An electrified desorption device, including a conductive water-absorbing material containing titanosilicates, wherein a ratio of silicon atoms to titanium atoms in the titanosilicates of the conductive water-absorbing material is

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a dehumidification device and an electrified desorption device thereof, and more particularly to a low-energy consumption dehumidification device and an electrified desorption device thereof in which electrification is performed so that a water-absorbing material generates heat due to electrical conduction so as to desorb moisture.
2. Related Art
In dehumidification of an existing household dehumidifier, a refrigerant compressor system is used to condense the moisture in the air, so as to achieve the purpose of drying indoor air. However, due to a damage to the ozone layer derived from the use of a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerant, more and more attention is paid to the development of a dehumidifying technology without requiring any refrigerant. A rotary adsorption dehumidification device needs neither the compressor nor the refrigerant, which adsorbs the moisture in the indoor air through a dehumidifying wheel, and then heats the air through electric heat and enables the heated air to flow through a regeneration side of the dehumidifying wheel for moisture desorption. The high-temperature high-humidity air at an outlet of the regeneration side is introduced into a heat exchanger for condensation, and a water-collecting box is used to collect the condensed moisture, so as to achieve the purpose of the household dehumidification device.
Since the dehumidifying-wheel-type dehumidifier implements the dehumidifying mechanism through a moisture-absorbing characteristic of the dehumidifying wheel, the dehumidifier of this type is not limited by the environmental gas temperature and humidity conditions, and does not need to use the existing compressor, so the dehumidifier has technical advantages of low noise and avoiding the use of refrigerant.
Referring to FIG. 1, a rotary adsorption dehumidifier 1 blows an indoor humid airflow 90 into a pore channel inside a water-absorbing material 11, so that the water-absorbing material adsorbs moisture in the airflow 90. A dry airflow 92 after the adsorption is discharged into the room through a dehumidifying fan 12, and then the air dehumidification is completed. On the other hand, an electric heater 13 increases the temperature of a circulation airflow 91, and through a temperature difference between the high-temperature circulation airflow 91 and water molecules in the water-absorbing material 11, the water molecules in the water-absorbing material 11 are vaporized and desorbed. Afterwards, the high-temperature high-humidity circulation airflow 91 enters a heat exchanger 10, and then exchanges heat with the low-temperature humid airflow 90 at an inlet of the dehumidifier 1. The high-temperature high-humidity air in the heat exchanger can be condensed into liquid water 93, and the condensed moisture is collected and discharged. The circulation airflow 91 returns to the regenerative electric heater 13 by following the pipeline to perform the above operations, so as to complete the circulation operation of the moisture desorption. The functions of the water-absorbing material 11, the electric heater 13, and the heat exchanger 10 are combined through an air passage, and then a dehumidifier 1 with a dehumidifying effect can be formed.
The water-absorbing material in the dehumidifying wheel is basically of a porous structure, and the pore structure is generally of a honeycomb type or a corrugate type. The dehumidifying effect is basically to generate dry air by using countless pores and adsorbents in the structure to catch the water molecules in the gas by physical adsorption. The moisture adsorbing amount of the dehumidifying wheel depends on multiple factors, including the type and amount of the adsorbent, the temperature and humidity of the inflow air, the thickness of the dehumidifying wheel, a surface area of the honeycomb structure, the speed of the air flowing through the dehumidifying wheel, and a rotation speed of the dehumidifying wheel. In another regenerative circulation air passage, the moisture adsorbed in the dehumidifying structure needs to be desorbed and discharged, and the adsorption and the desorption are repeated, so as to implement the functions of dehumidification and regeneration. The regenerative circulation air passage refers to a passage, passing through the heat exchanger 10, from a junction surface of an outlet of the electric heater 13 and the water-absorbing material 11 (the dehumidifying wheel) to an inlet of the electric heater 13. Therefore, for the water-absorbing material 11 (the dehumidifying wheel), the air inlet is at a regeneration side through which the heated air enters the dehumidifying wheel, and the air outlet is at a wheel surface of the regeneration side before the high-temperature high-humidity air enters the heat exchanger. In the rotary adsorption dehumidifying system, the high-temperature high-humidity air at the regeneration side enters a condensation device and then exchanges heat with the low-temperature air out of the pipe, and afterwards, the high-temperature high-humidity air in the condensation device can be condensed to generate liquid water.
In the existing rotary adsorption dehumidification device, the electric heater is used to heat the airflow at the regeneration side to increase the temperature of the regeneration air, and the heating desorption mechanism of this part mainly includes the following two parts.
(1) Airflow vaporization through heat exchange: the airflow at the regeneration side is heated to generate a temperature gradient, the heat generated through the heat exchange is used to vaporize the moisture in the pores of the dehumidifying structure, and it is necessary to make high-temperature air during the moisture desorption process and the vaporization needs to be performed for a long time, so as to achieve the moisture desorption effect, so it is necessary to consume high energy to achieve the drying and dehumidifying objectives.
(2) Vaporization through radiant heat: a heating wire in the heater generates high temperature after a current flows there-through, and the heat is in the form of radiant heat, so that the water molecules in the pores of the dehumidifying structure can directly absorb the radiant heat for vaporization and desorption; since the radiant heat is in a biquadrate direct proportion to the surface temperature, the temperature of the heating wire surface is over 400° C., and the radiant heat is very high, so the generated moisture desorption effect is more remarkable than the vaporization desorption effect of the airflow through heat exchange.
Through the analysis for the above two vaporization mechanisms, in the existing regenerative desorption method by heating, during either the indirect vaporization desorption caused by heating the regeneration airflow or the absorption of the radiant heat by the water molecules, most of the radiant heat is also absorbed by the moisture-absorbing structure, and the two factors result in inevitable energy consumption. In addition, the radiant heat increases the surface temperature of the moisture-absorbing structure, and does not facilitate the adsorption of the water molecules, thus dramatically reducing the dehumidifying capability. Therefore, the regenerative desorption method by heating is the major cause of high energy consumption of the rotary dehumidification device and reduction of the dehumidifying efficiency.

Electrified desorption device for dehumidification

Abstract: 1    ≤          Si      Ti        ≤    10    ;a conductive layer selected from the group consisting of a metal component, an alloy material, a conductive oxide component, and a mixture including either (a) more than one of the foregoing components or (b) the metal component, the alloy material, and graphite, attached to end surfaces at two sides of the water-absorbing material; a pair of electrode structures, coupled to two sides of the water-absorbing material respectively, and each having multiple sub-electrodes insulated from each other; and a voltage source, coupled to the pair of electrode structures.

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


An ancillary signal indicator notifies the reception of a signal that is associated with a user. The ancillary signal indicator includes an imprint actuator configured to instigate a signal imprint mode. A receiver is configured to receive an imprint signal when in the signal imprint mode and a memory is configured to store an imprint signal. The ancillary signal indicator also includes a signal notifier configured to actuate when a received signal corresponds to the imprint signal.

Cellular telephones, personal computers, mobile computers and other computing devices are fast becoming mainstream modes for personal communication. These devices are also fast becoming mainstream communication devices for young adults and teenagers thereby making young adults and teenagers a large target for companies that produce communication devices. Many of these users implement social and status aspects into their computing devices. Current applications such as picture sharing, systems management server (SMS) accounts, email accounts and voice messaging reflect this behavior. Furthermore, similar to clothing, tattoos, body piercing or a new haircut, individuals have a strong desire to personalize their computing devices to indicate a sense of social belonging or a sense of individualism. This desire is evident through cellular phone covers, screen savers, personalized ringers and phone decals.
Another way individuals personalize their communication experiences is through "cellular jewelry". Cellular jewelry is an inexpensive, decorative device that may be attached to a cellular device.

