A surgical handpiece (20) for performing medical procedures. The handpiece (20) has a housing (24) and a membrane switch assembly (22) is mounted to the housing for regulating the operation of the handpiece. The membrane switch assembly has a switch plate (64) mounted in a cavity (42) formed in the housing. The switch plate includes a pair of spaced apart contact pads (86, 87). A dome (120) formed of flexible metal is spaced over the contact pads. A keypad (138) extends over the top of the switch cavity to cover the switch plate. A bezel plate (46) is fitted over the keypad. The keypad is compressed between the bezel plate and the housing to form a seal around the switch cavity. Depression of the keypad results in the dome flexing inwardly and closing the connection between the contact pads.

This invention relates generally to powered surgical handpieces and, more particularly, to a powered surgical handpiece with a membrane switch that provides an audible and tactile indication of when the switch undergoes a state transition.
In modern surgery, one of the most important instruments available to medical personnel is the powered surgical handpiece. Typically, this handpiece includes a housing that is held by a surgeon. Inside the handpiece is some type of power-generating unit. Often, this unit is a motor. However, the power-generating unit can also be a transducer that generates sonic energy or a light-emitting device that generates thermal energy. Usually some type of accessory is attached to the head end, also known as the distal end, of the handpiece. The accessory serves as the component that transfers the energy developed by the power-generating unit to the surgical site in order to accomplish the desired surgical procedure. For example burs, drill bits and shavers are attached to handpieces that contain motors. The motor rotates these accessories in order to cause the selected removal of tissue to which they are applied. Sonic and optical waveguides are attached to the distal ends of the handpiece that, respectively, have sonic and light generating units. These waveguides direct the energy that is transmitted through them to surgical sites so that the energy causes the desired end surgical affect.
The availability of powered surgical handpieces has made it possible to perform surgical procedures more quickly and more accurately than was previously possible with the manual handpieces that they replaced. Moreover, the availability of some powered surgical handpieces has made it possible to perform some surgical procedures that, previously, were difficult, if not impossible, to perform.
When constructing a powered surgical handpiece, it is often desirable to mount switches on the surface of the housing. Often, but not always, these switches are connected to a control console to which the handpiece is connected. The depression of the switches result in the change of the characteristics of the power signal that the control console applies to the handpiece""s power generating unit. The modulation of this power signal causes the power generated by the handpiece to undergo a user-requested state change. These switches make it possible for the surgeon to, with a single hand, both control the position of the handpiece and the operation of its power-generating unit. Still another advantage of providing these switches is that they eliminate the need for the surgeon to have to verbally give commands to a technician who, in turn, manipulates switches or knobs on the control console in order to cause the desired state change of the handpiece power generating unit.
Currently, many handpieces are provided with carbon contact switch assemblies. This type of assembly includes a substrate. Each switch on the substrate includes two conductive surfaces that are separate from each other by a relatively small distance of 0.100 inches or less. A rubber or silicon rubber sheet is fitted over the substrate. This sheet forms the exposed outer body of the switch assembly. For each switch on the assembly, the rubber sheet is formed to have a raised boss that forms the portion of the switch that is manually depressed. This boss subtends the complementary conductive surface of the switch with which it is integral. A conductive member is mounted to the underside surface of the rubber sheet opposite the raised boss. This conductive member may be a carbon embedded pad or a disk of metal that is highly conductive. Normally, the conductive member is spaced away from the adjacent conductive surfaces on the substrate. However, the depression of the boss causes the rubber sheet to flex inwardly. This displacement of the rubber sheet results in the conductive pad coming into physical contact with the underlying, closely spaced conductive surfaces. As a result of this contact, the conductive pad completes the circuit between the substrate conductive surfaces. The completion of this circuit thus closes the connection controlled by the switch.
A disadvantage of the above described switch assembly is that the feedback it provides upon its transition from the open state to the closed state is nominal. Consequently, it is difficult for the surgeon to know whether or not the power generating unit has actually received a set of signals requiring it to undergo the state change the surgeon wanted to occur when he/she actuated the switch. Sometimes, because the surgeon did not know whether or not the switch was actuated, he/she may repeatedly depress the switch. This action can result in the handpiece power-generating unit undergoing state changes in excess of what the surgeon wanted.
It has been suggested that it would be useful to provide powered surgical handpieces with membrane type switches. A membrane switch has a small, flexible metal dome that is located over the complementary conductive surfaces on the underlying substrate. The flexing of the dome results in the dome establishing an electrical connection between the conductive surfaces on the substrate. Also, when the dome is flexed, a distinct xe2x80x9cclickxe2x80x9d sound is heard and a distinct tactile is obtained by the person that depressed it. Collectively, this audible and tactile feedback provides the surgeon with an indication that the switch has closed the connection it is intended to establish.
However, to date, it has proven difficult to provide a handpiece with a membrane switch assembly. This is because, in order to be reused, a surgical handpiece is typically subjected to autoclaving in order to sterilize it. In autoclaving, the handpiece is placed in a chamber in which it is exposed to saturated steam which has a temperature of approximately 270xc2x0 F. and is at a pressure of approximately 30 psi. This high temperature water vapor flows into most of the unsealed portions of the handpiece. If the metal parts forming a membrane switch are exposed to this water vapor, they will, in a relatively short time period, corrode. Moreover, when the other components of a membrane switch assembly are exposed to high temperatures, even in the absence of water vapor, they are likewise prone to break down. Consequently, while there have been some efforts to provide powered surgical handpieces with membrane switch assemblies, the end products have not proven particularly satisfactory.
This invention is related to a powered surgical handpiece with a membrane-type switch assembly. The individual switches of the assembly provide tactile feedback when the switches are depressed. The switch assembly of this invention is able to withstand the rigors of the sterilization process with the handpiece with which the assembly is integral.

Powered surgical handpiece with membrane switch


The present invention provides a front panel for a plasma display panel which can suppress the incidence of chipping of the barrier rib of a rear panel for a PDP, can enhance the stability of initial electron emission in a dielectric layer, and can reduce a voltage required for maintaining a wall charge. The front panel for a plasma display panel includes a substrate, a plurality of electrodes formed on the substrate, a dielectric layer formed to cover the respective electrodes and the substrate, a dielectric-protection layer formed to cover the dielectric layer, and powder components dispersed on the dielectric-protection layer, wherein an annealed layer having a thickness of 10 to 300 nm is formed on at least the exposed surface of each of the powder components, wherein said exposed surface does not contact the dielectric-protection layer.

The present invention relates to a front panel for a plasma display panel including powder components and a method for producing the same, and a plasma display panel.
Hitherto, as a display device for displaying high-definition television images in a large screen, expectations for a display device using a plasma display panel (hereinafter, referred to as a PDP) have been heightening. Hereinafter, a constitution of a PDP of a conventional example will be described.
The PDP of a conventional example is provided with a front panel and a rear panel.
The front panel includes a front glass substrate, a plurality of display electrodes formed into stripe form on one surface of the front glass substrate, a dielectric glass layer covering these display electrodes and a dielectric-protection layer covering the dielectric glass layer.
The rear panel includes a rear glass substrate, a plurality of address electrodes formed into stripe form on one surface of the rear glass substrate and a dielectric glass layer covering these address electrodes. A plurality of barrier ribs are formed into stripe form on the dielectric glass layer. These barrier ribs are parallel to the address electrodes and located so that the address electrode is positioned between adjacent barrier ribs as seen from a thickness direction of the rear panel. A red, green, or blue phosphor layer is applied in turn to a bottom in a groove formed by two sides of the adjacent barrier ribs with the dielectric glass layer.
The PDP has a hermetically-closed structure in which the front panel (the side on which the dielectric-protection layer is formed) and the rear panel (the side on which the barrier ribs are formed) are opposed to each other and the periphery of a space between these two panels is sealed with a sealing member. In hermetically-closed spaces formed by this hermetically-closed structure, a discharge gas such as neon (Ne) or xenon (Xe) is filled to form discharge spaces. When a predetermined voltage is applied between the display electrodes and the address electrodes, a gas discharge is generated in the discharge spaces. The PDP can display color images by exciting the phosphor layer according to the ultraviolet rays generated through the gas discharge to emit visible light.
On the other hand, it is known that by dispersing the powder components composed of dielectrics on the dielectric-protection layer of the front panel, the stability of initial electron emission emitted from the dielectric glass layer can be enhanced (improved), and a voltage required for maintaining a wall charge of the dielectric glass layer can be decreased.
The powder component can be produced by the following procedure, for example.
First, a primary particle having an average particle diameter of about 0.2 to 3.0 μm is produced by heat-treating magnesium hydroxide (MgOH).
Next, the produced primary particle is further fired (heat-treated) in order to promote a reaction of unreacted magnesium hydroxide (MgOH) and eliminate residual substances.
The particle diameter is ultimately adjusted to an average particle diameter of about 4.0 to 6.0 μm by this firing.
The powder component thus produced has a single crystal structure, and therefore the inside and the surface of the powder component become the condition where very small lattice defects typified by a point defect and a dislocation exist.
An average particle diameter of the powder components can be adjusted to a proper size.
When a large average particle diameter of the powder components is desired, this can be realized, for example, by further heat-treating the fired powder components. Thereby, the average particle diameter of the powder components can be set at a particle diameter of about several tens of micrometers to several hundreds of micrometers.
Further, when a small average particle diameter is desired, this can be realized, for example, by pulverizing the fired powder component with an Ultimizer. Thereby, the average particle diameter of the powder components can be adjusted to a level equal to that of the primary particle, or a size of about 0.2 to 3.0 μm.
Examples of PDPs of conventional examples, containing powder components, include a PDP disclosed in Patent Document 1 (i.e., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-149743). In Patent Document 1, an alternating current (AC) PDP including a particle size distribution in which a grain size of the powder component is 5.0 μm or less is disclosed.

