Disclosed is a fluid flow nozzle for dispensing fluids from a container filling machine, the nozzle being capable of transforming substantially turbulent fluid flow to substantially laminar fluid flow. The nozzle includes a hollow housing which attaches to the filling machine, and a fluid exit port for dispensing fluid into containers. A torpedo-like member is positioned within the housing so as to restrict fluid flow through the nozzle in such a way as to dampen turbulence out of the fluid in the nozzle. An actuator located within the torpedo-like member functions so as to open and close the fluid exit port.

The presence of foam creation during filling of containers with liquid products is a significant barrier to increasing rates of filling for mass produced liquid product packing lines. Foaming also results in the need for large bottle head space, especially with low viscosity liquids, to insure that the foam will be contained when the container is full and will not spill over on to the outside surface of the container. This requires more container material to be used than would otherwise be necessary in the absence of foam creation. Applicant has determined that the dominant mechanism in foam creation is the impingement of flow stream surface perturbations upon the standing pool of liquid in the container as it is being filled. Turbulent flow from the filling nozzle is the source of these perturbations. Prior art nozzles have attempted to minimize perturbations, but with significant limitations; these prior art nozzles will be discussed in turn.
Downflow nozzles incorporating fine screens tend to reduce turbulent eddies in flowing fluids. The small orifice size in the screens accomplishes this by physical restriction of the eddies. However, this does not eliminate turbulence; it only reduces it. To some degree the screens become a source of new turbulence by "tripping" transitional flow into the turbulent regime. Screen maintenance is also a limitation due to clogging and breakage of the screen.
Overflow filling uses a nozzle that enters and seals with the top of the container; the product is allowed to overflow the container. Because foam is less dense than liquid, the foam rises to the top of the container and into the product overflow. There is no reduction in foaming, only a method of dealing with foam after its creation. This method adds time to the filling cycle; the overflow foam must be recycled via a recycle loop in the process, unless you choose to throw the overflow away.
Side ported nozzles work by extension of part of the nozzle into the container. The fluid is then gently directed toward the inside walls of the container and allowed to cascade down the walls creating laminar flow. The flow velocity (upon impingement with the standing pool of fluid) is also reduced since the flow's cross sectional area increases as it coats the inside of the container. This method is complex to execute because nozzle design is dependent on container geometry. Also, product cannot be filled to the top of the container because of the fact that the nozzle must enter the container.
Submerged filling works by submerging the nozzle tip beneath the fluid level in the container. This eliminates the turbulence producing interaction inherent in the flow stream/air/standing pool interface present with all other types of filling. The maximum rate is limited as the descending stroke of the nozzle reduces overall cycle time. Product spillage on the containers is also a concern because the exterior of the nozzle is wetted in this method. This method requires extra time to enter and exit the container with the nozzle, is mechanically complex resulting in more costly equipment, uses mesh filter screens which clog, and may result in product spillage on the nozzle and bottle which is unsightly and unsanitary.
Laminar flow maintenance nozzles maintain laminar flow from a laminar fluid source, such as a reservoir filler. There is no development of laminar flow, only maintenance of preexisting laminar flow. This is not compatible with filling sources that are inherently turbulent, such as piston or flow meter dosing technology. The nozzle disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,604 by Zanini et al., incorporated herein by reference, is such a nozzle. The Zanini et al. nozzle is a downflow nozzle that works without screens, but it is meant for use exclusively with reservoir filling sources, and is unable to convert turbulent flow to laminar flow.
No fluid nozzle filling technology is known that provides for laminar flow when a turbulent fluid source is used. Thus, there exists a need for a fluid nozzle that will develop laminar fluid flow from a turbulent flow source. The benefits of the present invention include that it provides for faster filling line speed, and a smaller necessary head space in the container which allows a reduction in the amount of container material.


