A signal processing system and method for stabilizing cascaded integrator-comb (CIC) interpolation filters. The signal processing system includes an overflow detection circuit and reset circuitry. The overflow detection circuit monitors the output of the CIC interpolation filter for an overflow condition which is indicative of filter instability. When an overflow condition is detected, the reset circuitry automatically resets the filter, thereby eliminating the instability.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to signal processors. More particularly, the invention relates to signal processing systems and methods with cascaded integrator-comb interpolation filters.
2. Description of Related Art
Significant advancements in digital signal processing are due largely to advancements in integrated-circuit fabrication and digital computer technology. That is, the rapid developments in integrated-circuit technology, particularly very-large-scale integration (VLSI) of electronic circuits, have lead to the development of powerful and inexpensive digital computers and special-purpose digital hardware. These inexpensive and relatively fast digital systems are capable of performing complex digital signal processing techniques, which are usually too difficult and/or too expensive to be performed by analog circuitry or analog signal processing systems.
As such, digital signal processing is now commonly employed in a wide variety of applications including communication systems (e.g., cellular, wireless, and radar systems), image processing, and speech processing.
Sample rate conversion techniques (or processes) are typically performed by digital processing systems. In general, such techniques digitally convert the sample rate of a signal to a different rate. When the converted sample rate is lower than the original sampling rate, the process is called decimation. When the converted sample rate is higher, the process is called interpolation. In effect, decimation reduces the number of samples, whereas interpolation creates additional samples of an original signal from a reduced set of samples.
Interpolation is required in systems such as digital transmitters where the signal to be transmitted, at a given carrier frequency, must be sampled at a rate which is at least twice the frequency of a carrier signal. For example, speech--which is typically sampled at 8,000 samples per second (8 KHz)--must be interpolated up to a sample rate of 50 million samples per second (50 MHz) before it can be modulated to carrier frequencies up to 25 million cycles per second (25 MHz).
Conventionally, signal processors have utilized a wide variety of interpolation filters to achieve this end. An efficient interpolation filter for this purpose was described in an article by Eugene B. Hogenhauer, "An Economical Class of Digital Filters for Decimation and Interpolation," IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Vol. ASSP 29, No. 2, April 1981. The filter disclosed in the Hogenhauer article is called a cascaded integrator-comb (CIC) interpolation filter. The CIC interpolator filter represented a significant advancement in the art and has since become the filter of choice for many applications.
CIC interpolation filters are constructed as a series of "N" comb filter circuits (subtractors), followed by a zero pad circuit, followed by a series of "N" integrator circuits (adders). The comb section of the filter operates at a low sample rate, whereas the integrator section of the filter operates at a high sampling rate. Typically, the interpolation factor (R) is set between 2 and 10,000. The number of stages (N) is selected according to the desired level of accuracy. The lowest practical number of stages commonly employed today is 3 (lowest accuracy) and the highest is 5 (highest accuracy). Typical filters have 4 stages.
In operation, each comb circuit outputs the difference between its current input sample and its previous input sample. The zero pad circuit outputs the current input sample followed by "R-1" zero samples. Each integrator circuit outputs the sum of its current input sample with its previous output sample. The output of the last integrator stage is the interpolated output of the CIC interpolation filter.
Implementing a CIC interpolation filter generally involves the following three requirements: 1) the filter must be reset before use; 2) addition and subtractions must be performed using modulo arithmetic; and 3) the word size in the subtracters, adders, and storage elements must be large enough to accommodate the arithmetic gain of the filter. The first requirement is typically satisfied by clearing all storage elements before use. The second requirement is satisfied by using sign-2's-complement arithmetic. With respect to the third requirement, the Hogenhauer article disclosed that the requirement is satisfied if the last integrator stage can accommodate at least a sample (word) size of B.sub.out bits, where B.sub.out =(B.sub.in +log.sub.2 R.sup.(N-1)), B.sub.in is the number of bits per input sample, and R is the interpolation factor. In other words, the output of the last integrator stage (and thus the filter) must be able to accommodate an amplitude gain of R.sup.(N-1).
There are many significant advantages of CIC interpolation filters including that: no multipliers are required (i.e., processing is done with simple subtraction and addition functions); no storage is required for filter coefficients or large blocks of input samples; the structure of the filter is very "regular," primarily consisting of two basic building blocks (comb filters and integrators); little external control or complicated local timing is required; and the same filter design can easily be used for a wide range of applications. For example, CIC interpolation filters require only "N" comb filters, "N" integrators, and "2N" storage elements to interpolate by very large amounts. This contrasts with other interpolation systems and methods that generally require at least log.sub.2 R multipliers and adders. See Crochier et al., "Interpolation and Decimation of Digital Signals-A Tutorial Review," Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 69, No. 3, March 1981.
When properly designed and initialized, CIC interpolation filters are considerably stable and can process, without error, for extended periods of time. That is, the combination of the comb filters and the integrator allow the CIC interpolation filter to continuously operate in its intended manner.
Conventional CIC interpolation filters, however, have sustained disadvantages. That is, a change in filter parameters (e.g., the interpolation factor "R")or the interjection of circuit noise causes unbounded growth, thereby rendering the CIC interpolation filter unstable. In general, there is a processing balance between the comb and integrator sections of the filter, such that processed output samples of the filter remain within predetermined amplitude thresholds or limits. In other words, input samples are preconditioned by the comb section so that amplitude overflows do not occur in the integrator sections. When the parameters are changed or noise is interjected, variances (or errors) in samples being processed occur. These variances, in turn, are further acerbated, typically without bound, by the integrators.
Once a conventional CIC interpolation filter becomes unstable it must be manually reset. As a practical matter, instability caused by the changing of filter parameters is not a significant problem because the change is initiated by the application (or user); the application "knows" that the filter becomes unstable at the time of such change. Accordingly, a properly designed application will merely reset the filter after it changes the parameters.
Circuit noise, however, is random, caused for example by fluctuations in electrical power sources, atmospheric disturbances (such as lightening, physical shock, high energy radiation particles), or other unpredictable events. Since these events are infrequent and hard to detect, an application is typically designed to wait until a complete system failure occurs, determine if the failure is due to a CIC interpolation filter instability, and only then reset the filter. For example, in a wireless communication application this type of instability, albeit infrequent, is catastrophic in that the channel is completely lost requiring the user to initiate another connection. Indeed, the instability problem may cause such bandwidth growth that would affect other channels in the cellular system.
Another example, where the instability of conventional CIC interpolation filters is a major problem which prevents their use, is in satellites where high energy radiation particles are common. Furthermore, in such a space- and energy-constrained application, the provision of any additional circuitry that might otherwise be required to monitor for instability would be costly and undesirable.

Signal processing system and method for enhanced cascaded integrator-comb interpolation filter stabilization


A process for producing synthesis gas, the process including the steps of: a) in a reforming reactor, reacting a hydrocarbon feed stream together with an oxidant gas stream, thereby producing a first synthesis gas stream; b) providing a heated CO2 rich gas stream to an adiabatic post converter including a second catalyst active for catalyzing steam methane reforming, methanation and reverse water gas shift reactions; and c) in the adiabatic reforming post converter, letting at least a part of the first synthesis gas stream and the heated CO2 rich gas stream undergo steam methane reforming, methanation and reverse water gas shift reactions to thereby provide a product gas stream, the product gas stream being a synthesis gas stream. Also, a system for producing synthesis gas.

