A flexible, composite unitary belt for forming spaced intervals in a stuffed casing, and method therefore, the belt cooperating with another belt to pinch the stuffed casing. The belt comprises a body forming a continuous loop and having at least one embedded flexible reinforcing member extending throughout. Additionally, the belt has at least one pinching member extending outwardly from the body and positioned to cooperate with a pinching member of another belt to pinch the stuffed casing when fed between the belts and pinched by the pinching members.

In the food industry flowable foods can be contained in a casing or outer sleeve. One example of this is the packaging of meats, such as sausages or frankfurters, where a ground meat product is provided in a flowable state and is inserted into a casing, which results in the final form of the sausages or frankfurters that end up packaged and for sale on the market. A single, unitary casing filled with the flowable food can result in a single cylindrical filled tube. In order to obtain smaller length filled tubes or casings that are more conducive to sale on the retail market, the single filled tube can be pinched at a series of spaced intervals and/or twisted to create dividing points that segregate segments of the product into multiple, linked filled food products having much shorter lengths than the single filled tube.
There are many current ways to carry out the pinching technique that creates an unfilled space within the casing that makes up the spaced interval. One technique is to use a pair of opposing metal pinchers or butterfly links on a pair of rotating belts that can contain a notch therein where the opposite pinchers nest together with one another and tighten around a portion of the filled casing that travels between them. Thus, as the pair of pinchers come together with the filled casing therebetween, they apply enough pressure to evacuate enough of the filled food from an area of the casing to create a space for later twisting. These pinchers can be made of steel and mounted upon a chain link belt to advance the pinchers adjacent to the filled casing traveling in a machine direction between the pair of rotating belts containing the pinchers.
One problem encountered with the use of pinchers on steel chains is that the chains can stretch as they are run at rapid speeds alongside the casings. Accordingly, the chains are often not run at such high speeds, however, at the expense of process efficiency. Another problem with such chains is that they can become stretched, which can create gaps or pinch points between the chains that can catch the casing and undesirably pinch and/or tear the casing.

Apparatus for forming spaced intervals in a stuffed casing and method thereof


A method of implementing fast dynamic channel allocation call admission control for radio link reconfiguration in a wireless communication system includes a pre-code allocation procedure, a signal-independent code allocation procedure, and a post-code allocation procedure. The pre-code allocation procedure receives and processes a request message and retrieves system measurements and wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) capability information from a centralized database. A list of available timeslots and a list of code sets is retrieved from the centralized database. The code sets are allocated to the available timeslots, wherein a successful assignment is a solution. The solution having the lowest weighted interference signal code power is an optimal solution. The WTRU information with new allocation information is updated in the centralized database. A radio link reconfiguration ready message with the results of the code allocation process is then sent.

In wireless communication systems, RRM is generally responsible for utilizing the air interface resources. RRM is used to guarantee quality of service (QoS), to provide efficient use of the radio resources, and to increase system capacity. RRM consists of admission control, handover, power control, and congestion control functionalities. Admission control can be divided into user admission control and call admission control (CAC). User admission control accepts or rejects the radio resource control (RRC) connection requested by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU). CAC accepts or rejects a request to establish or modify a radio access bearer (RAB) in the radio access network (RAN). CAC is located in the controlling radio network controller (C-RNC).
Dynamic channel allocation (DCA) is used to meet the ever increasing cellular traffic demand. There are two DCA functions, slow DCA (S-DCA) and fast DCA (F-DCA). The S-DCA allocates the radio resources to cells, while the F-DCA allocates the radio resources to bearer service. The F-DCA CAC functions are responsible for efficiently allocating or changing the allocations of physical resources. When a request for physical resources is received, the CAC will accept or reject the request based on the availability of physical resources and interference level in the cell. The request can be accepted only if both uplink and downlink CAC admit it. Otherwise, the request is rejected.
For time division duplex (TDD) mode, the radio link setup procedure is used to establish the necessary radio resources for a new radio link related to real time (RT) or non real time (NRT) services. After the radio link is set up, the radio link reconfiguration procedure is used to add, modify, or delete any physical resources for this existing radio link. The F-DCA CAC algorithm is invoked upon receiving the request messages.
In order to guarantee the QoS and minimize the interference, a certain F-DCA CAC algorithm has been currently implemented. But the previous implementation of the F-DCA CAC algorithm has several limitations. One limitation is that it is difficult to be reused by other RRM functions since the main interface function is large, and the inputs to the code allocation function (which forms the core function of the F-DCA CAC algorithm), are dependent on the signal message. A second limitation is that the past implementation of the F-DCA CAC algorithm is generally only suitable for RT service.
It is desirable to provide an optimized implementation of the F-DCA CAC algorithm for radio link reconfiguration which is suitable for RT and NRT service, and which overcomes the disadvantages of the known algorithms.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for implementing fast-dynamic channel allocation call admission control for radio link reconfiguration in radio resource management


An automated side stand for a two wheeled vehicle. A side stand assembly comprises a rotatable strut and an actuator attachable to the frame of a vehicle having two wheels. The actuator operates to rotate the strut between an up position and a down position. In the down position, the strut comes in contact with the ground and maintains the vehicle in a substantially upright position. The side stand assembly may sense when a transmission of the vehicle is in a neutral position and allow operation of the assembly only in neutral. When the vehicle is not in neutral, the actuator moves the strut to the up position and locks the side stand assembly.

A two-wheel vehicle may have a side stand, a center stand, or both, which rotate relative to the vehicle from between a "down" position and an "up" position. When the vehicle rider controls the vehicle motion, the side stand or center stand is usually maintained in the up position. When the rider dismounts from the vehicle, the side stand or center stand is usually maintained in the down position to keep the vehicle in a substantially upright position. In this position, the vehicle typically contacts the ground at three points.
A center stand typically has two points for contacting the ground. While the center stand is deployed in the down position, one of the vehicle wheels rises. The three points of contact of the vehicle with the ground is the one wheel that did not rise and the two contact points of the center stand. The center stand may be designed to have a horizontal bar at the lowermost position where the center stand contacts the ground. In such a case, only two parts of the vehicle, one wheel and the horizontal bar of the center stand, contact the ground.
A side stand generally has one point for contacting the ground. When the side stand is deployed in the down position, the vehicle tilts slightly to the side where the side stand is. In such a case, the vehicle's three points of contact with the ground are the two wheels and the lowermost point of the side stand.
The side stand is typically rotated between the up position and down position by the rider exerting a force with his foot. Hence, the side stand is commonly referred to as a "kick-stand."

Automatic kick stand for two-wheeled vehicle


Apparatus and methods for picking and coring produce heads. A righting mechanism receives and orients planted produce heads, and when a planted head is in a position to be severed, a lift arm and clamp wheel are controlled to position a clamp proximal to the planted head, wherein the planted head is clamped and a severing mechanism severs the planted head from the soil bed. The lift arm and clamp wheel operate to automatically reposition the clamped and severed head proximal to a coring mechanism, and the coring mechanism automatically removes the core of the clamped and severed head.

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for harvesting produce, and more particularly to systems and methods for automatically picking and coring cabbage, head lettuce and other similar produce.
Head lettuce (e.g., iceberg) and cabbage are most often cut using manual labor. This involves an agricultural worker reaching down to the ground and cutting the plant an appropriate distance up from the ground.
In many growing areas in the United States, iceberg lettuce and cabbage are harvested for one of two purposes. The product may be cut from the field and packaged as a whole head and find its way to a fresh market. Alternatively, the heads may be further processed into various precut packaged salad blends, coleslaw, or sauerkraut. Harvesting for the latter is sometimes referred to as "bulk" harvest, as the cut heads are typically collected in large volume bins and further handled as a bulk item. Many salad producers are requiring that field harvesters provide the heads of iceberg or cabbage with the cores removed ("cored"). The core or stem of the plant is considered undesirable for use in salads or coleslaw. The salad producers prefer that the product be pre-cored so that substantially all of the raw product delivered to their processing facility is usable. Hence, there is increasing economic pressure to remove the iceberg and cabbage cores prior to being sent or delivered to the processing plant. There are several cutting devices available to assist the agricultural field workers in removing the core from the plants. Regardless of which current devices are used, however, the entire process is still labor intensive.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide automated systems and methods for picking and coring such produce to enhance efficiency and/or to help reduce reliance on manual labor.