A port management table 2 which stores connectable terminal information indicating an upper limit value of the number of terminals connectable to each port A, B and C is provided in a MAC bridge 1. When address retrieving means 7 of an address learning section 3 receives packet information Hi at the ports A, B and C from terminals of a network, the address retrieving means 7 retrieves the port management table 2. When the upper limit number is satisfied, register number addition/subtraction 8 adds/subtracts the number na of registrations, and writes a transmission origin address of packet information received by address table updating means 9 in an address table 5.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a MAC bridge to which a plurality of networks or a plurality of terminals are connected.
2. Description of the Related Art
A media Access Control (hereinafter referred to as MAC) bridge is a repeater which makes use of data communication system of a data link layer or a MAC layer in IEEE 802.3, and connects a plurality of different LAN (Local Area Network) to each other and a plurality of terminals to each other, thus performing a packet communication between networks as well as between terminals.
Each terminal on the network has an individual address for identifying it from others. This individual address includes a logical address (network address) defined by a network layer and a physical address defined by a data link layer. Under network environments in which the MAC bridge is used, an IP address is mentioned as an example of the logical address, and a MAC address is mentioned as an example of the physical address. The IP address is for identifying individual terminals connected to the network. From the viewpoint of a network constitution, the system of IP address is planned in minute detail and the IP address may not overlap others. For this reason, when the terminal is connected to the network, a correct IP address must be set in the individual terminal according to addressing scheduled in the network.
Generally, the IP address is individually allocated to the terminal by a network manager except the case where the IP address is automatically allocated to the terminal by use of a dedicated server or the like. Specifically, the user himself/herself sets the IP address allocated by the network manager in the terminal, whereby this terminal becomes available in the network.
On the other hand, with respect to the MAC address, manufactures usually allocate it to each apparatus, which is inherent to the apparatus, and the MAC address never overlaps other addresses.
Herein, a schematic constitution view of a conventional network system using a MAC bridge M is show in FIG. 1. The MAC bridge M is described as a MAC bridge for relaying a packet between LANs.
In general, repeater functions of the MAC bridge M include a function to shape the waveform of the packet transmitted when the packet received from a port of an apparatus of itself is relayed to other ports. However, an essential function of the MAC bridge M is a filtering function to transmit the received packet to other ports selectively. An automatic address learning function for preparing an address table automatically in which the relay destinations of the packets are described is used to realize this filtering function.
As shown in FIG. 1, for example, when a terminal A1 connected to a LAN (A) transmits a packet to a terminal A2 which is one of the terminals belonging to the same segment, the communication within the segment of the LAN, which is a fundamental unit in the LAN, adopts a broadcasting type in many cases which informs packet information to all terminals connected to the LAN collectively. Accordingly, the packet transmitted by the terminal A1 arrives at a port A of the MAC bridge M in addition to the terminal A2. At this time, the MAC bridge M does not relay the packet received at the port A to ports B and C.
On the other hand, when the terminal A1 transmits the packet to a terminal B1 connected to another LAN (B), the packet transmitted by the terminal A1 arrives at the port A of the MAC bridge M as well as at all terminals connected to the LAN (A). At this time, the MAC bridge M extracts a destination address existing in a header portion of the packet and retrieves an address table 5 managed within the MAC bridge M as to which port a terminal having an identical address to this extracted address is connected to, thus transmitting the packet to the corresponding port to perform the relay of the packet.
It is called filtering of the packet that the packet received in the above described manner is relayed according to demand and the packet is not relayed if unnecessary.
To perform this filtering, the address table 5 describing which port of the MAC bridge M each terminal device is connected is necessary.
In the address table 5, stored are at least three items including: addresses of the terminals connected to the MAC bridge M through the LAN, port numbers of the MAC bridge M to which the LAN connected to the terminals is connected, and collateral information describing matters relating to the above two items in order to ensure that they correspond to each other.
In the foregoing packet, at least a destination address, a source address and data are included. Upon receipt of the packet, the MAC bridge M extracts the destination address from the packet, and retrieves whether a terminal address coincident with the destination address exists in the address table 5.
Then, when the destination address included in the packet is coincident with the terminal address of the address table 5, (that is, when the terminal which receives the packet is previously registered in the MAC bridge M), and when the port number which received the packet is coincident with the portion number recorded in a corresponding record of the address table 5, the MAC bridge M does not output the received packet from any port.
Specifically, when the transmission side terminal and the receiving side terminal transmit/receive the packet in the same LAN, the MAC bridge M abandons the packet even when the MAC bridge receives the packet.
On the other hand, when the destination address included in the packet is coincident with the terminal address of the address table 5 and the port number which received the packet is different from the port number recorded in the corresponding record, that is, the record in which information relating to the address of the destination terminal is recorded, and when there is no collateral information notifying that transmitting of the packet to other ports in the MAC bridge M is inhibited, the received packet relayed to a port recorded in the corresponding recorded. In other words, the packet is relayed to another LAN.
Moreover, when the terminal address coincident with the destination address of the received packet does not exist in the address table 5, the packet is in many cases relayed to all of other ports other than the port which received the packet, even though the processing concerning the packet differs depending on the apparatuses.
As described above, to allow the MAC bridge M to exhibit the filtering function, the address table 5 is necessary. To register the information relating to the addresses of the terminals in the address table 5, there are two ways. One is manual registering, and the other is registering by means of the automatic address learning function of the MAC bridge M.
To perform the automatic address learning by the MAC bridge M, the automatic address learning of the MAC bridge M is performed according to the following procedures. Specifically, (1) the packet is received through any of the ports of the MAC bridge M, (2) the source address is extracted from the packet, (3) it is retrieved whether the source address has already existed on the address table 5, and (4), if the source address does not exist on the address table 5, a record is additionally registered in the address table 5 so that the record corresponds to the port number of the MAC bridge which received the packet, (5) when the combination of the source address and the port number, previously stored in the address table 5, is different from that of the source address and port number of the actually received packet though the source address exists in the address table 5, the address table 5 is updated so as to correspond to the port which received the packet.
As described above, the automatic address learning is performed according to the procedures (1) to (5), and the address table 5 is prepared. When the packet is received, the filtering function for transmitting the packet selectively from the port according to the address table 5 is realized.

Address management method of MAC bridge and MAC bridge


An apparatus for brushing an elongated workpiece as the workpiece moves through the apparatus is particularly useful in removing scale from a rod. The apparatus includes a plurality of brushes which are engageable with the rod. Motors are provided to rotate the brushes. A detector detects the occurrence of brush wear during brushing of the rod. In order to automatically compensate for brush wear, a brush adjustment assembly changes the positions of the brushes relative to the rod in response to the detector detecting the occurrence of brush wear. When a predetermined maximum permissible amount of brush wear is detected, the brushes are automatically retracted away from the workpiece by the brush adjustment assembly. The brush adjustment assembly moves the brushes relative to the workpiece in directions perpendicular to the axes about which the brushes rotate and perpendicular to a longitudinal central axis of the workpiece. During setting up of the apparatus to brush the workpiece, the brush adjustment assembly is operable to change the positions of the brushes to equalize torque loads which are applied to the motors which rotate the brushes.

The present invention relates to a new and improved automatically controlled apparatus for continuously cleaning the periphery of an elongated workpiece as the workpiece moves through the apparatus. Although it is contemplated that the apparatus may be utilized to clean many different types of workpieces using many different types of cleaning media, the apparatus is particularly useful in removing residual scale, red rust and secondary scale by brushing a hot-rolled steel rod prior to movement of the rod through a wire drawing die.
A known apparatus for use in cleaning scale from metal rods is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,117,651. This apparatus includes a pair of brushes which are rotated about axes which extend parallel to the longitudinal central axis of the rod. While the brushes are being rotated about axes which extend parallel to the longitudinal central axis of the rod, the brushes are rotated around the rod. The known apparatus has no way to compensate for brush wear during a brushing operation.
Another known rod brushing apparatus includes a plurality of brushes which rotate about axes which are skewed at acute angles relative to the longitudinal central axis of the rod. Gauges indicative of brush wear are associated with the brushes. When an operator of the apparatus checks the gauges and notices that one or more of the brushes has become worn, the operator manually moves the brushes relative to the rod to compensate for the wear. However, if the operator is busy with other duties, a considerable length of the rod may move past the worn brushes before the operator realizes that the brushes have become worn.


The invention is directed to an apparatus and method for determining or estimating position using GPS signals. The system includes a receiver such as a GPS receiver for receiving GPS signals and a processor for determining position from the received GPS signals. The receiver receives a first GPS signal from a first GPS satellite at a first position of the first GPS satellite. A second GPS signal is received by the receiver from the first GPS satellite at a second position of the first GPS satellite. Position of the receiver is determined using the first and second GPS signals. Time differences between the two signals can be determined and used in calculating position.