Catalytic synthesis gas production by steam reforming of a hydrocarbon feed has been known for decades. The endothermic steam reforming reaction is typically carried out in a steam methane reformer (SMR). A steam reformer or steam methane reformer has a number of catalyst filled tubes placed in a furnace or fired heater to provide the heat for the endothermic reaction. The tubes are normally 10-14 meters in length and 7-15 cm in inner diameter. The heat for the endothermic reaction is supplied by combustion of fuels in burners in the furnace. The synthesis gas exit temperature from the steam reformer depends on the application of the synthesis gas but will normally be in the range from 650° C.-980° C.
It is known that carbon formation on the catalyst used in catalytic synthesis gas production by steam reforming is a challenge, especially for production of synthesis gasses with a relatively low H2/CO ratio. Therefore, catalysts resistant to carbon formation are required. Such carbon resistant catalysts are e.g. noble metal catalysts, partly passivated nickel catalysts, and promoted nickel catalysts. Moreover, industrial scale reforming of CO2 rich gas typically requires a co-feed of water to decrease the severity of the gas for carbon formation. From a thermodynamic viewpoint, it is advantageous to have a high concentration of CO2 and a low concentration of steam in the feed stream to promote the production of synthesis gas with a low H2/CO ratio. However, operation at such conditions may not be feasible due to the possibility of carbon formation on the catalyst.
Alternative production of a synthesis gas with a low H2/CO ratio by steam reforming is a sulfur passivated reforming (SPARG) process which may be used for producing synthesis gas with a relatively low H2/CO ratio. This process requires desulfurization of the produced synthesis gas to produce a sulphur free synthesis gas.
More details of various processes for producing synthesis gas with low H2/CO-ratio can be found in "Industrial scale experience on steam reforming of CO2-rich gas", P. M. Mortensen & I. Dybkjær, Applied Catalysis A: General, 495 (2015), 141-151.
The terms "reforming" and "methane reforming" are meant to denote a reforming reaction according to one or more of the following reactions:CH4+H2O↔CO+3H2  (i)CH4+2H2O↔CO2+4H2  (ii)CH4+CO2↔2CO+2H2  (iii)
Reactions (i) and (ii) are steam methane reforming reactions, whilst reaction (iii) is the dry methane reforming reaction.
For higher hydrocarbons, viz. CnHm, where n≥2, m≥4, equation (i) is generalized as:CnHm+nH2O→nCO+(n+m/2)H2  (iv),where n≥2, m≥4
Typically, reforming is accompanied by the water gas shift reaction (v):CO+H2O↔CO2+H2  (v)
The term "steam methane reforming" is meant to cover the reactions (i) and (ii) running from the left towards the right side of the arrow, whilst the term "methanation" is meant to cover the reactions (i) and/or (ii) running from the right towards the left side of the arrow. Thus, the term "steam methane reforming/methanation reactions" is meant to denote the reactions (i) and (ii) running towards equilibrium. The term "reverse water gas shift" is meant to denote the reaction (v) running from the right towards the left side of the arrow. In most cases, all of these reactions are at, or close to, equilibrium at the outlet from the catalyst bed or catalyst zone of the reactor concerned.
Processes based on Autothermal Reforming (ATR) is an alternative route to production of synthesis gas, especially when a low ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide is required. The main elements of an ATR reactor are a burner, a combustion chamber, and a catalyst bed contained within a refractory lined pressure shell. In an ATR reactor, partial combustion of the hydrocarbon feed by sub-stoichiometric amounts of oxygen is followed by steam reforming of the partially combusted hydrocarbon feed stream in a fixed bed of steam reforming catalyst. Steam reforming also takes place to some extent in the combustion chamber due to the high temperature. The steam reforming reaction is accompanied by the water gas shift reaction. Typically, the gas is at or close to equilibrium at the outlet of the reactor with respect to steam reforming and water gas shift reactions. The temperature of the exit gas is typically in the range between 850 and 1100° C. More details of ATR and a full description can be found in the art such as "Studies in Surface Science and Catalysis, Vol. 152," Synthesis gas production for FT synthesis"; Chapter 4, p. 258-352, 2004".
ATR uses oxygen and steam, and optionally also carbon dioxide, in a reaction with a hydrocarbon feed stream to form synthesis gas. The ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide in the exit gas depends upon the selected operation conditions including the amount of steam and carbon dioxide added to the hydrocarbon feed stream and/or the ATR reactor. Increasing the amount of carbon dioxide will decrease the hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio in the product gas, but will also increase the size of the reactor due to the higher flow.
It is an object of the invention to provide a process and system for producing synthesis gas with a predetermined H2/CO ratio. It is also an object of the invention to provide a process and system for production of synthesis gas with a low H2/CO ratio, preferably without producing excess H2. It is furthermore an object of the present invention to provide a system and a process for production of a synthesis gas, where the reforming reactor is an ATR reactor and where the system and process has lower oxygen consumption and with a reduced size of the ATR reactor. It is also an object of the invention to provide a process and system providing a high CO production from a reforming plant. It is a further object of the invention to provide a process and system which are useful as a revamp of an existing process and system, in a case where it is required to change the composition of the product gas stream towards producing more carbon monoxide from an existing process and system or for increasing the carbon monoxide production capacity.

Process and system for producing synthesis gas


Data access optimization features the innovative use of a writer-present flag when acquiring read-locks and write-locks. Setting a writer-present flag indicates that a writer desires to modify a particular data. This serves as an indicator to readers and writers waiting to acquire read-locks or write-locks not to acquire a lock, but rather to continue waiting (i.e., spinning) until the write-present flag is cleared. As opposed to conventional techniques in which readers and writers are not locked out until the writer acquires the write-lock, the writer-present flag locks out other readers and writers once a writer begins waiting for a write-lock (that is, sets a writer-present flag). This feature allows a write-lock method to acquire a write-lock without having to contend with waiting readers and writers trying to obtain read-locks and write-locks, such as when using conventional spinlock implementations.

A fundamental issue surrounding locking of data is the need to provide synchronization in certain code paths in a kernel. These code paths, called critical sections, require a combination of concurrency, or re-entrance protection, and proper ordering with respect to other events occurring in the kernel. A typical result without proper locking is called a race condition. Even a simple operation such as the C++ command of "i++" (incrementing the variable "i") is dangerous if the variable is shared! Consider a common case of a multi-processor system where one processor reads i, then another processor reads i, then both processors increment i, then both processors write i back to memory. If i were originally 2, i should now be 4, but in this case, i is in fact 3.
Operating systems, such as a Linux kernel, provide two kinds of locks, read-locks and write-locks, used by readers and writers, respectively. Typically, multiple threads can safely read data concurrently, as long as nothing modifies the data during reading. Therefore, there can be multiple concurrent readers (each with its own read-lock), but only a single writer (with a write-lock) with no concurrent readers.
Traditionally, read-write-locks are implemented in Linux using spinlocks. Read-write locks scale well in terms of performance in a "mostly-readers" case, wherein data structures in critical sections are infrequently modified. On the other hand, when a writer wants to modify data structures in a critical section, a write-lock is taken, wherein all readers and subsequent writers are blocked until the write-lock is relinquished. When there are a moderate to high number of writers, known as a "mostly-writers" case, the read-write-lock's implementation fails miserably due to writer starvation, wherein writers waiting for a write-lock have to wait until all the readers relinquish the lock. Read-write locks scales well only for "mostly-readers" case at the cost of poor performance in case, writers are present.
Additionally, read-write-lock implemented in a standard Linux kernel is not optimized for cache access and causes many cache invalidations while spinning, especially when writers are also present. This high incidence of cache invalidations is mainly attributed to the fact that even blocked spinning readers and writers still keep on modifying the cache to check whether the lock has been released or not. As is known in the field, the process of checking if the lock is release or not includes doing some write operation on lock and check if the lock is available, this causes the cache invalidation of the memory associated with lock for all CPUs accessing the memory. This implementation has become a hugely degrading factor in the newest Intel processors, such as a Sandy Bridge processor, which has the latest cache-sync protocols and other hardware optimizations for cache behavior. These cache invalidations start to degrade performance even more when we use per-CPU locks in multi-core architectures like the Sandy Bridge (with 2 sockets of 8 cores each), because a dramatic increase in the number of spinning locks results in more frequent cache modifications. Furthermore, the increase makes read-write-locks even harder to acquire.
There is therefore a need for an optimization of spinlock-based read-write locks that scales well in terms of performance in both mostly-readers and mostly-writers cases, and also optimizes utilization of the CPU cache to reduce cache invalidations, as compared to conventional techniques.

Optimization of data locks for improved write lock performance and CPU cache usage in multi core architectures


An apparatus for dispensing liquids onto a rotating surface. In one embodiment the apparatus includes one or more dispense lines, each dispense line having a tube and a tubular fitting connected to a nozzle. In another embodiment the apparatus includes a heat exchanger providing circulation of a heat transfer medium between the annular regions defined by the tubes inside the dispense lines through a fluid channel in communication with the annular regions. A method of heating a dispense line. The method includes the steps of flowing a heating medium through the annular region of one dispense line to another through a fluid channel in communicating with the annular regions.

