The invention provides a design evaluating method for assisting circuit-board-assembly, as well as an evaluation apparatus, for realizing high-quality, low-cost assembly by numerically evaluating any difference between targeted circuit design and actually performed circuit design, and further provides a recording medium having recorded thereon programs for executing the design evaluating method for assisting circuit-board-assembly. Concretely, an evaluation executing unit is provided and, after reading design evaluation programs from recording media on which the design evaluating programs have been recorded and prior to engineering-trial manufacture of a component-mounted-circuit board mounted components on the circuit board, at least one of a first design evaluation and a second design evaluation is executed. Accordingly, it is enabled to evaluate the appropriateness of a present circuit design before the engineering-trial manufacture, and thus high-quality, low-cost assembly can be realized.

The present invention relates to a design evaluating method for assisting a circuit-board-assembly, evaluating assemblability of a circuit board on which electronic components are mounted, a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon computer-executable evaluation-assisting programs for executing the design evaluating method for assisting the circuit-board-assembly, and a design evaluating apparatus for assisting the circuit-board-assembly for executing the design evaluating method for assisting the circuit-board-assembly.
It is noted that a term xe2x80x9cdesign and assembly operation,xe2x80x9d herein refers to processes ranging from an operation of circuit design and electronic components selection to a completion of engineering-trial manufacture of a component-mounted-circuit board, which is a printed circuit board (which hereinafter may be referred to also as xe2x80x9cPCBxe2x80x9d) that has electronic components mounted thereon and that fulfills desired functions, on the ground that assembly easiness of electronic components onto the circuit board depends not only on an assembly operation but also, actually, on a process of the circuit design. Therefore, the design evaluation in turn means determining the degree of how design techniques and assembly techniques included in the respective processes ranging from the circuit design to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board as described above are satisfying preset targets of the design techniques and the assembly techniques.
In designing a circuit board that is used in some articles, for example, electronic equipment such as televisions and video cassette recorders and that fulfills desired functions, it has been conventional practice to take such steps as shown in FIG. 86. That is, after system design for the whole electronic equipment as shown in Step (denoted by xe2x80x9cSxe2x80x9d in the figure) 1, the design of circuits capable of executing functions of the system as well as the selection of electronic components to be provided in the circuits are performed based on a system design corpus at Step 2. Based on circuit diagrams and component lists relating to these circuit design and selected components, circuit board and pattern design is performed at Step 3. Based on the resulting board design drawings and pattern design drawings, at step 4, a prototype of a component-mounted-circuit board in which electronic components are mounted on the circuit board is manufactured. At Step 5, performance evaluation is performed on the prototype component-mounted-circuit board, where if specified performances are satisfied, then the component-mounted-circuit board is trial manufactured. Then, with regard to the prototype, a quality evaluation is performed at Step 7, a manufacturing cost evaluation is performed at Step 8, and a production evaluation is performed at Step 9 as to whether or not the protoptype is producible without trouble by a production line, one after,the other based on experiences and the like. If the evaluations of Steps 7 to 9 are all satisfied, then a regular production of the component-mounted-circuit board is started. In addition, if the specified performances are not satisfied in the evaluations of Step 5 and Steps 7 to 9, then the process flow is fed back to any one of the Steps 12, 13 and 14, where the processing steps are executed again starting with the operation of circuit-board redesign and electronic-component reselection, or the redesigning for circuit board and pattern design, or redoing of trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board. In this case, which step among Steps 12, 13 and 14 the process flow is fed back to is decided based on the results of the performance evaluations.
Like this, in the conventional art, as shown by Step 5, the assemblability evaluation would not be enabled until the completion of circuit board design and pattern design and the manufacture of the prototype of the component-mounted-circuit board, and as to failures found by the evaluation, the circuit design and the electronic components selection and the like would be redone and a prototype of the component-mounted-circuit board would be manufactured once again.
As shown above, in the conventional art, since the circuit board with electronic components mounted thereon could not be evaluated for its design and manufacture until the circuit board is once completed, there have been problems such as a prolonged design-and-development lead time, a low level of design completeness, and a low productivity and flexibility for variations.
Also, in each of the steps from the operation of circuit design and electronic components selection to the manufacture of the prototype of the component-mounted-circuit board, it has conventionally been practiced that design and manufacture are performed based on personal knowledge and judgment of the design operators or manufacture operators. Thus, in the conventional art, there is no evaluation means for objectively and impartially judging whether or not techniques adopted for the respective steps by the design operator or manufacture operator are the best ones for circuit boards of the system. Neither is there evaluation means which allows a technique that the design operator or manufacture operator is planning to adopt for any one of the steps, to be objectively and impartially evaluated at a planning stage for the adoption of the technique.
In addition, a publication of unexamined Japanese Patent application 4-359497 has disclosed a circuit-board productivity design automatic evaluation system in which it is automatically quantitatively evaluated, prior to the making of a prototype of the component-mounted-circuit board, whether or not the structure of a designed circuit board is easy to produce, and in particular, easy to assemble. However, the invention disclosed in the publication is designed to enable quantitative evaluation of assembly easiness of the circuit board in the stage where the designed circuit board has been forwarded to a manufacturing process. That is, in the invention of the publication, for the evaluation of the assembly easiness without requiring any abundance of experiences, assembling operations in the process of assembling the components onto the circuit board are previously classified into basic factors and correction factors, and then the assembling operations with the circuit board to be evaluated or components are represented by combinations of the basic factors and the correction factors, in which arrangement of the assembly easiness of the circuit board is quantitatively evaluated based on the combinations.
Like this, the invention of the above publication indeed enables the design evaluation prior to the trial manufacture, but is so constituted as to enable the evaluation of the assembly easiness, i.e. productivity design, of the circuit board based on factors relating to the assembling operations, i.e., factors relating to manufacture.
Accordingly, in not only the invention of the above publication but in the conventional art, there exists no one that quantitatively evaluates the assemblability of circuit boards comprehensively by taking into consideration factors other than factors relating to the manufacture, that is, factors relating to the design of the circuit board, factors relating to production technology including manufacturing know-how, and factors relating to manufacture with a manufacturing equipment taken into account, in other words, that quantitatively evaluates the assemblability of circuit boards comprehensively on a scale common to the three divisions of design, production technology and manufacturing.
Further, in the invention of the aforementioned publication, whereas it is considered that the classification into the basic factors and the correction factors is performed based on the experiences of those skilled in the art, whether or not the classification is objectively correct is not determinate, so that the evaluation of the assembly easiness lacks objectivity. Therefore, the invention of the publication is not one that enables objective and impartial evaluation.
Furthermore, in the invention of the publication, the assembly easiness of the circuit board is evaluated with the aim of improving the production efficiency of the circuit board. Accordingly, there has conventionally been provided no one that executes the assemblability evaluation for enabling the realization of high-quality assembly simply without involving considerations for improvement in the production efficiency, even with the invention of the above publication taken into account.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve these and other problems. An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a design evaluating method for assisting circuit-board-assembly, a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon computer-executable evaluation-aid programs for executing the design evaluating method, and a design evaluating apparatus for assisting the circuit-board-assembly, executing the design evaluating method, each of which enables high-quality assembly to be realized by taking into consideration factors relating to a design of the circuit board, factors relating to production technology including know-how in manufacture, and factors relating to manufacture with manufacturing equipment, and by objectively and impartially evaluating the assemblability of circuit boards comprehensively on a scale common to these factors.
In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a design evaluating method for assisting circuit-board-assembly regarding design and assembly operation which includes designing a circuit that fulfills desired function, designing a pattern on a circuit board to form the circuit, and then performing engineering-trial manufacture of a component-mounted-circuit board mounting components on the circuit board, the method comprising:
at a stage prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board, performing a first design evaluation or a second design evaluation with considerations given to both sides of design and assembly processes, the design process side where the circuit design and the pattern design are involved and the assembly process side where electronic components are mounted onto the circuit board,
wherein the first design evaluation is design evaluation for, with respect to the circuit design and electronic components selection, evaluating differences between an actually performed circuit design and a target circuit design, and between components selection and target components selection, the target circuit design and the target components selection being targeted for quality improvement in an assembly operation, in the assembly process, of mounting the electronic components onto the circuit board, and the second design evaluation is design evaluation for, with respect to design of the circuit board and the pattern design of the circuit board, evaluating differences between an actually performed circuit board design and a target board design, and between a pattern design and a target pattern design, the target board design and the target pattern design being targeted.
In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a design evaluating method for assisting circuit-board-assembly regarding design and assembly operation which includes designing a circuit that fulfills desired function, designing a pattern on a circuit board to form the circuit, and then performing engineering-trial manufacture of a component-mounted-circuit board mounting components on the circuit board, the method comprising:
