A relief printing original plate including a substrate, a photosensitive resin layer thereon that is photosensitive to ultraviolet radiations, and a mask layer thereon having both ultraviolet and non-ultraviolet absorbability, the ultraviolet absorbability being deactivatable in response to receiving non-ultraviolet radiation. A method for producing a relief printing plate by using the original plate is also provided.

As well known, flexography is relief printing in which a flexible printing plate is used. The flexography has been reappraised and attracting attention because of its higher printing accuracy, better economic efficiency, versatility, and environmental friendliness.
In Japan, relatively common printing systems are the offset printing and the gravure printing. Other printing systems that are less common than them may include the silk-screen printing. The relief printing such as the flexography is relatively not so common in Japan, although flexography has some advantages such as the following:                (1) The plate used in the flexography has a relief and the plate is flexible which allows printing on objects that are not flat and smooth like the corrugated cartons. In addition, the flexography is faster and cheaper than other printing systems.        (2) The flexography allows printing on smaller objects, such as labels, sharply and cheaply.        (3) Compared with the offset printing, the flexography produces a clearer print because of the possibility of use of a highly concentrated ink.        (4) Compared with the gravure printing, the flexography produces sharper characters and images.        (5) As an aqueous ink and a completely solvent-free ink such as an UV ink can be used, the flexography is environment friendly.        (6) The flexography takes lesser time to attain a stable color condition, and therefore, a futility of print media, such as paper, can be cut down which makes the flexography more economical.        (7) The flexography needs lesser maintenance cost or modification cost because only a part of the plate can be replaced without the need to replace the whole plate.        (8) The flexography can be used in many varieties of small lot production.
Such a variety of advantages are well known since the relief printing is a conventional old printing technique, and so has been the flexography as a sort of the relief printing. Nevertheless, the flexography was not so common among all of the printing industry.
However, recently, there has been an improvement in the quality of printing ink and printing materials, and a rise of concern about environmental problems so that the relief printing such as flexography is being re-evaluated. Therefore, research and development of the flexography has been intensifying at present.
The state of art as to the printing original plate is as follows:
The flexographic printing plate has been made of a rubber layer as a constituent material, on which a negative image of characters and pictures to be printed are carved. However, recently, a photosensitive resin is being used to make the flexographic printing plate (see, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2916408 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-35954). In general, this photosensitive resin includes an elastomeric binder, at least one monomer resin, and a photoinitiator. The flexographic printing original plate made with the photosensitive resin is a material in a form of a plate including a substrate and at least a photosensitive resin layer provided thereon.
Production of the flexographic printing plate by using such a printing original plate may be carried out in accordance with the following procedure. A film (mask) that has a negative pattern corresponding to images to be printed, such as characters or pictures, is placed on the photosensitive resin layer of the printing original plate. The photosensitive resin layer is then irradiated with an actinic radiation through this mask. The part of the layer irradiated with the actinic radiation is cured by photopolymerization. Subsequent washout of the uncured part with a developer liquid results in development of a relief pattern corresponding to the images, to give a flexographic printing plate. Upon performing flexography, ink is applied to the top surface of the relief pattern and the flexographic printing plate is pressed on a printing media such as paper, to obtain a print product.
It has been pointed out that the flexographic printing plate made of the photosensitive resin has following problems that are desired to be solved:                (i) When the negative pattern on the mask has to be corrected, whole of the mask has to be re-made since it is impossible to partially correct the mask. Therefore, the correction requires a large number of steps.        (ii) As the negative mask is made of a negative film, the shape of the mask tends to be fluctuated due to changes in the temperature and the humidity. Therefore, even if the same mask is used, accuracy of the printing may change depending on the time and environment for performing pattern formation steps including exposure and development of the photosensitive resin layer.        (iii) Optical obstacles such as dust enter easily between the negative mask and the photosensitive resin layer during the pattern forming process. Such optical obstacles between the mask and the photosensitive resin layer may cause inaccuracy of the pattern image after exposure and development, which may lead to deterioration of the printing quality of the printing plate.
As a countermeasure to these problems, there have hitherto been developed several kinds of printing plates each having a new construction (see, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2916408, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-35954, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-35955, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-153865, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H9-166875, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-324815, and Japanese Patent Publication No. 2773981). A common feature of these printing original plates is that an infrared-sensitive layer is at least formed on the photosensitive resin layer. The infrared-sensitive layer may be used as a negative mask or a positive mask. This infrared sensitive layer is opaque to actinic radiations that polymerize the photosensitive resin in the photosensitive resin layer, but has a photosensitivity to infrared radiations. The infrared-sensitivity is the ability to be vaporized and/or decomposed, i.e. ablated, by the exposure to the infrared laser radiations. Therefore, the infrared-sensitive layer is also referred to as an infrared ablation layer.
Lamination of such an infrared ablation layer enables direct recording of the image information to be printed with an infrared laser on the relief printing original plate such as the flexographic printing original plate, and thus obviates the need of the conventional negative or positive mask film. The print image information corresponding to the print pattern can be formed, saved, corrected, and output as a digital information using a computer. The infrared ablation layer thus drastically reduces the cost for image information processing which is necessary when the conventional mask film is used for producing the relief printing plate.
Various kinds of compositions are known for the infrared ablation layer, however, the basic composition is similar. For instance, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2916408 discloses a printing original plate having an infrared ablation layer made of (1) at least one infrared absorbing material, (2) an opaque material to non-infrared radiations (ultraviolet radiations), wherein the infrared absorbing material and the opaque material may be the same or different, and (3) at least one binder that is substantially incompatible with low molecular materials in the photosensitive resin layer.
Any material that prevents the transmission of non-infrared actinic radiations to the photosensitive resin layer may be used as the opaque material. Examples of suitable opaque materials include dyes that absorb ultraviolet or visible light, dark inorganic pigments and combination thereof. Preferred opaque materials are carbon black and graphite.
The infrared absorbing material has a strong absorption in the region from 750 to 20,000 nm. Examples of suitable infrared absorbing materials include dark inorganic pigments such as carbon black, graphite, copper chromite, chromium oxides, and chromium-cobalt aluminate; and dyes such as poly(substituted)phthalocyanine compounds, cyanine dyes, squarylium dyes, chalcogenopyryloarylidene dyes.
With the conventional relief printing original plate, the mask layer that is opaque to the ultraviolet actinic radiation is selectively ablated (burned out) for forming an area of the mask through which the ultraviolet actinic radiation can pass. In the step of ablation of the mask layer for obtaining the mask image layer, it is thus necessary to provide a vacuuming and exhausting means for taking ablation debris out of the reaction system in order to prevent the ablation debris from remaining on or attaching to the surface of the photosensitive resin.
If even a thin layer of the mask material remains in the area of the mask image layer through which the actinic radiation has to pass, the amount of the actinic radiation that pass through the mask will be decreased. Therefore, the ablation of the mask layer must be performed until the photosensitive resin layer is revealed. Such an ablation process results in roughening of the revealed surface of the photosensitive resin layer by the infrared laser. Since such roughening on revealed portion remains in the subsequent development step to be the surface on which ink for printing will be put, it may cause damage on the quality of the printing.

Laminated photosensitive relief printing original plate and method for producing the relief printing plate


An electrode support structure has a slotted hub and an integral body with a mid-section and opposed pair of spline elements that extend from the mid-section. The mid-section is captured within the slot, securing the integral body to the hub with the opposed spline elements radiating free of the slot for carrying one or more electrodes.

Physicians make use of catheters today in medical procedures to gain access into interior regions of the body to ablate targeted tissue areas. It is important for the physician to be able to precisely locate the catheter and control its emission of energy within the body during tissue ablation procedures.
The need for precise control over the catheter is especially critical during procedures that ablate endocardial tissue within the heart. These procedures, called electrophysiological therapy, are use to treat cardiac rhythm disturbances.
During these procedures, a physician steers a catheter through a main vein or artery into the interior region of the heart that is to be treated. The physician then further manipulates a steering mechanism to place the electrode carried on the distal tip of the catheter into direct contact with the endocardial tissue that is to be ablated. The physician directs energy from the electrode through tissue either to an indifferent electrode (in a unipolar electrode arrangement) or to an adjacent electrode (in a bi-polar electrode arrangement) to ablate the tissue and form a lesion.
Physicians examine the propagation of electrical impulses in heart tissue to locate aberrant conductive pathways and to identify foci, which are ablated. The techniques used to analyze these pathways and locate foci are commonly called "mapping."
Conventional cardiac tissue mapping techniques use multiple electrodes positioned in contact with epicardial heart tissue to obtain multiple electrograms. These conventional mapping techniques require invasive open heart surgical techniques to position the electrodes on the epicardial surface of the heart.
An alternative technique of introducing multiple electrode arrays into the heart through vein or arterial accesses to map endocardial tissue is known. Compared to conventional, open heart mapping techniques, endocardial mapping techniques, being comparatively non-invasive, hold great promise. Still, widespread practice of endocardial mapping techniques has been hindered by the difficulties of making suitable endocardial electrode support structures, including severe size constraints, strength and durability demands, and the sheer complexities of fabrication.
An endocardial mapping structure can potentially remain in place within a heart chamber for several thousand heart beats. During this time, the powerful contractions of heart muscle constantly flex and stress the structure. The structure must be strong and flexible enough to keep the electrodes spaced apart both longitudinally and circumferentially without failure and without shed parts. In addition, there is also the need to provide simple, yet reliable ways of electrically coupling multiple electrodes to external sensing equipment. Still, though strong and durable, the structures must cause no trauma when in contact with tissue.
While prior multiple electrode support structures may attempt to provided the requisite strength and flexibility, they have created envelopes with blunt, non-conforming contours that can poke into tissue and cause trauma during heart contractions.
It can be seen that providing economical, durable, and safe multiple electrodes in a package small enough to be deployed within the heart often poses conflicting challenges.

