A single ram wireline BOP mechanism is disclosed which incorporates opposed rams having elastomeric packing capsules and outer elastomeric seals for accomplishing sealing about a wireline extending through the BOP body. The packing capsules cooperate to define a centrally oriented grease chamber into which is injected grease from an externally accessible grease fitting so as to establish grease sealing about the wireline. Grease pressure from the grease chamber is ducted through the BOP rams and into inner cylinders where it acts upon the pressure responsive area of a free piston contained therein. The grease pressure develops a force on the free piston which acts against the ram to enhance the closing force of the ram. The free piston has a pressure responsive area significantly greater than the pressure responsive area of the packing capsule portion of the ram so that grease pressure acting upon both of these components develops a significant resultant force that enhances the closing force and thus sealing capability of the rams. The rams are also operated in the closing and opening directions by hydraulic fluid which is introduced through fittings into an outer hydraulic cylinder. The BOP mechanism is also provided with a non-rising stem type lock out device which drives a lock nut for securing the ram energizing piston in its closed position when desired. The apparatus also incorporates a position indicator stem which is coupled with the ram energizing piston so that the position of the piston and rams may be visually inspected.

After a well has been drilled such as for discovery and production of petroleum products, wireline controlled apparatus is frequently employed to conduct various downhole installation, retrieval and servicing operations. Wireline equipment is utilized to install and retrieve a wide variety of downhole tools such as packers, gas lift valves, downhole safety valves, bottom hole pressure sensors and the like. Wireline equipment is also frequently utilized to run various well servicing tools such as for cleaning and treating production tubing.
At times it is desirable to establish a seal about the wireline to permit well servicing operations to be conducted within the wellhead and free of well pressure above the blowout preventer (BOP). More importantly, wireline BOP's are required to accommodate various emergency situations and alleviate any dangerous condition that might otherwise occur. During wireline operations the wireline BOP is typically static in an open position which allows the wireline to freely traverse the wellhead of the well without interference with any portion of the wellhead structure including the safety equipment of the wellhead.
At times during well servicing operations it will be necessary to close and seal the wireline BOP about the wireline. For example, in the event a kick (pressure surge) develops in the open hole or in the casing of the well, the wireline BOP is closed in response to the kick to develop a seal about the wireline to contain well pressure and prevent a blowout. With well pressure thus contained kill fluid can be pumped into the well below the seal established by the wireline BOP to shut in the well to thus permit other well servicing operations to be safely conducted. The wireline BOP may also be closed to temporarily contain the well pressure while bleeding well pressure off the lubricator of the wireline equipment to thus permit replacement of the packoff elements of the lubricator. In some cases it becomes necessary to remove, add or make repairs to the riser or cable of the wireline well servicing equipment. In this case the wireline BOP is typically closed and sealed about the wireline cable to thus contain the well pressure and permit cable repairs to be made above the level of the wireline seal. Most critically, wireline BOP's are shut automatically or manually in the case of failure of the well control system above the level of the BOP and thus must develop an efficient seal about the wireline to prevent any leakage from occurring.
Typically, wireline sealing elements are formed by two elastomer faced metal rams which have been contoured to fit a particular size of wireline cable. These rams are positioned in opposed relation and are actuated such that they accomplish centering of the wireline and establish sealing engagement with the wireline at a location that is centrally of the BOP housing. The opposed rams are closed manually or hydraulically (with mechanical backup) to develop a positive seal about the wireline to contain the well pressure and thus shut in the well. When the BOP is activated, the elastomer faces of the rams will seal around the outer surface of the cable by extruding the elastomeric material into the interstitial spaces between the armor strands of the wireline. When pressurized grease is present between the rams of a BOP its pressure, acting on the pressure responsive force area of each ram tends to oppose the closing force of the ram. This problem can be overcome to some extent by venting excess grease pressure from the faces of the rams as is taught in Applicant's earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,290. It is desirable to provide for utilization of the grease pressure for enhancing the sealing capability of the rams.
Ram type BOP's are designed to seal with the wireline cable in a static position. Especially for the reason that the extruded elastomer material in the interstices of the cable strands is easily torn away by relative cable movement, it is necessary therefore to always stop movement of the wireline before the rams are closed about the wireline to effect sealing. Short lengths of wireline cable can be stripped through the BOP as needed to repair a stranded cable but the amount of elastomeric material that can be worn away by such stripping without resulting in leakage of the BOP is limited. Pulling an appreciable length of wireline cable through the BOP will induce severe wear to the elastomeric seals of the rams and can cause damage to the rams as well, thus causing a more serious failure.
The highly pressurized elastomeric seal is prevented from extrusion by the close metal-to-metal fit of the ram faces and due to the fact that differential pressure moves the cylindrical rams tightly against the upper wall of the BOP housing. When the pressure of the elastomer against the surrounding surfaces of the BOP body exceed differential pressure a leak-tight seal will be effected. Wireline BOP's are designed to seal against well pressure in only one direction and therefore care must be taken to insure that they are not installed upside-down when a single set of rams is employed because an invested BOP will not hold well pressure. Single ram BOP's are only installed upside-down to contain pressure injected from above. Thus inverted single ram BOP's are virtually always used above a BOP that can contain well pressure.
It is difficult to move the rams of wireline BOP's when the rams are closed against high differential pressures. Wireline BOP's must therefore be provided with a bypass that is used to equalize the pressure across the rams before opening of the rams is initiated. After equalization of well pressure across the rams has occurred there will be a partial relaxation of the sealing contact of the elastomeric seals with the wireline, thus reducing the extrusion of the elastomeric sealing material about the wireline and as a consequence, reducing the friction between the sealing material and the wireline. This effective reduction of friction makes the rams much easier to open. To allow a controlled equalization of pressure, the BOP is typically fitted with a pressure equalizing system that is externally controllable to enable efficient operation by service personnel.
Manual BOP's are typically operated by selectively turning two ram operator handles on opposed sides of the apparatus to open and close the opposed rams. Manual BOP's are available in a number of sizes and ratings. Regardless of the pressure rating, they are normally used at lower pressures for standard service. Manual BOP's are typically of lighter weight and are less expensive as compared to BOP's having hydraulically energized rams. Because operating personnel must gain physical access to manual BOP's for opening and closing the rams, these persons are typically in a more dangerous location, i.e. immediately adjacent the wellhead, during BOP operation. Also, less ram pressure can be applied with manual BOP's than with hydraulically energized ram BOP's. In larger sizes, as commonly used for open hole work, the manual BOP offers adequate protection and is considerably lighter than a hydraulically energized BOP.
Hydraulic ram BOP's are opened and closed by hydraulic pressure acting on ram operating pistons that are located within hydraulic cylinders. Hydraulic BOP's are also typically provided with operating handles and stems which are used for manual backup. A hydraulic BOP can generally be closed manually but usually must be opened hydraulically. The manual operating stems must be backed out manually to allow hydraulic piston movement before the rams can be opened hydraulically.
The rams and sealing elements of wireline BOP's have grooves that are sized for the wireline cable diameter being employed. As the rams are closed, the wireline cable is guided by the rams or other cable guide elements into the grooves of the sealing elements. Wireline BOP's are provided with "integral guide" rams that prevent cable damage as the cable is guided and centralized during ram closure. If the rams of hydraulic wireline BOP's are to be left closed for a long period of time or in case of hydraulic failure, the manual screw jacks defining the manual operating stems can be used to secure the rams in the closed position and prevent inadvertent piston and ram movement. To open a hydraulic wireline BOP, the mechanical backup must be in the open position before shifting the hydraulic "selector" to its open position and hydraulically forcing the rams to their open positions by means of hydraulic fluid pressure.
Multiple ram BOP's, typically dual wireline BOP's, are utilized to provide a backup in case of failure of the primary set of sealing rams. More importantly is the fact that gas tends to migrate through the interstices between the inner and outer armor of the wireline cables. In the event that the lubricator of the wireline equipment should need to be removed for some reason, any natural gas leakage through the interstices of the standard cable could quickly present a significant problem from the standpoint of danger to personnel because of its explosive nature. To alleviate this problem, a second (tandem) BOP is typically added. This BOP is inverted (because wireline BOP's hold pressure in only one direction) and an injection port is provided between the two BOP's. High pressure grease (above well pressure) is then injected into the flow passage between the upper and lower sets of rams. Under high pressure, the grease is caused to migrate into the interstitial space between the inner and outer armor of the wireline and thereby effects a grease seal to prevent gases from escaping. In some cases a triple BOP is also installed to provide a backup in the case of primary ram failure. A triple BOP also provides a method for injecting grease between the BOP's if needed. Obviously the BOP riser becomes quite high when triple BOP's are installed in tandem. Multiple ram BOP's are available in a single forged body for lighter weight and more compact size if BOP riser height becomes a problem.
As explained above, it is frequently necessary to employ dual and sometimes triple wireline BOP's and to provide for grease injection between them in order to effect a proper wireline seal and prevent migration of gases through the interstices of the wireline. Since the flow passage between the stacked or multiple wireline BOP's is typically of significant length and is at least as great as the diameter of the flow passage through the wireline extends, a considerable volume of injected grease is necessary to fill the flow passage to accomplish efficient sealing. Also, injection of a sufficient volume of grease to fill the flow passage and develop a hydraulic seal with the wireline can require a considerable period of time. It is desirable therefore to minimize the time required to develop an adequate hydraulic seal with the wireline to thus promote the safety of the sealing operation. Obviously, employment of dual and triple ram BOP's, whether of the manual or hydraulic type, can result in considerable expense. Moreover, the stacking of dual and triple wireline BOP's ordinarily results in a BOP riser of significant height. In many cases there is little room to accommodate multiple wireline BOP's of this nature. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a single ram wireline BOP having the capability of providing both elastomeric sealing by means of opposed rams and to provide hydraulic sealing by means of grease injection. Additionally it is desirable to provide for pressure enhanced sealing of a wireline BOP by means of the pressure of injected sealing grease.
As indicated above, to provide a wireline BOP system with the capability of accomplishing ram energized elastomer sealing with a wireline and to accomplish grease sealing of the wireline typically requires two or more wireline BOP's that are coupled to define a BOP riser with a large volume grease chamber being defined by the flow passage between them. It is desirable to provide a single ram BOP having both the capability of elastomer sealing and grease sealing with the wireline and also having the capability of being hydraulically opened and closed by a selectively operably hydraulic system and which incorporates a secondary hydraulic system for accomplishing grease pressure energized, hydraulically induced enhancement of the closing force of the opposed rams of the BOP.
Hydraulically energized wireline BOP systems ordinarily require a BOP design having a very large ram element and a special outer seal which can significantly increase the complexity and cost of a wireline BOP in comparison with more conventional BOP systems. It is desirable therefore to develop a ram element for a BOP mechanism which serves the grease injection requirement as well as BOP mechanisms having large ram elements but which is of substantially the same size as that of an existing generic wireline BOP. This feature will provide the very desirable results of (a) allowing the use of a standard sized outer seal for the rams (b) fitting of the structural components of the rams into a standard diameter ram body and (c) allowing the use of a standard diameter blowout preventer body. All of these factors materially influence the cost and thus the competitive nature of the BOP mechanism.
It is therefore a primary feature of the present invention to provide a novel wireline BOP having a controllable hydraulic system for selective opening and closing the rams such as for testing or closing under well pressure and having a grease pressure energized system for enhancing the closing force of the rams against the wireline to thus provide for grease pressure enhanced sealing thereof.
It is another feature of the present invention to provide a novel single ram wireline BOP construction having rams that are designed both for elastomer sealing with the wireline and grease sealing with the wireline and yet which utilizes rams of sufficiently small dimension as to be dimensionally comparable with a generic wireline blowout preventer.
It is also a feature of the present invention to provide a novel single ram wireline BOP, whether energized by selective hydraulic operation or by automatic well pressure responsive, piston energized operation, which achieves an efficient mechanical seal about braided wireline to efficiently contain well pressure below the rams.
It is also a feature of this invention to provide a novel single ram wireline BOP that, when closed, defines a small volume grease chamber located between spaced elastomer seals of the ram to thus provide the capability of grease injection about the wireline to thus provide an additional hydraulic seal about the wireline cable to prevent the flow of gases through the interstices formed by the armor of the cable.
It is an even further feature of this invention to provide a novel single ram wireline BOP incorporating both mechanical and hydraulic sealing and wherein hydraulic sealing is effected quickly by means of a minimal volume of injected grease.