at a stage prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board, performing a first design evaluation and a second design evaluation with considerations given to both sides of design and assembly processes, the design process side where the circuit design and the pattern design are involved and the assembly process side where electronic components are mounted onto the circuit board, wherein the first design evaluation is design evaluation for, with respect to the circuit design and electronic components selection, evaluating differences between an actually performed circuit design and a target circuit design, and between components selection and target components selection, the target circuit design and the target. components selection being targeted for quality improvement in an assembly operation, in the assembly process, of mounting the electronic components onto the circuit board, and the second design evaluation is design evaluation for, with respect to design of the circuit board and the pattern design of the circuit board, evaluating differences between an actually performed circuit board design and a target board design, and between a pattern design and a target pattern design, the target board design and the target pattern design being targeted.
In the design evaluating method for assisting circuit-board-assembly of the first or second aspect, the first design evaluation may comprise at least calculating assembly cost for the assembly operation and, with respect to evaluation of the circuit design and the electronic components selection as well as evaluation of the circuit design and the electronic components selection as viewed from the assembly process side where the electronic components are mounted onto the circuit board, evaluating any difference between the target circuit design and the actually performed circuit design as well as any difference between the target components selection and the actually performed components selection.
Also, the evaluation of the circuit design and the electronic components selection may comprise an evaluation as to whether or not the circuit design and electronic components selection of a circuit to be designed has progressed with respect to a comparison target.
Also, the evaluation of the circuit design and the electronic components selection further may comprise at least an evaluation of compliance with design criteria for quality improvement with respect to the circuit design and electronic components selection, and an evaluation of compliance with know-how items in the assembly process for the quality improvement with respect to the circuit design and electronic components selection.
In a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon programs for making the computer execute design evaluating processing for assisting circuit-board-assembly regarding design and assembly operation which processing includes designing a circuit that fulfills desired function, designing a pattern on a circuit board to form the circuit, and then performing engineering-trial manufacture of a component-mounted-circuit board mounting components on the circuit board,
at a stage prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board, recording design evaluation processing programs for assisting circuit-board-assembly, the programs including instructions for making the computer execute a first design evaluation process or a second design evaluation process with considerations given to both sides of design and assembly, the design side where the circuit design and the pattern design are involved and the assembly side where electronic components are mounted onto the circuit board,
where the first design evaluation process is design evaluation process for, with respect to the circuit design and electronic components selection, evaluating differences between an actually performed circuit design and a target circuit design, and between components selection and target components selection, the target circuit design and the target components selection being targeted for quality improvement in an assembly operation, in the assembly process, of mounting the electronic components onto the circuit board, and the second design evaluation process is design evaluation for, with respect to design of the circuit board and a pattern design of the circuit board, evaluating differences between an actually performed circuit board design and a target board design, and between a pattern design and a target pattern design.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a design evaluating apparatus for assisting circuit-board-assembly, the apparatus for executing design evaluation for assisting circuit-board-assembly regarding design and assembly operation which includes designing a circuit that fulfills desired function, designing a pattern on a circuit board to form the circuit, and then performing engineering-trial manufacture of a component-mounted-circuit board mounting components on the circuit board, the apparatus comprising:
a reading unit for reading a program recorded on the recording medium as defined in the thied aspect of the present invention; and
an evaluation executing unit for executing a first design evaluation or a second design evaluation with considerations given to both sides of design and assembly processes, the design process side where the circuit design and the pattern design are involved and the assembly process side where electronic components are mounted onto the circuit board, based on the read program at a stage prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board.
In a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a design evaluating apparatus for assisting circuit-board-assembly, the apparatus executing design evaluation for assisting circuit-board-assembly regarding design and assembly operation which includes designing a circuit that fulfills desired function, designing a pattern on a circuit board to form the circuit, and then performing engineering-trial manufacture of a component-mounted-circuit board mounting components on the circuit board, the apparatus comprising:
an evaluation executing unit for executing a first design evaluation and a second design evaluation with considerations given to both sides of design and assembly processes, the design process side where the circuit design and the pattern design are involved and the assembly process side where electronic components are mounted onto the circuit board, at a stage prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board,
where the first design evaluation is design evaluation for, with respect to the circuit design and electronic components selection, evaluating differences between an actually performed circuit design and a target circuit design, and between components selection and target components selection, the target circuit design and the target components selection being targeted for quality improvement in the assembly operation, in the assembly process, of mounting the electronic components onto the circuit board, and the second design evaluation is design evaluation for, with respect to design of the circuit board and pattern design of the circuit board, evaluating differences between an actually performed circuit board design and a target board design, and between a pattern design and a target pattern design.
As described in detail above, according to the design evaluating method for assisting circuit-board-assembly in the first aspect of the present invention, as well as to the design evaluating apparatus for assisting circuit-board-assembly in the fourth aspect of the present invention, the evaluation executing unit is provided and, prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board, the first design evaluation or the second design evaluation is executed with considerations given to both sides of design and assembly, the design side where the circuit design and the pattern design are involved and the assembly process side where electronic components are mounted onto the circuit board. Therefore, prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board, the evaluation of circuit design and components selection, or the evaluation of the board design and pattern design can be executed, thus enabling the evaluator, for example, the circuit designer to evaluate his or her own design by himself or herself, to grasp problematic points in assembly cost and assembly process, and to discuss the issues of assemblability on a scale common to the three divisions of the circuit design, the production technology and the assembly. More specifically, since failures that would occur during the production of circuits can be grasped in advance, solutions to the failures can be taken in advance, so that the development lead time can be reduced and that the number of times of engineering-trial manufacture can be reduced. Also, the product quality of circuits can be improved, and the cost reduction and the optimization of production efficiency can be achieved.
Further, according to the design evaluating method for assisting circuit-board-assembly in the second aspect of the present invention, as well as to the design evaluating apparatus for assisting circuit-board-assembly in the fifth aspect of the present invention, the evaluation executing unit is provided and, prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board, the first design evaluation and the second design evaluation are executed with considerations given to both sides of design and assembly, the design side where the circuit design and the pattern design are involved and the assembly process side where electronic components are mounted onto the circuit board. Therefore, the evaluator, for example, the circuit designer is enabled to evaluate his or her own design by himself or herself. Also, since the evaluation of the present circuit design is enabled at the time when the circuit design and electronic-components selection has been completed, problematic points in assembly cost and assembly process can be grasped prior. to the engineering-trial manufacture. Further, it becomes also possible to perform a relative comparison between the circuit of the present design and a circuit of conventional design, and to discuss issues of assemblability on a scale common to the three divisions of the circuit design, the production technology and the assembly. More specifically, since failures that would occur during the production of the circuit can be grasped in advance, solutions to the failures can be taken in advance, so that the development lead time can be reduced and that the number of times of engineering-trial manufacture can be reduced. Also, product quality of the circuit can be improved, and a cost reduction as well as an optimization of production efficiency can be achieved.
Furthermore, according to the recording medium in the third aspect of the present invention, as well as to the design evaluating apparatus for assisting circuit-board-assembly in the fourth aspect of the present invention, information contained in the recording medium is read by the design evaluating apparatus for assisting circuit-board-assembly, making it possible to execute either the first design evaluation or the second design evaluation or both the first design evaluation and the second design evaluation prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of the component-mounted-circuit board. Therefore, the circuit designer is enabled to evaluate his or her own design by himself or herself with, for example, a personal computer. Also, since the evaluation of the circuit design is enabled at the time point, for example, when the circuit design and electronic-components selection has been completed, problematic points in assembly cost and assembly process can be grasped prior to the engineering-trial manufacture of a circuit board. Further, it becomes possible to perform a relative comparison between the circuit of the present design and a circuit of conventional design, and further to discuss issues of assemblability on a scale common to the three divisions of the circuit design, the production technology and the assembly. More specifically, since failures that would occur during the production of the circuit can be grasped in advance, solutions to the failures can be taken in advance, so that the development lead time can be reduced and that the number of times of engineering-trial manufacture can be reduced. Also, product quality of the circuit can be improved, and a cost reduction as well as an optimization of production efficiency can be achieved.

Design evaluating method and apparatus for assisting circuit-board assembly

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An overhead rack system is provided that may be mounted to the ceiling of a structure such as a garage for storing items in an organized manner off the floor. The overhead rack system includes a first and second adjustable mounting track and a support surface having a number of side rails connected together by a plurality of rail connectors. The first and second adjustable mounting tracks are adjustable relative to the ceiling mount such that the space between the ceiling and the support surface as well as the overall length of the side rails may be adjusted by the user according to the intended space.