Systems and methods for automatically picking and coring lettuce and cabbage


Provided are a high-quality CMOS image sensor and a photo diode, which can be fabricated in sub-90 nm regime using nanoscale CMOS technology. The photo diode includes: a p-type well; an internal n-type region formed under a surface of the p-type well; and a surface p-type region including a highly doped p-type SiGeC epitaxial layer or a polysilicon layer deposited on a top surface of the p-type well over the internal n-type region. The image sensor includes: a photo diode including an internal n-type region and a surface p-type region; a transfer transistor for transmitting photo-charges generated in the photo diode to a floating diffusion node; and a driving transistor for amplifying a variation in an electric potential of the floating diffusion node due to the photo-charges. The image sensor further includes a floating metal layer for functioning as the floating diffusion node and applying an electric potential from a drain of the transfer transistor to a gate of the driving transistor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a four-transistor CMOS image sensor and, more preferably, to a high-quality sub-90 nm CMOS image sensor and a photo diode.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In high-quality CMOS image sensors (CIS) for data communication terminal devices, CMOS image sensors with three-million-plus pixels are not very sensitive to signals at low exposure. For this reason, the three-million-plus pixel CMOS image sensors are not put to practical use, but are instead replaced by CCD image sensors. However, since the CCD image sensor requires a high voltage of 10V or higher, a nanoscale CMOS circuit cannot be easily applied to the CCD image sensor, so it is difficult to make the CCD image sensor highly integrated. Furthermore, fabrication of the CCD image sensor is incompatible with that of typical CMOS devices. Thus, an image sensor module is bulky because it needs at least three chips, not just one. Additionally, the CCD image sensor consumes at least ten times the power that the CMOS image sensor does, owing to the high voltage, making it unsuitable for portable data terminals.
On the other hand, a CMOS image sensor includes a photo diode and a transistor in each image pixel, as in a typical CMOS device, and thus a conventional CMOS semiconductor fabrication process can be applied to fabrication of the CMOS image sensor without making any changes. Therefore, in contrast to the CCD image sensor requiring an additional chip with an image signal processor, the CMOS image sensor can cumulatively integrate an image signal processing circuit and an image detection circuit in a block outside a pixel, operate at a low voltage, and be fabricated at low cost.
A typical CMOS image sensor may be categorized as either a four-transistor pixel structure or a three-transistor pixel structure depending on the number of transistors of one pixel. The three-transistor pixel structure is superior to the four-transistor pixel structure in terms of fill factor and fabrication cost. However, the four-transistor pixel structure is normally used because a light receiving unit is separated from a detection unit and formed of silicon bulk except its surface, so that the four-transistor pixel structure is highly sensitive to light and resistant to dark current and noise.
The four-transistor pixel structure of the typical CMOS image sensor is illustrated in FIG. 1. A unit pixel is comprised of a photo diode (PD), which is a light sensor, and four NMOS transistors. Specifically, a transfer transistor Tx serves to transfer photo-charges generated in the photo diode PD to a diffusion node region FD, a reset transistor Rx serves to discharge charges stored in the diffusion node region FD or the photo diode PD in order to detect signals, a driving transistor Dx serves as a source follower transistor, and a switch transistor Sx is required for switching/addressing operations.
The photo diode PD and a capacitor 118, which are located parallel thereto, constitute a receiving unit, and the transfer transistor Tx transfers electrons generated by photons to a diffusion node 131. In order to obtain a two-dimensional image, an electric potential is applied through a gate 141 of the switch transistor Sx to select one column. In particular, each pixel is biased by a current source 150, which operates the driving transistor Dx and the switch transistor Sx to read an electric potential at the diffusion node 131 through an output node 142.
It has been five years since the development of the above-described CMOS image sensor has progressed in earnest. At present, the CMOS image sensor is being laboriously developed by Micron, Samsung Electronics, MagnaChip, and so on. However, the CMOS image sensor is being fabricated using CMOS technology in the 180 nm regime, but the fabrication of sub-90 nm nanoscale CMOS image sensors has not been attained yet.
Since the fabrication of CMOS image sensors makes use of silicon (Si) as a light absorbing material, high loss of signal is unavoidable in the short wavelength blue region where light is highly absorbed. Although, the magnitude of an image signal is not greatly degraded even if the CMOS image sensors are fabricated using conventional 130 nm CMOS technology, the magnitude of the image signal is considerably degraded at both low and high exposure when the CMOS image sensors are fabricated for sub-90 nm design rules, so that it is difficult to obtain high-quality products.
In other words, when CMOS image sensors are fabricated by means of conventional CMOS technology, the shrinkage of the receiving unit results in a rise in doping concentration, and the junction capacitance of a signal transmission layer (floating-N) increases, so that the magnitude of an image signal becomes insufficient at low exposure. Furthermore, as nanoscale CMOS technology leads to a drop in operating voltage, a sufficient saturation voltage cannot be obtained, and thus the CMOS image sensors cannot keep high image quality at high (saturated) exposure.

High-quality CMOS image sensor and photo diode

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A method and apparatus for modulating a light beam in an optical processing system is described. Preferably, an electrically-controlled polarizer unit and/or an analyzer unit are utilized in combination with a spatial light modulator and a controller. Preferably, the spatial light modulator comprises a pixelated birefringent medium such as a liquid crystal video display. The combination of the electrically controlled polarizer unit and analyzer unit make it simple and fast to reconfigure the modulation described by the Jones matrix of the spatial light modulator. A particular optical processing objective is provided to the controller. The controller performs calculations and supplies control signals to the polarizer unit, the analyzer unit, and the spatial light modulator in order to obtain the optical processing objective.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to optical processing systems, and in particular to an improved method and apparatus for modulating a light beam in an optical processing system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many optical processing systems utilize spatial light modulators to encode and/or filter information onto or from a light beam, typically a coherent laser beam. These spatial light modulators operate by modulating a light beam in two dimensions by changing the intensity and/or phase of the light wave in a controllable manner. Thus, they can be used to introduce spatial patterns onto a light beam. The commercially available spatial light modulators however tend to be expensive. As a consequence, many optical processing systems utilize liquid crystal video displays as an inexpensive and readily available alternative to spatial light modulators. They may be obtained from commercially-available color video projector units, such as the Crystal Image Video Projector unit Model No. E1020, manufactured by Epson. Such projector units have a reasonable optical quality insofar as they are spatially uniform. Furthermore, each liquid crystal display is individually electrically addressable. The displays are typically driven utilizing a specialized electronic drive circuit which is supplied with the projector unit. The drive circuit acts as an interface between an analog video signal and the two dimensional matrix of pixels which make up the liquid crystal video display at that particular pixel. The voltage across each pixel of the liquid crystal video display is proportional to the gray scale level at the corresponding location in the video display. Typically, the liquid crystal video displays are twisted-nematic liquid crystal devices, which means that the optical birefringent axes, caused by the anisotropy of the liquid crystal molecules, rotate throughout the thickness of the cell, in a manner similar to that depicted in FIG. 1A. The birefringence is altered or modulated by the application of the drive voltage (which is derived from the video signal) across a pixel. This change in the birefringence causes a change in the polarization state of any light beams which pass through the liquid crystal video display. If the liquid crystal video display is disposed between two polarizing optical instruments, the polarization modulation is converted to amplitude or phase modulation of the light beam. It is the amplitude and/or phase modulation of a light beam which allows for the processing of images. More specifically, the amplitude and/or phase modulation can be utilized for either encoding information onto the light beam, or for filtering or otherwise manipulating information on the light beam. Since the interaction between the light beam and the liquid crystal video display is fairly complicated, a simple amplitude-only modulation or phase-only modulation is not possible.
The liquid crystal video displays are merely one type of "complex spatial light modulator" which are utilized in optical processing systems. A complex spatial light modulator can be characterized as an optical processing device whose action on a light beam may be expressed as affecting the phase and amplitude (or alternately, the real and imaginary parts) of an incident light beam. Typically, spatial light modulators, such as the liquid crystal video display, are useful for optical processing of images as a function of position over the active area of the optical processing device. While liquid crystal displays may be electrically addressed on a pixel-by-pixel basis, other types of complex spatial light modulators are addressable as a continuous function of position. For purposes of the present application, the terms "complex spatial light modulator" and "spatial light modulator" will define all optical devices which affect the phase and amplitude of an incident light beam; however, the preferred embodiment discussed herein will specifically refer to a liquid crystal video display, which is merely one type of complex spatial light modulator.
The prior art devices used for generating and analyzing specific polarization states include one device developed by J. L. Pezzaniti and R. A. Chipman which permits the automated measurement of the Meuller matrix of a spatial light modulator. This device is described in detail in the following publications:
J. L. Pezzaniti and R. A. Chipman, "Phase-only Modulation Of A Twisted Nematic Liquid-Crystal TV By Use Of The Eigenpolarization States", Optics Letters vol. 18, pp. 1567-1569 (September 1993); and PA1 J. L. Pezzaniti, R. A. Chipman, and D. A. Gregory, "Polarization Characterization Of A LCTV With A Meuller Matrix Imaging Polarimeter", in Optical Pattern Recognition IV, D. Casasent, ed., Proc. SPIE vol. 1959, pp. 266-281 (1993). PA1 J. L. Pezzaniti, Meuller Matrix Imaging Polarimetry, PhD Thesis, University of Alabama in Huntsville (1993).
A major distinction of the present invention from the Pezzaniti and Chipman device is that the Pezzaniti and Chipman device requires gross physical motion (rotation) of polarizers and retarders in order to generate and analyze its set of polarization states. In contrast, the only physical motion in the present invention is the rearrangement of liquid crystal molecules. Another distinction is that the art of Pezzaniti has its preferred embodiment as a laboratory bench tool to characterize the polarization properties of spatial light modulators, as opposed to the present invention's major operational intent of providing immediate access to any of a plurality of different polarization behaviors. Accordingly, it is slower, more accurate, more stable, bulkier, heavier, more complicated, and more precise that the present invention.

Method and apparatus for improved spatial light modulation

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A reflective cable system for a geophysical survey system includes a reflective cable that includes a conductive wire surrounded by an electrically insulating sheath and an exterior surface. The reflective cable includes reflective material that is on or visible through the exterior surface and that is configured to reflect a complete spectrum of light provided by a light source back to the light source. The reflective cable system also includes a connector electrically coupled to at least one end of the reflective cable and configured to couple to a geophysical survey system. The reflective cable may be used to locate the reflective cable in a physical environment and used to determine a position of the reflective cable using lidar or photogrammetry for generating geophysical survey models.