Imprintable ancillary signal indicator for indicating a communication


An orthodontic flossing implement for facilitating positioning and manipulating of a portion of a length of dental floss into the interdental space between adjacent teeth and proximate to and beneath an orthodontic wire which defines an arch extending between adjacent orthodontic brackets on the teeth. An elongated handle dependently supports an elongated, slender shaft formed as a unit with, and extending from a proximal end of the handle. The shaft is dimensionally smaller in thickness than that of said handle and preferably oriented at an acute angle to the handle. A tip, formed as a unit with, and extending from a second end of the shaft, is oriented at an acute angle to the handle, the tip having an aperture formed therethrough sized to just receive a length of dental floss. The tip with the dental floss positioned through said aperture, is manipulable by said handle to pass beneath an arch of the orthodontic wire and to floss the interdental tissue.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to dental hygiene devices, and more specifically to an orthodontic flossing implement and method of use thereof, wherein the present invention facilitates thorough inter-dental flossing of orthodontically-treated teeth and, in particular, teeth fitted with braces.
2. Description of Related Art
In a majority of the cases, persons requiring orthodontic treatment including orthodontic appliances in the form of fixed braces are children, pre-teens and teenagers. Prior art devices require a great amount of time, dexterity, and effort to reach the posterior clearances of the upper and lower arches. These flossing devices are either too small to comfortably hold and/or too small to access the posterior molar clearances or too big to fit between the inter-proximal space of adjacent teeth and/or to fit under the arch wire of the appliance at the clearance. Prior art devices also are not strong enough to easily cut through the tight contacts of adjacent teeth or to properly remove the bacterial plaque from the interproximal surface of the teeth and gums at the arch (clearance).
With some prior art devices, patient compliance to daily flossing is near impossible, rendering the patient susceptible to bacterial plaque damaging effects to the gums, teeth and the surrounding jawbones.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,625 to Siekmann teaches a dental floss threading device which permits insertion of dental floss between dental structures and aids in cleaning areas abutting dental structures such as orthodontic devices. A device and method for flossing and including an eyelet (FIG. 5) is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,841 to Levine.
Francis teaches dental flossing devices in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,899,214 and 6,488,036 which provide a flexible flosser with unrestricted maneuverability within the clearance, providing easier insertion and increased cleaning efficiency. Haynes discloses a similar instrument in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,466 which facilitates flossing and is utilizable by persons fitted with orthodontic braces.
An integrally formed dental floss and leader that lends itself to oral prophylaxis especially for implants and bridges is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,063 to Ringle, et al. and dental floss with a guide post is taught by Peng in U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,836. Similarly, Stallings discloses an orthodontic flossing device for removing debris from in between the proximal surfaces of teeth undergoing orthodontic treatment in U.S. Pat. No. 6,814,086.
A needle for leading dental floss through narrow apertures is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,339 to Nashlund. This plastic needle-like design with an opening for the floss is very inconvenient and time consuming to use. Accessibility of posterior clearances is difficult and the small floss threader has to be threaded through each and all possible (arch sites) clearances. Ikeda discloses a device for cleaning teeth of orthodontic patients in U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,631 and, when in use, inserting the device at the clearance, a small hook member on the facial prong is used as leverage to proceed with cleaning. This hook member catches on the arch wire and makes this device tedious to use.
Kaltenbach teaches a device useful for inserting dental floss between teeth and under dental bridges in U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,299 and a design patent to Levine, D265,515, shows a dental flossing instrument.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,500 to Mabon, et al. teaches a device and process for flossing comprising a length of thin guide tubing combined with the application of conventional dental floss. Striebel teaches dental floss for brace wearers and the like including a semi-rigid threader and curvature formed substantially along its whole length in U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,794.
A flossing tool having a floss spool cavity and handle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,466 to Haynes in which the primary object is to direct floss into interproximal spaces which are bounded by an arch wire where the tool angle makes it difficult if not near impossible to access posterior arches and/or clearances.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.
The present invention teaches a uniquely configured orthodontic flossing element which has more favorable use structure for easily and effectively not only positioning a length of dental floss between the wire arch and the facial surfaces of adjacent teeth, but also facilitates the manual manipulation of either the implement and/or the free end of the dental floss through the contact of adjacent teeth to effectively, quickly, easily and properly clean the interdental spaces and tissues between adjacent teeth at all anterior and posterior clearance sites of the upper and lower jaws.


A garbage collection system and method in a multiprocessor environment having a shared memory wherein two or more processing units participate in the reclamation of garbage memory objects. The shared memory is divided into regions or heaps and all heaps are dedicated to one of the participating processing units. The processing units generally perform garbage collection operations, i.e., a thread on the heap or heaps that are dedicated to that processing unit. However, the processing units are also allowed to access and modify other memory objects, in other heaps when those objects are referenced by and therefore may be traced back to memory objects within the processing units dedicated heap. The processors are synchronized at rendezvous points to prevent reclamation of used memory objects.

Many computer systems, such as server systems, use a plurality of processing units or microprocessors to increase the overall processing power of the computer system. In a multiprocessor system, the separate processing units may often share the operating memory of the system.
In typical shared memory systems, a memory manager allocates memory to a requesting program and performs the process of garbage collection for that program. However, when garbage collection operations were performed on a memory in the multiple processor environment, the garbage collection was performed by one processor. All other processors were paused until the garbage collection operation was complete. This was done to prevent access by one processor to the shared memory while another processor was cleaning up the memory. As a result the efficiency of the multiple processor systems is significantly reduced due to the idle time of the unused processors during garbage collection.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present invention has been made.

Method and system for multiprocessor garbage collection


A fixing device includes: a tubular endless belt, a heater, a nip member, an elastic layer and a backup member. The endless belt has an inner peripheral surface defining an internal space and is configured to circularly move in a moving direction. The heater is disposed in the internal space and is configured to generate radiant heat. The nip member is disposed in the internal space and spaced away from the heater. The elastic layer is fixed on the nip member and positioned between the nip member and the inner peripheral surface of the endless belt. The backup member and the nip member are configured to nip the tubular endless belt therebetween to provide a nip region between the backup member and the nip member.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-215767 discloses a thermal fixing device provided with an endless fixing belt of a tubular shape, and a heating element disposed in an internal space of the fixing belt. The tubular fixing belt has an inner peripheral surface that is totally covered with a rubber layer.

Fixing device having nip member with elastic layer


Furfurylated wood produced in a two-chamber system in which monomer/oligomer impregnation in an impregnation chamber is followed by successive stages of drying and curing. Physical properties of wood under treatment are measured, recorded and referenced into a database that accumulates wood species data relating to applied temperature and pressure profiles, physical properties and appearance of intermediate and finished samples of wood and also chemical treatment regimes, including soak time and monomer/oligomer concentrations. During drying and curing, monitoring of process parameters, including water removal and/or atmospheric conditions, are used by a controller both to control and determine a state of process completion by comparing recorded data with historically accumulated data or process set point conditions. Physical and/or chemical attributes of finally processed wood are used in an automated control loop to modify, reactively or in real time, applied treatment regimes for specific wood species and wood profiles.