The present invention generally relates to fluid dispense arm assemblies and methods of using the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fluid dispense arm assembly and methods for dispensing photoresist and developer compounds on semiconductor substrate material.
Integrated circuits are typically constructed by depositing a series of individual layers of predetermined materials on a wafer shaped semiconductor substrate, or xe2x80x9cwaferxe2x80x9d. The individual layers of the integrated circuit are in turn produced by a series of manufacturing steps. For example, in forming an individual circuit layer on a wafer containing a previously formed circuit layer, an oxide, such as silicon dioxide, is deposited over the previously formed circuit layer to provide an insulating layer for the circuit. A pattern for the next circuit layer is then formed on the wafer using a radiation alterable material, known as photoresist. Photoresist materials are generally composed of a mixture of organic resins, sensitizers and solvents. Sensitizers are compounds, such as diazonaphthaquinones, that undergo a chemical change upon exposure to radiant energy, such as visible and ultraviolet light resulting in an irradiated material having differing salvation characteristics with respect to various solvents than the nonirradiated material. Resins are used to provide mechanical strength to the photoresist and the solvents serve to lower the viscosity of the photoresist so that it can be uniformly applied to the surface of the wafers. After a photoresist layer is applied to the wafer surface, the solvents are evaporated and the photoresist layer is hardened, usually by heat treating the wafer. The photoresist layer is then selectively irradiated by placing a radiation opaque mask containing a transparent portion defining the pattern for the next circuit layer over the photoresist layer and then exposing the photoresist layer to radiation. The photoresist layer is then exposed to a solvent, known as developer, in which either the irradiated or the nonirradiated photoresist is soluble, which removes the photoresist in the pattern defined by the mask, selectively exposing portions of the oxide insulating layer. The exposed portions of the insulating layer are then selectively removed using an etchant to expose corresponding sections of the underlying circuit layer. It is important that the remaining photoresist be resistant to the etchant, so as to limit the attack of the etchant to only the exposed portions of the insulating layer. Following the etching process, the next circuit is deposited and the remaining photoresist is stripped from the surface of the wafer typically through the use of a solvent.
Photoresist and developer materials are typically applied to the wafer using a spin coating technique in which the photoresist is sprayed on the surface of the wafer as the wafer is spun on a rotating chuck. The spinning of the wafer distributes the photoresist over the surface of the material and exerts a shearing force that separates the excess photoresist from the wafer thereby providing a thin layer of photoresist on the surface of the wafer. It is necessary to produce a highly uniform photoresist layer to enable the subsequent circuit layers to be precisely placed on the wafer; however, a number of process conditions, such as photoresist temperature, system temperature, photoresist dispensing velocity, rotational speed, system air flow and solvent evaporation rate, greatly affect the characteristics of the photoresist layer.
Many of the prior art attempts to provide a dispense system that produces a more uniform photoresist or developer coating have generally focussed on only a limited number of the aforementioned conditions. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,427,820 issued to Biche discloses a photoresist dispense line which incorporates an annular flow path, surrounding an internal photoresist dispense line, in which a heat transfer medium is circulated to control the temperature of the photoresist and related U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,222 issued to Hurtig discloses a method for controlling the solvent evaporation rate in the spin coating apparatus. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,813 issued to Rodrigues discloses a method to distribute photoresist on the wafer by varying the rotational speed of the wafer during the dispensing and drying process. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,020,200 issued to Mimasaka and 5,429,912 issued to Neoh disclose nozzle designs directed toward decreasing the force with which the photoresist or developer contacts the wafer surface by redirecting the flow of photoresist prior to contacting the surface of the wafer.
The prior art apparatuses and methods have only provided limited insight as to solutions to the problem of a nonuniform air flow field caused by the presence of the dispense line above the spinning wafer. The Biche patent notes that prior art heat transfer dispense devices are sufficiently large so as to block air flow which leads to non-uniform coatings (col. 2, lines 34-38) and suggests that the dispense line of the Biche patent was sufficiently small so that minimal interference to air flow occurs which results in uniform coatings (col. 6, lines 28-31). However, the presence of the dispense line remains an obstruction that causes nonuniformities in the air flow near the wafer.
The present invention is directed to apparatuses and methods for which overcome, among others, the above-discussed problems so as to provide a flow field having increased uniformity over the prior art resulting in more uniform coating being formed on the wafer and an apparatus that is easily maintained during operations.
The above objects and others are accomplished by a method and apparatus in accordance with the present invention. The apparatus is a dispense arm that includes first and second dispense lines connected to at least one liquid source to permit the dispensing of liquids from the first and second dispense lines on to a rotating surface. In a preferred embodiment, the first and second dispense lines are tubular and have first and second dispense tubes disposed within the interior region of the first and second dispense lines, respectively. The first and second dispense tubes define first and second annular regions in the dispense lines, which are preferably connected by a fluid channel. A heat exchanger is attached to the first and second annular region to enable a heat transfer medium to be circulated through the first and second annular regions and the fluid channel to control the temperature of the liquid to be dispensed.
Also in a preferred embodiment, a solvent dispense line is disposed between the first and second dispense lines and a vapor solvent bath is provided containing a purge section including a cleaning member to allow excess coating material to be rinsed from the first and second dispense lines.
Accordingly, the present invention provides an improved apparatus and method to control the air flow surrounding a rotating surface and to dispense liquids on the rotating surface in more than one position to provide the capability to fully coat larger surface in a cost effective and timely manner. These and other details, objects, and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following detailed description of the present preferred embodiment thereof proceeds.

Dispenser apparatus and associated method of heating


An optical pickup device comprises a light source to emit a light flux having wavelength λ; an objective lens including at least two plastic lenses of a first plastic lens having positive refractive power and a second plastic lens having positive refractive power, wherein the first plastic lens and the second plastic lens are arranged in this order from the light source side; and an actuator to drive the objective lens; wherein the objective lens satisfies the following expression (1-1):−0.0004<Δ3SA/(NA4·f·(1−m))<0.0004  (1-1)where Δ3SA (λRMS) represents a rate of change of a third order spherical aberration of the objective lens when the temperature of an entire body of the objective lens uniformly changes, f (mm) represents the focal length of the objective lens for the light flux having wavelength λ, and m represents the magnification of the objective lens.

The present invention relates to an optical pickup device, an optical information recording and reproducing apparatus and an objective lens.
Following upon recent high density of an optical disc, a demand for a smaller light-converged spot makes a numerical aperture (NA) of an objective lens used for recording/reproducing for these high density optical discs to be high.
For example, in the case of a high density optical disc employing a violet semiconductor laser light source having wavelength λ of 405 nm, an objective lens having image-side numerical aperture NA of about 0.85 is needed for achieving high density.
Further, for objective lenses such as CD (compact disc), MO (magneto-optical disc) and DVD (digital video disc), a plastic lens is mainly used for the reasons that the plastic lens is light in weight, and it can be manufactured at low cost on a mass production basis through injection molding that employs a mould. Therefore, even in the case of an optical pickup device for a high density optical disc, it is preferable to use a plastic lens as an objective lens for the same reasons.
However, for realizing an objective lens wherein a high numerical aperture NA of 0.85 has been realized while securing sufficient manufacturing tolerance that allows mass production, it is necessary to use a lens structure of at least two groups, for the reason to divide refracting power to two lenses and thereby to relax manufacturing tolerance for each lens, and there are proposed high NA plastic lenses each being of a two-group structure in, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2.
(Patent Document 1)
TOKKAI No. 2002-236252
(Patent Document 2)
TOKKAI No. 2003-6908
(Problems to be Solved by the Invention)
Incidentally, in the optical pickup device, an objective lens is generally moved by an actuator in the direction of an optical axis and in the radial direction of a disc for conducting focusing and tracking. In this case, an electric current is made to flow through a focusing coil and a tracking coil which institute an actuator, and electromagnetic force thus generated between a magnet and the coil is used to move the objective lens.
However, it was found that a new problem which is not experienced in the conventional structure is caused when the high NA plastic lens with a two-group structure is moved in the aforesaid way. Contents of the problem are as follows; when an electric current is made to flow through a focusing coil and a tracking coil, uneven temperature distribution tends to be caused in the objective lens due to an influence of generation of heat in these coils, because a volume tends to be greater than that of a plastic lens with a one-lens structure which has been used, and in the optical pickup device, on the other hand, temperatures are changed by an influence of environmental temperature and by an influence of heat generation in the focusing coil and the tracking coil.
If a temperature in the optical pickup device is changed under the condition that uneven temperature distribution is caused in the objective lens, spherical aberration of the high NA plastic lens is changed greatly, and recording/reproducing of information for the high density optical disc is obstructed. The reason for the foregoing is that deterioration of spherical aberration caused by temperature is extreme even when compared with a lens wherein temperature distribution is substantially even, and a difference of refractive index further grows greater in proportion to the fourth power of NA, because the refractive index is as great as 10 times in comparison especially with a glass lens.
In particular, the larger an amount of electric current flowing through a focusing coil and a tracking coil is, the larger an amount of heat generation is, resulting in larger unevenness of temperature distribution in an objective lens, thus, a problem of a change (deterioration) of spherical aberration of a high NA plastic lens in the course of operation of the optical pickup device becomes more obvious.
It is difficult, on the point of a mechanism of the actuator, to design and arrange a focusing coil and a tracking coil so that they may be rotational symmetry about an optical axis of the objective lens. Therefore, during operations of the actuator, temperature distribution that is non-rotational-symmetry about an optical axis is caused in the objective lens, resulting in changes of astigmatism of the objective lens. In particular, when the objective lens is made to be a plastic lens of a two-group structure, the refracting power for the ray of light having NA of 0.85 is divided to two lenses, and therefore, a change in a height of passing ray of light in each lens is small, and the lens is easily affected by changes in refractive index following upon the temperature distribution. Therefore, changes of the astigmatism grow great, which adversely affects characteristics of recording/reproducing for optical discs.
However, in the technologies disclosed in the Patent Documents 1 and 2, there is no description of deterioration of spherical aberration and deterioration of astigmatism caused by the change of temperature in the optical pickup device, under the condition that uneven temperature distribution is caused in the objective lens by an influence of heat in the course of driving an actuator as stated above, and any actions for the problem are not taken accordingly, though the aforesaid technologies are those to correct spherical aberration caused by changes in the form of lenses and in refractive index, when temperature of two plastic lenses forming an objective lens is changed evenly.

