A monolithic ceramic electronic component includes a dummy electrode having a dummy body portion and an internal electrode having an extended portion, in which the conductor density of the dummy body portion is less than the conductor density of the extended portion of an internal electrode. With this configuration, the fixing strength of an external terminal electrode to a ceramic element assembly is improved, and undesirable deformation caused by a dummy conductor provided in a monolithic ceramic electronic component is prevented.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monolithic ceramic electronic component and, more particularly, to a monolithic ceramic electronic component in which an external terminal electrode is not only connected to exposed ends of internal electrodes but also connected to exposed ends of dummy conductors to thereby improve the fixing strength of the external terminal electrode.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, miniaturization of electronic apparatuses, such as a cellular phone, a notebook computer, a digital still camera and a digital audio instrument, has progressed, and these electronic apparatuses use a large number of monolithic ceramic electronic components that enable miniaturization and provide high performance.
Generally, each monolithic ceramic electronic component includes a ceramic element assembly, internal electrodes, and external terminal electrodes. The ceramic element assembly includes a plurality of laminated ceramic layers. The internal electrodes are provided inside the ceramic element assembly. The external terminal electrodes are disposed on the outer surface of the ceramic element assembly. Then, the monolithic ceramic electronic component is arranged on a conductive land of a mounting substrate, and is mounted on the substrate through a conductive bonding material, such as solder.
The monolithic ceramic electronic component mounted on the substrate may undergo external tensile stress. The tensile stress is caused by warping of the substrate or thermal expansion and contraction of the substrate due to changes in external temperature. If the monolithic ceramic electronic component undergoes such stress, the external terminal electrodes may peel off from the ceramic element assembly to cause a so-called open mode failure.
To prevent such an open mode failure, it is a technical challenge to improve the fixing strength of the external terminal electrodes to the ceramic element assembly. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 9-129476 discloses a method to improve the fixing strength. Dummy conductors, which are internal conductors that do not substantially contribute to electrical characteristics, are provided inside the ceramic element assembly, and then metallic bonds between the external terminal electrodes and the dummy conductors are utilized to improve the fixing strength of the external terminal electrodes.
On the other hand, there is a need for further miniaturizing the monolithic ceramic electronic component. When the monolithic ceramic electronic component is miniaturized, an effective area in which the internal electrodes face each other is reduced. Thus, the characteristics tend to decrease. In addition, in a multiterminal monolithic ceramic electronic component, it is necessary to provide a plurality of external terminal electrodes at a narrow pitch. However, an existing method of baking a thick-film paste limits the accuracy of paste coating, and it is difficult to accurately form the external terminal electrodes.
For this reason, a method of directly forming external terminal electrodes by plating has been disclosed. With the above method, thin flat external terminal electrodes may be formed and, as a result, it is possible to increase the effective areas of the internal electrodes. In addition, plating is deposited at the exposed ends of the internal electrodes, such that it is possible to accurately form the external terminal electrodes even at a narrow pitch.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-327983 discloses that the dummy conductors are also used when the external terminal electrodes are directly formed by plating as described above. Thus, plating metal may be not only deposited at the exposed ends of the internal electrodes but also deposited at the exposed ends of the dummy conductors. This makes it possible to further reliably deposit plating.
In the monolithic ceramic electronic component, it has been determined that forming the dummy conductors inside the ceramic element assembly is a useful technique.
When a monolithic ceramic electronic component including dummy conductors is prepared, internal electrode patterns and dummy conductor patterns are printed on ceramic green sheets. Then, the ceramic green sheets are laminated and sequentially pressure-bonded, and the obtained mother block is stamped.
However, as viewed in a direction in which the ceramic layers are laminated, the internal electrode patterns and the dummy conductor patterns are arranged in an overlapping manner. Thus, the density of the electrode patterns is increased at the overlapping portions. For this reason, the flowability of the ceramic green sheets is inhibited when the mother block is stamped. This may cause a swell (waviness) of the ceramic green sheets in the stamped mother block. Depending on the situation, there is a possibility that the reliability may decrease because of a structural defect, such as delamination.
FIG. 16 shows a partially enlarged cross-sectional view of a monolithic ceramic electronic component 1 that has a deformation due to the above-described swell (waviness).
As shown in FIG. 16, the monolithic ceramic electronic component 1 includes a ceramic element assembly 3 including a plurality of laminated ceramic layers 2. Inside the ceramic element assembly 3, first and second internal electrodes 4 and 5 are alternately arranged in a laminated direction. Ends of the first internal electrodes 4 are exposed at a first side surface 6 of the ceramic element assembly 3. Although not shown in FIG. 16, ends of the second internal electrodes 5 are exposed at a second side surface opposite the first side surface 6 of the ceramic element assembly 3.
In addition, a plurality of first dummy conductors 7 are provided inside the ceramic element assembly 3 so that the first dummy conductors 7 are electrically insulated from the internal electrodes 4 and 5. The ends of the first dummy conductors 7 shown in FIG. 16 are exposed to the first side surface 6 of the ceramic element assembly 3. Although not shown in FIG. 16, second dummy conductors are also provided so that the ends of the second dummy conductors are exposed to the second side surface of the ceramic element assembly 3.
In addition, a first external terminal electrode 8 is disposed on the first side surface 6. The first external terminal electrode 8 is arranged so as to cover the ends of the first internal electrodes 4 and the ends of the dummy conductors 7. Although not shown in the drawing, a second external terminal electrode is disposed on the second side surface of the ceramic element assembly 3.
When stamping a mother block that is prepared to manufacture the monolithic ceramic electronic component 1, if described with reference to a portion shown in FIG. 16, patterns that define the internal electrodes 4 and patterns that define the dummy conductors 7 are arranged in overlapping locations as viewed in the direction in which the ceramic layers 2 are laminated. Thus, as described above, flowability of the ceramic green sheets is inhibited. This easily causes a swell (waviness) of the ceramic green sheets in the stamped mother block. Thus, the deformation as shown in the FIG. 16 occurs.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 17, a process of laminating and sequentially pressure-bonding ceramic green sheets is performed by repeatedly transporting a ceramic green sheet 10 onto a stamping base 11 by a stamping head 9 and laminating and pressure-bonding the ceramic green sheets 10 on the stamping base 11. Here, the plurality of ceramic green sheets 10 that define the desired mother block undergo repeated lamination and pressure-bonding from the bottom, and the initially laminated ceramic green sheets 10 and the conductive patterns, such as the internal electrode patterns and the dummy conductor patterns, undergo a load of pressure-bonding many times. Then, particularly, a pressure concentrates on a portion of the conductive patterns having a high density. In the obtained mother block, a phenomenon occurs in that the conductive patterns at the lower principal surface side, at which the initially laminated ceramic green sheets 10 are located, are expanded by a larger amount than those at the upper principal surface side.
This problem is particularly significant when the external terminal electrodes are formed directly by plating. That is, as the conductive patterns at the lower principal surface side expand, the width of each of the exposed ends of the internal electrodes and dummy conductors differs between the upper principal surface side of the ceramic element assembly and the lower principal surface side of the ceramic element assembly. Then, because of this exposed state, there is a problem in that the external terminal electrodes 12 each have a substantially trapezoidal shape as shown in FIG. 18. FIG. 18 shows a side surface 14 of the ceramic element assembly 13, on which the striped external terminal electrodes 12 are formed in a plurality of lines.
As described above, when the external terminal electrodes 12 each have a substantially trapezoidal shape, it causes, for example, a tombstone defect or a self-alignment defect due to vertical directivity or increases the likelihood that a solder bridge may occur due to close location of the lower portions of the adjacent substantially trapezoidal shapes.


A crucible in which a semiconductor material is melted and held during a crystal growing process. The crucible includes a body of vitreous silica having a bottom wall and a sidewall formation extending up from the bottom wall and defining a cavity for holding the molten semiconductor material. The sidewall formation has an inner and an outer surface. A first devitrification promoter on the inner surface of the sidewall formation is distributed such that a first layer of substantially devitrified silica is formed on the inner surface of the crucible which is in contact with the molten semiconductor material when the semiconductor material is melted in the crucible during the crystal growing process. A second devitrification promoter on the outer surface of the sidewall formation is distributed such that a second layer of substantially devitrified silica is formed on the outer surface of the crucible when the semiconductor material is melted in the crucible during the crystal growing process. The first substantially devitrified silica layer is such that it promotes uniform dissolution of the inner surface and in so doing significantly reduces the release of crystalline silica particulates into the molten semiconductor material as a crystal is pulled from the molten semiconductor material. The second substantially devitrified silica layer is such that it reinforces the vitreous silica body.

