Embodiments generally relate to a method for purifying air of an interior space by oxidizing a plurality of pollutant compounds suspended in the air. The method comprises exposing the air of the interior space to a photocatalytic layer, wherein the photocatalytic layer is disposed onto an at least one surface of a porous substrate material located in the interior space, wherein the photocatalytic layer comprises a plurality of photocatalyst particles, and activating the photocatalytic layer with a light source, wherein the activated photocatalytic particles promote a reaction between the pollutant compounds and the air.

Air purification and surface sanitization are increasingly important components in personal and public health. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American spends 90% of their time indoors where the levels of indoor air pollutants are often 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor levels. Furthermore, individuals who are most susceptible to the adverse effects of pollution—like the very young, old, and those with certain diseases—spend even more of their time indoors. Additionally, the use of synthetic materials, furnishings, personal care products, pesticides, and household cleaners have increased indoor concentrations of some pollutants.
Many industries, including the automotive industry, have incorporated air purification into their products. Health and wellness issues related to air purification include maintaining or improving the quality of the air, reducing the presence of harmful bacteria or viruses suspended in the air, and deodorizing or controlling the odor of the air. Additionally, these concerns also apply to emerging mobility concepts and products, such as on-demand mobility, car-sharing, car-hailing, or car-pooling. In such instances, multiple users and multiple trips will be made in a day, which may expose drivers or passengers to volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), inorganic compounds, viruses, bacteria, or odors. Hence, there may be a desire for an improved method of air purification in interior spaces.

Method and apparatus for purifying air of an interior space by oxidizing a plurality of pollutant compounds

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


An electrical connector is provided having a circuitized insulator including a housing having an integrally molded shroud and board having an array of holes molded therein and including conductive traces adhered to the board area in order to connect the holes having electrical contacts mounted therein with components mounted on the board.

This invention pertains to an electrical connector and, in particular, an electrical connector having a circuitized insulator.
Electrical connectors having contact pins mounted in a printed circuit board are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,002, discloses a circuit board formed of an insulative material having a plurality of holes therethrough, electrically conductive plating extending through the holes and electrical contact members extending through the plated holes. The printed circuit board is mounted in a separate plastic molded housing including a shroud which surrounds the array of contacts protruding from the printed circuit board. As is known in the art, the printed circuit board includes conductive traces which are generally copper tracing which is adhered to the FR4 circuit board via a subtractive process. The printed circuit board is known to have mounted thereto many components including active and passive components such as resistors. The above-mentioned patent discloses the use of thick film polymer resistors adhered directly to the printed circuit board. Such assemblies, as known in the prior art, have disadvantages in that mounting or adhering components to the printed circuit board is a time-consuming and intricate process. In addition, the prior art methods of assembling electrical connectors require multiple parts to act as a substrate for the components and traces and to support the electrical contacts, and a separate substrate to form the housing and shroud of the connector.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector which is formed of a minimum of parts in order to provide for a connector which may be quickly and inexpensively manufactured and assembled.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector, including a substrate formed of a moldable material which allows for the quick mounting of devices thereon.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electrical connector with a circuitized insulator which eliminates the need for a standard FR4 printed circuit board.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of forming an electrical connector which provides for the inexpensive and quick assembly of the electrical connector.


A silencer and catalytic converter apparatus includes a housing and a frame assembly arranged in the housing. The frame assembly may receive at least one catalyst panel and support the catalyst panel to occupy an area of a flow passage between upstream and downstream chamber sections of the housing. A blocking panel may be supported by the frame assembly to obstruct a remaining area of the flow passage so that fluid flowing between the upstream and downstream chamber sections is directed to flow through the catalyst panel. The blocking panel may be adjustable to accommodate catalyst panels of different sizes.

The following paragraphs are not an admission that anything discussed in them is prior art or part of the knowledge of persons skilled in the art.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,185 A describes an apparatus for effecting high temperature catalytic conversion treatment of exhaust gases flowing in a large volume exhaust path including a plurality of separate catalyst panel assemblies, and a panel support assembly arranged to be mounted within the exhaust path and to separately removably support each of the plurality of catalyst panel assemblies so that high temperature exhaust gases within the exhaust path will flow therethrough in operation and each panel assembly can be conveniently serviced by simple removal. The panel support assembly includes an outer ambient temperature peripheral frame structure, an inner high temperature peripheral frame structure mounted within the outer peripheral frame structure for temperature responsive expansion and contraction with respect thereto, and an expansible and contractible high temperature resistant peripheral seal assembly between the inner and outer peripheral frame structures for maintaining a flow preventing seal therebetween. Each catalyst panel assembly is supported by an arrangement which includes doors openable to permit the catalyst panel assemblies to be removed. Each panel assembly includes a guarded high temperature resistant peripheral seal assembly for insuring that the flow of high temperature exhaust gases within the exhaust path is solely through the catalyst passages thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,089,347 A describes a muffler having a casing, an inlet opening and an outlet opening. An initial partition forms an expansion chamber. The casing has mounted and formed therein a partition array that includes a divider partition, a first intermediate partition, and a second intermediate partition. Partition array is positioned in a main sound attenuation chamber. A collector partition having a collector opening is positioned between array and opening. A pre-outlet chamber is formed by collector partition prior to outlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,281,606 B2 describes an exhaust sound and emission control systems for reducing sound and noxious emissions from an automotive exhaust. The system may have an exhaust resonator having one or more catalytic converter elements in combination therewith in a single device. Alternatively, the system may have multiple angularly disposed chambers therein, with a series of swept baffles or guides in one of the chambers, thereby combining resonator and muffler functions in a single device. In another alternative, the system has a series of longitudinal tubes therein in combination with a series of V-shaped guides or vanes, combining catalytic converter, muffler, and resonator functions in a single device. The various elements of the different embodiments, e.g. catalytic converter element(s), double wall shell, perforated tubes and multiple flow paths, interconnecting crossover tubes, etc., may be combined with one another as practicable.

Silencer and catalytic converter apparatus with adjustable blocking panel


The invention relates to a device for producing mechanical energy. Said device contains an internal combustion engine and an expansion engine (20, 21) which is fed with superheated steam from a steam generator. Exhaust gases of the internal combustion engine are injected into the steam generator (24) to use the waste heat thereof. In order to eliminate pollutants and non-burned fuel in the exhaust gases of the internal combustion engine in a simple and effective manner, the steam generator (24) is heated by a non-catalytic burner (16) at a burner temperature of between 1100° and 1300° C. The exhaust gases of the internal combustion engine can be combined with the combustion gases in the burner (16). The after-burning of non-burned fuel and the combustion of pollutants is thus carried out in a burner (16) in a non-catalytic manner. The combustion gases in said burner (16) are at a temperature such that non-burned fuel components in the exhaust gases of the internal combustion engine which are introduced into the burner are after-burned, but form, however, essentially no nitrogen oxides at excessive temperatures. The burner (16) is used to heat the steam generator (24) and can be designed according to the energy requirement of the steam generator (24) and the expansion engine (20, 21). The heat of the exhaust gases of the internal combustion engine is used to generate steam.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a device for the generation of mechanical energy comprising an internal combustion engine and an expansion engine which is fed with superheated steam from a steam generator, wherein the exhaust gases of the internal combustion engine are injected into the steam generator to use the waste heat thereof.
2. Prior Art
The DE 196 10 382 C2 describes a combined engine consisting of a combustion engine and an expansion engine in the form of a steam engine. The steam engine receives the high pressure steam from a steam generator. The high pressure steam is preheated by the cooler of the engine block of the combustion engine. The steam generator is exposed to the exhaust gases of the combustion engine, the combustion engine and the steam engine operate on a common crank shaft. In order to filter pollutants from the exhaust gases an oxidizing catalytic converter is arranged upstream of the steam generator in the exhaust pipe which is guided through the steam generator to the atmosphere. The DE 196 10 382 C2 suggests to insert fuel from time to time or continuously into the exhaust pipe upstream of the catalytic converter to increase the portion of the power of the steam engine. This additional fuel is burnt in the catalytic converter together with unburnt fuel from the combustion engine.
This is an after-burning of unburnt fuel from the combustion engine by an oxidizing catalytic converter in the usual way. The steam generator primarily uses the waste heat of the exhaust gases including the combustion heat generated in the oxidizing catalytic converter. Additionally fuel can be injected into the oxidizing catalytic converter only to increase the power of the steam generator still more.
The amount of fuel which can be additionally burnt in the oxidizing catalytic converter is limited by the constructive properties of the oxidizing catalytic converter. The oxidizing catalytic converter is designed to after-burn the remnants of unburnt fuel in the exhaust gases or certain pollutants, but not to serve as the heat source for a steam generator. The steam engine operating on the same crank shaft as the combustion engine essentially is to make use of the heat of the exhaust gases and thereby increase the efficiency.


An apparatus and method allow either the driver or a passenger in a vehicle to operate a telematic unit in the vehicle. Communication requests may be prioritized, depending upon the type of communication desired and whether the request is being made by the driver or a passenger. Visual display units for the driver and passenger are positioned such that the passenger visual display unit is visible to a passenger seated in the passenger seat and not visible to a driver seated in the driver seat. Information displayed on the driver visual display unit may be restricted to certain types of communications, or include only limited information, so as not to distract the driver. A full display may be provided to the passenger, so that the passenger can assist the driver with verbal instructions based upon information included in the full display, viewable by the passenger but not the driver.

