A wiring substrate includes an insulating layer (1) formed with a tapered through-hole (2), a first wiring layer (3) covering an upper surface of the insulating layer (1) therewith, a second wiring layer (4) covering a lower surface of the insulating layer therewith (1), and an electrically conductive layer (5) covering an inner surface (2a) of the through-hole (2) and closing the tapered through-hole (2) at a bottom of the tapered through-hole (2).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a wiring substrate to be used in electronic devices, a multi-layered wiring substrate formed by layering films such as a build-up wiring substrate, and method of fabricating such a wiring substrate and a multi-layered wiring substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been used a wiring substrate for an assembly of an electronic device, which substrate was fabricated generally by adhering an electrically conductive layer such as a copper foil to a hard substrate composed, for instance, of glass epoxy, and patterning the electrically conductive layer into a circuit pattern. Recently, a flexible wiring substrate comprised of a resin film has been used in place of the above-mentioned wiring substrate. Hereinbelow are explained two examples of such a flexible wiring substrate.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional wiring substrate 100 as a first example. The wiring substrate 100 is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-224014.
The wiring substrate 100 is comprised of an insulating layer 31 composed of polyimide resin, a first wiring layer 34 adhered to an upper surface of the insulating layer 31 through an adhesive 32, and a second wiring layer 35 adhered to a lower surface of the insulating layer 31 through an adhesive 33.
The first and second wiring layers 34 and 35 have desired patterns and are comprised of a copper foil.
The insulating layer 31 and the first and second wiring layers 34 and 35 are formed with a through-hole 36. The through-hole 36 is covered along an inner surface thereof with an electrically conductive layer 37 which electrically connects the first and second wiring layers 34 and 35 to each other.
A through-hole 39 an outer surface of which is defined by the electrically conductive layer 37 is filled with an electrically conductive or non-conductive material 38.
The electrically conductive layer 37, the electrically conductive or non-conductive material 38, and the first wiring layer 34 are covered with a resist film 40 without a part of the first wiring layer 34.
A first electrically conductive layer 41 is formed on the first wiring layer 34 in a region not covered with the resist film 40. A second electrically conductive layer 42 is formed on the second wiring layer 35.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional wiring substrate 200 as a second example. The wiring substrate 200 is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-64231.
The wiring substrate 200 is comprised of an insulating layer 51 composed of polyimide resin, a first wiring layer 54 adhered to an upper surface of the insulating layer 51 through an adhesive 52, and a second wiring layer 55 adhered to a lower surface of the insulating layer 51 through an adhesive 53.
The first and second wiring layers 54 and 55 have desired patterns and are comprised of a copper foil.
The insulating layer 51 and the first wiring layer 54 are formed with a via-hole 56 reaching the second wiring layer 55. The via-hole 56 is covered along an inner surface thereof with an electrically conductive layer 57 which covers further with the second wiring layer 55 and hence electrically connects the first and second wiring layers 54 and 55 to each other.
A recess 59 an outer surface of which is defined by the electrically conductive layer 57 is filled with an electrically conductive or non-conductive material 58.
The electrically conductive layer 57, the electrically conductive or non-conductive material 58, and the first wiring layer 54 are covered with a resist film 60 without a part of the first wiring layer 54.
A first electrically conductive layer 61 is formed on the first wiring layer 54 in a region not covered with the resist film 60. A second electrically conductive layer 62 is formed on the second wiring layer 55.
As mentioned above, the conventional wiring substrates 100 and 200 are designed to have the first and second wiring layers 34, 35 and 54, 55 adhered to the insulating layers 31 and 51 through the adhesives 32, 33 and 52, 53. Namely, the conventional wiring substrates 100 and 200 have to include a substrate coated with a copper foil, resulting in an increase in fabrication cost.
In addition, since the electrically conductive layers 37 and 57 are laid on the first and second wiring layers 34, 35 and 54, 55, there are generated a step or steps formed on the first and second wiring layers 34, 35 and 54. This results in a problem that it becomes quite difficult to fabricate the wiring substrate thinner.