Multiple electrode support structures with slotted hub and hoop spline elements


Panels (20A, 20B) are attached to extrusions (66A, 66B) by fasteners 90. Clips (70) are attached to a structure (50) by fasteners (35). The extrusions and the clips engage in a manner which allows the panels to move in any direction, as needed, without the panel detaching from the structure and falling. The extrusions also provide for the use of optional reveal strips (87). An extrusion has a restraining area (86), a reveal strip stop area (58), and a T-slot (65). A clip has a T-channel (74), a tensioning stop arm (69), and a secondary reinforcing arm (80). The panels can be installed in rows, in columns, or diagonally, as desired.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally attachment systems for wall panels or facades and, more particularly, to an attachment system which provides for four-way movement of the panel or facade.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Existing attachment systems do not provide for four-way movement of the panels, require extensive on-site preparation or modification, and can disengage from the panel, allowing the panel to fall out, if the panel moves beyond a very limited amount, is improperly installed, or contracts beyond a very limited amount.


An improved apparatus and method for determining the cardiac output of a living subject. The improved apparatus generally comprises one or more electrode assemblies or patches affixed to the skin of the subject in the vicinity of the thoracic cavity. In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises a constant current source impedance cardiography (ICG) monitor adapted as a stand-alone system. In another embodiment, the apparatus comprises a module adapted for use with a host monitoring system, the latter providing ECG, blood pressure, and/or other inputs to the module. Method of detecting a loss of electrical continuity in one or more of the terminals of the electrode patch, and selecting between a plurality of signal inputs based on signal quality, are also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of biomedical analysis, and particularly to an apparatus and method for non-invasively determining the cardiac output in a living subject using impedance cardiography.
2. Description of Related Technology
Noninvasive estimates of cardiac output (CO) can be obtained using impedance cardiography. Strictly speaking, impedance cardiography, also known as thoracic bioimpedance or impedance plethysmography, is used to measure the stroke volume of the heart. As shown in Eqn. (1), when the stroke volume is multiplied by heart rate, cardiac output is obtained.CO=stroke volume×heart rate.  (1)The heart rate is obtained from an electrocardiogram. The basic method of correlating thoracic, or chest cavity, impedance, ZT(t), with stroke volume was developed by Kubicek, et al. at the University of Minnesota for use by NASA. See, e.g., U.S. Reissue Pat. No. 30,101 entitled "Impedance plethysmograph" issued Sep. 25, 1979, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The method generally comprises modeling the thoracic impedance ZT(t) as a constant impedance, Zo, and time-varying impedance, ΔZ (t), as illustrated schematically in FIG. 1. The time-varying impedance is measured by way of an impedance waveform derived from electrodes placed on various locations of the subject's thorax; changes in the impedance over time can then be related to the change in fluidic volume (i.e., stroke volume), and ultimately cardiac output via Eqn. (1) above.
Despite their general utility, prior art impedance cardiography techniques such as those developed by Kubicek, et al. have suffered from certain disabilities. First, the distance (and orientation) between the terminals of the electrodes of the cardiography device which are placed on the skin of the subject is highly variable; this variability introduces error into the impedance measurements. Specifically, under the prior art approaches, individual electrodes 200 such as that shown in FIGS. 2a and 2b, which typically include a button "snap" type connector 202, compliant substrate 204, and gel electrolyte 206 are affixed to the skin of the subject at locations determined by the clinician. Since there is no direct physical coupling between the individual electrodes, their placement is somewhat arbitrary, both with respect to the subject and with respect to each other. Hence, two measurements of the same subject by the same clinician may produce different results, dependent at least in part on the clinician's choice of placement location for the electrodes. It has further been shown that with respect to impedance cardiography measurements, certain values of electrode spacing yield better results than other values.
Additionally, as the subject moves, contorts, and/or respirates during the measurement, the relative orientation and position of the individual electrodes may vary significantly. Electrodes utilizing a weak adhesive may also be displaced laterally to a different location on the skin through subject movement, tension on the electrical leads connected to the electrodes, or even incidental contact. This so-called "motion artifact" can also reflect itself as reduced accuracy of the cardiac output measurements obtained using the impedance cardiography device.
A second disability associated with prior art impedance cardiography techniques relates to the detection of a degraded electrical connection or loss of electrical continuity between the terminals of the electrode and the electrical leads used to connect thereto. Specifically, as the subject moves or sweats during the measurement, the electrolyte of the electrode may lose contact with the skin, and/or the electrical leads may become partially or completely disconnected from the terminals of the electrode. These conditions result at best in a degraded signal, and at worst in a measurement which is not representative of the actual physiological condition of the subject.
Another significant consideration in the use of electrodes as part of impedance cardiographic measurements is the downward or normal pressure applied to the subject in applying the electrode to the skin, and connecting the electrical leads to the electrode. It is desirable to minimize the amount of pressure needed to securely affix the electrode to the subject's skin (as well as engage the electrical lead to the electrode), especially in subjects whose skin has been compromised by way of surgery or other injury, since significant pressure can result in pain, and reopening of wounds.
It is also noted that it is highly desirable to integrate cardiac output measurement capability into a compact, rugged, and efficient platform which is readily compatible with different hardware and software environments. The prior art approach of having a plurality of different, discrete stand-alone monitors which include, for example, a dedicated, redundant display and/or other output or storage device is not optimal, since there is often a need to conserve space at the subject's bedside or even in their home (e.g., in outpatient situations), as well as cost efficiency concerns. Furthermore, a plurality of discrete stand-alone monitors necessarily consume more electrical power (often each having their own separate power supplies), and require the subject or clinician to remain proficient with a plurality of different user interface protocols for the respective monitors. In many cases, the individual stand-alone monitors are also proprietary, such that there is limited if any interface between them for sharing data. For example, where two such monitors require a common parametric measurement (e.g., ECG waveform or blood pressure), one monitor frequently cannot transmit this data to the other monitor due to the lack of interface, thereby necessitating repeating the measurement.
Recognizing these deficiencies, more recent approaches have involved the use of modular devices, wherein for example a common monitor/display function is utilized for a variety of different functional modules. These modules are generally physically mounted in a rack or other such arrangement, with the common monitor/display unit also being mounted therein. A common power supply is also generally provided, thereby eliminating the redundancy and diversity previously described. However, heretofore, impedance cardiography (ICG) equipment has not been made in such modular fashion, nor otherwise compatible with other modular devices (such as blood pressure monitoring or ECG equipment), such that such other signals can be obtained directly or indirectly from these devices and utilized within the ICG apparatus. The quality or continuity of these signals, whether obtained directly from the subject being monitored or from other modules, has not been readily and reliably provided for either.
Typical patient monitors include modules for several physiologic measurements such as ECG, blood pressure, temperature, and arterial pulse oximetry. The addition of ICG provides the physician with additional useful clinical information about the patient.
Furthermore, prior art ICG devices (modular or otherwise) do not provide the facility for direct transmission of the data obtained from the subject, or other parameters generated by the ICG device after processing the input data, to a remote location for analysis or storage. Rather, the prior art approaches are localized to the bedside or monitoring location. This is a distinct disability with respect to the aforementioned outpatient applications, since the subject being monitored must either manually relay the information to the caregiver (such as by telephone, mail, or visit), or perform the analysis or interpretation themselves. Additionally, it is often desirable to perform more sophisticated (e.g. algorithmic) comparative or trend analysis of the subject's data, either with respect to prior data for that same subject, or data for other subjects. The lack of effective transmission modes in the prior art to some degree frustrates such analysis, since even if the subject has the facility to perform the analysis (e.g., PC or personal electronic device with the appropriate software), they will not necessarily be in possession of their own prior data, which may have accumulated via monitoring at a remote health care facility, or that for other similarly situated subjects.
Based on the foregoing, there is a need for an improved apparatus and method for measuring cardiac output in a living subject. Such improved apparatus and method ideally would allow the clinician to repeatedly and consistently place the electrodes at the optimal locations. Additionally, such an improved apparatus and method would also permit the detection of degraded electrical continuity between the electrode terminal and skin, or the electrode terminal and electrical leads of the measurement system, and be adapted to minimize the normal pressure on the subject's tissue when applying the electrodes and electrical leads. The apparatus would further be adapted to interface with other monitoring/display systems and parametric measurement modules that may be coincidently in use, and have connectivity beyond the immediate locale of the apparatus to permit the ready transfer of data to and from one or more remote locations or devices. Facility for selecting the highest quality input from a number of different sources would also ideally be provided.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method for determining cardiac output in a living subject


A game racket has a head portion with two elements extending towards each other to form two arm portions which are arranged in a V-shape configuration, with each of the two arm portions including an end portion. The end portions are merged to form a merged area which is used to form a handle. The game racket further has a suspension arm extending from the merged area towards the head portion along the longitudinal axis of the handle. The suspension arm has a yoke of a slightly accurate construction having two ends adjacent to the two elements of the head portion. The yoke and the head portion form an oval frame body for accommodating a string to form a string surface capable of prolonging thereon the dwelling time of a ball hitting the string surface.