Modern vehicles often include an on board vehicle communication unit, known as a telematic unit, for carrying on various types of communications between the telematic unit and a server or a GPS satellite. These communications may include telephone calls and navigation information.
Typically, the vehicle will include a control unit, placed within reach of the driver for operating the telematic unit, and having one or more buttons that can be pressed to request that the telematic unit initiate or terminate a particular type of communication. For convenience in operating the vehicle, the telematic unit may include microphones and speakers so that the driver can utilize the telematic unit in a hands-free mode. The speakers allow a person in the vehicle to hear communications, or audible messages from the telematic unit relating to the status of a request for initiating a communication, without having to wear a headset or hold a handset to their ear. The microphones allow a person in the vehicle to control the telematic unit by simply speaking a voice command that will be picked up by the microphone and interpreted by a voice recognition circuit in the telematic unit.
Some vehicles may include a visual display that can be seen by the driver, connected to the telematic unit, for displaying navigation information or information regarding the status of a telephone call.
Advantages may be obtained by allowing such a telematic unit to be operated by a passenger in the vehicle.


A radar apparatus radiates search signals successively in different directions, receives echo signals and displays the signals so that surrounding conditions in a wide range of directions are displayed. The radar apparatus comprises a buffer memory for temporarily storing echo signals resulting from single search signals, a memory for storing echo signals supplied from the buffer memory and corresponding to single scans at corresponding memory elements, a timing adjusting amount setter for determining a timing adjusting amount in a distance direction, and a control arrangement for causing the buffer memory to write received echo signals thereinto based on the determined timing adjustment amount.

Generally, a time adjustment for operations is made when a radar apparatus is newly installed on a ship or the like. This adjustment makes positions of radar images displayed on an indicator in a distance direction correspond with their actual distances with respect to the radar antenna.
Since, generally, a time duration from an instant at which a trigger pulse is supplied from a display unit to an antenna unit to another time instant at which a resultant echo rises consists of a time for a round trip of a radio signal to an object and an associated delay time, a timing adjustment is necessary. Causes of the delay time are signal delays due to cables between a display unit and an antenna unit, a delay in a transmission circuit and a delay in a receiving circuit, and the like.
Conventionally, in order to cope with the problem, a timing adjustment was made so that reception signal data can be sampled starting at a point corresponding to zero in distance from an antenna, when a radar is installed on a ship or the like.
In order to do the timing adjustment, as shown in FIG. 6, a time delay amount adjusting circuit "c" is provided between a transmission trigger pulse generating unit "a" for generating a transmission trigger pulse and a sampling circuit "b" for digitizing reception signals at a predetermined sampling period, and the transmission trigger pulse is supplied to the sampling circuit "b" through the delay amount adjusting circuit "c" as a start pulse. When a timing adjustment is to be made, search radio signals are emitted to an experimental object placed at a distance from the antenna and the time delay amount given to the transmission trigger pulse is manually adjusted at the delay amount adjustment circuit "c" so that image distortions are not generated.
In conventional radar apparatuses, it has been required to make timing adjustments so that reception signals can be sampled starting at a point corresponding to zero distance from an antenna, when a radar apparatus is newly installed on a ship, or when a cable is replaced with another cable having another length or when circuit components in transmitting or receiving units are changed. Thus, adjustments have been cumbersome.
Conventionally, a mono-multivibrator IC has been used to initiate to sample reception signals after a time elapses from a time instant at which a trigger signal is generated. Thus, the delay time has been adjusted by varying CR time constant.
Some signals produced by a conventional radar apparatus are shown in a form of timing chart shown in FIG. 11. Referring to FIG. 11, reception signals appear after a time "t.sub.0 " elapses from an instant at which a trigger signal is generated. One shot pulse is produced lasting a time "t.sub.0 ". A primary memory successively stores reception signals after the end edge of the one shot pulse. Reception signals stored in the primary memory are transferred to a secondary memory when sampling operations are not being made. There is shown in FIG. 12 an example for transferring data from the primary memory to the secondary memory. Write addresses of the secondary memory correspond to a pointing direction of the antenna, and, as shown in the figure, the first memory element of the primary memory corresponds to the center of the secondary memory, i.e., the position of the antenna. The data stored in the primary memory are successively transferred to corresponding memory elements of the secondary memory.
Such conventional apparatuses for controlling the start time to sample reception signals works effectively when a comparatively short one shot pulse is produced. But, when the CR time constant is to be made longer to lengthen the delay time, the period of one shot pulse will vary by a larger amount than the period of sampling pulses, and thus jitters are produced.
For example, with a surveillance radar used in a fish raising farm, there is sometimes used a long cable having a length of 1 km or 3 km. In such cases it is desired to produce a long-lasting and stable one shot pulse.
It is to be noted that in order to cope with the problem, digital circuits for counting clock signals to produce a desired delay signal may be used. In this case, however, an extremely high-speed operation is required. For example, with a range of 0.25 NM and a radius of 240 dots, the sampling frequency of clock pulses for each dot will be 77.7 MHz. It is difficult to construct a delay circuit operating at this speed with digital circuits at a low cost.


The present invention provides a pH dependent vaginal composition delivering a therapeutically effective amount of at least one active essentially at a pH above 4.5. The composition provides a diagnostic visual pH indication of the presence of vulvovaginitis at pH above 4.5. In the absence of such indication, the treatment may be discontinued. Another visual signal is the retrieval of the unchanged composition, which also points to a normal pH at or below 4.5 and absence of vulvovaginitis.

Vaginal disorders are widespread and include a number of different conditions, of which the most common, are vaginal infections, such as, for example, vulvovaginitis, caused by bacterial vaginosis (such as trichomoniasis), yeast infection (such as candida), atrophic vaginitis, but also other causative factors such as viruses, parasites, environmental factors, allergens, sexually transmitted infections, chemicals (soap, bath oils, spermicidal jelly) and menopause. Currently, there are a number of oral and topically (vaginal) applied formulations for the treatment of vaginal conditions, including creams, gels, jellies, troches, suppositories.
The symptoms of vulvovaginitis include irritation of the genital area, genital itching, vaginal discharge, discomfort, pain and foul odor.
The vaginal discharge in bacterial vaginosis is thin and milky with a strong fishy odor. This condition is due to a change in the balance of bacteria normally present in the vagina.
Vulvovaginitis may be diagnosed, and medication prescribed during a physician's office visit. One of the signs of vulvovaginitis is a change from the normal vaginal pH, which is around 4.5. A pH reading to a level higher than 4.5 is an important tool in the diagnosis of vulvovaginitis.
Many women suffer from chronic recurring vulvovaginitis and are treated with medication available over-the-counter (OTC) without a first diagnosis or without repeating the diagnosis stage. This opens an avenue to futile use of medication by the female patient at the first sign of vaginal discomfort. Repeated futile use of medication may give rise to bacterial resistance to medication, and this should be avoided, hence reduction of antibiotic use is a long felt need.

Methods of treatment of vaginosis and vulvovaginitis


A water skier tow bar assembly includes a tow bar handle and control actuators that can be actuated by a user and indicative of a desired skier condition. A housing is connected to the tow bar and includes a wireless radio transmitter operatively connected to the control actuators for generating wireless radio signals of desired skier conditions or generating wireless radio signals indicative of a skier down condition. In one aspect of the invention, a wireless radio transmitter is contained in a housing formed as a float assembly and has an aperture through which a tow rope passes to permit the housing to be carried by a tow rope. When a skier falls, a water actuated switch initiates transmission of a wireless radio signal indicative of a skier down condition.

Water skiing is becoming a popular past time and recreational activity. It requires not only a boat operator driving a boat towing a water skier via a rope and tow bar handle secured thereto, but also an observer positioned in the boat as a passenger, who constantly monitors the water skier performance. The observer notes to the water skier whether the water skier indicates a desire for changed water skier conditions, such as speeding up, slowing down, or turning around, or has fallen and requires the boat to return and pull the water skier back up out of the water either into a skiing position, or draw the skier into the safety of the boat.
When an observer is not available, it is necessary to include a device to apprise immediately a boat operator if a skier has fallen or voluntarily released hold of the ski rope. This is necessary to ensure that the boat operator does not continue driving the boat a long distance from the location where the water skier has fallen, and thus, placing the water skier into a dangerous position where other boats could run over him or her. Some systems use a wire extending from a water skier tow bar handle to an alarm positioned within the boat indicating when a skier has fallen. This could be accomplished, such as when the tow bar handle hits the water and blocks a signal generated from a transmitter. Other systems, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,611, use a wireless transmitter for generating a signal that generates an alarm after the skier lets go of the tow bar handle. In these systems, a pre-selected frequency is no longer transmitted and an alarm is activated by closure of a switch.
Other systems use complicated tow bar handles, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,683, teaching a complicated handle assembly with on/off switches and manually actuated trigger switches. U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,221 discloses a downed water skier warning system using electronic water sensors for sensing when the rope-handle of the skier tow-rope lands in the water. These water and pressure sensors are in remote communication with audible and visual tow boat operator alarms and visual "skier down" warning indicators.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,603,402 overcomes these prior art problems such that the standard cylindrically configured and longitudinally extending tow bar handle is used with a skier alert system to generate not only an indication of a "skier down" signal, but also generate other signals that indicate a desired water skier condition, such as speeding up, slowing down, a directional turning around, or stop. This system provides for the boat operator to know when a skier down condition has occurred and when any change occurs in desired water skier conditions.
Commonly assigned Continuation-in-Part patent application Ser. No. 10/378,540, filed Mar. 3, 2003, discloses a water skier tow bar and float assembly in which the tow bar handle includes control actuators positioned along the grip and a float assembly connected to the tow bar handle. The float assembly could be integral with the tow bar handle. The wireless radio transmitter is mounted within the float assembly and operatively connected to the control actuators for generating wireless signals of desired water skier conditions based on user actuation of the control actuators.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Skier alert system with fallen skier alarm


Disclosed is a jet printing method, which includes firing printing fluid drops and deflecting them. The drops are then deflected again in a second direction, which can allow them to be deposited in a collimated swath. Also disclosed is dynamically adjusting the deflection to achieve a dynamic swath density and/or a dynamic swath width.