Demand for hardwoods and their slow-growing nature have contributed to deforestation and produced related long-term ecological and environment problems. For example, tropical rain forests (a nursery for hard woods) are being stripped away at an annual rate of about 80,000 km2 to 100,000 km2. Such wholesale deforestation adversely affects plant and animal diversity and is believed to contribute about 20% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. These environmental considerations mean that hardwoods are becoming more expensive.
Freshly felled timber has a considerable moisture content present as 'free' moisture within the cell cavities and 'bound' or 'combined' moisture saturating the cell walls. The freshly sawn lumber will typically lose about 50% of its total weight, shrink somewhat and become much stronger, harder and more durable during the subsequent seasoning [drying and stabilising] process. The seasoning process also improves timber workability and the bonding of adhesives and surface finishes. In the drying process the wood first loses the free moisture to reach the 'fibre saturation point' (FSP) where no moisture is contained in the cell cavities, but the cell walls are still saturated with bound moisture. The FSP occurs at 30-35% moisture content in hardwoods and 25-30% moisture content in softwoods. Timber does not shrink during drying until the FSP is reached then it begins to shrink at a roughly proportionate rate until equilibrium moisture content is attained.
A first form of wood modification the thermal was treatment of timber. In the "Feuchte, Warme and Druck" (FWD) process discussed by Burmester (circa 1973), there was controlled pyrolysis, i.e. degradation through the use of heat, of the wood at temperatures in excess of 180° C. While this heat treatment process provided an improvement in dimensional stability of between about 50% to 90%, bending strength was reduced by 30%. High temperatures induce strain in wood that can increase cracking or splitting.
As an alternative to pyrolysis, oil heat treatments have been carried out at temperatures greater than 180° C., but in low oxygen conditions. In the process executed by Menz Holz, the desired temperature was maintained for between 2 and 4 hours. Strength was reduced by ˜30%, although dimensional stability increased by ˜40%.
Chemical modification techniques include:                i) Etherification: Etherification is achieved from a reaction with carboxylic acids or acid anhydrides commonly acetylation and furfurylation;        ii) Dimethylol Dihydroxyl Ethylene Urea ("DMDHEU") treatment;        iii) Reactive Oil Treatments; and        iv) Hydrophobation.
In acetylation, impregnation is followed by heating to about 70° C. Acetic acid and unused anhydride have to be removed. Dimensional stability in the acetylated wood seemingly increases by ˜+75%, but there is only a moderate increase in hardness and strength is not influenced very much. Wood colour does not change in acetylation. However acetylated wood stains badly when exposed to the environment. Growth of mould is a particular problem.
Dimethylol Dihydroxyl Ethylene Urea (DMDHEU) can be used in the treatment of wood. However, use of DMDHEU produces volatiles including formaldehyde.
In reactive oil treatments, modified linseed oil effectively provides a maleic acid anhydride group. The process can uses modified existing creosote equipment.
The hydrophobation process changes the cell wall from hydrophilic to hydrophobic to improve the behaviour of the wood in wet conditions. There are a variety of chemical techniques, including the use of silanes, siloxanes and silicones, melamine and the so-called "Royal Process" in which curing is performed by a hot oil treatment and wherein biocides are added. The addition of any toxic component is undesirable because recycling of the wood requires that these toxic chemicals can be removed to prevent their entry into the environment.
Production of furan polymer modified wood has been described by M. Schneider, M. Westin and others. Water removal has been achieved by traditional kiln drying of the wood after the formation of the furan polymer in the wood tissue. Unfortunately elevated temperatures in any final drying step (as with other high temperature drying steps described in alternative processes) often induce a tensile strain in the modified wood, which strain leads to unacceptable cracking and deformation and, more generally, reduced quality. Avoiding such drying-induced strain is especially important in hardwoods, such as beech, ash and maple.
The diversity and generally enhanced properties produced by the chemical processes make their products more attractive. Specifically, the ability to replicate the properties of hardwoods using chemical processes is particularly advantageous when contrasted with those from the thermal and oil treatment processes. However, while some of these chemicals act for example to preserve the modified wood, they have detrimental effects. For example copper chromium arsenate proved to be a popular preservative, but chromium and arsenic are toxic. Also impregnating solutions that are prepared by chemical processes in complex resinmaking plants are expensive.
Furfurylation produces a modified wood having a high dimensional stability, high durability and high resistance to acid and alkali. Furfuryl alcohol (FFA) monomer is impregnated into the cells and subsequently polymerized by aqueous solutions. FFA is produced from hydrolysed biomass waste, e.g. molasses. FFA produces a highly branched cross-linked furan polymer grafted to the cell walls. Westin has explained the many ways that this molecule polymerises and of particular note is that FFA forms covalent bonds with lignin. Furfurylation marginally reduces the impact strength of the timber because the timber becomes harder and more brittle, but this is more than offset by the increased stiffness (of between 30% to 80%), increased dimensional stability (of between about 30% to 80%) and increased durability, i.e. resistance to insect and mould attack. Moreover, the impregnation of wood with furan-based polymers is advantageous in that the modified wood does not emit toxic substances either during the manufacturing phase or during the lifetime of the product.
For example, one of the processes employed to date to produce modified wood using FFA requires:                1. The furfuryl alcohol (FFA) to be mixed with water, catalyst and buffer and stored prior to use in a buffer tank. Since there has been a tendency for separation of the FFA from the water and the resultant mixture to have a short shelf-life, stabilisers e.g., borax have been added.        2. The wood to be placed in an autoclave, the mixture introduced and an over-pressure applied to impregnate the wood with the solution.        3. Then the wood is cured using a heating process. The application of heat causes the polymerisation to proceed at a meaningful pace. Unfortunately the greater the heat applied, the more detrimental is the effect on the wood. Also, different species of woods react differently to the application of high temperatures. Soft woods are better able to cope with aggressive heat treatment regimes. While reactants can be selected to effect curing at moderate temperatures as well as at high temperatures, reaction rates will differ accordingly.        4. After curing the wood is then dried in a kiln at which point any remaining volatiles and unreacted mixture are expelled to leave the wood dry and ready for the market. Following curing, the level of volatiles left in the wood is generally very low, i.e. less than 0.1% of the reactants, and these chemicals are generally qualified as being safe and suitable to remain within the modified wood.
It is also known to react the base monomer FFA in two alternative ways: i) to produce a pre-polymer or oligomer; and ii) to add to the furan ring by producing a pre-polymer made by reacting furfuryl alcohol, formaldehyde and adipic acid. By reacting FFA with formaldehyde, a portion of the monomer is converted into bismethanofuran to produce a resultant mixture that is more reactive than pure FFA Maleic anhydride is added to the mixture as a polymerization catalyst before it is impregnated into the wood. Heat causes the mixture to polymerize in the wood. Curing is achieved at a temperature of between 70° C. and 200° C.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,947,648 discloses the use of FFA, maleic anhydride and water or alcohols as diluents, while sulphur dioxide is used as a penetrator/catalyst. An initiator must be added to the mixture. Gaseous sulfur dioxide catalyst is added to the product in a container after the mixture has been impregnated in a previous step. The mixture must have a low viscosity to penetrate wood. Water, methanol or ethanol can be used as a diluent. Uniformly treated, lumber-sized wood products are unlikely to result from this method because of limited gas penetration. The process also suffers from off-gasing of sulphur compounds and unreacted FA.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,909,450 discloses use of FFA, water and dibasic or tri basic organic acids. Water is used to dissolve a zinc chloride catalyst. While this mixture can be effective for thin timber samples, it does not easily penetrate lumber-sized samples. This leads to a multi-stage approach in which a ZnCl2 solution is firstly applied and allowed to dry, whereafter a second uncatalyzed FFA is applied to achieve enhanced distribution of reactant within the lumber. ZnCl2 has a high affinity for wood and therefore it is retained in the top layers of the impregnated material which, upon curing, leads to an egg-shell impregnation that leaves the core of the wood unprotected. Furthermore, a colour gradient often develops in the wood affecting the overall aesthetic appearance. Finally, unreacted FFA has been observed to leach from the wood over time, which off-gasing presents an odour problem and commercial loss from wasted FA. More critical is that ZnCl2 effects cellulose stability and therefore decreases the long-term strength of the modified wood.
WO 02/043933 discloses use of FFA, water and maleic acid as a catalyst.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,313,953 discloses the need for a buffer to stop the catalysts acting prematurely in a wood treatment process. Use of borax is disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,380 is restricted to the production of veneers. Atmospheric pressure soaking is used exclusively. The formulation is FFA, water, various metal salts to get different shades of color and a complexing agent.
Furfurylation techniques were developed by Schneider. In a first technique wood was impregnated with furfuryl alcohol and at least one other catalyst selected from maleic acid/anhydride, phtalic acid/anhydride, and stearic acid. These catalysts have similar affinity to wood as furfuryl alcohol and therefore penetrate wood at a similar rate. The impregnation solution was prepared by dissolving 5% to 20% of the catalyst in pure FA. Lower catalyst concentrations have longer storage life, but cure more slowly. Impregnation was carried out by a full-cell process. Wood samples were exposed to vacuum for 5 to 30 minutes and then a high pressure of 1 to 20 atmospheres for 20 to 60 minutes. The impregnated wood was then cured by stream, hot air, hot oil or high frequency (microwave) radiation in either: a) a one stage heating process at 140° C.; or b) a two stage heating process at 90° C. and then 140° C. Curing lasted for between 0.5 and 12 hours, with the 140° C. profile maintained for at least 1 hour to drive off uncured monomers and polymerization by-products. To avoid burning/charring of the wood, an oxygen-free atmosphere could be used.
In EP-B-1368167, Schneider diluted the FFA impregnation solution with water. The addition of water resulted in a two phase formulation and borax and sodium salts of lignosulfonic acids were added as stabilizers.
While heart wood has a better innate microbiological resistance due to its higher content of natural resins, these same resins inhibit the impregnation of the mixture into the heart wood. While FA can generally migrate into the heart wood, the migration of maleic acid or maleic anhydride is difficult. Consequently, FA may not be polymerized and it may leach out from the modified wood upon exposure to water.
In summary, most curing and drying methods in furfurylation techniques requires the use of elevated temperature that are generally detrimental to the overall treatment and conditioning of the wood. Elevated temperatures above about 140° C. and more particularly in excess of 150° C. alter the properties of the wood by damaging cell structures and by inducing internal strains that causes splitting or cracking of the wood; this is particularly true in the processing of hardwoods. Drying and curing are completed in successive and distinct steps in distinct chambers. Furthermore, acidic conditions, while considered necessary for polymerisation, affect shelf life of the mixture and can corrode reaction vessels. The use of volatile solvents, increases costs because of associated handling and re-cycling considerations.