Optical pickup device, optical information recording and reproducing apparatus and objective lens


A multi-service segmentation and reassembly (MS-SAR) integrated circuit is disposed on a line card in a router or switch. The MS-SAR can operate in an ingress mode so that it receives packet and/or cell format data and forwards that data to either a packet-based or a cell-based switch fabric. The MS-SAR can also operate in an egress mode so that it receives data from either a packet-based or a cell-based switch fabric and outputs that data in packet and/or cell format. The MS-SAR has a data path through which many flows of different traffic types are processed simultaneously. Each flow is processed by functional blocks along the data path in accordance with one of several application types, the application type for a flow being predetermined by the host processor of the router or switch. Segmentation, reassembly and partitioning techniques are disclosed that reduce costs and facilitate high-speed operation.

FIG. 1 (Prior Art) is a diagram of a part of the Internet 1. The Internet, loosely defined, is a collection of networks that are interconnected by devices called "routers". In the illustration, the Internet 1 involves seven networks N1-N7 and five routers R1-R5. A protocol called the Internet Protocol (IP) is used to communicate a message from a source device (a node) on one network to a destination device (a node) on another network. The message is broken up into pieces and each of these pieces is packaged into what is called an "IP packet". These packets may be of varying lengths. The IP packets of the message are then sent from the source to the destination from one network to the next via the routers. The various IP packets can take different paths to get from the source to the destination. When all the IP packets arrive at the destination, they are reassembled to recreate the original message.
This high level IP message can be transported across an individual network using any one of many lower level protocols. Some of the protocols are packet-based protocols, whereas others of the protocols are cell-based protocols. One packet-based protocol used to transport IP is called Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). In MPLS, each packet is encapsulated with an MPLS label by the first MPLS device it encounters as it enters an MPLS network. The MPLS device is called an MPLS edge router. The MPLS edge router analyses the contents of the IP header and selects an appropriate MPLS label with which to encapsulate the packet. MPLS packets therefore have varying lengths in the same way that IP packets do. At all the nodes within the network subsequent to the edge router, the MPLS label (and not the IP header) is used to make the forwarding decisions for the packet. Paths through particular nodes in the network are setup from edge to edge, the label defining the particular path its packet will take. Finally, as an MPLS labeled packet leaves the network via an edge router, the edge router removes the MPLS label.
One cell-based lower level protocol used to transport IP over a network is the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) protocol. In ATM, all packets are of equal length. They are therefore called "cells". A large IP packet is transported over an ATM network by segmenting the large IP packet into a plurality of smaller pieces. Each of the smaller pieces is packaged to become an ATM cell. The ATM cells are then transported across the ATM network. When the ATM cells reach the edge of the ATM network, their payloads are reassembled to reform the large IP packet. In FIG. 1, networks N1, N5 and N3 are cell-based ATM networks. Networks N2, N6, N4 and N7 are packet-based MPLS networks.
In the example of FIG. 1, networks N3 and N4 are OC-192 high-speed networks adapted to carry traffic over long distances. Router R2 at one end of network N3 may, for example, be located in San Francisco whereas router R4 at the other end of network N3 may be located in New York. Such high-speed long distance networks are often called the "backbone" of the Internet.
In the example of FIG. 1, individual users U1-U10 are coupled to the Internet via local area networks. Networks N1, N2 and N7 are local area networks. In one example where the network is a corporate network serving an office building, the users are corporate employees in a building. In an example where the network is a network operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), the users are individual customers that pay the ISP to gain access to the Internet.
Consider the situation where users on networks N1 and N2 issue IP messages that are destined to go to destinations to the right side of the backbone such that the messages should go through one of the two back bone networks N3 and N4. In such a case, the IP traffic from networks N1 and N2 is aggregated and supplied to the router access point on the appropriate backbone network. A portion of the Internet called the "Metropolitan Area" performs this function. In the illustration, the metro area includes a router R1 used for aggregating traffic from networks N1 and N2, and for routing that information to the appropriate one of backbone networks N3 and N4.
FIG. 2 (Prior Art) is a more detailed view of router R1. Router R1 includes line cards 2-3 for interfacing to ATM networks, other line cards 4 and 5 for interfacing to MPLS networks, and a switch fabric 11. ATM line card 3 is coupled to ATM network N5 such that router R1 can communicate with backbone network N3 via network N5. Similarly, MPLS line card 5 is coupled to MPLS network N6 such that router R1 can communicate with backbone network N4 via network N6. ATM line card 2 is coupled to ATM network N1 via OC-12 fiber optic link 6, SONET multiplexer 7, higher speed OC-48 fiber optic link 8, and SONET multiplexer 9. MPLS line card 4 is coupled to MPLS network N2 via OC-12 fiber optic link 10, SONET multiplexer 7, higher speed OC-48 fiber optic link 8, and SONET multiplexer 9. SONET multiplexer 7 performs time division multiplexing (TDM) to modulate both ATM traffic from network N1 as well as packet MPLS traffic from network N2 onto the same wavelength channel transmitted over the same fiber optic link 8. SONET multiplexer 9 performs the inverse function of time demultiplexing the signal on fiber optic link 8 to extract and separate the ATM traffic from the MPLS traffic.
Router R1, when it receives an IP message from one of networks N1 or N2, determines whether to forward the message on the message's "next hop" to router R2 or R3. In this way IP network information from the users is aggregated in the metro area and is directed to the correct backbone network for communication across long distances to the destination.
A problem may exist if one of the local area networks coupled to router R1 is disconnected or if the type of traffic on that network is changed from MPLS packet traffic to ATM cell traffic or visa versa. Consider the situation in which ATM network N1 ceases business operations. In that case, the operator of router R1 will likely want to disconnect network N1 from its SONET multiplexer 7 and to couple in the network of another paying customer. For example, the operator may want to disconnect ATM network N1 and to connect in its place MPLS network N7. If this is done, however, MPLS traffic would be received on ATM line card 2. ATM line card 2 is not suitable for coupling to an MPLS network. Consequently, ATM line card 2 may have to be disconnected and a suitable MPLS line card substituted in its place. With the expansion of the Internet and with advances in IP switching technology, it appears that the proportion of packet networks to ATM networks is increasing. Accordingly, as more and more of the networks coupled to a router such as router R1 migrate from one type of traffic to the other, more and more of the line cards of the router will have to replaced. This is undesirable. A solution is desired whereby a smooth and easy migration from one type of traffic to the next is possible without the removal of line cards or the physical manipulation of the router.
FIG. 3 is a diagram of one possible approach to the problem involving a line card 12 that handles both ATM and packet traffic. Line card 12 is coupled to a switch fabric of a router by interface 13. Cell and packet traffic received from fiber optic cable 14 and transmitted on fiber optic cable 15 are time division multiplexed/demultiplexed by TDM device 16. Cell traffic is handled by integrated circuit device 17. Packet traffic is handled by integrated circuit device 18. As the relative amounts of cell traffic to packet traffic change, the same line card can be used.

Multi-service segmentation and reassembly device that is operable in an ingress mode or in an egress mode


Aspects include systems and methods for increasing performance of a flash translation layer (FTL) of a flash memory device. A copy of FTL tables stored on a flash memory device may be copied to a memory of a host device. The copy of the FTL tables may be directly accessed by the flash memory device to translate between logical addresses provided by the host device for read/write operations from/to a flash memory of the flash memory device, and the respective physical addresses of the flash memory. The flash memory device is granted direct memory access to a portion of the memory of the host device where the copy of the FTL tables is stored. The flash memory device bus masters communication busses connecting the flash memory device to the memory of the host device.

Managed flash storage performance is becoming increasingly demanding. Compact consumer electronics such as smartphones, tablets, and gaming devices require cost effective and low power storage solutions. Examples of managed negated AND or NOT AND (NAND) flash storage devices include embedded MultiMediaCards (eMMC), universal flash storage (UFS), External Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (eSATA), ball grid array (BGA) SATA, Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive, Secure Digital (SD) card, universal subscriber identity module (USIM) card, and compact flash card. NAND devices are popular for mobile applications because they are low cost and low power.
Existing managed NAND flash storage devices rely on large file translation layer (FTL) tables contained within the NAND flash memory, and cache only a small portion of the tables in on-chip static random access memory (SRAM). Read and write accesses to the managed NAND device consist of logical addresses which must be translated to physical NAND addresses using information from the FTL table. This leads to long delays (on the order of tens of microseconds) when reading the FTL table entries from NAND memory, degrading the overall performance of these types of storage. Thus, the penalty for low cost and low power consumption in NAND memory devices is a reduction in memory access time performance.

System and method for high performance and low cost flash translation layer


The present invention is to provide a brush seal device capable of following displacement in a radial direction of a rotational shaft appropriately. The brush seal device prevents leakage of process fluid, wear of a brush seal etc., and leakage of process fluid from an outer circumferential side. The brush seal device 100 of the present invention includes an inner circumferential brush seal 120 and an outer circumferential brush seal 140. The inner circumferential brush seal 120 has a brush portion 123 and a free end portion 125 at the inner circumferential side. The outer circumferential brush seal 140 is placed at an outer circumferential side of the inner circumferential brush seal 120, and has a brush portion 143 and a free end portion 145 at the inner circumferential side.