Hydraulically energized wireline blowout preventer


In an electronic data storage medium accessed by a data terminal, a fingerprint sensor scans a fingerprint of a user of the electronic data storage medium and generals fingerprint scan data. A processing unit is operable operable selectively in a programming mode, where the processing unit activates an input/output interface circuit to store a data file and fingerprint reference data obtained by scanning a fingerprint of a person authorized to access the data file in a memory device, and a data retrieving mode, where the processing unit activates the input/output interface circuit to transmit the data file to the data terminal upon verifying that the user of the electronic data storage medium is authorized to access the data file stored in the memory device as a result of comparison between the fingerprint scan data from the fingerprint sensor and the fingerprint reference data.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electronic data storage medium, more particularly to an electronic data storage medium with a fingerprint verification capability.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, confidential data files are stored in floppy disks or are delivered via networks that require passwords or that use encryption coding for security. Confidential documents can be sent by adding safety seals and impressions during delivering. However, the aforesaid are exposed to the risks of breaking of the passwords, encryption codes, safety seals and impressions, thereby resulting in unsecure transfer of information.

Electronic data storage medium with fingerprint verification capability


Disclosed is a peptide consisting of the identical amino acid sequence or a substantially identical amino acid sequence to the amino acid sequence depicted in SEQ ID NO:4, wherein the peptide binds to an HLA antigen and is recognized by cytotoxic T cells. The peptide of the present invention can be used in vivo or in vitro as an agent for inducing CTL, that is, cancer vaccine, and exerts therapeutic or ameliorating effects on tumors such as osteosarcoma, renal cancer, and others. The peptide of the present invention is also useful as a tumor marker directed to tumors such as sarcoma, renal cancer, and others.

Cellular immunity, especially cytotoxic T cells (hereinafter referred to as CTLs), play an important role in eliminating tumor cells, virally infected cells, etc., from the living body. CTLs recognize a complex of an antigenic peptide (tumor antigen peptide) on a tumor cell and an MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) class I antigen, which is referred to as HLA antigen in the case of humans, and attack and kill the tumor cells.
Tumor antigen peptides are generated by intracellular degradation of proteins specific for tumors (i.e., tumor antigen proteins) by proteases, after the proteins are synthesized in cells. The resulting tumor-antigen peptide binds to an MHC class I antigen (HLA antigen) in the endoplasmic reticulum to form a complex, which is transported to the cell surface and presented as an antigen. The tumor-specific CTLs, when these recognize the complex presented as an antigen, exhibit anti-tumor effects through the cytotoxic actions or production of lymphokines. The elucidation of a series of these actions has allowed therapies which boost tumor-specific CTLs in patients with tumors by using tumor antigen proteins or peptides as so-called cancer immunotherapeutic agents (cancer vaccines).
Tumor antigen proteins include, as representative examples, ones listed in Table 1 of Non-Patent Document 1. Further, a papillomavirus binding factor (PBF) which recognizes the E2 binding site of papillomaviruses (GenBank Database Accession No. AF263928, SEQ ID NO:2) was reported as a tumor antigen protein applicable to cancers (tumors) including sarcomas (e.g., osteosarcoma) (patent document 1). In addition, tumor antigen peptides binding to the HLA-A24 or HLA-B55 antigen were identified. However, PBF-derived tumor-antigen peptides which bind to an HLA-A2 antigen have not been found yet.    [Non-Patent Document 1] Immunity, vol. 10:281, 1999    [Patent Document 1] International Publication No. WO 04/029248
These documents are incorporated herein by reference.


Disclosed herein are external fixation devices including at least an elongate rod, a housing and an actuation member. The housing is coupled to the elongate rod and the actuation member is rotatably coupled to the housing such that a central longitudinal axis of the actuation member is angled and offset with respect to a central longitudinal axis of the elongate rod. Rotation of an actuation portion of the actuation member about the central longitudinal axis thereof in a first radial direction causes the housing to translate along the central longitudinal axis of the elongate rod in a first direction.

Many different types of bone deformities can be corrected using external fixation systems. Such systems generally use rings, fixation plates, threaded rods or struts for manipulation, angulation, and translation of the bone deformities.
Existing fixation systems on the market have many components thereof that are static and do not allow for certain adjustment and/or pivoting. Lack of flexibility in a fixation system may restrict attachment to certain bone areas at certain angles as well as restrict motion of the portion of the body that the external fixation system is being attached to in order to correct. Because of such lack of flexibility, such systems may make it more difficult for the physician to achieve an optimal clinical outcome.
External fixation devices have been used to stabilize, distract and compress bone fragments of long bones such as the tibia and femur, for example. There also exists a need to manipulate the positions of couplings connected to rods of such external fixation devices. For instance, a first rod of an external fixation device may be coupled to a first bone fragment via a first cross-pin connected to the first rod by a coupling mechanism while a second rod may be coupled to a second bone fragment via a second cross-pin connected to the second rod by another coupling mechanism. Additional coupling mechanism may be used to connect the first and second rods. After such an external fixation system is connected to the bones that it is treating, the coupling mechanisms may have to be moved along their coupled positions on the rods in order to provide distraction and/or compression to the bones.
There exists a need for an integrated external fixation device that can be used to manipulate the positions of such coupling mechanisms. Access to actuating the integrated external fixation device would be easy as it is used to guide the movement of the coupling mechanism while load transfer occurs through the external fixation device.
It is known to use gears in external fixation systems to transmit torque applied to the gear to another component of the system. Conventional worm gears, for example, require the axis of the driving worm gear to be tangent or parallel to the driven gear. This limits the configuration of gear designs as well as the configuration of external fixation systems using these gears. Clutches or ratchets may be used to prevent backdrive; however, the addition of these devices increases the number of components needed to provide or restrict the motion of such gears.