Front panel for plasma display panel and method for producing the same


An induction furnace for reflowing a portion of an optical preform in order to draw a lightguide fiber therefrom. The furnace has an axially located tubular iridium susceptor which is centrally disposed within a beaker and a sleeve is positioned concentrically around the susceptor. The sleeve is surrounded by an insulating grain. A high frequency coil is energized to couple its electromagnetic field to the iridium susceptor to heat and reflow a portion of the preform in order to draw the fiber therefrom. The furnace housing is sealed to provide an inert, non-oxidizing atmosphere for the iridium susceptor.

The development of low loss, fused silica lightguide fiber over the last few years has led to the investigation of high temperature (e.g., approximately 2000.degree. C.) heat sources, for the drawing of high strength fiber from a lightguide preform. Of the possible heat sources, the oxy-hydrogen torch, the CO.sub.2 laser and induction and resistance furnaces have been employed for drawing the high silica fibers. The torch method, while inexpensive, cannot maintain a uniform diameter over long lengths of fiber. The CO.sub.2 laser provides the cleanest drawing atmosphere, but requires special optical designs to radially distribute the energy for drawing and is limited in power. Induction furnaces are among the most useful high temperature sources.
An induction furnace is described in an article by R. B. Runk entitled "A Zirconia Induction Furnace for Drawing Precision Silica Waveguides" which was published in the Optical Fiber Transmission II Technical Digest (TuB5-1), Feb. 22-24, 1977. Typically, an induction furnace uses a zirconia susceptor. The susceptor has a tubular shape and acts as a semiconductor when heated to temperatures above 1400.degree. C. After the zirconia susceptor has reached the desired temperature of approximately 2100.degree. C., a glass preform is then introduced into the middle of the susceptor, known as the hot zone, a portion of the preform is reflowed, and lightguide fiber is drawn therefrom.
Induction furnaces with zirconia susceptors, however, are subject to various problems including preheating delays, spalling, fractures and low melting eutectic formation. Newly installed induction furnaces with a zirconia susceptor must be preheated to temperatures of at least 2000.degree. C. It takes numerous hours for the zirconia susceptor to reach such temperatures. Because zirconia acts like an insulator up to temperatures of approximately 1400.degree. C. a pre-heat susceptor such as a graphite slug is placed in the center of the zirconia susceptor. The graphite slug couples to the susceptor, elevating the temperature of the zirconia susceptor above the 1400.degree. C. mark and enabling the susceptor to become a semiconductor instead of an insulator.
In order to preserve fiber strength, it is necessary to prevent contamination of the preform and fiber surfaces. During the first several days of drawing fiber from a furnace with a zirconia susceptor, a lower than average fiber yield is produced. The reason for the reduced quality of fiber produced is due to spalling zirconia particles which deposit on the fiber and/or preform that creates flaws that typically cause fiber breaks. Particles of zirconia can also become separated from the susceptor if cracks develop due to temperature cycling such as during start up, temporary power loss, or aging. As a result of the zirconia particles depositing on the fiber, a significant quantity of the overall fiber drawn from the furnace is not of an acceptable quality.
Once a zirconia susceptor has been heated, the susceptor must be kept above 1400.degree. C. in order to remain coupled. When the furnace is shut down, due to a power failure or draw problems, the zirconia cools through its structural transition, cracks, and must be replaced. Having to replace the zirconia susceptor causes the furnace to be out of operation for an extensive amount of time because the zirconia susceptor must be heated and stabilized. From a manufacturing standpoint it would be beneficial to have the furnaces active for a greater percentage of time than current factors permit.
Another common drawback associated with zirconia susceptors is that furnace failure results when a preform comes in contact with a hot zirconia susceptor. The preform generally sticks to the susceptor wall. Removal can lead to cracking of the zirconia. Additionally, because SiO.sub.2 and ZrO.sub.2 react to form a lower melting eutectic composition, the zirconia susceptor tubes can fail after such contact through the formation of a large defective region. Accordingly, there is a need for an improved induction furnace.


A wireless communication device is implemented with a smart card module to secure the transmission of sensitive or confidential information. The user of the device must request permission to activate an application on the smart card module from a remote source. After this first level of security is satisfied, the application on the smart card module enables the user to scan data via a machine-readable medium in order to make a data request to the remote source. If a second level authorization is met in regard to the data request, the remote source will transmit the requested sensitive or confidential information to the user to view and/or update.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to wireless communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of a wireless communication device incorporating a secured smart card module to transmit and receive sensitive or confidential information.
2. Description of Prior Art
A wireless communication device (WCD) may communicate over a multitude of networks. Cellular networks facilitate WCD communications over large geographic areas. For example, the Global System for Mobile Telecommunications (GSM) is a widely employed cellular network which communicates in the 900 MHZ-1.8 GHZ band in Europe and at 1.9 GHZ in the United States that provides voice communication and supports the transmission of textual data via the Short Messaging Service (SMS). SMS allows a WCD to transmit and receive text messages of up to 160 characters. It also provides data transfer to packet networks, ISDN and POTS users at 9.6 Kbps. While cellular networks like GSM are a well-accepted means for transmitting and receiving data, due to cost, traffic and legislative concerns, a cellular network may not be appropriate for all data applications.
Bluetooth™ is a short-range wireless network technology quickly gaining acceptance in the marketplace. A Bluetooth™ enabled WCD transmits and receives data at a rate of 720 Kbps within a range of 10 meters, and may transmit up to 100 meters with additional power boosting. A user does not actively instigate a Bluetooth™ network. A plurality of devices within operating range of each other will automatically form a network group called a "piconet". Any device may promote itself to the master of the piconet, allowing it to control data exchanges with up to seven "active" slaves and 255 "parked" slaves. Active slaves exchange data based on the clock timing of the master. Parked slaves monitor a beacon signal in order to stay synchronized with the master, and wait for an active slot to become available. These devices continually switch between various active communication and power saving modes in order to transmit data to other members of the piconet.
More recently, WCDs have began to incorporate various devices providing enhanced functionality for facilitating close-proximity information exchanges. Sensors and/or scanners may be used to read visual or electronic information into a device. The transaction may involve a user holding their WCD in proximity to a target, aiming their WCD at an object (e.g., to take a picture) or sweeping the device over a tag or document. Machine-readable technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID), optical character recognition (OCR) and various other types of visual, electronic and magnetic scanning are used to input information useful to the user.
Worldwide, the use of WCDs has flourished due to the aforementioned increases in quality and functionality. These devices combine the ability to reliably relay various forms of information into a single compact package. These benefits have allowed professionals to create new business paradigms providing better and faster service, resulting in increased satisfaction for their customers without having to suffer additional workload.
There are many examples of improvements in the workplace realized from the advent of wireless communications. At the lowest level, WCDs often replace walkie-talkies or CB radios for communication between workers. However, greater functionality in WCDs have led to additional applications. Workers may now use a WCD to review electronic schedules for their work day, receive visual or audio instructions as to how to complete their jobs, track their progress by scanning job site time/geographic markers or by taking digital pictures of completed procedures, and relay status relevant information back to a central information repository. All of this can be done from one portable device, alleviating the need for inefficient paper handing.
There are some applications, however, that have resisted the "wireless revolution." For example, doctors are entrusted with sensitive information in regard to the treatment of their patients. Currently, if a doctor, or another health professional, were to make a house call, she would have to carry a paper version of the patient's medical history to both establish the current condition of the patient, and to update the file with the procedures performed during the visit. This situation would seem to be a perfect opportunity for improvements involving wireless communications. Ideally, a practitioner would carry a WCD with them to request medical information about a patient and could subsequently update a patient's file electronically. However, the information related to the patient is confidential. No one except the health professional should be able to access this information. A lack of security regarding accessing applications in a WCD, and in the transmission of the sensitive or confidential information to a user authorized to see this data, has prevented the advent of wireless communications in this arena.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and apparatus for securing a wireless communication device, the applications on the device and the transmission of information to and from the device, so as to ensure that sensitive or confidential information remains secure.

