The present invention provides a method for improving the construction process of a wide-base radial truck tire, and the improvement of the tire construction process is realized by the design of carcass ply, the tire belt drum and the tire semi-finished components. The invention solves the problem of carcass bending, and provides theoretical guidance and technical support for improving the performance of wide-angle radial tires. The design method of the belt drum of the tire molding machine effectively controls the cords elongation of the belt. In addition, the problem of uneven force in the cords of the belt is eliminated, which dispels the abnormal flow of the wide-base tire shoulder rubber to the center of the crown during the shaping process, thus improving the durability and operability of the tire. The proposed semi-finished components design method in this invention can accurately design the tire semi-finished parts material distribution map, significantly improve the finished tire and the theoretical design of tire material distribution consistency, thus reducing tire development cycle and development costs.

Low-carbon economy demands in recent years continue to push tire manufactures to produce tires with fuel-savings, low emissions and improved driving safety. One of the important ways to meet this demand is tire broadening to produce a wide-base radial truck tire. Wide-base radial truck tires refer to tires with an aspect ratio of 0.65 and below. The distinguishing features of the wide-base radial truck tire are their flat nature, tubeless nature and wide rim. Wide-base radial truck tire has been widely used for trucks, such as drive wheel, trailer wheel and semi-trailer wheel.
A technical characteristic feature of the Michelin X-one wide-base radial truck tire is its 0° belt crown part that is, 400 m of non-joint wires to 0° angle continuous winding on the crown. This feature guarantees tread stability, even distribution of stress, better clutching performance, and uniform tread wear and extended mileage.
Compared with conventional tires and dual tires, wide-base radial truck tire is lighter in weight, with larger load carrying capacity and requires less installation space. However, the manufacturing process of wide-base radial truck tire is more complex, and it requires high precision. In the actual building process of wide-base radial truck tires, carcass ply bending is one of the most common defects, which directly affects tire performance. The "trial and error method" is used to optimize design parameters with the object of solving the carcass ply bending problem in the design process. Yueyao Ping effectively solved the carcass ply bending problem by controlling the building design parameters. Zhe Pu reduced the carcass ply bending problem by adjusting tire components laminating strength in the building process The mentioned methods have drawbacks of large test numbers with usually low precision, as well as narrow scope of application, and scanty obtainable information.
There are three building drum in the tri-drum single stage building machine for all steel heavy truck tire: the carcass drum (main drum), which is bonding the components of the sidewall, the inner, the bead, the abrasion, and the carcass; the belt drum (auxiliary drum), which is joining the components of belts and tread. After gluing the carcass drum components and the belt drum components, and these components are translated to the building drum by transferring ring; the building drum, which complete the stereotype, compaction, and form a green tire.
The belt drums are generally composed of several arc blocks, and the drum diameter of the belt is adjusted by replacing the segments or adjusting nuts. The drums are usually cylindrical, which results in different rates of belt elongation at different locations for the duration of the building process. The crown's elongation rate is high, but that of the sidewall is short. Nevertheless, the width of the belt of wide-base radial truck tire is wider, and the force of the cord is not uniform when the tire belt/crown is glued, especially in the case of 0° cap plies winding technology. FIG. 16 presents the cross section of a wide-base radial truck tire with 0° cap plies winding technology. In the center of the crown as shown in FIG. 16, the band tightening effect is stronger than at the belt ends. In the vulcanized tire stereotypes, since the radial tire carcass cord angle is set to 90°, the cord is assembled by rubber material implying that, a slight stretch will deform the belts, leading to the rubber flow to the shoulder, and this in turn will result in uneven tires, affecting the tire structure and uniformity.
Since tire building design acts as a bridge between tire semi-finished components design and the finished tire, the accuracy of building design directly affects the qualities of finished tire. The reason why it is prudent to control the large rubber flows in tire building process. In order to manage the rubber large flow during the building process by way of ensuring tire manufacturing accuracy and improve product consistency, tire designers usually use "trial and error" method to adjust the building design. However, this method is costly and time consuming. Consequently, a more precise design method of semi-finished components is essential.
In the past decades, tire CAE technology has developed rapidly, and the wide use of numerical methods to simulate the tire building process is predominant. The invention document of CN101923589A discloses a simulation technique for constructing a wide-base radial truck tire. Du Xaiowei conducted the finite element simulation of a 385/55 R22.5 steel-wide base radial tire using ABUQUS software. The simulated structure is in good agreement with the actual structure each other. Gao Ming, from Triangle Tire Co., Ltd., is employed to simulate the building process of 215/35R18 tire, as well as the influence of design process parameters on the shape of tire are analyzed. The numerical simulation of the tire building processes is mainly used to visualize the building process of tires outside the vulcanization tank. It is mostly as well employed to analyze the effects of different tire design and building parameters on the finished tires in conventional models of non-wide base radial tires.
Again, the determination method of the carcass bending for the wide-base radial truck tire, the analysis for the rubber flow abnormalities and control method have not yet been publicly reported. Moreover, there is no relevant research on semi-finished tire parts to improve the quality of finished tires.

Method for improving production process for wide-base truck radial tire


The present invention provides systems and methods that allow for individual power sources to be disconnected and reconnected without interrupting the power supply from the other power sources and that allow for these power sources to provide power at substantially the same electrical parameters such as frequency, phase, and voltage.

The present invention relates generally to power generation and distribution systems and methods. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for providing power through parallel operation of multiple power sources.
The United States Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), which is the uniform research facility for domestic electric utilities, predicts that up to forty percent of all new electric power generation could be provided by distributed generators in the next few years. In other words, the traditional power grid that is used to provide power to consumers of electricity will increasingly be augmented or replaced with generators that may be located at the site of the demand or at a remote site and coupled via distribution lines.
Consumers of electricity can benefit from having a power generating system which uses multiple power sources. For instance, using multiple power sources provides a measure of redundancy in case one or more of the power sources becomes temporarily unavailable (i.e. "brownouts" and "blackouts" which are prevalent in many parts of the world). Besides providing redundancy, consumers may recognize a cost savings when using generators to augment or replace the power grid. Using multiple smaller generators allow the optimization of efficiency and/or system reliability based on the power demand at the site. Accordingly, power generating systems are increasingly using multiple power sources to provide power for consumers' loads.
When providing power using multiple power sources, the sources are often connected in parallel to the load. These power sources may include the traditional power utility grid. Depending on utility billing methods, it is quite possible to have significant reductions in utility costs i.e. peak shaving or improving power factor of energy drawn from the utility grid. However, some consumers choose to forego the traditional power grid entirely and instead solely use a number of power generators which could be operated in parallel, to meet their power demands. For instance, ten generators, each capable of providing a maximum of 75 kilowatts of power, could be operated in parallel to provide 750 kilowatts of power to a load.
Loads are often designed to operate using power having particular parameters such as a specific frequency, phase, and voltage. These loads also may have an acceptable range of deviation about the designed for value; power provided outside this acceptable range may degrade the performance of the load or even cause damage. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide power that has the proper values for these parameters or that is within the acceptable range based on the load's tolerance for deviations. Additionally, when power sources are operated in parallel, if the sources provide power having different parameters (i.e. different frequencies or voltages), then the sources will also act as loads to each other and the sources may receive unwanted power feedback from the other power sources. If power sources provide power having different frequencies and voltages, even for brief intervals, extreme transients in current and energy flows may be caused. This unwanted feedback may cause damage to the power sources and/or loads or degrade their performance.
Traditionally, if a group of generators is used to power a load, then one of the generators (often termed the master) provides the frequency, phase, and/or voltage for the other generators to use so that these parameters may be synchronized. For instance, one approach of operating multiple microturbine generators in parallel is to phase-lock each of the generators to a master oscillator. A synchronization signal (e.g., a synchronization frequency such as a 60 Hz signal) may be sent to each of the generators, such that each generator will phaselock onto the synchronization signal, ensuring that the voltage produced by each generator is exactly in-phase with the other generators. Similarly, if a load is powered by a combination of the grid and one or more generators, the generators would obtain the frequency, phase, and voltage to use for providing power to the load from sensing the parameters of the power delivered by the grid.
These power sources are often monitored for compliance with the acceptable range for power parameters and disconnected from the load when out of compliance. For instance, if the grid provides power that becomes out of the acceptable range for the parameters for the load, then it may be disconnected from the load. Likewise, if the generator that is providing the parameters for the other generators to use for power production becomes non-compliant and must be disconnected, then all of the associated generators also are disconnected and become unavailable to the load. Generators, including those acting as masters which may provide the synchronization parameters such as frequency, have many moving and mechanical parts thus increasing the likelihood of their breakdown and mechanical failure. This may cause the loss of power to the load since no valid reference signal is available to the remaining generators. Further, the power generating system may be unable to meet the power demands of the consumer with only the remaining power sources.
Even if a disconnected power source returns to compliancy (i.e. having power with parameters within the acceptable range) with the parameter ranges, the other power sources often must be shut down before the disconnected power source can be reconnected. This shutdown is often necessary because the power provided by the remaining connected power sources may be at a value different than the disconnected power source that is now again within the acceptable range. If the source is reconnected without synchronizing the values such as frequency, phase, and/or voltage, one or more of the power sources may receive unwanted power feedback. This shutdown may cause the user to suffer losses from the shutdown in lost time and start-up costs.
Further, when sources are connected in parallel and one source is providing sufficient power to the load, the system may be unaware if other power sources become unavailable. Thus, the power system could be unaware that it is unable to meet increased demand that outstrips the ability of the remaining power sources. Further, the system could be unaware if a graceful shutdown is needed in the event of the failure of the remaining power sources. The need for shutdowns may be decided by the remaining generators becoming overloaded for a defined time interval. Also, large overloads may cause high currents and low voltages which also may require a shutdown.
Therefore, a need exists for systems and associated methods that allow for individual power sources to be disconnected and reconnected without interrupting the power supply from the other power sources and that allow for these power sources to provide power at substantially the same power parameters such as frequency, phase, and/or voltage. A further need exists for systems and methods that allow for the power system easily to determine if a power source becomes unavailable.