A fixing device includes a support member disposed to support a nip formation member on an inner peripheral surface of a fixing belt. The support member includes a parallel portion that supports the nip formation member and extends parallel to a sheet transport direction in a nip portion, and a rise portion that extends from the parallel portion in a direction drawn apart from the nip portion. The rise portion is inclined to the parallel portion such that an inclination direction of the rise portion is substantially parallel to a virtual straight line connecting a center of rotation of the fixing belt and an inlet point of the nip portion or falls within a range of rotational angles of ±15° by which the virtual straight line is rotated around the center of rotation of the fixing belt.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing device for an image forming apparatus, such as a printer, a facsimile machine or a copier, and relates to an image forming apparatus including a fixing device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fixing devices are used in various image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, printers, facsimile machines or multi-function peripherals. Among them, a fixing device including a thin-walled fixing belt which is implemented by a metallic base plate and an elastic layer is known. The thin-walled fixing belt provides a reduced thermal capacity and the energy required for heating the fixing belt may be substantially reduced. Further, with the thin-walled fixing belt, a warm-up time and a first print time of the fixing device may be shortened.
For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-233011 discloses a fixing device of this type. FIG. 16 shows a composition of a fixing device 120 according to the related art as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2007-233011. As shown in FIG. 16, in this fixing device 120, a nip formation member 124 is disposed on an inner peripheral surface of an endless fixing belt 121, and a pressure roller 122 is made to contact the nip formation member 124 via the fixing belt 121. A nip portion N is formed between the fixing belt 121 and the pressure roller 122. When the pressure roller 122 is rotated by a drive unit which is not illustrated, the fixing belt 121 follows the rotation of the pressure roller 122 and is rotated.
The nip formation member 124 is supported on an inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt 121 by a support member 125 and both ends of the support member 125 in a longitudinal direction thereof are fixed to side plates of a body of an image forming apparatus. The support member 125 includes a parallel portion 125a and a rise portion 125b. The parallel portion 125a is parallel to a transport direction of a sheet P at the nip portion N and supports the nip formation member 124. The rise portion 125b vertically projects upward from the parallel portion 125a in a direction to go away from the nip portion N 124. The support member 125 serves to increase the rigidity of the nip formation member 124 against the pressing force of the pressure roller 122.
A heat source 123 which is a heating unit to heat the fixing belt 121 in a region fully covering a width of a sheet by radiant heat is disposed on an inner peripheral side of the fixing belt 121. The fixing belt 121 except the portion where the nip formation member 124 is disposed may be directly heated by the radiant heat from the heat source 123, and the efficiency of heat transfer from the heat source 123 to the fixing belt 121 may be substantially increased. Accordingly, the power consumption may be reduced and the first print time from the heating standby state may be shortened further.
In the above-described fixing device, the fixing belt is directly heated, and if the diameter of the fixing belt is reduced to a diameter of approximately 30 mm, the heat consumption region where heat dissipates from the fixing belt may be reduced and thermal efficiency may be increased.
Unlike a time of stopping the rotation of the fixing belt or during a stable rotation state, when the pressure roller is initially actuated to rotate the fixing belt at a start of operation of the fixing device, a dynamic load from the pressure roller is applied to the fixing belt in a direction from the end of the nip portion toward the center of rotation of the fixing belt. Hence, an oblique-direction force due to the dynamic load is exerted on the nip formation member in a direction oblique to the sheet transport direction in the nip portion so that bending or torsion of the nip formation member may take place. If the support member has sufficient rigidity, the occurrence of bending or torsion of the nip formation member at this time may be prevented.
However, if a small-sized fixing belt is used, the support member disposed on the inner peripheral surface of the fixing belt is usually small-sized. The rigidity of the parallel portion or the rise portion of the support member is reduced (or falls) depending on the composition of the support member in such a case, and it is difficult to obtain sufficient rigidity of the support member.
At a start of the rotation of the fixing belt, the oblique-direction force due to the dynamic load is exerted on the parallel portion of the support member through the nip formation member. At this time, the rise portion may support the parallel portion against the oblique-direction force, and the occurrence of bending or torsion in the parallel portion may be prevented more positively than in a case where the support member has no rise portion.
However, the rise portion projects vertically upward from the parallel portion, and the oblique-direction force due to the dynamic load is applied to the rise portion via the parallel portion in a direction to bend the rise portion. Hence, if the rigidity of the rise portion falls as described above, bending or torsion of the rise portion may take place and the effects to prevent the occurrence of bending or torsion of the parallel portion by the rise portion may be reduced. As a result, the occurrence of bending or torsion of the nip formation member which is supported by the parallel portion may not be prevented. In such a case, the pressure pattern of the nip portion may vary, the nip width may vary, and poor fixing may arise.

Fixing device and image forming apparatus


A discharge guard circuit for use in combination with an integrated circuit that prevents the integrated circuit logic from damage or upset caused by system generated electromagnetic pulses at the integrated circuit outputs. The integrated circuit core logic is isolated from the output drivers and the discharge guard circuit, and the integrated circuit is configured to route system generated electromagnetic pulse current through the discharge guard circuit and out of the integrated circuit.

Satellites have a large number of wires and harnesses (cables) associated with them. These cables are generally composed of an inner silver-coated copper wire conductor, a central dielectric insulator layer, an outer silver-coated copper shield, and an external dielectric jacket. When these types of cables are exposed to transient X-rays and gamma-rays from a nuclear explosion, that is high-energy photons, large numbers of free electrons will be produced by the inner conductors and outer shield of the prior art cable. Many of these free electrons make their way to many electron traps in the dielectric at both the conductor-insulator interface and at the shield-insulator interface. Most of these latter, previously free, electrons will be stored, that is trapped, in electron traps of the cable insulators.
Trapped electrons occur as a result of excess free electrons transferring from the metal, namely conductors and shield, to the dielectric layer, that is insulator. The presence of gaps and spaces between the metal and the dielectric layer then prevent these excess electrons in the dielectric layer from returning to the metal to recombine with positive ions, namely holes, and hence they are trapped in the dielectric layer.
The spatial distribution of trap-sites and the differential number of trapped negative charges, at or near the shield-dielectric interface versus the negative charges at or near the conductor-dielectric interface, induce an electric field, namely an electromotive force, that acts on other electrons in the inner conductors and the outer shield. A pulse of electrical current called Systems-Generated-Electromagnetic Pulse ("SGEMP") will automatically flow through any conductive path from the inner conductors to the shield, or from the shield to the inner conductor, to balance the surge of displaced charges and to eliminate the electric field. When such a cable interconnects electronic equipment, a transient SGEMP current pulse is said to flow through the circuits that are the conductive pathways inside the electronic equipment between the shield and the conductors. An SGEMP current pulse, of either positive or negative polarity, can damage sensitive electronic components along its path.
X-rays and gamma-rays cause electrons to be displaced from the shield braid and from the conductors. Depending on the particular cable design, material geometry, gaps, radiation attenuation through materials, and the type of materials involved, more electrons are generally trapped at one interface than the other. This imperfect matching, of the forward-emitted shield wire electrons versus the reverse-emitted conductor core wire electrons, causes a charge imbalance. A resulting replacement current flows from the shield to the core wire, or from the core wire to the shield, through interconnected electronic circuits. Such transient negative or positive current, passing through electrical circuits, can cause upset or damage to sensitive electronic components inside the electronic box or equipment.
Classically, the problems associated with SGEMP current in cables are solved by the use of terminal protection, that is protection placed between the cable and the sensitive electronic circuits or equipment. This is done in order to clamp the voltage and shunt or limit the current to prevent damage to the sensitive interface circuits. Classic current shunting utilizes discreet voltage clamps, such as zener diodes or some other type of clamping diode, or filter capacitors that may be positioned inside or outside the electronic box or equipment. The SGEMP current can also be limited by adding series, current limiting resistance.
As technology has improved over time, speeds associated with data transmission and communications have increased. The use of classic terminal protection can adversely impact the signal integrity of high-speed digital signals. The excess loading caused by a discrete clamping diode or the mismatch caused by an added limiting resistor can degrade signal integrity. An alternative to the use of terminal protection that has been used in the past is to reduce cable SGEMP current by utilizing low SGEMP, radiation-hardened electrical cables such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,893. The electrical cable disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,093,893 achieves radiation-hardness by the insertion of low-Z trapped-electron reducers. The trapped-electron reducers reduce the emission of electrons between the high-Z metallic conductor and insulator, and the emission of electrons between the high-Z metallic shield and insulator when the cable is irradiated by high energy photons. The trapped-electron reducers minimize gaps, which reduce the electron range to trap-sites and enhance charge recombination. In addition, radiation shielding can be used, reducing the X-rays and thus the SGEMP current.
The use of radiation hardened cables on a satellite can be quite costly and radiation shielding exceedingly heavy. There is a need for a device or circuit configuration that allows for the use of standard cables on satellites and other equipment having high-speed digital interfaces, whereby a shunt path is provided for the transient SGEMP current pulse without adversely effecting signal integrity.