Phone with secure element and critical data


The invention relates to a method for weaving a fabric containing, at least partly, glass-fibres as warp threads and/or weft threads, which are treated in such a way that they enable light to be diffused in a substantially perpendicular direction with respect to the longitudinal axis of the threads. The method includes a weaving of a Jacquard pattern forming a matrix for separating and identifying the feeding ends of a predetermined number of glass fibres, which are to be rearranged in bundles and connected to the same light source. The fabric produced according said method is also disclosed.

Textiles comprising optical fibres are known and have been developed in the past, for example using knitting techniques. Such textiles have been described particularly in patent applications U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,928, U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,323, GB 2,305,848 and WO 02/12785.
These known textiles contain optical fibres which may be illuminated by one of their ends, which acts as an input section, in order to render the corresponding piece of fabric luminous. In these luminous textiles the optical fibres constitute the weft and/or warp and may be combined with standard fibres, for example cotton, linen, silk or synthetic textile fibres.
The optical-fibre based luminous fabrics hitherto developed have never been produced industrially since it is only possible to connect a given number of fibres, for example five hundred, to a light source, for example a LED.
It is therefore necessary to count the optical fibres at intervals on the edges of the fabric before bringing them together and connecting their ends, known as "input ends", to a light source.
This applies particularly if the light sources connected to groups—or bundles—of different optical fibres are of a different type, for example of a different power or color.
Until now, no method for weaving optical fibres has offered an industrial solution for separating and identifying independent bundles of optical fibres in fabric and/or of separating and identifying bundles of optical fibres relative to textile threads constituting the base of the fabric.
Up until this point in time, it has been necessary to separate and regroup the input ends of the various fibres of a bundle manually, which is a long, tedious operation that is clearly incompatible with the production of quantities on an industrial scale.

Method for producing an optical-fibre based fabric


A power transmission system and method for transmitting power over a three-phase power system on a multi-conductor power cable between a surface and a sub-surface location are provided. A surface system includes a power supply providing a direct current (DC) power signal to the power cable. A sub-surface system includes a downhole system coupled to a Y-point of a downhole motor. The downhole system is configured to be powered by (i) the DC power signal provided by the surface system, (ii) alternating current (AC) power drawn from the Y-point, and (iii) a combination of the DC power and the AC power. The downhole system is powered by the DC power when the power cable does not have an insulation fault, and the downhole system is powered by the AC power or the combination of the DC power and the AC power when the power cable has an insulation fault.

Various devices are known in the oil industry for monitoring submersible pumps, and in particular, devices which superimpose data on the three-phase power cable that connects such pumps when deployed downhole to surface equipment. These monitoring devices generally rely on the ground isolation of the three-phase system to allow power to be delivered to the downhole gauge or like downhole instruments, and data to be recovered from those instruments at the surface. These systems remove the need for a separate cable to be installed between the downhole gauge and the surface. Most conventional systems utilize a direct current (DC) power source at the surface, providing power to the power cable, and a downhole device which, also connected to the power cable, modulates the DC current supply in a manner that transmits information either as digital bit streams or analog signal variations like pulse width or amplitude modulation. These conventional power transmission systems are negatively affected by and frequently fail completely as a result of insulation faults in the three-phase power system that create DC power shorts.
The description above is presented as a general overview of related art in the field of power transmission and should not be construed as an admission that any of the information it contains constitutes prior art against the present disclosure.
For the purpose of this document the complete downhole assembly including mechanical components, electrical components, processors, measurement sensors and circuits is referred to as a "gauge" or a "downhole gauge"; the complete piece of equipment including the downhole gauge and its power cable couplings, and the surface power supply and associated decoding circuitry and software will be referred to as "the system" or "the gauge system". Devices employed downhole to measure properties of the environment around the gauge will be referred to as sensors, or transducers. Where reference is made to the complete pumping system and the overall pumping equipment that this gauge system monitors we will refer to this as the "pumping system", or the "artificial lift system".

Systems and methods of power transmission for downhole applications


The present invention relates to an arrangement in a mixer (1), especially for mixing printing color, and for the objective of achieving an automatic process rendering a very accurate mixing result, it is in accordance with the present invention suggested that the arrangement comprises. a plurality of color containers (2a-2n) each containing a base color, and being connected to outlet conduits (3a-3n) through which the base color can be delivered to PA1 a valve carrying color distributor (10) which can be brought in communication with the individual color containers (2a-2n) via the outlet conduits (3a-3n), PA1 and a controller (4) which according to a preset program influences the color distributor (10) to let through a desired quantity of base color from preselected color containers (2a-2n) to a common mixing vessel (6), preferably on a weight basis.

The present invention has been developed especially in connection with mixing of colors for offset-printing, such colors having a relatively high viscosity, but the invention is not limited to offset-color and can be used for mixing other colors, provided the invention can be used in connection with viscosity values associated with such further colors.
Generally, printing color is manufactured in the color factory in limited series from so-called base colors. On the basis of these base colors there exists a wide spectre of defined colors, i.e. with a prescription consisting of an accurate mixing ratio.
In order to achieve correct color, or color mixing, the prescription must be adhered to with great accuracy, since small deviations will give wrong color result.

Arrangement in a mixer, especially for mixing printing color


A new and improved two wheeled vehicle suspension fork with reinforced legs. The reinforcement is provided to the upper inner tube of a telescoping assembly utilized in the suspension fork. The inner tube has an upper end portion for attachment to the crown. The upper end portion has an enlarged outer dimension for reinforcing the upper inner tube at the crown attachment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of design and construction of two wheeled vehicle frames such as bicycle and motorcycle frames. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of design and construction of the inner tube for front suspension forks for two wheeled vehicles such as bicycles and motorcycles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A front fork for a two wheeled vehicle such as a motorcycle or bicycle typically includes the following main components: a steering tube, a crown, and two front legs. The steering tube is connected to the handlebar. The crown interconnects the steering tube and the two front legs.
Many bicycle or motorcycle fork legs now utilize various suspension systems. Commonly a suspension leg utilizes a telescoping assembly which includes an upper tube and a lower tube. The upper and lower tubes are slidably engaged with damping devices to form a suspension leg. The crown is connected to the top ends of the upper tubes.
One problem encountered in design and construction of the telescoping assembly is the strength of the tubes. The tubes are constantly subject to the weight, torsional and side loading forces from the handlebar (through the steering tube and the crown) and the front wheel axle. This is a particular concern for the inner tubes which is necessarily thinner than the outer tubes in the telescoping assembly.
For example, in a telescoping assembly where the upper tube is slidably inserted into the lower tube, the upper tube is the inner tube and the lower tube is the outer tube of the telescoping assembly. The lower part of the inner tube is inserted and travels within the outer tube, but the upper part of the inner tube stays outside of the outer tube and is exposed. Therefore, while the lower part of the inner tube is braced and bolstered by the outer tube, the upper part of the inner tube is not supported by the outer tube. Moreover, since the top end of the inner tube is connected to the crown, it further bears the stress from the handlebar.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide reinforcement to the legs of a bicycle or motorcycle forks. Particularly, it is desirable to provide reinforcement at the top ends of the legs where the crown is connected. More particularly, it is desirable to reinforce the exposed part of the inner tubes of the telescoping assemblies at the location where the inner tube is attached to the crown.

Two wheeled vehicle fork with reinforced leg


A method and system for identifying a target well. A system for identifying a target well may comprise placing an electromagnetic ranging tool in a wellbore, transmitting an electromagnetic field into a formation, inducing an eddy current within a target well, measuring a second electromagnetic field from the target well, calculating a position or an orientation of a transmitter or a receiver relative to another position, and calculating at least one parameter of the target well. An electromagnetic ranging system may comprise an electromagnetic ranging tool and an information handling system. The information handling system may be operable to calculate a position and/or an orientation of a transmitter or a receiver relative to another position on the electromagnetic ranging tool disposed on a borehole assembly, and calculate at least one parameter of a target well from the calculated position or orientation of the transmitter and the receiver.