Robust power distribution systems and methods


According to this A/D converter, a first A/D conversion operation for performing integral A/D conversion and a second A/D conversion operation for performing cyclic A/D conversion are realized based on control of operational procedures in a same circuit configuration. Moreover, in the first A/D conversion operation, since a capacity of a capacitor used in the integration of an output signal is greater than a capacity of a capacitor used for storing an input analog signal and a standard reference voltage, the analog signal that is input in the integral A/D conversion is attenuated according to the capacity ratio and subject to sampling and integration. Consequently, the voltage range of the analog signal that is output in the integral A/D conversion also decreases according to the capacity ratio of the capacitors, and the A/D converter can be therefore constructed with a single-ended configuration.

Patent Literature 1 describes an A/D converter. With this A/D converter, integral (or folding integral) A/D conversion is performed to an input analog signal, and cyclic A/D conversion is performed to a residual analog signal of the folding integral A/D conversion. In the folding integral A/D conversion, operation for A/D conversion is performed while repeating the sampling of the input signal and the integration of the sampled values, and a digital value is thereby obtained from an analog signal. With this method of A/D conversion, since the dynamic range can be expanded based on the folding operation while reducing the noise based on integration, it is possible to satisfy both low noise and dynamic range.

A/D converter, image sensor device, and method of generating digital signal from analog signal

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION SHIZUOKA UNIVERSITY


The present disclosure provides a charging method and a terminal. The method includes: automatically learning, by the terminal, historical data by using a machine learning algorithm, to establish a habit model of a user, and matching a current time with the usage habit model of the user to determine a current charging intention of the user, so as to determine a charging mode according to the charging intention. By means of the technical solutions, a charging requirement of a user can be effectively identified, and on-demand charging can be implemented. This improves user experience while avoiding a battery life decrease caused by frequent fast charging.

With development of technologies, terminals become increasingly powerful in functions. Users may work and entertain themselves by using terminals, so that the terminals have become indispensable in people's daily life. However, a battery life of a terminal is limited, and the user needs to charge the terminal continually.
Currently, fast charging is a trend and may facilitate terminal use by a user. However, frequent fast charging of the terminal shortens a battery life.
There are many application program sources, and a controller cannot learn whether the application program sources are reliable. This may easily cause a non-secure application program to attack the controller, resulting in malicious damages to a network, and further threaten network security.

Charging method and terminal based on user usage habit model


An adjustment mechanism for a headband arrangement having a headband member with a notched track positioned on an end thereof, the adjustment mechanism including: a rotatable knob having a first contact member and a second contact member; and a rotatable hub member having a gear portion with teeth to engage the notched track of the headband member, such that rotation of the hub member in a first direction causes the headband member to tighten and rotation of the hub member in a second direction causes the headband member to loosen; wherein, upon rotation of the knob in the first direction, contact between the first contact member and the hub member causes the hub member to rotate in the first direction, and upon rotation of the knob in the second direction, contact between the second contact member and the hub member causes the hub member to rotate in the second direction.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to safety helmets for use in a variety of applications where head protection is desired, and in particular to an adjustment mechanism for a headband arrangement used in connection with such a safety helmet.
Description of the Related Art
As is known in the art, a variety of activities, workplace functions, and emergency situations require additional safety measures and systems. In particular, such activities, functions, and situations include, without limitation, industrial or manufacturing activities, construction activities, activities that pose a potential risk to the person or persons involved, rescue situations, and the like. Providing safety equipment to those involved in such activities and situations is required, and protecting the user's head is of the utmost importance. In order to provide such protection, the most often piece of equipment worn by the user is a safety helmet.
Safety helmets are provided in a variety of shapes and configurations. Further, in order to comfortably position and space the protective helmet body (or dome) of the safety helmet with respect to the user's head, each safety helmet is equipped with a suspension system. This suspension system normally includes: (1) a headband arrangement having a headband member that fits around the periphery of the user's head (normally just above the forehead area) and an adjustment mechanism for tightening and loosening the headband member with respect to a user's head; (2) multiple tabs, connected or connectable to the headband member, which are removably attachable in headband slots positioned on the inner surface of helmet body; and (3) multiple straps connected between the tabs and extending across the headband member for contact with the top of the user's head.
In order to adjust the tightness of the headband member about the user's head, the adjustment mechanism interacts with two extension portions of the headband member, where both of these extension portions include a track. These extension portions, and specifically the tracks thereof, are overlapped and positioned at least partially within the adjustment mechanism, which includes a gear-type member that simultaneously interacts with both tracks. By moving or causing the gear-type member to move in a first direction, and through interaction with the tracks, the headband member of the headband arrangement is tightened. Similarly, by moving or causing the gear-type member to move in a second direction, the headband member is loosened. In this manner, the headband member can be tightened or loosened by the user to allow effective and comfortable donning and removal of the safety helmet, as well as a comfortable fit while wearing the safety helmet in the working environment.
There are various drawbacks and deficiencies with existing adjustment mechanisms. First, many such existing mechanisms evidence "slop" or "play" in the adjustment process, which does not provide the user with instantaneous tactile feedback during this process. Second, in most cases, these existing adjustment mechanisms are not effective in preventing inadvertent loosening of the headband member, whether during the adjustment process or while the user is involved in their task. Third, existing adjustment mechanisms lack the ability to be continuously or fluidly (i.e., non-incrementally) adjustable. Fourth, many adjustment mechanisms are assembled in a permanent fashion, such as through the use of a metal pin or rivet, which prevents effective maintenance and represents potential risks in certain working environments.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved safety helmets, suspension systems, and adjustment mechanisms for use with or in such suspension systems

Adjustment mechanism for a headband arrangement of a safety helmet


A flashlight includes a housing, an electrical power source in the housing, a semiconductor light source, a reflector well in which the semiconductor light source is seated, and a lens over the reflector. The housing has a closed end and an open end. The semiconductor light source is electrically connected to the power source. The semiconductor light source, reflector, and lens are secured to the housing. Light produced by the semiconductor light source is reflected by the reflector and focussed by the lens in a predetermined direction.