Apparatus and operating systems for manufacturing impregnated wood


A peer-to-peer email system and methods are provided for distributed email distribution, prevention of SPAM, and efficient email storage. Each email client also serves as a node in the peer-to-peer system, relaying email messages and/or attachments. Large attachments may be transmitted directly from sender to receiver, and if the receiver is not online at the time the sender sends the attachment, the receiver can request the attachment from the sender at a later time.

Existing email systems may be centrally controlled. Simple Mail Transport Protocol ("SMTP") is the de facto standard used on the internet today. A first SMTP server (e.g., mail.yin.com) may receive email messages from SMTP clients (e.g., Microsoft® Outlook, Mozilla® Thunderbird) executing on computers in the first SMTP server's domain. The email messages may include one or more recipient email addresses (e.g., john @yang.net). The first SMTP server may route the received messages to a second SMTP server on the intended recipient's domain (e.g., mail.yang.net) using known systems such as the domain name system ("DNS"). After receiving the email message, the second SMTP server may deliver the email messages to the intended recipient's mailbox, which may be stored on the second SMTP server and made available to the intended recipient over the network.
SMTP servers may be configured to restrict the size of attachments which may be sent with an email message. Other SMTP servers may limit the amount of storage space (i.e., the size of a mailbox) allocated to a user to store emails and attachments. Still other SMTP servers may not protect or offer the capability of protecting emails and attachments associated therewith from malicious or otherwise unintended recipients, either locally or while in transit over a computer network.
In addition to the above, unsolicited advertising emails ("SPAM") are ubiquitous on the Internet. It is estimated by some that as of 2007, 90 billion SPAM messages are sent every day, and that so-called "abusive email" accounts for up to 85% of incoming mail in a given email inbox.
Finally, existing email systems exhibit various inefficiencies. For instance, centralized email server farms are estimated to consume over two billion dollars' worth of energy annually around the world. In addition, current methods of encoding attachments involve the use of base64, which encodes attachments as 7-bit representations, rather than traditional 8-bit. Base64 introduces approximately 30% of overhead to each attachment sent. Some estimate that attachments make up 80% of email traffic on the Internet. CPU cycles are also required to perform this encoding on the sending user's computer, as well as perform the decoding on the recipient user's computer.
Aspects of the present invention fulfill these needs and provide further related advantages as described below.
The above described drawing figures illustrate aspects of the invention in at least one of its exemplary embodiments, which are further defined in detail in the following description. Features, elements, and aspects of the invention that are referenced by the same numerals in different figures represent the same, equivalent, or similar features, elements, or aspects, in accordance with one or more embodiments.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Devices, methods, and kits for ocular drug delivery are described herein. An apparatus can include a housing, an energy storage member, a barrel, and a hub. The housing contains the energy storage member. A proximal end portion of the barrel is coupled to a distal end portion of the housing. The barrel is configured to contain medicament and includes at least a portion of a piston and an elastomeric member. The piston is configured to move the elastomeric member within the barrel in response to a force produced by the energy storage member. The hub is coupled to a distal end portion of the barrel. An inner surface of the hub defines a nozzle through which the medicament flows when the elastomeric member moves within the barrel. The nozzle and the energy storage member are collectively configured to produce a fluid jet to access a target location within an eye.

The embodiments described herein relate generally to the field of drug delivery and more particularly to systems, devices, methods, and kits for targeted delivery of a substance into ocular tissues for treatment of the eye.
The anterior region of the eye refers to the front portion of the eye (i.e., the portion of the eye in front of, and including, the lens), and includes structures in front of the vitreous humour such as the cornea, iris, ciliary body and lens. The posterior region of the eye refers to the back portion of the eye (i.e., the portion of the eye behind the lens), and includes the vitreous humor, retina, choroid, and optic nerve. The sclera (a.k.a., the white of the eye) is an opaque, fibrous, protective outer layer of the eye. The sclera includes connective tissue that maintains the shape of the eye by offering resistance to internal and external forces. The suprachoroidal space is the area between the sclera and choroid in the posterior region of the eye. Many inflammatory and proliferative diseases in the posterior region of the eye require long-term pharmaceutical treatment.
Although there are known methods of delivery of substances (e.g., drugs) into the posterior region of the eye, there is a need for improved devices and methods. It is often difficult to deliver effective doses of a drug to the back of the eye using conventional delivery methods such as topical application, intravitreal administration (IVT), or systemic administration. For example, topical applications, such as eye drops, are useful in treating conditions affecting the exterior surface of the eye or tissues at the front of the eye, however, eye drops are often not sufficiently conveyed to the back of the eye, as may be required for treatment of some retinal diseases such as macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, uveitis, and the like. Moreover, there is a short drug-eye contact time using eye drops, which can lead to more frequent applications of the drug. Other topical applications, such as ointments, allow a prolonged drug-eye contact time, thus requiring less frequent applications, but the application process increases the possibility of contamination since the drug is often applied via a person's hand. Furthermore, drugs that are administered via topical application are hindered from reaching the posterior region of the eye by components of the anterior region of the eye, as well as physiologic processes such as tears, blinking, drug metabolism, and drug binding.
Some known methods of treatment employ intravitreal (IVT) administration. IVT administration can include multiple injections due to the limited half-life of many compounds in the vitreous, potentially causing trauma and increase the risk of cataract, retinal detachment, hemorrhage and endophthalmitis.
The delivery of drugs to the posterior region of the eye through systemic administration is limited by the outer and inner blood-retinal barriers. Moreover, other limitations for systemic application of drugs include potentially reduced time of therapeutic effects and potency due to the dilution and degradation of the drug before reaching the target tissue. Thus, systemic administration usually requires an increase in the quantity of drugs necessary to achieve therapeutic concentrations at the target tissue, which increases the risk of adverse effects due to the accumulation of the drug in other tissues throughout the body.
Although injection is used for transdermal and intraocular drug delivery, there remains a need for improved injection systems, devices, kits, and methods, particularly for targeted delivery of substances (e.g., drugs) into the posterior region of the eye. For example, in certain situations, direct injection of a medicament into the eye (e.g., into the vitreous) using conventional 27 gauge or 30 gauge needles and syringes can be effective. Direct injection, however, can be associated with significant safety risks, and physicians often require professional training to effectively perform such methods. Such risks include, for example, controlling the needle depth and placement to deliver the medicament to the desired location (e.g., the suprachoroidal space (SCS) of the eye or the subretinal space (SRS) of the eye), infection, retinal detachment, and vitreous hemorrhage. In some instances, targeted injection of a therapeutic agent is desirable. In such instances, however, the relatively small anatomic structures of the eye often result in significant challenges to placing a needle at a target location using known devices and methods, especially as they pertain to placing the distal end of the needle at the desired depth within the eye.
In addition, many known methods of direct injection of a drug into the eye include inserting a needle or a cannula at an acute angle relative to a surface of the eye, which can make controlling the depth of insertion challenging. For example, some such methods include controlling the angular orientation of the needle such that the injected substance exits the needle at a particular location. Moreover, some known methods of injecting substances into ocular tissue include using complicated visualization system to control the placement of the needle or cannula.
Needle insertion and injection can be further complicated in procedures where, due to the small needle size and/or the characteristics of the injected drug, delivery involves the use of force levels higher than that which users are comfortable with applying. For example, some studies have shown that users (e.g., medical practitioners) generally do not like to apply more than 2 N force against the eye during ocular injection. Accordingly, in certain situations a user may not properly deliver the medicament using known systems and methods because of their reluctance to apply the force to fully expel the medicament.
Moreover, some known systems do not provide a convenient way to prevent leakage from an insertion site, which can lead to discomfort and loss of medicament. For example, intraocular injection can lead to leakage of intraocular fluids (e.g., aqueous and vitreous humour) or the medicament from a delivery passageway formed by the needle penetrating into the ocular tissue. If the medicament is delivered to the sclera instead of the target ocular tissue layer, for example, the SCS and/or the SRS, the high backpressure of the sclera can force the medicament to leak from the insertion site. This can prolong treatment as well as increase costs associated with treatment.
Moreover, injection into different target layers of the eye can cause variability in the amount of the force required for insertion of the needle and/or injection of the medicament. Different layers of the eye can have different densities. For example, the sclera generally has a higher density than the conjunctiva, the SCS, or the SRS. Differences in the density of the target region or layer can produce different backpressure against the needle exit, i.e., the top of the needle from which the fluid emerges. Thus, injection into a relatively dense ocular material such as the sclera requires more motive pressure to expel the medicament from the needle than is required when injecting a medicament into the SCS or the SRS.
Thus, a need exists for improved systems, devices, methods, and kits for localized or targeted delivery of drugs/compounds to treat infections and diseases affecting the eye (e.g., the posterior region of the eye).

