Provided is an online centralized monitoring and analysis system using an electronic nose instrument for multi-point malodorous gases, and the system includes an electronic nose instrument, which connects with multiple monitoring points through pipes. On-site malodorous gases in the maximum range of 2.5 km are drawn into the electronic nose instrument within 1 min by the external vacuum pump, and forced to flow through an annular working chamber of a gas sensor array for 30 s by the internal vacuum pump periodically. The modular convolution neural networks online learn the recent time-series responses of the gas sensor array and predict their coming responses, and the modular deep neural networks offline set up the relationship between the responses and multiple concentration items according to odor big data. The electronic nose instrument monitors up to 10 pollution sites cyclically and uses the cascade machine learning model to online predict one dimensionless odor-unit (OU) concentration index value and 10 specified-component concentration index values of malodorous gases.

At present, the main society contradiction in China is the contradiction between the people's growing needs for a better life and the unbalanced and inadequate development. Naturally, the environmental air pollutions and the needs for a better life are contradictory. Article 42 of the environmental protection law of the People's Republic of China, which came into force on Jan. 1, 2015, lists malodorous gases, exhaust gases, waste water, etc. as environmental pollutants and public hazards.
"Stink" refers to the unpleasant smells, which is a general term for all the smells that stimulate people's senses of smells, damage human's living environment, make people unbearable or unpleasant, sometimes called "peculiar odor". Malodorous pollutants refer to all malodorous substances in particular, and generally refer to all substances emitting odors. Malodorous pollutants widely exist in all enterprises with exhaust emission, including petrochemical industry, waste and sewage treatment, pharmaceutical industry, aquaculture and others as well as adjacent residential areas, with a wide distribution and a wide range of influence. The current situation of malodorous pollution in China is that there are many emission sources, complex malodorous components, lagging national standards and frequent complaints from residents.
In recent years, stink, as a kind of pollution disturbing people and endangering human health, has become a relatively prominent environmental pollution problem. With the improvement of people's living standards and the enhancement of environmental awareness, the proportion of malodorous pollution complaints in some countries or regions is on the rise. According to the incomplete statistics, malodorous complaints account for more than 50% of environmental complaints in the United States, 91.3% in Australia and tens of thousands in Japan every year. China is no exception. According to the People's Daily, in 2017, the national environmental protection reporting platform received 618,856 reports[1]. Among them, air pollution is the most reported, accounting for 56.7%; malodorous/peculiar smell pollution is the most reported, accounting for 30.6%! That is to say, malodorous/abnormal smell pollution reports accounted for 17.35% of environmental protection reports in 2017.
The objects of assessment of malodorous pollutions are malodorous gases, and the assessment methods are divided into olfactory discrimination methods and instrumental analyzing methods. According to the Chinese National Standard GB14554-93 "Emission Standards for Malodorous Pollutants", the emission control indexes of malodorous pollutants include one qualitative dimensionless odor concentration, i.e., odor-unit (OU) value, and eight quantitative single-component concentrations, namely, C3H9N, C8H8, H2S, CH4S, C2H6S, C2H6S2, NH3 and CS2. In addition, the Chinese National Standard GB/T18883-2002 "Indoor Air Quality Standard" specially recommends such two quantitative control indexes of SO2 and total volatile organic compound (TVOC). At present, the evaluation index system of malodorous pollutions mainly consists of the above-mentioned 1 qualitative index and 10 quantitative indexes. According to GB14554-1993, the dimensionless concentration OU value is determined by the triangle malodorous bag method, the concentrations of C3H9N, C8H8, H2S, CH4S, C2H6S and C2H6S2 by the gas chromatography method, and the concentrations of NH3 and CS2 by the spectrophotometry method. According to the Chinese National Standard GB/T15262-94, the concentration of SO2 is determined by the spectrophotometry method.
"Malodorous concentration" refers to the dilution of multiple malodorous samples collected on site, which are continuously diluted to the olfactory threshold by odorless clean air in the laboratory; European Standard EN17325-2003 uses the index of OU value to measure it. At present, the standard identification method of odor concentration mainly depends on the noses of sniffers[2]! This is true in many countries and regions, such as China, Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea. The Chinese National Standard GB/T14675-93 "Air quality—Determination of odor—Triangle odor bag method" which has been implemented for 25 years has standardized three links, i.e., selection of olfactory discriminator panel, collection of malodorous samples, artificial dilution and olfactory identification determination of malodorous samples. Europe, America, Australia, New Zealand and other countries use dynamic olfactometer to dilute the malodorous samples[3].
According to GB/T14675-1993 and the China environmental protection industry standard HJ905-2017, the malodorous samples shall be collected by the staff on site with sampling bottles or odorless bags (for example, the volume of each sampling bottle or each odorless bag is 10 L), transported back to the olfactory identification room, and then transferred to the odorless bags (for example, the volume of each odorless bag is 3 L) with syringes at a certain proportion, diluted with odorless clean air, and finally identified by the members of the olfactory panel. One of the core of the triangle comparison odor bag method is: after the malodorous sample is once diluted, one malodorous detector needs to smell three 3 L air bags, one of which is the diluted odor bag, the other two are odorless bags, from which the odor bag can be identified.
The right and wrong choice depends on the subjective judgment of the olfactory discriminators after sniffing". Although GB/T14675-1993 has been implemented for 25 years, the current situation is that many malodorous substances either have no olfactory thresholds, or the thresholds given by different countries or organizations are very different. In 2015, the National Key Laboratory for malodorous pollution control of environmental protection of Tianjin Academy of Environmental Sciences organized 30 olfactory discriminators (13 males and 17 females) to measure the olfactory thresholds of 40 kinds of malodorous substances. Table 1 shows the comparison of olfactory thresholds of 10 malodorous substances between China and Japan[4]. According to Table 1, the differences of olfactory thresholds between China and Japan are: 5 times for NH3, nearly 3 times for H2S, 28.12 times for trimethylamine C3H9N, 65.67 times for n-valeric acid C5H10O2, etc. The above results manifest at least the following two problems: (1) the identification processes for determining dimensionless concentration OU values are very complex, and the costs of odor evaluations are very high; (2) the olfactory thresholds given by different countries or organizations are not objective and repetitive.
TABLE 1Comparison of olfactory thresholds of several malodorous substances in China and Japan (V/V, ppm)[4]CompoundH2SNH3C3H9NC5H10O2C2H6S2COSC7H8C8H10C2H5OHC3H8OChina0.00120.30.00090.00250.0110.460.0980.0180.103.9Japan0.000411.50.0000320.0000370.00220.0550.330.170.5226Ratio2.93:11:528.12:165.67:15:18.36:11:3.371:9.441:5.21:6.67OdorRottenStimulatingFishyStink ofOnionRottenAromaticAromaticAlcoholAlcoholcharacteristicseggsodorsmellsweatflavoreggsodorodortastetaste
Although the triangle comparative odor bag method specified in GB/T14675-1993 can reflect the feelings of ordinary people, its operability is very poor. The method requires a large number of sampling and odor detection panels to conduct an odor detection test, which costs a lot and is especially not suitable for odor detection of low-concentration or toxic substances[2,4-5]. The results of olfactory evaluation of the triangle comparative odor bag method are affected by many factors, such as (1) selection of sampling points on site; (2) sampling devices; (3) laboratory conditions; (4) capacity and state of olfactory discriminators; (5) odor concentration and initial dilution ratio; (6) olfactory time duration and fatigue. There are many limitations in the operation of artificial sampling, artificial dilution and artificial olfactory discrimination.
Wenshen XIAO, a senior engineer from Guangdong Environmental Monitoring Center of China, said emotionally[2]: "Both I personally and the monitoring center are the victims of stenches. The stink of the landfill at the junction of Shenzhen and Huizhou was frequently complained by the surrounding people. Since last year (Note: 2016), we have to monitor once a month. The detection process is quite annoying every time. It takes 5 people to sample on site and 8 people to analyze in the laboratory. However, the results are hard to explain. Sometimes the scene is smelly, but the odor panel in the laboratory can't detect it out; sometimes the contrary. Now, the people are suing us and taking us to the court, and the government departments are not satisfied with us too. It's really a double whammy." Bentai WAN, the former chief engineer of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China, appealed[2], "Monitoring malodorous gases can't be performed by noses' smelling any more. It's like licking by tongue to identify whether or not a substance is poisonous. Isn't it fatal? It is very necessary for us to study the online automatic monitoring methods by using instruments, . . . ."
There are more than 4,000 kinds of malodorous components that can be felt by people's olfactory senses, among which dozens are harmful to human health, and the malodorous gases smelled in real life often contain dozens or hundreds of components[4]. For example, H2S gives off the smell of rotten eggs; amines gives off the smell of rotten fish; ammonia and aldehydes give off a pungent smell, and so on[5].
In the face of people's expectations for a better life, countries all over the world attach great importance to the treatment of environmental pollution. In recent years, the environmental protection departments in China attach great importance to online monitoring and treatment of malodorous gas pollutions[1,6-9], which is the basic requirement for building smart cities. According to "the 13th five-year development plan of China national environmental protection standard", the revised edition of GB14554-1993 and GB/T14675-1993 will be issued in 2019, as well as "the technical specifications for environmental monitoring of malodorous pollutants" and "the technical specifications for online monitoring of odors in ambient air and waste gases". We have noticed that the Chinese Industry Standard HJ905-2017 "Technical Specification for Odor Environmental Pollution Monitoring" has been released on Dec. 29, 2017 and officially implemented on Mar. 1, 2018.
Because the poor timeliness and high cost of olfactory identification methods and conventional instrument analyzing methods, and because the olfactory identification method is harmful to human bodies and the results of olfactory identification are not objective, the olfactory simulation methods, namely the electronic nose technologies and instruments, are particularly attractive[2,9].
Olfaction is a complex sensation of a large number of olfactory cells in the nasal cavity. The olfactory simulation method makes use of multiple gas sensors with overlapping performance to form an array to realize fast detection and qualitative and quantitative analysis of odors, which has attracted great attention[10]. For example, the electronic nose technology through the multiple perceptual responses of the gas sensor array to the odors, can determine the category, intensity, quality level, authenticity, freshness of the odorants, control their production processes, adjust the formulas and production processes, etc. The electronic nose method is now mainly used for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex odors, such as the qualities of wines[11], teas[12], milks[13], grains and oils[14]; the maturity of fruits[15]; the freshness of fishes and meat products[16]; the monitoring of water and ambient air[17-18]; disease diagnosis[19-20]; bacterial odor perception[21]; and so on.