The present invention relates generally to illumination devices. It finds particular application in conjunction with illumination devices employing multiple light emitting diodes (xe2x80x9cLEDsxe2x80x9d) and will be described with particular reference thereto. It will be appreciated, however, that the invention is also amenable to other like applications.
In the field of illumination devices, there has long been a trade-off between brightness and power conservation. It is known that the use of light emitting diodes (LEDs) consume substantially less power than incandescent light bulbs. However, typically, the radiant power of LEDs has been limited so that they have been used for primarily short-range applications such as panel indicators or indoor signs. LEDs have proven useful when their size has not been a significant factor because they are viewed from small distances. Unfortunately, use of LEDs in applications such as flashlights has been limited due to inefficient means for directing available light to desired target areas. Even with the advent of high-powered LEDs, large clusters of LEDs are required to achieve adequate target-size definition. Unfortunately, these clusters are relatively expensive and consume a considerable amount of power.
The present invention provides a new and improved apparatus and method which overcomes the above-referenced problems and others.
A light emitting device includes a light emitting diode, an individual reflector well in which the light emitting diode is seated, and an individual lens over an opening of the reflector. Light produced by the light emitting diode is reflected by the reflector and focussed by the lens toward a target area.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the reflector is coupled to the lens.
In accordance with a more limited aspect of the invention, the light emitting device is mounted on a printed circuit board.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the lens provides direct light refraction to the light emitting diode.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the lens is one of a multiple refractive and a refractive/diffractive hybrid lens.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a second light emitting diode is seated in a second individual reflector well. A second individual lens is over an opening of the second reflector. Light produced by the second light emitting diode is reflected by the second reflector and focussed by the second lens toward the target area.
In accordance with a more limited aspect of the invention, the lenses are matrixed.
One advantage of the present invention is that it efficiently directs light from a semiconductor light source to a target area.
Another advantage of the present invention is that it creates a uniform, bright beam pattern for an illumination device utilizing a semiconductor light source.
Still further advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments.


A centrifugal sorter has a horizontally inclined rotatably driven feed plate and a ring drivable about an approximately vertical axis by means of a ring drive device, which surrounds the feed plate in a substantially horizontal orientation and provides a delivery location for the workpieces fed outwardly and upwardly from the container under the influence of centrifugal force approximately in the vicinity of its highest peripheral section The wall of the ring is spherical sector shaped The ring has an approximately horizontal ring surface at a lower outer edge, with which the ring bears on several rollers which are equally spaced from each other around the circumference of the ring surface and which form a friction drive together with the ring surface. At least one of the rollers is driven rotatably by a drive device and the others can be coupled to it for example by belt drive devices.

The invention relates to a centrifugal sorter comprising a motor driven feed plate inclined relative to a horizontal and driven by means of a drive device about an inclined rotation axis, the motor driven feed plate forming a base of a container for workpieces; and a ring rotatable about an approximately vertical axis by means of another drive devices wherein the ring surrounds the feed plate, is substantially horizontal and provides a delivery location for the workpieces fed outwardly and upwardly from the container under the influence of centrifugal force approximately in the vicinity of the highest peripheral section of the feed plate. The container wall is spherical sector shaped and the other drive device has a drive member driven by a motor which acts on the outer side of the ring to rotate it.
A centrifugal sorter of this type is known from European Patent Application EP 729 906 A2, in which the ring is enclosed under the plate with spacing and is supported vertically, axially and radially like a top by means of a suitable bearing mechanism. This top is connected with a drive mechanism for rotating it, which has a control gear driven by a motor, which meshes with a ring gear which is mounted on the underside of a circular flange. The circular flange is arranged around the upper outer edge of a ring or guide member and is formed approximately like a truncated cone which tapers in an upward direction. Thus the drive device associated with the ring is located in the upper outer region of the ring. The feed plate arranged inside the ring is inclined and has a drive device which is located under the feed plate and thus above the base or bottom of the container. The container bottom is thus a fixed mounting member for the drive device associated with the feedplate.
This known centrifugal sorter is not suitable for a steam sterilization in an autoclave in regard to its parts which come into contact with the workpiece. The container together with the circular flange and ring gear connected with it cannot be disassembled so that it may be fed to an autoclave for steam sterilization and then again reassembled. This is also true for the feed plate inside the container which is not detachable from its drive mechanism located under it. The known centrifugal sorter also allows no sterilization and no isolation technique in an assembled operating state, in which a bell is inverted over the centrifugal sorter, which is sealed tightly to the centrifugal sorter and surrounds an interior protected zone and remains there permanently during operation. A sterilization in an assembled operating state of the centrifugal sorter can be performed by means of this bell usually at the beginning of the operating cycle. In this sterilization air inside the bell is dried and then e.g. the water content is replaced by a suitable sterilization medium, e.g. H.sub.2 O.sub.2 (hydrogen peroxide), which has a sterilizing effect. The parts of the centrifugal sorter inside the bell are sterilized by evacuating and again feeding the sterilizing medium into the bell. After that the sterilizing medium is rinsed out of the bell and then replaced by a laminar flow of fresh air which is maintained through the bell. An aggressive atmosphere is maintained in the above-described so-called isolator technique, to which the selected or particular individual materials are not exposed to as in the known centrifugal sorter. In the known centrifugal sorter the drive mechanism of the ring with all components and also the drive mechanism for the feed plates with all components are completely exposed to this aggressive atmosphere which thereby causes damaged to occur.
The other centrifugal sorters have approximately the same disadvantages.


An electronic scanning radar apparatus has a cutting portion for cutting receiving data which is comprised of N numbers of data for each channel into two more short time data having M (<N) numbers of data in a time direction for each channel, an inverse matrix estimator for computing and estimating an inverse matrix of the time series correlation matrix from the short time data, and a phase information producing portion for computing CAPON phase information out of the estimated inverse matrix of the time series correlation matrix in order to detect a distance, an azimuth and a relative speed of a target on the basis of a computed CAPON phase information.

This invention relates to an electronic scanning radar apparatus, and especially to a FM-CW type of electronic scanning radar apparatus for use on vehicle.
FIG. 1 is a time-chart showing transmitted signals and received signals and a principle of mixing in a FM-CW radar and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional FM-CW type of electronic scanning radar apparatus.
On-vehicle radars for measuring distance, speed and azimuth with respect to a preceding target which exists in a forward direction have been developed in order to control an automotive vehicle crash prevention and tracking traveling.
A FM-CW radar system is used far measuring distance and relative speed with respect to a preceding target since this system has a simple structure of a signal processing circuit. As shown in FIG. 1, a signal S1 which frequency is linearly changed is transmitted from a transmission antenna in the FM-CW system. A signal S1 which is reflected by a target is received as a signal S2, and the received signal S2 and the transmitted signal S1 are mixed, with each other as shown in FIG. 1, thereby generating a beat signal S3 which component is a frequency difference between the received signal and the transmitted signal (beat frequency fb). This beat frequency is proportional to a reciprocating propagation delay time Δt from a target, and distance can be computed therefrom.
When measuring azimuth, an electronic scanning system for scanning all azimuths in a short time is employed. In the electronic scanning system, a reflected wave from a target is received by a plurality of antenna elements (array antenna) which are arranged according to some rule. And, a time difference occurs which is determined by the azimuth of the target to each antenna, a position where each antenna is arranged and the frequency of the received signal between channels of the received data. The azimuth of the target can be detected by this time difference (or difference of phases). As such kind of method, Digital Beamforming (DBF) is known. In DBF, the azimuth can be detected in such a manner that the received data is converted into digital data with an AD converter, and thereafter a correlation between each channel and vector data (array manifold vector) is taken (see document "Adaptive signal processing by array antenna" which has been published on 1998 by Kagaku Gijyutsu Shuppan written by Nobuo KIKUMA).
As mentioned before, data simultaneously received by a plurality of antenna elements are necessary in the electronic scanning system. But, in such a structure that the AD converter is prepared for each antenna element, the whole machine is made complex and expensive. Then, the structure as shown in FIG. 2 having a switcher 7 arranged between each antenna element 6 and an AD converter 13 in order to receive data, dividing time has been proposed.
Besides, phase information between the antennas is necessary in order to obtain the azimuth. In a conventional method, processing with FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) is executed by a FFT-type phase detector 15 as shown in FIG. 2 (see Japanese patent application publication number of which is 2000-284044).
Problems at the time of extracting phase information with FFT are as follows. Firstly, a weak reflected wave signal from a target is hidden from a strong reflected wave from, a target. Secondly, an accuracy of the phase information is uniquely determined by broadening of a main lobe of FFT, that is, by sampling frequency and number of sampling, and it is difficult to detect at such an accuracy depending on a distance to a target that distance accuracy has a priority in a short distance, and azimuth accuracy has a priority in a long distance. In order to obtain the phase information so as to give a priority to the distance accuracy in a short distance and give a priority to the azimuth accuracy in a long distance with FFT, it is necessary to change the sampling frequency and the number of sampling in a hardware, and a circuit structure is made complex, thereby.
Then, an object of the invention is to provide a n electronic scanning radar apparatus for extracting phase information at a high accuracy and for adjusting distance-azimuth resolution in order to solve the above-mentioned problems.