The present invention relates generally to crucibles for use in the preparation of silicon single crystals grown by the Czochralski process. The invention particularly relates to a fused quartz crucible having one or more surfaces which have been treated with a devitrification promoter.
Single crystal silicon which is the starting material for most processes for the fabrication of semiconductor electronic components is commonly prepared with the so-called Czochralski process. In this process, polycrystalline silicon ("polysilicon") is charged to a crucible, the polysilicon is melted, a seed crystal is immersed into the molten silicon and a single crystal silicon ingot is grown by slow extraction.
The crucible of choice for use in the Czochralski process is commonly referred to as a fused quartz crucible or simply a quartz crucible and is composed of an amorphous form of silica known as vitreous silica. One disadvantage associated with the use of vitreous silica, however, is the fact that contaminants on the inner surface of the crucible can nucleate and promote the formation of cristobalite islands in the vitreous silica surface (the islands being centered, in general, about the contamination site) as the polysilicon is melted and the single crystal ingot is grown. The cristobalite islands can be undercut and released as particles into the silicon melt, causing the formation of dislocations in the silicon ingot. The cristobalite islands can be undercut, for example, by the action of a low melting eutectic liquid formed at the interface between the vitreous silica and cristobalite as described by Liu et al., "Reaction Between Liquid Silicon and Vitreous Silica," J. Mater. Res., 7(2), p. 352 (1992). Other mechanisms by which the cristobalite islands are undercut and released into the melt are also known in the art.
Crucibles formed from vitreous silica may also exhibit a loss of structural integrity when subjected to the extreme temperatures experienced during the melting of the polysilicon charge or the growth of the silicon ingot. In general, these crucibles soften with increasing temperature and are soft enough to easily flow under an applied stress when the crucible wall temperature exceeds 1817.degree. K. Thus, graphite susceptors are frequently used to support the crucibles. Despite such reinforcement, however, quartz crucibles may buckle during the polysilicon melting and the crystal growth phases of the process, or when mechanical failure of the crystal puller occurs resulting in prolonged holding periods at high temperatures. Buckling occurs most often during remelt of an imperfect crystal or melting of bead polysilicon (i.e., granular polysilicon formed in a fluidized bed).
Pastor et al. disclose in U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,009 a process for converting the vitreous silica surface of a crucible to cristobalite for the purpose of passivating and enhancing the stability of the surface. In this process, the vitreous silica surface is exposed to an atmosphere containing atomic iodine at a temperature of 1200.degree. C. to 1400.degree. C. for about 24 hours to convert the surface to .beta.-cristobalite and then cooled to a temperature of less than 260.degree. C. which causes the .beta.-cristobalite to be transformed to .alpha.-cristobalite. When the crucible is thereafter reheated to an elevated temperature for use in a crystal growing process, the .alpha.-cristobalite layer transforms to .beta.-cristobalite. Experience has shown, however, that the .alpha.-cristobalite to .beta.-cristobalite phase transformations cause the devitrified surface to crack and form particulates on the surface. These particulates are released from the devitrified surface into the silicon melt, causing the formation of dislocations in the silicon ingot.
Other methods of treating crucible surfaces have also been proposed. Japanese Kokai No. 52/038873 discloses the use of a xenon lamp to irradiate the inner crucible surface in order to remove electrostatically adhering metallic contaminants to reduce formation of oxidation induced stacking faults in a silicon single crystal. Japanese Kokai No. 60/137892 describes a method of subjecting a crucible to electrolysis to remove alkali metals from the crucible which serves to reduce the incidence of lattice defects and crucible deformation. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,956,208 and 4,935,046 describe crucibles having an opaque outer shell and an inner transparent quartz layer substantially free from bubbles for controlling the transfer of oxygen into a silicon melt. The inner layer is also described as being effective in suppressing the growth of cristobalite at the crucible-melt interface, preventing the cristobalite from dropping off into the melt and disturbing growth of the crystal. Many of these treatments do not strengthen the walls of the crucible against deformation when subjected to severe temperatures, nor do they control the devitrification process in the presence of molten silicon.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,102,666 describes the formation of a thin crystalline silica layer on the outer surface of a diffusion tube to improve its thermal dimensional stability. The outer surface of the tube is treated with crystallization promoting nuclei such as oxides, carbides or nitrides of boron, aluminum, phosphorus, antimony, zinc, magnesium, calcium, gallium or Group IV elements of the periodic table. The nuclei promote very slow devitrification which is said to increase the useful life of the diffusion tube. The diffusion tubes are used in processing semiconductor wafers at temperatures of up to about 1300.degree. C. which is significantly below the softening point of vitreous silica.
There is a need for quartz crucibles having greater structural stability to prolong the useful life of the crucibles and prevent deformation and buckling of the crucibles during melt down and crystal growth. Crucibles that release fewer particulate contaminants into the silicon melt are also needed to improve the yield and throughput of zero dislocation (i.e., dislocation-free) single crystals grown by the Czochralski process.

Surface-treated crucibles for improved zero dislocation performance


A transmission subassembly for a working vehicle includes an engageable front wheel drive, a transmission housing, a clutch module, and a hydraulic module. The hydraulic module is received between the clutch module and the transmission housing.

Utility vehicles and other all-terrain vehicles may be provided with a mechanical front wheel drive in order to drive the front wheels, for example, in order to improve the traction. The front wheel drive or a clutch module of the front wheel drive is generally provided on or usually below a transmission housing. A front wheel drive shaft of the front wheel drive is arranged such that it may be connected to a front axle of the vehicle in order to drive the front wheels of the vehicle. A hydraulic supply unit with various connectors, via which the front wheel drive may also be supplied with a lubricating or hydraulic medium, is frequently provided in a front region of the transmission housing. Such an arrangement is complex or impedes the repair or replacement of the front wheel drive or the clutch module.
Thus, there is a need to provide a transmission subassembly, a clutch module and vehicle by which the aforementioned drawbacks are remedied.

Transmission subassembly, clutch module and vehicle


A new and distinct Chrysanthemum plant cultivar is disclosed, characterized by large decorative type inflorescences, consistent flowering response to short days, blooming consistently after 49 days of short day length, white ray florets, free branching habit, and a consistent natural season flowering habit during the first week of September.

The new cultivar 'PPP PAD WH05' is a product of an induced mutation of the parent Chrysanthemum plant variety 'GEDI TWO PAD' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 14,501) using gamma ray treatment at a dose of 20 Gy. The new cultivar was discovered and selected by Dirk Pieters in September 2002 in Oostnieuwkerke, Belgium.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'PPP PAD WH05' by terminal cuttings and tissue culture was performed in Oostnieuwkerke, Belgium, and has shown that the unique features of this new cultivar are stable and reproduced true to type on successive generations.

Chrysanthemum plant named ‘PPP PAD WH05’

Pieters Plant Production, BVBA a Belgian Corporation


A method and circuit for significantly reducing positive switching transients (glitches) of digital step attenuators (DSA's) by controlling the timing of state transitions for individual attenuator stages within a DSA. Such control prevents the DSA output power from peaking during attenuation state transitions and ensures that any transient glitch during the transition results in reduced power at the DSA output. Attenuation stage timing delay can be implemented on an integrated circuit die or “chip” for monolithic implementations of a DSA by adding circuitry which ensures that any attenuation state changes result in increased attenuation rather than decreased attenuation, thereby reducing or eliminating positive transient glitches at the DSA output.

(1) Technical Field
This invention generally relates to electronic circuits, and more specifically to digital step attenuator circuits.
(2) Background
An attenuator is an electronic device that reduces the power of a signal without appreciably distorting its waveform. Attenuators are usually passive devices made from simple voltage divider networks, and are frequently used to lower voltage, dissipate power, and/or to improve impedance matching. For example, in measuring signals, attenuators are used to lower the amplitude of a signal under test a known amount to enable measurements, or to protect the measuring device from signal levels that might damage it. Attenuators are also used to match impedance by lowering the apparent standing wave ratio (SWR).
Digital step attenuators (DSA's) are frequently used with radio frequency (RF) systems such as transceivers for broadcast radio, cellular telephones, and RF based digital networks (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth). Typical DSA's consist of a series cascade of switchable (2-state), impedance-matched attenuator stages, whose attenuation values are binary weighted. For example, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a typical prior art binary-weighted DSA 100. Shown are 7 attenuator stages comprising series-connected switchable (2-state) "pi" type attenuators 102 and "bridged-r" type attenuators 104.
In operation, a 7-bit binary code is applied to the control lines C16-C0.25 of the DSA 100 to select any or all of the attenuator stages 102, 104 to attenuate a signal between the input port RFin and the output port RFout, in equal increments (0.25 dB per step in this example). Thus, for the illustrated embodiment, a binary control signal of "0111111" will provide an attenuation (negative gain) of −15.75 dB, while a binary control signal of "1000000" will provide an attenuation of −16 dB. For the purpose of this disclosure, an ON attenuator stage is defined to be in "attenuation mode" to provide a designed attenuation level. Conversely, an OFF attenuator stage is bypassed to provide no attenuation and defined to be in "insertion loss mode".
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a prior art "pi" switchable attenuator circuit 102. To turn the attenuator circuit 102 ON (attenuation mode), bypass switch 200 is opened and shunt switches 202, 204 are closed, resulting in a conventional "pi" type attenuator configuration. To turn the attenuator circuit 102 OFF (insertion loss mode), bypass switch 200 is closed and shunt switches 202, 204 are opened, effectively bypassing the entire attenuator circuit 102. Control signals (not shown) of opposite logic state are used to concurrently open or close the various switches as indicated. The attenuation characteristics of a "pi" type attenuator are well known to those skilled in the art.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a prior art "bridged T" switchable attenuator circuit 104. To turn the attenuator circuit 104 ON (attenuation mode), bypass switch 300 is opened and shunt switch 302 is closed, resulting in a conventional "bridged T" type attenuator configuration. To turn the attenuator circuit 104 OFF (insertion loss mode), bypass switch 300 is closed and shunt switch 302 is opened, effectively bypassing the entire attenuator circuit 104. As noted above, control signals (not shown) of opposite logic state are used to concurrently open or close the various switches as indicated. The attenuation characteristics of a "bridged T" type attenuator are well known to those skilled in the art.
A problem with a conventional binary-weighted DSA 100 is that the component switching elements in the attenuator stages do not turn ON and OFF at the same rate. For field effect transistor (FET's) used as the switching elements, typically the turn ON time is faster than the turn OFF time. This creates a scenario in which various attenuator stages can temporarily present less attenuation as they are changing states, since all attenuator stages do not switch simultaneously. This asymmetrical switching produces a transient glitch at the DSA output. While the peak in output power lasts for only a short duration (tens of nanoseconds to a couple hundred nanoseconds) during an attenuation state change, if the power level is too great, the transient glitch can degrade the performance of or damage a system in which such a DSA is embedded.
The transient glitch from asymmetrical switching is worse for certain transitions than for others. For example, to switch a 7-bit DSA 100 from 15.75 dB attenuation to 16 dB attenuation requires toggling all seven of the control bits C16-C0.25 simultaneously, as shown in Table 1:
TABLE 1decimal codeC16C8C4C2C1C0.5C0.25Ideal Gain (dB)630111111−15.75641000000−16.00
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a switching glitch generated by a typical example of the prior art circuit shown in FIG. 1, for a worst case state transition. In this example, the measured positive glitch amplitude 400 in switching from one attenuation value 402 (−16 dB in this example) to another attenuation value 404 (−15.75 dB in this example) is larger than about 6 dB. When such a DSA is part of an automatic gain control loop (AGC) used to compensate for variations in received signal strength, such glitches may introduce an unwanted detection error. For other types of load devices or circuits, the peak power during a transition glitch may be damaging.
Accordingly, there is a need for a digital step attenuator circuit that reduces the amplitude of positive switching transients (glitches) during state transitions. The present invention addresses this need.