Brush seal devices which have a brush portion made of multiple bristles are effective because the brush portion is deformed in accordance with movement of a rotational shaft and free end portions of tips of the bristles can follow a circumferential surface of the rotational shaft even if the rotational shaft is slightly moved in a radial direction.
However, when the bristles of a brush seal are pressed by movement of the rotational shaft, it is extremely difficult to control friction force applied thereto in an optimum state. This is because the friction force is affected by spring constant for elastic deformation of the bristles, complex friction force resulting from mounting structure of the bristles, and the like.
When the bristles do not properly follow the displacement of the rotational shaft, space occurs between the bristles and the rotational shaft. Then, this leads to leakage of process fluid or to an early wear of the free end portions of the bristles or a circumferential surface of the rotational shaft.
As a brush seal device to overcome such a problem, that is, as a brush seal device having a higher following ability and less wear, one having a floating-type brush seal body to enable a relatively large movement in the radial direction is known. A brush seal with a plate spring at an outer circumference, which can prevent eccentricity even if space occurs between a rotor and the brush seal due to wear thereof, is also known (for example, see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2011-169319 (Patent Document 1)).
However, for example, in a structure with a floating-type brush seal body or a structure with a plate spring at an outer circumference as shown in Patent Document 1, the outer circumference is not sufficiently sealed. Thus, a secondary seal surface is needed to prevent leakage from the outer circumference. However, in this structure, the outer circumferential side and a portion of the secondary seal are directly exposed to the outer circumferential leakage, which then increases the cost for a sealing ability. In order to prevent the leakage of the secondary seal surface, a high-performance secondary seal is needed to be placed. Thus, in this respect, the cost is also increased. Further, the following ability for the rotational shaft is desired to be improved greatly.


A waterjet-propelled marine vessel having a hull with a transom and a bottom, a jet pump, and an intake duct, the improvement comprising: (1) the transom and bottom having a common opening for intake duct installation and (2) the intake duct having an intake duct upper part and an intake duct lower part, whereby the intake duct upper part closes the common opening and the intake duct lower part fits into the intake duct upper part to form the intake duct.

Marine waterjets have many advantages over other means of propelling a marine vessel, such as shallow draft, greater safety and higher efficiency. However, a disadvantage is the time-consuming process of installing the intake duct of the waterjet into the vessel hull.
An example of such a conventional marine jet drive installation is seen in FIG. 1A (labeled PRIOR ART). The traditional method of installation involves the use of overlapping and bolted bottom flange 101 and transom flange 101a around the interface between a waterjet intake duct 102 and a vessel bottom protrusion 103p in a vessel bottom 103 and a transom protrusion 104p in a transom 104. In FIG. 1B (also labeled PRIOR ART), a bottom opening 105 in bottom 103 and a transom opening 106 in transom 104 have to be laid out and cut in each vessel for each waterjet unit, making the production of the openings a labor-intensive process.
The placement procedure of the intake duct in the vessel hull is complicated and labor-intensive since the flanges of the intake duct of the waterjet have to be matched in two substantially perpendicular planes and be provided with sealer and fastener holes for attachment to protrusions 103p and 104p to produce the mechanical strength of the interface necessary to transmit the thrust and the steering and reversing forces generated by the waterjet, all while maintaining water-tight joints. Additionally, access to the bottom and transom bolts, especially in the undercut area (indicated by reference number 107 in FIG. 1A) below the lower intake duct wall, is limited and requires special tools.
It is not possible to efficiently produce a vessel with this traditional installation method of cutting, mating, sealing and bolting bottom and transom flanges with limited access in the interior of the vessel. Conventional waterjet intake ducts are made of metal, and the use of bolted mounting flanges is the common method of installing an intake duct in a vessel made of similar or dissimilar material in a new vessel or in a retro-fit installation. The cost of metallic intake ducts is high, and they are heavy and corrosion is a constant problem.
A second approach used in the production of composite hulls for waterjet applications places mold inserts in the hull mold prior to lay-up to produce the intake duct openings in the hull bottom and transom. This only avoids the layout and cutting of bottom and transom openings in the hull but still requires the labor-intensive bolted flange installation described in the paragraph above.
A third approach involves the manufacture of a composite intake duct with flanges for installation in non-composite vessel hulls and in retro-fit applications, but again, this is similarly complicated because of the complex geometries as described above.
In a fourth approach to installing an intake duct into a composite vessel hull, a waterjet intake duct plug is placed in the vessel mold as a method of producing the intake as part of the hull in the hull fabrication process. The intake duct contains an undercut in the mold shape, thus preventing release of the hull with the newly-formed intake duct. To accomplish release from the mold requires a permanent hull mold modification to allow retraction of the interfering mold parts, or, the removal and destruction of a sacrificial plug. In addition, the vessel lay-up process is considerably more complicated and time-consuming. A permanently modified hull mold precludes use of the same mold for non-waterjet hull production.
The present invention simplifies the manufacture of the intake duct, producing a flanged version for dissimilar hull material vessels or retro-fit applications and allows in-place molding of the intake duct in composite vessels. The invention solves the common problems of the four installation approaches described above. The preferred material of construction is composite to avoid the weight, corrosion and cost of metallic intake ducts. This simplification involves the manufacture of the intake duct in a manner that avoids the undercut that prevents a straight release from the mold. It is accomplished by separating the intake duct into an upper part and a lower part that each separately have no undercut so that each part can be made in a mold that permits the straight release of the part without the need for removal of a mold component that would form an undercut.
The hull bottom and transom openings are connected by the removal of the section directly between the two openings, thereby creating a common opening in the transom and hull bottom and eliminating the portion of the bottom opening and transom opening that are difficult to reach when bolting the separate bottom and transom flanges.
The upper part of the intake duct forms the upper wall with the mounting provision for the intake grid and the support of the shaft tube. It has a register to receive the lower part of the intake duct to locate it in a unique, fixed position in relation to the upper part of the intake duct. The lower part of the intake duct forms the trailing edge of the intake opening and also forms the lower wall of the intake duct. The lower part of the intake duct has a mating register to mate with the upper part. In combination, the two parts also form the surface and register for mounting the jet pump section to the discharge end of the intake duct at the transom.
In a first embodiment, the concept can be used for intake duct manufacture for applications with non-composite hulls made of metal or wood or to retro-fit existing vessels to simplify the first and second conventional approaches as described above. The flanged version of the intake duct of the present invention simplifies installation by avoiding the need for separate matching openings in the bottom and transom while also avoiding the need to place flange bolts in a difficult-to-reach location. An upper part plug is used to produce a full-thickness upper part and is provided with mounting flanges. Attachment of the lower part of the intake duct produces a complete intake duct with flanges that are continuous between bottom and transom. Hull preparation is simplified since the bottom and transom cut-outs become a common opening with one continuous seam and not two separate openings, thereby eliminating the holding of critical dimensions between transom and bottom openings. Even though the sealing and bolting processes are necessary, they are less time-consuming than a conventional installation since the bolts are all easily accessible and not hidden by undercut 107 (see FIG. 1A) of the conventional intake duct. The flange runs continuously from one side of the intake to the transom and then up and over to the other side, following the contour of the opening. The installation process for dissimilar hull materials and retro-fits is made significantly simpler.
In a second embodiment, which simplifies the third and fourth conventional approaches, a formed-in-place version of the intake duct avoids the flanged connections altogether by eliminating the flanges and molding the upper part of the intake duct directly into the hull. In this embodiment, the mold producing the upper part is now placed in the vessel mold and produces in a single lay-up process the hull with the upper part of the intake duct in place while the vessel is releasable from the mold. The lower part of the intake duct is produced in a separate mold and is inserted into the upper part of the intake duct after the hull is removed from the mold, thus forming the complete intake duct. A shaft tube is then added to complete the installation of this embodiment.
In a third embodiment of the invention, again simplifying the third and fourth conventional approaches, a shell of the upper part of the intake duct with a shaft tube in place is molded on a plug. The shell is just thick enough to maintain the shape of the upper part. The shell of the upper part of the intake duct is then mated with the fully-formed lower part thereby forming the complete intake duct shape. This combination of the shell of the upper part and the fully-formed lower part is placed in a hull mold. When the vessel is laid-up over the upper part intake duct shell with the lower part in place, the shell bonds to the lay-up and becomes a part of the hull, thus providing a completely installed waterjet intake duct upon removal of the vessel from the vessel mold. The advantage of this method is that the intake can be pre-manufactured with the shaft tube of the jet pump in place, and the mounting surface for the jet pump can be fully inspected prior to installation. Upon delivery of the intake shell to the vessel builder, it can be placed in the hull mold and, when laid-up, the intake will be an integral part of the vessel.
All embodiments of the invention provide simplified installation of a waterjet intake duct. In applications with dissimilar material (hull and intake duct) and in retro-fit applications, installation time is shortened and in a laid-up composite vessel, as part of the manufacture of the hull, very little time is added to the manufacturer's building process.