Various geophysical applications utilize electrical surveys to determine a sub-ground resistivity distribution by making electrical measurements on the ground. From such measurements, the resistivity of the sub-ground may be estimated and related to various geological parameters such as mineral and fluid content, porosity, and water saturation.
Resistivity measurements are typically made by applying current directly into the ground using a pair of transmitting electrodes. Resulting potential differences may then be measured directly using several other receiving electrodes. The receiving electrodes are typically arranged in an array or grid and coupled together by transmitting and receiving cables. Because the electrodes and cables are often deployed in remote locations that may include vegetation, in subterranean environments with little or no light, at night or other low light times of the day, and/or in water, locating the cables to move or retrieve is often difficult. Also, in some geophysical applications, it is important to know a precise geolocation of the cable. For example, when performing various types of geophysical surveys (e.g., electromagnetic (EM) methods), these surveys use electrical current bearing cables to induce Eddie currents, and thus knowing the location of cables can be used to generate accurate geophysical survey models.


Disclosed is keypad circuitry operable to detect a pressed key while reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI). The keypad circuitry is operable to reduce EMI in two ways: a) reducing the voltage swing occurring at the row circuitry and column circuitry of the keypad, and b) reducing the number of signal transitions by restricting the signal transitions to occurring at the column and row corresponding to a pressed key. By limiting signal transitions to occurring only at the row and column corresponding to a pressed key, fewer signal transitions occur, and thus, less EMI is produced. Additionally, reduced voltage swings at the row circuitry and column circuitry results in reduced EMI.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to circuitry for detecting keypad input and, more specifically, to keypad circuitry operable to identify a pressed key while reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI).
2. Introduction
Conventional keypad circuitry generally comprises a matrix of keys with each key being defined by an intersection of a row and a column, wherein the conventional circuitry performs a key scan to detect and identify a pressed key. An example of such conventional keypad circuitry is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,918,445, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. In the example conventional keypad circuitry, the columns initially function as drivers and the rows initially function as inputs, wherein pull-up circuitry functions to force all row inputs to a logic low value. When a key is pressed, the column driver corresponding to the pressed key is connected to the input of the row corresponding to the pressed key, thereby applying a voltage to the row input and changing the corresponding row input to a logic high value. When the logic high is detected on any of the rows, the columns are changed to inputs and the row corresponding to the pressed key is changed to a driver. The columns, which are now functioning as inputs, are read to detect the column corresponding to the pressed key. When the row and column corresponding to the pressed key are detected, the pressed key is thereby identified.
Operations performed by the conventional keypad circuitry produce a significant amount of electromagnetic interference (EMI). For example, when determining which key is pressed, a signal transition occurs at each of the columns and rows, and the conventional keypad circuitry performs a scan of all the column drivers as well as a scan of all the rows to detect the signal transitions. Additionally, a rail-to-rail voltage swing occurs when the column driver is connected to the input of the row. The rail-to-rail voltage swing and signal transitions of the columns and rows produces EMI, which may cause premature failure or otherwise degrade performance of the keypad circuitry. As such, there exists a need for keypad circuitry capable to identify a pressed key while reducing electromagnetic interference.


A hydraulic machine-has a rotating group located within a housing and a port plate to control flow from the barrel of the rotating group to inlet and outlet ports. The port plate is sealed against one of the housing or barrel and sleeves extend between the other of the housing or barrel to accommodate misalignment between the barrel and housing as the barrel rotates.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hydraulic machines.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many different types of hydraulic machines that can be used to convert mechanical energy into fluid energy and vice versa. Such machines may be used as a pump in which mechanical energy is converted into a flow of fluid or as a motor in which the energy contained in a flow of fluid is converted into mechanical energy. Some of the more sophisticated hydraulic machines are variable capacity machines, particularly those that utilize an inclined plate to convert rotation into an axial displacement of pistons or vice versa
Such machines are commonly referred to as swashplate pumps or motors and have the attribute that they can handle fluid under relatively high pressure and over significant range of flows. A particular advantage of such machines is the ability to adjust the capacity of the machine to compensate for different conditions imposed upon it.
The swashplate machines are, however, relatively complex mechanically with rotating and reciprocating components that must be manufactured to withstand large hydraulic and mechanical forces. These constraints lead to a reduction in the efficiency due to mechanical and hydraulic losses, a reduced control resolution due to the mechanical inefficiencies and the required size and mass of the components and a relatively expensive machine due to the manufacturing complexity.
In use as a variable capacity machine the swashplate is modulated to achieve a desired movement of component of a machine, either a position, rate of movement or applied force.
The movement of the swashplate is usually controlled by a valve supplying fluid to an actuator that acts through a compression spring on the swashplate. Control signals for the valve are generated from a set controller and a feedback, typically provided by a sensed parameter. In its simplest form the feedback may be provided by the operator who simply opens and closes the valve to achieve the desired movement or positioning of the component. More sophisticated controls however sense preselected parameters and provide feedback signals to a valve controller. The valve controller may be mechanical, hydraulic but more usually electronic to offer greater versatility in the control functions to be performed.
Typically the swashplate acts on a plurality of pistons that are slidable within cylinders formed in a barrel. Reciprocation of the pistons induces flow through the cylinders which are connected alternatively to either an inlet port or an outlet port as the barrel rotates. In view of the relative rotation between the barrel and housing, a port plate is utilised to facilitate the transfer from the cylinders to respective ones of the ports in the housing. There is therefore necessarily relative movement between the port plate and either the housing or the barrel and to ensure hydraulic efficiency a seal must be established across this interface. Any misalignment between the barrel and housing will affect the ability to establish an effective seal and accordingly the faces of the port plate are lapped and the barrel typically mounted on a shaft by a splined connection to provide accurate alignment of the barrel. However, such a connection is expensive to manufacture and is susceptible to wear due to the pulsating loads imposed on the barrel as it rotates.
It is therefore an object to the present invention to obviate or mitigate the above disadvantages.


An arrangement of air flaps for a motor vehicle, comprising an air flap frame which surrounds a through-flow opening, as well as at least one air flap which is movably mounted on the air flap frame, for changing the effective through-flow area of said through-flow opening, said at least one air flap at least protruding into the through-flow opening and preferably extending across said opening; said arrangement of air flaps including a Hall effect sensor and a detection section comprising magnetizable or permanently magnetized material and which cooperates in such a manner with a detecting section of the Hall effect sensor, the Hall effector sensor that detects a magnetic field emanating from the detection section, emits a detection signal when the at least one air flap is in a prescribed reference position relative to the air flap frame, which is different from a detection signal emitted by the Hall effect sensor when the at least one air flap is not in the prescribed position.

An arrangement of air flaps of this general type is known for example from DE 10 2012 213992 A. Such an arrangement of air flaps is generally employed on the front of the vehicle, in order to change the amount of convective cooling air passing through the through-flow intake opening, thereby changing the convective cooling which takes place downstream of the through-flow opening, namely in the engine compartment. This can shorten phases for warming up of the internal combustion engine to nominal operating temperature following a cold start, and thereby can reduce emissions of pollutants into the environment.

Magnetic field based detection of the operating status of air flap


A method for controlling access to a Cloud, comprising receiving traffic from an Enterprise user at a gateway, wherein the traffic carries a first key specific to the Enterprise user for use internal to the gateway, replacing the first key with a second key, wherein the second key is a Cloud-negotiated key generic to a plurality of Enterprise users which permits access to the Cloud, and sending traffic to the Cloud.

Workload virtualization is a fundamental enabler for an Enterprise's transition to the Cloud. Enterprises may be any organizations which use computers, comprising corporations, small businesses, non-profit institutions, governmental bodies, etc., and Enterprise users may be individual users of Enterprise computers. Due to various benefits of the public Cloud (i.e., a non-local computing resource accessed via a network infrastructure), including reduced capital expenditures (CapEx), scalability, flexibility, elasticity, pay as you grow models, etc., various Enterprises owners, users, and/or administrators may wish to migrate applications and resources into the Cloud.
In the changing world of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and resource virtualization, public/private Cloud integration is pivotal to Enterprise Information Technology (IT). However, security, compliance, transparency, management and control concerns, as well as the diverse nature of the associated policies, make Cloud adoption challenging.
Public Clouds may be shared, generic infrastructures built to support multiple users. The generic infrastructure of the Cloud may not meet the purpose-built Enterprise mandated business policies, transparency, security and control requirements. One challenge of an Enterprise IT organization is how to take advantage of the public Cloud while (a) maintaining the governance and control necessary to meet the Enterprise's business requirements, and (b) keeping the complexity of the new paradigm manageable.