Electronic nose technology has a broad application prospect. One of the development trends is to develop highly sensitive and highly selective gas sensors to achieve qualitative and quantitative detection and analysis of odors. It is encouraging that the sensitivity of some SnO2 semiconductor gas sensors has reached the 10−9 V/V (ppb) order of magnitude[10], which directly generate V-level voltage responses to odors without secondary amplification, and which is very attractive for online monitoring of malodorous pollutants. The second development trend is to use a number of different types of gas sensors with necessary sensitivity to form an array, focusing on the use of data analysis methods to improve the selectivity, to achieve the recognition, intensity estimation and key component prediction of many odors.
The relevant search results of theoretical and applied researches on electronic noses are as follows: (1) Literature. Before 1990, there were only more than 60 articles, and before 2000, there were more than 500 papers. Now there are more than 6,000 papers, which show that the electronic nose research has been widely carried out in recent years. (2) Patents. More than 500 international disclosure patents and more than 100 domestic disclosure patents are mostly published and granted in the past five years, which shows that the protection of intellectual property rights of olfactory simulation has been paid attention to. (3) Technical standards. There is no technical standard of product related to olfactory simulation in the ISO database. (4) Applications. Most of the work in China is carried out in the laboratory with the imported commercialized electronic noses[12, 15]. The FOX-type electronic nose made in French entered the Chinese market in 2007, which is very expensive (more than 1 million Yuan RMB), is mainly used for off-line laboratory detection, and is impossible to be used for the on-line detection of malodorous pollution processes. The above results show that the theory and application of olfactory simulation—electronic nose—are in urgent need of further study.
According to the ISI database, there are only 130 papers about the applications of electronic nose to the detection and analysis of environmental malodorous gases, less than 2% of the total. Most of them are off-line detection of indoor air, water and soil odor and data processing in laboratory. There is no report of online malodorous pollutant monitoring by electronic nose, and there is no mature odor electronic nose instrument[17-18].
The application of electronic noses for monitoring malodorous pollutions in China is in front of the world. Under the leadership of the environmental protection and management departments of the governments at all levels, some domestic emission units of pollution sources such as chemical parks, landfills and sewage treatment plants have adopted the commercialized electronic nose of the Airsense company of Germany and the alpha MOS company of France through bidding[22]. The arrays in these two products are composed of four metal oxide semiconductor (MOS), four electrochemistry (EC), and one photoionization detector (PID) gas sensors. They are specially developed for the Chinese market. In the actual application processes, there exist a series of problems, such as inconsistency in monitoring standards, inapplicability of analysis models, poor stability and consistency, high costs of equipment and operation. The odor monitoring system of Topo Zhixin company in China is composed of an array of 1 PID-type and 8 EC-type gas sensors, focusing on simple partial least squares (PLS) algorithm and data cloud transmission, trying to make a judgment based on the comparison between the tested samples and the standard samples, without considering the complexity of malodorous compositions and environmental variability[23].
The existing electronic nose monitoring systems adopt the mode of one monitoring point by one electronic nose, that is, "one point by one nose", which is obviously affected by the installation of monitoring cameras. There are some similar places between an electronic nose and a camera in function, but their use conditions are totally different. A series of problems will arise when the electronic nose is installed directly on the monitoring site: For example, the electronic nose instrument, especially the core components—multiple gas sensors, are exposed to the wind, sun and rain for a long time, which may affect their service life; the gas sensors are prone to the so-called fatigue and "poisoning" effect when exposed to the malodorous gases for long periods of time; the same type of gas sensors will generate consistency problems at different monitoring points; once installed, an electronic nose instrument will be difficult to move, and cannot change with the wind direction; over-dense distribution points not only affects the city appearance, but also have high cost; equipping with "zero gas" will lead to the huge volume and safety problems of instruments; the results of electronic nose instruments are different from the results of olfactory discrimination, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, etc.
Shanghai Laogang landfill with 4 alpha MOS electronic noses and Tianjin Dagang Industrial Zone with 115 Airsense electronic noses costing 14.835 million ┌RMB still ranked the first and the third position in the environmental protection reporting number of times in 2017[24]. This fact fully shows that the so-called "odor electronic nose" is currently only a primary application at the sensor level.
In order to use electronic nose technology and instruments for online monitoring and analysis of malodorous gases, we must solve the following problems:
1. Design of Gas Sensor Array
The characteristics of malodorous gases are: (1) there are many and complex components. Except for a few inorganic substances such as H2S, NH3, CS2 and SO2, most of them are organic compounds, i.e., the so-called "volatile organic compounds (VOCs)"; (2) some malodorous substances have very low olfactory thresholds, but contribute a lot to malodorous concentrations; and vice versa; (3) some substances are non-toxic and harmless, contribute a little to malodorous concentrations, but the gas sensors are very sensitive to them.
Such factors as sensitivity, selectivity, response speed, stability, commercialization, miniaturization, service life, cost and others should be comprehensively considered in the selection of gas sensors. MOS-type gas sensors often have high sensitivity and other obvious advantages, but are not ideal in selectivity, so they should be the first choice of array components. Compared with MOS-type, EC-type gas sensors have the advantages of better selectivity, and the disadvantages are that their sensitivities are usually 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than the former, with a shorter service life (generally 1-2 years), a relatively large size, and a poor stability. EC-type gas sensors are mainly used for the detection of H2S, NH3, CS2, SO2 and other toxic gases[10, 22]. The characteristic of PID-type gas sensors is sensitivity to the VOCs between n-hexane and n-hexadecane, but that is not unique. The PID-type sensors have the disadvantages of large size, short life and high price. We should have a deep understanding of the performance and characteristics of different sensitive elements, design a small gas sensor array module, and solve the problems of poor long-term stability, noise elimination, temperature and humidity compensation, performance indifference replacement, etc.[25].
2. Standard Applicability and Consistency with Sensory and Conventional Instrument Analysis Results
The Airsense and the alpha MOS electronic noses are based on the European Standard standard EN13725-2003. According to this standard, a dynamic olfactometer is used to continuously dilute the odors at any multiple (maximum 2×106 times), 0.04×10−6 (V/V) n-butanol is used as the standard substance, and the function of the standard gas on human olfactory organs is designated as the basic unit of malodorous concentration, marked as OUE, "the olfactory threshold of any mixed odor is equal to the stimulation amount of the standard gas to human", and the quantity value conforms to the ISO dimension system, with automatic test feature. The Chinese National Standard GB/T14675-1993 specifies a static manual test method, therefore its operability and scientificity are relatively bad, compared with the standard EN17325-2003[26].
The compositions and concentrations of odors are always changing. In the cases of poor selectivity of single gas sensor, how to transform the responses of gas sensor array into the results consistent with the analysis of conventional instruments such as malodorous concentration olfactometer and gas chromatographer/mass spectrometer is not only a theoretical problem involving computer and analytical chemistry, but also a practical problem involving the types of malodorous pollution sources[5].
3. Prediction of Dimensionless Odor Concentration and Multiple Key Component Concentrations Based on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
Human society is in the era of big data and artificial intelligence. The big data of health, financial, transportation, business, gene and others are profoundly changing people's life and work style. In China, the environmental big data has been put on the agenda, and the environmental protection management departments of the governments at all levels are vigorously promoting[7-8].
Because of the odor complexity and environmental variability, the small data and the conventional analysis methods are not enough to effectively establish a mathematical model for estimating and predicting various components of malodorous gases. If there is no big response data of the gas sensor arrays in the odor electronic nose instruments for a large number of on-site malodorous pollution tests, no laboratory sniffing data for a large number of malodorous samples by the sniffer panels, no off-line detection data for a large number of malodorous samples by conventional instruments such as gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, etc., it is impossible to estimate the odor concentrations and various pollutant components only by a single gas sensor array and a simple mathematical model. This is exactly what the Airsense and the alpha MOS electronic noses do, and the role of the monitoring data generated from that is very limited, or even untrustworthy.
Based on the response data of gas sensor arrays, olfactory identification data, analysis data of a conventional instrument such as a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, a spectrophotometer and others, we should establish the big data of malodorous gases, deeply study the theories and algorithms of artificial intelligence[27-29], and extract useful information such as the concentration of key components from the big odor data, so as to realize the real-time prediction of the above 10+1 control indexes of main malodorous pollutants by using an electronic nose instrument.
4. Integration, Automation and Intelligence of Odor Electronic Nose Instrument
There are many odor pollution sources, many malodorous components, various environmental changes, and many malodorous pollutant emission forms. We should abandon the "one point by one nose" distributed monitoring mode, study the optimization and fusion of gas sensor array, and modularization and miniaturization of multi-point centralized precise automatic sampling system. A new kind of odor electronic nose instrument with small size, light weight and easy operation should be developed by integrating the gas sensor array module, the automatic gas sampling module, the drive and control circuit module, and the computer into a test box; optimize the internal working conditions of the instrument, and deal with the external "ever-changing" with the internal "constant unchanged". An ideal situation is that the odor electronic nose instrument can realize simultaneous online monitoring of multiple monitoring points in a specific area (for example, within 4 km2), i.e., fixed- or movable-point monitoring, of course, 24-hour continuous monitoring in month or even year. We should put forward some simple and effective machine learning models and algorithms to realize the 24-hour continuous estimation and prediction of the above 10+1 concentration control indexes of malodorous pollutants, and use wireless WIFI technique to transmit the measurement data and analysis results to the monitoring center and various terminals in real time, so as to realize the Internet-based remote control of malodorous pollutions.