This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2003-0004579, filed on Jan. 23, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus by which the position of a position estimation apparatus is estimated using a plurality of satellite signals that are output with predetermined time differences from one or more global positioning system (GPS) satellites.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, position estimation methods using the GPS satellite system estimate a range between the GPS satellite and the antenna of a position estimation apparatus (for example, a GPS receiver), using triangulation and clean and acquisition (C/A, or coarse and acquisition) code which is output from the GPS satellite.
The GPS satellite always transmits an L1 frequency of 1575.42 MHz that carries a C/A code. A position estimation apparatus generates the same code as the C/A code. The generated C/A code is compared with the received C/A code of the GPS satellite. From the result of the comparison, the time it takes for the C/A code output from the GPS satellite to arrive at the position estimation apparatus is measured.
The position estimation apparatus measures the range between the GPS satellite and the position estimation apparatus by using the result of multiplication of the speed of light (the speed of the C/A code output from the GPS satellite) and the time taken for arrival. Since the C/A code comprises a pseudo random noise code that is almost noise in itself, and the measured range between the GPS satellite and the position estimation apparatus contains errors, the range is referred to as a pseudo range.
A conventional position estimation apparatus receives satellite signals simultaneously output from at least four GPS satellites, measures the pseudo range corresponding to each satellite signal, and from the measured results estimates the position of the position estimation apparatus. That is, the position estimation apparatus estimates a 3-dimensional position of the position estimation apparatus by simultaneously using four or more satellite signals output from four or more GPS satellites.
However, due to the influence of the environment, the position estimation apparatus at times cannot receive at least four signals at the same time. In this case, the conventional position estimation apparatus cannot estimate its 3-dimensional position.

Method and apparatus for estimating position utilizing GPS satellite signal


Method and apparatus for trimming the neck of plastic bottles includes means for rapidly rotating a cutting blade around the neck being trimmed while progressively moving the cutting blade through the thickness of the neck. During the cutting, a flat surface of the cutting blade rubs against the newly cut upper neck or finish surface to provide a polished surface therefor.

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for trimming plastic bottles, particularly the neck portions thereof, without generating undesirable chips, slivers or other undesirable waste fragments. Prior art machines for cutting the extended or waste portion of plastic bottles have had significant problems. These problems have included a lack of consistent cutting which causes inconsistent cuts, under cuts, slivers as well as tails and other extended portions of plastic not fully removed from the neck finish of the bottle. Additionally, it is desirable that the newly cut surface forming the finish portion of the bottle (i.e. the upper surface of the neck which is engaged by the top panel of a closure applied thereto) be smooth, flat and lie in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the neck.


Polypropylene resins are improved in mechanical properties and in rigidity without loss in thermal processability when blended with polyphthalamide resins together with a minor amount of a carboxylated polyolefin compatibilizing aid. Filled compositions, including glass-filled polypropylenes are similarly benefited when blended with a polyphthalamide and a carboxylated polyolefin compatibilizing aid.

This invention relates to polypropylene resins, more particularly to improved compositions comprising a crystalline polypropylene and still more particularly to blends comprising polypropylene and polyphthalamide having improved tensile properties and rigidity, and to methods for improving the rigidity of crystalline polypropylene resins. The improved blends have excellent thermal processability, and provide thermally processable filled compositions and composites.
The highly desirable balance of mechanical and thermal property characteristics of crystalline polypropylene has gained these resins wide acceptance in the molding and extrusion art. The resins are found in a great variety of applications, and may be particularly attractive for use where resistance to chemical and environmental attack is required. However, unmodified polypropylenes are generally low in impact. Further, though the flexibility of these resins makes them highly desirable for many uses, for application where a greater rigidity is desired reinforcement, for example with glass fiber or the like, may be necessary to provide the needed increase in rigidity.
considerable effort has been made by the resin arts over the years to develop methods for improving the mechanical properties of crystalline polypropylene. A great variety of modifiers and additives that may be found useful for overcoming one or more deficiencies has resulted from these efforts, though improvement in a single resin property is quite often accomplished only at some sacrifice in the overall balance of properties. For example, although addition of a variety of copolyolefin rubbers or polyethylene resins to polyolefins may usefully increase impact resistance, in most instances such additives also effect a lowering of rigidity and heat resistance. Similarly, polyamides have been added to polyolefins to improve oil resistance and tensile properties, but the incompatibility of unmodified polyamides and polyolefins may cause the resulting blends to be generally poor in important mechanical properties, and may even cause partial or complete loss of integrity for articles molded or extruded from such blends. The incompatibility of polyolefins with polyamides has been overcome in the art by modifying the polyolefin component to obtain a stable dispersion of the polyamide in the polypropylene. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,764.
Polypropylene resins may also be modified with fiber, and glass fiber-reinforced polypropylene resins are particularly well known and widely sold for uses requiring increased rigidity and improved dimensional stability, particularly at elevated temperatures. The addition of glass fiber to polypropylene generally provides little improvement in other mechanical properties, largely because of poor adhesion to the glass fiber surface. Modification of the polypropylene with unsaturated carboxylic acid compounds and treatment of the fiber with coupling agents to provide a chemical interaction between the modified polypropylene and the fiber surfaces are among the methods that have been employed for overcoming these deficiencies, though with varying degrees of success. Such modifications frequently reduce the attractiveness and visual appearance of the surfaces of molded articles, making further efforts necessary to overcome these added problems. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,647 there is described a method for improving the compatibility of glass reinforced, carboxyl-modified polypropylene by the addition of polyamides such as nylon 6 or nylon 66. However, the improved compositions are said to suffer because of an inherent reactivity of the polyamide with the carboxyl-modified polypropylene, resulting in yellowing and delustering in molded products. The patent further discloses overcoming these added problems through the use of meta-xylylene adipamides as the polyamide component of such compositions; even with these modifications, the resulting glass-reinforced blends remain somewhat deficient in rigidity and tensile properties.
Improved polypropylene resin formulations, both filled and neat, that are improved over polypropylene in rigidity and thermal characteristics without substantially reducing thermal processability, particularly moldability, are continually sought by the art for use in the production of molded and extruded articles. Such compositions could find wide acceptance in the plastic art, and such compositions would be particularly attractive for use in demanding environments where elevated temperatures and corrosive conditions may be encountered.


A modular probe card comprises a printed circuit board, an interposer, and a probe head where the printed circuit board has a plurality of first contact pads, the probe head has a plurality of second contact pads. The interposer is disposed between the printed circuit board and the probe head where the interposer includes a substrate and a plurality of pogo pins. The substrate has a first surface, a second surface, and a plurality of through holes penetrating from the first surface to the second surface. The pogo pins are secured in the through holes of the substrate. Each of the pogo pins has a first contact point, a second contact point, and a spring therebetween, whereby the first contact points are elastically extruded from the first surface to contact the first contact pad, and the second contact points are elastically extruded from the second surface to contact the second contact pad, so as to overcome the poor electrical connections between the printed circuit board and the probe head through the interposer due to poor coplanarity of the first contact pads of the printed circuit board.