The present invention relates to a game racket capable of prolonging the dwelling time of a ball so as to enhance the ball-controlling capability of the game racket.
The ball-controlling capability and the ball-striking force path of a game racket are dependent on the string tension of the game racket. In other words, if the string tension is weak, the string tends to bend more easily upon hitting a ball. As a result, the dwelling time of the ball is relatively so long as to result in a longer time that is required for the ball to bounce back. Under such circumstance, the game racket generates a relatively weak vibration by an impact of the ball, thereby making it easier for a player holding such racket to control the ball. However, such game racket has a shortcoming that the ball-striking power of the game racket is compromised. On the contrary, if the string tension of a game racket is strong, the distortion quantity of the string is relatively small at the time when the string strikes a ball. As a result, the dwelling time of the ball is so shortened as to result in a shorter time that is required for the ball to bounce back. In other words, upon hitting the ball, such game racket generates a greater vibration, which makes it difficult for a player holding such racket to control the ball. However, such game racket having a stong string tension is provided with a relatively strong ball-striking power, in view of the fact that the force path of the return stroke is correspondingly greater.
It has become obvious that the ball-controlling capability of a game racket is inversely proportional to the force path of striking a ball hitting the game racket. Some of the prior art game rackets are provided with the shock-absorbing blocks or strips, which serve to enhance the shock-absorbing capability of such game rackets. However, such shock-absorbing means are incapable of prolonging the dwelling time of a ball on the string of the game racket and are unable to improve the ball-controlling capability of the game racket.

Game racket capable of prolonging thereon dwelling time of ball


Apparatus possessing elongate, long-axially aligned componentry for making hollow, composite-material rebar including (a) a hollow mandrel disposed upstream in the apparatus, (b) a hollow pultrusion die circumsurrounding the mandrel for forming a composite-material hollow core in the space between it and the mandrel, and (c) a hollow, continuous-transfer-molding die spaced downstream from the pultrusion die, having a central long axis about which it is rotatable, operable to form, along the length of a core which has been formed in the pultrusion die, (1) an elongate, composite-material, core-circumsurrounding, hollow sleeve having an outer surface, and (2), unitarily with the sleeve, and in a manner distributed along the length of the sleeve's outer surface, an external-purchase-enhancing structure possessing radial-dimensionality.