System generated electromagnetic pulse guard


To provide a radiation-curable ink composition that can form a high-quality image on not only liquid absorbing materials to be recorded but also non-liquid absorbing materials to be recorded, is superior in curing properties in air, and is superior in storage stability, color tone, light fastness and water resistance of ink, and also to provide an image recording method. The radiation-curable ink composition comprises a monomer having a polymerizable group selected from the group consisting of an acryloyl group, a methacryloyl group, an allyl group, and a vinyl group, an oil-soluble dye, and from 0.005 to 1% by weight of a storage stabilizer, wherein the oil-soluble dye is dissolved in the ink.

Aqueous ink compositions involved various defects. That is, in the case where the aqueous ink composition is printed on plain paper, it is inferior in water resistance and is liable to cause blotting (i.e., blurring). Further, in the case where it is printed on a non-water absorbing material to be recorded, such as plastics, since attachment (i.e., adhesion) of ink droplets is poor, an image cannot be formed; since drying of the solvent as used is extremely slow, it is required to dry printed materials immediately after printing without being piled up; and the resulting image is liable to cause blotting.
In order to solve these problems, EP997508A1 discloses inkjet inks that are cured with radiations and fixed. However, since the disclosed inkjet inks use a pigment dispersion as a coloring agent, the transparency is poor, and the color tone is not satisfactory, and hence, it is difficult to obtain photographic images. Further, there was involved a problem such that nozzles are clogged by coagulation of the pigment so that it is difficult to stably eject the ink.
As means for solving this problem, it may be considered to employ a method of using a dye as the coloring agent. However, the dye very likely worsens the radical polymerization properties, and hence, it was difficult to use it for curable inks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,924 discloses inks in which a dye not retarding the curing is used. However, this U.S. patent does not definitely describe a guideline of selection of an effective dye. Moreover, according to the conditions illustrated in the U.S. patent, the dye density is low, and the curing conditions under nitrogen, which are free from polymerization retardation by oxygen, are used. In the case where the dye density is increased, or the curing is carried out in air, the curing becomes extremely difficult. Accordingly, for the practical use, there is a large restriction in facilities for providing the conditions under nitrogen.
In addition, the inks as disclosed in the U.S. patent contain conductive salts, and in many cases, these conductive salts are poor in solubility in the ink. Accordingly, there was a possibility that these conductive salts deposit during the storage over a long period of time, resulting in poor printing.

Radiation-curable ink composition and image recording method


A retrofit roof riser subframing support assembly for attaching a new roof over an existing roof wherein the new roof has a slope independent of the slope of the existing roof. The assembly can include a series of spaced apart rows of roof support members having one end attachable to the new roof structure and another end mountable on the existing roof. Each row of roof support members can have a different height such that the difference in height between the tallest row and the shortest row defines the slope of the new roof. Each roof support member can include at least one fixed length post member having one end retained in a socket portion of a mounting member which is mountable on the existing roof. The other end of the post member can have a purlin clip rotatably connected thereto. The purlin clip can be rotated to the desired angle, locked in place, and attached to the new roof structure. The assembly can also include a sleeve member for connecting at least two fixed length post members together to form a roof support member having a desired height. All of the aforementioned components can be provided in kit form.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for installing a new roof over an existing roof wherein the slope of the new roof can be independent of the slope of the existing roof. More particularly, the invention relates to a subframing support assembly for a new standing seam roof wherein the components are all standardized, pre-sized, and interchangeable in various combinations. Thus the builder can achieve the desired slope requirement for any roofing project without the need for field cutting any components.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One established method of erecting a new roof over an existing roof is to construct a support structure for the new roof on the existing roof. The lower part of the support structure is then attached to the existing roof structure. Next, the new roof structure is secured to the upper part of the support structure. The new roof structure generally consists of a number of roof panel members joined to each other and attached to underlying structural members commonly called "purlins." The purlins are what connects the new roof to the support structure.
Numerous types of new roof structures have heretofore been employed for buildings in efforts to provide a water tight roof assembly, while at the same time enabling the roof assembly to expand and contract as changes in temperature are encountered. Typical of such roof assemblies which have met with considerable success in recent years is the standing seam roof assembly. The panel members of a standing seam roof assembly are joined to each other along adjacent sides such that the sides are lapped together to form the standing seams. The panel members of the standing seam roof are then secured to structural members commonly referred to as "purlins". The interconnection of the panel members of the standing seam roof allow the roof structure to expand and contract as a function of the coefficient of expansion of the materials of which the roof panels are made and the temperature cycles to which the roof panels are exposed.
Standing seam roof assemblies are finding ever increasing usage in the "built-up" roof replacement segment of the roofing industry. Generally, a built-up roof is formed of a plurality of sections which are interconnected and overcoated with asphaltic composition to provide a water-tight seal. While such roof assemblies have generally served well, problems have nevertheless been encountered as a built-up roof ages, or when the building settles, or when the construction errors result in water standing in pockets on the roof assembly. This standing water can also result in deterioration of the roof causing leaks and the like to occur.
A need has long been recognized for a means for replacing such a built-up roof as well as other conventional roofs which does not require substantial modification of the pre-existing roof structure and which is economical in both fabrication and on-site construction. Further, it is highly desirable that the new roof assembly be capable of providing a new roof surface independent of the variations in the surface of the pre-existing roof assembly. Some past repair methods, especially those capable of altering the slope of the new roof to improve drainage characteristics, can require substantial destruction of the pre-existing roof and extensive custom construction. This can result in exposing the building and its contents to damage by the elements during the re-roofing process and can also be time consuming and expensive.
Some contemporary ways of providing a new roof on top of an existing roof are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,520,610 and 5,303,528, to Simpson, et. al. In each patent Simpson discloses a standing seam roof assembly and support apparatus for attaching a new roof on an existing roof which permits the slope of the new roof to be independent of the existing roof. In the '610 patent Simpson discloses using a series of adjustable truss members attached between the new roof and the existing roof. The height of the truss is adjustable so that the slope of the new roof can be set to the desired pitch by making the truss at the peak of the new roof a greater height than the truss at the lowest point of the new roof. Since the truss is adjustable, a series of identical trusses can be used with no field cutting of components required. The '528 patent additionally discloses a truss, or "elongated spanning member" supported by a series of independently vertically adjustable stanchions. The stanchions consist of interfitting longitudinally adjustable channel members which are lockable at variable heights. Thus, a series of spanning members supported by rows of vertically adjustable stanchions support the new roof on the existing roof at variable heights which can define the pitch of the new roof. Bearing plates are also disclosed between the stanchions and the existing roof. Also disclosed is that vertically adjustable members which have a lower member attachable to the existing roof and an upper member attachable to the new roof and including a web means which is pivotally connected to the upper or lower end so that it is also angularly adjustable with respect to the new roof. The upper member is attachable to a purlin clip for attaching the stanchion to a purlin which connects to the new roof. Additionally, the '528 patent discloses a Z-shaped roof support member consisting of two L-shaped member attached back to back in a Z-shape. Slots are provided in each so that the height may be adjusted vertically.
Another similar type of subframing assembly employs numerous rows of roof support members consisting of a base which attaches to the existing roof, a column member connected to the base, and a clip member affixed to the top of the column which attaches to a purlin for connection to the new roof. The column member and the base can be provided with a series of vertically spaced pre-drilled holes so that the height of the column can be adjusted to some extent by telescoping the end of the column in the base. The pre-drilled columns can be cut in various lengths to provide an initial overall height in addition to the vertical adjustment.
However, such field adjustable roof support assemblies can call for a multitude of system variations to accommodate particular job-to-job requirements. Some custom fabrication of the adjustable assembly for particular jobs can also be required prior to beginning construction. In addition, custom fabricated purlin clips for a particular pitch roof can be required.
Therefore, there is a need for a new roof subframing support assembly which is adaptable to virtually any retrofit roof application without the need for variations in the assembly system or custom fabrication or field cutting of any components. Moreover the new subframing support assembly should eliminate the need for custom fabricating the purlin clips for different pitch requirements.

Retrofit roof subframing support assembly


A tray device that is detachably connectable to a surface, such as a table surface, providing an eating and/or playing surface for a child. The tray is provided with a lip that extends upwardly and outwardly toward the child's body so as to catch items and/or food or drink dropped by the child and direct the slipped item onto the tray surface. The tray may also be provided with a removable insert and various attachment mechanisms to firmly hold the tray onto the table surface.