Online centralized monitoring and analysis method for multi-point malodorous gases using electronic nose instrument

East China University of Science and Technology


The present organopolysiloxane composition comprises (A) an organopolysiloxane in which 5 to 30 mol % of the molecule ends is made up of an (R.sup.1).sub.3 Si.sub.0.5 unit and 95 to 70 mol % of the molecule ends is made up of at least one unit selected from the group consisting of an R.sup.1 (R.sup.2).sub.2 SiO.sub.0.5 unit, an (R.sup.1).sub.2 R.sup.2 SiO.sub.0.5 unit, and an (R.sup.2).sub.3 SiO.sub.0.5 unit, in which units R.sup.1 represent a vinyl group and R.sup.2 represents a hydrocarbon group excluding aliphatic unsaturated groups, (B) an organohydrogenpolysiloxane having two or more Si--H groups in the molecule, and (C) an addition reaction catalyst. By curing this composition, a gel cured product having high resistance to poisoning by solder fluxes can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an addition curing type organopolysiloxane and its gel cured product high in resistance to poisoning particularly by solder fluxes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, various techniques are known wherein an addition reaction between an organopolysiloxane having vinyl groups bonded to silicon atoms and an organohydrogenpolysiloxane having hydrogen atoms bonded to silicon atoms in the presence of a platinum catalyst is used to obtain a gel-like resilient body (see, for example, Japanese Patent Publication (Kokoku) Nos. 38992/1980, 41705/1980, and 35932/1984 and Japanese Pre-examination Patent Publication (Kokai) Nos. 143241/1981, 39658/1987, 35655/1988, and 33475/1988.).
Addition reaction type silicone compositions from which such a silicone gel can be obtained are used in many applications, for example, for potting, coating, and encapsulation.
However, along with the recent development of electrical and electronic parts problems have arisen which are conventionally not taken into account. For example, where the above addition curing type composition is used as a protective or insulating material for IC or the like, troubles such as hampering of the curing, uncuring at the interface, and lowering of the hardness occur because of a solder flux remaining on the IC substrate. Occurrence of such troubles is noticeable and causes serious problems particularly in the case of potting materials and coating materials low in hardness.

Organopolysiloxane composition and its gel cured product


Apparatus for monitoring an ECG signal comprises a first body wearable part 1 for receiving a physiological signal and comprising processing means, a memory, and a wireless transceiver, the memory storing a plurality of signal segment templates. The processing means is arranged to compare and match segments of the physiological signal to the stored template. The apparatus further comprises a second part 4 comprising a wireless transceiver and processing means, the processing means being arranged to generate and/or modify signal segment templates, and to cause said transceiver of the second part to transmit generated or modified templates to the first part.

The Electro-Cardiogram or ECG has long provided a means for monitoring and diagnosing patient conditions. Traditionally, ECGs have been recorded by attaching two or more electrodes to a patient's chest, performing some signal processing on the recorded signal such as filtering to remove noise, and recording the processed result. Considering the case of a patient with a suspected heart condition, one way to diagnose the condition is to continuously record ECG data for some period of time, e.g. several hours, and for a physician to study the recorded data to identify any anomalies. This is inconvenient for the patient as the data collection systems tend to be large and therefore the patient must remain in the same location for the duration of the process, and is time consuming on the part of the physician.
To overcome these problems, relatively sophisticated signal processing techniques have been developed to analyse substantially real time ECG data to classify heart beats as either normal or abnormal, and to record only the occurrence and type of an abnormal heart beat. As the data storage requirements are massively reduced—only event and type data rather than continuous signals need to be recorded—the recording apparatus can be made portable and even wearable, whilst physicians are presented with a simple classification of heart beat events which makes diagnosis easier and quicker.
It is known, for example, to provide a wearable computer device which may be around the size of a pack of cards, and which is coupled to a pair of chest worn electrodes. The computer device compares recorded heartbeats against a number of stored "template heartbeats" and uses the results to classify the recorded heartbeats. An ongoing count is maintained of the heartbeats matching each template. Heartbeats that do not match any template may be stored for future analysis. However, as these unmatched templates can be expected to occur only infrequently, the data storage requirements are not excessive. The heartbeat classification process is computationally intensive and therefore consumes a relatively large amount of power. However, this power requirement can generally be provided by a battery located within the computer device.
Whilst representing a considerable advance over systems of the type that require a patient to remain at a particular location, portable monitoring systems of this type are still relatively bulky. One approach to making the monitoring systems more user friendly might be to configure them as two part systems, with a first relatively small and wearable part being coupled to the monitoring electrodes and transmitting the monitored ECG signal over a wireless link to a second, larger data processing device (which may be carried in a pocket or may be left elsewhere within the same locality, i.e. within range of the worn part). However, the power required to allow continuous broadcast of ECG signals will place a limit both on the size of the wearable part and on the battery lifetime. Furthermore, if the wearer moves out of range of the data processing device, data will be lost.
It will be appreciated that analogous problems will arise with systems for monitoring other physiological "conditions" such as electro-encephelogrammes (EEGs), blood glucose levels, etc (where bioelectrical transducers such as biosensors are used to convert a biochemical parameter into an electrical signal). A solution to these problems may also find applications in non-medical areas such as industrial process control.


A subject disclosure is directed towards emulating a data network interface for operating an interconnect controller in accordance with a networking standard. The emulated data network interface provides address resolution data associated with a destination, within a converged interconnect fabric, for application data. The address resolution data identifies a communication path that is compatible with the interconnect controller. The application data conforms to the networking standard. The emulated data network interface instructs the interconnect controller to route the application data to the destination via the compatible communication path.

Various implementations of interconnect technologies (e.g., an optical/electrical interconnect technology) provide an interface that enables data communication between a computer and peripheral devices. The interconnect technologies may also enable the communication of data between computing devices (i.e., nodes) via cables/connectors. Optical data communication, for example, is in general any form of telecommunication that uses light as a transmission medium. Light in general requires less energy than copper cables and produce less heat than electrical telecommunication.
INTEL® Thunderbolt™ (which may be also known as Light Peak™) and SEAMICRO® SM10000™ represent types of a converged interconnect fabric technology that is connection-oriented and/or bus protocol independent and may use electrical or optical cables. INTEL® Thunderbolt™ is an interoperable standard that can deliver a bandwidth that exceeds Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Serial ATA and replace the multitudinous connector types (e.g., USB, FireWire, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort) with a single connector. INTEL® Thunderbolt™ chips interconnect two or more computing devices/peripheral devices and transmit and receive information for both PCI Express™ (PCIe) and DisplayPort™ protocols. The INTEL® Thunderbolt™ chip switches between the two protocols to support communications over a single electrical or optical cable. Because certain interconnect technologies, such as INTEL® Thunderbolt™, have not been accepted by a significant number of computer/peripheral device manufacturers that rely on USB or application software developers that rely on existing networking standards, an average consumer may have to wait several years before taking advantage of such a technology.

Providing network capability over a converged interconnect fabric


A vehicle symbol illumination apparatus is provided which is operable in conjunction with a high mounted brake light wherein the illumination for the vehicle symbol is extinguished, masked or brightened when the high mounted brake light is activated.

