumulate within the flow channels because the flow rate of the reactant gas is too low to force the water out of the channels. As the water accumulates, it forms droplets that continue to expand because of the relatively hydrophobic nature of the plate material. The droplets form in the flow channels substantially perpendicular to the flow of the reactant gas. As the size of the droplets increases, the flow channel is closed off, and the reactant gas is diverted to other flow channels because the channels are in parallel between common inlet and outlet manifolds. Because the reactant gas may not flow through a channel that is blocked with water, the reactant gas cannot force the water out of the channel. Those areas of the membrane that do not receive reactant gas as a result of the channel being blocked will not generate electricity, thus resulting in a non-homogenous current distribution and reducing the overall efficiency of the fuel cell. As more and more flow channels are blocked by water, the electricity produced by the fuel cell decreases, where a cell voltage potential less than 200 mV is considered a cell failure. Because a typical stack may be configured to have at least some of the fuel cells electrically coupled in series, if one of the fuel cells stops performing, the operation of the entire fuel cell stack may be jeopardized.
A fuel cell stack typically includes a seal that extends around the active area of the fuel cells between the stack headers and the active area for each fuel cell to prevent gas leakage from the stack. Therefore, in order to get the cathode flow, the anode flow and the cooling fluid flow from the respective inlet header into the active area of the fuel cell, it is necessary for the flow channels to go through the seal area without affecting seal integrity. Typically holes or tunnels are provided through the bipolar plate around the seals, which requires a bend in the flow channels so that they line up with the flow channels in the active area. This bend in the cathode and anode flow channels provided an area that water could accumulate and be trapped which has a tendency to close the flow channel and reduce the flow of reactant gas thereto. Therefore, a better technique for traversing the seal area of the fuel cell stack is needed.
A common configuration for the Unitized Electrode Assembly, UEA, of a fuel cell has an overlap region between a thrifted membrane (a membrane sized to fit short of the plate perimeter seal) and sub-gasket (a "window frame" of polymer film such as polyethylene naphthalate, PEN) at the perimeter of the active area. Membrane thrifting is done for a few reasons: 1) the membrane material is not compatible to be in contact with the seal or plate material due to its high acidity, so the membrane needs to be covered or separated by a plastic film in the fuel cell seal region; 2) the membrane material is expensive, so by thrifting the membrane material from the perimeter of the cell, less membrane material is required; 3) the membrane material is not compatible with water-glycol coolant due to high membrane swelling, so the membrane needs to be pulled in from the coolant header. However, this configuration creates an interface between the membrane and sub-gasket at the perimeter of the active area that must be sealed. In particular, it is important that the active area perimeter along the flow-directional edge be sealed, whereas it is important that coolant, anode and cathode flow along the perimeter of the active region orthogonal to the flow-directional edge not be impeded as they traverse the overlap region. Due to the composition and dimensional change with hydration of the membrane, adhesive bonding between the membrane and sub-gasket is not reliable. To ensure reliable sealing in this overlap region, mechanical pressure is necessary.
In this regard, stamped plate design poses greater challenges than molded plate design as the stamped features are necessarily reflected on both sides of the stamped plate half. For molded plates, regions can be filled with solid composite material as needed. For example, the land of a stamped plate always creates a coolant channel behind it, while a molded plate can be solid to avoid creating coolant channels where they are not desired. Another consideration is that providing good mechanical support in the overlap region is more critical for fuel cells using thinner diffusion media (DM), as thinner DM is less able to distribute compression load across channel spans. Thinner DM is desirable to reduce the size of the fuel cell which is particularly important for packaging into automotive applications. Hence, an improved seal design is needed for sealing the perimeter of an active area of a fuel cell manufactured with stamped plates.

Sealing design for stamped plate fuel cells


The method of treating a leukotriene-mediated disease which is treatable by inhibition of 5-lipoxygenase includes administering a therapeutically effective amount of 2,4,6-triiodophenol, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt or solvate thereof, for 5-lipoxygenase inhibition, together with an adequate amount of pharmaceutically acceptable excipients, diluents or carriers to the patient suffering from the disease. The diseases treated advantageously include, among others, herpes and gastrointestinal, respiratory, skin and/or ocular inflammatory diseases.