A rotary torque shaft including a tube made of a composite material having a plastic matrix and a metallic tubular insert fixedly mounted around a recessed longitudinal outer surface portion of the tube so as to link the tube mechanically to a functional mechanical assembly which is supported by the insert. The insert has in cross section a non-circular inner surface profile which is complementary in shape to a profile of the outer surface of the tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shaft for transmitting rotational movements and/or forces, also commonly called a "torque shaft".
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
The invention relates in particular to what are known as "composite" shafts, i.e. shafts of which the main body consists of a tube made of a composite material having a plastic matrix, in other words made of a material composed of a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin and of an, in particular fibrous, mechanical strength reinforcement.
This type of shaft is used, in particular in the field of aeronautics, to carry various functional mechanical assemblies, particularly mechanisms, which are actuated or stressed as the shaft is being rotated about itself. Thus, this type of shaft is used to deploy flaps on the leading edge and trailing edge of airplane wings in order thereby to improve lift, or to orient the airplane door latches so that these doors can be opened and closed. In the automotive field, this type of shaft can be used as a steering column.
In practice, to prevent deterioration of the tube of composite material, the abovementioned mechanisms are not directly supported by the tube but rather by metallic tubular inserts which are arranged fixedly around the tube and which ensure a good mechanical link between the tube and the mechanisms. However, as the tube twists and therefore as forces are transmitted by the insert between the tube and the mechanisms, the interface region, of circular section, between each insert and the tube is subjected to high shear stresses which, in particular eventually, can destroy the plastic resin surrounded by the insert. In other words, the performance of currently available shafts, in terms of torsional strength, is limited.

Shaft for transmitting rotational movements and/or forces


A surface gas burner assembly for a gas range comprises a circular burner base having a gas inlet portion, a gas plenum portion, and a gas port portion. The gas port portion comprises a raised wall around an outer periphery of the base having a top surface. A wave washer port ring having an upper surface and a lower surface is also included. This upper surface comprises a upper mounting surfaces defining a plurality of upper gas port channels. The lower surface comprises lower mounting surfaces also defining a plurality of lower gas port channels. A circular burner cap has a raised wall around its outer periphery which includes a bottom surface. The lower mounting surfaces of the wave washer port ring are positioned on upper surface of the first raised wall to form a gas ports in conjunction with the plurality of lower gas port channels. The lower surface of the second raised wall is positioned on the upper mounting surfaces of the wave washer port ring to form gas ports in conjunction with the plurality of upper gas port channels.

A typical gas range, for home or commercial use, includes a plurality of surface gas burners in addition to an oven and possibly a broiler compartment. Additionally, gas cook tops, having surface burners only, have become popular in recent years, boosting the use of gas for cooking. However, in order to compete with the other methods of cooking, designers of gas range surface burners have come under increasing pressure to reduce the cost and size of these devices while at the same time increasing the reliability and cooking efficiency thereof. However, certain design constraints in a typical surface gas burner construction have heretofore limited the advances capable in this area.
A typical surface gas burner is constructed from two components. The first component is the gas burner base which forms the gas inlet, plenum, and typically the plurality of gas ports defined between salients on the outer periphery of the base. The gaseous fuel exits these ports, forming the cooking flames once ignited. The second component which is used to construct a typical surface gas burner is the gas burner cap. This gas burner cap typically has a flat lower surface and sits on the burner base forming the upper walls for the plurality of gas burner ports in the burner base. This typical gas burner cap, being a solid piece, also forms the upper wall of the gas plenum into which the gaseous fuel flows prior to exiting the gas ports.
This typical construction, while having been used for years, carries with it a relatively significant manufacturing cost due to the necessity of machining the gas ports within the base of the surface burner. This machining process creates a plurality of salients which form the two side and bottom walls of the gas port (the lower surface of the burner cap forming the top wall of the gas port). In order to avoid breakage of these salients, a minimum thickness is required, thus limiting the number and size of the gas ports which may be machined into the surface gas burner of a given circumference.
This limitation has a practical impact on the surface gas burner particularly as a desire for increased BTU output continues to rise. Since the required wall thickness limits the total burner port area and number of burner ports which may be included in a surface gas burner of a given circumference, the increased gas flow necessary to increase the BTU output results in an increased length in the primary gas flames produced by the burner. As these primary gas flames extend beyond a given length, safety concerns are raised, and the efficiency and usefulness of the burner decreases, particularly when using cookware having a small circumference bottom surface. In order to allow for an increased BTU output, designers heretofore have been forced to increase the circumference of the surface gas burner to allow for adequate gas port area while avoiding the long primary gas flames produced by smaller circumference burners. However, once again a large circumference surface gas burner has decreased usefulness for smaller circumference cookware.


An electroluminescent element is disclosed in which a luminescent layer is formed on a reflective insulating layer coated on a back electrode. The luminescent layer is made of moisture-proof coated phosphor powder distributed in a fluorinated resin such that the phosphor powder is entirely covered with the fluorinated resin. A transparent electrode is bonded to a top surface of the luminescent layer where the phosphor particles are not exposed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electroluminescent element and a method for fabricating the same, and more particularly, to an electroluminescent element eliminating the moisture-proof films and a method for fabricating the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The conventional electroluminescent element 20 has an electroluminescent laminated portion 27 as shown in FIG. 4. The laminated portion 27 which has a substantially rectangular plane shape is hermetically sealed with covering films 28 and 29 having moisture-proof property such as fluorinated resin.
The electroluminescent laminated portion 27 is formed by laminating a reflective insulating layer 22, a luminescent layer 23 and a transparent electrode 24 on a back electrode 21 successively. The reflective insulating layer 22 is formed by dispersing barium titanate or the like in a binder such as cyanoethyl cellulose or cyanoethyl pullulan. The luminescent layer 23 is formed by dispersing zinc sulfide phosphor particles in a similar binder. That top and bottom of the electroluminescent laminated portion 27 are coated with moisture-proof layers 25 and 26 consisting of moisture-proof films.
However, the electroluminescent element is susceptible under high humidity to the blackening of the phosphor or an increase in the dielectric constant caused by the infiltration of moisture into the interior of the laminated portion 27. For these reasons, it requires moisture-proof films consisting of expensive polychlorotrifluoroethylene or the like and a moisture-absorbing film 6 such as nylon, which results in a very high price of the electroluminescent element itself, and gives rise moreover to such problems as the necessity for securing a margin for sealing, imposition of tight restrictions on the effective luminescent part, difficulty in the reduction of the thickness and the like.
Under these circumstances, there has been proposed an electroluminescent element 30 dispensing with moisture-proof films, having such a structure, as shown in FIG. 5, in which a luminescent layer 32 formed by dispersing in fluorinated resin phosphor particles subjected to moisture-proofing treatment and a reflective insulating layer 33 formed by dispersing the powder of an insulator, such as barium titanate, in a fluorinated resin are formed sequentially by screen printing on a transparent electrode 31. Then a back electrode 34 is printed on the reflective insulating layer 33 and an insulating layer 35 is coated on top of it.
However, since the various layers on the transparent conductive film 31 in such a structure are formed by using screen printing process, there is a flaw in the flatness and the quality of the luminescence is not quite satisfactory. For these reasons, there arises the necessity of forming an undercoating layer consisting of cyanoethyl-pullulan between the transparent electrode and the luminescent layer, as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-26720 (1993), and pin-holes tend to be generated in the luminescent layer and the insulating layer which becomes the cause of deterioration in the breakdown voltage, as mentioned in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2-276193 (1990). Therefore, there exist such problems as an increase in the manhours for flattening treatment to improve the reliability, nonuniformity in the luminescence due to inhomogeneity or nonuniformity of the printed films, difficulty in making the device large-sized, and the like. In addition, because of the screen printing adopted, it is necessary to repeat printing process to obtain a prescribed thickness, making the mass production difficult. Furthermore, because of the high weight ratio more than six of the phosphor to fluorinated resin, there is a problem in that luminescent layer has poor adhesion to the transparent electrode and tends to breaks away from the electrode.