Method and apparatus for preventing digital step attenuator output power peaking during attenuation state transitions


A method for manufacturing an all solid-state lithium-ion rechargeable battery includes forming a first active material layer on a base, forming a solid electrolyte layer connected to the first active material layer, forming a second active material layer connected to the solid electrolyte layer, and repairing a short-circuit defect produced between the first active material layer and the second active material layer by supplying a repair current between the first active material layer and the second active material layer.

All-solid state lithium-ion rechargeable batteries have become popular because they are small, light, and have high energy density. An all solid-state lithium-ion rechargeable battery includes, on a substrate, a positive electrode collector layer, a negative electrode collector layer, a positive electrode active material layer, a solid electrolyte layer, and a negative electrode active material layer. These layers are formed by performing a sputtering process or a CVD process (for example, refer to patent document 1). Various types of printing processes may also be performed to form the layers.

Method for manufacturing all solid-state lithium-ion rechargeable battery, and method for testing all solid-state lithium-ion rechargeable battery


The present disclosure relates to a fuel pump module, and more particularly, to a fuel pump module including a flange module and a reservoir module, in which when a fuel delivery pipe for supplying filtered fuel from the reservoir module to the flange module is coupled to the reservoir module, since the fuel deliver pipe may be coupled to the reservoir module to a desired position in an axial direction and to be prevented from rotating in an axial direction, the fuel delivery pipe may be prevented from interfering with a guide rod connecting the flange module and the reservoir module in a vertical direction, thereby not only preventing the occurrence of fire, but also increasing a common use rate of the reservoir module.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional fuel pump module.
Referring to FIG. 1, the fuel pump module is configured to filter fuel stored in a fuel tank and then deliver the filtered fuel to an engine side, and largely includes a flange module 11 that coupled and fixed to the fuel tank, a fuel pump that is positioned on a lower side of the flange module 11 to be spaced apart by a guide rod 13 and sucks and discharges fuel, and a reservoir module 12 having a built-in component such as a filter for filtering the fuel.
The reservoir module 12 is supported by the guide rod 13 and may include elastic means to adjust a separation distance between the flange module 11 and the reservoir module 12 by an external force. In addition, the reservoir module 12 includes a filter part 12-1 provided with a filter, and the filter part 12-1 may be connected to the flange module 11 through a fuel delivery pipe 14 through which fuel is delivered to the flange module 11 to filter the fuel supplied from the fuel pump and then supply the fuel to the flange module 11 through the fuel delivery pipe 14.
In this case, depending on features of the fuel tank, a position of the flange module 11 may be formed in various directions without facing the reservoir module 12, and a distance between the flange module 11 and the reservoir module 12 may be reduced according to a size of the fuel tank. Accordingly, a coupling direction and a coupling position between the flange module 11 and the reservoir module 12 to which the fuel delivery pipe is connected may be changed, and thus, the fuel delivery pipe 14 may rotate in an axial direction at a coupling site with the reservoir module 12, so the fuel delivery pipe 14 and the guide rod 13 may come into contact and interfere with reach other.
As a result, the fuel delivery pipe 14 continuously interferes with the guide rod 13, and thus, the fuel delivery pipe 14 and the guide rod 13 may be damaged or broken, and the fuel delivery pipe 14 continuously interferes with the guide rod 13 formed of a conductor, and thus, a fire may occur.
In addition, in order to prepare for the above-mentioned damage or breakage and the risk of the occurrence of fire, it is necessary to form a fuel pump module to be applied to each fuel tank having various shapes and sizes, so the common use rate is reduced, and R&D and manufacturing costs for manufacturing the fuel pump module increase.


In some implementations, a print device may possess a processor, print device memory, and a print queue manager. The print queue manager is to add a print job to a print queue having a plurality of print jobs to be printed. The print job corresponds to a print request received from a user for printing a digital document. The print queue manager further determines occurrence of a first trigger event for creating a print job backup. The first trigger event includes a print job deferment input. The print queue manager may further obtain print data corresponding to an unprocessed print job identified for print job backup based on the occurrence of the first trigger event and save the print data corresponding to the identified unprocessed print job in the print device memory to create the print job backup.

Print devices are peripherals commonly used in home and office environments for obtaining printed copies of digital documents having print data, such as text or images. To enable a user to use the print device, a printer interface may be provided either in the form of a graphical user interface on the print device or as a web interface on a user device of the user. For instance, the user may use the graphical user interface to provide commands for preforming multiple jobs, such as printing, copying, and scanning a digital document.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements. The figures are not necessarily to scale, and the size of some parts may be exaggerated to more clearly illustrate the example shown. Moreover, the drawings provide examples and/or implementations consistent with the description; however, the description is not limited to the examples and/or implementations provided in the drawings.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A release agent composition which is particularly suited for industrial applications such as preventing the adhesion of asphalt or concrete materials to surfaces such as truck beds, other containers, or equipment used in handling these compounds. The release agent composition includes lecithin in combination with a dispersing agent, particularly a propylene based glycol ether, a propylene based glycol ether acetate, an ethylene based glycol ether, or an ethylene based glycol ether acetate and mixtures thereof. The lecithin and dispersing agent are mixed with water to form an aqueous dispersion for application to surfaces.