Swathing continuous inkjet printers are well known in the art, and are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,511,163, and European Patent Application No. EP1197334, which are both herein incorporated by reference. These types of printers generally employ a pair of deflection electrodes that deflect ink drops fired from a nozzle to produce a divergent set of drop paths called a swath. The width of this swath, measured between the two outermost drop paths, typically needs to be calibrated to maintain a predetermined drop spacing and to ensure that drops deposited in adjacent swaths do not overlap. Swathing printers usually perform this type of calibration with a probe or camera that is located away from the print substrate, and this configuration prevents printing and calibration from taking place at the same time.

Jet printer with enhanced print drop delivery


The invention discloses an error reconciliation method for a Learning With Errors (LWE) public key cryptography. The method includes an encoding algorithm and a decoding algorithm. The input of the encoding algorithm is a binary message vector u∈{0,1}k with a length of k, the output is a q-ary vector z∈Zqm with a length of m, where Zq={−q/2, . . . , q/2−1}; the input of the decoding algorithm is a q-ary vector w=z+e∈Zqm containing errors with a length of m, and the output is a binary vector u∈{0,1}k corresponding to z; the error reconciliation method for the LWE public key cryptography provided by the present invention combines a binary linear code with a Gray code to realize the error reconciliation scheme in LWE public key cryptography. The error reconciliation method can be used to solve the problem of error reconciliation in LWE public key cryptography. The scheme of the invention has good fault tolerance and can significantly improve the transmission rate of encrypted information.

In recent years, with the development of quantum computing theory, the security of existing public key cryptosystems under quantum computing models has been greatly challenged. For example, the currently widely used RSA public-key cryptosystem or elliptic curve public-key cryptosystem, which depends on the difficult mathematical problem-large integer decomposition or discrete logarithm problem on elliptic curve groups, both having polynomial time efficient solution algorithms under quantum computing models. This prompted researchers to start designing cryptography that can resist quantum computer attacks, which is "post-quantum cryptography." At present, the research of post-quantum cryptography has become an extremely important and active emerging cryptographic direction. Many developed countries have put great efforts on the research of post-quantum cryptography and established various major research support programs. The US National Security Agency (NSA) has announced a migration plan for quantum-resistant cryptographic algorithms in August 2015. In the same year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) opened the collection and evaluation of post-quantum cryptographic algorithms. According to the different underlying difficult mathematical problems, post-quantum cryptography can be mainly divided into: code-based cryptography, lattice-based cryptography, hash-based cryptography, and multi-variable-based cryptography. LWE public key cryptography is an important class of lattice-based post-quantum public key cryptography.
A key to designing public key cryptographic algorithms based on LWE problems is the problem of error reconciliation. For example, Alice encrypts a message u to a ciphertext v through the LWE public key encryption scheme and sends v to a receiver Bob. When decrypting the ciphertext v, Bob can only get w=u+e by calculation, where e is a Gaussian error. The problem of error coordination is the problem of getting the message u by eliminating the error e from the vector w=u+e. On the one hand, the errors introduced in the solution are necessary for security. Errors play a key role in the difficulty of the LWE problem under the quantum computing model. Without errors, this solution can be easily cracked by attackers. On the other hand, legitimate receiver Bob needs to be able to effectively eliminate the error, otherwise the existence of the error will cause the receiver to only get an approximate value of the information, which will cause the communication to fail. The existing error reconciliation scheme is to directly disperse each bit information of the message into an integer interval {−q/2, . . . , q/2−1}, and then transmit the dispersed information. For example, in the current Peikert error reconciliation scheme, Alice first maps each bit of the message u according to the rules 0→0; 1→−q/2, obtains the vector u′, and then encrypts and transmits it to Bob. Bob calculates w=u′+e during decryption, and then uses the rule {−q/4, . . . , q/4−1}→0 and {−q/2, . . . , −q/4−1} U {q/4, . . . , q/2−1}→1 to the vector wand get the message u.
In the existing error reconciliation schemes, the key to the successful decoding of the message receiver is that the error e cannot exceed a predetermined range. For example, in Peikert's error coordination scheme, each bit of error e is required to be in the integer interval {−q/4, . . . , q/4−1}, otherwise it cannot be decoded successfully. In the design of the LWE public key cryptographic algorithm, the error e is a vector that satisfies the Gaussian distribution, and its range must be determined in advance according to the security level of the algorithm. Therefore, when designing an error coordination scheme, in order to ensure successful decryption, one method is to select a larger q, which will lead to a larger ciphertext. Another method is to reduce the number of plaintext bits for each transmission. Both methods will result a loss of transmission rate.

Error reconciliation method for LWE public key cryptography


The invention relates to a pigment containing carbon black having improved abrasion resistance comprising a platelet-shaped substrate coated with a metal oxide layer containing carbon black, wherein the carbon black is fixed on the substrate by means of an anionic or cationic and a nonionic surfactant and an organosilane compound.

The invention relates to pigments containing carbon black and having improved abrasion resistance and to a process for their preparation.
It is known to achieve special color effects by incorporation of carbon black in pigments. However, the known processes have in some cases substantial disadvantages.
German Auslegeschrift 1,165,182 describes a complicated process by which the carbon black is formed by pyrolysis of organic compounds in the presence of the pigments to be coated. In this process, the carbon black is naturally precipitated in the presence of organic compounds only on the pigment surface. This smooths out the spaces between TiO.sub.2 particles applied to a microsurface.
Some disadvantages of this complicated pyrolysis process are eliminated in German Patent 2,557,796. In the process described there, first a substrate dispersion is mixed with a carbon black dispersion. The addition of a metal salt solution under hydrolysis conditions results in precipitation of a metal hydroxide film containing carbon black on the substrate. The products prepared in this manner are separated off and dried at 110.degree.-130.degree. C. However, it has been found that the dried pigments are unsuitable for various areas of application, since their wear resistance is insufficient. This property is extremely desirable especially for incorporation in cosmetics.
In the processes disclosed in the prior art, precipitation of the carbon black is not quantitative, i.e., some of the carbon black is present on the pigment in agglomerated form, so that the pigments do not have good hiding power. The unprecipitated carbon black has to be removed by sedimentation, which is time-consuming and cost-intensive.
A further disadvantage is the often observable bleeding of the carbon black upon suspension of the pigments in organic solvents for preparing coating systems.

Merck Patent Gesellschaft mit beschrankter Haftung


A locking device for countering the force exerted by a spring balance while a window sash is in a tilt position or removed from a tilt position in a window frame, includes a shoe and a sash pin, the shoe engaging the walls of a jamb or jambliner when the window sash is tilted or removed from a tilt position, and the sash pin having a tab for preventing disengagement from the shoe during installation in a window frame. The shoe includes a pair of arms, one of which terminates in a barb and the other of which terminates in an angled edge, such that upon rotation, the shoe forms a wedge within a jamb or jambliner. The shoe further includes a plurality of prongs disposed between the arms for retaining the sash pin, and a bore for retaining an attachment mechanism associated with a spring balance. In response to tilting of the window sash away from the vertical axis of the jamb or jambliner, the locking device assumes a locked position as the sash pin rotates the shoe, and the barb and the angled edge engage the walls of the jamb or jambliner. Once engaged, the shoe becomes wedged within the jamb or jambliner such that the shoe is locked in place and effectively counters the forces exerted thereon by the spring balance.