The present invention relates to vehicle signal lights. More specifically, the present invention relates to brake lights for a vehicle and in particular to the high mount stop lamp mandated by the National Highway Transit Safety Administration (NHTSA) in 1986 in conjunction with the illumination of an automobile manufacturer's or vehicle model's logo.
Manufacturers expend substantial sums each year to insure brand and product recognition. In particular, in the automobile industry, much effort is put into insuring recognition of particular symbols associated with vehicles, e.g., the Mercedes-Benz thri-star, the Cadillac wreath, the Honda "H", and the Audi circles, etc. To this end, manufacturers usually attach their particular logos or symbols to their vehicles in appropriate locations. Some manufacturers have also attached vehicle symbols to the brake lights such as the Ford Thunderbird.
In 1986, legislation was enacted requiring that automobiles have a third brake light disposed toward the upper middle section of the rear of the automobile. It was determined through various studies that the inclusion of a third brake light would reduce the number of rear-end collisions. The requirements for this "high mounted stop lamp" are set forth in Federal Motor
Vehicle Safety Standard No. 108 by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
The rear high mounted stop light is generally located above and between the traditional rear stop lights. In most cases manufacturers have placed the high mount stop light inside the rear window of the vehicle, although today it often appears as an array in air dams. The size and shape of the mandated high mount brake light varies but the most common are rectangular in shape, approximately 4 to 5 inches in length and approximately 2 inches in height.
Japanese Patent Application, 52 29460 is representative of the mandated high mounted brake light located in the rear air dam of a vehicle.
In the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,525 to Sheehy which describes a fiber-optic lighting system for display of a vehicle manufacturer's name in the tailgate of a pickup truck. This system is very large and complex and is not readily adaptable to passenger automobiles. Additionally, Sheehy displays the manufacturer's full name (six letters) across a substantial area of the vehicle. Illumination of Sheehy's large letters could be disconcerting and thus hazardous and counter productive to the reduction of rear end collisions. In addition, it would be unattractive, costly, and space consuming for a passenger vehicle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,836,913, 4,860,476, 4,843,369, 4,879,826, 2,800,545, 2,485,719, exemplify the fact that it is well known in the art that illuminated messages can be displayed by an apparatus attached to the rear end of a vehicle.
Although messages and illuminated manufacturers logos have been proposed for vehicles, neither of these two items have ever been incorporated or even suggested to be incorporated with the mandated high mounted brake light. More importantly, the prior art has never disclosed or suggested incorporating an illuminated manufacturer's logo with the mandated high mounted brake light. Such a functional assembly would result in cost savings to automobile manufacturers because two separate elements, the illuminated logo and mandated high mounted brake light would be incorporated in one element. In addition the inclusion of an illuminated logo or visible product recognition device would save the vehicle manufacturer substantial advertising expenditures.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an apparatus to illuminate and display a manufacturer's logo or vehicle recognition symbol in a manner to be readily observed by the public.


Certain exemplary embodiments provide a method comprising: in a network at a node located on a label switched path: selecting a backup path to respond to a failure; and for each link along the backup path, reserving a backup bandwidth, wherein the backup bandwidth is sufficient to reroute traffic around the failure.

A wide variety of potential embodiments will be more readily understood by those skilled in the art. Digital communications have become pervasive with the advent of computer networks, including the most familiar network, the Internet. Computer networks such as the Internet can be categorized as mesh networks wherein at least some nodes connect via links to a plurality of other nodes. For digital data, bandwidth is typically measured in bits per unit of time, such as bits per second (bps). Service providers can use Internet Protocol/Multiple Protocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) on networks for applications that can utilize a large amount of bandwidth such as voice over IP, streaming video, streaming audio, video teleconferencing, and/or on-line games, etc. MPLS communication involves determining a label switched path (LSP) over which traffic is initially routed.
Labels can be placed on each packet such that data can be transferred without recalculating a new label switched path at each node on the label switched path (or service path) as packets are passed from a source node to a destination node of the label switched path. Once the label switched path is determined from the source node to the destination node, absent a failure in the network, packets can be labeled and passed along the label switched path without changes to the headers or packet routing.
Dealing with network failures can be an important consideration to satisfying customers of service providers using MPLS as a signaling standard for traffic. Network users desire communications that appear to be uninterrupted and clear. Thus, systems that provide low hardware overhead, fault tolerance, and path recovery that take place quickly enough to not be noticeable by users can be desirable for MPLS systems.

Bandwidth management for MPLS fast rerouting


An approach of analyzing software performance without requiring hardware is presented. A timing description generator logs instruction performance characteristics for each of the assembly code's instructions. The performance characteristics identify whether an instruction issued or stalled during particular instruction cycles. Once the timing description generator cycles through the instructions and logs performance characteristics for each instruction, the timing description generator generates a performance graph. For each page line, the performance graph includes 1) dual-issue information if applicable, 2) instruction cycle counter values/stalled instruction identifier's that are positioned at corresponding line location values, and 3) the instruction. A developer may analyze the performance graph and identify code locations that require optimization in order to increase performance.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and method for analyzing software performance without requiring hardware. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for using assembly code to generate a performance graph that represents an instruction's execution progress as it relates to a program's actual instruction sequence.
2. Description of the Related Art
Software designers are typically faced with the problem of accurately analyzing software performance and efficiency, whether hardware (e.g. a processor) is available or not. When the hardware is available, a typical software measurement technique is to run the software program on the hardware, and sampling the program counter's location at periodic intervals. After the program finishes, the samples may be drawn on a chart to assess software performance. However, this sampling technique only obtains one data point per interval. Thus, if the sampling interval is too large, much of the program run-time is effectively ignored. Conversely, if the sampling interval is too small, the act of tracing the program will itself affect the program's performance. In addition, both of these techniques only provide a fairly broad overview of the program's performance.
When the hardware is in development and, therefore, not available, the above performance measurement technique is not possible. One option is to use a simulator, but a challenge found is that simulators are too slow and inaccurate to measure a program's performance based upon actual hardware, which thus makes it difficult to accurately assess a program's actual efficiency. This is an especially critical problem for hardware compiler developers because they have no simple way of determining compiler-generated assembly code quality.
Furthermore, a challenge found is that processors themselves are becoming increasingly complicated. In modern processors, each hardware instruction has its own characteristics that affect performance, including multiple pipes, multiple-instruction issue, dependencies, instruction-pairing, latency, instruction location, and setup. Thus, measuring a program's performance before hardware becomes available is virtually impossible, and when hardware is available, only a broad overview is obtained.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method to accurately assess instruction-level software performance regardless of hardware availability.

Analyzing software performance without requiring hardware

International Business Machines Corporation


Provided are methods and systems for monitoring a state of a plasma chamber. In the method, an optical characteristic of plasma generated in a plasma chamber including a window is measured in a predetermined measurement wavelength band. A process status index (PSI) is extracted from the measured optical characteristic. A state of the plasma chamber is evaluated by analyzing the extracted PSI. The optical characteristic of the plasma is measured in the predetermined measurement wavelength band in which a transmittance of light passing through the window is substantially independent of a wavelength of the light.

Plasma is used in etching, deposition, and sputtering processes for manufacturing semiconductors and liquid crystal displays (LCDs). More specifically, plasma is formed in a vacuum chamber (i.e., a plasma chamber) using electricity supplied in the form of a high-frequency voltage or current, and the above-mentioned processes are performed using the physical or chemical characteristics of ions of the plasma.
To satisfy certain technical demands related to integration level and performance, highly advanced techniques have been applied to the processes, resulting in changes to process conditions. However, the repeatability of the processes or product performance can be largely affected by even a small variation in process condition, and therefore, it may be necessary to monitor variations of process conditions.
However, it can be difficult to evaluate the repeatability of a process by monitoring process conditions since various process conditions can affect the repeatability of the process. For example, process conditions, such as gas flow, unintentional fluctuation, chamber memory effect, arching, and plasma instability, can affect the repeatability of the process and product performance. It can be difficult to precisely measure all of such various process conditions. In addition, it can also be difficult to predict changes of process outputs from the measurement results.
The state of a process in which plasma is used can be monitored based on the fact that the state of the process is sensitive to the state of the plasma. For example, an etch stop point can be determined by measuring variations in optical characteristics of plasma. More specifically, when a lower layer disposed beneath an etch target layer is exposed while etching the etch target layer, gas ratios and pressure of a chamber vary, and thus the intensity of light emitted from plasma can vary at a specific wavelength. The etch stop point can be determined by monitoring variations of the intensity in the light emitted from the plasma. However, this method can be used to determine only the etch stop point since the method uses light having a specific wavelength. That is, the repeatability of a process may not be properly evaluated by the method.