During the fabrication of integrated circuits, ICs, a plurality of IC chips are fabricated on a semiconductor wafer. After singulation, the individual chips are packaging into IC components. To ensure good functions and designed performance, there are several testing steps involved before sending to the customers.
Testing of IC chips on a wafer before singulation is called chip probing or wafer sorting. Since the design of IC chips becomes more complicated, therefore, through chip probing or wafer sorting, the yield of the fabricated wafer can be determined then feed back to IC fab for process improvement.
An IC tester for chip probing or wafer sorting has a test head on which a probe card is installed as a signal transmitting medium between the tester and the wafer under test.
As revealed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,974,662, a conventional interposer of a modular probe card comprises a substrate and a plurality of resilient contact structures where the resilient contact structures are curved probes formed on the top surface and on the bottom surface of the substrate. Each resilient contact structure has a soft core overcoated with a hard material. The soft cores are used to form the desired shape and the hard material is formed on exposed surfaces of the cores. When the interposer is disposed between the probe head and the printed circuit board of a probe card, the resilient contact structures on the interposer will make electrical connections between the probe head and the printed circuit board. Since the resilient contact structures are curved probes disposed on the substrate, it is very difficult to control contact tips of all the curved probes. Moreover, when the interposer is disposed between the probe head and the printed circuit board, the curved probes can be easily damaged and deformed so that the interposer can not be reused.
Furthermore, another conventional interposer for modular probe card as revealed in R.O.C. Taiwan patent publication No. 493,756, a universal probe card comprises an interposer, a printed circuit board, and a probe head where one surface of the interposer has a plurality of first contact pins and the other surface a plurality of second contact pins. The pitches between the first contact pins are the same, so as the pitches between the second contact pins. The printed circuit board has testing circuits fabricated in it which is interchangeable. One surface of the printed circuit board is electrically connected to the test head of a tester and the other surface has a plurality of first through holes where the pitches of the first through holes are the same as the first contact pins on the interposer so that the first contact pins of the interposer can contact with the corresponding first through holes. The probe head has a plurality of probes fabricated on one surface and the second through holes on the other surface where the pitches of the second through holes is the same as the second contact pins of the interposer so that the second contact pins of the interposer can contact with the corresponding second through holes. However, due to different thermal expansion coefficients, CTEs, between the printed circuit board and the interposer, the pitches of the plurality of the first through holes on the printed circuit board will be changed due to temperature gradients. Therefore, the plurality of the first contact pins on the interposer can not fully contact with the plurality of the first through holes on the printed circuit board leading to electrical connection failure.


The time used in manufacturing an electronic device can be reduced by reducing the amount of time taken to store code on non-volatile memories. In one embodiment, storing compressed code to a non-volatile memory can reduce the manufacturing time of an electronic device. The code stored on the non-volatile memory can be decompressed by a controller in the electronic device and loaded on the non-volatile memory for execution by the electronic device.

The embodiments of this invention generally relate to storing compressed code on a non-volatile memory during the manufacturing of a device including the non-volatile memory.
The processing capabilities of new generations of electronic devices continue to increase. An increase in processing capabilities allows new features to be added to an electronic device. The new features can result in an increase in the amount of executable code to store on an electric device. The executable code needed to operate the electronic device can be stored on non-volatile memories such as semiconductor memories, ferroelectric polymer memories (FPM), magnetic memories, phase change memories and other memories that have been developed or proposed for use in an electronic device.
Semiconductor memories including NOR-based flash technology can be installed in an electronic device during the manufacturing of that electronic device. Code can be stored on the non-volatile memory during the manufacturing of an electronic device to be read and executed by the electronic device after manufacturing is complete.

Storing compressed code on a non-volatile memory


In an electrical machine which has unidirectional excitation applied to its windings, the mean values of voltage and current can be computed from the instantaneous phase voltage and current by the use of, for example, low-pass filters (in either the analogue or digital domain). The value of winding resistance can then be calculated by dividing the mean voltage by the mean current. This avoids the cost, fragility and potential inaccuracy of conventional temperature sensors, and provides the controller with an ongoing estimate of winding temperature.