The present invention refers to the use in human and veterinary medicine of some 2,4-disubstituted phenol derivatives that, due to their surprisingly high 5-lipoxygenase inhibiting activity and to their low toxicity, are specially useful for the preparation of medicaments for the treatment of the numerous leukotriene-mediated diseases.
Cyclooxygenase inhibitors have been used in therapy for a long time, specially those referred to as non-steroidal antiinflammatory agents, such as aspirin, indomethacin, ibuprofen or piroxicam. It is known today that these products, by inhibiting the cyclooxygenase enzyme, prevent or make difficult the conversion of arachidonic acid into prostaglandins and thromboxanes. Unfortunately, the majority of these antiinflammatory agents present more or less severe adverse side effects, mostly of gastrointestinal type; therefore the research for new products with antiinflammatory activity still goes on.
Recently it has been found that 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO in the following) is an essential enzyme for the conversion of arachidonic acid into leukotrienes, and the later compounds and their metabolites play an important role in the genesis and development of numerous diseases. In the biomedical literature of the last years there are hundreds of publications which, with more or less evidence, associate leukotrienes with various diseases, including the following: musculoskeletal and inflammated joints diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, ostheoarthritis, juvenile arthritis, gout, arthrosis, discoespondilitis, bursitis, tendinitis, equine cauda . . . ); inflammatory diseases of the gastrointestinal tract (ulcerative colitis, Crohn disease, gastritis, chronic intestinal disease, rectitis, linphoplasmocitary enteritis . . . ); diseases involving inflammation of the respiratory tract (asthma, dyspnea, bronchitis, allergic rhinitis, adult respiratory distress syndrome . . . ); septic shock and shocks attributable to trauma, to ischemia of the gastrointestinal tract, to hemorrhage or to endotoxin; inflammatory diseases of the skin (psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis, leishmaniosis . . . ), diseases involving ocular inflammation (idiopathic keratitis, dry keratoconjuntivitis . . . ), as well as diseases attributable to allergies or hypersensitivity. The full knowledge of the mechanism of action of the leukotrienes and their metabolites is not yet fully known, and new therapeutic applications for 5-LO inhibitors are constantly being discovered. For example, as they substantially influence the organism, in some cases 5-LO inhibitors improve the defense mechanisms against the development or reoccurrence (metastasis) of cancerous tumors, or against the development of diseases involving microorganisms; therefore it is not surprising that the activity of 5-LO inhibitors is observed symptomatically in vivo but not in vitro.
The therapeutic interest in 5-LO inhibitors is quite high mainly because many of the diseases in which they are potentially useful still do not have satisfactory treatments. This is the case, for example, of asthma, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, osteoarthritis or herpes, diseases which chronically affect a large part of the population and which still do not have a satisfactory therapy.
As a consequence of the previously stated, in the last years numerous pharmaceutical companies have been interested in the research and development of drugs with 5-LO inhibiting activity, as illustrated by dozens of patent applications published on the subject, and by the fact that more than 30 products with this activity appear in the databases on pharmaceutical products under development. However it is highly significant that, despite the high therapeutical interest of products with this activity, and despite the great efforts placed on their research and development, no satisfactory 5-LO inhibitor agent has reached the market yet, with the exception of ketaconozale and related products. This fact clearly indicates that there is a high difficulty involved in the development of such a product, what can be due to some of the following reasons: Some products, such as nordihydroguayaretic acid (NDGA), are very active but not enough specific (NDGA is a potent 5-LO inhibitor, but it is also inhibitor of all dioxygenases, and therefore cannot be used therapeutically). Other products, such as benoxaprofen and lonapalene, although they have been developed as 5-LO inhibitors, in practice they have turned out to be much too toxic (for this reason benoxaprofen was withdrawn, after having been commercialized). Others products, such as ketaconozale, although they have an acceptable toxical degree for an sporadic administration (in fact ketaconozale is being used as a fungicide), they are not acceptable for a chronic administration. Finally, other products have proved not to be active enough. Summarizing, there is no a good solution yet to the problem of having products that, showing a good 5-LO inhibiting activity, are little toxic and pharmaceutically viable.
The present invention provides a group of such products, all of which are derivatives of 2,4-disubstituted phenols, thus satisfactorily solving the above-mentioned problem. Several products of the present invention are chemically known in the literature, while others are completely new, although easy to prepare from available reactants. In either case, their 5-LO inhibiting activity has not been previously disclosed, and nothing in the previous art makes this activity obvious.
Patents EP 190.683, EP 235.575 and EP 372.409 mention 5-LO inhibiting activity for some 2,6-di-tert-butyl and 2,6-diphenyl phenol derivatives which are not included in the present invention. Patent EP 334.119 discloses as 5-LO inhibitors a group of phenols with a substituted vinyl radical at position 4, not included either in this invention. European patent application EP 147.892 mentions certain analgesic and antiinflammatory activity for a product which is included in the present invention, namely the 2,4,6-triiodophenol. But in this patent no specific leukotriene-mediated disease is mentioned (nothing is said, for instance, about asthma, psoriasis or ulcerative colitis); besides, the comparative tests disclosed in EP 147.892 were done against typical inhibitors of cyclooxygenase, such as indomethacin and aspirin. Therefore this document could suggest to an expert that 2,4,6-triiodophenol has some cyclooxygenase inhibiting activity (what is actually true and easily checked), this activity being typical of common analgesics and non-steroidal antiinflammatory agents. But nothing in that patent or in the common general knowledge teaches or makes obvious that 2,4,6-triiodophenol has one of the highest 5-Lo inhibiting activity ever disclosed. Such a teaching is part the present invention.