Furthermore, the through- or via-hole 36 or 56 is necessary to be formed smaller as a pitch between through- or via-holes becomes smaller. However, it would be more difficult to fill the through- or via-hole 36 or 56 with a filler in the conventional wiring substrates 100 and 200, if the through- or via-hole 36 or 56 were formed smaller.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-125722 has suggested a two-layered wiring substrate comprised of an insulating substrate composed of an insulating material, a first copper wiring layer formed on an upper surface of the insulating substrate, a second copper wiring layer formed on a lower surface of the insulating substrate, the insulating substrate being formed with a blind via-hole extending between the first and second wiring layers throughout the insulating substrate, and a copper plating layer formed on an inner surface of the blind via-hole to electrically connect the first and second copper wiring layers to each other.
However, the above-mentioned problems remain unsolved even in the above-mentioned Publication.
In view of the above-mentioned problems in the conventional wiring substrates, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wiring substrate which makes it no longer necessary to adhere copper foils to an insulating layer, eliminates a step or steps which was (were) formed on wiring layers, and removes difficulty in filling a through- or via-hole with a filler.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a multi-layered wiring substrate which does the same.
It is further an object of the present invention to provide a method of fabricating the above-mentioned wiring substrate and multi-layered wiring substrate.
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a wiring substrate including (a) an insulating layer formed with at least one tapered through-hole, (b) a first wiring layer covering an upper surface of the insulating layer therewith, (c) a second wiring layer covering a lower surface of the insulating layer therewith, and (d) an electrically conductive layer covering an inner surface of the tapered through-hole and closing the tapered through-hole at a bottom of the tapered through-hole.
It is preferable that the electrically conductive layer is integral with the first wiring layer.
It is preferable that the electrically conductive layer is integral with the second wiring layer.
It is preferable that a relation between a diameter xcfx86 of the tapered through-hole at a bottom thereof and a thickness T of the electrically conductive layer is defined as follows:
xcfx86xe2x89xa62T
For instance, the diameter xcfx86 may be in the range of 10 to 40 micrometers both inclusive.
For instance, the thickness T may be in the range of 5 to 30 micrometers both inclusive.
For instance, the tapered through-hole may have a taper angle in the range of 15 to 65 degrees both inclusive relative to an axis of the tapered through-hole.
It is preferable that the first and second wiring layers and the electrically conductive layer are composed of copper or copper alloy, and are formed in contact with the insulating layer without applying an adhesive therebetween.
It is preferable that the first and second wiring layers and the electrically conductive layer are comprised of an electroless plating layer.
It is preferable that the first and second wiring layers and the electrically conductive layer are comprised of an electroless plating layer and an electrolytic plating layer formed on the electroless plating layer.
It is preferable that the insulating layer and the tapered through-hole have roughness in the range of 0.1 to 10 micrometers both inclusive at surfaces thereof.
It is preferable that the insulating layer and the tapered through-hole have roughness in the range of 0.5 to 5 micrometers both inclusive at surfaces thereof.
It is preferable that the wiring substrate further includes a metal layer partially or entirely covering at least one of the first and second wiring layers therewith.
It is preferable that the metal layer is comprised of a gold layer or a palladium layer. As an alternative, the metal layer may be comprised of a nickel layer and a gold layer formed on the nickel layer, or of a nickel layer and a palladium layer formed on the nickel layer.
In another aspect of the present invention, there is provided multi-layered wiring substrate including (a) a plurality of wiring substrates each of which is defined as mentioned above, (b) an interlayer insulating layer(s) sandwiched between the wiring substrates for electrically isolating the wiring substrates from each other, and (c) an interlayer electrical conductor(s) electrically connecting the second wiring layer of an upper wiring substrate to the first wiring layer of a lower wiring substrate.
For instance, the interlayer insulating layer may be composed of adhesive resin or thermoplastic resin.
It is preferable that the adhesive resin or thermo-plastic resin has a glass transition temperature of 150 degrees centigrade or greater.
It is preferable that the interlayer electrical conductor is composed of a metal selected from a group consisting of tin, lead, silver, copper, gold and aluminum.
For instance, the interlayer electrical conductor may be composed of an alloy including at least two of tin, lead, silver, copper, gold and aluminum.