Wellbores drilled into subterranean formations may enable recovery of desirable fluids (e.g., hydrocarbons) using a number of different techniques. Knowing the location of a target wellbore may be important while drilling a second wellbore. For example, in the case of a target wellbore that may be blown out, the target wellbore may need to be intersected precisely by the second (or relief) wellbore in order to stop the blow out. Another application may be where a second wellbore may need to be drilled parallel to the target wellbore, for example, in a steam-assisted gravity drainage ("SAGD") application, wherein the second wellbore may be an injection wellbore while the target wellbore may be a production wellbore. Yet another application may be where knowledge of the target wellbore's location may be needed to avoid collision during drilling of the second wellbore.
Electromagnetic ranging tools may be employed in subterranean operations to determine direction and distance between two wellbores. Electromagnetic ranging tools may use different techniques to obtain current on a conductive member in the target wellbore. Without limitation, approaches may include directly injecting a current into the conductive member and/or inducing a current on a conductive member by transmitting electromagnetic waves by coil antennas positioned in a second wellbore. The induced current in turn may cause the casing to radiate a secondary electromagnetic field. In another approach, an electrode type source may be used to induce current on the conductive member. The gradient of the magnetic field radiated by the conductive member in addition to the magnetic field itself may be measured. Using a relationship between the magnetic field and its gradient, a ranging measurement may be calculated. However, use of gradient calculations may be problematic as an infinite pipe with a constant induced current may be assumed, which may lead to larger errors in determining range especially at greater distances from the conductive member. Alternatively, an inversion may be used to determine the range, in which a forward model of the signal that may be received at the ranging tool may be needed. The inversion process may try to find the formation and well parameters that would match the forward model with the measurements made by the tool. However, use of the inversion process may be problematic as the gain of the electromagnetic ranging tool may be different from that used in the forward model. Additionally, an inversion process may assume a linear wellbore progressing along a mostly linear path. Yet, wellbores may progress non-linearly through a formation due to bending and twisting effects placed upon a borehole assembly as the borehole assembly traverse a formation.

Ranging measurements in a non-linear wellbore


Methods and apparatuses for memory power reduction are provided. The apparatus determines whether to store data into a DRAM or an NVRAM during an idle state of a processor based on power consumption by the DRAM in association with refreshing the data in the DRAM and use of the data stored in the DRAM by the processor, based on power consumption by the NVRAM in association with use of the data stored in the NVRAM by the processor, and based on a duty cycle associated with current drawn in a first power state and a second power state in association with the data. The NVRAM is a type of non-volatile random-access memory other than flash memory. The processor stores the data into one of the DRAM or the NVRAM based on the determination whether to store the data in the DRAM or the NVRAM.

Field
The present disclosure relates generally to power reduction, and more particularly, to memory power reduction.
Background
Dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is a volatile memory that consumes power even when inactive because stored information must be refreshed periodically. Non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) such as magnetoresistive random-access memory (MRAM), phase-change random-access memory (PRAM), resistive random-access memory (RRAM), ferroelectric random-access memory (FeRAM), or nano-random-access memory (NRAM) consumes less power than DRAM when inactive, but more power than DRAM when active. Methods and apparatus are needed in association with DRAM and NVRAM with respect to power reduction within a system on a chip (SoC)/integrated circuit (IC) that utilizes such memory elements.


Establishing data reliability groups within a geographically distributed data storage environment is presented herein. A system can comprise a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising: partitioning geographically distributed data storage zones into reliability groups, in which a reliability group of the reliability groups comprises a group of storage zones comprising a defined amount of the geographically distributed data storage zones; and facilitating a replication of data of the group of storage zones using a portion of remaining data of the group of storage zones.

Conventional storage technologies facilitate remote storage and access of data via the cloud. However, as the demand for such storage and access has increased, so too has the risk of storage failures and costs associated with recovering from such failures. Consequently, conventional storage technologies have had some drawbacks, some of which may be noted with reference to the various embodiments described herein below.


An eyeglass holder attachable to an article of clothing worn by the user for suspending a pair of eyeglasses. The eyeglasses are suspended facing upwardly and supported by the bridge of the eyeglasses with the temples either open and downwardly extending or folded closed. When open, the temples are supported from substantial movement against the body of the user. A biasingly positionable retaining member holds the bridge from substantial movement as well. One embodiment (preferred) holds the temples in the closed position for better protection thereof.

1. Scope of Invention
This invention relates generally to eyeglass holders, and more particularly to an eyeglass holder which will retain the eyeglasses in a particularly orientation without substantial movement with respect to the user.
2. Prior Art
Many people wear eyeglasses and all are challenged with having a convenient and safe place to carry the eyeglasses which is both safe and renders the eyeglasses easily accessible. Even with the advent of very effective and convenient contact lenses, still a great deal of people must rely on conventional eyeglasses. Although manufacturers of eyeglasses typically provide a case for this purpose, the convenience of utilizing a case for both protection and carrying represents more of an inconvenience to the user than the benefits derived therefrom.
A well-known solution for carrying eyeglasses is simply to connect a cord from each distal end of each of the temples or side pieces of the eyeglasses, which cord is draped around the back of the neck to hold the eyeglasses in a downwardly position at the chest area when not in use. However, the eyeglasses when held in the non-use position with these neck cords typically dangle and swing about, increasing the likelihood of damage, excessive abuse and even loss.
A patented device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,934 invented by Grey teaches a combination tool and eyeglass holder which is also hung about the neck by a flexible cord. This device includes a ring for attachment of one of the eyeglass temples inserted therethrough and further includes a horizontally positioned container for holding a small eyeglass screwdriver for adjustments. However, in Grey the eyeglasses are still free to swing or pitch about when not in use, thus not providing much more in the way of eyeglass protection than the previously described neck cord connected to each of the ends of the eyeglass temples.
Vaughn, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,484, teaches a lapel pin eyeglass and pillbox combination, but in this device as well, the eyeglasses are held by one of the temples in the folded position and the eyeglasses are again free to dangle and swing about and would appear to be in some jeopardy of being completely disengaged because of the "J" shape of the hook for eyeglass retention.
Another eyeglass holder is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,319,838 invented by Eppenaur wherein an eyeglass holder may be attached to the user similar to that of a pendant or connected to a necklace worn by the user. This device also presents a horizontal loop into which one temple of the eyeglasses may be inserted for supportive retention. However, once again, the dangling and swinging of the eyeglasses about the single tension support arrangement leaves a great deal to be desired in terms of both protection and stability of the eyeglasses when not in use.
A button-on holder for eyeglasses is taught by Wallo in U.S. Pat. No. 5,551,126 in which a very simple yet unobtrusive eyeglass hanger is disclosed. This eyeglass holder is attached to a button on the front of a shirt or blouse, one stem of the eyeglasses insertable through the bottom portion of the aperture for receiving the button. Although this device perhaps lends a bit more stability to the hanging eyeglasses because they press against the body of the user by the front or back area of the folded eyeglasses, nonetheless dangling and swinging of the stored eyeglasses is likely even with this device.
The present invention overcomes these limitations of unwanted eyeglass movement when in a stored position. With the present invention, very little eyeglass movement, if any, is likely and the eyeglasses are always held in the same position for ease in repeatable and convenient removal and restoring.


A storage media management apparatus includes a dividing unit 63e that divides a content into a plurality of content parts, a management information generating unit 63c that generates a plurality of pieces of content management information in correspondence to the plurality of content parts, each piece of content management information including (a) reconstruction information for reconstructing the content by concatenating a corresponding content part with the other content parts, and (b) individual information for making the corresponding content part individually usable, a content recording 63d unit 63d that records each content part together with a corresponding piece of content management information onto a different one of the storage media, and a table editing unit 61 that judges whether the content is to be concatenated and made usable, or the content parts are to be individually made usable.

DVD/HDD recorders using DVDs and HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) as storage media are widely used to record various contents. A user may record broadcast contents onto an HDD of a DVD/HDD recorder and view recorded contents, and may further move or copy his or her favorite contents from the HDD to a DVD to keep the contents for a long time. To enable a longer recording time, the demand is increasing for a larger memory capacity of DVD/HDD recorders.
Conventional DVD/HDD recorders have met the demand for a larger memory capacity, by installing more storage media therein and handling storage areas of the storage media as one logically-integrated storage area (hereafter referred to as a "virtual-drive storage area"). As one example, Document 1 (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-052466) discloses a technique for controlling one content stored as being divided into a plurality of storage media, to enable the divided parts to be played back continuously. Here, HDD cartridges, which are easily connectable and removable, may be used as the storage media additionally installed in DVD/HDD recorders. As one example, Document 2 (Japanese Patent Application No. H10-362972) discloses a technique for managing such easily connectable and removable HDD cartridges.
The storage media management method disclosed in Document 1, however, may be faced with a problem when one content is stored as being divided into a plurality of storage media. If a storage medium storing a part of the content is removed from the DVD/HDD recorder, playback of the content once started from its first part is suspended at such a missing part. The suspension of playback may upset the user who had already viewed the first part and expected to view the entire parts of the content, and in turn may disinterest the user in viewing the content.
With a prospective widespread of easily connectable and removable storage media, this problem is expected to appear more frequently. Therefore, the urgent task now is to find solutions to this problem.