This invention pertains to hollow, composite-material, core/sleeve rebar structure, and in particular to apparatus for making such structure. This apparatus is described and discussed herein in a context which features references to both (a) structural and operational features of the produced rebar structure, per se, and (b) aspects of the fabrication methodology which is implemented by the apparatus.
The core/sleeve rebar structure created by the apparatus of the present invention features a central, circularly cylindrical, elongate, hollow core, and a jacketing, i.e., circumsurrounding, specially, molecularly-joined, circularly cylindrical, elongate, hollow sleeve. The core is formed in a pultrusion die from a thermoset plastic resin (preferably urethane-modified vinyl ester) which embeds a plurality of elongate, substantially linear, long-axis-tension-carrying-capable, reinforcing fibers, preferably made of e-glass. The sleeve, also referred to herein as a jacket, is formed in a rotational, transfer-molding die preferably from the same thermoset-plastic, urethane-modified vinyl ester resin which is used in the core. The jacketing resin, which preferably takes the form of what is considered a conventional, i.e., well-known, bulk-molding-compound (BMC) material, embeds a plurality of randomly distributed, randomly oriented, "chopped" (i.e., short, typically 1/32-½-inches) reinforcing fibers, preferably made of carbon or basalt. This sleeve, in an operative, structural-incorporation setting for the overall, completed rebar structure in a body, or mass, of surrounding concrete, responds, as it seems, via the included, multi-directionally oriented, short fibres, "multidirectionally", by "gathering" the surrounding environmental, concrete-borne forces and directing them effectively into the long, linear, axially extending, tension-capable fibres present in the hollow core.
Created integrally with and as a part homogeneously of the preferred, BMC-material sleeve, on and along its outside surface, is an outwardly radially projecting, "purchase-enhancing", elongate ridge structure in the form, preferably, of continuous elongate, double-helix winds which, under circumstances with the completed rebar structure viewed in side elevation, present the appearance of evenly spaced screw threads. It will become evident to those skilled in the relevant art that other forms of purchase-enhancing structure may be created for rebar employment, if desired.
Lying in the background of, and furnishing an underpinning basis for, the creation and development of the hollow, composite-material rebar, which is the "to-be-created" subject matter of the fabrication apparatus of the present invention, are certain comparative-advantage, and also difficulty, issues that have been, and that continue to be, experienced differentially in the conventional, predecessor fields involving both long-standing, traditional steel rebar, and more recently, solid, composite, or composite-material, rebar. Steel rebar has, of course, been utilized in the field of infrastructure-reinforcing settings for decades, and solid, composite rebar has now been available and in similar use, for example in the United States, for many (but fewer) years. Solid, composite rebar's generally successful use in various projects implemented during these later years in various types of infrastructure installations has led to its (composite material's) approval for use now in a variety of concrete structures, and the present invention is squarely aimed at offering special apparatus that is designed for producing significantly improved, composite-material rebar structures that enhance such structures' utility in this field.
As those knowledgeable in the art are aware, solid, composite rebar, now conventionally available, offers a number of advantages (with only a few drawbacks) over conventional steel rebar. Non-exhaustively expressed, these advantages include (a) longer-life tolerance against functional and structural degradation—degradation relating to interactive presence in certain environmental, concrete-surround conditions, (b) avoidance of induced proximity damage to surrounding, contacting concrete, (c) low negative impact (resulting from (b)) on the "outside" environment (explained below), and (d) materials-handling, etc. cost savings.
Regarding such advantages, while composite rebar use, in comparison with steel rebar use, in typical concrete infrastructure applications, such as in roads, bridges, tunnels, airport runways, levies and parking decks, clearly offers the benefit of lower transportation and material-handling costs due to the fact that composite rebar material is only about one-quarter the weight of equivalent-diameter steel, its main economic appeal, associated with others of the above-stated advantages, is its ability, through avoiding structural degradation, dramatically to extend the life of a concrete structure in which it has been incorporated. More specifically, concrete structures that are built with steel rebar (either plain or epoxy coated) ultimately fail, and sometimes catastrophically, due to surrounding-environment-induced corrosion of the included rebar. As such rebar corrodes, it not only weakens and loses reinforcement capability, but more seriously, it expands substantially, and essentially "blows apart" the surrounding concrete mass (an event commonly known as spalling concrete, or crumbling infrastructure). "Mending" of such "from the inside" structural damage is typically neither simple nor inexpensive. Rather, repair usually dictates the need for complete structural replacement.
Composite rebar does not cause this kind of problem.
This "does not cause" statement can fairly be made even though there are certain "composite rebar" circumstances wherein some rebar degradation may occur, typically via slow, progressive, alkaline damage to "unshielded glass fibres" often employed as embedded, reinforcing inclusions in concrete-containing composite rebar. Such damage, however, does not produce the dramatically disruptive "blow-apart" phenomenon mentioned above associated with decaying, concrete-held, steel rebar.
Composite rebar use therefore provides a dramatic, and strikingly measurable, advantage when compared to steel rebar use in concrete construction; and while that advantage is, as just outlined, primarily a cost saving advantage due to the extended life consideration for a utilizing project, there is another substantial, and related, benefit which involves an important environmental consideration.
Concrete is perhaps the most ubiquitous building material in the world. It works well, is relatively inexpensive, and is readily available. When a structure fails, as just above described, due to corroding steel rebar, replacement structure must be created with new concrete for the reason that the cement component in concrete cannot be recycled. With this in mind, and recognizing that cement-making, as an industry, generates, and releases into the atmosphere, a significantly high contribution of CO2, minimizing concrete usage as much as possible is a very real concern and intention. It will, accordingly, be evident that the use of composite, instead of steel, rebar in concrete structures successfully addresses this concern by deferring, or even eliminating, the need to replace old rebar-reinforced concrete with new.
While, therefore, solid, composite rebar thus distinguishes itself favorably and advantageously in many ways over traditional steel rebar, it also, as was briefly suggested above, exhibits certain drawbacks that result principally due to its "solidness"—limitations which, importantly, are now successfully addressed by the features of the present, "hollow", two-main-component core/sleeve, composite rebar invention, shortly to be more fully discussed. Notable among the recognized limitations of solid rebar is the so-called "size effect", or "shear lag", issue which becomes evident as the overall outside diameter of such a rebar is increased in the context of offering, or so it is hoped, "more robust" rebar reinforcement in certain applications. The terms "size effect" and "shear lag" will hereinafter be employed interchangeably. Such a rebar diameter increase, unfortunately, and as is well understood by those skilled in the art, causes the core region of a conventional solid, composite rebar progressively to lose core-area efficiency in terms of strength and load handling due to early, differential catastrophic failures that occur in the outer core-reinforcing fibres. Moreover, as the diametral size of traditional, solid, composite rebar increases, so also do the attendant, material-volume usage, and the associated, material-end-product cost. Thus, the "shear-lag" problem confronts traditional composite rebar-usage designers with the dilemma that an increase in rebar diameter size to achieve hoped-for greater reinforcing strength leads to the combined negative effects of (a) an actual, non-proportional (i.e., less than directly following) core-strength increase, and (b), increased material usage and cost.
As will become apparent, the hollow, composite-material, core/sleeve rebar structure which is fabricated by the apparatus of the present invention, while retaining all of the important advantages offered by conventional, solid, composite rebar, both significantly addresses, correctively, the solid rebar limitations just mentioned, and at the same time introduces important additional advantages.
The apparatus offered and employed by the present invention to make hollow rebar structure of the style just described, and the associated making methodology which this apparatus implements, collaboratively contribute significantly to fabrication of the enhanced structural and performance capabilities of the above-described configuration of rebar structure.
Presented immediately below, under appropriate side headings, is further background and summary information relating to various invention-associated considerations and features. These side-heading topics include (a) resulting, fabricated rebar structure, per se, (b) related fabrication methodology, and (c) the apparatus proposed herein for implementing that methodology.
Hollow, Composite, Core/Sleeve Rebar Structure
The rebar structure fabricated by the apparatus of the present invention takes the form of an elongate, composite-material (thermoset plastic and elongate, liner, reinforcing fibres), hollow, or tubular, structure having a long axis, and including, (a) an elongate, hollow, pultrusion-die-formed core centered on that axis and possessing an outer surface, (b) an elongate, hollow, rotationally-transfer-die-molded sleeve having inner and outer surfaces, circumsurrounding, and bonded via its inner surface to, the core's outer surface along the core's length, and (c) longitudinally distributed, radial-dimensionality, external-purchase-enhancing structure formed unitarily and homogenously, in the same rotational transfer-molding process employed for the sleeve, with and along the length of the sleeve's outer surface. Preferably, though not necessarily, the core and sleeve are circularly cylindrical, and the purchase-enhancing structure takes the form of a pair of elongate, continuous, double-helical winds projecting radially outwardly from and along the sleeve's outer surface. It is this condition of radial, outward projection of the helical winds, relative to the outer surface of the sleeve body, which is what is meant by the phrase "radial-dimensionality".
Rebar hollowness, and the setting of the bonded, core/sleeve combination which centrally defines the rebar structure of the present invention, collaborate to offer some surprising and significant performance advantages over all known rebar structures, including certain unique load managing and handling advantages.
Importantly, the bond existing between the core and sleeve, according to preference, and promoted by the operation of the fabrication apparatus of the present invention, takes the form of a single-cure, dual-plastic-material (formed combinationally by that plastic resin material present in the core and that also present in the sleeve), molecular bond, and in a more particular sense, what is referred to herein as a dual-plastic-material, reverse-temperature-gradient-cure, molecular bond—a bond which has resulted from a single, plastic-curing procedure driven by an appropriate temperature gradient defined (a) by a higher temperature created and existing in the central, hollow interior of the core within the rotational transfer-molding die in the proposed apparatus which homogeneously forms the sleeve and the purchase-enhancing structure, and (b) by a suitably lower temperature created immediately outside the core-circumsurrounding sleeve through the wall of the rotational transfer-molding die.
An assisting, and optionally additional, mechanical bond, based chiefly upon appropriate, pre-bonding surface roughening of the outer surface of the pultrusion-formed central core, may also be employed.
In the apparatus-created rebar structure prepared in accordance with the fabrication practice of the present invention, the core is formed of a thermoset plastic resin containing embedded, elongate, continuous, reinforcing fibres, preferably e-glass, and the sleeve and the purchase-enhancing structure are formed, as mentioned above, of a compatible, thermoset plastic resin which contains embedded, randomly-ordered, chopped (short), reinforcing, and preferably carbon fibres. The preferred sleeve material, generally speaking, takes the conventional form of what is known as bulk-molding-compound (BMC) material, wherein the included, chopped fibres are made of at least one of carbon (preferred) and basalt. BMC also variously contains other well-known ingredients, conventionally included, and is not therefore discussed in any greater detail herein. We recognize that those skilled in the relevant art will readily choose an appropriate, specific BMC mix, or blend, to invoke their implementations of the apparatus of the present invention.
The sleeve, per se, in the rebar structure made according to practice of the present invention is independently expressible as being a jacketing structure for an elongate, hollow-rebar, central core having a long, core axis, with the sleeve possessing (1) an elongate, hollow body formed with a long axis, (2) a hollow interior (in its body) which is adapted to receive, bondedly, such a core in a manner wherein the two, mentioned long axes are substantially coincident, and (3) an outside surface on the sleeve body which includes, distributed along its length, unitarily formed, longitudinally distributed and extending, radial-dimensionality, external-purchase-enhancing structure.
The apparatus-fabricated rebar structure essentially offers all of the advantages of conventional, solid, composite rebar over steel rebar, as mentioned above, while at the same time (a) avoiding the drawbacks which have been associated with such predecessor composite rebar, and in fact (b), introducing several new advantages over all known, conventional rebar structures.
For reasons not completely understood, and which have surprised us, the overall rebar structure made by the apparatus of the present invention, and which structure is hollow, both in its core, and in its included, core-circumsurrounding sleeve, turns out substantially to avoid, or at least greatly to minimize, the negative "size effect" issue which is presented by solid, composite rebar structure. The central core which, as mentioned, includes elongate generally linear embedded (preferably e-glass) fibers has been found to provide superior tensile load-handling characteristics without any appreciable introduction of a "size effect" problem. These fibers, of course, extending as they do along the long axis of the core, are oriented most appropriately for handling expected high tensile loads when the rebar structure is placed in operative condition within a surrounding mass of concrete.
The surrounding sleeve, which includes short-length, randomly oriented and distributed fibers of a different material character (preferably carbon, or alternatively basalt), and which typically (in use) resides within the alkaline environment of surrounding concrete, does not exhibit fiber degradation on account of that environment; and, because of its circumsurrounding and jacketing disposition with respect to the inner hollow core to which it is bonded, guards that core, and specifically the preferred e-glass fibers in that core, against degradation-producing exposure to direct contact with the surrounding alkaline "world" of concrete. Additionally, the random-orientations of the short fibers which characterize the construction of the core-jacketing sleeve function extremely effectively, and surprisingly, as we have learned, in private and confidential testing, to "gather" and direct into the linearly extending elongate fibers in the core, the various appropriate vector components of forces which develop in a surrounding mass of load-bearing concrete.
The fact that the configuration of hollow rebar structure made by the apparatus of the present invention effectively is made up of two, principal tubular components—components which differ from one another chiefly in the nature of the material used in the included reinforcing fibers—thus characterizes a combined, overall rebar structure which not only survives well within an alkaline, concrete environment wherein it is employed, but also uniquely functions both (a) to gather, and transmit (via multi-directionally oriented fibres) very effectively into the central core, surrounding forces so as to produce noticeably superior tensile load handling (via elongate, substantially parallel linear fibres) within the core, and (b) to do this in a setting wherein "size effect" difficulties that are associated with "differently sized and different-strength" rebar structures have not appreciably materialized. The differential-material characters of the fibres in the sleeve and the core produce a "best of many worlds" behavior for this rebar structure, with the included fibres in each of these two, collaborating structural components functioning most appropriately in their respective "rebar settings".
In connection with the just-mentioned, important, "different-strength", non-problematic "size effect" consideration, an extremely interesting feature of the hollow rebar structure produced according to the invention is that, while various outside, overall sleeve diameters may be created effectively to furnish a range of nominal, staged-strength rebar sizes, it turns out to be the case that, for a given rebar structure with a particular outside sleeve diameter, merely by operating the apparatus of the invention to change alone the wall thickness of the internal core, an interesting range of different rebar strength sizes is attainable. Not only is this feature of practice of the invention by itself interesting, beyond this "rebar-internal" feature, within a given structural-use environment involving a particular, set-outside-dimension mass of concrete, and without in any way diminishing, or otherwise altering, the volume (the internal content) of that mass (which possesses its own pre-design, load-carrying capacity) to accommodate differences in the outer diameter of intended, embedded reinforcing rebar structure, simply by changing wall thickness of the included, inside, tubular core in the rebar structure, there are available different, rebar-strength-reinforcement choices for such a concrete mass.
Put another way, by allowing for effective rebar strength changes simply through changing wall thickness in the included inside core, without changing outside diameter dimensions of the sleeve, such allowing effectively makes the changing of rebar "strength sizes" independent of surrounding, pre-design mass dimensions of concrete. In this context, one will note that, with conventional solid, composite, or steel, rebar structure, and for a given-outside-dimension mass of concrete, a diameter change in the outside dimensions of such rebar structure automatically requires a change in the surrounding volume of the, pre-dimension-determined, given mass of concrete, with more concrete being employed with smaller-diameter rebar structures and less concrete being employed to accommodate larger-diameter rebar structures. This, of course, is a situation in which surrounding concrete mass, for a given, desired, set of outside dimensions, is not independent of rebar "size strength".
Another feature of the apparatus-fabricated hollow rebar structure made in accordance with the present invention is that it offers, for useful and innovative employment, the internal, hollow, central channel for the "routing", for example, of various kinds of infrastructure possibilities like cabling or fluid conveyance (such as for controlling anti-freezing of bridge surfaces), as well as the selective introduction of protected (i.e., shielded), additional strengthening elements, such as inserted steel bars, if desired. Additional creative use of the hollow aspect of this rebar structure might include the installation therein of various types of information-generating sensors to improve utilization of a rebar-reinforced structure, for example for optimizing traffic flow on bridges, for monitoring use-history in order to schedule maintenance more effectively, for monitoring load management, and for other things.
Apparatus-Implemented Fabrication Methodology
From one methodologic point of view, the methodology implemented by the apparatus of the invention may be expressed as a method of making an elongate, composite-material, hollow rebar structure including the steps of (a) forming an elongate, composite-material, hollow core, (b) in association with such forming, preparing along the core's length an elongate, composite-material, core-circumsurrounding, hollow sleeve having inner and outer surfaces, (c) in association with such preparing, creating, unitarily with the sleeve, and in a manner distributed along the length of the sleeve's outer surface, an external-purchase-enhancing structure possessing radial-dimensionality, and specifically in the form of a pair of elongate, continuous, generally helically paralleling winds extending along the length of the sleeve's outer surface, and (d) bonding the inner surface of the sleeve to the outer surface of the core. Preferably, this methodology is carried out in manners whereby the core-forming step is performed by pultrusion, and the preparing and creating steps are implemented by continuous transfer-molding within a rotational die.
In this methodology, bonding is implemented preferably in a manner which establishes between the core and sleeve a bond in the form of a single-cure, dual-plastic-material molecular bond, and in the more particular sense expressed above herein, what is referred to herein as an important, dual-plastic-material, reverse-temperature-gradient-cure bond as generally described.
As mentioned also above, a mechanical bond may be implemented by the apparatus of the invention.
From another point of view, the invention methodology implemented by features included in the apparatus of the invention may be described as a method of making an elongate, composite, hollow rebar structure featuring (a) forming, in a pultrusion die, an elongate, composite-material, fibre-reinforced, curable-plastic-material-including, hollow core, (b) applying heat within the pultrusion die to create, for the core's included plastic material as it emerges from the die, an outer-surface plastic condition which is less than 100% cured, (c) in association with, and downstream from, the forming step, preparing, in a rotational, continuous-transfer-molding die, on the less-than-100%-cured, outer-surface plastic of the emerging core and along its length, an elongate, hollow, composite-material, fibre-reinforced, curable-plastic-material-including, core-circumsurrounding sleeve, (d) in relation to such preparing, and within the transfer-molding die, creating, unitarily with the sleeve, and in a manner distributed along the length of the sleeve's outer surface, an external-purchase-enhancing structure possessing radial-dimensionality, and (e) within the transfer-molding die, applying heat to effect between the plastic material in the core and that in the sleeve a single, reverse-temperature-gradient-cure, plastic-material bond.
In the practice of the present invention through performance of the invented apparatus, making of the resulting, two-component, core/sleeve rebar structure is especially accommodated by, and in relation to, the just-above-outlined methodology which involves the under-curing of plastic resin material during the core-forming pultrusion process—an under-curing procedure referred to as B-staging which assures that, as the formed core emerges from the pultrusion-forming die, the surface condition of the resin in that core, which is a bonding surface, has enough of a temporarily-lasting, under-cured condition so that subsequent bonding with the inner surface of the about-to-be-downstream-formed sleeve takes place in a very robust manner.
Fabrication Apparatus
According to the present invention, the proposed special apparatus for fabricating rebar structure of the type mentioned above includes a long, rebar-formation axis, and spaced therealong, what are referred to herein as upstream and downstream regions. Progressing along the apparatus rebar-formation axis, from the upstream region toward the downstream region, the apparatus further includes (1) an elongate, hollow mandrel having a long axis which is substantially coincident with the rebar-formation axis, and extending from adjacent the upstream region toward adjacent the downstream region, (2) an elongate, hollow pultrusion die disposed operatively adjacent the upstream region, having a long axis which is substantially coincident with the rebar-formation axis, circumsurrounding the mandrel, and operable to form an elongate, composite-material, hollow core in the region disposed between itself and the mandrel, and (3) an elongate, hollow, transfer-molding die disposed downstream, and spaced, from the pultrusion die, having a long axis about which it is rotatable and which is substantially coincident with the rebar-formation axis, the transfer-molding die being operable to form, along the length of a core which has been formed upstream by the pultrusion die, (a) an elongate, composite-material, core-circumsurrounding, hollow sleeve having an outer surface, and (b), unitarily with the sleeve, and in a manner distributed along the length of the sleeve's outer surface, an external-purchase-enhancing structure possessing radial-dimensionality.
The apparatus of the invention, as just generally described, further includes plural heaters distributed in spaced relation with respect to one another along the rebar-formation axis, and disposed in operative adjacency relative to, and in association with, the pultrusion and transfer-molding dies. These heaters uniquely feature special, internal heating structure which is disposed within the above-mentioned hollow mandrel where it extends through and within the transfer-molding die—this internal heater being operable to produce a "reverse", radially outwardly directed (relative to the rebar-formation axis) heat gradient.
The importance of this feature in creating a robust core-sleeve bond has been mentioned above.
Additionally included in the apparatus of the invention is a power-driven puller disposed downstream along the rebar-formation axis in spaced relation to the transfer-molding die, operable to pull a forming rebar through the dies in a downstream direction along the rebar-formation axis under the influence of a drive motor. This drive motor operates the puller at a speed which moves a forming rebar along the rebar-formation axis at a rate relative to the pultrusion die and to the heaters which are operatively associated with that die whereby the outer surface of plastic material in core structure emerging downstream out of the pultrusion die, and later entering the transfer-molding die, is, and remains during transit between the dies, in a less-then-100% cured condition.
These and various other features and advantages of, and offered by, the apparatus of the present invention will become more fully apparent as the detailed description of it below is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.