Method for forming/installing intake duct in waterjet-propelled marine vessel


Systems and methods for forming an object using additive manufacturing. One method includes receiving a digital model of the object, predicting a shrinking characteristic or receiving a predicted shrinking characteristic of the object that will occur during thermal processing of the object, once formed, and generating, based on the shrinking characteristic of the object, instructions for forming a raft on which the object will be formed. The instructions for forming the raft are configured to form a raft having a shrinking characteristic that reflects the shrinking characteristic of the object.

Metal injection molding (MIM) is a metalworking process useful in creating a variety of metal objects. A mixture of powdered metal and one or more binders (e.g., a polymer such as polypropylene or wax) may form a "feedstock" capable of being molded, when heated, into the shape of a desired object. The initial molded part, also referred to as a "green part," may then undergo a preliminary debinding process (e.g., chemical debinding or thermal debinding) to remove primary binder while leaving secondary binder intact, followed by a sintering process. During sintering, the part may be heated to vaporize and remove the secondary binder (thermal debinding) and brought to a temperature near the melting point of the powdered metal, which may cause the metal powder to densify into a solid mass (hereinafter referred to as a densifying process), thereby producing the desired metal object.
Additive manufacturing, which includes three-dimensional (3D) printing, includes a variety of techniques for manufacturing a three-dimensional object via a process of forming successive layers of the object. Three-dimensional printers may in some embodiments utilize a feedstock comparable to that used in MIM, thereby creating a green part without the need for a mold. The printed green part may then undergo debinding and sintering processes to produce the object.
Parts may crack during thermal processing (e.g., thermal debinding process or densifying process). Part cracking during thermal processing may be due to one or more of: (1) non-uniform shrinkage; (2) constrained thermal processing; or (3) incomplete chemical debind. In some instances, part cracking due to non-uniform shrinkage may be caused by differences in powder size/agglomerates, temperature, and/or chemistry. Part cracking due to constrained thermal processing may be caused by friction or inclusions. Part cracking due to incomplete chemical debind may be caused by outgassing of remaining binder material during thermal processing, which may result in various stresses that may crack and/or break the part.
The systems and methods of the current disclosure may rectify one or more of the deficiencies described above, and/or address other aspects of the prior art. Specifically, some embodiments disclosed herein may provide an improved support structure to prevent or reduce cracking during a thermal processing.

Method for forming 3D printed objects with multi-layer rafts which optimize shrinkage


A vehicle-mounted battery cooling structure of the present invention includes a battery a cooling fan for cooling the battery, a cooling-medium channel connecting the battery and the cooling fan, and mounting areas located at a front seat side and a rear seat side, respectively, in a vehicle compartment. The battery is disposed in one of the mounting areas, and the cooling fan is disposed in the other one of the mounting areas.

A battery mounted on a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle generates heat during charging and discharging. Accordingly, some conventional vehicle-mounted batteries are provided with a cooling structure. Such a vehicle-mounted battery cooling structure is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-306239 (Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1 (see FIG. 9) discloses a cooling structure in which a battery 301 is disposed between a driver seat and a front passenger seat to guide cooling air from battery 301 toward the front passenger seat by means of a fan 302.

Vehicle-mounted battery cooling structure


A generator housed in a wind turbine nacelle includes a generator rotor that is mounted to gearbox output pinions, thereby eliminating the need for couplings. The generator frame is located directly on the gearbox and is located to control the air gap. To facilitate removal of the generator, tapers are used that have steep angles that exceed the friction coefficient of the materials used. To provide adequate support over its length, the shaft employs dual tapers, each short and precisely located conical surface of which provides exact location on the near and far sides of the shaft. The length of straight shaft between the dual locating tapers serves to support the generator during mounting and de-mounting. During installation, the tapers center the rotor and bullet pins center the frame (stator). When the system aligns the rotor and stator, retainer elements act as labyrinth seals designed to protect the generator interior from contamination.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electric power-generating devices, such as wind turbines and ocean current turbines, and more particularly to an electric generator particularly suited to being housed in a turbine nacelle of a horizontal axis, axial flow, wind or water turbine.
2. Prior Art
In a typical horizontal-axis wind turbine, a nacelle is mounted on a tall vertical tower. The nacelle houses power-transmitting mechanisms, electrical equipment and supports a rotor system at one end. Rotor systems for horizontal-axis wind turbines ordinarily include one or more blades attached to a rotor hub on a shaft. Wind flow turns the rotor, which turns a main shaft in the nacelle. The shaft turns gearbox gears that transmit torque to an electric generator. The nacelle typically pivots about the vertical tower to take advantage of wind flowing from any direction. The pivoting about this vertical-axis in response to changes in wind direction is known as yaw or yaw response and the vertical-axis is referred to as the yaw-axis. As wind moves past the blades with enough speed the rotor system rotates and the wind turbine converts the wind energy into electrical energy through the generator. An electrical output of the generator is connected to a power grid.
Generators used in wind turbines are customarily connected to the gearbox output shaft with a flexible coupling. The generator is mounted on a support structure and is shimmed or adjusted by screws to align the generator to the gearbox.
Due to the flexibility of very large platforms, the coupling is expanded to a coupling and jackshaft to accommodate deflection. The generator rotor is supported by bearings located in the generator frame and requires lubrication on a regular schedule.
It is therefore desirable to provide a generator mounting system that eliminates couplings.
It is also desirable to provide a wind turbine generator that is easy to mount and de-mount in a nacelle that is located atop a tall tower.
It is also desirable to provide a wind turbine generator that provides perfect or near perfect alignment of air gap.
It is also desirable to provide a wind turbine generator that provides cost savings by using a labyrinth seal that doubles as a magnet protector.

Electric generator for wind and water turbines


The disclosure relates to a method for operating a spark ignition gas engine, with fuel gas in the form of biogas by setting an ignition time (ZZP) of the spark ignition gas engine. The method comprises to following steps: mixing of air and fuel gas to form a combustible gas mixture in a mixing arrangement, feeding in and igniting the combustible gas mixture in the combustion chamber while setting an ignition time (ZZP) and burning the combustible gas mixture while discharging exhaust gas from the combustion chamber. The method further comprises the steps of: detection of an exhaust gas temperature (T_AG) of the exhaust gas, predefining at least one reactor position (LRV) of a component of the mixing arrangement, setting the ignition time (ZZP) of the spark ignition gas engine as a function of the exhaust gas temperature (T_AG) and the reactor position (LRV). The reactor position (LRV) is predefined as a manipulated variable by a mixture controller.

A method and a control device of the type mentioned at the outset for operating a gasoline engine are described in DE 10 2004 060 893 B4. Gasoline engines of the above-mentioned type are increasingly used in systems for decentralized energy generation in combination with a generator. These systems can be used for pure power generation or for a combined generation of power-heat-refrigeration. For the power generation, such systems can preferably be used as emergency power, permanent power, or peak load power aggregates and designed for specific applications.
It is discernible from DE 10 2004 060 893 B4 that during the operation of a gasoline engine, primarily when biogas is used as the fuel, considerable fluctuations of the caloric value and the burning behavior of fuel gas may occur. For example, it is possible that a biogas facility with confermentation shows a CH4 content in the fuel gas with fluctuations ranging from 45 to 65%. In most cases the complementary content in the fuel gas is CO2, so that with an increasing ratio of CO2 the combustion speed of the combustion gas mixture reduces. This may lead to a reduction of the effectiveness and an increase in the exhaust temperature, and perhaps also the NOx emissions, when the ignition time for an ignition device of the gasoline engine is not adjusted. In general, it has been recognized that an adjustment of the ignition time is required to consider the variation of the combustion behavior of the fuel gas during operation of a gasoline engine. According to DE 10 2004 060 893 B4, to the extent possible, technically and economically expensive gas sensors shall be avoided for detecting the combustion behavior of fuel gas. Thus, in order to compensate the above-mentioned disadvantageous influences in a gasoline engine, the determination of the composition of the fuel gas used poses a problem.
According to DE 10 2004 060 893 B4 it has been recognized that it is possible to adjust the ignition time depending on an actual value of the exhaust temperature. For this purpose a target value is predetermined for the exhaust temperature and the ignition time is adjusted for the exhaust temperature to reach the target value. According to DE 10 2004 060 893 B4 it has been recognized that by changing the ignition time the burning behavior and/or the CO2 content of the fuel gas can be compensated in a defined fashion. This provides one method of yielding an essentially constant effectiveness and a defined NO emission while omitting a gas sensor, even when the composition of the fuel gas fluctuates widely.
Such a concept, to some extent successful, has limitations, though, when the exhaust temperature increases due to other influences, such as increasing wear and tear of the engine. In this case, an adjustment of the ignition time to an earlier point, performed according to DE 10 2004 060 893 B4 would lead, under disadvantageous framework conditions, to the gasoline engine developing a knocking operation. In other words, with increasing wear and tear of the engine, a regulation of the ignition time exclusively based on the exhaust temperature leads to the engine no longer being operated according to the gas quality and/or no longer being operated according to the burning behavior of the fuel gas. Reliable operation of a gasoline engine, even in such cases. is desirable.
In order to waive vulnerable gas sensors, namely oxygen sensors, EP 0 259 382 B1 also suggests a method for controlling the air ratio of a gasoline engine. The solution suggested herein fails to provide any adjustment of the ignition time but rather a control of the lambda value of the combustion gas mixture within a required lambda range. For this purpose, in EP 0 259 382 B1 the gasoline engine is adjusted to lean operation by guiding the lambda control depending on the pressure of the combustion gas mixture prior to the inlet valves of the engine and depending on the performance. Constant technical engine parameters are conditional for such a control method, such as fill level and effectiveness of the engine. Although these conditions are largely encountered in practical operation, the widely varying burning behavior of the fuel gas mentioned at the outset leads to strong deviations of the NO emission and the effectiveness from the target values when the ignition time is not adjusted.
In this regard, an improved concept is required in which the flow rate of a fuel gas or a combustion gas mixture is adjustable. In particular, while avoiding expensive gas sensors, an ignition time shall be adjustable according to the composition of the fuel gas or the combustion gas mixture. Particularly the disadvantages shall be avoided to the extent possible, which are connected to a temperature control according to DE 10 2004 060 893 B4.