Trays that are used to catch spilled items are known in the art. For example, TV trays have been used for many years on which a user may place items and may have an edge that is raised such that if liquid is spilled on the tray, it will not run off onto the floor or the user. Likewise, trays that attach to highchairs for children are typically provided with an edge that is raised so as to catch liquid in the tray or retain items within reach of the child. Additionally, trays that attach to a highchair are typically provided of a molded plastic shaped to retain spilled items therein. Further, such trays may selectively be slid (e.g. adjusted) closer to or further away from the baby as desired.
However, a drawback of current tray systems is that the trays do not closely form to the child such that food and/or items often fall between the tray surface and the child. Highchairs provide for some adjustability in that the distance between the tray and the child may be selected from one of a plurality of positions. However, this adjustability does not solve the above-listed problem because the tray is not closely molded to the child.
Another drawback of current tray systems is that they cannot be attached to a variety of table surfaces. For example, TV trays may only be set up adjacent to the surface. Likewise, the trays used in a high chair are attachable only to the arms of the high chair. While it is possible to lay the tray for a high chair on the table surface, the tray is not firmly secured to the surface such that the child or infant may grab/throw the tray, which often results in a mess. Accordingly, if a tray is to be used, typically the highchair must also be brought. However, highchairs are heavy and cumbersome, and often there is no room to place the highchair (e.g. in a restaurant where patrons sit at booths and aisles are kept free).
Another feature common with known trays is that they comprise a substantially rigid tray. In other words, the tray does not move with the child such that, an opening develops between the child and the tray as the child leans forward and/or backward.
It is also known to place a mat on a table surface in front of a child, the mat being provided with a catch or bag positioned between the mat and the child. However, while the bag may be effective in capturing objects dropped, the objects are not redirected onto the surface of the table in front of the child. Additionally, mats are typically formed from a soft, flexible material and are not particularly effective in capturing spilled items (e.g., liquids and items).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Aspects of a method and system for a transformer-based high performance cross-coupled low noise amplifier may include one or more circuits that integrate within a single chip, a balun with a low-noise amplifier. A DC current biasing path for the low-noise amplifier may be provided through the integrated balun. The low-noise amplifier may be configured as a cross-coupled low-noise amplifier, where the balun may be directly coupled to the cross-coupled low-noise amplifier. The balun may comprise two or more inductors, wherein one or more of the inductors may provide an electrical path for allowing a DC bias current to flow to ground. Integrating a balun on a single chip with a low-noise amplifier may allow the use of a single received signal input terminal. The biasing voltage may be selected to optimize performance of the low-noise amplifier.

Typically, radio frequency (RF) front-ends of receivers are fed from an antenna providing a single-ended input to the RF receiver chain. For many applications and purposes, however, it is useful to convert the single-ended input from the antenna to a differential signal.
A differential line is a transmission line made of two conductors that both carry a signal with reference to ground. The signals are generally designed to minimize the interference they create together by designing them in such a way that their respective electromagnetic fields cancel each other. For example, the signals may be chosen to be the inverse of each other. In addition, differential signals are robust to interference since interference that is experienced on both conductors, can be removed easily.
To convert a single-ended signal to differential signals, a balun is used, where balun is a word-construct based on bal-anced and un-balanced. Baluns are electromagnetic coupling devices in a wide variety of different possible implementations to achieve the conversion from a single-ended signal to differential signals and vice versa.
Most RF front-ends require the received antenna signal to be amplified by a low-noise amplifier. Hence, the antenna output is fed to a balun to be converted to differential signals. The differential signals are then fed to a differential low-noise amplifier. However, the use of separate discrete devices for the balun and the low-noise amplifier is consuming valuable space, and the performance of the amplifier and the balun cannot be optimized simultaneously.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with some aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for a transformer-based high performance cross-coupled low noise amplifier


A seat apparatus for a vehicle includes a first engagement member moving in association with an upper arm, a second engagement member pivotally moved between a first position and a second position for pivotally moving the upper arm from a first pivot position to a second pivot position and retaining the upper arm at the second position by an engagement between the first engagement member and an engagement portion of the second engagement member, and a tilting mechanism releasing a lock of a reclining mechanism for pivotally moving the upper arm to a third pivot position. The seat apparatus further includes a retaining mechanism provided at the second engagement member for retaining the second engagement member at the first position against a biasing force of a biasing mechanism for biasing the second engagement member in a direction from the first position to the second position.

Conventionally in a vehicle such as a van having box-shaped body, a space for occupants and a space for luggage are made of a common space. Therefore, a rear seat(s) is designed to change positions, i.e., from a seating position for enabling an occupant to be seated thereon to a walk-in position at which a seatback is forwardly tilted for enabling an occupant to enter a rear space of the vehicle, or to a tilt-down position where the seatback is forwardly tilted (folded) to be substantially horizontal when placing objects (such as luggage) on a back surface of the seatback. According to JP2004-243864A (hereinafter, referred to as reference 1), a seat apparatus includes a slide lock releasing means for releasing a locked state of a slide lock mechanism by a rotation of an operation lever located at a first position in a first direction and a reclining lock releasing means. The reclining lock releasing means releases a locked state of a reclining mechanism by the rotation of the operational lever located at a second position in the first direction. Thus, by operating one operation lever in different manner, a lock release of the seat slide mechanism, a lock release of the reclining mechanism and a retraction of the seat are performed.
Further, according to JPU1994-27297A (hereinafter, referred to as reference 2), a pin is locked by a hook of a locking member when forwardly tilting an upper arm of a seatback, and the upper arm is accordingly prevented from pivoting in a backward direction. Further, a lower end portion of a memory protrusion-detecting member is pressed upwardly by a memory protrusion when an upper rail of a seat apparatus slides. Therefore, a generated counterforce is received by a lower end portion of the locking member to pivot the locking member, thereby releasing the lock between the hook and the pin to allow the upper arm to pivot in the backward direction. Further, in cooperation with the backward pivoting movement of the upper rail, the upper rail is locked to a lower rail of the seat apparatus. Thus, even in a state where a vibration of the seat apparatus is severe, a slide lock mechanism is prevented from malfunctioning.
However, according to the references 1 and 2, a mechanism for performing both of an operation to move the seatback to the walk-in position and an operation to move the seatback to the tilt-down position is not disclosed. Further, when structuring a mechanism for performing both of the operations to move the seatback to the walk-in position and to the tilt-down position, an intermediate position lock portion is required to be provided between a seating position at which an occupant is able to be seated and the tilt-down position at which the seatback is reclined to be substantially horizontal, so that the seatback is locked to be retained at the walk-in position while pivotally moving towards the tilt-down position. However, in a condition where a manual operation for retaining the seatback is simultaneously performed when performing an operation of a lever for moving the seatback to the walk-in position, the intermediate position locking portion may fail to lock the seatback so that the seatback may be pivotally moved to the tilt-down position without being locked at the walk-in position. Thus, a malfunction of the seat apparatus may occur.
A need thus exists for a seat apparatus for a vehicle which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.