Hollow, composite-material rebar fabrication apparatus


Two or more independent and offset fluid transporting fractals allow the scaling and intermingling of two or more fluids separately and simultaneously prior to contacting the fluids with one another. The device provides rapid and homogeneous mixing and/or reaction.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to mixing and reactor equipment. More specifically the invention is directed to equipment for mixing and reacting one or more fluids. The invention finds application in single as well as multi-phase environments.
2. State of the Art
Many fluid processes benefit from efficient mixing. Nearly all conventional art mixing equipment, such as blenders, impellers, static mixers, and impinging devices, scale and intermingle the fluids to be mixed while the fluids are in actual contact with one another. This approach can result in the creation of a variety of inhomogenieties within the body of the fluid mixture. Such inhomogenieties may be harmful to the process of mixing and/or the reactions occurring within the body of the fluid. For example, large scale concentration or temperature inhomogenieties may be produced within the body of the fluid mixture by the use of conventional mixing equipment.
Additionally, conventional mixing equipment generally relies upon forcing large scale turbulence upon the fluid mixture. Turbulence, in turn, may lead to the formation of eddies within the fluid body which, in many instances, may be as large as the reaction vessel itself. The presence of eddies within the fluid body may hamper the proper mixing of the fluid and further may disrupt the extent of the reactions occurring within the fluid.
Historically, slight attention has been paid in the art to the use of engineered fractal mixing as a means of processing fluids. U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,333 is one of the few examples of technical efforts in this area. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,333 a space filling device, which can be used for low turbulence fluid mixing in a volume, is disclosed. This device can accomplish volume mixing with very little turbulence and with a high level of homogeneity. Unfortunately, because the device of U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,333 is a space filling mixer, it is not always an appropriate processing device for a given processing requirement.
Another recent patent which describes the use of fractals to distribute or collect fluids is U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,460 which discloses a fractal fluid distribution system. PCT/US99/06245 is directed to a fractal fluid transporting device. Neither of these references disclose employing offset fractals to simultaneously and independently scale and intermingle separate fluids for mixing and/or reaction.