Systems and methods for ocular drug delivery


Methods of reducing the effects of measurement device artifacts on a measurement of a sample are presented. A number of reference measurements performed with the measurement device are observed to identify reference independent components of the reference measurements. The variations of the reference independent components are used as surrogates for possible artifacts of the measurement device. A number of measurements of subjects similar to the sample are observed, and similarity components of the subject measurements that vary in a manner similar to the reference independent components may be identified. The sample measurement is then adjusted to remove at least part of the similarity components that correspond to the variations in the reference independent components. The adjustment of the sample measurement is thereby improved by reducing the effects of artifacts of the measurement device.

As new data collection technologies have evolved, allowing the analysis of more complex signals, techniques for analyzing such data have become more complex. For example, the introduction of new technologies in spectroscopy has allowed the collection of very large amounts of data. In some spectroscopic measurements, a high degree of sensitivity is needed to sense constituents that have relatively low concentrations or that lack highly selective spectral attributes. Devices used in such measurements, however, can capture extraneous signals, which can interfere with the accurate extraction of the desired information. For example, Johnson noise and shot noise, fundamental noise sources present in virtually all optically-based instruments, are often-cited sources of extraneous information. Data capture and analysis techniques can reduce the deleterious effects of such noise sources. For some random noise sources, simply extending measurement times or further optimizing the electronics or instrumental set-up can eliminate noise effects.
There are additional non-fundamental noise sources that can be difficult to model in advance that originate in the measurement device, or in the various interfaces to the device. For example, in infrared or near-infrared Raman spectroscopy, a sample is illuminated using an optical source, and light reflecting from or transmitted through the sample is gathered and analyzed to determine characteristics of the sample. The sensitivity of optical detection elements can change, and the output of the excitation source can change. These are two examples of non-fundamental noise sources. Extending measurement times and co-averaging multiple measurements do not always mitigate non-fundamental noise sources.
One traditional approach to eliminating such artifacts is to make measurements of a reference sample, or background, which ostensibly provides a constant measurement response over time. In some instantiations the reference sample is not a sample at all, but rather a measurement in the absence of any sample, sometimes referred to as a 'blank'. If the measured response of this reference is observed to change, it can be inferred that the character of the instrument response has itself changed. In a common implementation in spectroscopy, a measured spectrum of the background serving as the reference is subtracted from the measured absorbance spectrum of a sample, hypothetically eliminating instrumental or environmental artifacts that have commonly corrupted both the reference and sample measurements. Mathematically, this can be expressed as in equations 1 and 2:xsamp=xsampo+δs  (1)xref=xrefo+δr  (2)where xsamp is the observed sample spectrum, xref is the observed reference spectrum, and the superscript 'o' denotes the true (but unobservable) signal character of the sample or reference as indicated. The δ terms appearing in equations 1 and 2 are the instrumental or environmental noise disturbances distorting the measurements. The correction procedure involving background subtraction (or ratioing when operating in intensity rather than absorbance) entails{tilde over (x)}samp=xsamp−xref  (3)
Provided the measurement distortions are equivalent, the following relations hold:{tilde over (x)}samp=(xsampo+δs)−(xrefo+δr)  (4){tilde over (x)}samp=xsampo−xrefo  (5)
Thus, the resultant spectrum {tilde over (x)}samp includes only signal characteristics of the sample and reference, and not distortions in the measurements associated with the measurement device or the sampling environment. There can be aspects of the distortions which do not subtract (e.g., photon shot noise, detector noise), but background subtraction or ratioing does not set out to eliminate these distortions.
In the application of the technique described above it is assumed that δs=δr, and that the reference, xrefo, will not vary; hence, any observed change in {tilde over (x)}samp must be exclusively attributable to a change in the sample. With a collection of background-corrected sample measurements, any number of known multivariate techniques can be used to disassemble the useful signal and, if desired, further determine the sample characteristics of interest. FIG. 1 illustrates this approach result graphically. For instance, a multivariate regression model can be generated from background-corrected spectra to estimate sample properties.
FIG. 2 demonstrates the application of the approach described above when the distortions in the two measurements are non-equivalent, even under scalar multiplication by k:δs≠kδr  (6)If the distortion were simply multiples then conventional background subtraction could still work with trivial modifications. In this case the subtraction of the reference measurement from the sample does not result in the cancellation of the distortion in the sample spectrum.xsamp=xsampo+δs  (7)xref=xrefo+δr  (8)
The resulting corrected spectrum {tilde over (x)}samp is still corrupted by the measurement disturbances:{tilde over (x)}samp=(xsampo+δs)−(xrefo+δr)  (9){tilde over (x)}samp=(xsampo+xrefo)−(δs+δr)  (10)
The possible causes of non-equivalence between δs and δr are myriad. Detector non-linearity, and differences in absorption and scattering properties are typical culprits, but there are many others. There is a need for improved techniques for determining accurate measurements in the presence of such distortions.

Adaptive compensation for measurement distortions in spectroscopy


A frequency splitting laser micrometer for measuring a displacement of an object. The laser micrometer includes a frequency splitting laser directing a first frequency splitting laser beam to the object via a laser output mirror at one end of the laser. The first laser beam is reflected thus outputting a second frequency splitting laser beam, such that a feedback cavity is created, wherein a frequency of the second laser beam is decided by a cavity length of said feedback cavity and accordingly the displacement of the object. A detecting and signal processing unit receives said first and second frequency splitting laser beams and measures the displacement of the object according to interference effects of said first and second laser beams.

The principle of self-mixing interference has led to applications of self-mixing interferometers. The theory of self-mixing interference is as follows. When a portion of a laser beam is reflected by an external target back to a laser cavity, the reflected laser beam can have interference effect with the original laser beam inside the laser cavity. The laser output power can be modulated due to the interference effect. Such modulation is called self-mixing interference since the reflected laser beam is simply a reflection of the original laser beam. Because the reflected laser beam carries certain information of the external target, measurement of the laser output power can provide the information of the external target, such as velocity, surface and displacement, etc. Accordingly, such self-mixing interferometers have been used in different applications such as laser Doppler velocimeter, vibration detection, defect detection, and surface profile measurement, etc.
FIG. 1 is a front section view of a structure of a conventional laser self-mixing interferometer 10. Referring to FIG. 1, the laser self-mixing interferometer 10 includes a He—Ne laser discharge tube 12, a pair of laser cavity mirrors 14 and 16. The laser cavity mirrors 14 and 16 are attached to the laser discharge tube 12. Typically, a He—Ne laser including the laser discharge tube 12 and the laser cavity mirrors 14 and 16 can provide a He—Ne laser beam. Longitudinally disposed along the He—Ne laser are a photoelectric detector 18 and an object 20. The laser cavity mirror 14 allows 0.1%˜0.3% of the laser beam to be transmitted to the photoelectric detector 18. The laser cavity mirror 16 (also called laser output mirror) allows 0.5%˜1.5% of the laser beam to be transmitted to the object 20. The object 20 can be any shape, but must have a reflecting surface 22 to reflect laser beam back to the laser discharge tube 12. When there is a longitudinal displacement 24 of the object 20, the reflected laser beam and the original laser beam can have an interference effect inside the laser discharge tube 12. The photoelectric detector 18 receives the laser beams from the laser cavity mirror 14 and transfers the energy of the laser beams to an electric signal for displacement measurement.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the relationship between the displacement 24 and a laser intensity 26 that is detected by the photoelectric detector 18. Both theory and experiments have indicated that the laser intensity 26 changes an intensity period 28 when the displacement 24 changes a displacement period 30, which is a half of wavelength of the laser beam. An intensity curve 32 is similar to the curve of interferential fringe, though the intensity curve 32 is not an exact sinusoidal curve. Current research on self-mixing interferometer is based on such theory, and may choose semiconductor or CO2 laser to provide laser beam.
However, there are a number of disadvantages to use such type of self-mixing interferometer. For example, such self-mixing interferometer can not decide the direction of the displacement 24 of the object 20 if the reflected laser beam is not extremely strong. In particular, the intensity curve 32 can not show whether the displacement 24 is directed to left or right. If the object 20 moves from left to right for a displacement period 30 and then from right to left for another displacement period 30 back to original position, FIG. 2 will give wrong result indicating two period displacement instead of correct result that is zero displacement. Although certain documents disclose that the displacement direction can be decided according to a triangle-like waveform under the situation that the reflected laser beam is particular strong, such method has failed for its unacceptable measurement errors.
Another disadvantage of the current self-mixing interferometer is that the current interferometer lacks subdividing ability. In particular, the current interferometer has low resolution and cannot distinguish a displacement shorter than a half of the displacement period 30.