Electroluminescent element and method for fabricating the same


An image stabilizing apparatus includes a movable vibration-correcting lens constituting a part of an optical system and movable along a direction orthogonal to an optical axis; a locking unit that fixes the movable vibration-correcting lens at a neutral position substantially coinciding with the optical axis of the optical system; an actuating unit that switches between a locked state where the movable vibration-correcting lens is fixed by the locking unit and an unlocked state where the locked state of the movable vibration-correcting lens is released. The locking unit includes retaining members having a retaining unit sandwiching the movable vibration-correcting lens and arranged to slide along the direction orthogonal to the optical axis; and the actuating unit switches between the locked state and the unlocked state by moving the retaining members in opposing directions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image stabilizing apparatus, an imaging apparatus, a correction optical apparatus, and anti-vibration correction control.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, optical apparatuses, such as lens apparatuses performing anti-vibration correction control and imaging apparatuses equipped with such a lens apparatus have been disclosed in which vibration induced in the lens barrel by user hand-shake is detected and based on the detected vibration, an appropriate anti-vibration correction lens is moved to cancel out image blur resulting from the vibration. Such anti-vibration correction control is performed by moving an anti-vibration correction lens in a plane orthogonal to the optical axis.
For optical apparatuses performing such anti-vibration correction control, the optical performance of the anti-vibration correction lens is verified prior to use. The optical performance of the anti-vibration correction lens is verified by applying an electrical current to an optical apparatus in which the anti-vibration correction lens is in an assembled state and maintained at a neutral position.
Among optical apparatuses performing anti-vibration correction control, an example of a conventional technology that is able to prevent damage from collision of the movable correction optical unit with a movable end when carried with the power off and that appropriately resumes image stabilization operation includes a movable correction optical unit constituting a part of an optical system for correcting image blur, a fixing unit that by rotating about the optical axis, fixes the movable correction optical unit at a movable central position on the optical axis of the optical system, and an actuating unit that in response to powering off, rotates the fixing unit and fixes the movable correction optical unit (see, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3192414).
Further among optical apparatuses performing anti-vibration correction control, an example of a conventional technology that is able to stably latch a correcting unit that decenters the optical axis further includes a retaining unit that latches and releases the correcting unit by rotating about the optical axis. The retaining unit has a cam unit abutting the correcting unit to latch the correcting unit at a latching position. The disclosed technology further includes an elastic unit pushing the retaining unit in the latching direction of the correcting unit. The cam unit of the retaining unit has a shape that when the cam unit is rotated in the latching direction by the elastic unit, the latching operation is not performed until after a given rotation range has been exceeded at the beginning of rotation in the latching direction (see, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 3397536).
Yet another example of an optical apparatus that performs anti-vibration correction control includes a lens frame, a support mechanism, a detecting unit, an actuator, an actuator drive unit, a retaining member, and a pushing unit, and has a configuration that includes a locking mechanism that switches between a locked state in which the retaining member latches the lens frame thereby making the lens frame immovable and an unlocked state in which the retaining member releases the lens frame thereby releasing the locked state. Thus, the imaging apparatus is not affected by vibrations or impact, facilitating improved durability of the imaging apparatus (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-185677).
Conventionally, optical apparatuses, such as lens apparatuses performing anti-vibration correction control and imaging apparatuses equipped with such a lens apparatus have been disclosed, in which vibration induced in the lens barrel by user hand-shake is detected and based on the detected vibration, an appropriate anti-vibration correction lens is moved to cancel out the image blur resulting from the vibration. Such anti-vibration correction control is performed by moving an anti-vibration correction lens in a plane orthogonal to the optical axis.
In such optical apparatuses performing anti-vibration correction control, conventionally, for example, a movable lens that is moved to correct image blur occurring as a result of vibration sustained by the camera is stored in a main casing forming the external body of an anti-vibration adapter that is disposed between a lens apparatus and a camera; to transmit light entering through the lens apparatus from an object, apertures are formed along the direction of the optical axis of the movable lens, in an anterior aspect of the main casing facing the lens apparatus and a posterior aspect of the main casing facing the camera; and a first lens is disposed in the aperture formed in the anterior aspect and a second lens is disposed in the aperture formed in the posterior aspect, making the interior of the main casing hermetic(see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-107785).
A further example of an optical apparatus that performs anti-vibration correction control includes an anti-vibration adapter between a camera and a lens apparatus, where a lens connecting unit identical to a lens connecting structure formed on the camera is formed on an anterior aspect of the anti-vibration adapter connected to the lens apparatus, and a camera connecting unit identical to a camera connecting structure formed on the lens apparatus is formed on a posterior aspect of the anti-vibration adapter connected to the camera (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-156695).
However, the conventional technologies disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 3192414 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 3397536 have a configuration in which the anti-vibration correction lens is held at a neutral position by rotating a ring-shaped member (fixing unit, retaining unit) about the optical axis, making the ring-shaped member an essential element in the configuration. Consequently, a problem arises in that the number of elements increases, thereby increasing the size and manufacturing cost of the optical apparatus.
Further, with the conventional technologies above, when the optical performance of the anti-vibration correction lens is confirmed, to put the anti-vibration correction lens in a locked state in which the anti-vibration correction lens is maintained at a neutral position and in an unlocked stated releasing the locked state, for example, an electrical current is applied to an optical apparatus equipped with the anti-vibration correction lens to electrically switch between the states. Consequently, for these technologies, the application of an electrical current is essential in verifying the optical performance of the anti-vibration correction lens and to apply the electrical current, the anti-vibration correction lens is disposed in the optical apparatus and a circuit for moving the anti-vibration correction lens to a neutral position is required, arising in a problem of burdensome work.
The technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2008-185677 has a problem in that the anti-vibration correction lens cannot be maintained at a neutral position and thus, the optical performance of the anti-vibration correction lens cannot be confirmed.
The technologies disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-107785 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-156695 have a configuration in which an anti-vibration adapter is housed in a main casing, thereby hindering size reductions of the anti-vibration adapter and thus, hindering size reductions of optical apparatuses equipped with such anti-vibration adapters.

Image stabilizing apparatus, lens apparatus, imaging apparatus, and correction optical apparatus


A portable tank apparatus has a yoke pivotal on a transverse member between a service towing position and a raised position, and a pair of hingedly connected brace members at the rear of the apparatus and operable by an actuator to retract the wheels or lower the wheels to the ground.

The tank apparatus of the present invention is typically utilized in the fighting of forest fires and other large fires.
In fighting such fires, portable water tanks are often utilized, and helicopters and other aircraft may often be employed. These aircraft may typically be capable of scooping water from a body or tank of water and depositing it on a fire. A helicopter or other aircraft may suspend a container to dip water from bodies of water or tanks for dropping on a fire area.
The present invention relates to a portable and towable tank assembly for movement to a forest fire or other fire are for quick positioning in a fire area utilizing any source of water available, such as a hydrant or a body of water.
The portable tank apparatus comprises a body, beam members disposed along each side of the tank body to support it on the ground. A yoke at the front of the apparatus is rotatable between a raised position and a lowered towing position. A brace member is pivotal on an upper portion of the tank and another brace member is hingedly connected therewith and with the yoke for movement to raise and lower the yoke by acting at the hinged connection between the brace members.
Another pair of brace members are hingedly connected, a first one at the rear of the tank and the other connected therewith and carrying rotatable ground wheels maintained extended by the braces when aligned.


A method of forming a circuit board with electronic assemblies lying in different planes, includes providing a single circuit board with entire electronic assemblies pressed thereon. A channel is then formed in the circuit board of a predetermined depth to divide the circuit board into two separate, but integral portions. The circuit board is then bent at a point between the first and second portions of the circuit board such that the second portion of the circuit board can be bent between 0 and 180 degrees with respect to the first portion of the circuit board.

Currently, multiple circuit boards are employed during the assembly of various electronic assemblies. Some electronic assemblies utilize multiple circuit boards lying in different planes because it is not possible to house the components on a single circuit board. One example of such an assembly includes a horizontal main circuit board with a separate vertical display/control circuit board for switches and displays such as used in car audio products. Another example of such an assembly includes a horizontal main circuit board with a separate vertical circuit board for housing components attached to a vertical heat sink. Still another example of such an assembly includes a horizontal main circuit board with a separate vertical circuit board for mounting connectors. Many other applications exist that require the use of multiple circuit boards lying in different planes.
In the assemblies that require separate circuit boards lying in different planes, the various boards must be placed in electrical communication in some way. Typically, the horizontal circuit boards and the vertical circuit boards are connected by cables, soldered wires, plugs or other connectors extending between the two boards. The connections between the multiple circuit boards can require the use of many separate wires or connectors. These assemblies are costly and time consuming. Additionally, because of the separate individual connections required at each of the multiple circuit boards, these assemblies are more failure prone than a single circuit board.