Apparatus for managing removable storage media that can be connected thereto, and method, program, and system LSI for managing removable storage media


Fine-grained access control for querying a database with low overhead and safety plans. In a view placement approach, base relations of the query expression are replaced by views that are appropriate for the particular user. Information leakage via UDF pushing, exception processing, and error messages can be prevented by generating safe plans. An existing query optimizer can be modified to perform redundancy removal and safe plan implementation. Subsumption testing available in materialized view matching can be exploited by the query optimizer. Authorization inference is exploited to generate safe plans.

The current SQL standard for access control is coarse grained, in that it grants access to all rows of a table or none. Fine-grained access control, which allows control of access at the granularity of individual rows, is required in practically all database applications, for example, to ensure that employees can see only their own data, and relevant data of other employees that they manage. While fine-grained access control has traditionally been performed at the level of application programs, there is an increasing need to support it at the database level. However, implementing security at the application level makes management of authorization quite difficult. In addition to presenting a large surface area for attackers, any breach of security at the application level exposes the entire database to damage, since every part of the application has complete access to the data belonging to every application user.
There are several models for fine-grained access control. In a class of models, called Truman models, one conventional architecture provides access control through functions that return strings containing predicates. A function is associated with each relation, and when invoked, returns a string containing predicates that enforce fine-grained access control; the function takes as input the mode of access and an application context which includes information such as user-id of the end user. In another conventional system, policy-based security management allows specification of predicates that are added to WHERE clauses. Different policies can be specified on different columns and are automatically combined.
Cell-level access control is another conventional fine-grained access methodology; however, this technique is restricted to handling privacy policies, and does not constitute a general-purpose access control mechanism. Others include using predicated grants to manage cell-level access control and adding predicates to SQL (structured query language) authorization grants.
A non-Truman model can be attractive for several reasons, such as guaranteeing correctness. That is, if a query is accepted, it will give the same result as if the user had full authorizations on all relations. In contrast, in the class of Truman models, the result of a query can be changed by the authorization mechanism. However, any non-Truman model implementation is likely to be unpredictable in the following sense: the model requires a powerful query inferencing mechanism and since inferencing can never be complete, a query that is accepted by one database implementation may be rejected by another (perhaps even a different version of the same database system). Such unpredictability is highly undesirable for applications, which explains why the class of Truman models is used in practice.
The most commonly used models follow a view replacement strategy that replaces relations in a user query by a view of the relation that is available to that user. Application programs often use views as a way of providing restricted access to certain users. However, there are two significant problems with most implementations of the view replacement model: performance (e.g., the overhead of the access control predicates when they are actually redundant) and security (e.g., the potential of information leakage though other channels such as user-defined function (UDF) predicates and exceptions).
With respect to performance, the original query usually includes predicates/joins that restrict access to only authorized data. The authorization checks performed in the replacement views are redundant, including not only cheap comparisons, but also expensive semi-joins. The introduction of complex authorizations also significantly increases the complexity of the query, resulting in increased optimization time, in addition to worsened execution time. In the realm of security, several attacks have been discovered against the view-based approach to fine-grained access control, based on information leakage. Although the set of results of a user query are usually not affected by these attacks, these attacks are able to leak unauthorized information through channels, such as the leakage of information through UDFs, and the leakage of information through exceptions and error messages.
For example, consider a relational schema                employee(emp_id, name, dept_id, salary),and a view
CREATE VIEW myemployees ASSELECT * FROM employeeWHERE dept_id in Q1which authorizes the user to see only the employee tuples with dept_id in the result of query Q1. Suppose now that the user issues a query
SELECT * FROM myemployeesWHERE myudf(salary)
The query processor replaces the view myemployees by its definition. Suppose now that the query plan chosen by the optimizer executes the UDF myudf ( ) before the subquery Q1. As a result, the UDF is called on every salary value, including those of unauthorized tuples. The code defining myudf ( ) is not under the control of the authorization system, and can print out (or save in a separate relation) the salary values it has passed, thereby leaking unauthorized salary information.

Fine-grained access control in a database by preventing information leakage and removing redundancy


The invention provides a lithium-manganese-based composite oxide containing Ti and Ni, which is represented by the compositional formula: Li1+x(Mn1−n−mNimTin)1−xO2, wherein 0<x≦0.33, 0.05<m<0.3, and 0.3<n<0.5, and includes a crystal phase of layered rock-salt type structure. The composite oxide is a novel material that is capable of maintaining an average discharge voltage of 3 V or more over long charge/discharge cycles, while providing a discharge capacity equal to or higher than those of lithium-cobalt-oxide-based positive electrode materials, and that can be prepared using starting materials that are inexpensive and less limited as natural resources, while exhibiting improved charge/discharge characteristics over known low-cost positive electrode materials.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lithium-manganese-based composite oxides containing titanium and nickel, which are useful as positive electrode materials for next-generation, low-cost lithium-ion batteries, a method for preparing the same, and uses thereof.
(2) Description of the Related Art
The majority of secondary batteries presently mounted in portable equipment such as cellular phones, notebook computers, etc., in Japan are lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are also expected to become practical as large batteries for use in electric vehicles, electric load leveling systems, etc., and are increasing in importance.
Lithium-ion batteries of today use a lithium cobalt oxide (LiCoO2) as a typical positive electrode material, and a carbon material such as graphite as a negative electrode material.
In such a lithium-ion battery, the number of lithium ions that are reversibly deintercalated (i.e., charging) and intercalated (i.e., discharging) into the positive electrode determines the battery capacity, and the voltages during deintercalation and intercalation determine the battery operating voltage. The positive electrode material LiCoO2 is hence an important material for battery constitution, which is associated with battery performance. Demand for lithium cobalt oxide, therefore, is expected to grow further with the increasing range of applications and increasing size of lithium-ion batteries.
Lithium cobalt oxide, however, contains a large amount of cobalt, which is a rare metal, thus being a cause of the high material costs of lithium-ion batteries. Further, considering the fact that about 20% of cobalt resources are presently used in the battery industry, it seems to be difficult to meet the increasing demand with only positive electrode materials made of LiCoO2.
Lithium nickel oxide (LiNiO2), lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4) and the like have been reported as positive electrode materials that are inexpensive and less limited as natural resources, and some of these materials are in practical use as alternative materials. With lithium nickel oxide, however, battery safety decreases during charging, and with lithium manganese oxide, trivalent manganese dissolves into the electrolyte during charging/discharging at high temperatures (about 60° C.), causing significant deterioration in battery performance. For these reasons, the use of these materials as alternatives has not progressed much.
Composite oxides such as LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2, LiNi0.5Ti0.5O2, LiNi0.45Mn0.45Ti0.10O2 and the like have been proposed as low-cost positive electrode materials that can substitute the aforementioned materials (see Non-Patent Documents 1 to 3 shown below). These positive electrode materials, however, contain the relatively expensive element, nickel, in an amount of 45% or more based on the total amount of transition metals, and therefore are not inexpensive enough. Moreover, none of the positive electrode materials reported in these documents exceeds an initial discharge capacity of 200 mAh/g.
Although Non-Patent Document 3 has reported that the incorporation of Ti into LiNi0.5Mn0.5O2 improves charge/discharge reversibility, it does not teach that the charge/discharge capacity can be increased by the presence of Ti. Moreover, the resulting Li2TiO3 is electrochemically inactive, and causes the theoretical capacity to decrease, thus limiting the amount of Ti to only 5% based on the total amount of transition metals (LiNi0.475Mn0.475Ti0.05O2).
As described above, various reports have been made on positive electrode materials that can substitute lithium-cobalt-based positive electrode materials; however, for further improvements in charge/discharge characteristics, the optimization of the chemical composition, preparation conditions, etc., of positive electrode materials is desired.
Non-Patent Document 1: T. Ohzuku and Y. Makimura, Chemistry Letters, 30[8], 744-745 (2001)
Non-Patent Document 2: M. Tsuda et al., J. Power Sources, 144, 183-190 (2005)
Non-Patent Document 3: J. S. Kim et al., Electrochemistry Communications 4, 205-209 (2002)

Lithium-manganese-based composite oxide containing titanium and nickel

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


A disclosed apparatus for generating electrical power has, according to one embodiment of the invention, a plurality of tubular solid oxide fuel cells contained in a reaction chamber. The fuel cells are secured at one end thereof in a manifold block, the other ends thereof passing freely through apertures in a baffle plate to reside in a combustion chamber. Reaction gases are supplied to the insides of the tubular fuel cells from a plenum chamber below the manifold block and to the reaction chamber surrounding the outsides of the fuel cells through an annular inlet path, which may include a reformation catalyst. The gases inlet path to the plenum chamber, and the annular inlet path surround the reaction chamber, are both in heat conductive relation with the reaction chamber and the combustion chamber, and raise the gases to formation and reaction temperatures as appropriate.