While most electrical machines operate with alternating currents in their windings, some types of machine are operated with unidirectional current. These include DC machines and doubly salient reluctance machines. In general, a reluctance machine is an electrical machine in which torque is produced by the tendency of its movable part to move into a position where the reluctance of a magnetic circuit is minimised, i.e. where the inductance of the exciting winding is maximised. In some forms, circuitry is provided for detecting the angular position of the rotor and energising the phase windings as a function of the rotor position. This type of reluctance machine is generally known as a switched reluctance machine and it may be operated as a motor or a generator. A general treatment of electrical drives which incorporate switched reluctance machines can be found in various textbooks, e.g. "Electronic Control of Switched Reluctance Machines" by THE Miller, Newnes, 2001, incorporated herein by reference. The characteristics of such switched reluctance machines are well known and are described in, for example, "The Characteristics, Design and Application of Switched Reluctance Motors and Drives" by Stephenson and Blake, PCIM'93, Nürnberg, 21-24 Jun. 1993, incorporated herein by reference. That paper describes in some detail the features of the switched reluctance machine which together produce the characteristic cyclically varying inductance of the phase windings. It is well-known in the art that such machines can be operated in either the motoring or generating mode simply by altering the timing of the winding excitation.
FIG. 1 shows the principal components of a typical switched reluctance drive system, connected to a load 19. The input DC power supply 11 is typically derived from a battery or rectified and filtered AC mains and may be of fixed or variable voltage. The DC voltage provided by the power supply 11 is switched across the phase windings 16 of the motor 12 by a power converter 13 under the control of the electronic control unit 14. The switching must be correctly synchronised to the angle of rotation of the rotor for proper operation of the drive. A rotor position detector 15 is traditionally employed to supply signals indicating the angular position of the rotor. The output of the rotor position detector 15 may also be used to generate a speed feedback signal.
The energisation of the phase windings in a switched reluctance machine depends on detection of the angular position of the rotor. This may be explained by reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, which illustrate the switching of a reluctance machine operating as a motor. FIG. 2 generally shows a rotor pole 20 approaching a stator pole 21 generally in the direction indicated by arrow 22. As illustrated in FIG. 2, a portion 23 of a complete phase winding 16 is wound around the stator pole 21. When the portion 23 of the phase winding 16 around stator pole 21 is energised, a force will be exerted on the rotor, tending to pull rotor pole 20 into alignment with stator pole 21. FIG. 3 generally shows typical switching circuitry in the power converter 13 that controls the energisation of the phase winding 16, including the portion 23 around stator pole 21. The voltage busses 36, 37 are generally known as the DC link and the capacitor 35 across them is known as the DC link capacitor, whose function is to handle the alternating currents on the DC link. When switches 31 and 32 are closed, the phase winding is coupled to the source of DC power and is energised. When the phase winding of a switched reluctance machine is energised in the manner described above, the magnetic field set up by the flux in the magnetic circuit gives rise to the circumferential forces which, as described, act to pull the rotor poles into line with the stator poles.
In general, the phase winding is energised to effect the rotation of the rotor as follows. At a first angular position of the rotor (called the "turn-on angle", θon), the controller 14 provides switching signals to turn on both switching devices 31 and 32. When the switching devices 31 and 32 are on, the phase winding is coupled to the DC link, causing an increasing magnetic flux to be established in the machine. The magnetic flux produces a magnetic field in the air gap which acts on the rotor poles to produce the motoring torque. The magnetic flux in the machine is supported by the magneto-motive force (mmf) which is provided by a current flowing from the DC supply 11 through the switches 31 and 32 and the phase winding 23. Current feedback is generally employed and the magnitude of the phase current is controlled by chopping the current by rapidly opening or closing one or both of switching devices 31 and/or 32. FIG. 4(a) shows a typical current waveform in the chopping mode of operation, where the current is chopped between two fixed levels. In motoring operation, the turn-on angle θon is often chosen to be the rotor position where the centre-line of an inter-polar space on the rotor is aligned with the centre-line of a stator pole, but may be some other angle. FIG. 4(a) also shows the form of the idealised inductance profile of the phase winding.
In many systems, the phase winding remains connected to the DC link (or connected intermittently if chopping is employed) until the rotor rotates such that it reaches what is referred to as the "freewheeling angle", θfw. When the rotor reaches an angular position corresponding to the freewheeling angle (e.g., the position shown in FIG. 2) one of the switches, for example 31, is turned off. Consequently, the current flowing through the phase winding will continue to flow, but will now flow through only one of the switches (in this example 32) and through only one of the diodes 33/34 (in this example 34). During the freewheeling period, the voltage drop across the phase winding is small, and the flux remains substantially constant. The circuit remains in this freewheeling condition until the rotor rotates to an angular position known as the "turn-off angle", θoff, (e.g. when the centre-line of the rotor pole is aligned with that of the stator pole). When the rotor reaches the turn-off angle, both switches 31 and 32 are turned off and the current in phase winding 23 begins to flow through diodes 33 and 34. The diodes 33 and 34 then apply the DC voltage from the DC link in the opposite sense, causing the magnetic flux in the machine (and therefore the phase current) to decrease.
It is known in the art to use other switching angles and other current control regimes. Similarly, many other configurations of lamination geometry, winding topology and switching circuitry are known in the art, some of which are discussed in the Stephenson & Blake paper cited above.
As the speed of the machine rises, there is less time for the current to rise to the chopping level, and the drive is normally run in a "single-pulse" mode of operation. In this mode, the turn-on, freewheel and turn-off angles are chosen as a function of, for example, speed and load torque. Some systems do not use an angular period of freewheeling, i.e. switches 31 and 32 are switched on and off simultaneously. FIG. 4(b) shows a typical such single-pulse current waveform where the freewheel angle is zero. It is well known that the values of turn-on, freewheel and turn-off angles can be predetermined and stored in some suitable format for retrieval by the control system as required, or can be calculated or deduced in real time.