It is generally known in many industrial operations to coat surfaces of containers, tools or other surfaces with a release agent to prevent material which comes into contact with such surfaces from adhering thereto. For example, Couleau et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,570) disclose that it is generally known in the art of molding concrete pieces, to coat mold surfaces which come into contact with the material being molded with a product which facilitates the unmolding and which attains a satisfactory surface condition for the pieces. Known release compositions generally constitute a mixture of organic solvents and petroleum products to which are added active release ingredients. Couleau et al. propose a non-petroleum based release agent for use in concrete applications, which is an aqueous antifreeze solution including a combination of at least one active release constituent which may be an organic acid salt, at least one clarifying anti-freeze agent which may be a hydroxyethylether, at least one spreading agent which is an ester, and at least one polyether lubricating agent.
Ballenger, Jr. et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,979) also disclose that in the transporting and handling of hot-mix asphalt, it is necessary to treat the dump truck or trailer with a suitable release agent to prevent the asphalt mix from sticking to the walls thereof. It is disclosed that petroleum oils have been used to coat the walls of such trucks or trailers for this purpose. Recently, however, the use of petroleum oils or other non-biodegradable materials has been criticized and even prohibited due to environmental concerns. Ballenger, Jr. et al. propose a biodegradable release agent for use in hot-mix asphalt applications which comprises preparing an aqueous dispersion of a vegetable oil which is emulsified in water using suitable emulsifiers, such as a sorbitol based emulsifier.
Leahy (U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,584) also disclose and teach the necessity for producing a non-toxic and biodegradable release agent that can be used in industrial applications. Leahy discloses a concrete release agent which comprises a small amount of tall oil uniformly dispersed in a vegetable oil as a superior concrete form release coating composition.
In industrial applications, such as described above, it is recognized that the extremely large surface areas which must be coated, along with the frequency of coating, requires that the release agent composition be inexpensive. Further, the surfaces which are coated are many times vertical, and therefore, the release agent must sufficiently coat and adhere to such vertical surfaces to function properly. Finally, as stated above, the release agent should be non-toxic and biodegradable.
Several lecithin based release agents have been disclosed for non-industrial applications. In particular, several lecithin based release agents have been disclosed as cooking surface release agents. However, it is believed that each of these compositions fail to meet one or all of the above criteria for industrial application. Some examples of lecithin based cooking release agents, include the following disclosures: 1) Sejbal (U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,003): a low viscosity lecithin vegetable oil release agent incorporating 1 to 15% of a 190 or 200 proof ethanol. 2) Szuhaj and Yaste (U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,678): a release agent consisting of lecithin, alcohol and a mixture of a triglycol esters. 3) Szuhaj and Yaste (U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,419): a release agent consisting of lecithin, triglycol esters, alcohol and water. 4) Follmer (U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,975): a lecithin emulsion applied from a pressurized system as a cooking lubricant. 5) Carey (U.S. Pat. No. 3,821,007): a lecithin containing aerosol release material comprising vegetable shortening, vegetable oil, lecithin and wheat and soybean flour. 6) Rubin et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,661,605): an aerosol release agent composed of a homogenized dispersion of lecithin and water.
It is readily apparent from the compositions disclosed above, that such compositions are not adequate for industrial applications, wherein large surface areas must be coated. Aerosol sprays are certainly not practical for such large volume applications. Further, the ethanol containing compositions raise flammability concerns and applicator exposure issues.
Accordingly, the need exists for a release agent composition for industrial application which is biodegradable and non-toxic. Further, the preferred agent for industrial application must be inexpensive for application to large surface areas, such as truck boxes and other industrial equipment in such industries as the asphalt industry or concrete industry. The composition must be suitable for application to vertical surfaces to provide a non-stick surface thereto upon contact by the material in the container or other equipment.
The present invention addresses these needs, as well as other problems associated with release agents for industrial applications. The present invention also offers further advantages over the prior art and solves other problems associated therewith.

Release agent composition for industrial application


There is a system for producing high-purity hydrogen by reforming a hydrocarbon and/or an oxygen atom-containing hydrocarbon to form a reformed gas containing hydrogen and separating the hydrogen from said gas. The system includes a hydrocarbon source, a water source, an oxygen source, a vaporization chamber connecting with the hydrocarbon source, the water source and the oxygen source, and a reforming chamber provided with a catalyst for steam reforming and partial oxidation and a hydrogen-separating membrane. The reforming chamber is thermally connected with the vaporization chamber. A process for producing high-purity hydrogen includes heating a reforming chamber provided with a hydrogen-separating membrane, feeding, into the reforming chamber, hydrocarbon, steam and oxygen or air to give rise to steam reforming and partial oxidation therein to produce a reaction gas, and passing the reaction gas through the hydrogen-separating membrane to recover high-purity hydrogen. The heat possessed by the portion of the reaction gas not permeable into the hydrogen-separating membrane and the heat generated by the partial oxidation are utilized for the heating and reforming of the hydrocarbon, water and oxygen or air.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for production of high-purity hydrogen, a process for production of high-purity hydrogen, and a fuel cell system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for efficient production of high-purity hydrogen, a process for efficient production of high-purity hydrogen, and a fuel cell system provided with said system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A process for hydrogen production is known which utilizes the steam reforming of a hydrocarbon and/or an oxygen atom-containing hydrocarbon, for example, methane, propane, methanol, ethanol or petroleum. The steam reforming is represented by the following formula in the case of, for example, reforming of methanol. EQU CH.sub.3 OH+H.sub.2 O.fwdarw.CO.sub.2 +3H.sub.2 ( 1)
Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 295402/1988 discloses a process for producing hydrogen by conducting the reforming of formula (1) and recovering the formed hydrogen by the use of a hydrogen-separating membrane.
Since the reforming of formula (1) is an endothermic reaction, heat must be supplied from outside in order to allow the reaction to proceed or continue. In Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 147902/1993, this heat is supplied by burning the portion of the reformed gas not permeable into the hydrogen-separating membrane (said portion still contains hydrogen and is hereinafter referred to as non-permeable gas).
A fuel cell is known as a means for utilizing the energy generated by the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, as electric energy. For the efficient operation of a fuel cell, use of high-purity hydrogen is necessary. In the case of a solid polymer type fuel cell, in particular, it is necessary to reduce the CO concentration in reformed gas to several ppm or less in order to prevent platinum (an electrode catalyst) from being poisoned by CO. Hence, it has been studied to combine an apparatus allowing for hydrogen production such as mentioned above, with a fuel cell to use the combination as a portable power source or in an electric automobile.
Studies made by the present inventors indicated that the invention as described in Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 147902/1993 has the following problems.
As shown in the formula (1), 3 moles of hydrogen are obtained from 1 mole of methanol. If the hydrogen recovery by the hydrogen-separating membrane, i.e. the proportion of the hydrogen passing through the membrane to the total hydrogen formed is 100%, the non-permeable gas is zero, and there is supplied no heat necessary for proceeding and containing with methanol reforming. Hence, the hydrogen recovery must be reduced to 70-80% to secure the heat required for the reforming. With this reduction in hydrogen recovery, the amount of hydrogen formed from 1 mole of methanol decreases to about 2 moles, reducing the efficiency of hydrogen production.
Further, in the heat supply by combustion of non-permeable gas (containing hydrogen), which is external heating, the efficiency of heat conduction is low.
Furthermore, in the process disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Kokai (Laid-Open) No. 147902/1993, which burns part of the hydrogen formed by reforming, to use the generated energy as a heat source for reforming, the efficiency of hydrogen production is not satisfactory. Accordingly, in applying the process to an electric automobile provided with a hydrogen-producing apparatus and a fuel cell, the fuel utilization is low.
Object and Summary of the Invention
In view of the above situation, objects of the present invention are to provide a system for production of high-purity hydrogen, superior in efficiencies of hydrogen production and heat conduction and low in cost of hydrogen production; and a process for production of high-purity hydrogen using said system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a fuel cell system utilizing the above system for production of high-purity hydrogen.
In order to achieve the above objects, the present inventors made a study and determined that the above objects can be achieved by utilizing the partial oxidation (an exothermic reaction) of a hydrocarbon and/or an oxygen atom-containing hydrocarbon (e.g. methanol), represented by the following typical formula: EQU CH.sub.3 OH+(1/2)O.sub.2 .fwdarw.CO.sub.2 +2H.sub.2 ( 2)
The finding has led to the completion of the present invention.
According to the present invention there is provided a system for producing high-purity hydrogen by reforming a hydrocarbon and/or an oxygen atom-containing hydrocarbon to form a reformed gas containing hydrogen and separating the reforming and partial oxidation and a hydrogen-separating membrane, the reforming chamber being thermally connected with the vaporization chamber.
The present invention further provides a process for producing high-purity hydrogen by reforming a hydrocarbon and/or an oxygen atom-containing hydrocarbon to form a reformed gas containing hydrogen and passing the reformed gas through a hydrogen-separating membrane to selectively recover and oxygen or air to give rise to steam reforming and partial oxidation therein.
The present invention furthermore provides a process for producing high-purity hydrogen by reforming a hydrocarbon and/or an oxygen atom-containing hydrocarbon to form a reformed gas containing hydrogen and passing the reformed gas through a hydrogen-separating membrane to selectively recover and oxygen or air to give rise to steam reforming and partial not permeable into the hydrogen-separating membrane and the heat generated by the partial oxidation are utilized for the heating and reforming of the hydrocarbon, water and oxygen or air.

System for production of high-purity hydrogen, process for production of high-purity hydrogen, and fuel cell system