The present invention relates to devices for the generation of electrical power and in particular to such devices which incorporate solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC).
A SOFC is an electrochemical device that allows the production of direct current electricity (and/or co-generated heat) by the direct electrochemical combination of a fuel (such as hydrogen, natural gas, coal gas, or other hydrocarbon-based fuels, for example) with an oxidant (such as air). A SOFC consists of an oxygen ion conducting electrolyte (currently based on stabilised zirconia) separating an air electrode (cathode) from a fuel electrode (anode). The fuel is oxidised at the anode and electrons are released to an external circuit, where they are accepted by the cathode. The cathode reaction causes the oxidant gas to be reduced to oxygen ions, which then migrate across the oxygen ion-conducting electrolyte to the anode. The movement of electrons around the external circuit produces an electromotive force (typically 1 volt for a single cell). By the application of a load across the cell, current flows, thus producing a power density, the value of which depends upon the design of the cell and the materials used. The cell is typically run at between 700 and 1000xc2x0 Celcius. The book xe2x80x9cScience and Technology of Ceramic Fuel Cellsxe2x80x9d authors N. Q. Minh and T. Takahashi (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995) describes the principle reactions in SOFC, and the methods by which electricity can be produced.
The most attractive features of the SOFC are its high conversion efficiency (typically 50 to 90% if heat utilisation is included), its low production of emissions, its production of high-grade exhaust heat, and its modularisability (from a few kW of electricity to many MW).
Single SOFC cells are usually stacked, using an interconnect or bi-polar plate (usually based on doped lanthanum chromite, or a high temperature metallic system), to produce a multi-cellular unit. The single cell typically produces 1 volt, however by stacking the single cells either in parallel or series connection, the required voltage can be realised. There are several known structures of the SOFC, and these include the planar, tubular and monolithic designs. It should be stressed, however, that in addition to these three main designs, other designs have been sited, although the basic concept remains the same in all designs, that of an oxygen ion conducting electrolyte separating a fuel gas (at the anode) from an oxidising gas (at the cathode). See, for example, the paper xe2x80x9cCeramic Fuel Cellsxe2x80x9d, author N. Q. Minh, pages 563-588, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 76[3] (1993).
For SOFC systems to become fully realised, and thus fully commercial, they must be reliable over long periods of time, and must not be subjected to thermal cracking due to heating or cooling cycles. The systems must also compete financially with conventional technologies, such as gas turbines and diesel generators, and thus they must be relatively inexpensive and easy to assemble. The major drawbacks of the current designs are principally based on sealing of the single cells. The planar design, using flat plate electrolytes with an anode and cathode adhered to either side, appears to be the cheapest system to fabricate, however its major problem still hinges around the issue of sealing the plates without causing excessive stressing of the ceramic plates, or chemical compatibility issues between the sealant and the cells. The tubular design gets around the problem of sealing by using a closed or open-ended tube. In the conventional tubular design, an extruded porous doped-lanthanum manganite support tube is fabricated. The electrolyte (stabilised zirconia) is electrochemically vapour deposited onto the support tube. The anode is then slurry spray-electrochemical vapour deposited onto the electrolyte, and doped-lanthanum chromite is plasma sprayed onto the cell as an interconnect material. The cells are then bundled into multi-cellular units and then packaged as a SOFC system. The air is pumped into the interior of the tubes, while the exterior of the tube is exposed to the fuel gas. The tubes are sealed at one end, so that spent air can flow back through an annular. The spent fuel can also be recycled to allow for heat recovery.
This tubular arrangement has been very successful, However, the design does not allow for rapid heat cycling, as thermal stresses could occur causing the cells to crack. Even with the improvements that have been undertaken, the current limit on this design requires 5 hours for the system to reach 1000xc2x0 C. operating temperature from ambient. State-of-the-art generators, using the technology described above, are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,752. These are significant improvements on those SOFC systems sited in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,184, 4,395,468, 4,664,986, 4,729,931, and 4,751,152. The design described above is also expensive to fabricate and is not conducive to producing small-scale systems (sub-10kW). The manufacturers of the systems have reduced the manufacturing costs by reducing the cost of the raw materials. For example, 90% of the weight of the cell is in the doped-lanthanum chromite air electrode, and thus by using a cheaper supply of raw materials (high impurity level), the cost can be reduced substantially. As described in a paper xe2x80x9cRecent Progress in Tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Technologyxe2x80x9d, author S. C. Singhal, in Solid Oxide Fuel. Cells Volume V, The Electrochemical Society (New Jersey), pages 37-50 (1997). However, the cost of the system will not allow for small-scale production.
To overcome the problem of high manufacturing cost, the use of extruded thin walled stabilised zirconia tubes is disclosed. See for example Australian Patent 675122. The inner electrode in this design was the fuel electrode, while the outer electrode was the air electrode (usually lanthanum manganite). In the design, tubes were supported within a thermally insulating container from which the exhaust gas can escape through a passageway. In this design, the cost of the tubes has been reduced by using a simple extrusion technique for extruding stabilised zirconia mixed with, for example, polyvinyl butyral and cyclohexane. The design is described as containing an array of the aforementioned tubes, supported within a thermally insulating container from which the combustion products can escape through a passageway. Gas is supplied directly to the top of the tubes. The combustion products escape through the same passageway as the forced air inlet. Although very simple, this design does not allow for the full movement of the cells within the reactor, and it is therefore still liable to stress build up in the cells, which may cause cell damage.
The ability to reform the fuel within the SOFC generator is also not possible in the designs described above. Reforming is a process by which the fuel, in this case usually a hydrocarbon fuel, is combined with water and/or carbon dioxide to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. This reformed fuel is then directly used in the SOFC system. In the majority of cases, the fuel is reformed outside the SOFC generator, which requires expensive equipment such as heat exchanges, pumps etc., which also make the whole system a lot more bulky. The reforming reaction, when it takes place outside the generator is highly undesirable as a lot of energy is lost from the system (as heat) and thus causes an overall loss in the efficiency of the system, and an increase in its complexity. This was partially overcome in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,9331, where the reforming of a reformable gaseous fuel was performed in the SOFC generator. In this system, the partially spent fuel is divided into two streams; one is combined with the partially spent air stream to form exhaust gas, which is then partially vented. Some of the remaining exhaust gas is then combined with the second spent fuel stream. The combined stream is then mixed with the gaseous reformable fuel. The invention uses the heat balance in the system as a whole to minimise the heat losses. The invention uses the traditional design of the tubular SOFC systems, as described in the U.S. Patents described above, and does not, therefore, overcome the original problems of complexity of system, expense, and the ability to thermally cycle at fast heating and cooling rates. The system is also quite complicated.
An alternative design is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,377,703. Here, several electrolyte tubes stand upright on a ceramic base. Gas is passed through the tubes and combusted at the top of the tubes. The hot gases then flow around the system to a heat exchanger. Although relatively simple, the system requires a significant number of high temperature seals, and will not allow for high thermal stresses, as may be experienced in rapid start-up.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a power generating apparatus incorporating solid oxide fuel cells which goes some way toward overcoming the above disadvantages or will at least provide the public with a useful choice.
In a first aspect the invention consists in apparatus for generating electrical power comprising:
a plurality of tubular solid oxide fuel cells in a reaction chamber, each said cell having an inwardly facing reaction surface and an outwardly facing reaction surface, and electrodes associated with each said surface, and having one end of the said cell mounted in a manifold block,
a first gases inlet path to supply first gases to said reaction chamber, said fist gases to pass along the outside of said fuel cells,
a second gases inlet path to supply a second gases to the mounted ends of said fuel cells to pass along the inside of said fuel cells,
an exhaust gases outlet path from said reaction chamber adjacent the ends of said fuel cells away from said manifold block, for carrying exhaust gases to an exhaust outlet and in which unreacted gases may combust with one another, and
power collection means which connect to said conductors on the insides and outsides of said fuel cells;
one of said first and second gases being reformable fuel gases and the other being oxidising gases, said gases paths thereby each for carrying one of reformable gases and oxidising gases in accordance with the arrangement of the reactive surfaces of said fuel cells,
said reformable gases carrying path including a reformation catalyst therein and being arranged in heat transfer relation with said exhaust gases path and said reaction chamber such that in steady state operation the gases therein may be raised to a temperature at said catalyst at which reformation can occur, and
said oxidising gases carrying path is arranged in beat transfer relation with said exhaust gases path and said reaction chamber such that in steady state operation the gases therein may be raised to a reaction temperature at said fuel cells at which said fuel cells operate.
Each said tubular fuel cell may have an outside diameter between 3 mm and 10 mm and has a wall thickness of between 0.3 mm and 1 mm.
A variable flow restriction means may be provided in said oxidising gas inlet path to variably restrict the flow of said oxidising gas to said fuel cells and said combustion zone, to thereby control the combustion temperature.
The second gas inlet path may include in part a cylindrical or conical chamber, and said exhaust gases outlet path includes in part a cylindrical or conical chamber concentric with said inlet path and divided therefrom by a wall of a material typically alumina or mullite, or with a thermal impedance less than the thermal impedance of such materials.
The first gas inlet path may include at least in part a cylindrical channel divided from said oxidising gas inlet path by a wall of a material typically alumina or mullite, or with a thermal impedance less than the thermal impedance of such materials.
A baffle wall made divide said reaction chamber from said exhaust gases outlet path, said tubular cells extending through apertures in said baffle wall into said exhaust gases outlet path, and apertures in said baffle wall allowing a flow of partially reactive gases to flow from said reaction chamber to said exhaust gases outlet path to combust with the partially reacted gases flying from the insides of said tubular cells.
Each said tubular fuel cell may be held only at the end thereof mounted in said manifold block.
Each said cell may pass through an aperture in said baffle wall, being spaced clear from the edge of said aperture all around said cell, and said partially reacted gases which flow from said reaction chamber to said exhaust gases outlet path may flow through said apertures, through the space between the wall thereof and the respective said fuel cell.
The first gases inlet path may include a plenum chamber below said manifold block, and said fuel cell mounted ends may extend through said manifold block, said plenum chamber dispersing said gases to said fuel cell mounted ends.
The first gases may be said oxidising gases and said power connection means may connect to said electrodes on said insides and outsides of said fuel cells at the ends thereof disposed within said plenum chamber.
The first gases inlet path may include a thermally conductive gases conduit extending into said plenum chamber through said manifold block, a first length of the conduit passing through said reaction chamber to absorb heat from the gases in said reaction chamber under steady state operating conditions.
A second length of said thermally conductive gases conduit may pass through at least part of said exhaust gases outlet path.
An annular chamber may surround said reaction chamber, with gases inlet port means through which gases flow through said annular chamber and gases outlet port means for gases to flow from said annular chamber into said reaction chamber at the far end of said annular chamber from said inlet port means, said gases outlet port means located adjacent said manifold block, and the wall between said reaction chamber and said annular chamber being thermally conductive, for example being formed from alumina or mullite or having a similar thermal impedance to those materials.
One or more mixing ports may be provided in said wall between the annular chamber and the reaction chamber, the ports leading between the chambers at the far end of the reaction chamber from the gases outlet port means, and a suction generation means be provided to create a low pressure zone in the annular chamber immediately adjacent the mixing ports under the action of gases which pass through the annular chamber to draw gases through the mixing ports from the reaction chamber into the annular chamber. Such suction generation means may comprise some form of venturi.
The fuel cells may be based on a yttria stabilised zirconia electrolyte, mounted in a glass ceramic insulator (such as that sold under the MACOR brand by Corning Glassworks), and the manifold block be manufactured from ferritic stainless steel.
An ignition means may be provided within the combustion zone to generate a localised heat sufficient to ignite said fuel gas in the presence of said oxidising gas.
Control means may control said ignition means and the flow of said fuel gases to cause said fuel gases to flow at a substantially higher rate during start up than that required for power generation, ignite said gas flow and maintain said gas flow at said substantially high rate until a temperature of approximately 800xc2x0 C. is reached at said manifold block.
For commonly available SOFC compositions the reaction temperature would be between 400xc2x0 C. and 600xc2x0 C. For a standard reforming reaction with commonly used nickel catalyst the reforming temperature would be between 600xc2x0 C. and 800xc2x0 C.
In a further aspect the invention consists in a space heater including power generating apparatus as described above, and wherein said exhaust gases are utilised for space heating and said generated power is distributed for other applications.
In a yet further aspect the invention consists in a water heating cylinder incorporating a power generation apparatus as described above, and wherein said exhaust gases are used for heating a supply of water in said water heating cylinder and said generated power is distributed for other applications.
In a still further aspect the invention consists in power generating apparatus substantially as herein described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
To those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. The disclosures and the descriptions herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