The use of full-tilt windows have made easier the ability to clean, replace and repair the window sash and other components of the window assembly. Locking devices have been used with full-tilt single and double hung windows to counter the force exerted by a window balance while the window sash is tilted away from the vertical axis of a window jamb or jambliner.
Although conventional locking devices have generally proven effective, they are typically fabricated with numerous components that increase the complexity of assembly and the cost of the device. Additionally, many of such components require frequent replacement due to increased wear and tear. Other conventional locking devices are fabricated of materials of insufficient durability or thickness. Over time, these devices generally suffer from a reduced ability to counter the force of a window balance while the window sash is in a tilted position. As a result, curative measures, such as excessive manipulation of the sash or the use of additional sash pins, are often required to achieve locking. These measures however, typically increase the likelihood of window sash breakage.
Additionally, many locking devices easily disengage from the window sash pin during installation of a window unit in a window frame, adding to the complexity of installation. A window unit typically includes such components as a jamb or jambliner, a spring balance and a locking device. Often a contractor when installing a window unit, will lift the window unit from a rest position without concern as to whether the components are in a position such that disassembly may occur. As a result of such mishandling, the sash pin associated with the locking shoe often disengages from the unit, and the contractor must obtain another sash pin and reconfigure the sash pin and the locking shoe prior to installation. Although locking devices having an integral sash pin can provide relative ease of installation, such devices often make difficult subsequent disengagement of the sash from the device.
Still other locking devices are not easily removed from a jamb or a jambliner after installation. These devices often necessitate removal of the entire window unit when the locking device is in need of repair or replacement.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a locking device that overcomes the above-noted problems of conventional locking devices. Particularly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a locking device of reduced cost and increased reliability comprising a substantially integral, durable locking member that effectively counters the force of a spring balance when a window sash is tilted or removed from the window frame. It is another object of the present invention to provide a locking device that securely retains a sash pin during installation and provides ease of removal of the sash pin and window sash after installation. These and other objects are achieved by the locking device of the present invention.


There are provided a hot-melt adhesive, which is excellent in solvent resistance and is excellent in adhesion to an adherend (specifically, a polyimide film) containing an electrolytic solution of a battery therein, and also can contribute to an improvement in performances of electric instruments; and an electric instrument produced by using such hot-melt adhesive. A hot-melt adhesive for electric instruments, comprising an olefin based modified polymer (A), the olefin based modified polymer (A) being a modified polymer having a functional group containing silicon, is excellent in resistance to an electrolytic solution of a battery (that is, electrolytic solution resistance or solvent resistance), and also exhibits improved adhesion of the hot-melt adhesive to an adherend (plastic film such as a polyimide film) containing the electrolytic solution therein.

Electric instruments are used in the field of electronics, and automobile applications, in various forms such as a primary battery, a secondary battery, and a capacitor. Particularly, a lithium ion battery, which is a type of non-aqueous electrolyte battery, is widely used as a power supply of mobile instruments such as a mobile phone and a notebook-type personal computer because of its properties such as its high energy density. Secondary batteries capable of being recharged, are increasing in importance due to consideration for environmental problems, and thus research has been conducted into the application of such secondary batteries to automobiles, electric chairs, and home/business power storage systems, in addition to the mobile instruments.
When producing an electric instrument such as a lithium battery, it is required to use an adhesive having excellent insulating properties and heat resistance taking electrical short circuit or thermal ignition into consideration.
JP 2011-052049 A discloses that a hot-melt adhesive including a copolymer of ethylene with a carboxylic acid derivative having an ethylenic double bond, a polypropylene wax, a polyethylene wax, and a Fischer-Tropsch wax is suited for electric instruments (see JP 2011-052049 A, Claim 1 and Examples). A trial is made on an improvement in insulating properties of the electric instruments by coating an electrode and a separator with the hot-melt adhesive of the same document (see JP 2011-052049 A, [0055] and [0069] to [0072]).
An examination has recently been made on the use of a light-weight and thin laminated film, which is obtained by laminating a metal foil such as an aluminum foil on a pair of insulating resin films thereby integrating them, as an external container, so as to improve the energy density of this kind of battery. An external container obtained by forming a laminated film into a bag or tray shape is used as a container for lithium secondary batteries such as a lithium ion battery and a lithium polymer battery, and a capacitor.
The lithium ion battery is produced by laminating a positive electrode material, a negative electrode material, and a separator to each other; inserting the obtained laminate into an external container; filling the external container with an electrolytic solution; inserting a positive electrode lead and a negative electrode lead; and sealing the container.
The lithium polymer battery is produced by inserting a battery body into an external container, which battery body is obtained by laminating a positive electrode material, a negative electrode material, and a polymer electrolyte layer permeated with an electrolytic solution; inserting a positive electrode lead and a negative electrode lead so that one end is located at each electrode material and the other end is located outside the container; and finally sealing the container.
The capacitor is produced by inserting a laminate into an external container, which laminate is obtained by interposing an electrode of activated carbon permeated with an electrolytic solution and a separator between current collectors of aluminum; and sealing the container in a state where one end of the current collector is extruded out of the container.
As shown in FIG. 1, an external container is produced by forming an adherend 30 made of a resin film such as a polyimide film into a bag shape, and the container is filled with an electrolytic solution 20. The adherend 30 is sealed with an adhesive A so that the electrolytic solution 20 does not leak from the container.
Various examples have been reported on external containers of batteries.
JP 2011-060501 A discloses a packing material for a lithium ion battery, that is, an external container. The same document discloses, as an adhesive resin layer composing the packing material, a mixed resin of a maleic anhydride modified polypropylene resin and a maleic anhydride modified styrene based elastomer resin (see JP 2011-060501 A, [0041]). The document also teaches that the maleic anhydride modified polypropylene resin, having a specific Vicat softening point, is likely to prevent a decrease in adhesion force in the event of using a hot-melt type adhesive (see JP 2011-060501 A, [0025]). It is necessary for the packing material of the same document to include a lot of layers such as a base material layer, an adhesive layer, an aluminum foil layer, a chemically treated layer, and a sealant layer in addition to the adhesive resin layer (see JP 2011-060501 A, FIG. 1).
The packing material for a lithium ion battery of such multilayered films contains an electrolytic solution, and is therefore sealed so as not to leak the material contained therein (see JP 2011-060501 A, [0004]). One of sealing means includes a method in which the end of the packing material 30 is heat-sealed with the hot meltadhesive A, as shown in FIG. 1. However, an adhesive having no resistance to the electrolytic solution 20 is likely to cause swelling, and thus fails to obtain sufficient adhesion.
JP 8-106884 A discloses a film for sealing material of a thin battery, and also discloses that a modified polyolefin is used as a material of a hot-melt adhesive polyolefin layer (see JP 8-106884 A, [0015] and [0028]). As is apparent from Examples of the same document, electrolytic solution resistance is improved to some extent (see JP 8-106884 A, [0062] and [0065]), but it is difficult to say that the electrolytic solution resistance sufficiently meets the high-level requirements of users in recent days.
Furthermore, no study has been made on adhesion with a polyimide film having excellent electrolytic solution resistance (solvent resistance) which has been used more often than before in recent years. From this point of view, it is impossible to say that the adhesives of JP 2011-052049 A, JP 2011-060501 A, and JP 8-106884 A have sufficient performances.

Hot-melt adhesive for electric instruments


A carbon black filled crosslinkable rubber composition can be marked or identified with a contrasting colored crosslinkable composition. The colored crosslinkable composition is desirably thin (e.g. about 0.1 to about 10 mil thick) and is substantially free of solvent. To facilitate mechanized application of the colored crosslinkable composition it is applied from a releasable material in the form of film, filament or fiber that can be reused or recycled.

Carbon black filled rubber compositions in a tire building plant are desirably identified so that a preselected tread compound is applied to each tire type. Tread identification is also used to confirm at specified time intervals that the correct tread compound is being applied to the appropriate tire type. If the identification is applied to the outside of the tread and if the identification is designed to remain during tire curing (vulcanization), then the tire tread composition can be identified by visual inspection.
Tire manufacturers use inks (pigment, binder,and solvent) to identify the one or more tread compositions within a tire building plant. Often the ink is applied longitudinally along the hot tread after it is shaped by molding or extruding. Subsequently the tread is cooled (e.g. with a water spray) and put into inventory or cut to length and assembled into tires. The solvent in the ink is unfortunately volatilized into the work place unless collected by expensive solvent recovery systems. Solvent based inks have been particularly successful due to their fast drying times, resistance to water spray, durability, good substrate wetting, good adhesion to the substrate, and the visibility of the resulting coating. It is also important that the color does not transfer to the mold during the curing step.


A method of manufacturing a charge storage device is provided. Utilizing the capacity for a precise control of the thickness and the silicon content of a deposited film in an atomic layer deposition process, a stacked gradual material layer such as a hafnium silicon oxide (HfxSiyOz) layer is formed. The silicon content is gradually changed throughout the duration of the HfxSiyOz deposition process. The etching rate for the HfxSiyOz layer in dilute hydrogen fluoride solution is dependent on the silicon content y in the HfxSiyOz layer. The sidewalls of the stacked gradual material layer are etched to form an uneven profile. The lower electrode, the capacitor dielectric layer and the upper electrode are formed on the uneven sidewalls of the stacked gradual material layers, the area between the lower electrode and the upper electrode is increased to improve the capacitance of the charge storage device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a charge storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the techniques for manufacturing deep sub-micron semiconductor devices start to mature, the size of each device is reduced correspondingly. Hence, for a dynamic random access memory, the area assigned to each memory cell for disposing the capacitor has become smaller and smaller. On the other hand, with the increasing demand for a larger storage space for computer application software, memory with an ever-increasing storage capacity is required. As the conflicting demands for a smaller device dimension but a higher memory storage capacity continue, a modification of the existing method of fabricating the dynamic random access memory is urgently needed before all the constraints dictated by the trend can be met.
In general, a number of ways is available for increasing the charge storage capacity of a capacitor. For example, the area of the capacity can be increased or a capacitor dielectric layer with a higher dielectric constant can be used so that the quantity of electric charges stored inside the capacitor is increased. Hence, a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure with a high dielectric constant (high k) insulation layer may become the mainstream DRAM capacitor in the next generation. Although using a metal electrode has the advantage of a lower dielectric response, but increasing the surface area of the metal electrode is not so easy. As a result, an innovative storage capacitor structure and manufacturing method thereof capable of maintaining a definite capacitance despite a reduction in the area occupied by the storage capacitor is researched so that the semiconductor devices can have a higher level of integration.