Fractal device for mixing and reactor applications


An instrument carriage for inspection of piping comprises front and rear leg assemblies for engaging the interior of the piping and supporting and centering the carriage therein, and an instrumentation arm carried by a shaft system running from the front to rear leg assemblies. The shaft system has a screw shaft for moving the arm axially and a spline gear for moving the arm azimuthally. The arm has a pair of air cylinders that raise and lower a plate in the radial direction. On the plate are probes including an eddy current probe and an ultrasonic testing probe. The ultrasonic testing probe is capable of spinning 360.degree. about its axis. The instrument carriage uses servo motors and pressurized air cylinders for precise actuation of instrument components and precise, repeatable actuation of position control mechanisms.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for inspecting the interior of piping. In particular the present invention relates to piping inspection, instrumentation-carrying apparatus having the capability of locating and scanning a specific feature along the interior of the piping.
2. Discussion of Background
Throughout industry, piping is used to convey fluids of every kind over short distances and long. Because of the adverse effects of stress, temperature, and fluids flowing through pipes, both the effects of specific fluids (corrosion) and the effects of fluid flow in pipes generally (erosion), the piping will eventually degrade and may fail completely or may cease to be serviceable or may simply begin to leak. Flaws frequently begin to form at welded joints. However, even newly welded pipe joints can also have flaws that will cause leaks or pipe failure.
The integrity of piping is an important industrial concern and can become crucial depending on a number of factors, including the volume of material transported by the piping per day, the hazardous nature of the material, the cost of the fluid transported, and the impact of a loss of the fluid on the user's operation at the fluid's destination.
Pipe inspection can prove very useful in avoiding pipe failure by determining the condition of piping and how that condition changes over time. Welds can be inspected visually, ultrasonically and using eddy currents. Not only is periodic pipe inspection useful during operation, but pipe inspection prior to use may be especially important. For example, it is prudent to conduct a pre-service inspection of piping that will carry hazardous or radioactive fluids to verify the condition of welds or to fix flaws before the interior of the piping becomes contaminated.
There are a number of piping inspection devices. Some of these are self-propelled and others are pulled or pushed by pipe crawlers or other means. See for example the pipe inspection devices described by Wentzell in U.S. Pat. No. 4,581,938, Takagi, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,532 and Weber, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,460,920. Pipe inspection can be done by ultrasonic transducers, eddy current sensors and visual devices. See Metala, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,337), Krieg, et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,598) and Weber, et al. Weber includes a television camera with his pipe inspection device. Metala, et al. and Krieg, et al. carry both ultrasonic and eddy current measuring equipment. A companion application, commonly assigned, titled "Pipe Crawler With Extendable Legs", Ser. No. 679,497 filed Apr. 2, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,694 is incorporated by reference and describes a system for distribution of air via manifolds and solenoid switches. Also, see issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,451, commonly assigned, for a description of another pipe crawler such as could be used to move a pipe inspection apparatus.
Inspecting the interior of piping must be coupled with a fairly accurate system for knowing where the inspection device is and how it is oriented. Sometimes only distance in one direction is needed, distance that can be obtained from a simple odometer or from the length of the tether, for carrying power cables, air hoses, and the like, that trails from the inspection device to the entrance of the pipe. If the pipe has a number of bends and variations in diameter, and especially if the area to be inspected is relatively small, more precise locational information may be needed, sometimes, in fact, full coordinate information. The device as described by Thome in U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,549 provides position information in four dimensions: axial, radial, azimuthal and rotational about itself.
However, there remains a need for a pipe inspection device that is capable of making minute inspections and of knowing the precise location of the inspected areas for comparison to previously inspected areas. Fine inspections can enable pipe flaws and changes in those flaws to be detected, analyzed and corrected sooner rather than later.

Piping inspection instrument carriage with precise and repeatable position control and location determination

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy


A D-ring for a shoulder strap assembly and brassiere can have a catch which enables the D-ring to be locked in use or opened for lateral insertion of the loop of the shoulder strap. The catch can be formed by a pin on the bow of the D-ring laterally engageable in an eye of a limb.

To adjust a brassiere or a like garment to the person of the wearer, it is common to provide a pair of shoulder straps which can be adjustable through the use of respective sliders to which a shoulder strap end can be affixed and which can vary the effective length of the shoulder strap.
Commonly the shoulder strap is provided with the slider at the front of the garment and a loop of the shoulder strap passes through a D-ring serving as the strap connector and securing that shoulder strap to the front of the garment. Such shoulder straps are used for lingerie items, for brassieres and in some cases for other garments secured by shoulder straps, e.g. bathing suits.
The D-ring in the past has been connected to the front of the garment by a loop of fabric through, for example, a slit or slot in the ring, by securing the ring to the garment in some other fashion or even by an additional strap arrangement.
The assembly of the garment has posed a problem where a closed D-ring served as the strap connector by complicating the threading of the strap through the D-ring and its slider. The complicated threading technique, of course, lead to increased cost of the garment. Thus the strap connector could be provided with a slot at a side of the passage through which the strap was intended to pass to allow the loop of that strap to be inserted laterally into the connector. While that construction has proved to be effective, the fact that an open slot remained and that the loop could disengage from the connector created difficulties in some cases and has led to a need for improvement.
The ability to insert a strap laterally into the D-ring enables the use of detachable shoulder straps for garments such as brassieres. For example, with the ability to change the shoulder straps of the brassiere, a user can switch between a transparent shoulder strap and woven shoulder strap between shoulder straps of different colors. Normally small hooks are used for connection or detaching of such detachable or replaceable shoulder straps.


The invention concerns a method for reducing the effect of column memory. The method includes the steps of activating one of a plurality of row electrodes, selectively applying a video input signal to a plurality of column electrodes, and setting at least one of the plurality of column electrodes to a substantially constant voltage prior to activating a subsequent row electrode. In one arrangement, the substantially constant voltage can correlate to a flat field. The method can also include repeating the steps of activating one of the plurality of row electrodes step, selectively applying the video input signal step, and setting at least one of the plurality of column electrodes to the substantially constant voltage step in which the steps can be performed in a liquid crystal on silicon imager.

1. Field of the Invention
The inventive arrangements relate generally to the field of projection television receivers and displays and more particularly to projection television receivers and displays that employ imagers such as liquid crystal on silicon imagers.
2. Description of Related Art
There have been many new developments in various types of electronic displays and video imaging devices. One example of such technology is liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS). As is known in the art, an LCOS imager generally contains an array of row and column electrodes such that the pixels of the LCOS imager can be addressed by selection of these row and column electrodes.
Typically, a video input signal is selectively fed to each of the column electrodes, and selection of a row electrode enables each cell corresponding with the pixels to be charged to a desired pixel voltage. This permits video to be written to each of the rows of pixels. The video input signal is transferred to the column electrodes from a bus and through a number of switches connected to the bus and the column electrodes. These switches remain closed only for brief periods of time. A particular cell remains lighted with the same intensity until the video input signal changes that cell thereby acting as a sample and hold. That is, the pixel does not decay, as is the case with the phosphors in a cathode ray tube. Notably, many imagers permit the row electrodes to be selected in a sequential fashion, and some permit the row electrodes to be selected in a non-sequential manner.
Current LCOS imagers, however, suffer from a significant drawback known as column memory. As the video input signal is transferred to a column electrode and the switch through which the input signal is passing opens, a charge remains on the column electrode. Thus, when the next row electrode is activated, the charge that is left over from the previous charging of the column electrode remains on the column electrode until the switch is closed again to write video to the new row of pixels. This residual charge can result in scene content from the previously written row being displayed in the new row being written thereby causing a phenomenon known as "ghosting." The ghosting effect can be particularly troublesome if rows are selected in a non-sequential manner, as the voltage levels on the column electrodes from the previous row selection may be significantly different from the current row selection. Thus, it is desirable to eliminate the ghosting effect without significantly increasing system costs or complexity.


A device is disclosed for displaying information in a vehicle. The device includes a unit for creating a real image containing information relevant to a driver, to be reflected in a reflective viewing surface located directly above the field of vision actively used by the driver to survey the traffic situation, and thereby generating a virtual image. The device further includes a second reflecting surface provided behind or beside the driver's head, with the driver in his or her normal position, at essentially the same level as the viewing surface or higher, an end section of an optical path between the unit and the viewing surface in use extending between said second reflecting surface and the viewing surface. By the optical path extending at least partly in the upper part of the driver's cab, a relatively long (several meters) optical path can be obtained without the need for complex mirror systems. In particular, this applies to commercial vehicles such as lorries and buses, which generally have an essentially vertical windscreen and plenty of free space above and in front of the driver.

In the working environment of a modern vehicle an ever-increasing amount of information can be made accessible to the driver. At the same time, almost all the available space of the driver's cab of a typical commercial vehicle is taken up by various devices and equipment, which makes it difficult to find a place to display the information. Providing a large, continuous display surface in front of the driver is impossible, since it would be partly concealed by the steering wheel, it would obstruct the view and distract the driver.
In the case of passenger cars, attempts have previously been made to reflect an image in the plane of the windscreen. Devices of this type are usually referred to as "head-up displays", because they allow the driver to read the information without looking down on the instrument panel. In a conventional head-up display, the unit creating the image is located in or adjacent to the instrument panel, i.e. in front of and obliquely below the driver, and the image is projected upwards onto the windscreen by way of mirrors and other optical elements. On the windscreen, which may have been treated with a reflection-enhancing material, a virtual image is then formed which provides the driver with the information displayed. One example of such a display is disclosed in WO 89/03059.
When the real image, as shown in WO 89/03059, is created obliquely below and in front of the driver, it is difficult, impossible even, to avoid the virtual image being created somewhere in the active field of vision used by the driver to survey the traffic situation. For this reason, the reflecting surface, which is thus located in the windscreen, is transparent so as not to obstruct the driver's view too much. Nevertheless, the virtual image may still interfere with the driver's view. Moreover, the transparent reflecting surface is such that the quality of the information displayed will be low, and only simple visual indications can be displayed.
A better solution is disclosed in WO 91/00674, in which an image source is arranged in the ceiling of a passenger car, and a mirror is arranged slightly above the driver's field of vision for the purpose of reflecting information generated by the image source. A similar solution is disclosed in WO 94/08264. To reduce the need for the driver to significantly adapt the eye focus when alternately looking at the area in front of the vehicle and the virtual image, it is advantageous for the reflected image to be located as far away from the driver as possible. In WO 91/00674, the mirror consisting of a holographic optical element achieves this.
Alternatively, the virtual image may be moved further away from the driver by extending the optical path between the real image and the mirror located adjacent the windscreen. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,731,903, this has been achieved by way of a complex system of mirrors. The device shown is not a head-up display in the strict sense of the word, since the virtual image is not projected onto the windscreen but displayed on a mirror recessed in the instrument panel. However, it is apparent from the specification that it is both time-consuming and expensive to provide a device featuring a long optical path, which can also be contained in an instrument panel.