Integrated solid oxide fuel cell and reformer


An improved underwater breathing apparatus includes a gas- and liquid-tight helmet, with an attached air valve, tank coupling and tank bracket. The helmet further includes a flange generally conforming to the shoulders of a user, and incorporates ballast material. The air valve is attached to the helmet with the tank coupling and the tank bracket is attached to the tank coupling. When worn, the tank bracket is oriented substantially parallel to, and a finite distance away from, the user, whereby only the flange contacts the user. In other embodiments the helmet further includes an optically transparent face shield, or the entire helmet is may be manufactured from an optically transparent material. A handle may be attached to the helmet to aid in lifting and storage. The air valve may include an air flow regulator, a compressed air supply coupling or an air flow gauge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to underwater breathing systems, and more specifically to an easy-to-use, underwater breathing and viewing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
SCUBA equipment has been around for decades. Most of the devices are similar. They include a compressed air tank with a harness to be worn by a diver. An air pressure regulator, air pressure gauge, and mouthpiece control the air to the diver. A mask is worn to protect the diver's eyes. The equipment is not terribly complex, but it requires a significant amount of training to use safely and properly. Not only must the diver learn to breathe primarily through the mouth, he must also know how to deal with equipment malfunctions and emergencies automatically. Those automatic emergency responses are developed through hours of repetitive practice in a controlled environment. There are common variations on the basic equipment, such as a mouthpiece combined with a face mask, but these modifications do not necessarily make it easier to use and, thus do not take the place of the appropriate emergency responses.
It is undisputed that a large number of people who do not know how to dive with SCUBA gear would like to learn. The time investment required to receive proper training is probably the biggest impediment to more people enjoying the underwater world. This situation is quite evident at popular diving areas, where the attraction of the underwater world is greatest. Novices decide they want to experience the joys of diving. Thus, they need to learn to dive right away. For most of these people, however, it just isn't possible to complete the required training in the limited time they have available. The equipment is too complex and mistakes are too costly.
Therefore, there has been and continues to be a need for an underwater breathing apparatus that is very easy to don and use, and that has a minimum of equipment to manipulate and adjust, so that even complete novices can safely experience the joys known to SCUBA divers.

SCUBA walk improved underwater breathing apparatus


Power shutdown of an integrated circuit such as a data acquisition system is implemented by software command. In one embodiment of a data acquisition system, an 8 bit data input word for configuring the operation of the data acquisition system includes two word length bits which define the length of data output words. One combination of the word length bits is utilized to command power shutdown. A decoder within the integrated circuit identifies the power shutdown command and generates a power shutdown signal (PS) to minimize power consumption when the circuit is not in operation.

This invention relates generally to the control of power in an electronic integrated circuit such as a data acquisition system (DAS), and more particularly the invention is directed to control of power without the need for a dedicated circuit pin.
A data acquisition system such as the Linear Technology Corporation LTC1290 single chip data acquisition system contains a serial I/O successive approximation A/D converter. The device uses switch capacitor technology to perform either 12 bit unipolar or 11 bit plus sign bipolar A/D conversions. An 8 channel input multiplexer can be configured for either single ended or differential inputs, or combinations thereof. An on-chip sample and hold is included for all single ended input channels. When the circuit is idle, it can be powered down in applications where low power consumption is desired.
The circuit is packaged in a 20 lead ceramic DIP. Heretofore, control of power shutdown in such electronic circuits have required a dedicated package pin. Alternatively, external control has been used by actually disconnecting the power source from the circuit.
The present invention is directed to controlling and implementing a power shutdown from within the circuit but without the need for a dedicated pin.

Software controlled power shutdown in an integrated circuit


A mind stimulator includes a head cooler, a supporting frame for adjustably supporting the head cooler above a user's head, and a cooling source, which is communicatively connected with the head cooler, adapted for transferring a cooling air through the head cooler around the user's head so as to substantially cool down a user's head temperature. Therefore, by lowering the user's head temperature, the user's mind activities are substantially increased, so as to prevent the user returning back to the drowsy condition.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to human's mind activities, and more particularly to a mind stimulator, which is capable of substantially cooling down a user's head so as to effectively increase the user's mind activities without hazarding the user's health.
2. Description of Related Arts
Many people have an experience that they keep yawning and almost fall asleep during driving. In order to prevent people falling asleep during driving, they either drink coffee as a stimulant or wind down the window to the wind blow into the vehicle. However, such methods are not the best solution to solve the above problem since the coffee contains caffeine that makes people uncomfortable, such as speeding up the rate of heartbeat or causing the hand shaking. In addition, it is a hassle for the passengers when the windows are opened.
In order to solve the problem that causes the people sleepy, scientists have discovered that when people are in a drowsy condition, the body temperature, especially the upper head portion, will be raised. Once the body temperature is raised, the nervous system of the human's brain will start slowing down the response so that people will function sluggishly. Therefore, most drivers would like to park their vehicle aside and wash their faces to cool down the body temperature when they are sleepy. In other words, when the body temperature increases, the working efficiency will be reduced.
Furthermore, the regulating system of the human being cannot automatically cool down the body temperature while the body temperature is raised again. Therefore, people will tend to return to the drowsy condition again such that they must repeatedly wash their faces to keep them awake.