Control pool based enterprise policy enabler for controlled cloud access


A memory system, e.g., a domino static random access memory (SRAM), includes a plurality of memory cells and a wordline decoder coupled to the memory cells through wordlines. The wordline decoder provides a wordline signal to one or more memory cells over the wordlines to allow access to the memory cell(s) for a read operation or a write operation. Read_wl and write_wl signals are generated by the wordline decoder based on whether a read or a write operation is to be performed in the next cycle. The wordline decoder includes a buffer having an input for receiving the write_wl signal and an output for outputting a delayed version of the write_wl signal. The wordline signal is activated by the wordline decoder based on the read_wl signal and the delayed write_wl signal. This overcomes the “early read” problem in which write performance is degraded due to a fast read path.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates in general to the digital data processing field. More particularly, the present invention relates to semiconductor memories within digital data processing systems.
2. Background Art
In the latter half of the twentieth century, there began a phenomenon known as the information revolution. While the information revolution is a historical development broader in scope than any one event or machine, no single device has come to represent the information revolution more than the digital electronic computer. The development of computer systems has surely been a revolution. Each year, computer systems grow faster, store more data, and provide more applications to their users.
A modern computer system typically comprises at least one central processing unit (CPU) and supporting hardware, such as communications buses and memory, necessary to store, retrieve and transfer information. It also includes hardware necessary to communicate with the outside world, such as input/output controllers or storage controllers, and devices attached thereto such as keyboards, monitors, tape drives, disk drives, communication lines coupled to a network, etc. The CPU or CPUs are the heart of the system. They execute the instructions which comprise a computer program and direct the operation of the other system components.
The overall speed of a computer system is typically improved by increasing parallelism, and specifically, by employing multiple CPUs (also referred to as processors). The modest cost of individual processors packaged on integrated circuit chips has made multiprocessor systems practical, although such multiple processors add more layers of complexity to a system.
From the standpoint of the computer's hardware, most systems operate in fundamentally the same manner. Processors are capable of performing very simple operations, such as arithmetic, logical comparisons, and movement of data from one location to another. But each operation is performed very quickly. Sophisticated software at multiple levels directs a computer to perform massive numbers of these simple operations, enabling the computer to perform complex tasks. What is perceived by the user as a new or improved capability of a computer system is made possible by performing essentially the same set of very simple operations, using software having enhanced function, along with faster hardware.
Among such faster hardware is static random access memory (SRAM) which is typically faster than dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Accordingly, SRAM is frequently used where speed is a primary consideration such as in CPU caches and external caches. One type of SRAM known in the art is high performance domino SRAM. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,668,761, entitled "FAST READ DOMINO SRAM", issued on Sep. 16, 1997 to Muhich et al., and assigned to IBM Corporation, discloses a high performance domino SRAM and is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
A domino SRAM combines an SRAM with a dynamic circuit known as a "domino circuit". To clarify that dynamic circuits are different than dynamic type memories, such as DRAMs, dynamic circuits are referred to herein as domino circuits or logic. In general, domino logic is a circuit design technique that makes use of dynamic circuits, and has the advantage of low propagation delay (i.e., these are fast circuits) and smaller area (i.e., due to fewer transistors). In domino logic, dynamic nodes are precharged during a portion of a clock cycle and conditionally discharged during another portion of the clock cycle, where the discharging performs the logic function.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional memory system. The memory system comprises a wordline decoder, a plurality of semiconductor memory cells, a bitline decoder, and an input/output circuit. In general, a memory system typically includes a memory cell array that has a grid of bitlines and wordlines, with semiconductor memory cells disposed at intersections of the bitlines and wordlines. During operation, the bitlines and wordlines are selectively asserted or negated to enable at least one of the memory cells to be read or written. The wordline decoder is coupled to the memory cells to provide a plurality of decoded data. Additionally, the bitline decoder is coupled to the memory cells to communicate data which has been decoded or will be decoded. The input/output circuit is coupled to the bitline decoder to communicate data with the bitline decoder and to determine a value which corresponds to that data.
FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C illustrate a conventional high performance, low power domino SRAM design including multiple local cell groups. As shown in FIG. 2A, each cell group includes multiple SRAM cells 1-N and local true and complement bitlines LBLT and LBLC. Each SRAM cell includes a pair of inverters that operate together in a loop to store true and complement (T and C) data. The local true bitline LBLT and the local complement bitline LBLC are connected to each SRAM cell by a pair of wordline N-channel field effect transistors (NFETs) to respective true and complement sides of the inverters. A WORDLINE provides the gate input to the wordline NFETs. A particular WORDLINE is activated, turning on respective wordline NFETs to perform a read or write operation.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the prior art domino SRAM includes multiple local cell groups 1-M. Associated with each local cell group are precharge true and complement circuits coupled to the respective local true and complement bitlines LBLT and LBLC, write true and write complement circuits, and a local evaluate circuit. Each of the local evaluate circuits is coupled to a global bitline labeled 2ND STAGE EVAL and a second stage inverter that provides output data or is coupled to more stages. A write predriver circuit receiving input data and a write enable signal provides write true WRITE T and write complement WRITE C signals to the write true and write complement circuits of each local cell group.
A read occurs when a wordline is activated. Since true and complement (T and C) data is stored in the SRAM memory cell, either the precharged high true local bitline LBLT will be discharged if a zero was stored on the true side or the precharged high complement local bitline LBLC will be discharged if a zero was stored on the complement side. The local bitline, LBLT or LBLC connected to the one side will remain in its high precharged state. If the true local bitline LBLT was discharged then the zero will propagate through one or more series of domino stages eventually to the output of the SRAM array. If the true local bitline LBLT was not discharged then no switching through the domino stages will occur and the precharged value will remain at the SRAM output.
To perform a write operation, the wordline is activated as in a read. Then either the write true WRITE T or write complement WRITE C signal is activated which pulls either the true or complement local bitline low via the respective write true circuit or write complement circuit while the other local bitline remains at its precharged level, thus updating the SRAM cell.
As shown in FIG. 2C, a wordline decoder includes circuitry that outputs an intermediate output signal OUT to other decode circuitry (not shown) that activates the appropriate precharge and wordline signals. As mentioned earlier, the wordline signal allows access to the memory cells for reads and writes. A read wordline signal READ_WL and a write wordline signal WRITE_WL are generated as outputs of a flip-flop with a data input signal READ_WRITEBAR. The data input signal READ_WRITEBAR indicates whether a read operation or a write operation will be performed in the next cycle of a clock input signal CLOCK. The read wordline signal READ_WL and at least two address bit signals A0 and A1 are AND'd together in a decode block. In addition, the write wordline signal WRITE_WL and the at least two address bit signals A0 and A1 are AND'd together in the decode block. These two AND outputs are OR'd in the decode block to produce the intermediate output signal OUT, which proceeds through the other decode circuitry which ultimately triggers the rising edge of the precharge and the wordline signals.
FIG. 3 is a timing diagram showing the operation of the prior art domino SRAM shown in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C. Domino SRAM arrays, like domino logic, are governed by the behavior of the precharge cycle. Reads and writes to the SRAM cells occur during the evaluation phase when the precharge signal is high. Consequently, the wordline signal WL, which is the output of the wordline decoder and which allows access to the memory cells for reads and writes, follows the precharge signal closely. An efficient design will employ as much of the same decode/precharge/wordline circuitry as possible for both read and write operations, but a problem arises when the timing demands of a read operation and a write operation conflict. For example, a fast read path requires early rising precharge signal and wordline signal WL which can cause difficulties during a write operation. That is, if the wordline signal WL is high a significant amount of time before arrival of the write data, it is as if a read operation had commenced and a bitline signal BL (denoted with reference numeral "305" in FIG. 3) may start to fall contrary to what is required by the write data. Once this fall occurs, the bitline signal BL is slow to rise. In order for write performance to be efficient, this bitline signal BL must exhibit a profile that does not prematurely fall. Hence, the "early read" problem degrades the write performance of the domino SRAM.
Therefore, a need exists for an enhanced mechanism for handling unbalanced read/write paths in domino SRAM arrays.

Delay mechanism for unbalanced read/write paths in domino SRAM arrays

International Business Machines Corporation


A fixing device for a removable denture mounted on the gingivals of an upper jaw or a lower jaw of a mouth. A stake is anchored in the base or root of the tooth, and a covering cup is mounted on the denture. An engaging member is placed in the cup chamber, the engaging member being a soft plastic annular member. When a ball head on the stake is engaged therein, the denture is fixed in place, the denture can also be drawn out for removal, so that mounting and removal of the denture at the area missing teeth is convenient.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a fixing device for a removable denture, and especially for such a device which is usable for a whole set, a partial denture, or a single artificial tooth on the gingiva of an upper jaw or a lower jaw of a mouth. With the present invention, the firmness of engagement of the denture of a patient after it is mounted can be effectively increased. Convenience for mounting as well as for removal of the denture is also provided.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Clinical cases relative to teeth loosening and falling out by virtue of periodontosis or other factors occur in proportion to age. In other words, older people have higher rates of losing teeth than young people. However, there are also cases of losing teeth in accidents unrelated to age. In some cases, only one or two of the teeth are missing. Dentists may deal with the patients missing teeth with a partial denture. The dentist may make a set of dentures coincident with the curvature of the gingiva of the remaining teeth or on a jaw, so that the patients can properly chew food and have their appearance restored.
The current art techniques of making dentures is to make a set of dentures (including the false teeth and the denture bases of the false teeth), and then adhere the upper and lower parts of the dentures between the upper and lower jaws and the gingivas by adherence of saliva in a wearer's mouth and by a vacuum condition caused when the denture bases of the false teeth and the mucous membranes of the gingivas are engaged. However, the adherence of the saliva and the vacuum condition is generally not adequate, according to the experience of many users. The upper denture is subjected to dropping when in biting food or opening his mouth wide. This mounting method is not applicable for those who only need mounting of a partial denture. Therefore, mounting of partial dentures or a single false tooth by the dentists is usually accomplished by a permanent installation, with the dentures being permanently secured and mounted at the positions missing teeth. Permanent mounting of the dentures leads to difficulty in cleansing the dentures.