Use of 2,4-distributed phenol derivatives as 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors


An electrostatic lens (3), including five cylindrical electrodes (31-35) arrayed along an ion-optical axis (C) and an aperture plate (38) located on a common focal plane of two virtual convex lenses (L1 and L2) formed under an afocal condition, is used as an ion-injecting optical system for sending ions into an orthogonal acceleration unit. The diameter of a restriction aperture (39) formed in the aperture plate (38) determines the angular spread of an exit ion beam. When voltages for making the electrostatic lens (3) function as an afocal system are set, a measurement with high mass-resolving power can be performed at a slight sacrifice of the sensitivity. When voltages for making the lens function as a non-afocal system having the highest ion-passage efficiency are set, a measurement with high sensitivity can be performed at a slight sacrifice of the resolving power.

In a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (which is hereinafter abbreviated as "TOFMS"), a specific amount of kinetic energy is imparted to ions originating from sample components to make the ions fly over a specific length of space. The period of time required for the flight is measured for each ion, and the mass-to-charge ratio of each ion is determined from the time of flight of that ion. Therefore, one of the major causes of a decrease in the mass-resolving power in the TOFMS is a variation in the initial energy of the ions. To address this problem, a reflectron-type TOFMS includes a reflectron having the function of correcting the difference in the kinetic energy of the ions. Though no detailed description will hereinafter be made, a commonly known, dual-stage reflectron is capable of up to the second-order energy focusing (i.e. the distribution of the time of flight can be corrected up to the second-order derivative of the energy). Therefore, even if there is a certain amount of variation in the kinetic energy of the ions, the reflectron can correct that variation and focus the ions within a certain range of time of flight, thus preventing the deterioration in the mass-resolving power.
Another cause of the deterioration in the mass-resolving power is the turn-around time which occurs in a system that captures ions in an ion trap or similar device and imparts an amount of acceleration energy to the captured ions to bring them into flight. When ions are accelerated in the time-of-flight analysis direction, an ion having a velocity component opposite to the time-of-flight analysis direction due to its initial energy consumes a certain amount of time to return to the starting point after departing from the starting point. This is the turn-around time. It corresponds to the time-of-flight difference between an ion having a forward velocity component with respect to the time-of-flight analysis direction and an ion having an opposite velocity component. Accordingly, in a broad sense, the turn-around time can also be regarded as a resultant of the variation in the initial energy of the ions. However, the error due to the turn-around time cannot be corrected by a reflectron. Therefore, how to reduce the influence of the turn-around time is an essential problem for the mass-resolving power of the TOFMS.
One technique for solving this problem is an orthogonal acceleration TOFMS in which ions are accelerated in a direction orthogonal to the incident direction of an ion beam and sent into a time-of-flight analysis space (for example, see Patent Document 1 or Non-Patent Document 1). FIG. 11 is a schematic configuration diagram of an orthogonal ion acceleration unit and an ion-injecting optical system located before that unit in an orthogonal acceleration TOFMS.