A disk drive suspension and method uses microactuators comprising piezoelectric crystals to drive movement of the load beam beam portion relative to the load beam base portion to shift the beam portion carrying a slider relative to disk tracks by having the load beam portions and the crystals positively coupled to load beam projecting parts extending into the perimeter of the crystals.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to disk drive suspensions, and more particularly to disk drive suspensions comprising a load beam actuated to different disk tracks by a microactuator. In the invention, the microactuator typically comprises a piezoelectric crystal that that is electrodynamic to expand or contract responsive to an input of a voltage. This phenomenon enables micro adjustment of the position of the load beam rigid portion carrying the slider relative to the disk for reading or writing data. In a specific aspect, the invention relates to improvements in the coupling of the microactuator to the load beam for the microactuation movement.
2. Related Art
Microactuation of load beams with piezoelectric crystals has relied on adhesive bonding. In many cases there is insufficient real estate on the opposing load beam portion surfaces and the piezoelectric crystal surfaces to deposit the quantity of adhesive needed to bond the parts against the forces encountered in use of the suspension.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved assembly of a load beam and microactuator. It is a further object to provide a combination load beam and microactuator positively coupled together by interfitting elements of the load beam and microactuator. It is another object to provide a method of assembling a load beam with a microactuator piezoelectric crystal by increasing the opposing surfaces of the parts and bonding the parts with adhesive. It is a highly particular object to provide interfitting receiving and inserting structures on the microactuator and load beam such as notches and holes that positively couple corresponding structure such as tabs, rails, pins, and the like.
These and other objects of the invention to become apparent hereinafter are realized in a disk drive suspension comprising a load beam having a base portion, a spring portion, and a beam portion adapted to carry a slider in operating proximity to a disk, and a dimensionally variable electrodynamic microactuator, the load beam and microactuator defining cooperating interfitting structures, the microactuator acting through the interfitting structures being arranged to selectively displace the beam portion relative to the base portion.
In this and like embodiments, typically, the load beam and microactuator are bonded together at the interfitting structures, the microactuator comprises a piezoelectric crystal, the crystal extending in a plane and defining an interfitting structure comprising at least receiving element, the load beam extending in a plane generally parallel to the crystal plane and defining an interfitting structure comprising at least insertion element, the receiving and insertion elements cooperating in interfitting relation to interlock the crystal and the load beam in shear in their planes, the microactuator comprises a piezoelectric crystal, and the suspension includes right and left hand microactuators acting from the base portion on the beam portion in displacing relation.
In another embodiment, the invention provides a disk drive suspension comprising a load beam having a base portion, a spring portion, and a beam portion adapted to carry a slider in operating proximity to a disk, and a dimensionally variable electrodynamic microactuator, interfitting male and female structures defined by the load beam and microactuator, the microactuator acting through the interfitting male and female structures being arranged to selectively displace the beam portion relative to the base portion.
In this and like embodiments, typically, the microactuator comprises a piezoelectric crystal, the piezoelectric crystal having notches inward from an edge at longitudinally spaced proximate and distal locations along the edge to define the female structure, the load beam base portion defining a first male structure interfitting the proximately located notch, the load beam rigid portion defining a second male structure interfitting the distally located notch, the microactuator comprises a piezoelectric crystal, the piezoelectric crystal having notches inward from its left and right edges at longitudinally spaced, opposed proximate and distal locations to define the female structure, the load beam base portion defining opposed, laterally spaced first male structures interfitting the proximately located notches, the load beam rigid portion defining opposed, laterally spaced second male structures interfitting the distally located notches, the notches are generally rectangular and transverse to the long axis of the piezoelectric crystal, the first and second male structures being generally congruent with the notches, the first and second male structures comprise bent up tabs from on the respective load beam portions, the first and second male structures extend transversely of their respective load beam portions and in parallel with each other, the first and second male structures extending transversely an extent greater than the transverse extent of the notches so that the male structures project laterally from the piezoelectric crystal notches in their interfitted condition.
In this and like embodiments, further, the microactuator comprises a piezoelectric crystal, the piezoelectric crystal having apertures inward from an edge at longitudinally spaced proximate and distal locations along the length of the crystal to define the female structure, the load beam base portion defining a first male structure interfitting the proximately located aperture, the load beam rigid portion defining a second male structure interfitting the distally located aperture, the microactuator comprises a piezoelectric crystal, the piezoelectric crystal having apertures inward from its left and right edges at longitudinally spaced, opposed proximate and distal locations to define the female structure, the load beam base portion defining opposed, laterally spaced first male structures interfitting the proximately located apertures, the load beam rigid portion defining opposed, laterally spaced second male structures interfitting the distally located apertures, the apertures are generally rectangular and transverse to the long axis of the piezoelectric crystal, the first and second male structures being generally congruent with the apertures, the first and second male structures comprise bent up tabs from on the respective load beam portions, the apertures are tapered down in the direction of insertion of the male structures.
In yet a further embodiment the microactuator comprises a piezoelectric crystal, the piezoelectric crystal having generally rounded holes between its edges at longitudinally spaced proximate and distal locations to define the female structure, the load beam base portion defining a first male structure interfitting the proximately located hole, the load beam rigid portion defining a second male structure interfitting the distally located hole.
Yet further, the microactuator comprises a piezoelectric crystal, the piezoelectric crystal having generally rounded first and second holes on its longitudinal axis at longitudinally spaced, opposed proximate and distal locations to define the female structure, the load beam base portion defining a first male structure interfitting the proximately located first hole, the load beam rigid portion defining a second male structure longitudinally spaced from the first male structure and interfitting the distally located hole, the holes are circular, the first and second male structures each having a generally conical base generally congruent with its the hole in hole engaging relation to couple the piezoelectric crystal to the load beam portion, the first and second male structures comprise projections from the respective load beam portions, the first and second male structures extend in parallel with each other, the first and second male structures extending normal to the plane of their respective load beam portions an axial extent less than the axial extent of the holes in their interfitted condition, the first and second male structures projections are formed by etching away load beam portion areas surrounding the projections, or the first and second male structure projections are formed by deflecting the load beam portions about a forming tool.
In its method aspects the invention provides a method of bonding a load beam and a piezoelectric crystal having opposing surfaces, including reshaping the crystal surface to increase its area opposite the load beam, reshaping the load beam opposing surface to increase its area, applying adhesive to at least one of the opposing surfaces, and bonding the opposing surfaces together with the adhesive.

Positive coupling of piezoelectric devices in disk drive suspensions


A gas sensor and a method for fabricating the same includes a semiconductor substrate, a supporting layer formed on the semiconductor substrate, the supporting layer being electrically insulative and having a pattern groove formed therein, a heater formed in the pattern groove, an electrically insulating layer formed on the heater and the supporting layer, an electrode formed on the insulating layer, and a sensing layer formed on the electrode and the insulating layer to detect a target gas of interest according to a measured change in electrical conductivity or resistance thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gas sensor and a method for fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a gas sensor having a built-in micro heater and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In various applications, a gas sensor detects gas leakage, oxygen deficiency, and pollution materials made of nitrogen or carbon oxide. In addition, gas sensors control combustion conditions in engines and boilers.
A conventional semiconductor gas sensor, used in applications as described above, usually comprises a gas sensing portion, a heater portion, and an explosion-proof net. The operation of this gas sensor will now be explained.
First, when gas contacts a sensing layer, charge transfer occurs between gas molecules and the sensing layer, thereby changing the electrical conductivity of the sensing layer, i.e., the resistance. The electrical current passing through the electrodes is correspondingly changed. In this manner, the presence of gas is detected.
When a current flows through the heater, the gas sensing layer is heated by the heater. This improves the sensitivity and responsivity of the sensing layer, while also removing contaminants from the sensing layer.
According to a general method not employing semiconductor technology, the heater having the aforementioned performance is embodied in the form of coil of metal lines of Ni--Cr, Ta or Pt, as shown in FIG. 1. The coil-type heater is primarily used to heat ceramic tubes. However, the coil-type, heater is not available for integrated devices such as flat-type sensors.
In order to overcome the drawbacks of the coil-type heater, a thick film-type heater has been proposed which heats a ceramic substrate using a heater pattern formed in screen printing. The gas sensor having the thick film-type heater made with screen printing will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a conventional thick film-type heater. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional gas sensor having the thick film-type-heater shown in FIG. 1.
As shown in FIG. 1, a, screen in which a heater pattern 4 is formed on a ceramic substrate 1, and the screens are spaced at predetermined intervals. Then, printing is carried out using a paste of the heater material, such as Pt or RuO.sub.2 paste. Next, heat treatment of ceramic substrate 1 is performed at a high temperature, thereby removing organic materials in the paste. As a result, only the heater material of Pt or RuO.sub.2 remains on ceramic substrate 1 in the form of the heater pattern, thereby completing the heater.
As shown in FIG. 2, a conventional gas sensor consists of a ceramic substrate 1, an electrode 2 formed on the overall surface of the ceramic substrate 1, a sensing layer 3 formed on the overall surface of the electrode 2, and a thick film-type heater 4 formed on the back of the ceramic substrate 1.
However, in this conventional gas sensor, the thick film-type heater 4 formed by the screen printing method is too thick, i.e., greater than tens of micrometers, to fabricate fine patterns. In addition, the thick film-type heater increases the consumption of power, and is difficult to apply to semiconductor fabricating technology.
Meanwhile, wet etching and dry etching has also been used to form the heater pattern. The process of forming the heater pattern using etching will now be explained.
A heater material such as Pt or Au is deposited on a supporting layer, and the heater material formed on undesired portions is etched using photolithography, thereby finishing the heater pattern. However, the etching method as described above complicates the process because an etchant is used. The metal (such as Pt or Au) is difficult to etch, thereby preventing accurate etching.
Accordingly, a lift-off method has become widely used because a separate etch solution is not required in the heater pattern formation process, and a material difficult to etch can be selectively removed, for example, Pt or Au. The lift-off method will now be briefly described.
First, a photoresist is coated on a supporting layer, and the photoresist is selectively removed using photolithography to expose a portion of the supporting layer where a heater material is desired and to leave the photoresist on a portion of the supporting layer where a heater material is not desired.
Then, heater material is deposited on the supporting layer and photoresist, and the resulting structure is dipped in acetone to dissolve the photoresist using ultrasound. As a result, the photoresist and the heater-material deposited on the photoresist is removed, leaving the heater material only on the heater pattern where the supporting layer is exposed.
Recently, a method for fabricating a micro heater having a small structure through the aforementioned lift-off method using semiconductor technology has been proposed. This technology will now be briefly explained with reference to FIGS. 3a to 3d.
FIGS. 3a and 3d are cross-sectional views of the sequential manufacturing process of a conventional method for fabricating a heater of a gas sensor using the lift-off method.
As shown in FIG. 3a, a silicon oxide or silicon nitride is grown on a silicon substrate (not shown) to form a supporting layer 12. Photoresist 13 is coated on the supporting layer 12, and, as shown in FIG. 3b, and selectively etched leaving the photoresist only where a heater material, which will be deposited in the following step, will not be required. Through this process, a heater pattern 13a is formed. Here, the upper edge of the remaining photoresist is made with an overhang A. The purpose for the heater pattern 13a formed with the photoresist overhang A will be described below.
In the conventional manufacturing process of the gas sensor, photoresist is coated on the supporting layer, and then the photoresist is vertically etched to be left only on a portion where the heater material is not required, forming the heater pattern. The heater material is deposited on the overall surface of the heater pattern, and the heater pattern, which is left in the unrequired portion, is removed using the lift-off process. Here, the heater material comes into contact with the side of the heater pattern, whose side is not etched and is left without change during the photoresist etch process. Accordingly, the heater pattern of the unrequired portion is not perfectly removed.
Therefore, when the upper edge of the heater pattern has the overhang structure, the heater material does not make contact with the side of the heater pattern.
Then, as shown in FIG. 3c, a heater material 14 is deposited on the overall surface of the supporting layer 12, and the resulting structure is dipped in acetone and the heater pattern 13a is dissolved in the acetone using ultrasound. At this time, the heater material 14 on the heater pattern 13a is removed as the heater pattern 13a is removed. The heater material 14 is left only on the heater pattern portion where the supporting layer 12 is exposed, thereby completing the heater 14a.
However, as shown in FIG. 3b, even if the photoresist 13 is patterned in such a manner that its upper edge has overhang structure A, the heater material 14 is deposited on the supporting layer 12 by falling down on the heater pattern 13a not vertically but at various angles. As a result, the heater material is deposited even on the lower side of the overhang structure so that both ends of the heater material are higher than the center. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3d, an undesired blade-shaped vertical pattern B is formed on the sides of the heater 14a.
If the semiconductor gas sensor is manufactured as the aforementioned heater, an insulation layer formed between the heater and electrode is so thin that the blade-shaped vertical pattern formed on both sides of the heater, may undesirably come into contact with the electrode. Accordingly, insulation between the heater and electrode is destroyed, thereby deteriorating the characteristics of the gas sensor.