There are many houses with a two car garage that have never had two cars in them. Instead of using that space to shield cars from the sun and harsh weather, the garage has become home to a collection of gardening and lawn equipment, tools, woodworking equipment, cast-off furniture and things that are no longer used, but are not thrown away. Finding items that are needed in a cluttered garage is a complicated process. Usually, it starts with edging between the stacks of boxes and miscellaneous equipment. If the home owner is lucky, they may remember where this particular item was last, or which box it may be located. More often, it becomes a process of elimination that involves knowing what went into the garage during which time period and playing 'hot, hot, cold' until that person stumbles upon what they're trying to locate. Overhead garage storage can transform unused space in a garage into fully functional storage space. Whether looking to store holiday decorations, sports equipment or mementos, these items can easily fit in a garage if the proper storage racks are in place.


A reconfigurable sequential processor includes a data bank for storing data to be processed; a programmable logic block address generator for addressing data in the data bank; a programmable logic block arithmetic unit responsive to the data bank for processing the data addressed by the programmable logic block address generator; an address generator hardware configuration file having a plurality of configuration files for configuring the programmable logic block address generator in one of a plurality of addressing configurations in response to an address operational code; an arithmetic hardware configuration file having a plurality of configuration files for configuring the programmable logic block arithmetic unit in one of a plurality of processing configurations in response to an arithmetic operational code; and for delivering a series of operational codes to each configuration file for enabling the programmable logic block address generator and the programmable logic block arithmetic unit to be configured to perform sequentially a corresponding series of arithmetic logic operations on the data in the data bank.

Conventional data processing systems such as image data processors require extensive hardware to perform a series of arithmetic logic operations on the data. For example, image data requires the operations of image acquisition, spatial filtering, temporal filtering, histogram equalization, image display, to name just a few. Each such operation requires a separate hardware implementation in separate boards or separate gate arrays. Such implementations are expensive and are relatively inefficient in the sense that while all the necessary hardware is always present it is being utilized only a small part of the time during the period when its particular operation in the series is called for. The hardware actually involves two components: an address generator for selecting the pixel addresses in the sequence called for by the operation, and an arithmetic logic unit, which actually performs the operation on the sequenced data.
The escalation of hardware required is even greater in pipeline systems, which feature fixed image data banks. A pipeline system is one in which a number of image processing operations are being performed on a number of different frames of pixels as the frames are shifted through the pipeline or a series of processors. In one variety of pipeline system where the image data is fixed and does not move through the pipeline, each frame must be serviced by a sequence of address generators and associated arithmetic logic units; that requires two large multiplexer switches with massive switching capability to connect the right pair of address generators and arithmetic logic units to each frame in the proper sequence.

Multibus sequential processor to perform in parallel a plurality of reconfigurable logic operations on a plurality of data sets


Embodiments of the invention are directed to setting optimum FIR filter coefficients. In one embodiment, a POR (Power On Reset) control block acquires temperature data from a thermistor. If the temperature is the first to have been detected as falling within a low temperature range, a filter coefficient determining block in a read/write channel determines filter coefficients of a FIR filter by using the signal acquired from the magnetic disk. The determined filter coefficients are set to the FIR filter. If the temperature data does not satisfy the above-mentioned condition, filter coefficients registered in a filter coefficient table are set to the FIR filter.

The present invention relates to data storage devices, storage device control methods and magnetic disk drives and, more particularly, to data storage devices, storage device control methods and magnetic disk drives in which the setting of read operation parameters is controlled.
Devices using various types of media such as optical disks and magnetic tapes are known as information recording and reproducing devices. Among them, hard disk drives have become popular as storage devices for computers to such an extent that they are one of the storage devices indispensable for today's computers. Further, not limited to computers, their application is widening more and more due to the superior characteristics with the advent of moving picture recording/reproducing devices, car navigation systems, removable memories for digital cameras and so on.
Each magnetic disk used in hard disk drives has a plurality of tracks formed concentrically and each track is partitioned into a plurality of sectors. In each sector, sector address information and user data are stored. Either data write to a sector or data read from the sector is enabled by the head which accesses the desired sector according to the sector address information. A signal read out from a magnetic disk through data read operation is subjected to waveform shaping, decoding processing and other prescribed signal processing by a signal processing circuit before being transmitted to the host. Typically, a signal from a head is subjected to waveform equalization processing by an analog filter, converted to a digital signal by an AD converter and again subjected to waveform equalization processing by a waveform equalizer. Further, the signal from the waveform equalizer is subjected to decoding processing and demodulating processing.
It is possible that data cannot be read out accurately from a magnetic disk in the read operation. This is attributable to optimum read operation parameters which vary depending on the operating condition, particularly the temperature to which the hard disk drive is exposed. It is known that the amplitude and width of an analog waveform signal retrieved from the magnetic disk depend on magnetic characteristics (coercivity, residual magnetization, etc.) of the magnetic disk and the head-to-disk distance. The head-to-disk distance, magnetic disk's coercivity, MR head's resistance sensitivity and so on change with temperature. Accordingly, the characteristics of the reproduced waveform signal also change with temperature.
As such, techniques for detecting the temperature and changing parameters according to the detected temperature are known (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-102102). In that Japanese reference, a disk controller receives temperature data generated through a temperature sensor and an A/D converter. Further, pre-record compensation amount data, record current magnitude data, analog pre-filter cutoff frequency data, analog pre-filter equalization coefficient data and waveform equalizer coefficient data, which depend on the temperature, are respectively sent from the disk controller to the pre-record compensation amount setting register, record current magnitude setting register, analog pre-filter cutoff frequency setting register, analog pre-filter equalization coefficient setting register and waveform equalization coefficient setting register. With this, the pre-record compensation circuit, record current generation circuit, analog pre-filter and waveform equalizer can be set optimally according to the changing temperature. Thus the magnetic disk device can operate under optimum condition regardless of temperature fluctuations.