Methods and systems for monitoring state of plasma chamber


An apparatus for quietly limiting motion at a limb joint having pivotally attached members for receiving the limbs of a joint and a dual-adjustable stop mechanism assembly attached to the members for restricting movement at the joint. The dual-adjustable stop mechanism assembly includes at least one bumper and a setscrew for adjusting the position of the bumper.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an orthopedic device for limiting limb motion. Particularly, this invention relates to an ankle-foot orthosis with a dual-adjustable stop system for quietly limiting the range of pivotal movement of the foot. Even more particularly, this invention relates to an ankle-foot orthosis with a single unit dual-adjustable stop system that allows for ease of manufacture. Still even more particularly, this invention relates to an ankle-foot orthosis with a dual-adjustable stop system that allows the angle of plantarflexion and dorsiflexion to be set and the pivotal movement of the foot permanently fixed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hinged orthopedic braces having an adjustable range of pivotal movement, as disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,022,390 (1991) and 5,328,444 (1994), both to Whiteside, are known in the art. The braces disclosed therein have adjustable stopping mechanisms to limit the range in pivotal movement of two hinged members of the brace relative to each other. The stopping mechanisms taught by the above-mentioned patents disclose an adjustable stop mechanism attached to one member of the brace and is positioned to come into contact with an abutment attached to the other member of the brace when the members are pivoted to a desired angle of restriction. As the wearer of a brace with this type of stopping mechanism takes a step, the stopping mechanism comes into contact with the abutment creating a loud clacking sound. This noise can be quite distracting or embarrassing to someone walking with the brace.
Other ankle-foot orthotic devices such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,399,152 (1995) to Habermeyer et al. and 5,429,588 (1995) to Young et al. disclose ankle foot orthoses designed to treat fractures and other injuries to the foot and ankle. Habermeyer discloses an apparatus that consists of two members pivotally connected. Each member provides surroundive fixation that is both removable and adjustable through the filling and evacuating of cushions within each member. Rear pivotal movement (plantarflexion) and front pivotal movement (dorsiflexion) are restricted by a bar with an attached abutment head contacting adjustable abutments located above and below the abutment head. One problem with this device is that the adjusting mechanism has multiple parts making it difficult and expensive to manufacture. Another problem with this device is that the parts are not easily replaceable by the wearer.
Young discloses an apparatus known in the art as a walker that consists of two members pivotally connected wherein plantarflexion and dorsiflexion are restricted between 22.5.degree. of plantarflexion and 22.5.degree. of dorsiflexion by adjustable screws contacting an upright side member. One problem with this device is that some wearers may require a greater range of motion than this device allows.
Still other foot and ankle devices such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,014,690 (1991) to Hepburn et al. and 5,144,943 (1992) to Luttrell et al. disclose dynamic splints which apply an adjustable force inducing either plantarflexion or dorsiflexion.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,360 (1991) to Janke discloses a foot ankle device with two members that are pivotally attached. Dorsiflexion and plantarflexion are restricted through the use of interchangeable cams, which have differing cam surfaces that come into contact with a rotatable stop. The unique shape of each interchangeable cam determines at what point or angle in plantarflexion or dorsiflexion the rotatable stop contacts the cam surface and limits range of motion.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,118 (1990) to Morris discloses a short leg walker which has a motion limiter consisting of a shaft pivotally attached to one of the walker's members and a sliding block pivotally attached to the remaining member. Restriction of plantarflexion and dorsiflexion occurs when the sliding block engages adjustable stop members, which are located above and below the sliding block. By adjusting the positions of the stop members, the range of motion can be limited accordingly.
There remains a need to provide a strong yet lightweight comfortable ankle-foot orthosis, which can effectively limit the ankle-joint against a wide range of pivotal movement and which is quiet in use. There also remains a need to provide a strong yet lightweight comfortable ankle-foot orthosis which has few parts and which is simple and inexpensive to manufacture. Additionally, there remains a need to provide a strong yet lightweight comfortable ankle-foot orthosis, which has dual-adjustable stop members that are easy to adjust and replace, which is concealable under clothing or footwear, and which is custom fit for the wearer. Still further, there remains a need to provide a strong yet lightweight comfortable ankle-foot orthosis that can set the angle of plantarflexion and dorsiflexion of the foot and that can permanently fix the pivotal movement of the foot.


A modified conjugated diene rubber having a modifying structure derived from a siloxane compound at at least one terminal of a polymer chain containing conjugated diene monomer unit and a monomer unit of a vinyl compound having a functional group interactive with silica.

In recent years, environmental and resource issues have led to strong demands for tires for automobiles having lower fuel consumption, and safety concerns have led to demands for higher wet grip. Cross-linked rubbers prepared from a rubber composition comprising a rubber and silica as a filler have lower heat buildup than that of cross-linked rubbers prepared from a rubber composition comprising carbon black, and thus result in a reduction in rolling resistance when incorporated in tires. For this reason, tires having excellently low fuel consumption can be obtained by producing tires using a cross-linked rubber prepared from a rubber composition containing silica.
A variety of attempts have been made in rubbers contained in such a rubber composition to increase the compatibility between the rubbers and silica. For example, in Patent Document 1, a technique of imparting compatibility with silica to a rubber itself is examined, in which monomer components including a silicon-containing vinyl compound and a conjugated diene compound are polymerized in the presence of a specific polymerization initiator when a rubber polymer is prepared through solution polymerization.


A special container includes a tubular body that has two spaced apart ends and is in the form of a semicircle having a gap of 60 arc degrees between the two ends. A coil of fish tape having two coils thereof welded together is contained in the tubular body, and is fed out or re-wound by hand by grasping the tape that is exposed in the gap. The body has a plastic outer surface and a steel inner surface.

Many electricians, and others, often must feed a wire through a conduit or through a wall or the like. This is often a difficult and onerous task. Therefore, there have been numerous tools developed to assist such a worker in feeding flexible materials, such as electrical wire, through a long conduit.
One such tool is known as fish tape. Fish tape is an elongated strand of stiff wire, often steel, having a loop on one end thereof and a ball or catch on the other end thereof. Heretofore, fish tape has been stored either unprotected or in cases having a handle thereon. The handle is used to feed the tape into the conduit.
However, the inventor has found that such storage containers may damage the fish tape. For example, the inventor has found that a handle may twist the tape thereby damaging the tape or even breaking it.
Therefore, there is a need for a fish tape container that will store the fish tape in a safe manner, yet will permit that tape to be fed out in a safe and expeditious manner.