Gas sensor and method for fabricating same


An ice maker for forming ice having a refrigeration system, a water system, and a control system. The refrigeration system includes a compressor, a condenser, an ice formation device, and a condenser fan comprising a fan blade and a condenser fan motor for driving the fan blade. The water system supplies water to the ice formation device. The control system includes a controller adapted to operate the condenser fan motor at a first speed in a forward direction when the ice maker is making ice and adapted to operate the condenser fan motor at a second speed in a reverse direction when the ice maker is not making ice. Operating the condenser fan motor at the second speed in the reverse direction is sufficient to reduce the amount of dirt, lint, grease, dust, and/or other contaminants on or in the condenser.

Ice making machines, or ice makers, typically comprise a refrigeration and water system that employs a source of refrigerant flowing serially through a compressor, a condenser, a refrigerant expansion device, an evaporator, and a freeze plate comprising a lattice-type cube mold thermally coupled with the evaporator. Additionally, typical ice makers employ gravity water flow and ice harvest systems that are well known and in extensive use. Ice makers having such a refrigeration and water system are often disposed on top of ice storage bins, where ice that has been harvested is stored until it is needed. Such ice makers may also be of the "self-contained" type wherein the ice maker and ice storage bin are a single unit. Such ice makers have received wide acceptance and are particularly desirable for commercial installations such as restaurants, bars, motels and various beverage retailers having a high and continuous demand for fresh ice.
After prolonged operation of the ice maker, dirt, lint, grease, dust, and/or other contaminants accumulate on or in the condenser, thereby reducing the efficiency of the condenser and the ice maker as a whole. Ice makers transfer significant amounts of heat, much more so than a typical refrigerator or freezer, and therefore need higher capacity condensers. As such, the cleanliness of the condenser is important to the continued proper operation of the ice maker. Therefore it is necessary to periodically clean the condenser.

Ice maker with reversing condenser fan motor to maintain clean condenser


A bumper assembly includes a bumper beam for absorbing an impact of a vehicle and a crash box attached to the bumper beam and extending along an axis A. A mounting plate is attached to the crash box and defines at least one lateral slot extending laterally along the mounting plate in spaced and perpendicular relationship to the axis A. A fastener extends through the lateral slot for mating with a mounting surface of the vehicle frame to establish a secured position of the bumper assembly. The fastener includes a shoulder disposed in abutting relationship with the mounting surface in the secured position to dispose the mounting plate and the mounting surface in spaced relationship to one another for allowing the fastener to slide laterally along the lateral slot during a vehicle impact to reduce the transfer of lateral impact forces from the bumper assembly to the vehicle frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention is related to a vehicle bumper assembly including a bumper beam and a crash box.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vehicle bumper assemblies are known for providing energy absorbing characteristics to a vehicle, and typically include a bumper beam extending laterally across the front or rear of a vehicle for absorbing a frontal or rear impact. The vehicle bumper assemblies also include crash boxes that are fixedly attached to the bumper beam and which extend along an axis A from the bumper beam. A mounting plate is attached to the crash box and defines at least one orifice for receiving a fastener, such as a bolt, screw, or the like. The fastener extends through the orifice of the mounting plate and mates with a mounting surface of the vehicle frame to establish a fixed and secured position of the bumper assembly to the vehicle frame. In this fixed and secured position, the mounting surface and the mounting plate are disposed in compressed and overlaying relationship to one another, and thus the bumper assembly is not designed to move laterally relative to the vehicle frame during an impact. Rather, the crash boxes of the bumper assembly are designed to fold along the axis A upon the frontal or rear impact of the vehicle to reduce a linear deformation of the vehicle frame along the axis A during a frontal or rear impact of the vehicle.
Although the vehicle bumper assemblies are able to reduce linear deformation of the vehicle frame during an impact of the vehicle, there remains a significant and continuing need for a simple design of a bumper assembly that reduces the transfer of lateral forces, defined relative to the axis A, from the bumper assembly to the vehicle frame and thus improves on the energy absorption properties of the prior art vehicle bumper assemblies. Put another way, there remains a significant and continuing need for a simple design of a bumper assembly that reduces lateral deformation of the vehicle frame during an impact.