It will be noted that, in both the chopping and single-pulse modes of operation, the current in the phase winding is unidirectional. Mathematically, this can be represented by a zero-frequency component (so-called "DC component" or "mean value") and series of components at higher frequencies. This is an important distinction from other electrical machines where there is no DC component present.
Strictly speaking, the reference to a zero-frequency component above assumes steady-state operation at constant speed or output and winding temperature (with the average current drawn being constant). When operating conditions are not constant, the "zero-frequency" component will in effect be a low-frequency component with a frequency content determined at least in part by the time constant of changes in operating conditions. In any case, the frequency content of the "zero-frequency" or low-frequency component will be at significantly lower frequencies than the high-frequency components referred to above, which are due to factors such as the switching sequence of actuating the switches to energise the phase winding in question, as well as noise and other high frequency perturbation.
The phase current thus has a low-frequency component at least in part due to changing operating conditions, which has a frequency content below a notional limit frequency. In stable, steady state operation (eg constant speed, output and temperature), the low-frequency component is a substantially zero-frequency component, constant or time-invariant component. The phase current also has a high-frequency component at least in part due to switch actuation, above the notional limit frequency. For convenience of exposition, the terms "zero-frequency component", "DC component", "mean component", "mean value", "low-frequency component", "zero-frequency component", "constant component", "time invariant component" etc. are used interchangeably in what follows.
In the operation and control of electrical drive systems, a knowledge of the phase winding resistance is often desirable, if not essential. For example, many such systems incorporate methods of estimating the rotor position and many of these methods rely on an accurate measurement of resistance. In other systems, a limit is placed on the temperature at which the windings operate, so as to maintain an acceptable lifetime for the insulation system.
Since the windings are typically based on copper, which has a known temperature coefficient of resistance of around 0.0039, or aluminium, which has a known temperature coefficient of resistance of around 0.0043, it is possible to calculate the average temperature of the phase winding by measuring the resistance at a known temperature (typically an ambient temperature of 20° C.) and measuring or estimating the resistance at the elevated temperature. The procedure for doing this is incorporated in many standards and formal test methods, so that a consistent method of estimating temperature is obtained. For example, Section 8 of IEC 60034-1, "Rotating electrical machines—Part 1: Rating and Performance", is devoted to the determination of the thermal performance of machines and suggests the use of Equation 1 to determine the average winding temperature rise above ambient:θ2−θa=(R2−R1)/R1*(k+θ1)+θ1−θa  (1)where    θ1 is the temperature (° C.) of the winding (cold) at the moment of the initial resistance measurement;    θ2 is the temperature (° C.) of the winding at the end of the thermal test;    θa is the temperature (° C.) of the coolant at the end of the thermal test;    R1 is the resistance of the winding at temperature θ1 (cold);    R2 is the resistance of the winding at the end of the thermal test;    k is the reciprocal of the temperature coefficient of resistance at 0° C. of the conductor material. (For copper k=235, for aluminium k=225.)
For small machines where the phase winding resistance is in the range, say, 10 to 100Ω, the resistance can be measured by multimeter-type laboratory instruments, whereas for larger machines with correspondingly lower resistances, the use of a four-terminal bridge (e.g. a Kelvin bridge) is generally required to give the required degree of accuracy.
This well-known "rise by resistance" technique for estimating winding temperatures in conventional machines (such as induction motors) requires that the machines be de-energised before resistance measurements are made. Furthermore, the inevitable presence of some electromagnetic saliency within the machine (even if only small, e.g. parasitic effects due to rotor bar geometry and slotting) means that the rotor must generally be brought to a complete standstill before dependable resistance measurements can be made. The traditional technique therefore involves shutting down the drive system, bringing the rotor to rest, plotting a curve of resistance versus time, extrapolating that curve back to the moment of switch-off, and then finally calculating a temperature rise based on the extrapolated value of resistance. Although it is the de facto standard method for gauging the thermal rating of industrial motors, this technique is not only cumbersome and error prone, but cannot be applied to the machine on an on-going basis during normal operation. Other sensing means (such as thermocouples, thermistors, etc.) are additionally required for monitoring winding temperatures whilst the machine is turning and/or energised. Such temperature sensors are often inaccurate (depending as they do on ill-defined thermal contact with the electrically-insulated windings) and may exhibit some time lag compared with the actual or true winding temperature. Furthermore, they require additional low-voltage (and therefore potentially fragile and sensitive) cabling and their additional cost may well be significant in the context of a mass-produced design. There is therefore a need for a non-intrusive and inexpensive means of obtaining an accurate measurement (or estimate) of winding temperature whilst the machine is turning and/or is energised.
Methods of compensating for change in resistance in the windings of other types of electrical machines are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,898 discloses a method of compensation for the temperature rise in the field winding of an ac generator. Methods of rotor resistance compensation in induction machines are known and commonly applied in so-called vector control systems. None of these schemes, however, are applicable to switched reluctance systems, since the effect of the change in resistance is unique to this genre of machine.
There is thus a need for a reliable and economic method of estimating the phase winding resistance of an electrical machine which can operate over all conditions of load (including transient load disturbances) and a wide range of ambient temperatures. The present disclosure is generally applicable to switched reluctance machines operating as motors or generators.