An anti-eclipse circuit for an imager is formed from pixel circuitry over the same semiconductor substrate as the imaging pixels. More specifically, two adjacent pixel circuits are modified to form an amplifier. One input of the amplifier is adapted to receive a reset signal from one of the pixel circuits while another input is adapted to be set at a predetermined offset voltage from the output of the amplifier. The amplifier is preferably a unity gain amplifier, so that the output of the amplifier set to a voltage level equal to the predetermined offset from the voltage level of the reset signal. Accordingly, the anti-eclipse circuit outputs a reference voltage at predetermined level from the reset voltage of a pixel and does not need to be calibrated for fabrication related variances in reset voltages.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a conventional four transistor (4T) pixel 100. The pixel 100 includes a light sensitive element 101, shown as a photodiode, a floating diffusion node C, and four transistors: a transfer transistor 111, a reset transistor 112, a source follower transistor 113, and a row select transistor 114. The pixel 100 accepts a TX control signal for controlling the conductivity of the transfer transistor 111, a RST control signal for controlling the conductivity of the reset transistor 112, and a ROW control signal for controlling the conductivity of the row select transistor 114. The voltage at the floating diffusion node C controls the conductivity of the source follower transistor 113. The output of the source follow transistor 113 is presented at node B when the row select transistor 114 is conducting.
The states of the transfer and reset transistors 111, 112 determine whether the floating diffusion node C is coupled to the light sensitive element 101 for receiving a photo generated charge generated by the light sensitive element 101 following a charge integration period, or a source of pixel power VAAPIX from node A during a reset period.
The pixel 100 is operated as follows. The ROW control signal is asserted to cause the row select transistor 114 to conduct. At the same time, the RST control signal is asserted while the TX control signal is not asserted. This couples the floating diffusion node C to the pixel power VAAPIX at node A, and resets the voltage at node C to the pixel power VAAPIX. The pixel 100 outputs a reset signal Vrst at node B. As will be explained in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 2, node B is typically coupled to a column line 215 (FIG. 2) of an imager 200.
After the reset signal Vrst has been output, the RST control signal is not asserted. The light sensitive element 101 is exposed to incident light and accumulates charges based on the level of the incident light during a charge integration period. After the charge integration period, the TX control signal is asserted. This couples the floating diffusion node C to the light sensitive element 101. Charge flows through the transfer transistor 111 and diminishes the voltage at the floating diffusion node C. The pixel 100 outputs a photo signal Vsig at node B. The reset and photo signals Vrst, Vsig are different components of the overall pixel output (i.e., Voutput=Vrst−Vsig), which is typically processed by an imager 200 (FIG. 2) as explained in greater detail below.
FIG. 2 is an illustration of an imager 200 that includes a plurality of pixels 100, 100′ forming a pixel array 201. The pixel array 201 includes an outer region 201a of dark (i.e., non-image) pixels 100′ and an inner region 201b of image pixels 100. Due to space limitations the pixel array 201 is drawn as a 4×4 array. One skilled in the art would recognize that in most imagers 200, both the outer 201a and inner 201b regions of the pixel array 201 would ordinarily include many more pixels 100′, 100.
The dark pixels 100′ are essentially identical to the image pixels 100 (FIG. 1) except they are not used to capture an image. Typically, the light sensitive element 101 of a dark pixel 100′ is shielded from incident light. As shown in FIG. 2, dark pixels 100′ are also coupled to the column lines 215. In some imagers the outputs produced by the dark pixels 100′ are not further processed, while in other imagers the outputs are processed as non-image signals to provide a dark signal level.
The imager 200 also includes row circuitry 210, column circuitry 220, a digital conversion circuit 230, a digital processing circuit 240, and a storage device 250. The imager 200 also includes a controller 260. The row circuitry 210 selects a row of pixels 100, 100′ from the pixel array 201. The pixels 100, 100′ in the selected row output their reset and pixel signals Vrst, Vsig to the column circuitry 220, via column lines 215. The column circuit 220 samples and holds the reset and pixel signals Vrst, Vsig. For signals that were produced by an image pixel 100, the column circuitry 220 also forms the pixel output (Vrst−Vsig), which is presented to the digital conversion circuit 230 via lines 216. The digital conversion circuit 230 converts the pixel output signals to corresponding digital values, and may include for example, plural analog-to-digital converters. The digital values are then processed by the digital processing circuit 240, which stores the processed values in the storage device 250 (for output). The controller 260 is coupled to the pixel array 201, row circuitry 210, column circuitry 220, digital processing circuit 240, and storage device 250, and provides control signals to perform the above described processing. Signals which are produced from a non-image pixel 100′ are either not sampled and held and are not subsequently processed by the digital conversion circuit 230, digital processing circuit 240, nor stored in the storage device 250, or are sampled and held and processed to provide a dark signal level.
A pixel 100 is susceptible to a type of distortion known as eclipsing. Eclipsing refers to the distortion arising when a pixel outputs a pixel signal corresponding to a dark pixel even though bright light is incident upon the pixel. Eclipsing can occur when a pixel is exposed to bright light, as the light sensitive element 101 can produce a large quantity of photogenerated charge. While the pixel 100 is outputting the reset signal Vrst, a portion of the photogenerated charge produced by the light sensitive element 101 during an ongoing integration period may spill over the transfer transistor 111 into the floating diffusion node C. This diminishes the reset voltage at the floating diffusion node and can causes the pixel 100 to output an incorrect (i.e., diminished voltage) reset signal Vrst. This, in turn, can cause the reset and photo signals Vrst, Vsig to be nearly the same voltage. For example, the photo and reset signals Vrst, Vsig may each be approximately 0 volts. The pixel output (Vrst−Vsig) can therefore become approximately 0 volts, which corresponds to an output voltage normally associated with a dark pixel. Eclipsing is not a concern with respect to the non-image pixels 100′ because their light sensitive elements 101 are shielded from incident light.
An anti-eclipse circuit can be used to minimize the effect of eclipsing. For example, since during an eclipse a pixel's reset voltage will tend to drop towards zero volts, an anti-eclipse circuit can monitor the voltage level of the reset signal. If the voltage level drop below a threshold voltage, the anti-eclipse circuit can assume the eclipsing may occur (or is occurring) and then correct the voltage level of the reset signal by pulling the reset level up to a correction voltage, thereby minimizing the eclipse effect.
FIG. 3 is a more detailed illustration of one implementation of the column circuitry 220 of FIG. 2 employing an anti eclipsing circuit. In the column circuitry 220, each column line 215 associated with an image pixel 100 is coupled, via node D, to an anti-eclipse (AE) circuit 310, a load circuit 390, and a sample and hold (SH) circuit 380. Each SH circuit 380 is also coupled, via line 216, to the digital conversion circuit 230 (FIG. 2). The load circuit 390 serves to stabilize the voltage at node D as the reset Vrst and photo Vsig signals travel between a pixel 100 and a load circuit 390 via the column line 215. The SH circuit 380 alternatively samples and holds the voltage at node D as the reset Vrst and photo Vsig signals are transmitted on column line 215 between the pixel 100 and the load circuit 390. The AE circuit 310 functions to minimize the effect of the eclipse distortion by monitoring the voltage at node D when the reset signal Vrst is conducted between the pixel 100 and the load circuit 390. If the voltage at node D drops below a predetermined threshold during the output of the reset signal Vrst, the AE circuit 310 intervenes by clamping the voltage of the reset signal Vrst to a predetermined voltage threshold. In this manner, eclipse distortion is minimized by ensuring that the reset voltage does not fall below the predetermined threshold. In the column circuitry 220, each column line 215 associated with an non-image pixel 100′ is just coupled to a corresponding load circuit 390. This implementation corresponds to an imager which does not further process non-image pixels 100′, although as previously noted, some imagers may process signals from non-image pixels 100′. As shown in FIG. 3, each AE circuit 310 accepts control signals AE_SHR and AE_Vref. The function of these signals will be explained below in connection with FIG. 4.
FIG. 4 is an illustration of an exemplary implementation of the AE circuit 310. The AE circuit 310 is used to selectively clamp node D to node E, thereby setting the voltage at node D to AE_Vref minus the threshold voltage of transistor 320 (transistor 330 is operating as a switch and should not appreciably affect the voltage level at node D). More specifically, if the pixel is outputting a reset signal and the reset signal level is below a predetermined voltage, the AE circuit 310 clamps the voltage at node D to AE_Vref minus the threshold voltages of transistor 320, thereby minimizing the effect of the eclipse distortion.
More specifically, the AE circuit 310 accepts pixel power VAAPIX at node E, which is coupled to one source/drain of an AE transistor 320. The AE transistor 320 is coupled in series a switch transistor 330, which in turn is coupled in series to node D. An AE threshold voltage AE_Vref is supplied to the gate of the AE transistor 320, while a control signal AE_SHR is supplied to the gate of the switch transistor 320.
The AE_SHR control signal is used to activate the AE circuit 310 by causing the AE transistor 330 to conduct only when the reset signal Vrst is being output by a pixel 100 and sampled by sample and hold circuit 380. The AE_SHR control signal may be, for example, identical to the SHR control signal generated by the control circuit 260 (FIG. 2) to control when the sample and hold circuit 380 (FIG. 3) samples and holds the reset signal Vrst. The AE_SHR control signal may be generated by the control circuit 260 (FIG. 2).
Now also referring to FIG. 5, it can be seen that the AE threshold voltage AE_Vref is generated by a circuit 500 from pixel power VAAPIX. The circuit 500 is typically a resistor based voltage divider which produces the AE threshold voltage AE_Vref from pixel power VAAPIX. In FIG. 5, the AE threshold voltage AE_Vref is controlled by the resistance of resistors 510 and 520. The AE threshold voltage AE_Vref is set to a predetermined level. If the voltage at node D drops below the level of the AE threshold voltage AE_Vref while the switch transistor 330 is conducting, the AE circuit 310 clamps the voltage at node D to AE_Vref minus the threshold voltage of transistor 320.
Thus, in order to provide an anti-eclipse function, the AE threshold voltage AE_Vref must be set at a proper level which corresponds to an offset from the nominal (i.e., not during an eclipse) reset signal voltage level of a pixel. Unfortunately, semiconductor fabrication produces variances in each integrated circuit. Differences associated with, for example, the amount of charge injected to the floating diffusion node C of a pixel during a reset operation, or threshold voltages of transistors, may alter nominal reset signal voltage level, and thus, the ideal voltage level for the AE threshold voltage AE_Vref. While such variances may be corrected by calibrating the voltage level of the AE threshold voltage signal, there is a desire and need for an anti-eclipse circuit which minimizes post manufacturing calibrations.

Anti-eclipse circuitry with tracking of floating diffusion reset level


A well having a bore hole extending from surface to an underground formation, a casing arranged in the borehole, a tubing hanger supported on the top of the casing, a packer arranged in the casing at a predetermined depth, and a tubing extending from the tubing hanger to the packer, wherein the tubing includes a tubing section that consists of a tubular body of elastomeric material that is reinforced by axially extending reinforcement strands arranged in the tubular body.

A well comprising a bore hole extending from surface to the underground formation, a casing arranged in the borehole, a tubing hanger supported at or near the top of the casing, a packer arranged in the casing at a predetermined depth, and a tubing extending from the tubing hanger to the packer. The well can be used for producing fluids from the formation. However, the well can also be use to inject fluids through the tubing into the formation, for example to enhance production.
The casing can be a single string or a set of strings one arranged inside the other, and the casing is normally fixed in the borehole by means of a layer of cement in the annulus between casing and wall of the borehole.
The invention relates in particular to the tubing through which the fluids will flow during normal operation. Normally the tubing is a steel pipe that extends from the tubing hanger to the packer.
The tubing has to fit in the casing through which the tubing extends, and this requirement limits the cross-sectional area that is available for fluid flow. Thus the throughput is restricted. In order to increase the throughput of an existing well, it is considered to remove the tubing so that the fluids flow through the casing. However, with no tubing well, control is nearly impossible. Moreover, when the fluids are aggressive, the casing can be affected.

Well provided with flexible production tubing


Test patterns for testing electrical circuits are generated by a MUX having its output operatively coupled to a Scan-In shift register and inputs receiving seed pattern signals, response signal from a response shift register, positive and negative signals from the Scan-In register. A control logic circuit provides control signals that enable the MUX to select appropriate input signals. The circuit arrangement enables relatively few seed patterns to generate relatively large number of test patterns. The seed patterns are a sub-set of a test pattern set preferably generated by software such as the Automatic Test Pattern Generator (ATPG). A method to generate the seed patterns is, also, provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to integrated circuits in general and particularly to BIST macro or sub-system for testing high performance circuits.
2. Prior Art
The use of on-chip macros or BIST to generate test patterns which test various types of faults associated with electrical circuits are well known in the prior art. The prior art on-chips macros for testing faults are based on different types of architecture. One of the prior art architectures to which the present invention relates is the Twisted Ring Counter (TRC) based BIST. In this architecture the input scan register that provides test patterns to a Device Under Test (DUT) is reconfigured into a twisted ring counter whose outputs are correlated with initial test patterns called "seeds" to generate the test patterns used to test circuits.
Perhaps the most desirable characteristics of this type of architecture is pattern efficiency which means minimum number of seeds to generate maximum number of test patterns. Stated another way the main objective of this architecture is to use a relatively low number of seeds to generate relatively large number of test patterns. A detailed description of this architecture and improvement thereto are set forth in an article, entitled: "On Using Twisted Ring Counters for Test Set Embedding in BIST" published in Journal of Electronic Testing: Theory and Applications, December, 2001.
Even though the implementation set forth in the above identified article is a significant improvement over other prior art techniques, there is a need to improve the disclosed techniques even further to meet the needs of high performance circuits. The current trend in circuit technology is to build denser high performance circuits. As the circuit becomes denser less space is available on chips to store test patterns or seeds to test these circuits. As a consequence it is believed the need for improvements over the techniques discussed in the article will even be greater to satisfy the demand of testing these denser high performance circuits.

Built-in self-test (BIST) for high performance circuits


A stay comprises an inclined casing and a bundle of substantially parallel taut reinforcements lodged in the casing and individually anchored in a first and a second anchoring region. According to the invention, the casing and some of the reinforcements are installed by applying substantially uniform tension values to the reinforcements, then several iterations of the following steps are formed: compacting the installed reinforcements, at least at one end of the casing; slipping a further group of reinforcements along inside the casing, in a space left available by the compacted reinforcements; and tensioning each reinforcement of the further group between the first and second anchoring regions so that all the installed reinforcements exhibit substantially uniform tension values.