Magnetic disk drive with parameter setting

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A magnetic shield made of magnetic material in the shape of a thin cylinder is externally fitted and fixed on a cylindrical mold member holding magnetic flux collecting rings so that it has extended sections with appropriate length on both sides in the axial direction, and therefore magnetic noise from outside in the radial direction is shielded directly by the outer surface of the magnetic shield, magnetic noise from both sides in the axial direction is shielded by concentrating the magnetic noise on the end faces of the magnetic shield, and the influence on the magnetic flux collecting rings held in the mold member is eliminated.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a torque detecting device for detecting rotational torque applied to a rotary shaft, and more particularly relates to a torque detecting device that can be suitably used to detect steering torque in an electric power steering apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In an electric power steering apparatus which assists steering by driving a steering assist motor according to the rotation operation of a steering member, such as a steering wheel, and applying rotational force of the motor to a steering mechanism, it is necessary to detect the steering torque applied to the steering member for use in the drive control of the steering assist motor. For this detection, in the prior art, the electric power steering apparatus uses a torque detecting device which is mounted in the middle of a steering shaft connecting the steering member and the steering mechanism together.
In this torque detecting device, the steering shaft (rotary shaft), which is an object of detection, is divided into a first shaft located on the steering member side and a second shaft located on the steering mechanism side, the first and second shafts are connected coaxially with a small-diameter torsion bar as a torsion spring, and the steering torque (rotational torque) applied to the steering shaft by the rotation operation of the steering member is detected on the basis of a relative angular displacement caused between the first and second shafts with the torsion of the torsion bar.
For the means for detecting the relative angular displacement between the first and second shafts, various kinds of structures have been conventionally proposed. As one example, there is a torque detecting device comprising a cylindrical magnet which rotates together with one of the first and second shafts; a yoke ring which rotates together with the other; and detecting means which uses a change in a magnetic circuit formed between the cylindrical magnet and the yoke ring (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-125717).
In the yoke ring, a plurality of pole claws extending in the axial direction are arranged at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on one side of a ring-shaped yoke body, and a pair of ring-shaped yoke bodies with their pole claws being arranged alternately in the circumferential direction are fixed to the first shaft or the second shaft. The cylindrical magnet is a multi-polar magnet including the same number of pairs of magnetic poles as the pole claws of the yoke rings arranged in the circumferential direction, and positioned and fixed to the second shaft or the first shaft so that, when the cylindrical magnet is in a neutral state in which there is no relative angular displacement between the first and second shafts, the pole claws of the yoke rings are aligned on the boundaries between the N and S poles.
On the outside of the two yoke rings, magnetic flux collecting rings for collecting the magnetic flux generated in these yoke rings are placed closely to face the yoke bodies, respectively. These magnetic flux collecting rings have magnetic flux collecting sections extending in the axial direction from the magnetic flux collecting rings, at positions aligned in the circumferential direction, and a magnetic sensor composed of a magnetic detection element such as a Hall element is placed between these magnetic flux collecting sections opposing each other with a predetermined air gap therebetween. With a mold member formed in a cylindrical shape to cover the outside of the magnetic flux collecting rings, the magnetic flux collecting rings and magnetic sensor described above are integrated while maintaining their positional relationship, and fixed to a housing supporting the steering shaft through the mold member.
In this structure, when steering torque is applied to the steering shaft and a relative angular displacement is caused between the first and second shafts, the positional relationship in the circumferential direction between the pole claws of the two yoke rings and the magnetic poles of the cylindrical magnet changes in mutually opposite direction, and the leakage flux in the air gap between the magnetic flux collecting sections of the magnetic flux collecting rings is increased or decreased by the change of magnetic flux in the respective yoke rings corresponding to the positional change. By extracting a change in the output of the magnetic sensor corresponding to this increase or decrease, it is possible to detect the steering torque.
In the torque detecting device constructed as described above, when magnetic noise applied from outside are superimposed on the magnetic flux collected in the magnetic flux collecting rings, the output of the magnetic sensor suffers from the influence of the noise, and there is a possibility that the accuracy of detecting the steering torque is lowered. Thus, in the prior art, a magnetic shield for shielding magnetic noise is provided in the periphery of the magnetic flux collecting rings.
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view showing the structure of a conventional magnetic shield disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-125717. FIG. 1 shows a magnetic flux collecting ring assembly comprising a pair of magnetic flux collecting rings 6 and 6 and a magnetic sensor 7 which are integrated with a mold member 61 formed by molding a resin into a cylindrical shape. The magnetic flux collecting rings 6 and 6 are integrated so that they are separated from each other by a predetermined distance in the axial direction and exposed to the inner circumferential surface of the mold member 61. The magnetic flux collecting rings 6 and 6 have, at corresponding positions in the circumferential direction, magnetic flux collecting sections 60 and 60 extending toward each other in the axial direction, and the magnetic sensor 7 is positioned between the opposing surfaces of the ends of the magnetic flux collecting sections 60 and 60 which are bent outward in the radial direction.
As shown in FIG. 1, the magnetic shield 9 is a thin plate of magnetic material composed of an outer circumferential plate 9a for covering the outer circumferential surface of the mold member 61 and linked end-face plates 9b and 9b, which are formed by bending both sides of the outer circumferential plate 9a inward at substantially right angles for covering the end faces, is mounted to cover three surfaces (the outer circumferential surface and both end faces) except the inner circumferential surface of the mold member 61 in which the magnetic flux collecting rings 6 and 6 made of magnetic material are exposed, and performs the function of shielding magnetic noise coming from various directions as shown by the arrows in FIG. 1 and eliminating the influence on the magnetic flux collecting rings 6 and 6.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-125717, such a magnetic shield 9 is mounted by a procedure in which a belt-like plate having a U-shaped cross section consisting of the outer circumferential plate 9a and end-face plates 9b and 9b shown in FIG. 1 is wound around the outside of the mold member 61, cut at an appropriate position, and joined to the beginning end of the belt-like plate. During this mounting, however, a lot of power and work are required to bent and wind the belt-like plate having the U-shaped cross section and further work is required for joining after winding, and thus there is a problem that the product cost is increased by an increase in the number of assembly steps.
It is also possible to construct the outer circumferential plate 9a and the end-face plates 9b and 9b as separate rings and mount them by a procedure in which the outer circumferential plate 9a and the end-face plates 9b and 9b are positioned separately on the outside of the mold member 61 and then joined together. In this case, however, it is necessary to join the outer circumferential plate 9a and the end-face plates 9b and 9b over the entire circumference, and thus there is no effect of reducing the number of assembly steps.

Torque detecting device having magnetic shield for shielding magnetic noise


A bar stool having a seat portion, an intermediate portion and a base portion, wherein the intermediate portion has a spring construction and is mounted tiltably and returnably on the base portion. The intermediate portion comprises a central pillar and a spring arrangement which are connected to distribute the weight between the seat portion and the base portion.

A typical form of bar stool comprises a seat portion, an intermediate portion and a base portion. Such a stool however suffers from the disadvantage that the user of the stool, sits thereon in a highly static position. In the course of long evenings spent on such a bar stool the back muscles of the occupants of the stool suffer from fatigue whereby the occupant of the stool progressively assumes a detrimental seating posture.
During the day, a large part of the population works in offices or the like involving activity in a seated position, which also contributes to degeneration of the back muscles. If in particular such people who are already suffering from weakened or degenerated back muscles now also sit on static bar stools, for example, in the evening, then there is even a greater tendency of the stool occupant to adopt a detrimental sitting posture, with the consequence of further back pains and similar svmptoms resulting thezafrom. Continuous and incorrect loading on the intervertebral disks results in the blood supply thereto being extremely poor, which can result in permanent back damage. A further disadvantage when sitting on a bar stool is that the legs hang inclined downwardly and thus most occupants of bar stools have a tendency to adopt a posture involving a hollow bask. If that posture is found to be uncomfortable, the stool occupant then rests against the bar itself, which in turn results in the intervertebral disks being subjected to a very one-sided loading.


A bioelectrochemical sensor utilizing a nanoporous gold electrode. The bioelectrochemical sensor is suitable for measuring redox in biologic media while having increased resistance to biofouling as compared to conventional electrodes such as planar gold electrodes, due to greater exposed surface area of the three-dimensional ligature structure defining the nanopores. The nanopores have a pore size of 5-100 nm, preferably with an average pore size of less than 50 nm, and more preferably with an average pore size of less than 20 nm.

The measurement of redox potential, or redox for short, is relatively simple in concept, requiring only a reference electrode and working electrode through which the balance of oxidants and reductants in any media can be measured via voltage (mV). However, historically there has been no reliable method to measure it due to biofouling (blockage of the electrode surface by proteins in biologic media), and consequently no rapid, reliable method for evaluating redox species and redox balance in metabolic and oxidative stress. Because of the inability to provide this direct measure of oxidative stress, current standards for evaluating the severity of these derangements in conditions such as sepsis and shock include only secondary measures of oxidative and metabolic stress, such as central venous oxygen saturation (SvO2) and serum lactate measurements. These values are currently followed not only as indicators of the severity of the initial insult, but also as measures of the success of therapeutic interventions. Further, recent international guidelines define therapeutic endpoints based on the value of SvO2, with saturations less than 70% indicating an ongoing metabolic and physiologic deficit necessitating an escalation of support.
Though these measures are the current standard, they have numerous limitations as they reflect only crude, averaged measures of the metabolic and clinical state, and provide only indirect measurements for directly relevant clinical data: cardiac output, oxygen metabolism, oxygen debt and overall oxidative stress. Even recent advances in regional tissue oxygenation measures, such as Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) monitoring, can only measure regional oxygen saturations or serve as a non-invasive measure of SvO2 that reports an oxygen saturation that may or may not be clinically relevant, but has no ability to reflect the true redox environment or oxidative stress present.
Furthermore, while there is much debate regarding antioxidant therapy in septic shock and critical illness, blood redox measurements can be useful in guiding such a therapeutic approach in the future. Pre-clinical studies have demonstrated the benefits of antioxidant therapy, such as the use of ascorbic acid in both attenuating the development of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), and reducing the proinflammatory and procoagulant states that induce organ injury such as lung vascular injury in sepsis or after other insults such as trauma, cardiac arrest, or burns. There has been renewed interest in the role of Vitamin C, along with other antioxidants, in protecting against oxidative stress in ischemia/reperfusion injury and sepsis, including its ability to mitigate organ injury in these states. As speculated by multiple investigators, resuscitation fluids containing targeted anti-oxidant therapy may improve the ability to support patients with sepsis and protect against multiple organ dysfunction.
To accurately and reproducibly make electrochemical (redox) measurements in complex biologic fluid such as blood and plasma, the electrode must be able to exchange electrons, H+ ions, and oxygen free radicals with the redox species in solution. If the electrode surface is somehow modified or contaminated (e.g., by protein adsorption), then the electrode can lose its effectiveness as a redox sensor. The impact of biofouling on the electrochemical measurement will depend on the degree of modification and the redox species being detected. It is well known that when a conducting metal electrode is exposed to protein, adsorption will take place. To circumvent or reduce the impact of protein adsorption on the electrochemical activity of redox active molecules at the electrode surface, prior solutions have been to modify the electrode surface with, e.g., a pyridinethiol or polymer film (e.g., polyethylene glycol). Electrode modification, however, can impede electron exchange at the electrode surface and subsequently bias the results due to selective partitioning/exclusion of certain analyte species.
Another factor that becomes important, particularly with the potentiometric measurement of blood redox potential, is the reference electrode. In a potentiometric sensor, a high impedance voltmeter measures the potential of the indicator electrode with respect to the reference electrode.
The potential of the reference electrode stays constant during and between samples for the measured potential to reflect what takes place at the nanoporous electrode in solution. A common reference electrode to use is a standard commercial silver/silver chloride reference electrode (saturated potassium chloride (KCl)) with a porous Vycor frit. By fixing the concentration of potassium chloride, the potential of the reference electrode then becomes fixed. A fitted reference electrode, however, can also become clogged from the proteins/enzymes/cells in blood giving rise to a significant junction potential, and extreme cases, a sluggish, variable response. Because the contribution of the junction potential to the measured cell potential is not known, it is impossible to know the potential of the indicating electrode to any degree of accuracy.
The need for measuring redox at a direct measure of metabolic and oxidative stress is clear; however, there has been little progress in the field of redox measurements in complex biologic media. As noted above, the problem is that traditional planar (flat) metal electrodes cannot reliably or accurately make these measurements as they are fouled and rendered unresponsive in complex protein containing biologic solutions. Because of this, accurate measures for POC testing can be difficult. Furthermore, biofouling can prevent the development of a redox potential device capable of continuous or semi-continuous measurements of blood, urine, exhaled breath condensate, or tissue interstituium.