A method for etching metal which can increase the metal-to-photoresist etching selectivity of a metal layer aimed to be etched with respect to a photoresist layer overlaying the metal layer. The method includes a first step of forming a cap oxide layer over the metal layer; a second step of forming a photoresist layer with a desired pattern over the cap oxide layer; a third step of conducting an ion implantation process on the photoresist layer; and a final step of conducting an etching process on the semiconductor wafer by using the photoresist layer as a mask so as to etch away exposed portions of the metal layer that are uncovered by the photoresist layer. Through experiments, it is found that the invention provides a significantly improved etching selectivity over the prior art.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods for etching metal in semiconductor fabrications, and more particularly, to a method for etching metal with increased etching selectivity.
2. Description of Related Art
In semiconductor fabrications, etching is an essential step which is used to remove unwanted portions of either a metal layer, a semiconductor layer, or a photoresist layer during the photolithographic process. There are two primary types of etching: wet etching and dry etching. Wet etching is conducted by using chemical solutions and is therefore isotropic to the layer being etched since it often causes undercuts beneath the layer being etched. By contrast, dry etching is conducted using plasma and therefore is anisotropic to the layer being etched making dry etching more suitable for use in high precision mask processes.
In designing and use of the dry etching, it is desired that the etching be primarily directed to the downward direction and minimally to the lateral direction so that the transferred pattern on the wafer can be substantially the same in size as the original pattern on the mask and an undercut can be avoided. In other words, the ratio of the downward etching rate to the lateral etching rate should be as large as possible. The ratio of the etching rate on the layer aimed to be etched to the etching rate on the nearby layer is referred to as "etching selectivity". However, since the anisotropic characteristic of dry etching is owing to the bombardment of particles on the wafer, the etching will not only take place on the layer aimed to be etched, but also on the overlaying photoresist layer. The etching removal of part of the photoresist layer will cause a deviation in the size of the pattern being defined by the photoresist layer, thus giving a poor etching selectivity that is even lower than that achieved by wet etching. A large value for the etching selectivity indicates that the etching mainly takes place on the layer aimed to be etched and minimally on the nearby layers. Therefore, although dry etching can give high precision to the pattern being transferred, it nevertheless gives poor etching selectivity. The following will depict this drawback illustratively.
FIGS. 1A through 1C are sectional diagrams depicting the steps involved in a prior art method for etching metal. Referring first to FIG. 1A, a metal layer 12 is deposited over an insulating layer 10. The insulating layer 10 is, for example, a layer of borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG).
Referring next to FIG. 1B, a photoresist layer 14 is formed over the metal layer 12. The photoresist layer 14 is selectively removed by a photolithographic process so as to define a desired pattern.
Referring further to FIG. 1C, a dry etching process is conducted on the wafer so as to remove the exposed portions of the metal layer 12 that are uncovered by the photoresist layer 14. Through this process, the exposed portions of the metal layer 12 as well as part of the photoresist layer 14 will be etched away. After that, the photoresist layer 14 is removed and the remaining wafer is as that shown in FIG. 1C.
By the foregoing etching process, the etching rate to the metal layer 12 is relatively low compared to the etching rate to the photoresist layer 14, thus giving a very poor metal-to-photoresist etching selectivity. In order to allow the transferred pattern to be precise in size, a solution is to increase the thickness of the photoresist layer. However, this will equally reduce the size of the process window for the photolithographic process.
Another solution is to use high-current implantor (HI-implantor) to diffuse arsenic (As) ions in the photoresist layer so that the photoresist layer can be more resistant to etching. This can increase the metal-to-photoresist etching selectivity. However, a drawback to this solution is that, during the implantation, the bombarding ions will strike metal ions away from and off the metal layer, thus causing the implantor to be polluted by these metal ions. There exists, therefore, a need for a new and improved method for etching metal which not only increases the metal-to-photoresist etching selectivity, but also prevents the implantor from being polluted by metal ions.

Method of etching metal with increased etching selectivity


According to the preferred embodiment, a method is provided to electronically detect the presence of error correcting memory modules in a computer system in an easy and efficient manner. The method forces an error in the memory system and detects whether there is an error reporting output on the error active line. In the preferred method, the memory refresh for the memory system is turned off for a period of time sufficient to introduce errors in the memory. Then, a read is done while monitoring the error active line. If any bank of memory has an error line active go active during a read, than an error correcting memory module is installed. If not, than a standard memory module is installed.

1. TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention generally relates to random access memory systems, and more specifically relates to the use of error-correction code (ECC) on industry standard random access memory modules.
2. BACKGROUND ART
The integrity of computer memory systems is of vital importance in modern computer application. Unfortunately, most memory systems in personal computers, including the widely used industry standard single-inline-memory modules (SIMMs), have only had the capability of writing and checking parity. In such a system, if an odd number of bits of memory is corrupted, the bad parity condition will be flagged. While these systems can detect an odd-parity error, they cannot correct the error and generally the system will shut down when the error is detected. Thus, an error event can cause significant problems to the user, such as the loss of important data and system crashes. Additionally, these systems generally have no ability to detect double or other even number bit errors. Thus, the possibility of errors and their effects remains a serious problem. The probability of these types of errors will increase as the amount of memory in computer systems increases and the size of the software application that uses the memory increases.
Methods and apparatus for overcoming the limitations of standard SIMMs is disclosed in: U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,304, "Method and Structure for Providing Error Correction Code and Parity for Each Byte on SIMM's"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,465,262, "Method and Structure for Providing Error Correction Code and Automatic Parity Sensing"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,422, "Method and Structure for Providing Error Correction Code for Each Byte of SIMM's" (each issued to Dell et al. and assigned to International Business Machines Corp.), which are incorporated herein by reference. These patents disclose a system that provides error correction on memory modules that are compatible with memory sockets used on an industry standard computer system without modification. These systems are commonly referred to as ECC on SIMMs, or EOS memory. The EOS memory modules includes application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that facilitates error correction of memory errors in a way that is transparent to the system. Thus, the EOS memory module is a plug-compatible, fully retrofittable assembly that adds ECC function to a system that does not have native ECC support.
Because these EOS memory modules are completely compatible with industry standard SIMMs and memory systems, there has been no way to tell whether an EOS memory module or a standard SIMM is installed on the computer without physically looking. Visual identification is time-consuming and prone to errors, and an automated method for detecting whether EOS modules are installed would be preferred.
Thus, the prior art suffers from the inability to electronically detect the presence of EOS memory modules in a computer system. Therefore, what is needed is and easy and inexpensive method for determining if a computer system has EOS or standard SIMMs installed.

Method of detecting error correction devices on plug-compatible memory modules

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided herein are systems and methods for removing a viscous material from a material article. In particular, a viscous material removal system can include a seal and a biasing mechanism. The viscous material removal system can also serve as a viscous material containment system. The systems can provide viscous material removal from planar and non-planar articles, as well as articles having surface irregularities or a topography including ridges and valleys. A method for removing viscous materials can include contacting the seal to the material article, maintaining contact of the seal across a width of the material article via the biasing mechanism, and passing the material article over the seal, thus removing the viscous material from the material article.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Existing processing methods can use a wiper to contain viscous materials (e.g., liquid cleaners, lubricants, coolants, pretreatments, or the like, or any combination thereof) applied to a rolled material product (e.g., a metal article) during and/or after processing steps performed requiring application of a viscous material (e.g., cleaning, lubricating, cooling, pretreating, or the like, or any combination thereof). In some cases, the rolled material product is not completely flat (i.e., planar) and can have a curved cross-sectional shape along its width and/or length. Additionally, the rolled material product can have surface irregularities including projections, depressions, or any other non-planar surface characteristics. Thus, when applying, for example, a liquid coolant to control a temperature of a metal article, subsequent complete removal of the liquid coolant using a rigid and/or non-compliant seal is ineffective or impractical.

Systems and methods for removing viscous materials in metal article processing


The invention relates to an apparatus for measurement of the weight force of a bale of crop material after it is formed in a baler. The formed bale is movable in the baler by a conveying device and a weight force measurement device is provided for measuring a measurement parameter which is influenced by the weight force of the formed bale. The measurement device is set up so as to measure the weight force of the bale when the latter is resting on the conveying apparatus.

In the state of the art, a number of apparatuses for measurement of the weight or mass of a bale comprised of pressed agricultural crop material are known.
For example (DE 44 36 128 A, DE 198 35 163 A, DE 199 10 555 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,742,880 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,384,436 A, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,742,010 A), it has been proposed to convey a fabricated bale out from the press chamber and onto a support surface, where the weight of the bale is measured while the bale is at rest or is moving, the measurement being a measurement of the force exerted on the support surface. Because a bale is relatively heavy, bringing it to a complete stop requires substantial effort. However, if one attempts to measure the weight force while the bale is moving, the process is subject to substantial measurement error.
In DE 195 43 343 A, it was proposed to measure the weight forces acting on the axles and the tow-bar of a baling press. The weight force of the fabricated bale is calculated based on the change in the forces when a bale is ejected. In order to obtain usable measurement values with this approach, a large number of sensors and a highly developed calculation scheme are required.

Apparatus for measurement of the weight force of a bale


A variable focal length achromatic lens includes a flat liquid crystal diffractive lens and a pressure-controlled fluidic refractive lens. The diffractive lens is composed of a flat binary Fresnel zone structure and a thin liquid crystal layer, producing high efficiency and millisecond switching times while applying a low ac voltage input. The focusing power of the diffractive lens is adjusted by electrically modifying the sub-zones and re-establishing phase wrapping points. The refractive lens includes a fluid chamber with a flat glass surface and an opposing elastic polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane surface. Inserting fluid volume through a pump system into the clear aperture region alters the membrane curvature and adjusts the refractive lens' focal position. Primary chromatic aberration is remarkably reduced through the coupling of the fluidic and diffractive lenses at a number of selected focal lengths. Potential applications include miniature color imaging systems, medical and ophthalmic devices, or any design that utilizes variable focal length achromats.