Fixing device for a removable artificial denture


In mode transfer control apparatus and method for a hybrid vehicle, in a state in which the vehicle is in at least one of a start state and a travel state and in one steady-state mode of a continuously variable transmission gear ratio mode and a fixed transmission gear ratio mode, a mode transfer to the other steady-state mode of the continuously variable transmission gear ratio mode and the fixed transmission gear ratio mode is inhibited in a case where a driving point of the vehicle determined according to a detection value of a vehicle speed and a calculation value of a target driving force is present within an overlap area on a steady-state mode area map in which both of a continuously variable transmission gear ratio mode and a fixed transmission gear ratio mode are selectable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technical field of mode transfer control apparatus and method for a hybrid vehicle having a fixed transmission gear ratio mode by an engagement of an engagement element in addition of a continuously variable transmission gear ratio as a steady-state mode selected when the vehicle is started or traveled.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Japanese Patent Application First Publication No. 2003-34153 published on Feb. 4, 2003 exemplifies a previously proposed mode transfer control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle. In the above-described Japanese Patent Application First Publication, the hybrid vehicle to which a power train system as will be described below is applied is disclosed. In the power train system, a brake is installed on any one of revolutional elements of a differential gear unit constituted by, for example, a planetary gear mechanism having four or more elements and two degrees of freedom, an output to a drive system being allocated to one of the other revolutional elements of the differential gear unit. In this hybrid vehicle, in a state, for example, in which the vehicle is traveling at a certain speed, a mode transfer between an electric vehicle mode (so-called, EV mode) in which a continuously variable transmission gear ratio is achieved only by a drive of two motors and an electric vehicle-low brake mode (so-called, EV-LB mode) in which the vehicle is driven by means of the two motors at a fixed transmission gear ratio with a low brake engaged is carried out.

Mode transfer control apparatus and method for hybrid vehicle


An apparatus and method for recording a data signal in at least one data track on a record carrier and for recording an additional signal in an auxiliary track on said record carrier is disclosed. The data track and the auxiliary track are parallel to each other on the record carrier. The first channel signal is recorded in the data track in the form of successive frames. The second channel signal is recorded in the auxiliary track in the form of successive frames, each frame of the second channel signal comprising p signal blocks, where p is an integer larger than 1. The apparatus is adapted to generate frames of the first channel signal which may or may not comprise portions of the data signal. The apparatus generates a frame of the second channel signal, such that, if the frame of the first channel signal is devoid of any portion of the data signal, the corresponding frame of the second channel signal contains a signal in all the signal blocks comprised in that frame; whereas, if the frame of the first channel signal comprises a portion of the data signal, the corresponding frame of the second channel signal has at least one signal block comprising a signal and at least one signal block which is devoid of a signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for recording a data signal in at least one data track and an additional signal in an auxiliary track on a record carrier. The data track and the auxiliary track are parallel to each other on the record carrier. The apparatus comprises: input means for receiving the data signal, conversion means for converting the data signal into a first channel signal, suitable for recording on the record carrier, generator means for generating the additional signal and for converting the additional signal into a second channel signal suitable for recording on the record carrier, and writing means for writing the first channel signal in the data tracks and for writing the second channel signal in the auxiliary track. The first channel signal and the second channel signal are recorded in the form of successive frames. Each frame of the second channel signal comprises p signal blocks, where p is an integer larger than 1. The frames in the data tracks and the frames in the auxiliary track have substantially the same length, and adjacent frames in the data tracks and the auxiliary track lie in the same position when viewed in the longitudinal direction of the tracks. The invention also relates to a record carrier and to a reproducing apparatus compatible with the above recording scheme.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus as defined in the opening paragraph is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,117,313, document D1 in the list of related documents. A data signal, which is in the form of a digital audio signal is recorded in a number of data tracks lying side by side to each other in the longitudinal direction of the tracks. The auxiliary track is used, amongst others, for location purposes. In the known apparatus, the auxiliary track is used to find the start position of a music selection recorded on the record carrier, particularly when the record carrier is driven with an increased transport speed.

Method and apparatus for recording and locating information on a storage medium


A combination can be of L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine, preferably with pantothenic acid or ubiquinone, is administered orally or as a parenteral injection in domesticated animals, especially pet animals, and humans for prevention or treatment of syndromes or diseases arising from dysfunctional energy metabolism. Syndromes involving skeletal and cardiac muscle benefited from L-carnitine, and syndromes related to the central nervous system improved with acetyl-L-carnitine, are effectively treated. The cofactors L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine do not substitute metabolically for each other, and the effects of the combination are found to be synergistic.