Device and system for display of information, and vehicle equipped with such a system


A manually resettable thermostat has several individual resettable thermostats which have respective calibration temperature, stacked one above the other and formed as an integral assembly. The thermostat may be utilized in the thermostatic system that need several different manually resettable thermostats with different calibration temperatures so the space of the system is saved and the operation of the thermostat is simplified.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bimetal snap-action type temperature control devices and more particularly, to a thermostat device, which has multiple manually resettable thermostat units arranged in a stack for working individually at different temperature ranges, and which allows a user to reset all the manually resettable thermostats at a time through one single action.
2. Description of the Related Art
According to the design of a conventional manually resettable bimetal snap-action thermostat, the bimetal snap-action spring plate is caused to curve from a first position to a second position when the temperature rises over a predetermined temperature. When the temperature drops below the predetermined temperature, the bimetal snap-action spring plate returns from the second position to the first position. At this time, the switch circuit is not reset, and an external force must be applied to reset the thermostat. This type of manually resettable thermostat has the advantages of high reliability and ease of use. Therefore, this type of manually resettable thermostat is intensively used in different fields. However, this type of manually resettable thermostat is workable only at one single temperature point. For multiple temperature control point application, multiple manually resettable thermostats shall be used. In case there is no sufficient installation space for multiple manually resettable thermostats, the aforesaid conventional design becomes useless.
For example, when designing an automatic rice cooker, as shown in FIG. 5, it is necessary to rapidly increase the heating temperature to a first temperature point t1, i.e., the food safety temperature about 60˜75° C. to kill microbes in rice, and then to lower the heating power for enabling the heating temperature to be increased slowly to a second temperature point t2, i.e., the saturation temperature about 85˜95° C. to have rice be well cooked, and then to lower the heating temperature to a third temperature point t3, i.e., the warm-keeping temperature about 60˜65° C. It is the most economic and convenient way to detect the first temperature point t1 and the second temperature point t2 by means of the use of a snap-action type thermostat. However, when the temperature drops, the snap-action type thermostat does not return to its former position automatically, i.e., it cannot let the heating temperature drop to the warm-keeping temperature point t3 to keep the cooked rice warm. This warm-keeping temperature point t3 is lower than the saturation temperature point t2. For the control of the first temperature point t1 and the second temperature point t2, a manually resettable thermostat can be used. The best installation position for thermostat between the electric heater and the cooker is the center area. However, the available space around this center area is limited. In a rice cooker, this space is sufficient for accommodating one single manually resettable thermostat. When multiple manually resettable thermostats are arranged together, the resetting mechanism will be complicated.


Provided is a method of forming a film of metal compound of first and second materials on an object to be processed, one of the first and second materials being metal, which includes: supplying a raw material gas containing the first material to the object such that the first material is adsorbed onto the object; supplying a raw material gas containing the second material to the object with the first material adsorbed thereon such that the second material is adsorbed onto the object with the first material adsorbed thereon; and supplying a third material different from the first and second materials onto the first and second materials adsorbed onto the object such that the first to third materials are chemically combined with one another.

In recent years, miniaturization of a semiconductor integrated circuit device has progressed. Silicon dioxide (SiO2) has been used for a gate insulation film of a transistor. However, as the miniaturization of the transistor progresses, the gate insulation film becomes thinner to such an extent that an insulation property thereof is no longer maintained due to penetration of electrons through the SiO2 film by a tunneling effect. Thus, using a High-k (high dielectric constant) material having a relative dielectric constant higher than the SiO2 material was considered. A gate insulation film having a high dielectric constant by using a High-k material has an increased effective film thickness (compared with using SiO2) to thereby break through the limit of the miniaturization caused by the tunneling effect.
The High-k material is selected from metal compounds, e.g., a metal oxide and a metal nitride. A typical High-k material is a hafnium silicate (HfSiOx).
One of the methods of forming such a HfSiOx film described in the related art includes a sequence of steps as follows:
(1) supplying a hafnium (Hf) gas (raw material gas) to form a Hf layer on a substrate;
(2) supplying an oxidizing agent gas to oxidize the Hf layer such that a HfOx (hafnium oxide) layer is formed;
(3) supplying a silicon (Si) precursor gas (raw material gas) to form a Si layer on the HfOx layer; and
(4) supplying an oxidizing agent gas to oxidize the Si layer such that a SiOx (silicon oxide) layer is formed.
By repeating the sequence of steps (1) to (4), lamination of the HfOx layer and the SiOx layer are performed. Such a lamination process is repeated until a thickness of a laminated structure reaches a designed thickness. Thus, an HfSiOx film, which is a lamination by the HfOx layer and the SiOx layer, is formed.
The High-k material represented by the HfSiOx film is expected to be used as a material of a dielectric film of a capacitor, in addition to the gate insulation film.
One method using the High-k material for the dielectric film described in the related art includes a step of simultaneously or continuously supplying a Hf precursor gas and a Si precursor gas to adsorb them onto a substrate (a first step). Although the related art describes chemical/physical absorption onto the substrate surface, not the adsorption, in a certain section thereof, the chemical absorption may have substantially the same meaning as the chemical adsorption. Further, if chemical adsorption was intended, a HfSix layer (hafnium silicide) would be formed on the substrate. The method further includes a step of supplying an oxidizing agent gas to oxidize the adsorption layer, i.e., the HfSix layer such that an HfSiOx layer is formed (a second step). By repeating the first and second steps, the HfSiOx layer is laminated. Such a lamination process is repeated until a thickness of a laminated structure which is obtained by laminating the HfSiOx layer reaches a designed thickness. Thus, an HfSiOx film is formed.
Strictly speaking, characteristic or property of the HfSiOx film varies depending on a composition ratio of Hf and Si. A variation in characteristic or property which is caused by a change in the composition ratio has been regarded as being within an acceptable range, and thus has not been a problem. However, as a reduction in thickness further progresses, even if a slight variation in characteristic or property occurs, it is remarkably seen that such a variation has a huge effect on the semiconductor integrated circuit device. Accordingly, in order to obtain an optimal characteristic or property for an intended purpose of the HfSiOx film, it is required to adjust the composition ratio of Hf and Si delicately and with a high degree of accuracy.
The first related art does not teach such a method of adjusting the composition ratio. However, in case the adjustment of the composition ratio is required, the composition ratio would be adjusted by a thickness of the Hf film that is formed in step (1) and a thickness of the Si film that is formed in step (3).
Similarly, the second related art does not teach the method of adjusting the composition ratio, either. However, in case adjusting the composition ratio is required, the composition ratio would be adjusted by the amount of each of the Hf raw material gas and the Si raw material gas, which are supplied in step (1).
In the case where the HfSiOx film is used as the gate insulation film and the capacitor dielectric film, which are required to have a further reduced thickness, the composition ratio of Hf and Si is occasionally required to be drastically adjusted.
Obtaining a Hf-rich HfSiOx film having the composition ratio of Hf:Si, e.g., 90:10 to 95:5 is an example of such a case. In obtaining the HfSiOx film like this, the laminating of the HfOx layer and the SiOx layer as described in the first related art has problems in that the composition ratio of Hf and Si is limited by a growth rate of the Si film. Further, under a thin film thickness condition, it may be difficult to obtain the desired composition ratio. Let's suppose that a formable minimum thickness of the Si film is, e.g., lnm. Then, when the composition ratio of Hf and Si is 90:10, the Hf film needs to have a film thickness of 9 nm.
In other words, in the method of laminating the HfOx layer and the SiOx layer, the formation of the HfSiOx film, in which the composition ratio of Hf and Si is 90:10, has a limitation in thickness of approximately 10 nm (1 nm+9 nm). In addition, when the composition ratio of Hf and Si is 95:5, a required thickness of the Hf film is 19 nm. As a result, the formation of the HfSiOx film, in which the composition ratio of Hf and Si is 95:5, has a limitation in thickness of approximately 20 nm (1 nm+19 nm).
In the method of laminating the HfSiOx layer as described in the second related art, a proportion of Hf is decreased while that of Si is increased when wafer temperature is increased. According to the second related art, when the wafer temperature is 350 degrees C., the proportions of Hf and Si atoms in the HfSiOx film are 20.3% and 10.9%, respectively, whereas when the wafer temperature is 400 degrees C., the proportions of Hf and Si atoms in the HfSiOx film are 18.5% and 13.3%, respectively. As described above, in the method of laminating the HfSiOx layer, there is a tendency that the proportion of Hf is decreased and that of Si is increased along with the increase in wafer temperature. This makes it difficult to significantly increase the proportion of Hf to Si, thus resulting in a deteriorated flexibility for adjustment of the composition ratio. Further, in the second related art, the oxidizing process is repeated in each supply of the Hf precursor gas and the Si precursor gas. This makes it difficult to obtain the Hf-rich HfSiOx film having, e.g., the composition ratio of Hf:Si=90:10 to 95:5.