Method of manufacturing charge storage device

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A process for depositing an organic thin film is disclosed, which comprises continuously conducting purification of the raw materials and deposition of the film in the same apparatus.

Organic thin films have been produced by various methods such as surface adsorption, vacuum deposition, sputtering, and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) thus far. Particularly, among the surface adsorption methods, the monomolecular build-up process, i.e., the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) process has attracted special attention as a one capable of providing monomolecular films or multilayered films composed of monomolecular layers. Actually, LB films of many materials such as optically functioning materials (e.g., merocyanine derivatives which are non-linear optical materials, and cyanine dyes and spiropyran derivatives which are optical recording materials) and bio-molecules have been produced. However, such films still await solutions for the problems of film defects and optimization of the molecular structure for use as a practical material. Hence, they are not yet sufficiently reliable for the practical application.
On the other hand, CVD, sputtering, and vacuum deposition processes are conducted under vacuum to thereby avoid incorporation of impurities into the deposited films. Among these processes, the CVD and the sputtering methods involve high energy at the film deposition, and are therefore used for particular cases in which high reaction energy is required at the film deposition and not for the organic materials which decompose at low temperatures in general. With respect to the filming energy, the vacuum deposition method ranks between the sputtering and the surface adsorption method. Though not applicable to materials in which the temperature of sublimation is near to that of decomposition, the vacuum deposition method is useful for depositing films of materials having temperature difference between decomposition and sublimation, and by optimally setting the sublimation temperature, it has successfully provided films of various molecules including those of TCNQ, TTF, phthalocyanine, and stearic acid.

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


The present disclosure provides a vehicle steering attachment configured to augment a vehicle steering device, the vehicle steering attachment comprising: a first end configured to secure to a left handle of the vehicle steering device; a second end configured to secure to a right handle of the vehicle steering device; and a middle portion disposed between the first end and the second end, wherein the left handle and the right handle connect to a center section.

In some modern vehicles, traditional steering wheels are replaced with other types of vehicle operating equipment. One such example is a "yoke" in a Tesla Model S™ in place of a traditional steering wheel. The yoke and other types of vehicle operating equipment may be undesirable to some. For example, when compared to traditional circular steering wheels, the yoke may require the operator of the vehicle to place their hands in an uncomfortable, or less desirable position when compared to a steering wheel. Furthermore, the operation of the yoke may present an increased risk for error if the operator is not accustomed to performing steering actions with that yoke. A means to convert a yoke or other types of vehicle operating equipment used in place of a steering wheel, into equipment more resembling a steering wheel is needed.


Systems and methods for generating monoenergetic ions are described. A duty cycle of a high parameter level of a multistate parameter signal is maintained and a difference between the high parameter level and a low parameter level of the multistate parameter signal is maintained to generate monoenergetic ions. The monoenergetic ions are used to etch a top material layer of a substrate at a rate that is self-limiting without substantially etching a bottom material layer of the substrate.

The background description provided herein is for the purposes of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A plasma tool includes a radio frequency generator, a match, and a plasma chamber. The radio frequency generator is coupled to the match, which is coupled to the plasma chamber. A semiconductor wafer is placed within the plasma chamber for being processed. The radio frequency generator generates a radio frequency signal, which is supplied via the match to the plasma chamber to process the semiconductor wafer. The radio frequency signal creates ions of plasma within the plasma chamber. These ions act on the wafer to process the wafer.
It is in this context that embodiments described in the present disclosure arise.

Monoenergetic ion generation for controlled etch


The present invention provides, for use with a portable computer having a battery coupled to an electrical connector that is connectable to a charging cable, a battery charging system, comprising: (a) a cabinet having a power distribution compartment, a storage compartment, and a cable raceway connecting the power distribution and storage compartments; (b) a storage bay located within the storage compartment adapted to receive a portable computer therein; (c) an electrical power distribution system located within the power distribution compartment and electrically connectable to the charging cable; and (d) a cable grommet located adjacent the storage bay and configured to receive and hold the charging cable in a relatively fixed position with respect to the storage bay.

The ubiquity of personal computers in recent years has led to their introduction as part of the curriculum in both primary and secondary schools across the nation. Originally, the size and cost of personal computers led school systems to establish centralized computer laboratories in much the same way colleges provided centralized calculator laboratories in the 1950's and 1960's. Students would be scheduled for a computer literacy course and would physically present themselves to the computer lab. There, students would share the computers as time allowed.
As laptop computers became more powerful and less costly, schools realized that full size computers were no longer required for computer literacy courses. Therefore, school focus shifted from the centralized computer laboratory to providing a limited number of laptop/portable computers that could be shared among the students. These laptop computers could be moved from classroom to classroom at the appropriate time. This change of focus provided several benefits: (a) a dedicated computer laboratory was no longer required, (b) physical space occupied by the same number of computers was significantly reduced, (c) extensive power distribution systems for a multitude of computer terminals and peripherals in a computer laboratory were eliminated, and (d) student learning time was maximized. However, now 20 to 30 laptop computers must be transported from one classroom to another. Thus, mobile cabinets were developed to provide a convenient means of storing and transporting a significant number of laptop computers.
Initial entries into the laptop computer cabinet market were primarily mobile storage cabinets with a number of bins to provide a means of safely storing and transporting 20 to 30 laptop computers. In this instance, the computer batteries would be charged at a central station. Later versions were poorly designed by providing a single computer storage compartment on the lower shelf of the cart with access along one side that required a teacher to bend over sufficiently to retrieve a computer. Electrical power to charge the computer batteries was routed from a power strip located on an upper shelf with the power converter-to-computer cables randomly routed to the computer storage compartment. As each computer manufacturer desires to limit the use of their own power converter to their own brand of computer, the converter-to-computer connector plug varies considerably between brands, and even within brands, to assure that only the correct voltage and amperage are provided to a given computer. With from 20 to 30 computers in one cabinet, the maze of wires from the power converters to the computers has created a significant problem in matching the appropriate power converter with its computer.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a mobile storage and charging system for a multitude of portable computers that simplifies matching the computer with its appropriate power converter.

Portable computer charging system and storage cart


This application provides a wireless charger and a control method. The wireless charger includes a class-E power amplifier and a tunable impedance circuit that is connected to an output end of the class-E power amplifier. The class-E power amplifier includes a switching transistor and a tunable capacitance circuit that is parallelly connected to the switching transistor. The wireless charger further includes a control unit, configured to obtain a constraint condition of the class-E power amplifier; determine N1 target equivalent load impedances of the class-E power amplifier based on the constraint condition; and adjust a capacitance value of the tunable capacitance circuit in the class-E power amplifier, and adjust an impedance value of the tunable impedance circuit, to enable an equivalent load impedance of the class-E power amplifier to match one of the N1 target equivalent load impedances.

A wireless charging apparatus has advantages such as a small size, high portability, and a waterproof and dustproof design favorable to an electrical device. Currently, the wireless charging apparatus is widely applied to electronic devices such as a smartphone and a wearable device.
A class-E power amplifier is widely used in the field of wireless charging by virtue of an ideal work efficiency of 100%, a simple structure, and an easy implementation.
In actual use, when a load device changes in a location and a size, there are comparatively great changes in an actual output efficiency and an output power of the class-E power amplifier. When the output power changes within a comparatively great range, damage is caused to the load device, for example, a problem of accelerating battery aging may be caused.


A housing is mounted on the exterior side of a dwelling having a storage compartment for removeably holding a litter box. A hollow open-ended tunnel interconnects the interiors of the dwelling and housing respectively. The tunnel is rigid in a cantilevered position. A pivotal door in the side of the housing or enclosure permits access for insertion or removal of the litter box. A platform panel with a central hole separates a lower compartment of the litter box from an upper compartment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of animal accessories such as a litter box, and more particularly to a novel housing mounted exteriorly of a dwelling for removably holding a litter box and which includes a tunnel communicating the interior of the dwelling with the housing to permit passage of an animal.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It has been the conventional practice to use a variety of litter boxes to accommodate collection and disposal of animal deposits and litter. Usually, the box is placed inside a dwelling so that the litter is available to an animal, such as a cat, and so that the animal does not have to leave the interior of the dwelling. Because the litter box is on the interior of the dwelling, undesirable smells, odors and spillage results intrude upon the tranquility of the interior dwelling for occupants. Furthermore, once the litter box has been used, the owner of the animal must physically transport the litter box outside of the dwelling for emptying and cleaning purposes.
Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide a novel housing which can be installed on the exterior of a dwelling into which a removable litter box can be placed. Communication means must be provided between the interior of the dwelling and the interior of the housing to permit passage of an animal therebetween in order to use the litter box.