The present invention relates to dysfunctional energy metabolism of both glucose and lipids in animals and humans. More particularly, a novel combination of metabolic cofactors, L-carnitine combined with acetyl-L-carnitine, desirably also with pantothenic acid or ubiquinone, restores normal mental and physical activity to aged patients with dysfunctional energy metabolism and, when employed prophylactically, prevents development of related syndromes.
In the normal course of aging an organism's ability to synthesize, conserve, and absorb crucial metabolic cofactors declines. Conversion of nutrients to useful energy within cells involves highly specific enzymatic processes which are sensitive to presence or absence of these cofactors. In the higher order of animals, especially with respect to humans, as well as laboratory rodents, enzyme pathways of energy metabolism are known with relative precision. Despite extensive research efforts, however, interrelationship of many metabolic processes and enzymatic cofactors remain imprecisely known. Indeed, metabolic interrelationships of enzymatic cofactors L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine in cardiac and skeletal muscle have not been completely defined. The same is true in nervous tissue, especially the brain, where available research data concerning function of these cofactors are often contradictory and inconclusive owing to the inordinate difficulty in establishing truly controlled experimental formats. Much of what is known has been gained from the organ's response to traumatic, toxic, and ischemic insults as well as investigations of these cofactors' effects in chronically diseased brains. Such information provides little or no guidance to those concerned with psychophysiologic and psychomotor disturbances or confronting syndromes affecting multiple tissues. The following brief notations are believed to illustrate the complexity of the state of the art knowledge of diseases of energy metabolism.
The study of disease of energy metabolism commonly referred to as mitochondrial diseases is an emerging specialty in human medicine. Most of these diseases arise from mutation of the mitochondrial genomes and, to a lesser extent, nuclear genes. Such mutations result in specific dysfunctional enzymes in metabolic pathways and in structural changes of mitochondiia which disrupt enzyme orientation in metabolic pathways thereby impairing their efficiency. Mitochondrial genome mutations may exist at birth but typically occur over time as base dilutions, substitutions, and insertions during the course of replication- or in response to environmental factors, disease, and accumulation of toxic metabolites. Clinical syndromes presented depend upon the metabolic pathway affected and the proportion of dysfunctional mitochondria that has been attained. Organs normally effected by diseases of energy metabolism are highly differentiated, nonregenerating tissues requiring high levels of oxygen and energy, such as brain and skeletal and heart muscle. Treatment of these diseases is directed to sustaining life by supplementing high levels of metabolic cofactors in an effort to skew metabolism along specific pathways and to providing substrates for the pathways. Rarely, in human medicine, do deficiencies of cofactors or substrates cause diseases of energy metabolism. In veterinary medicine only a few genetically based diseases of energy metabolism are recognized. Among them are dilated cardiomyopathy in dogs and stress syndrome in swine. However, deficiencies of metabolic cofactors in dogs have been investigated. A study of commonly encountered age-related syndromes in old dogs, examples of which are included in this application, revealed them to be due to dysfunctional energy metabolism. More specifically, syndromes involving heart and skeletal muscle were relieved by L-carnitine supplementation while a syndrome affecting the brain was relieved by increased acetyl-L-carnitine intake. However, complex interrelationships exist. For example, treatment for a psychotic syndrome with acetyl-L-carnitine was successful but resulted in emergence of a heart failure syndrome and both cofactors were required to normalize the dog. In another case, synergistic effects were realized with the two cofactors combined as opposed to their individual use in treating a syndrome involving skeletal muscle. And, in yet another case, a dog that heretofore had required heavy sedation to control an epileptic syndrome, experienced unexpected improvement in after it had been treated with combined L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine for several weeks.
L-carnitine as well as acetyl-L-carnitine are natural constituents of higher organisms, particularly animal heart and muscle tissue and can be synthesized by the body or obtained from red meat, poultry, fish, and dietary products. L-carnitine is absorbed from the small intestine into systemic circulation at a rate of about 2 to 5mg per pound body weight which is compatible with normal physiologic function and the basis for dosages in the accompanying studies. In standard medical treatment of syndromes related to deficiency of L-carnitine or L-carnitine-dependent enzymes dosage of L-carnitine employed may be 10 to 50 times higher than rate of physiologic intestinal absorption. This affords passive diffusion of carnitine into systemic circulation but such high dosages have the risk of causing diarrhea. L-carnitine (B-hypodroxy-8-N-trimethylaminobutyric acid) has two main functions, both critical to energy metabolism. The first is translocation of long-chain fatty acids from the cytosol across the outer and inner mitochondrial membranes and intervening space into the mitochondrial matrix, The second function is to modulate intracellular CoA homeostasis within the mitochondrial matrix by transesterifation of acyl-CoA esters produced in B-oxidation which regenerates CoA and acylcarnitine, Accumulation of long chain acyl-CoA esters is a consequence of enzyme disfunction and metabolic impairment or stasis in the B-oxidation system. Resulting shortage of available CoA then limits transfer of acetyl groups to the Krebs cycle for energy production. Acylcarnitine, produced during homeostasis, can be exchanged across the mitochondrial membrane for free carnitine and eventually transported out of the cell to be excreted in urine. Canids are unique in the fact that their liver and kidneys synthesize carnitine but they lack an enzyme in skeletal and cardiac muscle which is crucial to the last stage of L-carnitine synthesis. In dogs L-carnitine is synthesized in the liver and transported to muscle tissue.
Acetyl-L-carnitine ([R]-3-acetoxy-4-[trimethylammonia]butevate) intracellular CoA homeostatic function with carnitine. It is the prevalent ester of carnitine in tissue, freely exchangeable across subcellular membranes, and can serve as a pool of acetyl groups to regenerate acetyl-CoA. This property comes into play in instances of excessive exercise where glycolysis has resulted in accumulation of lactic acid in muscle cells. Studies with rat brain tissue show acetyl-L-carnitine to be associated with increased glycolysis and oxygen metabolism. Other studies indicate acetyl-L-carnitine enhances ketone-body metabolism in rat brains. In experimentation with rats acetyl-L-carnitine has been shown to maximize energy production, promote membrane stability, restore membrane changes that are age-related, and serve as precursor to acetylcholine. Cholinergic effects enhance nerve impulse transmission and have been demonstrated to counter or delay age-changes and dementia in brains of rodents and humans.
In addition to depleted available energy and concomitant depression of cell and organ function another consequence of impaired energy metabolism is formation of free oxygen radicals and their destructive effects on proteins and other large molecules, mitochondrial membranes, and especially mitochondrial DNA. Environmental sources of free radicals are infection, drugs, hypoxia, chemicals, and food. These destructive effects are cumulative leading to development of physiologic dysfunctions with increasing age, and along with mitochondrial genome mutation from other causes, must be considered as contributors to the etiology of syndromes seen with the dogs in this report. Normally, cell and organ function deteriorates with age resulting in reduced biosynthesis of metabolites and cofactors, reduced digestive function and enteral absorption, and impaired renal tubule resorption from glomerular filtrate. In elderly dogs any or all of the above can lead to depletion of tissue reserves of L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine to the extent that energy metabolism is impaired.
Four syndromes, psychosis, skeletal muscle weakness and atrophy, epileptiform convulsions, and cardiomyopathy, were observed in dogs in this study. Syndromes presented as singular entities as in the skeletal muscle syndrome or as complex of syndromes. Psychosis, in the form of extreme anxiety with trembling, hiding and panicky flight are common in old dogs exposed to sharp noises such as fireworks discharges. Even a mild stimulant such as the sound of cellophane being crumbed into ball will illicit a panic response in some dogs. Management of most such cases is with tranquilizers during periods when stimuli are most prevalent (e.g., New Years Even and The Fourth of July). Tranquilizers do nothing to cure the patient, their effect is psychological depression. When patients become extremely debilitated by the psychosis mood altering drugs such as doxepin and fluoxetine can be employed. Here again a cure will not be forthcoming. At best the animal will be so heavily sedated as to not pose a threat to itself, property, or the public. Pharmacologically-active mind-depressions do not correct any metabolic imbalances in the brain, hence do not effect a cure. In some cases psychotic episodes progress to grand mal seizures. Depressant drugs are the common means employed for their control. Phenobarbital, primidone, and/or KBr are consumed once to several times a day. The drugs do not correct the underlying metabolic dysfunction in the brain but they do stop the seizures at the expense of greatly depressing the patient. Psychotic and seizuring dogs are not demented in the sense that there is large-scale neuronal dysfunction with loss of inelegance, memory, or awareness of surroundings. Psychoses are almost the opposite, with heightened awareness of sounds and events in the environment. They may precipitate seizures.
Among the causes of skeletal muscle weakness and reduction of mass are nutritional deficiency, in particular deficiency of Se and vitamin E. In cases of nutritional myopathy, refined to as while muscle disease, the vitamin E interrelates metabolically with Se can be a valuable adjust to therapy. This condition is common to herbivores and omnivorous animals but not carnivorous ones. A myopathy common in dogs is denervation myopathy, a condition that develops secondary to herniation of intervertebral dises and ankylosing spondyloarthropathy. Where spinal nerves are damaged reduced impulse stimulation to the innervated muscle leads to weakness, degeneration, and atrophy. This form of muscle disease is managed by attempting to reduce trauma to the spinal nerve by controlling a chronic inflammation and bone formation along the nerve's course from the spine with drugs classified as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents. If skeletal muscle is not exercised it will become weak and degenerate and eventually atrophy. This condition, common to traumatic injuries, precludes normal function after extended periods of time. There are auto-immune myopathies where the body produces an immune reaction, usually to some infectious agent, that cross reacts with skeletal muscle. Management of these conditions is based upon suppression of the immune reaction for an undetermined period of time. Eventually, the reaction subsides and the immune depressant drugs can be with drawn. There are other causes of skeletal muscle weakness and atrophy. Clinically they are morphologically similar to one and other and require biopsy for definitive diagnosis.
Heart failure secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy has been treated with high dosages of L-carnitine, 100 mg per pound body weight. Such massive therapy is only moderately successful, at best. In most cases prognosis is very guarded. One reason for the poor response may be that diagnosis is not forthcoming until pathology is so advanced it cannot be reversed. Another consideration is that L-carnitine therapy only addresses lipid metabolism in the heart ignoring the part glycolysis may contribute. Cardiac arrhytmias are part of heart failure and evidence of pathology of heart muscle. Arrhythmias are treated with pharmacologically active drugs which may stabilize the heart. Drugs such as lidocaine, propanalol, digoxin, and procainamide all are useful in stabilizing the heart beat which may be critical at times but such drugs do not address the metabolic disturbance that caused the pathology. It is common for dogs with cardiac arrhythmias to die suddenly or, at best, be forced to remain on medication for extended periods, even for life.
As a consequence of above-noted complexities in identifying and treating syndromes related to dysfunctional energy metabolism as well as understanding their interrelationships little progress has been achieved in prevention and therapy. The following examples of U.S. Patents relating to carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine are illustrative of the existing state of the art.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,107 relates specifically to the use of acylcarnitine in treating dementia of human patients particularly when mental dysfunction is related to impaired cerebral blood flow. Typifying numerous approaches to management of dementias, it does not investigate psychoses and epileptiform seizures as being associated with deficits of energy metabolism, their connection with deficiencies of L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine, the possibility of precipitating other energy deficit syndromes as a consequence of therapy with a single metabolic cofactor, and the need for therapy that modulates both glycolyses and lipid metabolism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,232 relates to combination of carnitine or acetylcarnitine and coenzyme Q10 for tissue metabolic disorders involving circulatory function. The patent's use of coenzymes Q10 directs its effects towards control of free radical excess and facilitation of oxidative phosphorylation, the final stage of energy metabolism. It does not address the observed synergistic effects of combined L-carnitine and acetyl-L-carnitine on glycolysis and lipid metabolism nor does it recognize the need of both metabolic cofactors when treating dysfunctional energy metabolism related to deficit of L-carnitine or acetyl-L-carnitine as discovered in the present patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,384 relates to the general use of acylcarnitine for therapy of patients with Acylcarnitine Metabolic Dysfunction Syndrome. It excludes consideration of carnitine metabolism disorders and the combined therapy for disorders where both deficiencies may exist.
Following are references pertaining to diseases of energy metabolism their causes and treatments.
Luft, R. The development of mitochondrial medicine. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 1994; 91:873 1 8738.
Singh P J, Santella R N, Zawada E T. Mitochondrial Genome mutations and kidney disease. Am. Jour. of Kid. Dis. 1996; 28: 140-146.
Shishido F, Uemura K, Inugami A, Tomura N, 1-figano S, Fujita K Sasaki H, Kanno I, Mura Kami Nt Watahiki Y, Nagata K. Cerebral oxygen and glucose metabolism and blood flow in mitochondrial encephalopathy: a PET study. Neurorad. 1996- 38: 102-107.
Pons R, DeVito D C. Primary and secondary carnitine deficiency syndromes. Jour. Child Neuro. 1995; 10: 258-2524.
Castorina M, Ferraris L. Acetyl-Carnitine affects aged brain receptorial system in rodents. Life Sci. 1994; 54: 1205-1214.
Carta A, Calvani M, Bravi D, NiBhuach alla S. Acetyl-L-Carnitine and Alzheimer's disease: pharmacological considerations beyond the cholinergic sphere. N.Y. A cad. of Sci. ;: 324-326 Aureli T, Miccheli A, Ricciolini R, DiCocco M E, Ramacci M T, Angelucci L, Ghirardi O, Cont F. Aging brain: effect of Acetyl-L-Carnitine treatment on rat brain energy and phospholipid metabolism. A study by 31P and .sup.1 HNMR spectroscopy. Brain Res. 1990; 526: 108-112 Stanley C. Carnitine disorders. Adv. in Ped. 1995; 42: 209-242.
Shoubridge E A. Mitochondrial DNA disease: Histological and cellular studies. Jour Bioenerg. and Biomemb. 1994; 28: 301-310
Zeviani M, Amati P, Savoia A. Mitochondrial Myopathies. Curr. Opin. Rheum. 1994; 6: 559-567.
Sisson D D, Thomas W P. Myocardial diseases. In: Ettingen S J, Feldman E C, ed. Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine. 4th ed. Philadelphia: W B Saunders, 1995: 995-1005.
Kittleson M, Keene B, Pion P, Loyer C. results of the multicenter spaniel trial (MUST). Taurine and carnitine responsive diluted cardiomyopathy American Cocker Spaniels with decreased plasma taurine concentration. Jour of Vet Int Med. 1997; 11:204-211.