An orthogonal acceleration unit 4 includes a plate electrode 41 and a mesh electrode 42 having a large number of openings for allowing ions to pass through, and an ion-injecting optical system 300 including a beam-restricting mechanism consisting of two slit plates (or aperture plates) 301 and 302 separated by a predetermined gap L. In this figure, the initial direction of the ion beam entering the accelerating region between the electrodes 41 and 42 is the X direction, while the accelerating direction (i.e. the time-of-flight analysis direction) is the Z-direction orthogonal to the X-direction. When ions are injected from the beam-restricting mechanism into the orthogonal acceleration unit 4, the electrodes 41 and 42 are at the same potential (e.g. ground potential) and no electric field is present in the accelerating region. When an adequate amount of ions have been injected, a high-voltage pulse having the same polarity as the ions is applied to the plate electrode 41, whereby an accelerating electric field is created in the accelerating region, imparting a large amount of kinetic energy to the ions. As a result, the ions begin to fly, passing through the openings of the mesh electrode 42.
A time-of-flight distribution in the orthogonal acceleration unit 4 is hereinafter discussed.
An initial energy Ez of the ions in the time-of-flight analysis direction is given by Ez=E sin2α, where E is the amount of energy of an ion beam entering the orthogonally accelerating region and α is the angle to the X axis of the beam. The higher the initial energy Ez is, the larger the time-of-flight distribution due to the aforementioned turn-around time is. To decrease the initial energy Ez, it is necessary to reduce the amount of energy E and the angle α. The beam-restricting mechanism is aimed at limiting this angle α to a small value. In the example of FIG. 11, the angular spread of the beam is given by α=tan−1(h/L), where L is the gap between the two slit plates 301 and 302, and h is the aperture width of the slit plate 302. Therefore, it is possible to decrease the angle α of the ion beam and reduce the dispersion in the initial energy of the ions within an allowable range by appropriately setting the gap L and the aperture width h.
In a system described in Patent Document 1 and other documents, an electrostatic lens which is an aperture lens is provided between an ion trap and a beam-restricting mechanism in order to efficiently introduce ions released from the ion trap. Such a combination of the electrostatic lens in the form of an aperture lens and a beam-restricting mechanism consisting of a pair of slit plates have been widely used in practical systems.
However, the previously described conventional configuration has the following problem:
In the aforementioned beam-restricting mechanism, a considerable portion of the ion-beam flux collides with and is blocked by the slit plate. Therefore, the amount of ions actually used for the time-of-flight analysis is considerably smaller than the original amount, so that the measurement sensitivity inevitably deteriorates. To improve the measurement sensitivity, it is necessary to increase the aperture width h of the slit, which, however, increases the angle α of the beam and lowers the mass-resolving power. Thus, there is a trade-off between the mass-resolving power and the measurement sensitivity, and it is unavoidable to sacrifice the measurement sensitivity if a high level of mass-resolving power needs to be achieved.
In the aforementioned conventional configuration, the mass-resolving power is determined by the gap between the two slit plates and the aperture width of the slit. Therefore, for example, when a high-sensitivity measurement must be performed while allowing a slight deterioration of the mass-resolving power, it is necessary to perform a mechanical task, such as replacing the slit plates of the beam-restricting mechanism with the ones having a different aperture width or adjusting the gap of the slit plates. Such a task is cumbersome and time-consuming. Furthermore, a mechanism which allows such a mechanical adjustment or replacement has a problem in terms of reliability.