Exterior mounted housing for animal litter box


A method of setting a scheduled viewing of broadcast content is provided. The method includes: receiving a command for setting a scheduled viewing of broadcast content; recording the scheduled broadcast content; during the recording, detecting presence of a user; and determining whether to delete the recorded broadcast content based on a result of the detecting the presence of the user.

1. Field
The present general inventive concept generally relates to a display apparatus and a scheduled viewing setting method using the same, and more particularly, to a display apparatus capable of receiving broadcast content and outputting the received broadcast content and a scheduled viewing setting method using the display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to recent developments in electronic technology, users nowadays can hardly miss desired broadcast content with the aid of a scheduled viewing function.
The scheduled viewing function is characterized by scheduling a desired broadcast program to be viewed and automatically switching to a channel corresponding to the desired broadcast program at a scheduled broadcast time so that a user can view the desired broadcast program with convenience.
However, a related-art scheduled viewing function simply involves automatically switching to a channel scheduled to be viewed, and thus may not be effective especially when a user is not present or in a situation where it is not possible to view broadcast content.
Therefore, there is a need for methods to effectively provide broadcast content even when a user is not present or in a situation where it is not possible to view the broadcast content at a scheduled broadcast time.

Display apparatus and scheduled viewing setting method using the same


In a method of automatically determining flaws of an object of examination according to the invention, rays of light are transmitted through on object of examination, while adjusting the depth of observation to make it agree with the focal length of a detected flaw, go down deeper than the focal length and come up shallower than the focal length and the brightness of transmitted light for each depth of observation is converted into a corresponding electric signal. Portions of the generated signal that are found outside a predetermined range of intensity are taken out as flaw signals and the obtained flaw signals are compared with a number of binarized flaw patterns prepared from various flaws that have been detected in advance to accurately determine the type, number and size of the detected flaws.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of detecting flaws of an object of examination by using optical and electric (electronic) means and automatically determining the type and nature of each of the detected flaws.
2. Prior Art
Flaws on and/or in a product can seriously damage the performance of the product and significantly reduce its commercial value.
For instance, foreign objects contained in the insulation layers of rubber or plastic of a cable can significantly degrade the insulation breakdown characteristics of the cable.
While the probability with which foreign objects are introduced into insulation layers of rubber or plastic insulated cables has been greatly reduced with the recent development in the field of manufacture of insulated cables, there will still be a long way to go before flawless cables are produced.
Therefore, it is of vital importance to accurately analyze the insulation breakdown characteristics of each cable by examining the type, the size and the number of the flaws of the cable if it is marketed with a reliable degree of quality assurance.
In the case of an extra high voltage power cable, a minute foreign object that can be detected only by microscopic scrutiny using a microscope of a high magnification can seriously affect the insulation breakdown characteristics of the power cable if it is contained in any of its insulation layers. Therefore, a highly reliable inspection system should be established to cope with such problems, involving a large number of specimens to be examined, in order to provide an enhanced level of quality assurance for cables of this category.
The most dangerous foreign object is, of course metal debris. In order to safely eliminate metal debris from marketed cables, the type and nature of foreign objects should be determined before knowing the size and the number of the foreign objects for each type.
It is a common practice for examining the quality of a rubber or plastic insulation layer of an insulated cable to cut out a specimen having a thickness of 0.05 to 2 mm from the layer and observe the specimen through a microscope to visually determine the type, the number and the size of the flaws found in it.
Observation of a specimen proceeds in this technique proceeds in three stages: detecting flaws in the specimen, identifying each of the detected flaws by color and shape and metering the dimensions of each of the flaws (length.times.width.times.height).
Flaws in rubber or plastic insulated cables may normally grouped into three categories: ambers, black foreign objects and voids. Metal debris are regarded as black foreign objects.
When flaws are observed through a microscope that receives rays of light transmitted through the object of examination, each may take any of the following image patterns depending on the depth of observation along the center line of the microscope running through the focal point of the lens system.
Just: signifying that the depth of observation agrees with the focal length of the flaw. Under: indicating that the depth of observation is shallower than the focal length of the flaw. Over: meaning that the depth of observation is deeper than the focal length of the flaw.
These image patterns are summarized in Table 1.
Black foreign objects clearly appear black when the depth of observation is just and blurred and black when the depth of observation is under or over.
Ambers are hardly or not recognizable when the depth of observation is just because they turn totally white and do not make difference with the ambient resin color. They take on a black margin surrounding a white inside area when the depth of observation is over, whereas they are observed as totally black when the depth of observation is under.
Voids shows a black margin with the inside appearing white when the depth of observation is just, although they look just black when the depth of observation is under or over.
The effect of the above described technique of determining flaws by observation greatly depends on the skill of the operator working at the microscope and hence subject to deviations in terms of the accuracy of observation. Moreover, it is a time and labor consuming technique.
In an attempt to bypass this problem, there have been utilized automatic flaw detecting apparatus that are popularly used in other technological fields for detecting flaws of cable insulation layers.
With an apparatus of this type, flaws in a specimen of a cable insulation layer having an appropriate thickness can be automatically detected by differences in the level of brightness of the light transmitted through the specimen.
Referring to graphs (a) and (b) of FIG. 22 of the accompanying drawings, the apparatus may automatically recognize areas having a brightness lower than a predetermined threshold level X as flaws. Conversely, areas having a brightness higher than the threshold level X may be recognized as so many flaws by the apparatus.
This technique of automatic flaw detection is, however, also not without problems.
Firstly, when flaws are automatically identified by referring to the brightness of transmitted rays of light that can be higher or lower than a threshold level X, both voids that are over or under and ambers that are under appear black to the automatic flaw detector and it fails to discriminate them from each other and from black foreign objects.
Then, the net result will be incapability of meeting the requirement of classification of flaws before counting of the number and measuring the size of the flaws as in the case of microscopic observation by men.
Secondly, not only black foreign objects in the vicinity of the surface of the specimen but also scars on the surface (that can give rise to noise) can be recognized as black by the automatic detector if the threshold level X is held too high or low to enhance the sensitivity of the detector. Then, the detector will become totally powerless for flaw detection.
Thirdly, when the specimen has an uneven thickness, thin areas (bright areas) of the specimen can be recognized as white by the automatic detector.
Such white areas may be hardly discriminated from ambers which also look white when the depth of observation agrees with the focal length of the flaws.
As far as rubber or plastic insulated power cables are concerned, an irregular interface between a semi-conductive layer and an insulation layer can also provide causes of false recognition.
Some of the technological problems related to irregular interfaces and the currently available methods for determining irregularities on interfaces will be described below.
Referring to FIG. 15 of the accompanying drawings, which illustrates in cross-section a rubber or plastic insulated power cable having an inner semi-conductive layer 11, an insulation layer 14 and an outer semi-conductive layer 12, a tree (ramified crack) can develop in the insulation layer 14 if there is an irregular area in the interface 15 of the inner and/or outer semi-conductive layer 12 and the insulation layer 14 as the electric field generated in and around the cable shows a high degree of concentration there.
A flaw of this type can also lead to a degraded performance of the cable and eventually break down the insulation layer 14.
In view of the current circumstances for power cables, where rubber or plastic insulated cables and particularly bridged polyethylene insulated cables are used for extra high voltage applications involving voltages as high as 2,75 KV, cables of this type need to be carefully and microscopically scrutinized by using a large number of specimens per each cable so that any irregularities on interfaces of layers may be rigorously checked.
A known practice of microscopically examining specimens to meet rigorous requirements for high voltage applications of sheathed cables is taking specimens (such as an object of examination 17 in FIG. 16) having a thickness of approximately 0.5 mm out of a cable by means of a microtome and then visually scrutinizing them through a microscope.
Assume here that a specimen as shown in FIG. 16 is prepared by means of a microtome. Of the specimen 17 of FIG. 16, only a limited small area 18 may be observed by a single operation of microscopic examination to produce an image, for instance, as shown in FIG. 17(A).
In FIG. 17(A), the shadowed area 11 or 12 is an opaque inner or outer semi-conductive layer of the object of examination 17 and the white area 14 indicates a transmissive insulation layer, the interface 15 of the two layers being also shown as a shadowed area.
The inner or outer semi-conductive layer 11 or 12 is tapered along the interface 15 as seen from FIG. 17(C), which is a sectional view along Y.sub.1 --Y.sub.1 line of FIG. 17(A).
An irregularity 16 found on the interface 15 is in fact part of the inner or outer semi-conductive layer 11 or 12 semispherically projecting toward the insulation layer 14 as shown in FIG. 17(C), which is a sectional view along Y.sub.2 --Y.sub.2 line of FIG. 17(A).
Then the detected irregularity 16 may be measured for its width W, height H and surface area as illustrated in FIG. 17(A). The number of irregularities in the specimen 17 may also be counted.
The above described procedure of detecting and identifying flaws (interface irregularities) is time consuming particularly when a large number of specimens are involved because the width and height of each flaw can be very small and normally found to be around several .mu.m.
Moreover, the reliability such a flaw checking technique may be questioned because it relies heavily on the human vision while minute irregularities of the order of micromillimeters need to be controlled to meet the current technological requirements.
There has been proposed a technique that utilizes the phenomenon that irregularities normally take the form of a semisphere as shown in FIG. 17(C) and present a shady graduation when they are magnified. In a detector realized by using this technique, a threshold value is set for detecting dark areas of irregularities and an electric signal is generated each time it detects an irregular spot.
While this technique may provide some help for flaw detection, it is not capable of identifying the boundary line of an irregular spot existing on the interface of a semi-conductive layer and an insulation layer because it can only detect the darkest areas of irregularities that exceed a preset threshold level of darkness.
In short, there have not been practically feasible methods and apparatus capable of automatically detecting irregularities on various interfaces.