L-carnitine, acetyl-L-carnitine, and pantothenic acid or ubiquinone, combined for prevention and treatment of syndromes related to ineffective energy metabolism


A rinse method for rinsing a substrate having an exposure pattern thereon developed includes presetting conditions for a rinse process according to surface states of the substrate, measuring a surface state of the substrate, selecting a corresponding condition for the rinse process based on the measured surface state of the substrate, and performing the rinse process under the selected condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rinse method which performs a rinse process on a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, after an exposure pattern is developed, a developing apparatus which performs such a rinse process, and a computer readable storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In semiconductor device fabrication process, for example, a resist pattern is formed as a mask for forming a predetermined pattern by a so-called photolithography technology in which after a resist liquid is supplied to the top surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter called "wafer") to form a resist film, and an exposure process is performed on a resist-coated wafer according to a predetermined pattern, an exposure pattern formed on the resist film on the wafer is developed.
In the developing process included in the individual processes of such a photolithography technique, a developing unit (DEV) is supplied to a wafer to form a developer paddle on the entire surface thereof, the developing process is carried out with natural convection for a predetermined time, after which the developer is removed by a rinse process, and then a dry process is performed. The rinse process is important to remove a developer residue like a molten substance. If the process is done insufficiently, multiple development defects occur, thus reducing the product yield.
It is known that such development defects can be reduced normally by adjusting the rinse condition or the like, so that there has been a method of adjusting the rinse condition or the like so as to reduce development defects while observing the condition for the occurrence of the development defects.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-57093 describes that a method of actually measuring development defects with a surface inspection apparatus or the like may not be able to provide highly reliable measurements, and the apparatus is expensive, and discloses, as a technique of avoiding such an inconvenience, a method of immersing the surface of a substrate in a pre-process liquid to dissolve the components in the developer adhered to the surface of the substrate into the pre-process liquid after a post-development rinse process is performed, analyzing the pre-process liquid to quantitatively analyze the components in the developer to thereby grasp development defects, and setting the time or the like of supplying the rinse liquid based on the analysis result.
Even if this method of grasping development defects is employed, however, the condition that reduces development defects differs depending on the material of a resist to which the developer is applied, and the condition needs to be set again every time the material is changed, thereby increasing the number of working steps required to set up the apparatus. The work of setting the condition after grasping development defects should not necessarily find an optimal condition.


Fatty alcohol containing admixed therewith a small amount on the order of up to 1.0 wt. % of hypophosphorous acid, exhibits markedly reduced oxidation and oxidation-related deterioration such as discoloration and other side effects. This discovery is particularly useful when the fatty alcohol is subjected to reactions such as esterification under conditions which could cause or accelerate undesired oxidation.

The present invention relates to the stabilization of fatty organic compounds, and particularly fatty alcohols and derivatives thereof.
The present invention also relates to the synthesis, particularly on an industrial scale, of fatty alcohol derivatives wherein the reactants and their derivatives may be subject to undesired side reaction such as oxidation. Unwanted oxidation, whether with atmospheric oxygen or with other oxidizing reactants, is a particularly well-known side reaction which those who work in this field would like to avoid because it leads to undesired side effects such as unpleasant odors and loss of the desired color in the product.
It has long been known that fatty organic compounds, particularly those derived from natural sources, can be subject to undesired oxidation, particularly when the compound in question is in the liquid state; and particularly in the presence of acids such as sulfuric or sulfuric acids. This phenomenon is well known as to fatty alcohols, such as stearyl alcohol. For this reason, such products are frequently stored and shipped in the solid state, generally as particles or flakes. However, providing such materials in the solid state frequently involves additional steps of subdividing the product into a manageable form such as flakes, pellets, or otherwise, so as to facilitate operations such as handling, pouring, measuring, and packaging. The steps necessitated in putting such products into particle form necessarily introduce additional equipment and handling requirements which one would desire to eliminate if possible. Indeed, the additional steps necessary to appropriately subdivide the solid materials can cause undesired losses of material and changes in purity, and also require periodic cleaning and maintenance of the equipment used.
Thus, it would be desirable to be able to provide products such as fatty alcohols in liquid form, if only a means were available whereby oxidation of such products could be inhibited or eliminated. The savings in energy and equipment usage as well as in packaging materials required for handling of the particulate solids, would be significant. However, to date there remains an unfilled need for a means for stabilizing fatty compounds such as fatty alcohols against undesired oxidation and the resultant side effects such as color degradation, in a manner which is economical and readily practiced and yet which does not interfere with subsequent reactions or other uses of the fatty material in question.

Hypophosphorous acid to stabilize fatty alcohols


A traverse device and a traverse method for winding wire materials are provided. A guide roller is placed near the outer circumference of a reel body and inclined, around the rotation center (center of curvature of an R guide) located near the outer edge of the guide roller on the side near the reel body as the fulcrum, in a direction in which the roller outer edge recedes from one of reel flanges ahead in the traverse direction on the side apart from the reel body. The inclining direction is switched at the midpoint position between the reel flanges, and with the guide roller being inclined at all times, a reel is rotated while being moved in the axis direction to wind a wire material on the reel.

As a method for winding a wire material on a reel, the following method is conventionally known: a wire material to be wound is guided to a reel body via a guide roller spaced radially from the reel body, and wound by rotating the reel while moving the reel or the guide roller in the reel axis direction to move (traverse) the winding position.
According to this method, the wire material can be wound on the reel by regular winding by repeating the operation of reciprocating the reel or the guide roller in the reel axis direction at a predetermined pitch every time the wire material is wound around the reel body by one round. In this method, however, since there is a distance between the reel body and the guide roller, a deviation arises between the movement of the winding position of the wire material on the reel body and the movement of the reel or the guide roller. For this reason, traverse adjustment at the reversal of the movement at both ends of the reel body, in particular, is not easy.
A method may be considered in which a large-diameter guide roller is used and placed to locate the roller outer edge near the reel body on the reel side, to make the movement of the winding position of the wire material on the reel body coincide with the movement of the reel or the guide roller. In this method, however, when the wire material to be wound is fine, the roller width must be small to ensure that the wire material can be wound up to the borders of the guide roller body with the flanges and that the wire material is prevented from swaying and causing deviation of the pitch. There is therefore the possibility of failing to maintain the strength of the guide roller sufficiently.
Also proposed is a method in which the guide roller is placed so as to be inclinable in the reel axis direction around a rotational axis, as the rotation center, located at the roller outer edge on the side apart from the outer circumference of the reel body. At the time of traverse reversal near the border of the reel body with the flange at either end, the movement of the reel in the axis direction is stopped, and, while the guide roller is angled and inclined so that the roller outer edge comes close to the flange border on the reel side, the reel is rotated to wind the wire material on the reel body at the flange border. At the midpoint position of the reel body, while the reel is moved continuously in the axial direction at a fixed speed, the guide roller is angled so as to wind the wire material on the reel by one round at a time (see Patent Document 1, for example). According to this method, the guide roller is inclined at both ends of the reel body to enable winding of the wire material up to the flange border. Therefore, the roller width can be large enough to maintain its necessary strength.
In the above method, however, not only at the time of traverse reversal, but also at the midpoint position of the reel body, it is necessary to move the rotational axis of the guide roller forward or backward with respect to the reel body in response to the inclination so that the guide roller is not apart from the reel, and this makes the control complicated. Also, with the inclination of the guide roller, the pitch of the traverse changes when the reel moves at a constant speed, for example. For this reason, in order to keep the pitch of the traverse constant, pitch adjustment is necessary for the reel or the guide roller every time the guide roller is angled. This control is complicated and costly.
To solve the above problem, the following method has been considered. As in the above method, the guide roller is placed so as to be inclinable in the reel axis direction around the rotational axis, as the rotation center, located at the roller outer edge on the side apart from the outer circumference of the reel body, and the roller outer edge is inclined to be close to the reel flange located ahead in the traverse direction on the side near the reel body. In this method, however, the inclining direction of the guide roller is switched to the opposite direction at the midpoint position of the reel body, and the guide roller is inclined at all times except for this switching time. With the guide roller inclined in this way, while the traverse is performed by the movement of the reel in the axis direction, for example, the reel is rotated to wind the wire material thereon. FIG. 4 shows a configuration of a main part of a traverse device used in this method.
In FIG. 4, the reference numeral 1 denotes a reel, 1a denotes a reel body, 1b denotes a reel flange, 2 denotes a guide roller, 2a denotes a guide groove on the outer circumference of the guide roller, 3 denotes a support arm that supports the guide roller, and 4 denotes a support block to which the support arm 3 is secured.
The guide roller 2 is placed at a position where the outer edge (roller outer edge) is near the reel body 1a on the side near the reel 1, and is rotatably supported via a bearing 6 by a roller shaft 5 secured to the support arm 3.
The support block 4 is placed on a movable mount (not shown) that is movable along a linear guide rail (not shown) formed on a base (not shown) in a direction orthogonal to the axis direction of the reel 1 using an air cylinder (not shown) for horizontal movement as the drive source, and is rotatable along an arc-shaped guide rail (not shown) around a rotation center C set at the outer edge of the guide roller 2 supported by the support arm 3 on the side apart from the outer circumference of the reel body 2a as the axis, using an air cylinder (not shown) for rotational movement as the drive source.
The support block 4 is movable and rotatable as described above. When the support block 4 rotates around the rotation center C, the guide roller 2 rotates around the rotation center C from its reference position (shown by the solid line in FIG. 4) vertical to the reel axis direction to either of inclined positions (shown by the dashed-two dotted line in FIG. 4) inclined by several degrees to both sides in the reel axis direction. Also, when the support block 4 moves, the guide roller 2 moves in the direction in which the roller outer edge comes close to or recedes from the reel body 1a on the side near the reel 1.
In the above device, the traverse (movement of the winding position) is performed by moving the reel 1 in the reel axis direction (up/down direction in FIG. 4) using an air cylinder (not shown) for reel movement as the drive source. During the traverse, when the guide roller 2 is located in the center in the reel axis direction, for example, that is the midpoint position of the reel body 1a, the inclining direction of the guide roller 2 is switched, to incline the guide roller 2 in a direction in which the outer edge of the guide roller 2 comes close to the reel flange 1b ahead in the traverse direction on the side near the reel body 1a. With the guide roller 2 kept inclined in this way, the reel 1 is rotated while being moved in the axial direction, to wind the wire material T on the reel body 1a.
According to the method described above, where the traverse is performed with the guide roller being inclined at all times, it is unnecessary to move the guide roller forward or backward in response to the inclination of the guide roller. Also, since the inclining direction of the guide roller does not change during one round of traverse, control of pitch adjustment is comparatively easy.