Estimation of resistance in electrical machines


A semiconductor wafer is cut to singulate integrated circuit dice formed on the wafer. A die pick machine then positions and orients the singulated dice on a carrier base such that signal, power and ground pads formed on the surface of each die reside at predetermined positions relative to landmarks on the carrier base the die pick machine optically identifies. With the dice temporarily held in place on the carrier base, they are subjected to a series of testing and other processing steps. Since each die's signal pads reside in predetermined locations, they can be accessed by appropriately arranged probes providing test equipment with signal access to the pads during tests. After each test, a die pick machine may replace any die that fails the test with another die, thereby improving efficiency of subsequent testing and other processing resources.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to integrated circuit (IC) fabrication and testing processes and in particular to the use of a carrier for holding an array of IC dice during testing and other processing steps.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a typical prior art process flow for fabricating, packaging and testing ICs having embedded repairable random access memories (RAMs). A RAM includes rows and columns of cells for storing data, and a laser-repairable RAM includes spare rows or columns that can be used to replace rows or columns containing defective cells. When an IC chip containing a laser-repairable memory has a defective row or column, a laser alters the IC chip by cutting selected fuses on the surface of the IC so that the IC uses a spare row or column in lieu of the defective row or column.
In the process flow depicted in FIG. 1, the ICs are initially fabricated as an array of IC dice on a semiconductor wafer (step 10). The laser-repairable memory embedded in each IC is then tested before the IC dice are separated from the wafer (step 12). Some ICs include built-in self-test (BIST) circuits which automatically test their embedded memories and generate data at pads on the surfaces of the dice indicating which cells are defective. In such case a wafer-level IC tester employed at step 12 probes pads on the dice to acquire the data the BIST circuits within the dice produce during the test and to provide power and ground to the dice during the memory test. The IC tester may also perform other tests at step 12 such as, for example, parametric tests in which the current drawn at the IC's power terminals are measured. A laser repair system then processes the memory test data for each IC to determine which of its embedded memory rows or columns contain defective cells, determines how to allocate spare rows and columns to repair the memory, and then employs a laser to repair any defective memories (step 14). After repairing the defective memories, the memories may be again tested while the dice are still at the wafer level to ensure that the repair was effective (step 16). The dice may also be subjected to additional logic or parametric testing at this point.
The wafer is then cut to separate ("singulate") all of the dice (step 18), and the dice that pass the post-laser repair test at step 16 are installed in IC packages (step 20). The packaged ICs may then be subjected to additional screening tests (step 22), and the packaged ICs that pass those tests are then subjected to a burn-in process (step 24). The burn-in process applies thermal and electrical stresses to the ICs for a specified amount of time for the purpose of inducing marginally operable ICs having inherent defects to fail. Typically ICs are burn-in tested by placing them in circuit board sockets and then loading the circuit boards into a convection oven which elevates their temperature to stress them thermally. While the ICs are being heated, power supplies and test signal generators linked to their power and signal I/O terminals stress them electrically. After burn-in, the ICs undergo detailed final testing (step 26) including high frequency logic tests and other tests. During final testing the parts may be "binned" according to speed grade or other performance levels.
The process illustrated in FIG. 1 includes four separate testing steps 12, 16, 22 and 26. A wafer level tester carries out the tests at steps 12 and 16 before the dice are separated from one another and packaged so that only the dice that pass those tests are packaged. Some manufacturers merge the post laser memory testing step 16 into pre burn-in testing step 22 or eliminate pre burn-in testing step. But in doing so they encounter the added costs of packaging more defective dice or expending burn-in resources on dice that could have been classified as defective before they were subjected to burn-in. Since a wafer level IC tester must include a separate data input/output channel to communicate with each IC pad it accesses during a test, tests carried out at the wafer level are often limited to those requiring a tester to access only a relatively few pads on each IC. To carry out the tests at steps 22 and 24, the packaged ICs are typically installed in load boards that enable an IC tester to access all IC signal, power and ground pins of each packaged IC.
Die that are to be used, for example in flip-chip module (FCM) or hybrid modules are not separately packaged. In an FCM, a bare die is mounted directly on a substrate using solder balls, polymer balls, spring contacts or other means to conductively link pads on the IC dice to pads on the substrate. Some FCM manufacturers do not attempt to test dice after they have been singulated, but instead choose to test only the assembled FCM. However since a single defective dice renders the entire FCM defective, many manufacturers find it preferable to test singulated dice before they are incorporated into FCMs.
FIG. 2 is a process flow diagram illustrating a prior art process for producing known good dice to be installed in FCMs. After wafer fabrication, testing at the wafer level, and laser repair (step 28), and after the dice are singulated (step 30), a die pick machine picks up and places each IC that passes wafer level testing on a testing substrate (step 32) so that it may be subjected to pre burn-in testing (step 33). After the dice are subjected to burn-in (step 34), the die pick machine places dice on the testing substrate (step 35) so that it may be subjected to final testing (step 36. The known good dice are then installed in FCMs (step 37), and the FCMs are then tested (step 38).
This system ensures that only known good dice (KGD) are incorporated into FCMs and avoids the need for using individual carriers which can damage some of the dice and provides an interconnect system having impedance characteristics that can be much closer to that of the interconnect system that will later link the dice to the FCM substrate. However the need to separately handle each IC chip during the many processing steps occurring after singulation increases the cost and lowers the speed of the process.
FIG. 3 illustrates a "wafer-level" testing approach to providing KGD for incorporation into FCMs. After wafer fabrication, memory testing and laser repair (step 40), the dice are subjected to burn-in testing (step 41) and detailed final testing (step 42) while still in wafer form. The dice are then singulated (step 43) and the KGD are incorporated into FCMs (step 44) that are then tested (step 44). Note that in this process flow all processing and testing steps needed to identify the KGD are carried out at the wafer level before the dice are singulated.
This approach greatly reduces the number of processing steps because IC chips are not handled individually until the KGD are ready to be installed in the FCMs. However the system requires use of a general purpose wafer level IC tester at step 42 that can access all of the signal pads of all of the dice and conduct every type of test needed. Since the dice on a single wafer can collectively have a very large number of signal pads, it is usually not practical to provide a tester having a sufficient number of channels to access all of the signal pads concurrently. Therefore wafer level IC testers that carry out final high frequency functional and other tests on dice normally test only a limited number of the dice on a wafer concurrently. After a group of dice are tested, a chuck holding the wafer repositions the wafer so that the tester's probes can access pads of another group of dice to be tested.
One advantage of the wafer level process flow of FIG. 3 is that it does not require manipulation of individual dice until they are ready to be installed in FCMs. But the process flow of FIG. 3 has an inherent inefficiency not shared by the process flow of FIG. 2. In the process flow of FIG. 2, the memory and other pre-laser repair testing carried out at step 28 will often identify defective dice that cannot be laser repaired. Those dice are discarded after singulation at step 30 and are not further tested at step 33. Similarly dice that fail pre burn-in tests at step 33 can be discarded so that they do not needlessly consume burn-in resources at step 34 or final testing resources at step 36. The process flow of FIG. 3 may conduct analogous test and burn-in steps on the wafer level dice, but since the dice are not singulated until after all testing and burn-in steps are complete, it is not possible to discard dice found to be defective after each test. Thus all dice are subjected to all test and burn-in steps that may occurs even after some dice have been found to be defective. Such redundant testing of known defective dice is an inefficient use of test and burn-in resources and can be particularly problematic where dice yields are low.
What is needed is a die carrier permitting a process flow that makes efficient use of testing and burn-in resources while minimizing the amount of individual die manipulation, which does not damage the dice, and which can accurately position dice having closely spaced contacts with a high degree of accuracy despite any lack of uniformity in dice dimensions.

Test method for yielding a known good die


An engine assembly includes an intake assembly, an internal combustion engine defining a plurality of cylinders and configured to combust a fuel and produce exhaust gas, and an exhaust assembly in fluid communication with a first subset of the plurality of cylinders. Each of the plurality of cylinders are provided in fluid communication with the intake assembly. The exhaust assembly is provided in fluid communication with a first subset of the plurality of cylinders, and a dedicated exhaust gas recirculation system in fluid communication with both a second subset of the plurality of cylinders and with the intake assembly. The dedicated exhaust gas recirculation system is configured to route all of the exhaust gas from the second subset of the plurality of cylinders to the intake assembly. Finally, the engine assembly includes a turbocharger having a variable geometry turbine in fluid communication with the exhaust assembly.

Internal combustion engines may combust a mixture of air and fuel within one or more combustion chambers to produce a mechanical output. During the combustion, various exhaust gases are produced and expelled to the atmosphere. In some instances, a portion of the exhaust gas may be recirculated back into the engine cylinders (via an exhaust gas recirculation system). In a gasoline engine, this inert exhaust may displace an amount of combustible mixture in the cylinder resulting in increased engine efficiency. In a diesel engine, the exhaust gas may replace some of the excess oxygen in the pre-combustion mixture. In either instance, the recirculated exhaust may reduce the combustion temperature in the cylinder and/or reduce the creation of certain gaseous byproducts.