Method of automatically determining flaws of an object of examination


A magnetic element for multi-phase is composed by burying a plurality of coils in a composite magnetic material such that a negative coupling of magnetic fluxes or a positive coupling of magnetic fluxes exists between at least two coils. This structure more miniaturizes inductors, or choke coils as the multi-phase magnetic element suitably used for application of a large current to many kinds of electronic equipment. Such multi-phase magnetic element has an excellent ripple current property.

Parts or devices used with miniaturized electronic equipment must be small and thin. On the other hand, as CPU's become highly integrated, they may require a current of several amperes to several tens of amperes. Accordingly, an inductor such as a choke coil used therewith must be small and have a low resistance. That is, the inductor must minimize inductance loss due to superimposed direct current. To make resistance low, a coil conductor should have a large cross sectional area, but this usually requires a large coil. Further, the inductance must have low loss at high frequencies. And since manufacturers are always seeking less expensive parts, inductors should comprise elements of simple shapes that are easy to manufacture. In particular, an inexpensive, miniaturized inductor is needed that can be used with a large current and at high frequencies. However, the high frequency and the large current of a switching frequency make it difficult to both miniaturize the parts that utilize the switching frequency and make the switching circuit highly efficient, because either a switching element increases losses or magnetism of the choke coil is saturated.
Therefore, recently, a circuit system called a multi-phase system has been adopted. For example, in a 4-phase system, four pieces of switching elements and four pieces of choke coils are used in parallel. In this circuit, for example, respective elements are driven at a switching frequency of 500 kHz, DC superimposed of 10 A, and the phase being 90° off. They apparently actuate at the driving frequency of 2 MHz and performance of DC superimposed of 40 A, thereby lowering a ripple current. Thus, the multi-phase system is a power circuit system which can realize large current and high frequency.
The above-mentioned circuit utilizes a coil and a ferrite core of EE type or EI type. The ferrite material, however, has comparatively high permeability and lower saturated flux density in comparison with metallic magnetic materials. Therefore, with a ferrite core, the inductance largely drops due to magnetic saturation, so that the property of DC superimposed tends to be low. Therefore, to improve the property of DC superimposed, the ferrite core is provided with a cavity at one portion, in a magnetic path thereof for use by decreasing the apparent permeability. However, in this method, is difficult to use with a large current because the saturated flux density is low. Having the cavity at one portion in the magnetic path of the ferrite core generates a noisy beating sound in the ferrite core.
In addition, as the core material, it employs Fe—Si—Al or Fe—Ni alloys having a larger saturated flux density than that of the ferrite. But these metallic materials have low electric resistance, so that eddy current loss is large. To compensate, these materials are made thin and laminated with insulating layers, which increases costs.
In contrast, a dust core made by forming metallic magnetic particles has a much larger saturated flux density than that of a soft magnetic ferrite, and has excellent superimposed DC current properties. Therefore, the dust core is advantageous in miniaturizing the circuitry, and no cavity is necessary, which eliminates the beating sound. A core loss of the dust core consists of a hysteresis loss and the eddy current loss, and the eddy current loss increases in proportion to square of the frequency and square of the flowing size of the eddy current. Therefore, the surfaces of the metallic magnetic particles are covered with electric insulation resin for suppressing eddy currents. On the other hand, since the dust core is generally formed at a pressure of more than several ton/cm2, strain increases as a magnetic substance and permeability decreases, so that the hysteresis loss increases. To avoid this, methods to relieve strain are proposed. For example, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. H6-342714, the same No. H8-37107, and No. H9-125108, heat treatments after forming are performed.
To further miniaturize, built-in cores are also proposed, for instance, in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. S54-163354 and the same No. S61-136213. These examples of prior art use cores with ferrite dispersed in resins.
However, when a plurality of inductors are arranged to accommodate multiple multi-phases, installing spaces become large and the circuit becomes expensive. Since a plurality of cores used in the multi-phases have dispersions in inductance values, the ripple current property decreases and the efficiency of the power source also decreases.

Method of manufacturing a magnetic element for multi-phase

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


The invention describes an assay for detecting amplified target nucleic acid sequences with a visual signal. The sensitivity and specificity of the methodology are based on bifunctional target labeling during the amplification step or subsequent hybridization that generates a bifunctional label. The invention may be used, for example, in the screening of amplicon detection for the purpose of more efficiently screening libraries. The invention is also useful to detect nucleic acid sequences indicative of a genetic defect or contagious disease when used with the appropriate primers, as well as detect the existence of nucleic acid amplification.

In current research and development process involving process involving nucleic acid (DNA and RNA) amplifications, there is a need for rapid, accurate qualitative determination of the results from such experiments. Traditionally, such determinations require the preparation of gels, for example, agarose, for electrophoresis of amplified nucleic acids and the use of a nucleic acid intercalating agent, for example, ethidium bromide, which is fluorescent under ultraviolet light. Generally, agarose gels are cast by melting a measured amount of agarose in a buffer resulting in a transparent solution. The melted agarose is poured into a mold and allowed to harden. The mold includes sample wells for adding the nucleic acids to be analyzed. In order to detect the nucleic acid, ethidium bromide is included in the buffer used to prepare the gel or the gel is stained with ethidium bromide after electrophoresis. Samples of the nucleic acids to be analyzed are mixed with a loading buffer and deposited into the sample wells. The gel is then subjected to a certain applied voltage resulting in the lateral migration of the nucleic acid through the gel. This method requires a power supply and an apparatus for casting and running the gels. Additionally, an ultraviolet light box is required for detecting the nucleic acid, requiring the use of protective eye wear. Further, the use of ethidium bromide poses an health hazard as it is a carcinogen, a powerful mutagen and moderately toxic. The qualitative determination process, as described above, is time consuming, requires special precautions for the handling and disposing of ethidium bromide, requires the purchase of specialized equipment, poses a potential health hazard and requires specialized training in the use of the necessary equipment. The sensitivity of the method is low and since equipment is used many times over, the possibility of contamination is also present.
The introduction of nucleic acid probe tests based on hybridization into routine clinical laboratory procedures has been hindered by lack of sensitivity when compared with conventional culture techniques and immunoassays. To increase sensitivity, radioactive labels are used. The problem with the use of such radioactive labels is the laboratory management of radioisotopes and the disposal thereof. To some degree, non-isotopic labels are used to overcome this problem. However, non-isotopic methods do not possess adequate sensitivity and are cumbersome and laborious to run. In order to achieve the sensitivity needed for diagnostics, the incubation times of the current methodologies must be long, taking up to several hours or days. The current non-isotopic methodologies also employ many steps, requiring previous training and expertise.
The ability to amplify nucleic acids from clinical samples has greatly advanced nucleic acid probe technology, providing the sensitivity lacking in earlier versions of non-isotopic assays. The sensitivity afforded by oligonucleotide probe tests utilizing nucleic acid amplification now exceeds that of any other method. However, the method is still time consuming, requiring the use of specialized hybridization techniques and equipment, transfer to solid phases and specialized detection equipment.
The detection of amplified nucleic acids for clinical use largely relies on hybridization of the amplified product with a detection probe that is labeled with a variety of enzymes and luminescent reagents. U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,524 to Miller, describes a nucleic acid probe assay which combines nucleic acid amplification and solution hybridization using capture and reporter probes. These techniques require multiple reagents, several washing steps, and specialized equipment for detection of the target nucleic acid. Moreover, these techniques are labor intensive and require technicians with expertise in molecular biology.
The use of probes comprised of oligonucleotide sequences bound to microparticles is well known and illustrated in the prior art. The mechanism for attachment of oligonucleotides to microparticles in hybridization assays and for the purification of nucleic acids is also well known. European Patent No. 200 133 describes the attachment of oligonucleotides to water-insoluble particles less than 50 micrometers in diameter used in hybridization assays for the capture of target nucleotides. U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,510 to Wu, describes the use of oligonucleotide sequences covalently bound to microparticles as probes for capturing PCR amplified nucleic acids. U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,825 to Findlay also describes an oligonucleotide linked by way of a protein or carbohydrate to a water-insoluble particle. The oligonucleotide probe is covalently coupled to the microparticle or other solid support. The sensitivity and specificity of the four above-reference patents, each of which is specifically incorporated herein, is based on hybridization of the oligonucleotide probe to the target nucleic acid.
The use of incorporated non-radioactive labels into the amplification reactions for the detection of nucleic acids is also well known in the art. Nucleic acids modified with biotin (U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,732 to Ward et al.; European Patent No. 063879; both specifically incorporated herein), digoxin (European Patent No. 173251, specifically incorporated herein) and other haptens have also been used. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,757 to Graf, specifically incorporated herein, uses a nucleic acid probe containing at least one hapten as a label for hybridization with a complementary target nucleic acid bound to a solid membrane. The sensitivity and specificity of these assays is based on the incorporation of a single label in the amplification reaction which can be detected using an antibody specific to the label. The usual case involves an antibody conjugated to an enzyme. Furthermore, the addition of substrate generates a colorimetric or fluorescent change which can be detected with an instrument.
Still, the above-described approaches are labor intensive with many steps and washes; require special and costly equipment for the detection of the target nucleic acid; require trained staff; and take a several hours to complete. Several patents have issued which deal with automation of the processes of amplification and subsequent detection of the amplicon. These patents use specialized equipment and are still based on the principle of hybridization and immunoassay technology. For example, European Patent No. 320308, specifically incorporated herein, describes a system for detecting target nucleic acids amplified by the ligase chain reaction.
Automated approaches eliminate the need for specially trained personnel, however, the cost of the equipment is very high and the possibility of contamination still exits since many samples will be processed by the same equipment.
The use of bifunctional labels for detection of an amplified target sequence has been explored using the ligase chain reaction (European Patent No. 320308, supra). Upon completion of the amplification by the ligation process, double stranded DNA is formed with biotin bound at one end and fluorescein bound at the other end. The labeled nucleic acid serves as an analyte in a two site immunometric assay. That is, a microparticle coated with anti-fluorescein antibodies captures the ligated product; after a wash step, a second biotin specific antibody labeled with alkaline phosphatase binds to the biotin yielding a fluorescent signal when incubated with a suitable substrate. The signal can be read with a fluourmeter. This system is based on immunometric technology and requires specialized equipment for detection of the target nucleic acid.