A traditional achromatic lens or achromat corrects for primary chromatic aberration by matching the focal points of a red and a blue wavelength. The dispersion is reduced over the visible spectrum, however residual secondary chromatic aberration remains at the green wavelength. Achromatic doublets consist of a crown glass followed by a flint. The crown glass has a positive focal length with low dispersion while the flint has a negative power with high dispersion. The combination of these two glass disparities is designed to match the red and blue wavelengths to a common focus along the optical axis (z-axis) to eliminate primary chromatic aberration.
It is known that diffractive lenses have strong chromatic aberration. See, Donald C. O'Shea, Thomas J. Suleski, Alan D. Kathman, Dennis W. Prather, Difractive Optics: Design, Fabrication, and Test (SPIE Press Book, 2004). We have previously reported on designing and demonstrating adjustable focus diffractive lenses using liquid crystal as the variable index medium. See, P. Valley, D. L. Mathine, M. R. Dodge, J. Schwiegerling, G. Peyman, and N, Peyghambarian, "Tunable-focus flat liquid-crystal diffractive lens," Opt. Lett. 35, 336-338 (2010); P. Valley, M. R. Dodge, J. Schwiegerling, G. Peyman, and N. Peyghambarian, "Nonmechanical bifocal zoom telescope," Opt. Lett. 35, 2582-2584 (2010).
Previously, discrete tunable liquid crystal diffractive lenses have been proposed. See, P. Valley, D. L. Mathine, M. R. Dodge, J. Schwiegerling, G. Peyman, and N. Peyghambarian, "Tunable-focus flat liquid-crystal diffractive lens," Opt. Lett. 35, 336-338 (2010); P. Valley, M. R. Dodge, J. Schwiegerling, G. Peyman, and N. Peyghambarian, "Nonmechanical bifocal zoom telescope," Opt. Lett. 35, 2582-2584 (2010); S. Sato, A. Sugiyama, and R. Sato, "Variable-Focus Liquid-Crystal Fresnel Lens," Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 24 pp. L626-628 (1985); H. Ren, Y. H. Fan, and S. T. Wu, "Tunable Fresnel lens using nanoscale polymer-dispersed liquid crystals," Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 1515-1517 (2003); B. E. Bagwell, D. V. Wick, R. Batchko, J. D. Mansell, T. Martiez, S. Serati, G. Sharp, and J. Schwiegerling, "Liquid crystal based active optics," Proc. SPIE 6289, 628908 (2006)). Continuous tunable liquid crystal refractive lenses are also known. See, H. C. Lin and Y. H. Lin, "An electrically tunable focusing liquid crystal lens with a built-in planar polymeric lens," Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 083503 (2011); O. Pishnyak, S. Sato, and O. D. Lavrentovich, "Electrically tunable lens based on a dual-frequency nematic liquid crystal," Appl. Opt. 45, 4576-4582 (2006); H. Ren, Y. H. Fan, S. Gauza, and S. T. Wu, "Tunable-focus flat liquid crystal spherical lens," Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 789-4791 (2004). Articles have been published on continuously tunable fluidic lenses. See, D. Y. Zhang, N. Justis, and Y. H. Lo, "Integrated fluidic adaptive zoom lens," Opt. Lett. 29, 2855-2857 (2004); H. Ren, D. Fox, P. A. Anderson, B. Wu, and S. T. Wu, "Tunable-focus liquid lens controlled using a servo motor," Opt. Express 14, 8031-8036 (2006); R, Marks, D. L. Mathine, G. Peyman, J. Schwiegerling, and N. Peyghambarian, "Adjustable fluidic lenses for ophthalmic corrections," Opt. Lett. 34, 515-517 (2009)) with variable focal lengths were demonstrated individually.
At each focal location chromatic aberration is observable when uncorrected. Chromatic aberration is greater in elements with larger dispersion, such as diffractive lenses, and becomes more significant for materials with lower Abbe numbers. Diffractive and holographic lenses have been proposed to replace the traditional achromatic doublets for fixed focal length designs. See, Donald C. O'Shea, Thomas J. Suleski, Alan D. Kathman, Dennis W. Prather, Difractive Optics: Design, Fabrication, and Test (SPIE Press Book, 2004); T. Stone and N. George, "Hybrid diffractive-refractive lenses and achromats," Appl. Opt. 27, 2960-2971 (1988)). More recently, a useful hybrid variable focal length fluidic/diffractive lens was demonstrated; however, the diffractive component applies a fixed focal length. See, G. Zhou, H. M. Leung, H. Yu, A. S. Kumar, and F. S. Chau, "Liquid tunable diffractive/refractive hybrid lens," Opt. Lett. 34, 2793-2795 (2009).
It is desirable to provide an improved lens combination with more versatile characteristics.

Variable focal length achromatic lens system comprising a diffractive lens and a refractive lens

The Arizona Board of Regents of Behalf of the University of Arizona


The present invention relates to a fibre optic fusion splicing technique, in particular to a fibre optic fusion splicer for reliable and stable fibre optic fusion splicing, that is characterized by comprising: an alignment part for fixing and aligning first and second optical fibres that are to be fusion spliced; a fusion splicing module having an electrode bar for fusion splicing the first and second optical fibres that are fixed to and aligned in the alignment module; an optical module for photographing the aligned state of the first and second optical fibres aligned by the alignment module, and the fusion-spliced state of the first and second optical fibres fusion-spliced by the fusion splicing module; a support part in which the fusion splicing module and the optical module are mounted; and a lift module for moving the support part up and down.

Generally, optical fibres (or optical cables) are used for transmitting optical signals. Herein, unlike wires that transmit electrical signals, optical fibres are capable of transmitting a large amount of information at an ultra-fast rate without any data loss.
Since manufacturers are incapable of manufacturing optical cables at an endlessly long length, optical cables are generally manufactured at a length of approximately 2 kilometers (km) and wounded around a drum. Therefore, in order to install the optical cables to a very distant location, the optical cables are required to be connected to one another or ramified along the way.
However, since an inner core of the optical cable is configured of optical fibres having an extremely small diameter, it is very difficult to connect the optical fibres to one another.
A fusion splicing method using a fibre optic fusion splicer and a mechanical splicing method using an optical adaptor or an optical connector are generally used as the optical fibre splicing method.
The important factors of the fibre optic fusion splicer that is used in the fusion splicing method correspond to accurately and stably aligning optical fibre, stably separating fusion-spliced optical fibres from the fusion splicer without damaging the spliced part after splicing the optical fibres, eliminating alignment errors that occur during the mechanical maneuvering (or operation) of the fibre optic fusion splicer or the mechanical coupling of the configuration elements of the fibre optic fusion splicer, and so on.
Therefore, the related art fusion splicing technology requires solutions for the above-described optical fibre alignment, stable separation, elimination of alignment errors, and so on.
Meanwhile, the Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2014-0004719 discloses a method for fusion connection of optical fibres to each other, and a fusion connection machine. Herein, fusion splicing is achieved as electrode bars discharge electricity, after a holder accommodating optical fibres is coupled with the fusion splicer, and after the optical fibres are aligned in the v-grooves. After completing fusion splicing, the fusion splicing operation is completed by separating the holder from the fusion splicer. The corresponding Korean patent application introduces a technology that reinforces a fused part of the optical fibres by equipping (or providing) a reinforcing member at a rear end of a ferrule and by having the reinforcing member overlap the optical fibres so as to cover the optical fibres. However, when applying the corresponding Korean patent application, during the process of separating the optical fibres from the fusion splicer after fusing the optical fibres, the electrode bars or v-grooves were often the cause of damage.


In Magnetic Resonance Imaging Apparatus, it is necessary to switch the radio frequency electric coils which are positioned around the patient in the imaging volume very rapidly. The present invention achieves such switching using switching devices which are sensitive to control signals other than electrical signals. This removes the need to pass additional electrical conductors, which could carry interfering signals, into the imaging volume and this reduces image degradation. In particular the switching devices may be photodiodes which function in response to optical signals carried by optical fibres.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the switching of electric coils used to emit and receive radio frequency energy, in particular in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) utilizing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR).
This invention can be used in conjunction with one, some or all of the inventions described in our simultaneously filed applications entitled Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Fluid Flows, Phase Error Correction in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Magnetic Field Measurement and Gradient Coils in Magnetic Resonance Imaging Machines.
2. The Prior Art
In MRI, a subject, for instance a live patient, is placed in a particular magnetic field and the hydrogen nuclei within the subject are excited by way of radio frequency (RF) energy. By sensing RF energy received back from the subject to detect resonances of the nuclei it is possible, given accurate knowledge of the magnetic field prevailing in the three-dimensional volume which contains the subject, to construct three-dimensional images of the internal structure of the subject.
To operate such apparatus to obtain proper images it is important firstly to be able to know accurately what the magnetic field is across the subject, and it is a well known technique to utilize magnetic field gradients so that the magnetic field varies constantly across the three-dimensional volume in question.
To perform the RF excitation and sensing mentioned above RF transmit and receive coils are provided. Both types of coil are tuned to the same frequency, i.e. that of the nuclear magnetic resonance. The transmit coil normally surrounds the patient, and the receive coil is placed over the region of the patient from which images are required, e.g. around the chest for heart imaging. The transmit coil and receive coil therefore have a large mutual inductance and the two resonant circuits are thereby coupled to each other and the resonance frequencies are shifted due to the coupling.
The amount and direction of the shift is quite unpredictable, depending on position, orientation, precise tuning and matching, patient size etc. making it practically impossible to use two such coils in this situation, unless the receiver coil is so small that the coupling is negligible.
In some previous systems, it has been possible to orient the two coils at right angles to each other to minimise the coupling, but this method cannot be used in particular if the transmitter coil is a quadrature coil. (A quadrature coil is more efficient than a single coil because it consists of two mutually orthogonal coils taking advantage of the minimised coupling between them. It generates a more powerful transmit R.F. field (with circular polarization) than a single coil (with either horizontal or vertical polarization).)
To remove the coupling effects the resonance of the unused coil is disabled at each stage in the imaging process. During the R.F. excitation of the NMR signal only the transmitter coil is enabled. During the data acquisition, only the receiver coil is enabled. The switching should be rapid, e.g. 100 microseconds or less, and reliable with feedback preventing the R.F. transmitter from delivering high R.F. power levels into the transmitter coil if the coil's resonance is disabled.
It is thus necessary to switch the various RF coils in and out of operation at various times during an imaging process, but it is also important to do this in such a way that the magnetic field, which is important for the imaging process, is not affected. For this reason the use of electrically operated switches to switch the RF coils can cause difficulties because they require the use of electric currents to operate them and if these are introduced into the vicinity of the subject they can affect the magnetic field around the subject.
The most common problem associated with conductors bringing such currents into the imaging volume is that they may bring in noise and unwanted signals (for example, short-wave radio stations) at the frequency of the NNR signal, which degrades the quality of the images. Conductors may carry in external noise and signals into the imaging volume, which is carefully shielded against such signals typically using a Faraday cage. This problem is especially difficult for the receive R.F. coil, which is the most sensitive part of the system. Conventional R.F. coil switching uses PIN diodes switched on by an external D.C. current. The cable carrying the D.C. PIN diode energisation signal must be carefully filtered to stop any signal at the NMR signal frequency, which filtering adds to the complexity of the overall apparatus.