Nanoporous bioelectrochemical sensors for measuring redox potential in biological samples

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN


A dual clutch-type transmission includes a first clutch, a second clutch, a first input shaft, a second input shaft, an output shaft, a first countershaft, a second countershaft, a first input gear train, a second input gear train, a first output gear train, a second output gear train, a third output gear train, a first synchronization mechanism, a second synchronization mechanism, and a third synchronization mechanism.

In recent years, a dual clutch-type transmission having two clutches has been known. A general dual clutch-type transmission has power transmission mechanisms of two systems including odd-numbered stages and even-numbered stages corresponding to respective clutches and is configured to perform shifting while alternately connecting each system.
For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology where a second countershaft of a hollow-shaft shape through which a first countershaft is inserted is integrally formed with two counter gears separated from each other and a power transmission path is switched from the first countershaft to the second countershaft at a sixth speed, and further two primary gear trains corresponding to respective clutches are re-used as gear trains for transmission, in such a manner that a total of six speeds are achieved while preventing an increase in the number of gears.


Embodiments herein relate to in vitro production methods of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) and hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) that have long-term multilineage hematopoiesis potentials upon in vivo engraftment. The HSC and HSPCs are derived from pluripotent stem cells-derived hemogenic endothelia cells (HE) by non-integrative episomal vectors-based gene transfer.

There is a lack of supply of functional blood cells for in vivo cellular replacement therapy, and for in vitro studies of disease modeling, drug screening, and hematological diseases. Bone marrow transplantation is by far the most established cellular replacement therapy for a variety of hematological disorders. The functional unit of a bone marrow transplant is the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC), which resides at the apex of a complex cellular hierarchy and replenishes blood development throughout life. However, the scarcity of HLA-matched HSCs or patient-specific HSCs severely limits the ability to carry out transplantation, disease modeling, drug screening, and in vitro studies of hematological diseases. Often, there is not a large enough cell population transplanted to ensure sufficient engraftment and reconstitution in vivo.
As such, many studies have been developed to generate HSCs from alternative sources. For example, reprogramming of somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has provided access to a wide array of patient-specific pluripotent cells, a promising source for disease modeling, drug screens and cellular therapies. Pluripotent cells are induced in human and mouse somatic cells by the forced expression of the reprogramming factors: OCT4 (Oct4) and SOX2 (Sox2) with either the combinations of KLF4 (Klf4) and c-MYC (c-Myc) or NANOG (Nanog) and LIN28 (Lin28). Mouse iPS cell lines derived from bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells has been reported. Derivation of human iPS cells from postnatal human blood cells, from granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) mobilized peripheral blood (PB) CD34+ cells, and from human cord blood (CB) and adult bone marrow (BM) CD34+ cells without any pre-treatment such as G-CSF mobilization has been also reported. The iPSCs have been shown to differentiate into various cells belonging to the three germ layers, as demonstrated by the analysis of teratomas generated from human and mouse iPS cells. In addition, the pluripotency of iPS cells is confirmed by the contribution of iPS cell-derived cells to various organs of the chimeric mice developed from iPS cell-introduced blastocysts.
Another approach to generate HSCs from pluripotent stem cells (PSC) is to specify HSCs from its ontogenetic precursors. It is now widely accepted that HSCs originate from hemogenic endothelium (HE) in the aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) and arterial endothelium in other anatomical sites. Recent work on the directed differentiation of HE from human PSC have provided valuable insights into some of the signaling pathways that control the emergence of primitive or definitive populations; however, the endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition remains incompletely understood in human hematopoietic development, making rational intervention challenging. For example, there are reports of induced definitive HE differentiated from human embryonic bodies (EB) that were derived from iPS cells. However, these HE from PSCs do not engraft in vivo. In contrast, other have shown that real hemogenic cells from human fetal tissues can engraft in mice, indicating missing signals to confer HSC fate on PSCs.
Therefore, there are still barriers to the generation of HSC from these alternative sources. In addition to the cell quantity and cell source problems, there is still a hurdle in producing hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) or the differentiated cells therefrom that would engraft in vivo. Mostly, the primitive HSC and HSPC produced from these alternative sources do not sustain blood production in vivo.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells derived from hemogenic endothelial cells by episomal plasmid gene transfer

THE CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER CORPORATION


Described is a controller, wherein the controller is adapted: to control a transformation ratio of a park transformer of a wind turbine park including wind turbines connected to a first node. The park transformer is connected between a first node and a second node which is connected to a utility grid to which electric energy produced by the wind turbines is to be delivered. Further a wind park and a control method are described.

A wind farm or a wind park may comprise one or more wind turbines which convert mechanical energy contained in wind to electrical energy. The wind turbines may be connected to a point of common coupling (PCC) at which point or node a number of electrical conditions or properties must be satisfied. In particular, the electrical properties reactive power Q, voltage V and power factor cos(φ) at the point of common coupling may satisfy particular requirements.
EP 2 108 828 A2 discloses a wind farm collector system loss optimization, wherein a collector system includes a plurality of transformers connected to each wind turbine generator and a substation transformer connecting the wind farm collector system to the electrical grid. A control function may include voltage and real and reactive power commands to the individual wind turbine generators, wherein an algorithm has a technical effect to minimize electrical losses for the wind farm system.
There may be a need for a controller, in particular a controller for controlling a park transformer, for a wind park, and for a control method for controlling a park transformer, wherein an efficiency of energy production and/or supply to the utility grid is improved and wherein at the same time desired or required electrical conditions are satisfied at a point of common coupling, where the wind turbines are connected.

Controller, wind park and control method


Anodic electrochromic materials for use in an electrochromic device comprising a first moiety, wherein the first moiety comprises a metallocene or a substituted metallocene, and a second moiety, wherein the second moiety comprises at least one constituent which serves to increase the solubility of the first moiety in an associated solvent relative to solubility of the first moiety without the second moiety.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to electrochromic materials for use in electrochromic devices, and more particularly, to anodic electrochromic materials comprising a first moiety, such as a metallocene or a substituted metallocene, and a second moiety having one or more constituent(s) which serve to increase the solubility of the first moiety in an associated solvent relative to the solubility of the first moiety without the second moiety.
2. Background Art
Electrochromic devices have been known in the art for several years. Furthermore, experimentation associated with the utilization of metallocenes and simple substituted metallocenes as anodic electrochromic materials has also been explored. While the utilization of such anodic electrochromic materials in devices such as electrochromic mirrors and windows has been identified, the solubility characteristics of many of these anodic electrochromic materials remains problematic.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an anodic electrochromic material with a solublizing moiety that remedies the aforementioned detriments and/or complications associated with the incorporation of the above-identified anodic electrochromic materials into a solvent at an operatively acceptable concentration.
The present invention is directed to an electrochromic medium for use in an electrochromic device comprising: (a) at least one solvent; (b) a cathodic electrochromic material; and (c) an anodic electrochromic material which includes (1) a first moiety, wherein the first moiety comprises a metallocene or a substituted metallocene, and (2) a second moiety, wherein the second moiety comprises at least one constituent which serves to increase solubility of the first moiety in the at least one solvent relative to the first moiety without the second moiety.
In another aspect of the invention, an electrochromic device is disclosed as comprising: (a) at least one substantially transparent substrate; and (b) an electrochromic medium which comprises (1) at least one solvent, (2) a cathodic electrochromic material, and (3) an anodic electrochromic material which includes a first moiety, wherein the first moiety comprises a metallocene or a substituted metallocene, and a second moiety, wherein the second moiety comprises at least one constituent which serves to increase solubility of the first moiety in the at least one solvent relative to the first moiety without the second moiety.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the first moiety is selected from the group comprising ferrocene, substituted ferrocenes, and mixtures thereof, and the second moiety is selected from the group comprising nitriles, nitro constituents, sulfoxides, sulfonates, phosphonium constituents, phosphonates, phosphonites, ammonium constituents, viologens including bipyridinyl constituents, carbonyls including carbonates, carbamates, ketones, esters, and amides, ethers including polyethers, amines including tertiary amines, alkenes, alkynes, and mixtures thereof.
The present invention is also directed to an anodic electrochromic material for use in an electrochromic device comprising: (a) a first moiety, wherein the first moiety comprises a metallocene or a substituted metallocene; and (b) a second moiety, wherein the second moiety comprises at least one constituent which serves to increase solubility of the first moiety in an associated solvent relative to the first moiety without the second moiety, and wherein the second moiety is selected from the group comprising nitrites, nitro constituents, sulfoxides, sulfonates, phosphonium constituents, phosphonates, phosphonites, polyethers, viologens including bipyridinyl constituents, carbonyls including carbonates, carbamates, ketones, cyclic esters, and amides, and mixtures thereof.