An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing body, a surface of which includes a photosensitive body having a hardness in the range of 100 to 500 (N/mm2), a charging device, which includes magnetic charging particles and is in friction contact with the image bearing body charges the image bearing body. A supporting member holds the magnetic charging particles with a magnetic force. An exposing device forms an electrostatic image by image exposing the image bearing body, which is charged by the charging means. A developing device develops the electrostatic image on the image bearing body. A transfer device transfers a developed image onto a transfer material and is in pressure contact with the image body. A pressure of the transfer material to the image bearing body is not less than 1 g/cm and not more than 100 g/cm in line pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus employing an electrophotographic process or an electrostatic recording process such as a copying apparatus or a printer.
2. Related Background Art
In the image forming apparatus employing the electrophotographic process, the photosensitive member is generally charged by corona discharge.
In recent years, instead of such discharge method, there is being conceived an injection charging process practically involving no discharge.
In such injection charging process, it is required to achieve contact with the photosensitive member in a high density, but it is practically very difficult to maintain a roller or a blade in contact, without leaving a small gap, with the rotating photosensitive member.
It is therefore conceived to achieve injection charging by contacting a fine particle layer with the photosensitive member.
The Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 5-127490 proposes a charging apparatus of a magnetic brush type.
In the contact charging apparatus of magnetic brush type, conductive magnetic particles are held as a magnetic brush either directly on a magnet or on a sleeve incorporating a magnet, and the charging is initiated by contacting such magnetic brush in a stopped or rotating state with an image bearing body to be charged (hereinafter called photosensitive drum) and applying a voltage thereto. As the magnetic particles constituting the magnetic brush, the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 05-127490 describes that there are preferred magnetic particles with an average particle size not less than 30 xcexcm and not more than 70 xcexcm, free from protruding portions such as needle-shaped portions or edges, and made into a spherical shape in such a manner that the ratio of the longer axis and the shorter axis does not exceed 3 times.
However, in the image forming apparatus employing the contact charging apparatus of magnetic brush type as disclosed in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 05-127490 as the charging means for the photosensitive drum and also employing the contact transfer charging process as the transfer means for a developer image from the photosensitive drum to a recording medium, there has been encountered a drawback of image defects such as image fog or ghost image, resulting presumably from defective charging.
Such situation occurs in case of paper-passing durability test utilizing, as the conductive magnetic particles for constituting the magnetic brush (hereinafter called carrier), xe2x80x9cspherical carrierxe2x80x9d particles formed by a polymerization process and having an average particle size of 50 xcexcm, a saturation magnetization of 200 emu/cm3 and a resistivity of 5xc3x97106 xcexa9cm.
However, satisfactory image formation, without the aforementioned image defects resulting from the defective charging, can be achieved with xe2x80x9ccrushed carrierxe2x80x9d formed by a crushing process and having an average particle size of 25 xcexcm, a saturation magnetization of 200 emu/cm3 and a resistivity of 5xc3x97106 xcexa9cm instead of the spherical carrier.
This is presumably because the finely powdered carrier particles formed at the crushing operation increase the contact area between the photosensitive drum and the carrier thereby increasing the charging ability to the photosensitive drum.
However, if the crushed carrier is used, the carrier may leak for example by adhesion of the fine carrier particles to the photosensitive drum as described in the aforementioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 05-127490 and such leaking carrier may be subjected to the pressure of the contact transfer charging apparatus in the transfer portion to cause damage to the photosensitive drum, thereby significantly deteriorating the service life thereof.
Also, the image forming apparatuses have been made more compact in recent years, but such compactization of the entire image forming apparatus is inevitably limited by the compactization of the individual means or device of the image forming process steps such as charging, exposure, development, transfer, fixing and cleaning.
Also the toner remaining on the image bearing body after the image transfer (residual developer) is collected as waste toner by cleaning means (cleaner), but such waste toner is preferably absent in consideration of the environmental protection.
For this reason, there is already commercialized the image forming apparatus of a xe2x80x9ccleanerless processxe2x80x9d (cleanerless system, toner recycling system) in which the cleaner is dispensed with and the residual toner remaining on the image bearing body after the transfer step is removed from the image bearing body by xe2x80x9ccleaning simultaneous with developmentxe2x80x9d of the development means (developing device, developing unit) and is collected and reused in the development means.
In such cleaning simultaneous with development, the toner remaining in a certain amount on the image bearing body after the image transfer is collected, at the development in one of the subsequent process cycles, by a fog-eliminating bias (a fog-eliminating potential difference Vback between a DC voltage applied to the development means and the surface potential of the image bearing body).
In such process, since the residual toner after the development is collected in the development means and is used again in one of the subsequent process cycles, it is rendered possible to eliminate the waste toner and to reduce the amount of cumbersome maintenance work. Also, the absence of the cleaner provides a large advantage in space, thereby enabling significant compactization of the image forming apparatus.
However, the use of such cleanerless system in combination with the magnetic brush charging process results in drawbacks of a pass-through ghost and a hue variation in case of a color image.
FIG. 26 shows an example of image defect by a pass-through ghost. FIG. 26 shows an A4-sized sheet on which a character xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d is formed in a position (1) (real image or main image). The character xe2x80x9cAxe2x80x9d in the above-mentioned position (1) is not completely transferred but partially remains on the photosenstive drum as residual toner, which should be collected in the developing portion but is not completely collected and is transferred again onto the recording material to form an image in a position (2), called pass-through ghost, that should not be present ideally. This explanation of the phenomenon is also supported by a fact that the distance a shown in FIG. 26 coincides with the peripheral length of the photosensitive drum used.
It will be understood that the aforementioned pass-through ghost phenomenon breaks the basic concept of the cleanerless system and results in the destruction of the system itself. In the following there will be explained why the cleanerless system is broken by the pass-through ghost phenomenon.
The investigation of the present inventors has revealed that, in the cleanerless system, the collection of the transfer residual toner in the developing portion is limited and that the efficiency of collection and the mass of the transfer residual toner per unit area are mutually correlated.
More specifically, in a chart shown in FIG. 27, the ordinate indicates the level of the image defect (pass-through ghost) as shown in FIG. 26, evaluated in five levels, while the abscissa indicates the amount of the transfer residual toner per unit area. The amount of the transfer residual toner is adjusted by regulating the transfer current, thereby varying the transfer efficiency. In FIG. 27, marks ◯ indicate the evaluated levels of the images in the position (1) in FIG. 26 while the marks x indicate the evaluated levels of the image in the position (2) (namely the levels of generation of the pass-through ghost images).
The marks x in FIG. 27 indicate that the pass-through ghost starts to be generated about where the amount of the transfer residual toner exceeds 0.06 mg/cm2, and becomes more severe as the amount of the transfer residual toner increases.
However, the comparison of the marks x with the marks ◯ evidently indicates that the level of the actual image remains quite acceptable even in the area where the pass-through ghost is generated. The level of the actual image becomes unacceptable only after the transfer efficiency is extremely lowered to a level where the amount of the transfer residual toner is equal to or larger than about 0.16 mg/cm2, but has a considerably wider margin for the amount of the transfer residual toner, in comparison with the marks x.
As will be apparent from the foregoing description, the cleanerless system is made unacceptable by the presence of the pass-through ghost even in a situation where the formed actual image is quite acceptable.
Also in the color image forming apparatus of tandem or other type, there is encountered a drawback that a toner image once transferred onto the recording material or the intermediate transfer member is transferred again to the photosensitive drum (hereinafter called re-transfer) at the transfer of another toner image of a next color, whereby the desired toner image cannot be obtained.
In a color image forming apparatus employing the aforementioned cleaning system simultaneous with the development (for example an image forming apparatus formed by combining a color image forming apparatus of tandem system and a cleanerless process), a mixture of the transfer residual toner and the re-transferred toner is collected by the fog-eliminating bias Vback at the development. Since the re-transferred toner is different in color from the transfer residual toner, the collection of the re-transferred toner together with the transfer residual toner at the development results in mixing of colors in the developer. With the repetition of the image forming cycles, the toner of different color is accumulated in the developing apparatus, so that the desired color can no longer be obtained. Such phenomenon is particularly conspicuous when the amount of the re-transferred toner is large. In case the contact transfer charging method is employed in such image forming apparatus, there is encountered a drawback that the color hue immediately shows fluctuation because of the aforementioned reasons, whereby the cleanerless system is broken.
Such phenomenon will be explained in more detail in the following. As shown in FIGS. 28A and 28B, there were employed two image forming stations, which are respectively called a first state positioned at the upstream side in the conveying direction of the recording material and a second station positioned at the downstream side. In each of the first and second image forming stations, there is only illustrated a photosensitive drum and image forming process means therefor are omitted. In each of the first and second image forming stations, there was formed a stripe image (in the main scanning direction) representing an area of 6% for the A4 size.
In the second image forming station, the re-transferred toner generated in the course of image formation is collected, upon reaching the developing portion of the second image forming station, in the developing apparatus by the fog-eliminating bias.
For the purpose of quantitative evaluation, the re-transfer rate xcex7rtr is defined, as shown in FIGS. 28A and 28B by:
xcex7rtr=b/(a+b)xc3x97100[%]
wherein a [g/cm2] is the toner amount per unit area of the recording material after the re-transfer, and b [g/cm2] is the amount per unit area of the toner re-transferred onto the photosensitive drum.
Also the transfer efficiency xcex7rtr is similarly defined by:
xcex7rtr=bxe2x80x2/(axe2x80x2+bxe2x80x2)xc3x97100[%]
wherein axe2x80x2 [g/cm2] is the toner amount per unit area of the recording material after the transfer, and bxe2x80x2 [g/cm2] is the amount per unit area of the transfer residual toner remaining on the photosensitive drum after the transfer.
This investigation employed yellow toner and magenta toner respectively in the first and second image forming stations and executed the formation of a magenta image (a stripe image in the main scanning direction representing 6% in A4 size), from an initial state (where yellow toner is completely absent in the magenta developing apparatus). The image formation was repeated in a similar manner for 10,000 sheets (intermittently by 100 sheets at a time), the color difference xcex94E between the initial image and the image after each 1000 sheets was measured with X-RIteSP68. The transfer efficiency of the yellow toner in the first image forming station was always maintained at 95%.
The result of the investigation is shown in FIG. 29, in which the abscissa indicates the number of passed sheets while the ordinate indicates the change in the color difference. A curve A indicates the result obtained with a contact transfer charging apparatus (transfer roller) in the second image forming station, while a curve B indicates the result obtained with a non-contact transfer charging apparatus (corona charger) in the second image forming station as a comparative reference. These configurations respectively correspond to FIGS. 28A and 28B.
In FIG. 29, the curve A indicates that the color difference increases as the number of the passed sheets increases, and exceeds an upper limit value 6.5 of the color difference, giving a same color in impression when about 5000 sheets are passed. On the other hand, the curve B shows a smaller change in the color difference, apparently reflecting the difference in the transfer charging method.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of charging by conductive particles.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus employing a magnetic brush charging system and a cleanerless system.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus comprising: an image bearing body; charging means for charging the image bearing body, the charging means having a charging particle in friction contact with the image bearing body and thereby charging the image bearing body; electrostatic image forming means for forming an electrostatic image on the image bearing body charged by the charging means; developing means for developing the electrostatic image on the image bearing body; and transfer means and for transferring a developed image onto a transfer material at a pressure contact portion where the transfer means is in pressure contact with the image bearing body; wherein a pressure of the transfer material to the image bearing body is not less than 1 g/cm and not more than 100 g/cm in line pressure.

Image forming apparatus capable of preventing damage to a photosensitive body by charging particles