Method and control device for operating a gasoline engine


A nonsense illegal character of a received message is completely avoided, and when the received message can not be correctly displayed, a notice that a language of the message is not supported is given to a user. Use language identification information is imparted to a header portion of a transmission frame of a message. Then, it is judged from the use language identification information whether a character code system corresponding to a language of a received character code string is a character code system supported by a computer. A message corresponding to the received character code string is generated in accordance with the character code system when the character code system is supported. On the other hand, when the character code system is not supported notice information indicating that a message can not be generated is displayed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications. More particularly the present invention relates to transmitting and receiving messages, through a global communication network such as the Internet.
2. Description of the Related Art
In communication through a global network such as the Internet, there is a case where persons having different mother languages exchange messages. As a method of exchanging messages, there are electronic mail, chat, net news (NetNews) and the like.
In many information processing terminals such as computers, characters can be input with a language of one character code system set by the user, and only other restricted languages (support language) can be displayed. In communication through the global network, when a message is transmitted to another computer or the like, the receiving computer does not necessarily support the language of the message.
Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. Hei. 11-353310 discloses a technique in which when a document file is transmitted, the environment of an apparatus at a transmission destination is judged from an address of a transmission destination, a character code of the transmitted document file is converted into a character code which can be handled by the apparatus at the transmission destination, and it is transmitted.
Although the foregoing technique of converting the character code of the document file is effective for one-to-one communication, such as the electronic mail, or communication in which a transmission destination is specified, it is difficult to convert the character code of the message in accordance with the receiving party environment. It is also difficult to transmit in an environment, such as in the chat, net news, or message exchange in a network game, in which it is expected that the general public reads the message, and the party reading the message can not be specified when transmitting the message, and a difference in support languages is wide.
In the present environment of message exchange in the network game or the like, in a message in accordance with a language (nonsupported language) which is not supported by the computer of the receiver side, there occurs a phenomenon, so-called illegal character, in which characters of the transmitted message are changed into other characters in accordance with the character code system used at the reception side and are displayed. A display of the garbled reception message has no meaning and is not significant.
In addition, since the illegal character of the message is also produced by operation failure of a computer itself, omission of part of data due to a communication error, or the like, if the illegal character is produced in the received message, the user can not easily understand its cause, and the user feels a sense of uneasiness and does not know how to deal with it.
Some conventional computers or the like estimate a support language from a character code string of a received message and display the message in accordance with a character code system according to a language of the received message. However, since the support language is estimated based upon the character code string of the received message, certainty is lacking, and it is impossible to completely avoid a garbled message.

Message processing for handling unsupported character codes


A system and method of detecting changes in the impedance of a segment of medium voltage power line is provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving voltage data comprising data of the voltage of the power lines at locations at a plurality of different points in time, receiving current data that comprises data of the current flowing between adjacent locations at the plurality of points in time, intermittently determining an impedance of the power lines between adjacent locations based on the voltage data and current data, monitoring the impedance of the power lines between adjacent locations over time, and providing a notification of a change in the impedance of a power line between adjacent locations upon detection of a change in the impedance beyond a threshold change.

Electrical power for consumption at residences, offices and other structures is delivered by a power distribution system. A power distribution system may include numerous sections, which transmit power at different voltages. A section of high voltage power transmission lines forms a power distribution grid for transmitting power from a power plant to substations near populated areas. Various medium voltage (MV) power sections are coupled to the grid via substations to serve specific regions. An MV power section includes medium voltage power lines carrying power having a voltage in the range of 1,000V to 100,000V. Low voltage (LV) power sections are coupled to the MV power lines via distribution transformers to serve specific groups of structures such as homes. In the United States, the LV power lines typically carry voltages of approximately 120V phase to ground and 240V phase to phase.
The power distribution system includes transformers, switching devices, other devices, and miles of power lines. Maintaining the system in effective working order is imperative for the individual consumer and society. Maintenance is used to identify signs of potential failure and better manage distribution and redistribution of power to satisfy local needs. Even with such maintenance, however, faults occasionally occur, which often result in a power outage thereby preventing power delivery. Power outages also may occur due to other events, such as when inclement weather conditions or falling tree branches knock down power lines. It is desirable that the utility operator quickly identify and respond to such power distribution events to minimize the adverse impact to the power distribution system and to the consumers. In particular, it is desirable to determine that an adverse power distribution event is imminent, may occur, or has occurred, and the location of such an event.
As discussed, medium voltage power lines are typically connected to a plurality of distribution transformers, which supply power to the consumers. While the current (amperage) of the medium voltage power line varies according to the load, the impedance of the medium voltage power line will remain substantially constant between two locations on the medium voltage (MV) power line. Thus, a change in the impedance of the medium voltage power line may indicate an undesirable condition exists and/or that an adverse power distribution is imminent. As an example, if a tree limb intermittently touches an uninsulated overhead MV power line, the tree will provide a path to ground for power. This additional and intermittent electrical path to ground will change the impedance of the power line between two locations on either side of the tree limb. Consequently, measuring the impedance of the power line and monitoring the impedance over time to detect a change in impedance can be instrumental in identifying power distribution system events before they become more serious (e.g., the tree limb breaking the power line).
Accordingly, there is a need to measure the impedance of a medium voltage power line and to detect significant changes in the impedance in order to identify existing and/or imminent adverse power line distribution events. Another need is to obtain sufficient data to locate and respond to the existing or imminent power distribution event. Various embodiments of the present invention may satisfy one or more of these needs and/or others.

System and method for determining the impedance of a medium voltage power line


A method and system for heart variability analysis is provided. A computer system generates various statistical and spectral measurements of heart rate variability based on user-specified qualifications and displays the results. The computer system includes a statistical and spectral data component. The spectral component includes a data storage device for storing electrocardiographic data, an interval detector for determining the length of heart beat intervals in the electrocardiographic data, an instantaneous interval function data generator for generating instantaneous interval function data based on the interval data and user-specified qualifications, a filter and resampler for generating resampled data by filtering and resampling the instantaneous interval function data, a power spectral density data generator for generating spectral density data based on the resampled data and user-specified qualifications, a period spectral data generator for accumulating period and region spectral data measurements based on the generated power spectral density data, a time period, and user-specified qualifications, and a display controller for displaying period data and region data. The invention allows a user to specify minimum and maximum beat interval times, whether intervals near atrial and ventricular ectopic beats should be disregarded, the time period over which data is to be accumulated, the difference margins for beat triplets, the region of time over which data is accumulated, and whether data is to be displayed in graphical or tabular format.

Electrocardiograms are commonly used to generate data relating to the health and operation of a patient's heart. ECG data is useful to study heart rate variability, that is, variations in a patient's pulse over time. The study of heart rate variability (HRV) is useful as a noninvasive indicator of parasympathetic and sympathetic influences on the heart. HRV analysis has been used to study sudden infant death syndrome, autonomic neuropathy, brain stem status, brain death, the staging of diabetic neuropathy, hypertension, acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and sudden cardiac death.
The appeal of HRV analysis has increased with the development of Holter recorders. A Holter recorder is used to collect ECG data over a period of several days in ambulatory patients. Thus, ECG data can be collected in a setting that represents a patient's typical day. Holter recorders record large amounts of data that may be difficult for a clinician to analyze.
Several computer systems have been developed to perform statistical and spectral HRV analysis. These prior art systems, however, are not particularly useful to a clinician because of their lack of flexibility. The developers of these prior art systems have established certain methods for analyzing and displaying the HRV data. These methods, however, do not correspond to a preferred method of analyzing and displaying in many situations. For example, these prior art systems may not allow for the display of summary information over certain time periods (e.g., sleeping). Also, these systems do not permit the tailoring of the analysis to address a specific patient's heart rate condition.
It would be desirable to have an HRV system that would allow the clinician considerable freedom to control the statistical and spectral analysis in on-screen and printed format of reported data.