Method of forming assemblies of circuit boards in different planes


A steering system includes a rack shaft that extends in an axial direction so as to pass through a housing and including a first rack and a second rack on an outer circumference of the rack shaft. The first rack and second rack are separated from each other in the axial direction. The first pinion shaft includes a first pinion that has helical teeth and meshes with the first rack, and a second pinion shaft includes a second pinion that has helical teeth and meshes with the second rack. The first pinion shaft and the second pinion shaft are on the same side of the rack shaft. A rack bush is between the pinion shafts in the axial direction of the rack shaft, held by the housing so as to support the rack shaft slidably in the axial direction, and limits a movement of the rack shaft in a direction parallel to both of the pinion shafts.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a steering system.
2. Description of Related Art
In terms of a rack-and-pinion steering system, there has been proposed a dual-pinion steering system in which a main pinion for transmitting manual steering effort from a steering wheel and an auxiliary pinion for transmitting steering auxiliary force caused by an electric motor are respectively engaged with their corresponding racks of a rack shaft. Usually, a pair of end portions of the rack shaft is supported slidably in its axial direction by a rack bush held by a housing. In Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 64-18977, that end portion of the pair of end portions of the rack shaft which is closer to the auxiliary pinion is received by an eccentric bearing bush serving as the rack bush. The eccentric bearing bush changes a position for pivoting the rack shaft according to a rotating position thereof, thereby adjusting an engagement state between the auxiliary pinion and the rack shaft.
In the meantime, as illustrated in a schematic view of FIG. 24, two pinions 91, 92 which include helical teeth fowled substantially in the same direction and of which axial directions are substantially parallel to each other respectively mesh with racks 94, 95 formed on the substantially same side surface of a rack shaft 93. In this case, the rack shaft 93 during steering receives, from both of the pinions 91, 92, component forces of a meshing reaction force in a direction (a direction shown by a void arrow in the figure) substantially parallel to the axial directions of the pinions 91, 92, and performs a translational motion.


A mortar and debris collection device for insertion into lower portions of a cavity defined between outer and inner wall structures of a masonry cavity wall employs two relatively rigid mat elements each designed to permit moisture to pass readily therethrough. Bottom edge regions of the two mat elements are hinge connected to permit the mat elements to be folded into closely overlying relationship.

The present invention relates to the construction of masonry "cavity" walls of the type that have an outer wall structure formed from masonry components set in mortar, and an inner wall structure that is separated from the outer wall structure by an air space cavity from which moisture is vented by weep vent passages formed through lower portions of the outer wall structure. More particularly, the present invention relates to the provision and use of a foldable mortar and debris collection device for insertion into lower portions of the air space cavity of masonry cavity walls for preventing the obstruction of drainage weep vent passages by wet and dry mortar droppings and sizable construction debris during and after construction.
So-called "masonry cavity walls" have outer wall structures formed from masonry elements such as bricks, concrete blocks, tiles, stones and the like that are set in mortar, and inner wall structures that are separated from the outer wall structures by a space of typically about one to about five inches. The space between the inner and outer wall structures is referred to as an "air space cavity" or, more simply, as a "cavity." If the space between the inner and outer wall structures of a masonry cavity wall is two inches, the air space cavity is said to have a "width" of two inches. Masonry cavity walls typically have cavities that range in width from about one inch to about five inches, with a range of about one inch to about three inches being most common.
As is well known, moisture tends to form in the air space cavity of a masonry cavity wall, and tends to collect in lowermost portions of the cavity. If collected moisture is allowed to remain within the air space cavity, damage may be caused as adjacent and nearby construction materials become damp. This damage may range from cosmetic discoloration to rot, disintegration and structural weakening that may require costly repair and replacement.
Providing weep vent passages that extend through the outer wall structure, especially through lowermost portions of the outer wall structure, can do much to ventilate and to drain moisture from the air space cavity of a masonry wall. However, weep vent passages will not perform their intended function if they are obstructed, or if moisture is blocked from moving through lower and lowermost portions of the air space cavity to reach the weep vent passages.
To prevent mortar and construction debris from collecting in lowermost portions of masonry wall cavities where it may obstruct or block moisture from entering and discharging through weep vent passages intended to drain moisture from lowermost cavity portions, a variety of types of collectors and deflectors have been proposed for insertion into air space cavities. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,705,887 and 5,845,455, for example, V-shaped troughs of solid construction are disclosed for collecting mortar and debris at locations above where weep vent passages open into lower portions of the outer wall structures of masonry cavity walls.
Other proposals, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. RE-36,676, 6,256,955, 6,023,892, 5,937,594, 5,598,673, 5,343,661 and 5,230,189, employ mats formed from polymer filaments that twist and turn like the filaments of furnace air filters—single-thickness mats that are inserted into lower portions of the air space cavities of mortar cavity walls to collect or deflect mortar droppings and debris while also defining networks of passages through which moisture can travel downwardly toward weep vent passage openings for discharge through the weep vent passages. The single-thickness mats proposed by others do not utilize mat elements that are connected by flexible hinge formations, nor do these single-thickness mats "unfold" after being inserted into masonry wall cavities.
Some open-space, filament-formed, mat-type mortar and debris collector proposals call for the mats to have thicknesses that substantially equal the widths of the air space cavities into which these mat-type collectors are inserted, so that mortar and debris will be prevented from passing downwardly alongside the mats, and thus will be prevented from accumulating adjacent weep vent passage openings. Providing mats that have the same thicknesses as the cavities into which they are inserted can present difficulties inasmuch as these cavities are not all of the same width, and, in fact, may vary considerably in width. If a mat is too thick to fit into a particular cavity, forcing it into the cavity can cause unwanted displacement of newly laid masonry elements.
Some open-space, filament-formed, mat-type mortar and debris collector proposals call for mats that are substantially thinner than the widths of the cavities in which they are inserted, with the mats being intended to lean either forwardly or rearwardly within the cavities so as to bridge the widths of the cavities to thereby catch mortar droppings and construction debris while simultaneously permitting moisture to pass therethrough. The use of thin, single-thickness mats that lean or are otherwise positioned to bridge the widths of the air space cavities in which they are installed has not proved to be adequately reliable. Some of these mats fail to support the weight of accumulated mortar droppings and debris. Some are found to move out of their installed positions when struck by mortar droppings or construction debris, which has been found to permit other mortar droppings and debris to pass by the mats and come to rest in positions where they block or obstruct weep vent passage openings.

Mortar and debris collection system for masonry cavity walls


Embodiments include a system configured to process location information for objects in a site comprising an imaging device configured to take a picture of an object, the picture containing a unique identifier of the object; a global positioning system (GPS) component associated with the imaging device and configured to tag the image of the object with GPS location information of the object to generate a tagged image; a communications interface configured to transmit the tagged image to a server computer remote from the imaging device over an Internet Protocol (IP) network; and a processor of the server configured to perform Optical Character Recognition (OCR) on the picture and to create an indicator code corresponding to the identifier of the object, wherein the processor is further configured to create a processed result containing the indicator code and the location to locate the object within the site.

Container terminals that service ships and trains, and store containers for end-user delivery rely on containers being transported in and out of the port via truck traffic. These containers are usually placed on a container chassis to transport the containers to a give destination that usually requires travel roads, or rail if the container and chassis are placed on a rail car for transport inland. When the container arrives at the destination, the container may be delivered without the chassis or moved to a different chassis for various other reasons, such as maintenance to a specific chassis.
Container chassis may have many different owners. Some are privately owned, others may be owned in a "pool" by several terminals in a specific area, and some may be owned by a specific company, such as a transportation company. It is very important for the person or company that is currently using the chassis to track the location of the chassis so the owner can maintain state and government registrations of the chassis and also allocate the chassis to the appropriate container load depending on its location. Since container chassis often travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to a specific destination, tracking chassis can be a very challenging task.
Chassis are typically tracked with an alphanumeric number that is unique to each particular chassis. A typical identifier format is "ABCD 123456" (where ABCD is any unique combination of letters and 123456 is any unique combination of numbers. The identifier may be placed or written on the sides, front, and back of the chassis. Terminals have a means of tracking a chassis as it arrives in the terminal gate, such as by using an Automated Gate System (AGS) to capture digital camera images of the chassis number on the front, sides, and back of the chassis as it travels through the gate. Once the chassis is inside a container terminal or storage area, the chassis is either allocated to a new container or is stored. Finding the chassis can often be very difficult as they are often stored in various arrangements (e.g., horizontal or vertical stacking) to minimize space.
One drawback associated with present chassis storage methods is that there is still a requirement to track and maintain a list of all chassis stored at a site so they can be matched to the right container when the chassis leaves the terminal facility. This is also important for valuation of chassis assets at a specific site and availability for new shipments. Current methods to track the chassis inventory require employees of the terminal site to manually climb in and around these vertically and horizontally stored chassis to record the chassis numbers and the location of the chassis within the terminal. As chassis inventory at a given site can vary greatly depending on the volume of containers and the number of chassis being moved at a given time, this method of recording chassis can be very labor-intensive and time-consuming. Maintaining the chassis inventory list can require teams of people to work full time writing or entering in chassis numbers into an inventory database. Furthermore, such work can be dangerous, as it may often occur in dark areas with extreme wet or cold conditions that can create hazardous and slippery conditions to personnel as they move around the chassis and storage site to record chassis identifier information.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions.