Engine with exhaust gas recirculation system and variable geometry turbocharger


An optical transmission apparatus includes a transmitting unit for transmitting an optical signal with a specified wavelength, a multiplexing unit for multiplexing the optical signal with the specified wavelength and an optical signal with a wavelength other than the specified wavelength and outputting the multiplexed signal as a wavelength division multiplexed optical signal, an optical amplifier for amplifying the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal outputted from the multiplexing unit, a level detecting unit detecting a variation of an optical power of the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal inputted to the optical amplifier, and a level adjusting unit for adjusting, when a variation of the optical power of the wavelength division multiplexed optical signal is detected by the level detecting unit, a transmitting power of the optical signal with the specified wavelength transmitted from the transmitting unit so that an output power becomes a level before the variation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical transmission apparatus, an optical transmission system, and an optical transmission control method which are used for transmitting a wavelength division multiplexed optical signal, and more particularly, to an optical transmission apparatus, an optical transmission system including the same, and an optical transmission control method thereof having a function of adding or dropping an optical signal of an arbitrary wavelength.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, along with developments in a photonic network, an optical add/drop multiplexing (OADM) technology is being applied to a wavelength division multiplexing system (WDM system). The OADM technology is particularly essential in a metropolitan area and access method network which connects a user side and a main network. This is because an optical signal of an arbitrary wavelength is added or dropped from a wavelength division multiplexed optical signal, thereby making it possible to rapidly change a communication capacity according to a user and constitute a flexible network.
However, in an optical amplifier used in the OADM technology, an arbitrary wavelength is added or dropped, so an input power level (hereinafter, power level is referred to as "level") to the optical amplifier rapidly changes. For that reason, when the optical amplifier has no control function of following the input level, there arises a problem in that the output level of the optical amplifier transitionally changes.
A description will be given below of a transitional response characteristic in which the output level of an optical amplifier transitionally changes. As indexes indicative of the transitional response characteristic of the optical amplifier, there are a gain excursion, a settling time, and a gain error. FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram of those indexes which are indicative of the transitional response characteristic of the optical amplifier. The amount of the gain excursion indicates the maximum value of the amount of the gain excursion (or the amount of an output level variation) of the optical amplifier at the time of an input level variation. The settling time is a time to stabilize the gain (or the output level). The gain error indicates the amount of displacement between the gain (or the output level) before the input level variation and the gain (or the output level) after the settling. As described above, a variation in the input level to the optical amplifier leads to occurrence of a phenomenon in which the output level from the optical amplifier transitionally changes.
In association with the above technology, Related Art Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-290331 A) discloses an example of the optical transmission apparatus to which the OADM technology is applied. In one embodiment of Related Art Document 1, an optical power detecting unit detects the optical power of an optical signal to be outputted from an optical multiplexer and inputted to the optical amplifier. The transmission wavelength property of the optical multiplexer is controlled on the basis of the detected result so that the optical power at each wavelength of the optical signal that is outputted from the multiplexer becomes maximum. Also, in another embodiment, the transmission wavelength of an optical transmitter which becomes an add optical signal is controlled on the basis of the detected result so that the optical power of the optical signal that is transmitted through the optical multiplexer becomes maximum.
In the technology disclosed in Related Art Document 1, because the optical transmission apparatus is controlled so that the optical power of the optical signal that is transmitted through the optical multiplexer becomes maximum, even if there occurs a difference between the wavelength of the optical signal and the transmission wavelength property of an optical multiplexer, control is performed so that the difference is eliminated. As a result, the above technology makes it possible to suppress an increase in coherent crosstalk and a distortion of the signal wavelength which are caused by the wavelength difference, or an increase in beat noise between amplified spontaneous emission (ASE).
However, there arises a problem in that the above control of the transmission wavelength property is incapable of coping with a rapid change in the number of wavelength due to an increase or decrease in the number of signals accompanied by the Add/Drop, or breaking of a line or the like. Hereinafter, an example will be described. When the breaking of a line occurs, there is the possibility that there is a fluctuation of 1 dB or more per 100 msec (millisecond). Also, the amount of level variation becomes 10 dB or more. However, for the control of the transmission wavelength property, in general, a control time takes about several hundred msec, and a control range is equal to or lower than several dB. For that reason, in the control of the transmission wavelength property, when there occurs a rapid fluctuation of the input level due to the breaking of a line or the like, there arises a problem in that the output level of the optical amplifier cannot be suppressed from being transitionally changed.

Optical transmission apparatus, optical transmission system, and optical transmission control method


A plastic article and method of molding same is provided where the plastic article includes a plastic member having a first ridge and a second ridge. The plastic member is partially absorbed into and is in bonded engagement with at least a portion of a first laminate and the first laminate has an edge imbedded in the first ridge of the plastic member. Also, the plastic member is partially absorbed into and is in bonded engagement with at least a portion of a second laminate and the second laminate has a first edge imbedded in the first ridge of the plastic member and a second edge imbedded in the second ridge of the plastic member. The plastic member is also partially absorbed into and is in bonded engagement with at least a portion of a third laminate and the third laminate has an edge imbedded in the second ridge of the plastic member.

The invention relates generally to a method of injection molding a plastic article, and more particularly to a method of injection molding a plastic article where edges of a first and second laminate are positioned over a recess of a first mold section and a protrusion of a second mold section pushes the edges into the recess upon the first mold section and the second mold section being clamped together.
The invention also relates generally to an injection molded plastic article, and more particularly to an injection molded plastic article including a plastic member having a ridge, wherein a first portion of the plastic member is partially absorbed into and is in bonded engagement with at least a portion of a first laminate which has an edge imbedded in the ridge, and a second portion of the plastic member is partially absorbed into and is in bonded engagement with at least a portion of a second laminate which has an edge also imbedded in the ridge.
In the past, it has not been possible, within an injection molding process, to provide that laminates such as textile, film, carpet or vinyl are bonded to a plastic member having a ridge where edges of the laminates are imbedded in the ridge. Instead, first a plastic member is typically molded using conventional plastic injection molding techniques wherein a first mold section and a second mold section are provided. Then, the first mold section and the second mold section are clamped together to form a mold cavity therebetween, and preferably the mold cavity is shaped such that the resulting plastic member will have a ridge. Next, a plastic material is injected into the mold cavity, and the plastic material is allowed to at least partially cure before the first mold section and the second mold section are unclamped and the resulting plastic member is removed from the mold cavity. As mentioned, if the mold cavity is shaped as such, the resulting molded plastic member will have a ridge.
After the resulting plastic member is removed from the mold cavity, the laminates are typically stitched, glued, sewn, or otherwise secured onto the molded plastic member, and the edges of the laminates are likewise stitched, glued, sewn, or otherwise secured into the ridge. As a result of the laminates being added as a secondary operation, the laminates generally are not bonded extremely securely to the molded plastic member. Furthermore, because the edges of the laminates are bonded into the ridge as an operation secondary to the molding of the plastic article, the edges of the laminates are not typically secured into the ridge extremely securely and are certainly not truly imbedded into the ridge. As a result, the edges of the laminates may readily remove from the ridge of the plastic member when a load is applied to the article. Obviously, this removal of an edge of a laminate from the ridge of the plastic member would likely diminish the aesthetic appearance of the article in general, and would likely increase the probability that the laminate will further remove from the plastic member upon subsequent application of another load to the article.
The difficulties discussed hereinabove are substantially eliminated by the present invention.

Injection molded plastic article and method of molding same