A battery unit includes a case accommodating an electrode assembly and having an opening, and a cap plate cover the opening, and having a terminal insertion portion. The battery unit further includes a terminal member inserted into the case through the terminal insertion portion from an exterior of the case and coupled to the electrode assembly, the terminal member having a terminal portion, extending in a major side direction of the cap plate at an exterior of the cap plate, and being separated from an upper surface of the cap plate. The battery unit further includes a fixing member in the terminal insertion portion fixing the terminal member to the cap plate and having injection-molded plastic resin in the terminal insertion portion surrounding the terminal member; and a support member coupled to the cap plate and supporting the terminal portion with respect to the cap plate.

1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to a battery unit and a battery module using a plurality of battery units coupled with each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, secondary batteries can be discharged and recharged repeatedly, unlike primary batteries that are not designed to be recharged. Secondary batteries are used as energy sources for mobile devices, electric vehicles, hybrid cars, electric bikes, uninterruptible power supplies, etc. Also, secondary batteries are used in the form of a single battery or in the form of a battery module in which a plurality of batteries are electrically coupled in a single unit by using a bus bar, the form being in accordance with the type of an external device adopting the secondary battery.
A compact mobile device, such as a mobile phone, with the output and capacity of a single battery may operate for a predetermined time. However, when an operation of longer duration or higher power is needed, as in electric vehicles or hybrid cars, a battery module is often used to reduce or prevent an output or capacity problem. The battery module may increase an output voltage or an output current according to the number of batteries included in the battery module. The battery module may reach a desired output voltage or output current by coupling a plurality of batteries in series or in parallel.

Battery unit and battery module using the same


Methods and systems are provided for combining a plurality of data streams into a single data stream for sending to a wireless user. According to the invention, using one or more data mixers, two or more video streams are combined into a single video stream and provided to a wireless user, and/or two or more audio streams are combined into a single audio stream and provided to a wireless user. The streams are optionally decoded and handled in raw format by the data mixer, and at least some of the streams may be buffered in a queue so that “slipping” or synchronization problems can be addressed. The method and system can process media data such as video, audio, text, or other media data.

Electronic conferencing capabilities exist for desktop computers and telephone equipment, whereby several conference participants exchange audio and/or video information with one another. Unlike traditional point-to-point communications between two ends of a communication link (as with, e.g., ordinary telephone calls), conferencing usually involves three or more parties. For example, in the video conferencing context, a given party generally desires to see and hear two or more other parties to the conference ("conference participants" or "conferees"), preferably at the same time.
Vendors currently sell systems and services that provide such electronic conferencing capabilities. In order to accommodate the multiple conferees simultaneously taking part in a conference, these systems need to handle greater processing and bandwidth loads than ordinary communications systems. As a result, these systems and services can be relatively expensive to buy or lease, and they also demand high-capacity network capabilities. Additionally, these systems are generally larger than their non-conferencing counterparts, and are thus not readily portable or mobile.
Recently, wireless service providers and wireless telephone makers have begun to offer "camera phones" and "video phones," generally as consumer novelty items. Camera phones are provided with a camera lens, digital camera hardware, and software that enable them to take photographs. Once taken, these photographs may be, for example, transmitted directly to other wireless users, or sent as email attachments.
With video phones, for example, a video clip consisting of a collection of still images, or frames of video, is captured and generally compressed into an electronic file. Like photographs, a video clip may be transmitted directly to other wireless users as a video stream, or sent as email attachments, for example. Video streams received by wireless devices are generally processed and displayed using media player programs built into the receiving wireless devices.
Traditionally, video streams have been sent and received by wireless devices in a batch mode, rather than in real-time, in order to reduce the consumption of computing and bandwidth resources. More recently, multimedia wireless devices have been offered that are able to receive and display a video stream (and play audio) in substantially real-time.
Currently available wireless devices (e.g., video phones), however, are not able to receive and process more than one audio stream at any given time or more than one video stream at any given time. Therefore, these devices are generally not adapted to provide video conferencing functionality, whereby, for example, a user can enjoy hearing and/or seeing more than one other participant in a conference at the same time.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods and systems for combining a plurality of data streams (e.g., two or more audio signals and/or two or more video signals) into a single voice stream and/or a single video stream for sending to a wireless user.