Processing container images and identifiers using optical character recognition and geolocation


An adjusting device for a screen of a computer includes a keyboard and a screen combined together with the adjusting device for adjusting the position of the screen from the keyboard and a sloping angle of the screen to the keyboard to suit to different size of a user. The device includes two support bars pivotally connected between the screen and two bottom bars fitting and movable in the bottom of the keyboard in a preset distance from the keyboard. Then the dimensions of the keyboard to sit on a table may be increased to stabilize the computer securely. Further, the angle of the screen to the keyboard can be adjusted by pivotal connection of the support bars with the screen and also with the bottom bars.

This invention concerns an adjusting device for a screen of a computer, particularly combining a keyboard and a screen with the adjusting device, enabling the screen pulled back and forth by two bottom bars moved out of and in the keyboard to increase dimensions of the keyboard sitting on a table so that the computer may be sit more stably on the table. And at the same time, the screen is pivotally connected with two support bars so that the screen may be adjusted in its angle to the keyboard.
Conventional computers, especially having a small size as shown in FIG. 7, are made portable to be carried. They generally have a keyboard and a screen connected pivotally with each other so that the screen may be swung up for use from a collapsed position. However, the dimensions of the keyboard is the contact dimensions to sit on a table. When the screen is swung up to stand sloping to rearward, the gravitational center will move rearward, and if the contact dimensions of the keyboard with the table is not enough to support the screen, the screen with the keyboard or the computer may fall back, and may be broken or worse. And chances are that a user has to adjust sitting pose so as to view the screen better, moving his/her body, resulting in fatigue of the body in case of long use.

Adjusting device for a screen of a computer

No. 1, Lane 633, Sec. 1, Ching-Sha Street


A wind turbine includes a plurality of turbine blades, with each of the blades having a root flange that attaches to a flange of a rotor hub by a plurality of circumferentially spaced blade bolts. The blade bolts have opposite cylindrical end sections engaged within the rotor hub flange and blade root flange, respectively, and a non-cylindrical shank extending between the cylindrical end sections. At least one flattened side is defined in the shank along a longitudinal axis of the bolt.

Utility grade wind turbines (i.e., wind turbines designed to provide electrical power to a utility grid) can have relatively large rotors (e.g., 30 meters or more in diameter) and a rotor hub height that exceeds 100 meters. The extreme loads and fatigue stresses placed on the rotor blades of these turbines can be quite significant. Forces such as horizontal and vertical wind shears, yaw misalignment, turbulence, and the like, generate considerable bending of the blades that contributes to the total stresses placed on the blades. A critical design consideration in this regard is the joint between the blade root and the rotor hub.
A conventional joint design utilizes circumferentially spaced blade bolts to secure the blades to the rotor hub. A fundamental design consideration with respect to the bolts is to have a relatively flexible bolt and stiff flange so as to increase fatigue strength of the bolt. It is estimated that from about 40% to 80% of the total stress applied to the bolts is fatigue bending stress. These conventional bolts typically have threaded end sections that engage in threaded bores in the blade root flange and rotor hub flange, respectively. A more advanced wind blade bolt design utilizes a reduced diameter shank portion intermediate of the threaded end sections to increase the axial and bending flexibility of the bolt away from the thread stress concentration. However, this design also reduces the extreme load strength of the bolt due to the small shank diameter.
Accordingly, the industry would benefit from a blade bolt design that reduces bending or fatigue stresses without sacrificing the overall extreme load strength of the bolt.

Wind turbine blade attachment configuration with flattened bolts


An image input and output system for scanning an image of a color original and processing data of the scanned image has a color line sensor for picking up the image of the original. The system also includes a memory for sequentially storing three types of data respectively representing the three primary colors and which are outputted from the color line sensor, in the order in which the data are outputted. An output control circuit calculates an address to read out the data stored in the memory such that a series of three data respectively representing the three primary colors and composing a first pixel partially overlaps with a series of three data respectively representing the three primary colors and composing a second pixel next to the first pixel, and for reading out, from the memory in accordance with the calculated address, a series of three data respectively representing the three primary colors to produce image data of the three primary colors for one pixel. The image input and output system can set an arbitrary pixel ratio and is free from image deterioration.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system having a function of inputting an image by using a line sensor having linearly arranged sensors, and more particularly to an image input apparatus (so-called scanner) for scanning an original color image carried on a paper, a film or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
A line scanner with a line sensor for scanning an image has been known. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. Hei 5-183674 discloses an image input and output apparatus for storing image data in a memory, and outputting the image data to an external apparatus via a small computer system interface (SCSI) or a general purpose interface bus (GPIB). In this conventional art, the memory serves as a frame memory for storing the data of one image when the image data required by the external apparatus are less than the image data stored in the memory. Further, the memory functions as a buffer memory for storing a part of data of one image when the image data required by the external apparatus are more than the image data stored in the memory. Generally, the larger or the more highly resolved an output image is, the more the data for the output image are. When the output image is highly resolved, all pixels of the input image are stored in the memory. On the other hand, when the outputted image is low resolved, part of the input pixels are extracted and stored in the memory.
FIG. 12 illustrates a conventional method of outputting data to an output apparatus. A memory 201 sequentially stores digital data corresponding to the three primary colors, i.e., red (R), green (G) and blue (B), from the line sensor in the order of R.sub.1, G.sub.1, B.sub.1, R.sub.2, G.sub.2, B.sub.2, R.sub.3, G.sub.3, B.sub.3, . . . . When the digital data are outputted to an output apparatus 202, a set of color data having the same subscript are outputted as the data for one pixel. That is, whenever the color data for one pixel have been outputted from the memory 201, the address pointed by an address pointer is increased by three to output the corresponding data.
In the conventional art described above, when the number of pixels of the external apparatus or the output apparatus (e.g., a display or a printer) is different from that of the image input apparatus, part of the image data are extracted and then stored in a memory in the output apparatus 202 or the like. The extraction is implemented as described below. Suppose .alpha. (a natural number) represents the number of pixels of the output apparatus, and .beta. (a natural number) represents the number of pixels of the input apparatus. The ratio .alpha./.beta. is called the pixel ratio. Suppose N' (a natural number) is the serial number of a pixel to be extracted from the memory. Then N' can be calculated by the equation N'=[N.times.(.beta./.alpha.); N=1, . . . ,.beta.], which is an operation to obtain the largest natural number less than the value calculated by N.times.(.beta./.alpha.). For example, when the pixel ratio is 6/10, the serial numbers of the pixels to be extracted are calculated by putting N=1, . . . , 10, .alpha.=6 and .beta.=10 into the equation [N.times.(.beta./.alpha.)]. Therefore, by the calculation, a series of pixels Nos. 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 10 is obtained. However, when such an extraction is implemented, adjacent pixels may be extracted (e.g., 5 and 6 in the above series). That is, there may exist at least one uneven interval in the series except when the pixel ratio is defined by 1/.gamma. (.gamma. is a natural number).
When there is an uneven interval in the series, for example, an inclined line in an image is displayed as a discrete line so that the quality of the image is deteriorated. Therefore, in the conventional art, the pixel ratio can be set only to 1/.gamma. to prevent the deterioration of the image quality. Alternatively, after an image is acquired, the image is corrected by implementing a predetermined interpolating operation between adjacent pixels.
However, when the pixel ratio is limited, the number of the extracted pixels may be too small or too large for the output apparatus. Further, in order to correct the image, an image correction circuit or an image processing software program is required so that the cost of the image processing system will be increased or image processing time will become long.


Provided herein may be an error correction circuit, and a memory controller and a memory system. The error correction circuit may include an encoder configured to generate a codeword comprising a message part, a first parity part, and a second parity part, and a decoder configured to perform error correction decoding using read values corresponding to at least a portion of the codeword, wherein, the decoder is configured to perform error correction decoding based on a first or a second error correction ability such that error correction decoding using the first error correction ability is performed using partial read values corresponding to a partial codeword including the message part and the first parity part, and error correction decoding using the second error correction ability is performed using read values corresponding to the entire codeword, and wherein the second error correction ability is greater than the first error correction ability.