A circuit breaker includes a first lug and second and third acoustic lugs electrically connected to a power circuit. Separable contacts are electrically connected in series between the first lug and the second acoustic lug. An operating mechanism opens and closes the separable contacts. A first acoustic sensor is coupled to the second acoustic lug and senses a first acoustic signal from the second acoustic lug. A second acoustic sensor is coupled to the third acoustic lug and senses a second acoustic signal from the third acoustic lug. The first and second acoustic signals are operatively associated with a power circuit fault. A current sensor senses a current flowing between the first and second lugs. A circuit inputs the sensed acoustic signals and the sensed current and detects and distinguishes a parallel arc fault or a series arc fault from the sensed acoustic signals and the sensed current.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical switching apparatus and, more particularly, to circuit interrupters, such as, for example, circuit breakers providing fault protection. The invention also relates to methods for detecting faults, such as arc faults.
2. Background Information
Electrical switching apparatus include, for example, circuit switching devices and circuit interrupters such as circuit breakers, receptacles, contactors, motor starters, motor controllers and other load controllers.
Circuit breaker technology is well-known in the art. An example of a circuit breaker is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,191. Circuit breakers are used to protect electrical circuitry from damage due to an overcurrent condition, such as an overload condition or a high level short circuit condition. Molded case circuit breakers, for example, include at least one pair of separable contacts which are operated manually by way of a handle disposed on the outside of the case or automatically by way of an internal trip unit in response to an overcurrent condition. In small circuit breakers used in load centers commonly found in residential and light commercial applications, such protection is typically provided by a thermal-magnetic trip device. This trip device includes a bimetal, which heats and bends in response to a persistent overcurrent condition. The bimetal, in turn, unlatches a spring powered operating mechanism, which opens the separable contacts of the circuit breaker to interrupt current flow in the protected circuit.
Arcing is a luminous discharge of electricity across an insulating medium, usually accompanied by the partial volatilization of electrodes. An arc fault is an unintentional arcing condition in an electrical circuit. Arc faults can be caused, for instance, by worn insulation between adjacent bared conductors, by exposed ends between broken conductors, by faulty electrical connections, and in other situations where conducting elements are in close proximity. Arc faults in systems can be intermittent since the magnetic repulsion forces generated by the arc current force the conductors apart to extinguish the arc. Mechanical forces then bring the conductors together again in order that another arc is struck.
During sporadic arc fault conditions, the overload capability of the circuit breaker will not function since the root-mean-squared (RMS) value of the fault current is too small to activate the automatic trip circuit. The addition of electronic arc fault sensing to a circuit breaker adds one of the elements required for sputtering arc fault protection—ideally, the output of an electronic arc fault sensing circuit directly trips and, thus, opens the circuit breaker. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,710,688; 6,542,056; 6,522,509; 6,522,228; 5,691,869; and 5,224,006, which deal with DC and AC arc fault detection. See, also, U.S. Pat. No. 6,720,872, which deals with a receptacle.
Known technology for arc fault detection may employ a current signature. The problems associated with this methodology include false arc fault current signature detection from some electrical loads. Also, there are variations in the arc fault that depend on how the arc fault is created including, for example, its immediate environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,328 discloses as background information that widespread methods for precisely locating faults in power cables are based on acoustic detection of an arc at the fault. Typically, a surge generator or "thumper" is used to excite the power cable with a series of high-energy pulses which, in turn, prompt audible sparking and vibration at the fault.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,328 further discloses that a series arc, once formed, tends to grow in length by reason of the thermal and electrochemical action of the arc. The arc literally erodes the adjacent contacts thereby assuring, absent human intervention, that the once marginal "opening" will become a full-fledged gap. This gap will continue to sustain an arc for hours or even months until it grows beyond an arc-sustaining maximum. During such periods, electrical and acoustic noise will be produced by the arc. Further, substantial energy will be generated by reason of the volt-amp product associated with the gap/arc which must be dissipated in order to maintain temperatures within safe limits. The arc is detected by detectors that receive electrical radio frequency (RF) noise.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,734,682 discloses a portable arc fault locating and testing device that employs an ultrasonic pick-up coil and an ultrasonic detector in combination with an audible pick-up coil and an audible detector. A circuit determines the correlation between the ultrasonic sound and the audible sound characteristics of an arc fault.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,777,953 discloses a system for locating parallel arcing faults in a set of wires. The system includes a handheld ultrasonic monitor to measure and indicate the distance from the operator to the arc. It measures both the electromagnetic pulse from the arc and the ultrasonic emission from the arc and uses the difference in arrival times to calculate the distance to the arc.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,798,211 discloses a fault distance indicator that locates a fault in a power line by modeling pulses of reflected traveling wave signals which are generated from electrical arcs that occur as a result of the fault. The fault distance indicator is mounted directly on a power line within a transformer enclosure, is powered by a power signal obtained from a transformer secondary and includes a transceiver, such as an infrared transceiver, although radio frequency or ultrasonic transceivers may be used.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0037615 discloses the generation and detection of acoustic guided waves to evaluate the condition of insulation on electrical wiring. For example, suitable transmitter and receiver transducers are broadband acoustic emission piezoelectric transducers.
The web site at http://www.idiny.com/chafing.html states that a wire chafing sensor is a passive solution to the problem of wire chafing detection by listening to noise signatures in the wire. This also states that the system can detect wire chafing, arcing and burning, and that pattern recognition software categorizes degrees of chafing.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0017731 discloses an apparatus for distinguishing a parallel arc from a series arc. The apparatus measures a value of current flowing in a power circuit, identifies the parallel arc when the measured value of current is greater than a nominal value of current, and identifies the series arc when the measured value of current is less than the nominal value of current.
There is room for improvement in electrical switching apparatus, such as, for example, arc fault circuit breakers and receptacles, and in methods for detecting arc faults.

Electrical switching apparatus and method employing acoustic and current signals to distinguish between parallel and series arc faults


A martial arts kick and strike bag made up of cylindrical and conic sections. A cylindrical section will effectively receive blows delivered in a plane orthoginal to the axis of the practice bag. Blows delivered along a rising incline with respect to the axis of the bag will be most effectively received by the wall of the conic section. Blows are most effectively received when striking the wall of the bag at an impact angle of approximately 90.degree.. The selected angles of the bag walls with respect to the axis of the bag minimize reaction forces such as might result from rising striking blows delivered to prior art, cylindrical, training bags.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to martial arts training devices. In particular, the invention relates to body, punching bags to be struck and kicked by a person practicing a martial art. More specifically, the invention relates to a body, punching bag having its outer walls angled to present an aspect more in keeping with that of an actual opponent.
2. Prior Art
In practicing boxing, karate, and other forms of martial arts, persons frequently make use of large cylindrically shaped punching bags. These bags, about four feet in circumference, have a length usually greater than three feet and less than four feet. These bags have a longitudinal axis. The walls of the bag are parallel to this axis.
When a person practicing hooks and jabs to the head and shoulder region of the opponent strikes out at a body, punching bag, the person's hand travels generally in a plane which is perpendicular to the axis of the bag. The person's hand thus strikes the bag outer wall at an angle of approximately 90.degree.. This is a desirable angle since the full impact of the blow is delivered from the hand to the bag. However, when a person, practicing with the bag, delivers a rising hook punch, or the like, the person's hand impacts the bag at a rising impact angle. Thus, the angle between the outer wall of the bag and the person's arm will be less than 90.degree.. In this instance the full impact of the blow will not be delivered to the bag. Some force will be expended in deflecting the person's blow; and, reaction forces resulting from such deflection can produce injuries to the wrist, arm, or shoulder joints of the person striking the bag.
A similar result obtains when a person practices striking the bag by kicking it. A kick delivered to the cylindrical walls of the conventional body, punching bag frequently moves along an upwardly inclined angle with respect to the axis of the bag. Again, this means that the blow is delivered to the outer wall of the bag at an angle of less than 90.degree., causing the production of deflection forces. The reaction to these deflection forces may result in injury to the ankle, knee or hip joint of the person practicing the kick against the conventional body, punching bag.
It is the intention that the invention shall provide the means whereby a person practicing a martial art may deliver striking blows and kicks to the outer walls of a training bag such that the blows will be directed along a line generally orthoginal to the outer wall of the bag even when the blows are delivered along a rising incline to the axis of the bag.