The present invention relates to the installation of taut reinforcements such as strand parts inside a casing to produce a stay belonging to the suspension system for a civil engineering construction.
In a stayed suspension, one or more towers support a structure, such as the deck of a bridge for example, via a collection of stays following oblique paths between a tower and the structure. A stay is a cable made up of a collection of reinforcements stretched between two end anchor points and generally surrounded by a casing. These reinforcements are often metal strand parts. In the case of a stayed bridge, each reinforcement is anchored to a tower and to the deck of the bridge that it plays a part in supporting.
European Patent 0 421 862 describes a method for tensioning the strand parts of a stay which advantageously allows the tensions to be evened out across the various strand parts while at the same time using a single strand part jack, which is far more lightweight and easier to handle (especially on a tower) than a communal jack. According to that method, a first strand part is tensioned to form a control strand part. Each subsequent strand part is tensioned using the single strand part jack until its tension matches that of the control strand part. In the course of this operation, the tension in the strand parts already anchored decreases a little as the tension in the new strand part increases. Gradually, this procedure ensures that the various strand parts in the stay are tensioned to the same value.
For large constructions, the stays used are typically very long, of a length which may be as much as several hundred meters, and a high number of taut elementary reinforcements (strand parts or the like) has to be provided in order to withstand the load.
Furthermore, on stayed constructions with a very long span (in excess of 500 meters), the drag load on the sheaf of stays is dominant over the action of the wind on the deck and may lead to appreciable over-engineering of the towers. As the drag is 10 proportional to the diameter of the casing, it is therefore desirable to provide stays with a small-diameter casing, that is to say stays that are more compact.
It is thus necessary to reach a delicate compromise between the number of strand parts per stay, that needs to be maximized in order to increase the supporting capacity of the stay, and its diameter, that needs to be minimized for aerodynamic reasons.
Now, it is generally necessary, within the casing, to provide enough space for the reinforcements to run in when the stay is being put in place. This is because the stays used in large bridges are very heavy, which means that it is not conceivable for them to be hauled up into position having prefabricated them on the deck or at a prefabrication area. In general, the casing is set in place along the oblique path of the stay, then the strand parts are installed one by one, or in small groups, hauling them up into position using a shuttle sliding along inside the casing and driven by a winch placed on the tower. When the last strand part (or the last group) is being hauled up, there still needs to be enough space in the casing to allow the shuttle to pass. It is clearly desirable for this remaining space to be minimized, in the search for the above compromise.
EP-A-O 654 562 gets around this problem by making the casing out of several shell sections assembled around the bundle of strand parts once the latter has been tensioned, thus allowing only a minimum amount of space to be left. However, for the overall design of the stay, it is decidedly preferable to provide a casing made as a single piece rather than made in several parts. This in particular affords the reinforcements better protection against environmental attack.
One object of the present invention is to provide a satisfactory solution to the abovementioned problem.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A system and method for searching images and identifying images with similar facial features is disclosed. In one implementation, the system includes a pre-processing module, a feature extraction module, a model creation module, a similarity identifier module and a results display module. The pre-processing module receives a facial image, determines key-points associated with a facial feature and identifies a facial area including the facial feature. The feature extraction module extracts the key-points. The model creation module creates a similarity model for determining similar facial features at least in part by comparing the facial feature from a plurality of images. The similarity identifier module applies the similarity model to the facial feature an image in relation to the facial feature in other images and determines which other image has a most similar facial feature. The results display module presents a result based at least in part on the determination.

Identifying similar facial features is interesting to individuals and arises in multiple contexts. One example context is with a child's facial features. Individuals identify which facial feature is similar to that of which parent or relative. For example, an individual may conclude "He has his mother's eyes and his father's nose." Another example context is with celebrities' facial features. Individuals are curious about which celebrity their facial feature is most similar to. For example, the individual desires to know which celebrity has the most similar nose, or whether the individual's nose is more similar to that of celebrity A or celebrity B. Yet another context is with doppelgangers. An individual desires to know whether anyone else has a near identical facial feature. For example, the individual has a distinct chin and wants to identify if anyone else has a similar chin.
A problem is that current systems do not identify similar facial features in most cases. Specifically, current systems do not identify at least one facial feature from a plurality of facial images as most similar to the facial feature of a query facial image. More specifically, the current systems do not search facial images retrieved from an image search, an individual's social network or electronic database to identify an image with a facial feature most similar to the query image.

Searching images and identifying images with similar facial features


A system and method for reading an optical code is provided. The method comprises the steps of imaging at least one target, including acquiring and processing image data corresponding to a series of at least one frame; storing image data corresponding to respective acquired frames of the at least one frame, including at least image data corresponding to a current frame (Frame(N)) and image data corresponding to a previous frame (Frame(N−1)); receiving an actuation signal during Frame(N) indicating initiation of a read operation; retrieving at least a portion of the image data corresponding to Frame (N−1); and performing a decode operation on the retrieved image data.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to optical code readers. In particular, this invention relates to a system and method for decoding optical codes read by imager—based optical code readers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical codes are patterns made up of image areas having different light reflective or light emissive properties, which are typically assembled in accordance with a priori rules. The term "barcode" is sometimes used to describe certain kinds of optical codes. The optical properties and patterns of optical codes are selected to distinguish them in appearance from the background environments in which they are used. Devices for identifying or extracting data from optical codes are sometimes referred to as "optical code readers" of which barcode scanners are one type.
Optical code readers are used in either fixed or portable installations in many diverse environments such as in stores for check-out services, in manufacturing locations for work flow and inventory control and in transport vehicles for tracking package handling. The optical code can be used as a rapid, generalized means of data entry, for example, by reading a target barcode from a printed listing of many barcodes. In some uses, the optical code reader is connected to a portable data processing device or a data collection and transmission device. Frequently, the optical code reader includes a handheld sensor which is manually directed at a target code.
An example of a conventional optical code is a one-dimensional barcode symbol. The barcode is a pattern of variable-width rectangular bars separated by fixed or variable width spaces. The bars and spaces have different light reflecting characteristics. One example of a one dimensional barcode is the UPC/EAN code used to identify, for example, product inventory. An example of a two-dimensional or stacked barcode is the PDF417 barcode. A description of PDF417 barcode and techniques for decoding it are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,635,697 to Shellhammer et al., and assigned to Symbol Technologies, Inc., which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Another conventional optical code is known as "MaxiCode". It consists of a central finder pattern or bull's eye center and a grid of hexagons surrounding the central finder. It should be noted that the aspects of the inventions disclosed in this patent application are applicable to optical code readers, in general, without regard to the particular type of optical codes which they are adapted to read. The invention described may also be applicable to some associated image recognition or analysis.
Optical code readers may be laser-based or imager-based. In a conventional imager-based optical code reader an imaging engine is provided having an image sensor having a two-dimensional array of cells or photo sensors, such as an area charge coupled device (CCD), which correspond to image elements or pixels in a field of view of the engine. The imaging engine further includes a lens assembly for focusing light incident on the image sensor and associated circuitry coupled to the image sensor outputting an array of electronic signals corresponding to a two-dimensional array of pixel information for the field of view. The electrical signals are digitized and provided as image data to a processor for processing thereof, including processing the image data for decoding the optical code.
Conventionally, an operator aims an optical code reader at a target code and pulls a trigger, which signals the optical code reader to process an acquired image, typically the next image acquired following the trigger pull. Image acquisition is typically performed in accordance with a sequential series of frames. In a system using a conventional 30 frames/sec video stream, a frame occurs approximately every 33 msec. The processing may include a decode operation, where the decode time extends into the next frame.
Minimizing the read time, e.g., time interval from trigger-pull to decode completion, is a high priority for optical code scanners. In commercially available imager-based optical code readers, the read time is relatively long compared to laser-based optical code readers. It would be advantageous to decrease the read time in an imager-based optical code reader for achieving speeds comparable to the speed of a laser-based optical code reader.
The read time includes a sum of the time needed to complete the remaining portion of the current frame (e.g., between 0–33 msec for the example using 30 frames/sec), the time needed for completing the next frame (e.g., 33 msec), and the time needed for performing the decode processing (e.g., 10 msec), totaling at least 43 msec in the example provided. Furthermore, in some optical code reader systems, the read time may further include additional frame(s), such as for processing sensed properties, adjusting parameter settings associated with the imaging or signal processing and acquiring image data or processing image data using the adjusted parameter settings.
In some systems an attempt is made to decrease the read time by beginning processing of the image data once the image data is partially acquired, such as when image data corresponding to a portion of the field of view are acquired (e.g., beginning with the upper portion of the field of view). However, the read time is not significantly decreased if the target optical code lies in a portion of the field of view that is not included in the portion processed that corresponds to the partial acquisition.
Accordingly, it is an aspect of the present invention to provide a system and method in which the read time is significantly reduced for image acquisition and decoding of optical codes by an imager-based optical code reader.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to sample ambient light and adjust parameter settings for signal processing of signals generated by an image sensor of an imager-based optical code reader.
It is still a further aspect of the present objection to reduce the time needed to adjust parameter settings for signal processing of signals generated by an image sensor of an imager-based optical code reader.
It is an additional aspect of the present invention to provide initial parameter settings for signal processing of signals generated by an image sensor of an imager-based optical code reader when the initial parameter settings are optimized for processing signals corresponding to image acquisition performed during a frame preceding trigger activation.