Method and apparatus of forming metal compound film, and electronic product


The present invention relates to a moving body control apparatus wherein operating control flexibility and system maintainability are improved by carrying out moving body travel control by transfer of ultrasonic wave signals between moving bodies, without intervention of a ground apparatus. An ultrasonic wave transmission apparatus (1) is provided on one train (A), and an ultrasonic wave reception apparatus (10) and a signal processing circuit (13) are provided on another train (B). The timing of transmission and reception of ultrasonic wave signals is synchronized by timing signal generating circuits (2, 11) on the respective trains, and the ultrasonic wave signals are transmitted and received via a metal transmission medium (30). The reception side train (B) measures the transmission time for the ultrasonic wave signal by means of the signal processing circuit (13), and based on the measurement result generates information necessary for train travel control.

When controlling the operation of moving bodies, travel of the moving body is controlled so that a rear end collision or bumping between moving bodies, or a collision between an obstacle and the moving body does not occur.
If the moving body itself is to be liable for a rear end collision or bumping, then the information necessary to avoid this is; the distance in front of the moving body to another moving body (distance between moving bodies), or the distance in front of the moving body to an obstacle (for example in the case where the moving body travels along a rail, this also includes the distance to the end of the rail or to a damaged portion of the rail), the travelling speed of the moving body, and other information.
For example, taking a train as an example for describing the moving body, then with conventional train travel control systems, there is the fixed block system where the railroad track is divided into a plurality of block sections, and the presence or absence of a train is detected for each of the block sections, and the speed of the rear train is controlled corresponding to the inter-train distance (number of block sections) between a front train and the rear train, to thereby avoid a rear end collision.
The conventional fixed block system however is a centralized system which convergently detects the location of each train from the ground side. There is therefore the likelihood that for example a fault in one of the block sections will become an obstacle for the entire railroad track of the lines which include this block section. Moreover, there is the problem in that it is not easy to modify the design for the block section, and there are problems with flexibility of the operating control and with system maintainability and the like.
Moreover, with the conventional fixed block system, the train presence detection uses the fact that two rails of the block section are electrically short circuited by the train wheels. Therefore if for example the rail surface is rusty so that resistance is increased, then even though a train may be present, the short circuit between rails due to the train wheels becomes incomplete so that there is the possibility for example that the detection shows the train to be absent. Essentially therefore the contact resistance between the rails and the wheels becomes a problem from a safety management point of view. Moreover, since an electrical signal is transmitted to the rails on which the train travels for each block section, it is necessary to insulate the rails of adjacent block section pairs so that an electrical signal does not flow in from the adjacent block sections.
Furthermore, as another method of controlling travel of a moving body, there is the GPS (Global Positioning System) where the moving body detects its own position using a communication satellite. However with the GPS, in order to know the distance to another moving body (distance between moving bodies), a communication system between the moving bodies or between the moving body and the ground must be provided separately. Moreover, with a communication satellite, maintenance of the satellite is not possible.
A device for a moving body to detect its own position and speed using ultrasonic wave signals, has been proposed by one of the present inventors (Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-362463). However with this device, travel of respective moving bodies is controlled by having a relationship between adjacent moving bodies. Moreover, there is no generation of information necessary for travel control.
The present invention takes into consideration the abovementioned situations, with the object of providing a moving body control apparatus with good operating control flexibility and system maintainability, by having a decentralized control system wherein by transfer of ultrasonic wave signals between moving bodies, information for moving body travel control is generated only between moving bodies without intervention from the ground side.


In a magnetic resonance imaging tomography apparatus having a transmission antenna for exciting nuclear spins in an examination subject, and a reception antenna in the form of a local coil, the feeder for the local coil is provided with decoupling elements. The decoupling elements prevent a coupling of the electrical field of the transmission antenna with the feeder for the local coil.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a magnetic resonance imaging tomography devices, of the type having a transmission antenna for exciting nuclear spins in an examination subject and a reception antenna in the form of a local coil.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Magnetic resonance imaging devices are known for use in producing tomograms of an examination subject, such as a human body. Such magnetic resonance imaging devices include a basic or fundamental field magnet, which aligns the nuclear spins in the examination subject, and also contain gradient coils which generate respectively spatially different magnetic fields, as well as high-frequency antennas for exciting the nuclear spins and for receiving the signals emitted by the excited nuclear spins. If a high-frequency antenna is used which contains an excitation and measuring coil, the inductance of the coil together with a variable capacitance are combined as an LC resonant circuit. The capacitance is then varied to tune the resonant frequency of the circuit to the desired frequency.
A known embodiment of such a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus has a superconducting basic field magnet, in the form of a solenoid, which generates a basic field extending in the direction of the cylinder axis. The excitation coil of the antenna in this known system may, for example, be formed by conductors which extend parallel to the cylinder axis and are arranged in a so-called envelope pipe, which represents a high-frequency shield consisting of material having good electrical conductivity which is frequency-transmissive for the low-frequency gradient fields but is non-transmissive for the high-frequency antenna fields. The ends of these conductors are respectively connected to the envelope pipe via at least one resonant capacitor. A high-frequency equiphase field is formed between the conductor and the envelope pipe. The envelope pipe projects beyond the end faces of the conductors, so that a circular hollow waveguide antenna having aperiodic wave propagation is achieved, whose coupling elements are the conductors of the excitation coil of the antenna. Such a known arrangement is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,550.
It is also known to make use of so-called surface coils or local coils for generating images of small body sections. A good signal-to-noise ratio is obtained with such local coils, because noise signals can only be received from a comparatively small body region. In the simplest case, such surface coils consist of a circular wire loop adapted for handling high-frequency signals. Since it is necessary that the excitation field which excites the nuclear spins be as homogenous as possible, and since a local coil could not achieve the desired homogeneity, a whole-body antenna is used as the excitation coil, for generating a high-frequency field having good field homogeneity. The local coil is then used solely for reception purposes. In this type of antenna system, therefore, two different, resonant high-frequency antennas participate in the imaging.
In order to avoid coupling of the high-frequency alternating fields, generated by the transmission antenna, with the reception antenna, the reception antenna can be detuned during transmission and the transmission antenna can be detuned during reception. Such detuning is achieved by DC-controlled high-frequency switches, preferably by a circuit having PIN diodes as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,885. Coupling via the high-frequency magnetic fields is thereby reduced. In addition, however, coupling of the electric field of the transmission antenna with the feeder for the local coil may also occur.

Antenna system for a magnetic resonance imaging tomography apparatus


A connector system includes a circuit board having a plurality of holes extending therethrough. First and second connector bodies, each having a front wall, are positioned on first and second sides of the circuit board, respectively. The front walls of the connector bodies have a plurality of signal pin openings aligned with the circuit board holes. A plurality of signal pins extend through the signal pin openings of the first and second connector bodies and through the circuit board holes. At least one of the plurality of circuit board holes has a diameter larger than a diameter of the signal pin extending therethrough, such that walls of the at least one circuit board hole are spaced apart from the signal pin extending therethrough.

This invention relates to electrical connectors, and particularly to high-speed electrical connectors for attachment to printed circuit boards.
Electrical conductors carrying high-frequency signals and currents are subject to interference and cross-talk when placed in close proximity to other conductors carrying high-frequency signals and currents. The interference and cross-talk can result in degradation of the signal and errors in signal reception. Coaxial and shielded cables are available to carry signals from a transmission point to a reception point, and reduce the likelihood that the signal carried in one shielded or coaxial cable will interfere with the signal carried by another shielded or coaxial cable in close proximity. However, at points of connection, the conductor shielding is often lost. The loss of shielding allows interference and crosstalk between signals near the points of connection. The use of individual shielded wires and cables is not desirable at points of connection due to the need for making a large number of connections in a very small space. In these circumstances, two-part high-speed backplane electrical connectors containing multiple shielded conductive paths are used. For example, specification IEC 1076-4-101 from the International Electrotechnical Commission sets out parameters for 2 mm, two-part connectors for use with printed circuit boards.
As users modify and upgrade systems to achieve improved performance, problems continue to arise. In particular, with many high-frequency systems, even a small unshielded portion of an electrical conductor causes a discontinuity in the impedance of the conductor, and allows performance damaging interference and cross-talk to occur. A connector system that provides improved shielding and impedance control is desirable.