Data mixer for portable communications devices


A magnetic tape cartridge which includes a single tape reel on which magnetic tape is wound on the outer peripheral surface of a reel hub thereof, rotatably housed in the inside of a cartridge case; and a reel lock member for inhibiting the rotation of the tape reel, provided movably in an axial direction of the tape reel between a lock position and a lock release position, in the inside of the reel hub; wherein a position restriction rib opposed to the outer periphery of the reel lock member for restricting an axial deviation of the reel lock member from the axial position of the tape reel is formed discontinuously with the inner peripheral surface of the reel hub on the top surface of the bottom of the reel hub in the inside of the reel hub.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic tape cartridge having a structure which inhibits the rotation of a tape reel on which magnetic tape is wound, when the cartridge is not in use.
2. Description of Related Art
As a magnetic tape cartridge which is used as an external recording medium for computers and the like, a magnetic tape cartridge of the type in which magnetic tape is wound on a single reel and this reel is rotatably housed in a cartridge case has heretofore been known. This kind of magnetic tape cartridge is used for saving data of computers and the like, and needs to have a structure which is not disabled by impact such as dropping, because a huge amount of important information is recorded on the magnetic tape cartridge.
The above-mentioned single reel type of magnetic tape cartridge is provided with a reel lock mechanism which inhibits the rotation of the tape reel in order to prevent the slack of the magnetic tape due to the rotation of the tape reel in the inside of the cartridge case when the magnetic tape cartridge is not in use. This reel lock mechanism has different constructions corresponding to the kinds of magnetic tape cartridges, and, for example, an LTO (linear tape open cartridge) type of magnetic tape cartridge has a reel lock mechanism which is incorporated in the inside of the reel hub of a tape reel as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9.
FIG. 7 is an exploded cross-sectional side view of this kind of related art magnetic tape cartridge 101, FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional side view of the essential sections of the magnetic tape cartridge 101 which is not in use, and FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional side view of the essential sections of the magnetic tape cartridge 101 which is in use. In the magnetic tape cartridge 101, a single tape reel 105 on which magnetic tape (not shown) is wound is housed in the inside of a cartridge case 104 constituted by a top shell 102 and a bottom shell 103 which are joined together.
The tape reel 105 includes a reel hub 106 which serves as a core on which magnetic tape is wound, a top flange 107 joined to the top end of the reel hub 106, and a bottom flange 108 formed integrally with the bottom end of the reel hub 106. A ring-shaped chucking gear 109, which is engaged with a reel-rotating drive shaft of a tape drive apparatus (recording/reproduction apparatus) which is not shown, is formed on the central section of the outside surface of the bottom of the reel hub 106, and is exposed to the outside via an opening 110 formed in the central section of the bottom shell 103. On the inner peripheral side of the chucking gear 109, a ring-shaped metal plate 111 for magnetically securing the tape reel 105 to the reel-rotating drive shaft is fixed to the outside surface of the bottom of the reel hub 106 by insert molding.
A reel lock mechanism for inhibiting the rotation of the tape reel 105 when the magnetic tape cartridge 101 is not in use is provided in the inside of the reel hub 106. The reel lock mechanism includes geared walls 112 formed to extend uprightly from the top surface of the bottom of the reel hub 106, a lock member 113 having engagement teeth 113a which mesh with gear sections 112a formed on the top ends of the respective geared walls 112, a spider (reel lock release member) 114 for releasing the engagement of the geared walls 112 and the reel lock member 113, and a reel spring 115 disposed between the inside surface of the top shell 102 and the top surface of the reel lock member 113 and operative to urge the tape reel 105 toward the bottom shell 103 via the reel lock member 113.
The geared walls 112 have arc-like shapes as viewed in top plan view, and are respectively formed on the top surface of the bottom of the reel hub 106 at three locations spaced equidistantly apart from one another around the same circumference centered at the axis of the reel hub 106. The engagement teeth 113a of the reel lock member 113 which are opposed to the gear sections 112a of the geared walls 112 are formed on the bottom surface of the reel lock member 113 in a ring-like shape as viewed in top plan view, and are constantly urged by the reel spring 115 in the direction in which the engagement teeth 113a are brought into engagement with the gear sections 112a. A fitting projection 113c which has an approximately cross-like shape as viewed in top plan view is formed on the top surface of the reel lock member 113, and a fitting recess 102a which has an approximately cross-like shape as viewed in top plan view and in which the fitting projection 113c is fitted is formed at an approximately central section of the inside surface of the top shell 102.
The spider 114 has an approximately triangular shape, and is disposed between the bottom of the reel hub 106 and the reel lock member 113. A total of three legs 114a are formed on the bottom surface of the spider 114 so as to project downwardly from three vertices of the approximately triangular shape of the spider 114, respectively. When the cartridge is not in use, the three legs 114a are inserted in position between gears of the chucking gear 109 via insertion holes 106a formed in the bottom of the reel hub 106. A support surface 114b which supports a sliding contact section 113b having an arc-like cross-sectional shape formed to project from an approximately central section of the bottom surface of the reel lock member 113 is disposed on an approximately central section of the top surface of the spider 114.
When the related art magnetic tape cartridge 101 constructed in the above-mentioned manner is not in use, the reel lock member 113 is located at a lock position as shown in FIG. 8, and is forced by the urging force of the reel spring 115 so as to press the tape reel 105 against the bottom shell 103 and so as to engage the engagement teeth 113a with the gear sections 112a of the geared walls 112 and inhibit the rotation of the tape reel 105.
On the other hand, when the magnetic tape cartridge 101 is in use, the reel-rotating drive shaft of the tape drive apparatus which is not shown is brought into engagement with the chucking gear 109, whereby the legs 114a of the spider 114 inserted in the positions between gears of the chucking gear 109 are pressed upwardly into the inside of the cartridge case 104. Accordingly, the reel lock member 113 is moved to the lock release position shown in FIG. 9 against the urging force of the reel spring 115, so that the engagement between the gear sections 112a and the engagement teeth 113a is released.
Then, the tape reel 105 is integrated with the reel-rotating drive shaft by the action of magnetic attraction between the metal plate 111 and the reel-rotating drive shaft, whereby the tape reel 105 is rotationally driven via the chucking gear 109. At this time, the rotational operation of the reel lock member 113 is restricted by the action of fitting between the fitting projection 113c and the fitting recess 102a of the top shell 102, and the spider 114 rotates together with the tape reel 105 by means of a sliding contact action produced by the state of point contact between the support surface 114b disposed on the top surface of the spider 114 and the sliding contact section 113b of the reel lock member 113.
A related art document relating to the invention of the above-mentioned application is as follows:
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-343058.
When the above-mentioned magnetic tape cartridge 101 is not in use, the movement of the tape reel 105 in the horizontal direction of the cartridge case 104 (in the radius direction of the tape reel 105 is restricted not only by the reel lock action of the reel lock member 113 but also by the force of the reel spring 115 to press the tape reel 105 against the bottom shell 105 as well as the fitting action between the outer periphery of the chucking gear 109 and the opening 110 of the bottom shell 103.
However, if, for example, a dropping impact is applied to the magnetic tape cartridge 101, the tape reel 105 of heavy weight on which magnetic tape is wound shows an unstable behavior in the inside of the cartridge case 104. If an impact exceeding a certain magnitude is applied to the magnetic tape cartridge 101, the tape reel 105 may be moved in a horizontal direction relative to the cartridge case 104 to such an extent that the outer periphery of the chucking gear 109 climbs over the peripheral taper surface of the opening 110 and the engagement between the reel lock member 113 and the geared walls 112 is released. In this case, a deviation of not less than one pitch in gear engagement occurs between the gear sections 112a of the tape reel 105 and the engagement tooth 113a of the reel lock member 113, so that a deviation occurs between the axis of the tape reel 105 and the axis of the reel lock member 113.
If a deviation occurs in this manner between the axis of the tape reel 105 and the axis of the reel lock member 113, when the magnetic tape cartridge 101 is to be loaded and used in a tape drive apparatus, the chucking gear 109 is located in the state of being displaced with respect to the opening 110 in the direction of the deviation, so that there occurs the trouble that the reel-rotating drive shaft fails to appropriately engage with the chucking gear 109 and invokes the disablement of the magnetic tape cartridge 101 or causes the malfunction of the tape drive apparatus.
To address this trouble, for example, the above-cited Patent Document 1 discloses a construction in which a plurality of position restriction ribs 120 which are opposed to the outer periphery of the reel lock member 113 and restrict the axial deviation of the reel lock member 113 from the axial position of the tape reel 105 are formed to project, respectively, from locations spaced equidistantly apart from one another around the inner peripheral surface of the reel hub 106, as shown in FIG. 10. According to this construction, the relative movement of the tape reel 105 with respect to the cartridge case 104 due to, for example, dropping impact can be restricted by the action of abutment between the position restriction ribs 120 and the periphery of the reel lock member 113, whereby the deviation between the axis of the tape reel 105 and the axis of the reel lock member 113 can be restrained.
However, the construction described in the above-cited Patent Document 1 has the drawback that since the position restriction ribs 120 are formed continuously with the inner peripheral surface of the reel hub 106 made of an injection molded product of synthetic resin material, sink marks (depressions) are formed in the outer periphery of the reel hub 106 at locations corresponding to the formation positions of the position restriction ribs 120, so that the flatness of the outer peripheral surface of the reel hub 106 is damaged.
As mentioned above, the reel hub 106 constitutes a core on which magnetic tape is wound with multiple turns, so that if the flatness of the outer peripheral surface of the reel hub 106 which is a winding surface for magnetic tape is damaged, the inside layers of wound magnetic tape in particular undergo deformation.
If the flatness of the outer peripheral surface of the reel hub 106 deteriorates, the roundness of the reel hub 106 is impaired, so that rattling such as axial shaking of the tape reel 105 during high-speed rotation thereof increases and the stable runnability of magnetic tape cannot be ensured.


Apparatus for optically measuring a remote object comprises at least one source for projecting a plurality of discrete zones of electromagnetic radiation (for example laser spots) along a projection plane. Imaging apparatus images a plurality of reflections from the remote object. By spatially offsetting the imaging apparatus from the projection plane, easier discrimination and identification of the reflections is made possible.

In multipoint triangulation-based sensors, a series of aligned spots reflected from a workpiece are imaged by a camera that lies in the same plane as both the spots and the light sources.
The camera typically comprises a two-dimensional pixel array onto which the spots are imaged. The range to each of the spots is derived by triangulation from the location of its image on the array.
As was discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,986,745 to Hermary et al., a known limitation of such systems is the difficulty in sorting or discriminating between adjacent spots, for example as a result of the proximity or overlap of imaged spots, or due to dropout of a spot by occlusion from irregular surface characteristics.
One approach to enhancing reliable discrimination between spots is to more accurately determine the centroids of the spots along the triangulation axis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,922 to Cielo et al. discloses the use of an elliptical spot (e.g. the shape characteristic of TEM01 mode laser light) wherein the longitudinal axis of the elliptical spot is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the detecting elements of a linear array. This allows more accurate determination of the centroid of the spots and hence, better discrimination between adjacent spots.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,986,745 to Hermary et al. addresses the problem by using a spatially encoded pattern of light projected onto a workpiece rather than discrete spots.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,445 to Leong teaches the use of a small number of beams, so as to effectively limit the possibility of misidentification of a given spot, while U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,325 to Corby relies on a time-separated series of different patterns of beams.
It is apparent that the problem of spot discrimination in multipoint triangulation sensing systems is well known and that a variety of approaches are used to address it.
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved, elegant and simple means of discriminating between successive spots in a multipoint triangulation-based sensor.
These and other objects of the invention will be better understood by reference to the detailed description of the preferred embodiment which follows.

Multiple axis multipoint non-contact measurement system


This document relates to oxidative dehydrogenation catalysts that include molybdenum, vanadium, and oxygen.

Conversion of alkanes to olefins can be achieved in a number of ways. The most widely practiced method is thermal cracking technology, where alkanes are exposed to temperatures of at least 700° C. for very short time periods, in the order of milliseconds to a few seconds, promoting the loss of hydrogen and subsequent formation of one or more unsaturated bonds. However, current thermal cracking processes are not only cost intensive to build and operate but also energy intensive due to the substantial heat requirement for the endothermic cracking reactions.
Alternatively, conversion of alkanes to olefins can be accomplished using an oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) process where a stream of one or more alkanes are passed over an oxidative dehydrogenation catalyst, in the presence of oxygen at temperatures from about 300° C. to 750° C.

Catalysts for the oxidative dehydrogenation of alkanes