System and method for decoding optical codes read by an imager-based optical code reader


An air conditioner is provided. The air conditioner may include a compressor, a condenser, an evaporator, a receiver storing a portion of a refrigerant passing through the condenser, an accumulator receiving refrigerant stored in the receiver and refrigerant passing through the evaporator to separate gas refrigerant from refrigerant introduced therein and supply the gas refrigerant to the compressor, and a bypass line supplying refrigerant from the receiver to the accumulator. The receiver and the accumulator may be integrally formed or provided as separate parts coupled each other. An outlet end of the bypass line may be connected to an upper portion of the accumulator. Such an arrangement may prevent refrigerant from flowing backward from the accumulator into the receiver.

1. Field
This relates to an air conditioner.
2. Background
Multi-type air conditioners may include a plurality of indoor units connected to one outdoor unit, with a plurality of tubes connected to the outdoor unit to respectively supply refrigerant to each of the plurality of indoor units, thereby conditioning indoor air through each of the indoor units. Such multi-type air conditioners may have relatively inexpensive initial investment costs, and may require a relatively small indoor area to accommodate the indoor units.


A startup method of a Francis turbine according to an embodiment includes: a first rotation-speed increasing step in which a rotation speed of the runner is increased by opening the guide vane at a first opening; a second rotation-speed increasing step in which the increase in the rotation speed of the runner is accelerated by opening the guide vane at a second opening that is larger than the first opening after the first rotation-speed increasing step; and a rotation-speed regulating step in which the rotation speed of the runner is regulated to a rated rotation speed by opening the guide vane at a no-load opening after the second rotation-speed increasing step. The first opening is an opening that is half or less than the no-load opening.

When a turbine of a Francis turbine is operated, water from an upper reservoir is guided from an inlet pipe to a casing through an inlet valve. The water having flown into the casing passes through stay vanes and guide vanes to be guided to a runner. A flow rate of the water is regulated by the guide vanes. The runner is driven in rotation by the water flowing into the runner, so that a generator connected to the runner via a main shaft is driven to generate electricity. Thereafter, the water flows out from the runner to be discharged to a lower reservoir or a tailrace through a draft tube.
Such a Francis turbine is usually started up as follows. An inlet valve provided to an inlet pipe is opened to allow water to flow into the casing. Then, the guide vanes are opened at a startup opening to drive the runner in rotation by the water flowing thereinto, so that a rotation speed of the runner increases. After that, the guide vanes are opened at a no-load opening, so that the rotation speed of the runner is regulated to a rated rotation speed.
However, when the guide vanes are opened at the aforementioned startup opening upon startup of the Francis turbine, an annular flow path is formed between the guide vanes and the runner in the radial direction. The water having passed through the guide vanes may flash through the annular flow path, creating a fast swirling flow around the runner. When the swirling flow collides with runner blades, a separation flow may occur. Particularly when a Francis turbine with a large head, the swirling flow becomes faster and a stronger separation flow may occur. At this time, a pressure inside the runner may decrease down to a saturated water vapor pressure or below. This causes the water to evaporate, so that water vapor bubbles are generated in the water. At the moment when the water vapor in the water vapor bubbles condenses, the pressure may abruptly increase. This may damage the runner because an impact load may be applied to the runner.

Startup method of francis turbine and francis turbine

TOSHIBA ENERGY SYSTEMS & SOLUTIONS CORPORATION


The invention relates to a method for horizontal drilling with a percussion implement and a percussion head or percussion head element mounted in a movable manner relative to the percussion implement, the percussion impulse being transmitted in at least three steps.

During horizontal drilling with a percussion implement, a hammer provided in the percussion implement is accelerated, for example with a source of pressure medium, such as water, air or other media. The kinetic energy of the hammer is directed without retardation into the drill head during the driving of the drilling implement. For the propulsion, the mass of the entire drilling implement located in the earth, including the pressure-medium hose, is to be accelerated. Furthermore, the skin friction of the drilling implement with the surrounding earth is to be overcome and displacement work is to be performed in the region of the drill head. All this is performed by the percussion piston.
Difficulties during the driving with such a percussion implement occur in particular in stony or rocky soils, in which the percussion energy partly applied by the skin friction and by the drilling implement mass to be moved is not sufficient in order to direct the shattering energy, required for overcoming an obstacle, into the obstacle, such as, for example, a stone or a piece of rock. This problem has been solved for quite some time by a special configuration of the driving heads ("stepped head"), as described in DE 25 58 842.5 A1.
The percussion energy can thus be directed into the obstacle as concentrically as possible by means of a stepped drill head in order to achieve the requisite shattering energy without the occurrence of substantial disadvantages with the displacement properties of the drill head.
DE 21 57 259 A1 and DE 26 34 066 A1 disclose a driving head which, movable in the axial direction, is connected to the percussion implement. As a result, uncoupling of the forward movement of driving head and percussion implement is achieved, which leads to the entire percussion energy of the percussion piston being available in a first step in the driving head for displacement work and for shattering obstacles. It is not until the obstacle at the face has been overcome, that is to say the path for the driving head is free, that the driving energy of the percussion piston is directed via the driving head no longer solely into the face, but rather a large proportion of said driving energy is directed via the connection between driving head and housing of the percussion implement into the percussion implement, so that the latter is drawn up.
Such a driving head has proved successful in practice and has been used for many years in horizontal percussion driving. However, depending on the dimensioning of the percussion implement or intractability of the obstacle to be overcome, there are practical limits, at given percussion energy, to the use of the driving head described.


A fire protection sprinkler that includes a body defining an internal passageway extending along a sprinkler axis between an inlet end and an outlet end to define a passageway length and a nominal K-factor greater than 16. A deflector is supported and spaced from the outlet end by a pair of support arms. The sprinkler includes means for allowing a flow of water from the outlet end of the body. The means includes a closure assembly having a body defining a blind bore and a thermally responsive glass bulb. The glass bulb has a first end disposed within the blind bore defining a first seat diameter and a second end defining a second seat diameter. The glass bulb has a bulb length that is greater than the length of the internal passageway and a maximum wall thickness less than the difference between the bulb length and the passageway length.

In its 2013 publication of "NFPA 13: Standard for the Installation of Sprinkler Systems" (herein after "NFPA 13"), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) defines an automatic sprinkler as "a fire suppression or control device that operates automatically when its heat-activated element is heated to its thermal rating or above, allowing water to discharge over a specified area." A known heat-activated element for use in an automatic sprinkler is a thermally responsive frangible bulb, as seen for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,238. An automatic sprinkler can be characterized by the physical dimensions and thermal characteristics, i.e., nominal temperature rating and Response Time Index (RTI), of its thermally responsive bulb. U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,238 describes a thermally responsive frangible bulb with a maximum bulb diameter of about 0.1 inch and a maximum bulb length of less than 1 inch. Other known thermally responsive bulbs are manufactured with a maximum length of more than ¾ inch, a maximum RTI of 90 meter1/2 sec1/2 (m1/2s1/2) and a nominal temperature rating defined under NFPA 13 being any one of: (i) ordinary 135° F.-170° F.; (ii) intermediate 175° F.-225° F.; (iii) high 250° F.-300° F.; (iv) extra high 325° F.-375° F.; (v) very extra high 400° F.-475° F.; and (vi) ultra high 500° F.-575° F.
In addition to its thermally responsive bulb, an automatic sprinkler can also be characterized by its discharge characteristics. A sprinkler's discharge characteristics can be identified by a nominal K-factor which is defined as an average flow of water in gallons per minute through the internal passageway divided by a square root of pressure of water fed into the inlet end of the internal passageway in pounds per square inch gauge: Q=K√P where P represents the pressure of water fed into the inlet end of the internal passageway through the body of the sprinkler, in pounds per square inch gauge (psig); Q represents the flow of water from the outlet end of the internal passageway through the body of the sprinkler, in gallons per minute (gpm); and K represents the nominal K-factor constant in units of gallons per minute divided by the square root of pressure expressed in psig. Known nominal K-factors include (with the K-factor range shown in parenthesis): (i) 14.0 (13.5-14.5) GPM/(PSI)1/2; (ii) 16.8 (16.0-17.6) GPM/(PSI)1/2; (iii) 19.6 (18.6-20.6) GPM/(PSI)1/2; (iv) 22.4 (21.3-23.5) GPM/(PSI)1/2; (v) 25.2 (23.9-26.5) GPM/(PSI)1/2; (vi) 28.0 (26.6-29.4) GPM/(PSI)1/2; and (vii) 33.6 (31.9-35.28) GPM/(PSI)½.
For automatic sprinklers with a nominal K-factor of 16 GPM/(PSI)1/2 and larger, the heat-activated element might be a strut and lever arrangement with a thermally responsive solder element. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,609,211; 8,602,118; and 8,408,321 and U.S. Patent Publication No. 20080073088 generally show and describe sprinklers with a thermally actuated bulb with a nominal K-factor of 25.2 GPM/(PSI)1/2 or larger. Although these patents, for example U.S. Pat. No. 8,408,321, indicate that sprinklers having a nominal K-factor larger than 25.2 GPM/(PSI)1/2 with a bulb-type trigger are applicable for the described dry-pipe sprinkler system, the patent does not describe any particular details of the glass bulb, bulb seating and/or applications for combining a sprinkler with a K-factor greater than 25.2 GPM/(PSI)1/2 with a glass bulb.

FLN FEUERLOSCHGERATE NEURUPPIN VERTRIEBS GMBH