A modular electric induction heating and coating apparatus and method for coating, heating and/or coating and heating (and vice versa) the exterior surface of a pipe section within a pipe treatment region is provided. The apparatus comprises an interchangeable central main frame assembly removably attached to an outer drive frame assembly on each side of the central main frame assembly. An interchangeable induction coil assembly can be mounted in a coil main frame assembly of the central main frame assembly. The coil main frame assembly can close around a pipe section for electric induction heating of the pipe section within the pipe treatment region via a driver system in a central top drive frame assembly. The outer drive frame assemblies include mounting and rotational drive assemblies for interchangeable coating head cartridges that can coat the section of the pipe in the pipe treatment region.

WO 2009/024755 A1 discloses an apparatus for induction heating and spray coating of the exterior surface of a pipe where the induction heating coil and coating applicator are located side by side around a longitudinal section of a pipe (or weld region of two adjoining pipe sections) of a particular diameter. The apparatus comprises separate stator and rotor frames, with the rotor frame being rotationally mounted to an end face of the stator frame so that the rotor frame can rotate relative to the stator frame. The stator frame is formed from two semicircular sections that are pivotally connected together at one end so that the stator frame can be opened to mount the section of pipe and closed around the outer diameter of the pipe. Electric conductors are disposed between the two end faces of the stator frame so that they surround the outer diameter of the section of the pipe within the stator. A coating applicator is mounted to the rotor frame, which is axially outboard of the stator frame, so that the applicator can be rotated around the pipe to coat the entire outer circumference while the rotor frame remains fixed in position, or is rolled along the axial length of the pipe. The coating applicator can also be moved longitudinally relative to the pipe while the stator frame is stationary.
One disadvantage of the apparatus in WO 2009/024755 A1 is that the coating applicator is located external to the induction heating coil along the axial length of the pipe, and the apparatus must be axially moved along the length of the pipe section to first coat and then heat a section of the pipe and/or first heat and then coat a section of the pipe.
The prior art heating and coating apparatus 800 shown in FIG. 1(a) through FIG. 1(f) solves the above disadvantage by locating permanently one or more fixed position coating head assemblies 810 fitted within the axial length (along the Z-axis) of the induction heating coil (not shown in the figures for clarity) surrounding a section of pipe 90 passing through the central opening of apparatus 800 as illustrated in FIG. 1(d).
In apparatus 800 the one or more coating head assemblies 810 are located within and attached to rotating inner carriage 820 that has an axial length of z1 as shown in FIG. 1(b). The inner carriage is driven and rotates around pipe 90 by means of a set of sprocket wheels 840 located on each side of the inner carriage. The sprocket wheels engage into chain slots 850 as shown in FIG. 1(e). Rotation of a commonly coupled drive shaft 830 results in similar rotation of the sprocket wheels causing engagement in chain guides and rotational movement of the inner carriage 820 and the one or more coating head assemblies 810 around the outer diameter of a pipe. The master drive shaft coupling 890 shown in FIG. 1(f) can be controlled via an electric or pneumatic motor, or other rotational driver. Apparatus 800 opens and then closes around the outer diameter of a pipe by "clam shell action" of lower apparatus halves 800a and 800b with the clam shell action created by the movement of cylinders and linkage bars 880 acting on hinge pivot points 870 and 871 for parting and joining of the lower apparatus halves at parting line 801 in FIG. 1(f). An induction coil is permanently located inside the main device frame in the form of a number of flexible water cooled conductors (not shown for clarity). The conductors would be located within the holes shown in inductor support bars 860 (as best seen in FIG. 1(d)) that are spaced around the perimeter of the main device frame. The induction coil electric circuit is made when closed and broken when opened by means of a series of electric wiping contacts 861 as shown in partial cross sectional FIG. 1(d) when the clam shell action described above takes place. Vertical plenum 812 provides a means to mechanically interface the apparatus 800 to other mechanical or structural devices not included in this description and may also allow means for ducting electrical supplies, cooling water and coating material supplies to the apparatus.
A disadvantage of apparatus 800 is that the combination of the permanently mounted one or more coating head assemblies 810 and permanently located induction heating coil assembly do not permit independent change of the coating head and/or coil assemblies from the apparatus structural frame and from the drive assembly for the coating head assemblies so that different configurations of coating head and/or coil assemblies can be substituted into the structural frame of the apparatus and/or the drive assembly for the coating head assemblies. Therefore the apparatus 800 in any one totally configured arrangement can only be used to heat and coat one particular outer diameter of pipe, which increases costs for a user of the apparatus if the user requires heating and coating of pipes having various diameters. A second disadvantage of apparatus 800 is that the electrical contacts 861 cannot easily be exchanged or replaced without removal of the electrical conductors and breakage of the water cooling circuit since the induction coil assembly can not be removed from apparatus 800 as a unitary assembly for direct access to the contacts and the contacts' mounting elements; whilst the contacts themselves form a permanently assembled part of the mechanical structure of the induction coil conductor and its associated water cooling path.
It is one object of the present invention to provide interchangeable axially aligned coating head and induction coil heating assembly tooling sets that can be inserted and removed as a cartridge from a common apparatus frame that contains the drive for the coating heads and other necessary support mechanisms; whilist the contacts themselves form a permanently assembled part of the mechanical structure of the induction coil conductor and its associated water cooling path.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a combined electric induction heating and coating apparatus for the exterior surface of a pipe where the electric induction heater and coating head assembly can be arranged relative to the drive for the coating heads so that pipes in a range of outer diameters can be accommodated within the same combined electric induction heating and coating apparatus using interchangeable tooling sets (cartridges) and coating head assemblies.
It is another object of the present invention to provide the ability to use the combined electric induction heating and coating apparatus in either a "heating only" mode or "coating only mode" independently, as well as a combined "heating and coating" mode by means of interchangeable tooling set (cartridges) for the induction coil and the coating head assemblies.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for establishing a high accuracy of heating temperature profile for the section of the pipe being heated by utilizing specifically designed and precise manufactured induction coil assemblies that are specific to the requirements of the heating process and can be interchanged for other specific induction coil assemblies to alter the performance of the combined electric induction heating and coating apparatus of the present invention to suit specific application requirements.
It is another object of the present invention to provide the ability to change the coating applicators or coating head assemblies both in arrangement and design to allow easily the adaption of the combined electric induction heating and coating apparatus of the present invention to different coating requirements.
It is another object of the present invention to provide the ability to change the heating induction coil arrangement and design to allow easily the adaption of the combined electric induction heating and coating apparatus of the present invention to different heating requirements.
It is another object of the present invention to allow a particular or any configuration of heating induction coil (or other type of inductor) and/or coating head assembly to be used for a range of applications, pipe outer diameters, pipe wall thicknesses, and coating requirements by simple adjustment or by more specific re-tooling or setting.
It is another object of the present invention to give flexibility of operation and improved maintainability of a combined electric induction heating and coating apparatus by making the electrical contacts of the induction coil (or other type of inductor) easily replaceable and of such a design that facilitates good life-time and operational efficiency.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a combined electric induction heating and coating apparatus that can be used in variable and changing angles of perspective relative to horizontal or vertical pipe position as required by the position of the pipe.

Electric induction heating and coating of the exterior surface of a pipe