Detection of amplified nucleic acid sequences using bifunctional haptenization and dyed microparticles


A liquid crystal display panel including power supply lines and a liquid crystal display including the liquid crystal display panel. A liquid crystal display panel includes a first substrate including a plurality of gate lines, and a plurality of data lines that are formed so as to intersect the plurality of gate lines, a second substrate that faces the first substrate and includes a plurality of color filters, a power supply unit that supplies power to a light source, power supply lines that are formed on the first substrate so as to be electrically connected to the power supply units, and a flexible printed circuit board that is electrically connected to the power supply lines.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display panel having power supply lines and, more specifically, to a liquid crystal display panel having power supply lines formed on a substrate to supply power to a light source and to a liquid crystal display including the liquid crystal display panel.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Lamp types of line light sources, such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp and an external electrode fluorescent lamp, have been used for backlight units for notebook computers. A reflecting plate is used with the lamp type of line light source, and the thickness of an optical waveguide corresponding to the thickness of the lamp is used, which results in an increase in the thickness and weight of a module. In addition, a high voltage induction inverter is used to turn on the lamp, resulting in an increase in power consumption.
Therefore, in order to avoid factors such as increased thickness, weight and power consumption, backlight units using light emitting diodes as light sources have been used. The use of the light emitting diode in the backlight unit makes it possible to reduce the thickness and power consumption of the backlight unit and to improve the brightness and color reproducibility.
In general, in the backlight unit using the light emitting diode, a data driver and a light source of the backlight unit are arranged opposite to each other with a liquid crystal display panel interposed therebetween, and the data driver is bent toward the rear side of the liquid crystal display panel. In this case, a flexible printed circuit board is used to connect the light source and a power supply mounted on a printed circuit board of the data driver in order to supply power to the light source unit. However, since the printed circuit board of the data driver is far from the light source unit, a flexible printed circuit board having a large length is needed, which results in an increase in the manufacturing costs of the flexible printed circuit board. In addition, the flexible printed circuit board having a large length may not be taut and may be bent.

Liquid crystal display panel having power supply lines and liquid crystal display


An auxiliary contact unit for a magnetic contactor is disclosed, wherein the auxiliary contact unit is disposed at an inner lower frame thereof with a cover connected to lower hooks and supporting an upper structure, and the cover is supported at a lower surface thereof by a protrusion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an auxiliary contact unit for a magnetic contactor, and more particularly, to an auxiliary contact unit securely attachable to a magnetic contactor.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
Generally, a magnetic contactor is connected to a wire connected to a system, and opens and closes a circuit on the system. An auxiliary contact unit is used along with the magnetic contactor and functions to open and close a weak current or a low level current employed for, for example, a control signal.
The auxiliary contact unit is typically attachable to a lateral surface or an upper surface of the magnetic contactor, and a certain magnetic contactor has a built-in auxiliary contact unit. A movable unit of an auxiliary contact unit is attached to a magnetic contactor and at the same time is connected to a movable unit of the magnetic contactor to open and close a contact point of the auxiliary contact unit in response to opening/closing operation of the magnetic contactor, and to turn on and turn off the current flowing in the auxiliary contact unit.
One of the methods of attaching an auxiliary contact unit to a magnetic contactor is a snap-fit connection method, but, in order to obtain a secure attachment, a screw or a bolt/nut are used. Regardless of the attachment methods, an auxiliary contact unit must be securely attached to a magnetic contactor in order to withstand or absorb vibrations and shocks that might be involved with opening and closing of the magnetic contactor.
Hereunder, configuration of the conventional auxiliary contact unit, and an attachment method of an auxiliary contact unit to a magnetic contactor will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a magnetic contactor attached with an auxiliary contact unit according to prior art. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an auxiliary contact unit according to the prior art, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a conventional magnetic contactor.
Referring to FIG. 1, a magnetic contactor (10) is attached at one side thereof with an auxiliary contact unit (20), where the auxiliary contact unit is attached across a part of an upper frame and a lower frame of the magnetic contactor. At this time, the auxiliary contact unit (20) is equipped with a plurality of hooks and lugs at an attachment frame thereof to which the magnetic contactor (10) is attached, as shown in FIG. 2.
In other words, a frame of the auxiliary contact unit (20) is lengthwise provided at an upper surface thereof with a cross-bar lug insertion groove (22) from which a cross-bar lug (21) of the auxiliary contact unit (20) is protruded for vertical movement, and the cross-bar lug insertion groove (22) is formed at left and right sides thereof with upper hooks (23). Furthermore, the frame of the auxiliary contact unit (20) is provided at left and right lower surfaces thereof with fixed lugs (25) and further down there are formed with lower hooks (27).
Referring now to FIG. 3, the magnetic contactor (10) is formed with grooves at positions corresponding to the plurality of hooks and lugs provided at the auxiliary contact unit (20). In other words, upper hook insertion grooves (13) into which the cross-bar insertion groove (11) and the upper hooks (23) are inserted are formed at an upper frame of the magnetic contactor (10), while fixed lug insertion grooves (15) into which the fixed lugs (25) of the auxiliary contact unit (20) are inserted, and lower hook insertion grooves (17) into which the lower hooks (27) are inserted, are formed at a lower frame of the magnetic contactor (10).
Accordingly, the auxiliary contact unit (20) can be attached to the magnetic contactor (10) by inserting the cross-bar lug (21) inserted into an interior of the auxiliary contact unit (20) into the cross-bar lug insertion groove (11) of the magnetic contactor (10), and inserting the upper hooks (23), the fixed lugs (25) and the lower hooks (27) into the upper hook insertion grooves (13), the fixed lug insertion grooves (15) and the lower hook insertion grooves (17) respectively.
At this time, the auxiliary contact unit (20) can be easily attached to the magnetic contactor (10) by the elastic force of a compression spring disposed at a lower inside thereof, the detailed explanation of which will be given with reference to FIGS. 4a and 4b.
FIG. 4a is a lower horizontal cross-sectional view of an auxiliary contact unit according to prior art, FIG. 4b is a schematic view of a spring cover and a lower hook applied to an auxiliary contact unit according to the prior art and FIG. 4c is a schematic view in which the spring cover of FIG. 4a is removed.
Throughout the drawings, elements, parts or portions similar to or corresponding to those in FIG. 1 to FIG. 3 are designated by like reference numerals.
As illustrated in the drawings, the lower hooks (27) are connected to a cover (28), and the cover (28) is installed thereunder with a compression spring (29). The auxiliary contact unit (20) can be easily attached to the magnetic contactor (10) by inserting the lower hooks (27) of the auxiliary contact unit (20) to the lower hook insertion grooves (17) of the magnetic contactor (10) and using the elastic force of the cover (28) and the compression spring (29).
However, the conventional auxiliary contact unit attachable according to the above method suffers from a number of shortcomings that make it inefficient, for example but not limited thereto, in retaining attachment force thereof.
In other words, although the compression spring facilitates the attachment of the auxiliary contact unit to the magnetic contactor, and serves to support an auxiliary contact and protects the auxiliary contact against shocks or vibrations caused by continued ON/OFF operations of the magnetic contactor, the elastic force of the compression spring comes to deteriorate as time passes and the ON/OFF operations continue, thereby weakening the support strong enough to retain the attachment force of the auxiliary contact unit.

Auxiliary contact unit for magnetic contactor