An accounting and reconciliation system includes a seller terminal that receives credit data guaranteeing payment, and payment data. A buyer terminal for a buyer sends purchase request data containing transaction information which specifies purchase transaction conditions. A reconciliation unit mediates a purchase transaction between the buyer and the seller in response to receiving the purchase request data communicated from the buyer terminal to the reconciliation unit. The reconciliation unit includes communication circuitry for communicating with the buyer terminal and the seller terminal and a processing system responsive to the purchase request data for sending the credit data to the seller terminal, and for sending the payment data to the seller terminal after receiving acknowledgment data indicative of the buyer's acknowledgment of receipt.

Conventional portable electronic account reconciliating systems include, for example, the Internet connection service for cellular phones, or also known as "i-mode", offered by NTT DoCoMo Inc., where, for example, reservation and selling of air tickets are conducted. Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 198739/1998 (Tokukaihei 10-198739) (published date: Jul. 31, 1998) and No. 2000-69571 (published date: Mar. 3, 2000) disclose an electronic account reconciliating system using cellular phones. More specifically, the publication 10-198739 discloses a personal electronic account reconciliating system using portable paying means equipped with a plurality of communication means. Also, the publication 2000-69571 discloses an electronic account reconciliating system which includes a step whereby a buyer is identified to be a member of a wireless network.
As above, NTT DoCoMo Inc. offers ticket-less sales of air tickets on the cellular-phone-based "i-mode" service. However, in this system, reconciliation of accounts is made in the end by a credit card authority and it requires the user to possess a credit card. Further, because reconciliation is made by a credit card, payment to the airline companies as the claiming party is made on a monthly basis, which creates the problem that the system is not spontaneous and the interest before the actual payment must be born to either the user, credit company, or other claiming party. Further, when reconciliation is made abroad, due to the time delay from the date products and services were offered to the time of actual payment, there is a loss or margin on a balance sheet depending on the exchange rate.
The electronic account reconciliating system disclosed in the publication 10-198739 has the same problem since it also employs an account reconciliating function by a credit card as the final reconciliating means. Further, the publication 2000-69571 does not disclose anything about a specific transaction scheme on the electronic account reconciliating system.


A control system for a hydraulic pump of the variable displacement type using a pair of coaxially arranged pressure responding pistons. The control system comprises a servo valve for controlling a conduit of pump delivery pressure which is to be applied to a larger chamber of a servo cylinder in response to the pump delivery pressure and external pilot pressure. The servo valve includes a servo spool for controlling the conduit in order to control the pump delivery pressure, a servo sleeve for movably receiving the servo spool, a pump delivery pressure responding piston for biasing the servo spool in response to the pump delivery pressure, an external pilot pressure responding piston adapted for biasing the servo spool in response to the external pilot pressure and being coaxially arranged with the pump delivery pressure responding piston. The lever assembly causes the servo sleeve to move in accordance with the movement of the servo piston. The lever assembly has an inclined surface part for causing displacement of the servo piston as a function of displacement of the pressure responding pistons to show a characteristic hyperbola.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a control system for a hydraulic pump of the variable displacement type, and more particularly to a control system for a variable displacement hydraulic pump which is provided with a servo piston and a servo valve, including pressure responding pistons, which is connected to the servo piston by a feedback angle lever and the small diameter end of the servo piston is always applied with pump delivery pressure while the large diameter end of the servo piston is selectively applied with the pump delivery pressure in accordance with control of the servo valve.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Known control system for a hydraulic pump of the variable displacement type, such as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Heisei. 1-116294, generally includes a servo valve and two control spool mechanisms, that is, a horsepower control spool mechanism and a pump delivery control spool mechanism for controlling output power and pump delivery of the hydraulic pump, respectively. The horsepower control mechanism is adapted to control a conduit, through which the pump delivery pressure or a servo pressure is supplied to the large diameter end of the servo piston of a servo cylinder, in accordance with variation of pump delivery pressure of the variable displacement pump applied thereto, while the pump delivery control mechanism is adapted to control a conduit, through which the pump delivery pressure is supplied to the large diameter end of the servo piston, in accordance with external pilot pressure along with the pump delivery pressure. In addition, this known control system includes three lever type of feedback lever mechanism comprising a feedback lever, adapted for connecting an end of a servo spool of the servo valve to the servo piston, and a pair of links adapted for selecting a displacement of the pilot spool mechanisms capable of causing the pump delivery to be reduced and causing the feedback lever to be operated in response to the selected displacement. Thanking for such a construction, the known control system controls the servo piston of the servo cylinder in accordance with variation of the pump delivery pressure or the external pilot pressure and, in this respect, controls the angle of inclination of swash plate of the hydraulic pump of the variable displacement type in order to control the pump delivery.
However, this known control system, including the horsepower control spool mechanism and the pump delivery control spool mechanism, requires the servo valve, a pair of spools responding to the pressures, the three lever type of feedback lever comprising the feedback lever and the pair of links, in result, the construction of the system is inevitably complicated. Also, in this known control system, the horsepower control spool mechanism and the pump delivery control spool mechanism are separately operated so that the known control system has a problem in that the pump delivery control range according to the external pilot pressure, when the pump delivery pressure and the external pilot pressure are applied to the mechanisms at the same time, is narrow under the condition of high pump delivery pressure as shown in the graph of FIG. 8b and this deteriorates the control performance in controlling the pump delivery. Furthermore, the known control system is provided with at least two compression coil springs for biasing the spools of the spool mechanisms to a direction opposite to a biasing direction of the actuating force generated by the pump delivery pressure and the external pilot pressure applied to the spools, respectively. In this regard, the relation between the pump delivery Q and the pump delivery pressure Pd has the characteristic curve comprising the three straight lines having different gradients and continued at two inflection points as shown In FIG. 7b. Thus, the known control system has another problem in that the output power of an engine for driving the hydraulic pump is not optimally utilized at about the two inflection points of the characteristic curve.

Control systems for hydraulic pumps of the variable displacement type


The present invention can suppress penetration of dust and foreign particles into a nozzle of an ink jet recording head, and can manufacture and make functional a structure therefor in an economic manner and with high reliability. An ink discharge energy generating element which generates energy for discharging ink is formed on the surface of an Si substrate. The Si substrate comprises an ink supply port which communicates ink from the rear face side of the substrate to the front face side of the substrate. The ink supply port comprises a filter structure having a plurality of minute through-holes formed on the Si substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid discharge head which discharges liquid used in an ink jet recording method and the like and a method of manufacturing the same, and in particular to an ink jet recording head which discharges recording liquid such as ink (hereinafter simply referred to as "ink" ) and records, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Related Background Art
In recent years, ink jet recording heads have become smaller and smaller while their densities have increased. There is an ink jet recording head which discharges ink in a vertical direction towards a substrate on which ink discharge energy generating elements, for generating energy to discharge ink, are formed. Regarding such an ink jet recording head, ink supply ports are generally formed so as to penetrate through the substrate. In this case, ink is supplied to the inside of the ink jet recording head from the rear face side (the face which is opposite to the face on which ink discharge energy generating elements are formed) via the ink supply port.
Ink supply ports usually have a long, flat pattern. A plurality of ink discharge nozzles are disposed along both side portions extending in a longitudinal direction of an ink supply port, and ink is supplied to each ink discharge nozzle from a common ink supply port. An Si substrate is generally used for the substrate of an ink jet recording head, and in this case, an ink supply port such as mentioned above may be formed using anisotropic etching.
One of the reliabilities sought in ink jet recording heads is the nonoccurrence of a recording operation malfunction called non-discharge (wherein ink does not come out of a desired nozzle) caused by a clogged nozzle. One of the reasons of such non-discharges is the penetration of dust or foreign particles in the nozzle, which blocks the supply of ink to the inside of a nozzle. Penetration of dust and foreign particles may occur either during the manufacturing process of the ink jet recording head or from the outside after the manufacturing of the ink jet recording head. As a countermeasure to the penetration of dust due to the latter occurrence, it is known to provide in the vicinity of the ink supply port of an ink jet recording head a filter with a mesh that is finer than the size of the nozzle, as disclosed in Japan Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-114070 and Japan Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-94700.
However, further improvements regarding manufacturing cost, connection reliability between parts and the like were desired with conventional filters when the filter and the ink jet recording head are manufactured and mounted separately, such as the method described in Japan Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-114070. Meanwhile, further improvements regarding the toughness of the filter itself and yield were desired with filters formed by using an anti-etching mask, such as the method described in Japan Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-94700.

Liquid discharge head with filter structure