A vacuum actuated and sustained ammonia feed system for the pH adjustment of power plant condensate and boiler feed water is described. This system can provide a safe means of providing anhydrous ammonia for pH adjustment to the condensate/feed water system of a power plant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of pH control, and more specifically to a vacuum operated boiler condensate/feed water pH adjustment system using anhydrous ammonia.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known to use ammonia to control the pH of demineralized water in a condensate and feed (condensate/feed) water system of power plants. For example, in one conventional system, aqueous ammonia is fed into the condensate/feed water system via chemical feed pumps to adjust the pH. In another conventional system, anhydrous ammonia is fed into the water flow via mass flow meters from pressurized tanks. Both of these systems will adjust the pH. Thus, while using both aqueous and anhydrous ammonia is known to control pH, neither of these systems can perform the task of controlling the pH in a safe manner, while using a contaminate-free ammonia solution.
There are at least two problems with using aqueous ammonia to adjust the pH of condensate/feed water systems. First, a reagent can become contaminated. In the production of aqueous ammonia, gas is bubbled through water to form the aqueous solution. If the water used in the process is not pure, the contaminates can become a part of the ammonia solution. These contaminates can, and often will, cause problems within power plant systems.
A second problem with using aqueous ammonia to adjust the pH is the low boiling point of aqueous ammonia. For instance, 30% aqueous ammonia will boil at 83 degrees Fahrenheit. The combination of a high ammonia concentration and moderately high environmental temperatures often causes the ammonia within the pump to vaporize, rendering the pump inoperable.
Using a pressurized anhydrous ammonia feed system does not have the same problems as those associated with using aqueous solutions, but can increase the risk of a catastrophic ammonia release due to a pipe or fitting leak. Such a release can have disastrous consequences to plant operating staff as well as nearby populations, as ammonia is a toxic gas.
An example of a conventional power plant water conditioning system includes that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,290 to Uetake et al., which discloses a reactor water control method in a boiling water reactor (BWR) power plant, wherein the BWR power plant has a low radioactivity concentration reactor water and fuel clad tube for the BWR. Uetake et al. discloses a method of controlling the pH of reactor water in the initial stage of an operation cycle after loading new fuel roads, in a range greater than 7 and less than 9, and, after a predetermined period in the same operation cycle, can reduce the pH of the reactor water below 7. Uetake et al. teaches the use of Be, Zr, Al, Nb, Y and Ti (Beryllium, Zirconium, Aluminum, Niobium, Yttrium, and Titanium) to be fed into the reactor water for pH adjustment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,810 to Clark et al. discloses a corrosion control system for wet oxidation systems. Clark et al. discloses a process for controlling corrosion in a wet oxidation system by controlling the operating pH range within the system. A pH operating range is selected within which corrosion to the wet oxidation system preferably is minimized. The pH within the wet oxidation system is monitored, and a pH adjusting material is added to the waste material being treated to maintain the system pH within the selected pH range, accordingly minimizing corrosion. Clark et al. discloses the generation of wet oxidation by ammonia, amines, or carbon dioxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,449 to Peterson et al. discloses the inhibition of radioactive cobalt deposition in water-cooled nuclear reactors. Peterson et al. discloses the effective inhibition of radioactive cobalt deposition may be achieved by the continuous addition of zinc oxide to the water entering a water-bearing vessel of the reactor throughout the operation of the reactor. Accordingly, this system can provide steady control of radioactive cobalt accumulation, as well as efficient use of zinc oxide. Thus, Peterson et al. teaches the addition of zinc oxide to the water supply.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,564 to Aizawa et al. discloses the suppression of the deposition of radioactive substances in BWRs, particularly in a nuclear power plant. The Aizawa et al. method for suppressing deposition of radioactive substances onto the surfaces of out-of-core components in a boiling water-type, nuclear power plant is characterized by injecting an alkaline element into reactor water in the presence of an amount of the oxygen formed by nuclear fission of the reactor water and dissolved in the reactor water, particularly without hydrogen gas injection, during the nuclear heat up operation period of a boiling water-type nuclear power plant. The reactor water containing the injected alkaline element is circulated through the primary cooling water system of a nuclear reactor, thereby forming an oxide film on the surfaces of out-of-core components in the primary cooling water system of the nuclear power plant.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,087 to Roland discloses a water treating device. Roland teaches a device for treating water by controlled injections of bromine. A bromine storage vessel communicates with a dilution vessel-suction pump, which continuously circulates water to be treated therethrough to maintain a negative pressure in the storage vessel. A dosing means communicates with the vessel to intermittently transmit predetermined amounts of brominated water to the dilution vessel.
Therefore, it can be seen that a need yet exists for a pH adjustment system that limits or eliminates vapor locking issues, limits or eliminates contamination of condensate issues, and provides a safe means of pH adjustment to the condensate/feed water system of a power plant. It is to the provision of such a system, preferably, a vacuum actuated and sustained ammonia feed system for the pH adjustment of power plant condensate and boiler feed water, that the present invention is primarily directed.