A memory system may include a storage media that stores data therein either temporarily or permanently. During various operations of memory system including writing, reading, transmission, or processing of data, unintended changes to the original data such as data error or data corruption can occur as a result of, for example, interferences between adjacent memory cells. Such data error or data corruption should be handled to ensure the reliability of data. Error correction coding is the means whereby errors that may be introduced into data can be corrected based on received data. The memory system may use error correction encoding and decoding techniques to correct errors that may be introduced into data stored in memory cells. The error correction techniques may be implemented in the form of hardware and/or software. For example, circuitry for error correction may perform error correction encoding and decoding in the memory system using an error correction code.
A Bose, Chaudhri, Hocquenghem (BCH) code is a commonly used error correction code in memory systems which allows the memory systems to detect and correct certain number of errors depending on the configuration of the BCH code.

Error correction circuit, and memory controller having the error correction circuit and memory system having the memory controller


A method of fabricating a magnetic recording medium by sequentially forming a magnetic recording layer, a protection layer, and a lubricant layer on a stacked body, includes forming the lubricant by depositing a first lubricant on the stacked body after forming the protection layer, by vapor-phase lubrication deposition, without exposing the stacked body to atmosphere, and depositing a second lubricant that is dissolved in an organic solvent onto the stacked body after depositing the first lubricant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic recording medium fabrication method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a magnetic storage apparatus may be provided in various products, including a personal computer, a video recorder, a data server, and the like, and the importance of the magnetic storage apparatus is increasing. The magnetic storage apparatus includes a magnetic recording medium that magnetically stores electronic data by magnetic recording. Examples of the magnetic storage apparatus include a magnetic disk drive, a flexible disk drive, a magnetic tape apparatus, and the like. A HDD (Hard Disk Drive) is an example of the magnetic disk drive.
For example, a general magnetic recording medium has a multi-layer stacked structure including an underlayer, an intermediate layer, a magnetic recording layer, and a protection layer that are deposited in this sequence on a nonmagnetic substrate, and a lubricant layer coated on a surface of the protection layer. In order to prevent mixing of impurities between the layers forming the magnetic recording medium during fabrication of the magnetic recording medium, an in-line vacuum deposition apparatus is used to continuously stack the layers under decompression, as described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-274142, for example.
In the in-line vacuum deposition apparatus, a plurality of deposition chambers having a deposition means capable of depositing a layer on the substrate are connected via a gate valve, together with a chamber for carrying out a thermal process and an auxiliary chamber, are provided in order to form a single deposition line. When the substrate is set on a carrier and passes through the deposition line, the layers are successively deposited on the substrate to fabricate the magnetic recording medium having the desired structure.
Generally, the deposition line is arranged in a ring shape, and a substrate loading and unloading chamber is provided in the deposition line in order to load and unload the substrate with respect to the carrier. The carrier, which passes through the deposition chambers of the deposition line, reaches the substrate loading and unloading chamber where the substrate having the layers deposited thereon is unloaded from the carrier. In addition, after removing the substrate from the carrier, a new substrate to be subjected to the deposition is loaded onto the carrier in the substrate loading and unloading chamber.
In addition, as a method of forming the lubricant layer on the surface of the magnetic recording medium, a vapor-phase lubrication has been proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2004-002971, for example. The vapor-phase lubrication places the magnetic recording medium within a vacuum chamber, and introduces gas lubricant into the vacuum chamber.
When fabricating the magnetic recording medium having the multi-layer stacked structure using the in-line vacuum deposition apparatus, the magnetic recording layer is formed by sputtering using the vacuum deposition apparatus, the protection layer is formed by ion-beam deposition using the vacuum deposition apparatus, and the lubricant layer is formed by vapor-phase lubrication using the vacuum deposition apparatus, for example. Hence, the deposition processes from the formation of the magnetic recording layer up to the formation of the lubricant layer may be performed without exposing a stacked body to the atmosphere.
In addition, a magnetic recording medium having a lubricant layer formed by two layers has been proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-147012, for example. The lubricant layer of this proposed magnetic recording medium is formed by a fixing layer (or bond layer) that is provided on the side of the protection layer, is chemically stable, and has a suitable bond with respect to the protection layer, and a fluid (or free layer) that is provided on the surface side of the magnetic recording medium and is mainly made of a material having a low coefficient of friction.
When the contact between the magnetic recording medium and the magnetic head is taken into consideration, the coefficient of friction of the lubricant layer is preferably low. On the other hand, when a corrosion resistance of the magnetic recording medium is taken into consideration, a coverage of the surface of the protection layer provided by the lubricant layer is preferably high.

Magnetic recording medium fabrication method


A fluid routing system for use in an indoor grow facility includes a plurality of supply lines, and a plurality of frames aligned in series and spaced apart from each other. Each of the frames includes a plurality of support openings. Each of the support openings is sized to receive and retain a corresponding one of the supply lines.

The field of the disclosure relates generally to indoor grow facilities and, more particularly, to systems for fluid circulation to plants in greenhouses and other indoor grow facilities.
At least some known indoor grow facilities, such as greenhouses, include air handling systems for circulating conditioned or recycled air to plants housed therein, and watering systems for circulating water, including nutrient-enriched water, to the plants. Moreover, at least some known indoor grow facilities include additional supply systems, such as carbon dioxide supply systems for routing supplemental carbon dioxide to the plants. In addition, at least some industrial greenhouses are as large as 45,000 square feet and new indoor grow facilities may continue to grow in size, resulting in a need for correspondingly lengthy supply lines routed to plants throughout the facility.
The various supply systems in at least some known indoor grow facilities are implemented separately from each other, resulting in ad hoc routing of supply lines and, often, unintended interference or entanglement among the supply lines or other components of the various systems. At least some known indoor grow facilities consequently experience inefficient use of potential grow space within the facility, difficulty in re-routing supply lines to accommodate reorganization of the grow space, and/or difficulty in re-configuring one or more of the supply systems without requiring shutdown or re-work of the other systems as well. Moreover, at least some known air handling systems for circulating conditioned or recycled air are configured for installation adjacent to a ceiling of the facility, and/or are sized to condition the air throughout an entire floor-to-ceiling space of the facility, increasing both an initial cost and a maintenance cost of the systems.

Fluid routing system for indoor grow facilities


A display device includes a substrate including a plurality of pixel areas, a thin film transistor disposed on the substrate, a color filter and a light blocking member disposed on the thin film transistor, an insulating layer which is disposed on the color filter and the light blocking member and includes an exposed region through which the light blocking member is exposed, a pixel electrode which is disposed on the insulating layer and is connected to the thin film transistor through a contact hole, a common electrode which is spaced apart from the pixel electrode with a microcavity therebetween, a roof layer disposed on the common electrode, a liquid crystal layer which is filled in the microcavity, and an overcoat which is disposed on the roof layer and configured to seal the microcavity.

(a) Field
The invention relates to a display device and a manufacturing method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display ("LCD") is one of the flat panel displays which is most widely used in recent years and generally includes two display panels in which a field generating electrode such as a pixel electrode and a common electrode is formed and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the display panels. A voltage is applied to the field generating electrode to generate an electric field in the liquid crystal layer, which determines an orientation of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer therethrough and controls polarization of incident light to display an image.
Two display panels which configure the LCD may include a thin film transistor ("TFT") array panel and an opposing display panel. In the TFT array panel, a gate line which transmits a gate signal and a data line which transmits a data signal are formed to intersect each other and a TFT which is connected to the gate line and the data line and a pixel electrode which is connected to the TFT may be formed. The opposing display panel may include a light blocking member, a color filter, and a common electrode. In some cases, the light blocking member, the color filter, and the common electrode may be formed in the TFT array panel.

Display device and manufacturing method thereof


A process for producing a metal phthalocyanine pigment which comprises the steps of: reacting phthalic anhydride or a derivative thereof with urea or a derivative thereof with heating in the presence of a catalyst either in the presence or absence of an organic solvent; adding to the reaction mixture of the preceding step a metal or its compound capable of constituting the core of the metal phthalocyanine either alone or together with urea or a derivative thereof, without isolating the reaction product from the reaction mixture of the preceding step; and allowing the reaction mixture to react while simultaneously applying a mechanical grinding force in the presence or absence of a grinding agent.

Since copper phthalocyanine pigment is the most representative of all metal phthalocyanine pigments, prior art techniques are described below with respect to copper phthalocyanine pigment as an example.
In general, processes for producing copper phthalocyanine pigment are composed of the step of synthesizing crude copper phthalocyanine in the form of coarse particles and the step of reducing the size of the crude phthalocyanine into pigment-sized fine particles to provide a pigment (pigmentation step).

Process for producing metal phthalocyanine pigment