System for heart rate variability analysis


A bar code scanning system and method for reading and processing bar code symbology uses a scanning station installed above the check-out stand and a receiving station at some distance away from the scanning station. The scanning station projects light onto a surface of the check-out stand. The projected light can have a well defined border indicating where a user should place items to be scanned. Alternatively, a pattern coincident with the projected light can be projected onto the surface and which includes a target indicating where items should be placed for scanning. Light reflected by items in the target region is processed to decode optical symbology on the item and produce a signal that is representative of said sensed symbology. Information about the scanned item can be processed and displayed by the receiving station for use in, e.g., a point-of-sale transaction. The system can also be configured to capture images of a user's payment card for use in payment processing and to store images of at least selected scanned items for use in subsequent processes.

With the advent of the electronic age, bar codes and bar code scanning systems became the primary means for identifying, tracking, cataloging and otherwise managing objects of various sizes in a variety of different industries and applications. Grocery, food processing and retail industries, assembly lines and warehouses, among many others, utilize bar codes to store information, either directly on the items, or on printed labels that are attached or associated with the items.
Bar codes typically consist of a series of lines and spaces of various widths, or other types of symbols comprised of a series of contrasting markings. These contrasting markings usually represent strings of binary ones and zeroes. These patterns are read by a number of different bar code readers, hand-held wands and laser scanning systems that have been developed to capture and decode the symbol pattern to a numeric or alphanumeric representation for inventory, production tracking, check-out or sales purposes. One common example of a bar code is the Universal Product Code (UPC).
Most point-of-sale systems that utilize bar codes, such as retail stores and supermarkets, or factories, warehouses and other businesses utilize stationary laser-based bar code readers or scanners. The scanners are generally installed in or on the check-out counter and thus take up some otherwise useful physical space at the counter. These types of systems also are often installed, at least in part, within the physical housing. For example, in-counter slot scanners typically have glass exit windows in the same horizontal plane as the counter. One of the drawbacks of utilizing these scanners is that the debris and dirt that accumulate on the horizontal plane can scratch, damage, or otherwise obscure the glass surface, degrading performance of the scanner and possibly causing malfunctions. Moreover, the addition of such a scanning system to a check-out station requires specialized and often expensive installation to provide custom-made surfaces, cut-outs, etc. at the counter where scanning is performed. Even if the check-out station is constructed initially with cut-outs and other features designed to accept a scanning system, such features can severely limit the use of the check-out counter for non-scanning purposes.
Another shortcoming of the bar code readers that are utilized with existing point-of-sale systems is that they require the operator to visually locate the bar code on the item that is being scanned and to position it in the scanner's field of view. For example, when the scanner is installed on the opposite side of a check-out counter, the operator must rotate the surface containing the bar code away from himself and toward the field of view of the scanner. Bi-optic or multi-planer scanning systems, which typically have two (or more) active "sides" (i.e. able to scan a bar code on both the bottom surface and from the side) alleviate the need to rotate the object toward the scanner. They are very expensive, however, and overly complex in their installation and maintenance.
In addition to laser-based scanning, some camera-based scanning systems are known. These systems use conveyer belts to move and scan items with bar codes, such as inventory or mail, past the scanning system at high rates of speed. These scanning systems rely upon the automated conveyor and other automated systems to accurately place items to be scanned within the proper field of view of the scanning camera system. Such large-scale conveyor scanning systems are too expensive and impractical for use in a typical point-of-sale environment. Moreover, automated item placement by a conveyor and other systems is generally not available in a point-of-sale. Instead, establishments rely upon typically untrained customers to manually scan items. Thus, additional mechanisms are necessary to aid users in correctly placing items during the scanning process.
Some known point-of-sale self-checkout scanning systems for use by customers in a retail environment include a camera. Such a system is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,965,861 and 6,236,736. However, such systems do not use the camera to detect and process the bar-code on the items. Instead, a conventional in-counter laser-based scanning system is provided which has the drawbacks discussed above. The camera system is used to provide additional security, e.g., by tracking the motions of a customer's hand to detect scanning-type motions or to detect when items have been placed in a bag before it has been scanned.

Zero-footprint camera-based point-of-sale bar code presentation scanning system


A flexible roll forming device is provided. The roll forming device includes bases respectively disposed on opposite sides with respect to a process direction center line in a left/right direction of which rails are configured thereon along a lateral direction of the process direction center line, and upper and lower forming rolls configured to vary both positions in the lateral direction of processing, and angles from the process direction.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a flexible roll forming device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a flexible roll forming device for subjecting a blank material to roll forming of a formed beam having different widths and heights along a length direction.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, roll forming is a method including uncoiling a material coil and passing it through multi-stages of roll forming units each having one pair of an upper roll and a lower roll disposed on a line for forming a predetermined shape by successive bending. Further, the roll forming method is applicable to fabrication of straight-type formed products formed by bending into predetermined shapes, such as vehicle bumper beams or other members of a certain shape.
FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic view of a related art roll forming system with process steps thereof shown therein.
Referring to FIG. 1, in the related art roll forming method, an uncoiler 1, provided at a start of a process line for uncoiling a coil 10 supplied thereto, processes an uncoiling step S1 of feeding the coil.
A straightener 2 is provided next in a process direction after the uncoiler 1, to process a straightening step S2 for straightening the uncoiled coil 10 from the uncoiler 1 to be flat.
A press 3 is provided next in the process direction after the straightener 2, to process a piercing step S3 for forming holes for various purposes in the coil 10 fed from the straightener 2.
Roll forming units RU1-RU10 of about 10 stages are disposed next in the process direction of the press 3, to process a roll forming step S4 for successively bending the coil 10 being fed thereto through the uncoiler 1, the straightener 2, and the press 3 for roll forming a predetermined straight type of formed beam 20.
A cutting press 4 is provided next in the process direction after the roll forming units, to process a cutting step S5 for cutting the formed beam 20 to produce a formed product 30.
However, in view of the nature of the roll forming with the related art roll forming units, it has a drawback in that only formation of beams having a fixed cross-section along the length direction of the beams is possible, and formation of beams having different widths and heights along the length direction thereof is not possible.
Consequently, since formation of products of different modified cross-sections having different widths and heights along the length direction cannot be formed with the roll forming method, the products have been formed by applying multi-stage forming with a non-continuous process and long cycle time.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.


Microlithographic projection exposure apparatuses, as well as related components, subsystems and methods are disclosed.

Microlithography is used for the production of microstructured components such as for example integrated circuits or LCDs. The microlithography process is carried out in what is referred to as a projection exposure apparatus having an illumination system and a projection objective. The image of a mask illuminated via the illumination system (=reticle) is in that case projected via the projection objective on to a substrate (for example a silicon wafer) which is coated with a light-sensitive layer (photoresist) and arranged in the image plane of the projection objective to transfer the mask structure on to the light-sensitive coating of the substrate.
Retardation elements are frequently used both in the illumination system and also in the projection objective in order for example to afford defined polarisation distributions or to specifically manipulate polarisation distributions. Examples in that respect are for example the use of lambda/2-plates or the specific compensation of an unwanted disturbance in polarisation distribution, which is caused by the retardation in one or more lenses of intrinsically or naturally birefringent material. The term 'retardation' is used to denote the difference in the optical paths of two orthogonal (mutually perpendicular) polarisation states.


A notification to prompt a user granted a remote control right to remote control a device is transmitted to the user. In such a case, if the user has not performed any operation on the device for a predetermined period of time, another user is temporarily granted the remote control right to the device. A notification to prompt the other user temporarily granted the remote control right is also transmitted to the other user.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a remote control method and a remote control system to remote control a device connected a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some devices installed at home, such as air-conditioners and electronic locks, may be connected to a network, and have a function of communicating with another device via the network.
Remote control systems that remote control the device having such a function using a mobile terminal or the like are also available.
In such a remote control system, a user granted a remote control right of the device in advance remote controls the device using a predetermined mobile terminal and receives, via the mobile terminal, information indicating a state of the device or a state surrounding the device (hereinafter referred to as a "use state of the device") detected by the device.
At a remote location, for example, the user may be notified of information related to the use state of the device installed at home via the mobile terminal carried by the user. If the user decides to perform a new operation on the device, he or she may remote control the device at the remote location using the mobile terminal.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-291057 discloses a remote control system. In accordance with the disclosed remote control system, for the security reason, a device to be remote controlled performs a process responsive to a remote control operation that is performed using a predetermined mobile terminal by a user who is granted the remote control right to the device.
The user granted the remote control right of the device may go out without carrying their own predetermined mobile terminal. Even if information related to the use state of the device that is to be notified to the user is transmitted to the mobile terminal in such a case, the user is not aware of the information at an outside location.
Even if the information transmitted to the mobile terminal includes information that prompts the user to perform an advisable operation on the device, the advisable operation is not performed by the user. As a result, a responding action to the use state of the device may be delayed.

Remote control method and remote control system

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY CORPORATION OF AMERICA