A battery charging system for electric vehicles comprising a wind tunnel positioned longitudinally along the frame structure of an electric vehicle such that the overall transverse cross section of the vehicle is not increased, designed to minimize the drag effect associated with the wind tunnel. The wind tunnel includes an internal bore having a wide elliptical cross section, defining an air passageway through which air flows, as the vehicle travels in a forward direction. A plurality of wind driven generators are situated within the wind tunnel adapted to covert the stream of air therein to electric energy. The battery charging system further comprises regenerative braking system and solar panels for converting braking force and solar energy to produce electric energy.

This invention relates to a battery charging system for electric vehicles. More particularly, the invention relates to a battery charging system which utilizes wind driven generators, solar panels, and a regenerative braking system, designed for charging the vehicle's battery while it is being driven so that the driving range thereof can be extended.
Varieties of electric powered vehicles have been proposed for passenger use, and have become increasingly popular with environmentalists due to their concern over petroleum scarcity and pollution. However, the existing electric vehicles suffer from a major disadvantage over fuel-consuming vehicles, in that the electric vehicles have limited driving range and require frequent recharging of their batteries. In an effort increase the driving range of electric powered vehicles, several references uncovered in the prior art provide electric vehicles utilizing wind driven generators to recharge their batteries. Such prior art devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,296,746, 4,254,843, 4,179,007, and 3,513,326. Most of the prior art devices employ bulky and awkwardly shaped wind driven generators that have high aerodynamic drag forces associated with them and can lead to a substantial expenditure of energy simply to overcome the aerodynamic drag.
Therefore, there is still a further need to provide an improved battery charging system for electric vehicles. Such a battery charging system should be capable of recharging the battery of an electrically powered vehicle while it is being driven, deriving its electric power from various sources such as the wind, sunlight, and regenerative braking, so that the driving range of the vehicle can be extended. Moreover, such a battery charging system should be capable of converting wind power to electric energy without sacrificing the vehicle's overall aerodynamic characteristics.
While these units mentioned above may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.

Battery charging system for electric vehicles


A stabilizer system for a vehicle including: a stabilizer apparatus which includes: a stabilizer bar connected at opposite ends thereof to respective wheel holding members which respectively hold left and right wheels of the vehicle; and an actuator which changes rigidity of the stabilizer bar in accordance with an operational amount of the actuator from a neutral position; and a control device which determines a target operational amount of the actuator based on a roll-moment-index amount indicative of roll moment that acts on a body of the vehicle, wherein the control device determines the target operational amount such that the target operational amount is made different for different directions of the roll moment that acts on the body of the vehicle and controls an operation of the actuator based on the determined target operational amount.

In recent years, there is proposed an active stabilizer system as described in JP-A-2002-518245, namely, a stabilizer system capable of changing roll restraining force to be exerted or generated by a stabilizer bar in accordance with turning conditions of a vehicle, etc. Such active stabilizer system is installed actually on some vehicles. The stabilizer system includes a stabilizer apparatus constituted by including a stabilizer bar and an actuator. By controlling the operation of the actuator, the rigidity of the stabilizer bar is changed, thereby actively changing the roll restraining force to be exerted by the stabilizer bar.


An apparatus for correcting trajectories variations of projectiles launched from a firearm is disclosed. The apparatus includes a control circuit for determining an appropriate impulse to be imparted into a projectile based on the measured velocity of the projectile, at least one steering coil, and a pulsed-power supply for discharging an amount of energy commensurate with the determined impulse to the steering coil such that a set of magnetic fields is produced to impart an amount of corrective kinetic energy into the projectile as the projectile passes the steering coil.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to projectile trajectory correction in general, and in particular to an apparatus for correcting trajectories of projectiles launched from firearms.
2. Description of Related Art
At long-range target shootings, small variations in bullet velocity can result in major differences in impact points. Long-range shooters try to mitigate any errors caused by velocity variations via the usage of very precise ammunition. However, those errors cannot be completely eliminated, and as the long-range shooters continue to attempt longer shots, errors stemmed from velocity variations become increasingly significant. Advanced optics, wind measurement systems, and computer-controlled firing systems make shot-to-shot velocity variations still more noticeable and important.
Consequently, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for correcting velocity variations of projectiles launched from firearms.

Apparatus for correcting trajectories of projectiles launched from firearms


A lead frame for a hollow plastic package is constructed with a source lead, a pellet mounting portion provided at the central portion of the source lead and mounting a pellet, a lead gate and a drain gate symmetrically provided across the pellet mounting portion at the both sides thereof. Then, each lead is provided with substantially equilateral trapezoidal cut-off having the upper bottom and the lower bottom along the extending direction of the lead on a part of the lead, so that a lead bending portion is formed with a narrow part thereat.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a lead frame for a hollow plastic package. More specifically, the present invention relates to a lead frame for a hollow plastic package which is superior in package strength, lead strength and high frequency characteristics.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, many semiconductor elements are used with an air-tight seal in order to protect themselves from humidity, temperature, contaminant or the like which otherwise causes degradation of characteristics of the element and shortening of life, and enhance mechanical strength for improving handling ability. Kinds of package with an air-tight seal can be classified to a hollow structure package using a ceramic casing and a resin sealed package of epoxy resin or the like. As the resin sealed package, there is a package formed by transfer molding of epoxy resin or the like, and thus completely covering the semiconductor element, and a hollow package which has hollow structure not completely covering the semiconductor element in order to avoid degradation of high frequency characteristics of the semiconductor element (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 4-312963).
Recently, in order to reduce cost of semiconductor devices, particularly such as compound semiconductor devices, it has been required a low cost package that does not degrade high frequency characteristics. Therefore, it has been studied to turn a resin hollow structure package to practical use, in which the compound semiconductor element is not covered completely by the resin. A lead frame to be used in the resin hollow structure package is formed by bending leads outside of the plastic casing of the package in order to permit surface mounting for any packages. However, stress is caused on the plastic casing upon bending formation of the leads to be a cause of faulty product. Thus, in order to reduce the stress, it has been attempted to make the overall leads thinner.
FIG. 1A is a section showing one example of peeling off of a conventional plastic casing, and FIG. 1B is a section showing one example of peeling off of a conventional lead. Even in an attempt to reduce the stress by making overall leads thinner, slight peeling off 401 of the casing at a portion where the plastic casing contact with the lead and peeling off 402 of the lead within the plastic casing can be caused due to stress upon bending formation of the lead of the lead frame as to a resin hollow structure package (hollow plastic package). The reason is that while the backside of the lead frame of the hollow plastic package is covered with the resin, the surface side is merely held by a ring-shaped or quadrangular ridge (wall) structure for sealing a cap later. Namely, when the overall leads are formed to be narrower, a force to depress the lead becomes smaller in comparison with the plastic package by normal transfer molding. Thus, the plastic casing and the lead cannot withstand the stress upon bending formation to cause peeling off 401 of the casing and peeling off of the lead 402.
On the other hand, when the overall leads are made thinner, input/output impedance becomes large, especially upon use of high frequency to cause difficulty in impedance matching when the application is used and to make it difficult to obtain a good grounding condition.