Anodic electroactive materials having a solublizing moiety


An equivalent circuit for a coil incorporated in a circuit simulator is a model of an equivalent circuit for a coil included in a circuit simulator for analysis of an electrical device including a coil forming a magnetic circuit. The equivalent circuit of a coil included in an electric motor or other electrical device is preferably comprised of a resistance component (R), induced voltage component (−dΦ/dt), and inductance component (L). The equivalent circuit of the inductance component is provided with a current source, a voltage extractor for extracting the voltage across the terminals of this current source, a current generator for determining the value of the current of the current source based on the value of the voltage output by this voltage extractor, and a current-carrying path connected in parallel to the current source and carrying a regenerative current at the time of off operation. By the above configuration, an electrical device including a coil can be analyzed and the iterative calculation at the time of handling nonlinear characteristic data becomes unnecessary. An actual model can be realized with variable values of the inductance element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an equivalent circuit for a coil incorporated in a circuit simulator used for analysis of electrical equipments including an electric motor and a generator, etc., a circuit simulator and a method of preparing the same, and a storage medium for storing a program for realizing the circuit simulator. In particular, the present invention relates to arts for determining the equivalent circuit for a coil being a magnetic circuit in an electrical equipment in order to make a model for analysis by a circuit simulator closer to an actual coil, and arts for improving the performance and practicality of commercially available ordinary circuit simulator programs.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a household electric appliance manufacturer or auto maker, etc. uses, for example, an electric motor in a product, it generally conducts a detailed study of operating characteristics in electrical circuits of the electric motor using a circuit simulator before producing an actual motor. In this case, the circuit simulator treats the electric motor as a device comprised of electrical elements included in the mechanical structural parts and a control circuit for controlling the supply of power to the mechanical structural parts. When the circuit simulator performs calculations for an electric motor, it expresses the electric motor as an electrical equivalent circuit and usually uses electrical elements of the electric motor in the circuit simulator.
The above-mentioned circuit simulator is realized by running a simulation program simulating the configuration and operation of the electrical circuit equivalent to the electric motor on a computer. The operator at the user installs, starts up, and runs the simulation program in the computer, views the state of the electrical equivalent circuit displayed on the screen of the display of the computer, and simulates the operation of the electric motor through the electrical equivalent circuit. The circuit simulator to be used is generally provided by commercially available software. As the circuit simulator, for example, PSIM (made by Powersim Inc.), Matlab®/Simulink® (made by The MathWorks Inc.), and other products are being sold.
The conventional commercially available circuit simulators can set several electrical characteristics for the motor elements. A circuit simulation enables the calculations of the electrical circuit to be matched with the actually measured values to thereby evaluate the performance of a product without manufacturing a trial product. This enables advance evaluation of the performance of the electrical circuit and enables evaluation of the performance by a short calculation time and faster cycle.
However, in the conventional circuit simulator, the set values of the electrical characteristics are constant values based on lumped constants and cannot be changed during the computer simulation. In an actual electric motor, however, the values of the inductance and other electrical characteristics of the motor elements change with each instant. For this reason, the problem has been pointed out that a separation occurs between the results of calculation by the conventional circuit simulator and the actually measured values in actual devices, and the accuracy of calculation is poor.
As a means for solving the above conventional problem, the method has been proposed of analyzing the electrical characteristics of an electric motor in advance utilizing the finite element method (electromagnetic field analysis) so as to obtain data on the constantly changing values of the electrical characteristics of the electric motor and connecting the data of the values of the electrical characteristics to the circuit simulator (Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2003-75521 and Japanese Patent Publication (A) No. 2003-85218). Explaining this more specifically, the practice has been to extract the values of the electrical characteristics of the electric motor in accordance with specific situations based on the finite element method, prepare a data base of the values of the electrical characteristics, and have the circuit simulator run calculations while referring to the data base.
Magnetic field analysis based on the finite element method enables analysis of the characteristics of the mechanical structural parts of the electric motor as they stand, but tremendous time is taken if finding them directly linked with the electrical circuit.
Further, when connecting magnetic field analysis by the finite element method and the circuit simulator, as explained above, there is the problem that the work of extracting the data of the electrical characteristics in advance is required. Further, while a data base of the electrical characteristics is prepared, the data base has nonlinearity, so iterative calculation by the circuit simulator is necessary. Therefore, when it is not possible to run nonlinear iterative calculations on the circuit simulator, data of nonlinear characteristics cannot be handled.
Ordinarily, the only variable circuit elements which a conventional commercially available circuit simulator provides the user are the current source and voltage source. There are no variable inductance elements etc. However, the actual characteristics of a coil forming a magnetic circuit handled in an electric motor or other electrical devices or equipments are not constant values, but variable values, so some sort of modelization is necessary for inherently variable inductance elements to be handled by a circuit simulator.
Further, the circuit simulator of an electrical device having three coils connected by a Y-configuration (star configuration) or a delta configuration inherently functions as an electric motor or functions as a generator in accordance with the relative magnitude of the power supplied from the outside and the power generated at the coil side. For this reason, when using the above circuit simulator for analysis, setting the analysis conditions of the model so as to select between simulation and analysis as an electric motor or simulation and analysis as a generator becomes extremely important. From this viewpoint, provision of a circuit simulator enabling the analysis conditions to be suitably set has been desired.

Equivalent circuit for coil incorporated in circuit simulator, circuit simulator and method of preparation of same, and storage medium of circuit simulator program


This invention relates to three-dimensional (3-D) electrophoretic displays comprising individually sealed cells filled with optically active electrophoretic dispersions, and more particularly to bi-stable, low-power-consumption and sealed microcup-based electrophoretic displays for high-quality three-dimensional imagery applications.