Vacuum actuated anhydrous ammonia feed system for pH adjustment of boiler condensate/feed water


In a device for sealing the gap between the rotor blades and the casing (2) of a turbomachine, configured with a conical profile (28), the rotor blades (6) are provided with circumferential shroud plates (11), which seal by serrations (12, 13, 14, 15) against the casing with the formation of radial gaps (16, 17, 18). The shroud plate (11), which is arranged at the end of the blade, has four throttle locations relative to the casing, the inlet end throttle location bounding a diagonal gap (19) and the outlet end throttle location forming a radial gap (16).

1. Field of the invention
The invention concerns a device for sealing the gap between the rotor blades and the casing of a turbomachine, configured with a conical profile, in which the rotor blades are provided with circumferential shroud plates, which seal by means of serrations against the casing with the formation of radial gaps.
2. Discussion of Background
Devices of this type are known. They consist essentially of shroud plates with serrations running in the circumferential direction and sealing against the casing or against a honeycomb arrangement. They form a see-through or a stepped labyrinth with purely radial gaps. As a rule, these shroud plates extend over the whole of the blade axial chord. A known sealing configuration of this type, having two sealing serrations, is represented by the first stage rotor blades in FIG. 1, which will be described later.
A disadvantage with these sealing configurations are the two large vortex spaces which are formed in front of and behind the serrations and result in a large dissipation. In addition, the open spaces render the cooling of the shroud plates more difficult.


The techniques introduced here include a system and method for transcoding multimedia content based on the results of content analysis. The determination of specific transcoding parameters, used for transcoding multimedia content, can be performed by utilizing the results of content analysis of the multimedia content. One of the results of the content analysis is the determination of image type of any images included in the multimedia content. The content analysis uses one or more of several techniques, including analyzing content metadata, examining colors of contiguous pixels in the content, using histogram analysis, using compression distortion analysis, analyzing image edges, or examining user provided inputs. Transcoding the multimedia content can include adapting the content to the constraints in delivery and display, processing and storage of user computing devices.

The internet and other network structures are widely used to distribute rich multimedia content using a variety of computing devices. However, the capabilities of the devices to access, process and display the content vary widely. Given the wide plethora of device types used in such communication, it is difficult for content publishers to anticipate and accommodate the different capabilities of receiving devices. In one known method, multiple versions of the content are generated from a primary version of the content, and one of the versions is selected for transmission to a given device based on the perceived capabilities of the given device. In some instances, the primary version is transcoded or otherwise manipulated based on constraints in display, processing, storage, and other such parameters of client devices targeted for receiving the content. Known transcoding schemes utilize various data compression and media conversion schemes to convert the primary content based on a receiving device's constraints. However, these schemes do not effectively account for inherent characteristics of the primary content.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and systems for differentiating synthetic and non-synthetic images