A system for measuring a deflection has a base, a first laser directed downwardly toward an underlying surface at an acute angle, a second laser in spaced relation to the first laser and directed downwardly toward the underlying surface at an approximately vertical angle, a third laser affixed to the base in spaced relation to the second laser and directed downwardly toward the underlying surface at an acute angle in a direction toward the second laser, a camera directed toward the points of reflectance of the lasers with the underlying surface, and a processor cooperative with the camera so as to measure a distance between the points of reflectance of the first and second lasers and measuring the distance between the points of reflectance of the second and third lasers. The processor compares the measured distances so as to produce an angle of deflection of the underlying surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the measurement of the deflection of underlying surfaces. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and processes for measuring the angle of deflection of the rail or pavement when subjected to the load of a wheel. Additionally, the present invention relates to laser-based systems for measuring such deflections.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
The loadbearing capability for pavements and rails may deteriorate, over time, due to a number of factors, including changes in the elastic moduli of subpavement layers of earth. In order to determine pavement conditions for highways, the loadbearing capability of the pavement can be periodically tested. In order to measure the loadbearing capability of the pavement, it is desirable to utilize technologies that are nondestructive so that the integrity of the pavement layers is maintained. Further, it is important that the measurement should be made rapidly, through an automated system, so as to minimize time and reduce costs.
Different methods have been developed for the non-destructive testing of pavements, with one utilizing a falling weight dropped on the pavement from a stationary platform. Sensors than measure the deflection of the pavement at intervals out from the falling weight. Systems utilizing this method of time commonly referred to as falling weight deflectometers.
Other systems utilize a fast-moving, heavy wheel load that rolls along the pavement, with sensors being arranged at intervals out from the wheel to measure deflections. Systems utilizing this approach are commonly referred to as rolling wheel deflectometers. In essence, a load is placed on a wheel that rolls across the pavement and the depth of a deflection basin created by the loaded wheel is measured using precision laser sensors mounted on a horizontal member that tracks with the wheel. Such deflection measurements provide insight into the loadbearing capability of the pavement.
The current technology is very limited in the measurement of pavement deflections. Measurements of deflection can vary between 20 and 50% between falling weight deflectometers, and rolling wheel deflectometers depending on pavement temperature, texture, stiffness, composition, and deflection magnitude. Rolling wheel deflectcometers provide measurements that are combination of deflection, load and texture. The measured deflection is the sum of the actual pavement deflection and the vertical vibration of the layers mounted onto the vehicle.
An area of concern with rolling wheel deflectometers is the compromise between precision and the loss of details associated with spatial averaging. This is of particular concern with measurements that are being taken at high speeds. In general, an averaging of approximately ten meters or more is required in order to reduce the large random errors in the individual measurements caused by bouncing, texture and vibrations of the vehicle.
In addition to the major detrimental effects of vibration and texture, two additional forces require evaluation as the velocity of data acquisition increases. In particular, there can be sideways sway or "rock 'n roll" as the vehicle travels. This lateral shifting exerts a time-varying load on the wheels from side-to-side. If this vehicle is also measuring deflection, either on rails or pavement, then the measured deflection needs to be corrected for the time-varying load. Current practice ignores this effect and assumes the load is constant.
Additionally, at current load data acquisition speeds, the deflection basin is assumed to be symmetrical about the load wheel and back calculations are used to obtain pavement (or railbed) parameters based on a "static load" model. As data acquisition speeds increase, the static model becomes less viable and the deflection basin formed by the moving load will not be symmetrical.
The texture problem fundamentally exists because the diameter of the laser beams is small compared to the irregularities in the pavement surface. This problem is exacerbated by the deliberate efforts to roughen the pavement surface in order to increase water drainage and traction between tires and pavement surface. Further exacerbation is caused by deterioration of the pavement through patching and cracking.
The effective vertical vibration on the total deflection measurement is more difficult to isolate and evaluate. The railroad industry has an analogous problem to the pavement management fraternity where track modulus is analogous to pavement deflection. Rail and pavement deflection measures the competence of the structure supporting the rolling loads, either trains or vehicles. The major difference in noise problems (i.e. vertical vibration and texture) based by rail and pavement engineers is that the smooth rail track surface does not have the texture problem built into pavement surfaces.
As the pavement surface quality deteriorates, deflection measurement quality also deteriorates from a combination of surface reflectance quality, increased roughness and increased vertical vibration. One rolling wheel deflectometer problem is the vertical vibration of the railcar or trailer holding the lasers. Rough pavement primarily affects the pavement deflectometer. Hence, the noise level measured by the railcar deflectometer is a good measure of the vertical vibration component in the rolling wheel deflectometer measurements. An additional problem is the combination of deflection and surface texture. As pavement ages and the surface deteriorates, laser reflectivity rapidly degrades, making accurate measurements problematic. The vertical vibration component of the measurement noise also increases rapidly with deteriorating pavement surface quality.
In the past, various patents have issued with respect to the measurement of pavement deflection.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,913, issued a May 21, 1968 to G. Swift, is an early patent disclosing measurement of pavement deflection. In this patent, a moving vehicle applies a load to the underlying surface. A first carriage is moved by the vehicle having a structural displacement sensing device mounted thereon which is adapted to sense structure displacement near the point of application of the load. A second carriage is moved by the vehicle simultaneously with the first carriage. The second carriage also has a displacement sensing device adapted to sense structural displacement sufficiently removed from the point of application of the load to the structure so as to be unaffected by the load. Suitable electrical signals are transmitted so as to be indicative of the deflection.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,427,877, issued on Feb. 18, 1969 to Swift et al., discloses a dynamic deflection determination device. This device includes a two-wheeled trailer and a force applying assembly mounted to the trailer. A motion sensing device detects deflections of the structure resulting from the application of a cyclic force. The motion sensing device is mechanically coupled to the structure. Electrical signals are transmitted indicative of the movement detected by the motion sensing device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,695, issued on Feb. 18, 1986 to Elton et al., discloses a non-contact road profilometer and deflection meter. This apparatus includes a rigid frame attached to a vehicle, first, second and third profile detecting means, and a controller for simultaneously instructing the profile detecting means to activate to cause the distance to be simultaneously measured between the frame and the underlying road surface at three laterally spaced-apart locations. This provides a set of distance data.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,788,859, issued on Dec. 6, 1988 to A. S. Khattak, shows a method for direct measurement of the vertical displacement of a point on a surface of the pavement upon application of a load thereto. The method measures the vertical displacement through the use of optical equipment. The displacement is equivalent to the vertical movement of an optical focusing element between the position of the element when a point on the surface of the pavement is in focus with and without the application of the load. The point linear displacement measurement can be applied to the calculation of a volumetric displacement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,366, issued on Sep. 10, 1991 to Basson et al., shows a method for measuring deflection or deformation in pavement structures. The system includes at least one apparatus including an electric coils sensitive to relative movement between them at a relatively anchored body of ferromagnetic material. A pair of longitudinally-spaced relatively movable discs and a body of resilient transversely extendable material is positioned between the discs. A nut serves to urge the discs toward one another so as to cause the body transversely to expand to secure the apparatus at a predetermined depth against a wall in a test hole.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,353, issued on Sep. 19, 2000 to L. Gronkov, discloses a method and apparatus for non-contact measuring of the deflection of roads or rails. This equipment includes a self-propelled vehicle with a load which influences at least one wheel. The speed of the wheel is measured in the direction of travel. A laser device includes at least one electromagnetic beam directed toward the roadway in the vicinity of the vehicle. A Doppler frequency change in the reflection is detected. An electronic circuit continuously registers the results of the measurements and, as such, the deflection at a normal traveling speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,808, issued on May 19, 1998 R. F. Johnson, teaches a self-compensating rolling weight deflectometer for the measurement of a pavement under load. The deflectometer incorporates an alignment laser beam emitter that measures vertical displacement of each of the plurality of distance sensors is mounted on a horizontal sensor bearer member that bends or vibrates as it is transported over a pavement for deflection measurement. The measured vertical displacements, due to member bending, allows the deflectometer to compensate for errors introduced by member bending and thereby provide a more accurate measurement of pavement deflection.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,596,113, issued on Dec. 3, 2013 P. Ullidtz, provides an improved non-destructive testing of pavements using rolling wheel deflectometers having more than four sensors. The additional sensors accurately detect pavement deflections under load by compensating for the influence of the load deflection basin. The sensors are positioned beyond the wheel load. The sensors are spaced with equal distances from the rolling weight and can have a distance between adjacent sensors that is greater than the equivalent thickness of the pavement being measured.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2012/0010828, published on Jan. 12, 2012 P. Ullidtz, describes a rolling weight deflectometer having sensors to measure pavement deflection. The sensors provide test data to determine the subgrade modulus and equivalent thickness of the pavements. This information is then utilized to determine more than deflection and is utilized to determine critical strain parameters so as to predict bearing capacity, rutting and roughness characteristics of pavements.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system and process for measuring deflection which avoids the problems associated with vertical vibration of the sensors.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and process for measuring deflection that overcomes the effect of texture and reflectance quality on laser spot reflectivity.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and process for measuring deflection which avoids corruption of pavement deflection measurement.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and process for measuring deflection which dynamically measures load.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a system and process for measuring deflection that eliminates vertical vibration noise components.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a system and process for the measuring of deflection which measures the angle of deflection in order to calculate the amount of deflection.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the attached specification and appended claims.

System and process for measuring deflection


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