Various techniques have been used in the prior art to record, transmit and display three-dimensional ("3-D" or stereoscopic) still or motion images for broadcasting, entertainment, scientific research, engineering design, medical or military applications. To generate 3-D images, many such conventional techniques call for the use of two camera systems, whereby two different images are taken from slightly different camera angles and locations, so as to simulate the process by which depth is perceived by a pair of eyes separated by the inter-pupil distance. The two images are then superimposed, either before or after transmission, and finally displayed on a display apparatus such as a television or screen. Conceivably, the two superimposed images are somehow "separated" in the eyes of the viewer, such that one eye sees only one image while the other eye sees only the other image, and as a result an illusion of depth is created by simulating normal human vision.
A popular conventional technique for generating and displaying 3-D images is the anaglyphic 3-D process. Essentially, this technique uses color filters, in the form of a pair of colored glasses worn by the viewer, to separate the two images respectively presented to the right and left eyes. Simultaneously, watching the breakdown images with the right eye and the left eye can give the image a three-dimensional look. An example of the anaglyphic process is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,697,679, entitled "Stereoscopic Television System" and issued to T. Beard, et al.
Another conventional process is the so-called Polaroid process, in which the right and left images are separated by the use of polarized light filters. The right eye image is projected onto a screen through a polarizing filter rotated 45° to the right of vertical, while the left eye image is projected onto the same screen through a polarizing filter rotated 45° to the left of vertical. Similarly, polarized filters are placed in front of each of the eyes of the viewer, causing the proper image to be transmitted to each eye.
A more recent technique for viewing 3-D images is to make the viewer wear a pair of spectacles incorporating liquid crystal shutters. The image on the display alternates between a right-eye view and a left-eye view in a time-multiplexed fashion. If the image is synchronized with the spectacle shutters at a sufficient rate, the viewer can see a flicker-free stereoscopic image. Alternatively, a liquid crystal shutter may also be disposed in front of a display apparatus while the viewer uses a pair of polarized glasses to view the images. As an example, this is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,252,624 B1, entitled "Three Dimensional Display" and issued to K. Yuasa, et al.
The right and left perspective images of a 3-D video display system may also be spatially multiplexed during the image generation process to produce a multiplexed composite image. During the image display process, the visible light associated with the right and left perspective image components of the composite image are simultaneously displayed, yet with spatially different polarizations. This perspective image blocking or selective viewing process is typically achieved by the use of spectacles incorporating a pair of spatially different polarizing lenses. Alternatively, micropolarizers may be mounted onto the display surfaces to emanate the polarized light of spatially multiplexed images.
Another prior-art 3-D image display system makes use of the spectral properties of both right and left perspective color images and ensures that the right eye of the viewer sees only the right perspective color images and the left eye of the viewer sees only the left perspective color images of a 3-D scenery. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,995,718, entitled "Full Color Three-Dimensional Projection Display" and issued to K. Jachimowicz, et al., teaches a display system that includes three monochrome image sources and utilizes image polarization for color multiplexing. As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,111,598, entitled "System and Method for Producing and Displaying Spectrally-Multiplexed Images of Three-Dimensional Imagery for Use in Flicker-Free Stereoscopic Viewing Thereof" and issued to S. Faris, discloses another method and apparatus for producing and displaying pairs of spectrally multiplexed grayscale or color images of a 3-D scenery.
It is clear from the above that central to current 3-D imagery systems is display equipment and methods that are capable of expressing high-quality stereoscopic images in accordance with any one or more of the stereoscopic imaging techniques known to those skilled in the art, including, without limitation to, those techniques described above. Aside from displays based on the conventional cathode-ray tube ("CRT"), various flat panel display equipment and methods have been known, including those based on light emitting diode ("LED"), electroluminescence ("EL"), field emission ("FE"), vacuum fluorescence, AC or DC plasma and liquid crystal displays ("LCD"). Many of these techniques have been applied to stereoscopic imagery systems, each, to a more or less extent, successfully.
Another recent display technology, the electrophoretic display ("EPD"), appears promising but has not been adapted for 3-D imagery systems and applications. An EPD is a non-emissive device based on the electrophoresis phenomenon in which charged pigment particles suspended in a dielectric solvent are influenced by a pair of electrodes. An EPD typically comprises a pair of opposed, spaced-apart, plate-like electrodes, with spacers predetermining a certain distance between the electrodes. At least one of the electrodes, typically on the viewing side, is transparent. The viewing-side plate is usually the top plate. In a passive-type EPD, row and column electrodes on the top and bottom plates respectively are used to drive the displays, whereas an array of thin film transistors ("TFT") on the bottom plate and a common, non-patterned transparent conductor plate on the top plate are required for the active type EPDs. Typically, an electrophoretic fluid, comprising a colored dielectric solvent and charged pigment particles dispersed therein, is enclosed between the two electrodes.
An EPD operates as follows. A voltage difference is imposed between the two electrodes, causing the charged pigment particles to migrate to the plate of a polarity opposite that of the particles. By selectively charging the two plates, the color shown at the top (transparent) plate can be either the color of the solvent or the color of the pigment particles. Reversal of the plate polarity will cause the particles to migrate in the opposite direction, thereby reversing the color shown at the top plate. Furthermore, intermediate color density (or shades of gray) due to intermediate pigment density at the transparent plate may be obtained by controlling the plate charge through a range of voltages.
In addition to the typical reflective mode, U.S. Pat. No. 06,184,856, entitled "Transmissive Electrophoretic Display with Laterally Adjacent Color Cells" and issued to J. G. Gordon II, et al., discloses a transmissive EPD comprising a backlight, color filters and substrates with two transparent electrodes. Each electrophoretic cell sandwiched between the two electrodes serves as a light valve. In the collected state, the particles in the cell are positioned to minimize the coverage of the horizontal area of the cell and allow the backlight to pass through the cell. In the distributed state, the particles are positioned to cover the horizontal area of the cell and scatter or absorb the backlight. The major disadvantage of this EPD device is that the operation of its backlight and color filters consumes a great deal of power, an undesirable feature for hand-held devices such as PDAs (personal digital assistants) and e-books.
EPDs of different pixel or cell structures have been reported in the prior art; for example, M. A. Hopper and V. Novotny, in IEEE Trans. Electr. Dev., 26(8):1148-1152 (1979), teaches a partition-type EPD; U.S. Pat. No. 5,961,804, entitled "Microencapsulated Electrophoretic Display" and issued to J. Jacobson, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,026, entitled "Nonemissive Displays and Piezoelectric Power Supplies Therefor" and issued to J. Jacobson, et al., disclose a number of microencapsulated EPD devices. U.S. Pat. No. 3,612,758, entitled "Color Display Device" and issued to P. F. Evans, et al., discloses another type of EPD wherein the electrophoretic cells are formed from parallel line reservoirs or microgrooves. Each of these devices, however, has its problems as noted below.
In a partition-type EPD, there are partitions between the two electrodes for dividing the space into smaller cells to prevent undesired movements of the particles such as sedimentation. However, difficulties are encountered in the formation of the partitions, the filling of the display with the fluid, the enclosure of the fluid in the display and the separation of electrophoretic fluids of different colors or polarization properties from each other. A full color or 3-D image presentation is thus impossible because of the lack of a mechanism to eliminate the undesirable cross-talk due to intermixing of components among the cells.
The use of parallel line reservoirs such as microchannels, microgrooves or microcolumns to form the EPD device has the problem of undesirable particle sedimentation or creaming along the channel or groove direction. The pixel dimensions, particularly the length of the channels or grooves, are too long for an acceptable polarization or color separation for 3-D image or full color presentations, respectively. In addition, the lack of a seamless, air-pocket-free and continuous sealing process to enclose the electrophoretic fluid without undesirable intermixing or cross-talk makes the 3-D image or roll-to-roll manufacturing extremely difficult.
The prior-art microencapsulated EPD devices have a substantially two-dimensional arrangement of microcapsules, each having therein an electrophoretic composition of a dielectric fluid and a dispersion of charged pigment particles that visually contrast with the dielectric solvent. Typically, the microcapsules are prepared in an aqueous solution and, to achieve a useful contrast ratio, have a relatively large size (i.e., 50-150 microns). This large microcapsule size results in a poor scratch resistance and a slow response time for a given voltage because of the relatively large inter-electrode gap dictated by the relative large capsules. Also, the hydrophilic shell of microcapsules prepared in an aqueous solution typically results in sensitivity to high moisture and temperature conditions. To embed the microcapsules in a large quantity of a polymer matrix may obviate these shortcomings, but only at the expense of an even slower response time and/or a lower contrast ratio. To improve the switching rate, a charge-controlling agent is often needed in this type of EPD. However, the microencapsulation process in an aqueous solution imposes a limitation on the type of charge-controlling agents that can be used. Other drawbacks associated with the microcapsule system include poor resolution and poor addressability for color or 3-D applications because of its large capsule size and broad size distribution.
A new EPD apparatus and method was recently disclosed in the following co-pending U.S. patent applications: U.S. Ser. No. 09/518,488, filed on Mar. 3, 2000 (corresponding to WO01/67170), U.S. Ser. No. 09/759,212, filed on Jan. 11, 2001, U.S. Ser. No. 09/606,654, filed on Jun. 28, 2000 (corresponding to WO02/01280) and U.S. Ser. No. 09/784,972, filed on Feb. 15, 2001, all of which are incorporated herein by reference. This new EPD comprises individually sealed cells formed from microcups of well-defined shape, size and aspect ratio. Each such cell is filled with charged pigment particles dispersed in a dielectric solvent.
The above-described sealed microcup structure enables a format flexible and efficient roll-to-roll continuous manufacturing process for the preparation of EPDs. For example, the displays can be prepared on a continuous web of conductor film such as ITO/PET by (1) coating a radiation curable composition onto the ITO/PET film, (2) forming the microcup structure by a microembossing or photolithographic method, (3) filling the microcups with an electrophoretic fluid and sealing the filled microcups, (4) laminating the sealed microcups with the other conductor film and (5) slicing and cutting the display to a desirable size or format for assembling.
One advantage of this EPD design is that the microcup wall is in effect a built-in spacer to keep the top and bottom substrates apart at a fixed distance. The mechanical properties and structural integrity of microcup displays are significantly better than any prior-art displays including those manufactured by using spacer particles. In addition, displays involving microcups have desirable mechanical properties including reliable display performance when the display is bent, rolled or under compression pressure from, for example, a touch screen application. The use of the microcup technology also eliminates the need of an edge seal adhesive, which would limit and predefine the size of the display panel and confine the display fluid inside a predefined area. A conventional display prepared by the edge sealing adhesive method will no longer be functional if the display is cut or a hole is drilled through the display, because the display fluid would leak out. In contrast, the display fluid within a sealed microcup-based display is enclosed and isolated in each cell. Such a sealed microcup-based display may be cut to almost any dimensions without the risk of damaging the display performance due to loss of display fluids in the active areas. In other words, the microcup structure enables a format flexible display manufacturing process, whereby a continuous output of displays may be produced, first in a large sheet format and then cut to any desired size and format. The individually sealed microcup or cell structure is particularly important when cells are filled with fluids of different specific properties such as colors, polarization, retardation and switching rates. Without the microcup structure and the seamless sealing processes, it would be very difficult to prevent the fluids in adjacent areas from intermixing or being subject to cross-talk in applications such as full color and 3-D presentations.
With recent progresses in other elements of the 3-D imagery system (e.g., digital still and video cameras for recording the images, better algorithms for processing the images, and better image compression for transmission of the images), there is an urgent need in the art for displays that (1) have attributes such as greater format and size flexibility, better image quality including wider viewing angles, better sunlight readability, lower power-consumption and lower manufacturing cost, (2) are light-weight, thin and flexible and (3) are compatible with and adaptable for 3-D imagery systems and applications.


Herein disclosed is universal housing for a hot surface igniter that can be removed and/or easily installed by the consumer without the need for numerous tools or assistance from experienced maintenance personnel. The igniter housing is universal and is functional for use with substantially any apparatus or device which requires a hot surface igniter. The universal housing is of simple construction formed from only two components. Various embodiments are disclosed for construction of the two components and also various attachment means are described.

There are several problems pertaining to the installation, removal, replacement, and servicing of conventional hot surface igniter housings. For example igniters associated with cook stoves, heaters, motors, machines or the like tend to accumulate debris or may become rusted, which in turn makes it difficult to remove the igniter housing. Furthermore typical igniter housings are fragile and easily broken. Most often the igniters of this type are typically mounted with hex screws, bolts, brackets, etc. These types of mountings are simply inefficient and not easily removed or replaced by the consumer. Thus, servicing of an igniter is difficult, inconvenient, unpleasant, and time-consuming. More often than not the consumer must contact experienced maintenance personnel for assistance which is not only very costly but also very frustrating, time-consuming, and simply not feasible.
Another problem is that special tools are required to change typical igniters. Each manufacturer requires a different method or assembly for attaching their igniter. Some manufactures use inch pattern hex screws, other manufacturers use metric hex screws, while still others use various and sundry screws or other fasteners such as brackets. Thus, maintenance personnel require a large number of tools in order to perform what should be a simple operation.
To resolve the above noted problems some attempts are illustrated within the following prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,224 discloses a system that requires the use of special igniters of a specific diameter and length and having a rimmed characteristic. Only those igniters having the exact criteria may be used because they are the only ones that will fit in the sleeve. Further, the method requires the use of both hands, one to hold the igniter electrode and the other to lift the clip to remove the igniter electrode. Complex igniter electrode designs require manufacturing changes that reduce the economic benefit recovered from saved maintenance costs by using this prior art system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,034 describes an adjustable bracket assembly that can be employed to hold an igniter electrode in position in a variety of different configurations. The device includes a flat metal stamping having a web with distal apertures bearing upstanding peripheral flanges about each aperture, and two pairs of bendable tabs. The device requires removing the entire burner assembly before removing the igniter electrode. Once the entire assembly is removed maintenance personnel must then use a special tool to remove the snap ring that holds the igniter in place. After the snap ring is detached the igniter can be extracted. An apparatus requiring the removal of the entire burner assembly is not a solution to minimizing the labor needed to replace an igniter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,464,345 discloses the use of another type of igniter holder for securing an igniter with respect to a gas flame burner. An apparatus that must be completely disassembled to gain access to the burner significantly increases the cost of maintaining the unit. The apparatus requires the burner head assembly to be removed in order to gain access to the igniter. The prior art apparatus was to be used only with special igniter electrodes that have an "L"-shaped form. Similarly, as in other cited prior art devices, no provision is made for easily removing of the igniter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,671 describes the use of a snap in ring to hold the igniter in position. The removal of an igniter from this device requires the use of special tools as well as both hands. Snap rings are not functional as they are prone to rusting. A rusted snap ring can be almost as difficult to remove as a rusted threaded fastener. The problem of convenient, easy installation and removal of igniter is not solved by this invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,857 discloses the use of dimples in a sleeve to hold the igniter in position. Only special electrodes which can fit inside the sleeve dimensions and having a special rim feature may be used. The dimensions of the sleeve and the dimples do not allow for flexibility in choosing electrodes. Complex igniter electrodes require manufacturing changes that reduce the economic benefit recovered from saved maintenance costs by using this prior art system. The electrodes once secured require significant force to remove. An apparatus that requires the use of significant force does not lend itself to ease of removal.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,881,363 discloses another type of igniter prior art electrode. According to this design the igniter electrode has a ball fixture mounted in the center of the electrode body. The burner assembly includes a ball socket receiver integrated into it to receive the igniter electrode. The alternative prior art approach requires the redesign of the igniter electrode and a complex structure incorporated into the burner assembly. Complex structures are not suited for all applications and defeat the economic advantages of standardization.

Universal housing for a hot surface igniter


A composite rod wiper for an end cap of a hydraulic cylinder is disclosed for wiping the cylindrical exterior surface of an extensible and retractable rod extending through the end cap. The rod wiper includes a wiper ring of a first, hard and wear resistant elastomeric material. The wiper ring has a generally Vee shaped cross-sectional configuration having a radially inner acute wiper lip, an outer leg and an inner leg, each leg extending radially and axially inwardly in a diverging relation from each other from the wiper lip, and a cavity disposed intermediate the inner and outer legs. An energizer ring of a second, softer and more resilient elastomeric material is disposed in the cavity of the wiper ring. The composite rod wiper 10 provides wiper that has a long wear life, while at the same time maintaining the wiper lip in continuous wiping contact with the rod surface at a sufficient radial force level to ensure proper cleaning action throughout its useful life and during all temperature extremes.

Large earthmoving vehicles, such as tractors, loaders, off-highway trucks, and the like employ hydraulic jacks and/or suspension struts that are exposed to all varieties of dirt, debris, moisture and other abrasive contaminants. It is well known that such contaminants are injurious to the seals, bearings and other components of such jacks or struts. Accordingly, it has been the practice to use rod wipers to wipe the rod clean as it is retracted into the cylinder so as to reduce to the maximum extent possible the amount of contaminants reaching the seals and bearings. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,866,923 issued Feb. 18, 1975 to Gerald W. Gorman and 4,618,153 issued Oct. 21, 1986 to Rolf Nilsson both disclose rod Wipers for this purpose.
In order to satisfactorily perform the desired wiping function, such wipers must remain in continuous wiping contact with the rod as it moves back and forth through the wiper. Also, the wiping contact must be applied with a sufficient radial force to ensure the desired cleaning action on the rod. These tasks are complicated in earthmoving applications by the fact that extreme side loads are exerted on the rods of hydraulic cylinders in operation, which causes the rapid radial displacement of the rod relative to the wiper as the rod moves axially in and out of the cylinder and also by the fact that earthmoving vehicles work in conditions ranging from arctic to tropic temperatures extremes. Prior wipers have been made of rubber to attain this necessary resiliency and responsiveness. However, rubber is relatively soft and susceptible to a high wear rate. Harder plastic materials, such as polyurethane for instance, exhibit much greater wear resistance. Unfortunately, two problems exists with the use of such harder materials. First, harder materials have lower creep resistance. This allows the radial force they exert on the rod to lessen over time, allowing debris to get past the wiper. Second, they have a much lower response rate, particularly at extremely low temperatures, due to their higher flex modulus and decreased resiliency at arctic temperatures. In other words, such materials do not respond quickly enough to afford their movement with the rapid radial displacements of the rod. This causes the wiper to leave contact with the rod and also allows debris to get past the wiper.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the shortcomings of the prior attempts at providing a resilient wiper with acceptable wear life.


A device to vary a grounding configuration of a vehicle audio and video (A/V) system is provided to prevent various electrical system noise in the vehicle. The system includes a controller that outputs a control signal to connect an A/V system chassis ground to a vehicle body ground or to open the A/V system chassis ground and the vehicle body ground according to the usage mode of the vehicle A/V system. A relay connects the A/V system chassis ground to the vehicle body ground or opens the A/V system chassis ground and the vehicle body ground in response to the control signal output from the controller.

Generally, a chassis ground of a vehicle audio and video (A/V) system is used by connecting to a vehicle body ground or by converting into a floating state.
However, there is a drawback in the conventional grounding configuration of the vehicle A/V system in that if the chassis ground of the A/V system connects to the vehicle body ground, conductive noise is unavoidable, and if the chassis ground is floated without connecting to the vehicle body ground, radio noise is unavoidable.

System for varying grounding configuration of vehicle audio and video system