It is preferable that the interlayer electrical conductor is in the form of an electrically conductive paste.
In still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of fabricating a wiring substrate, including the steps of (a) forming a tapered through-hole through an insulating layer, (b) forming an electrically conductive layer covering an inner surface of the tapered through-hole therewith such that the tapered through-hole is closed at a bottom thereof, (c) forming a first wiring layer on an upper surface of the insulating layer, and (d) forming a second wiring layer on a lower surface of the insulating layer.
It is preferable that the electrically conductive layer, the first wiring layer and the second wiring layer are concurrently and integrally formed.
It is preferable that the method may further include the step of roughening the upper and lower surfaces of the insulating layer and an inner surface of the tapered through-hole.
It is preferable that the method may further include the step of applying plating catalyst to roughened upper and lower surfaces of the insulating layer and roughened inner surface of the tapered through-hole.
It is preferable that the electrically conductive layer and the first and second wiring layers are formed by electroless plating.
It is preferable that the electrically conductive layer and the first and second wiring layers are formed by electroless plating and then electrolytic plating.
It is preferable that the tapered through-hole is formed by irradiating a laser beam to the insulating layer.
It is preferable that the tapered through-hole is formed by etching the insulating layer with strong alkaline solution.
There is further provided a method of fabricating a wiring substrate, including the steps of (a) forming a tapered through-hole through an insulating layer, (b) forming a thin plating layer both entirely on upper and lower surfaces of the insulating layer and on an inner surface of the tapered through-hole, (c) forming a resist layer on the thin plating layer except first, second and third regions, (d) forming a first wiring layer in the first region, a second wiring layer in the second region, and an electrically conductive layer in the third region on the thin plating layer, the first wiring layer covering an upper surface of the insulating layer therewith, the second wiring layer covering a lower surface of the insulating layer therewith, the electrically conductive layer covering an inner surface of the tapered through-hole therewith such that the tapered through-hole is closed at a bottom thereof, (e) removing the resist layer, and (f) removing the thin plating layer having been covered with the thus removed resist layer.
It is preferable that the thin plating layer is formed by electroless plating in the step (b).
It is preferable that the first and second wiring layers and the electrically conductive layer are formed by electroless plating in the step (d).
It is preferable that the first and second wiring layers and the electrically conductive layer are formed by electrolytic plating in the step (d).
It is preferable that the first and second wiring layers and the electrically conductive layer are formed by electroless plating and then electrolytic plating in the step (d).
There is still further provided a method of fabricating a wiring substrate, including the steps of (a) forming a tapered through-hole through an insulating layer, (b) forming a resist layer both entirely on upper and lower surfaces of the insulating layer and on an inner surface of the tapered through-hole without first, second and third regions, (c) forming a first wiring layer in the first region, a second wiring layer in the second region, and an electrically conductive layer in the third region, the first wiring layer covering an upper surface of the insulating layer therewith, the second wiring layer covering a lower surface of the insulating layer therewith, the electrically conductive layer covering an inner surface of the tapered through-hole therewith such that the tapered through-hole is closed at a bottom thereof, and (d) removing the resist layer.
It is preferable that the first and second wiring layers and the electrically conductive layer are formed by electroless plating in the step (c).
It is preferable that the first and second wiring layers and the electrically conductive layer are formed by electroless plating and then electrolytic plating in the step (c).
There is yet further provided a method of fabricating a wiring substrate, including the steps of (a) forming a tapered through-hole through an insulating layer, (b) forming a first plating layer both entirely on upper and lower surfaces of the insulating layer and on an inner surface of the tapered through-hole, (c) forming a second plating layer on the first plating layer, the second plating layer having a thickness greater than a thickness of the first plating layer, (d) forming a resist layer on the second plating layer except first, second and third regions, (e) removing the second plating layer in the first, second and third regions to thereby form a first wiring layer in the first region, a second wiring layer in the second region, and an electrically conductive layer in the third region, the first and second wiring layers and the electrically conductive layer being composed of the first and second plating layers, the first wiring layer covering an upper surface of the insulating layer therewith, the second wiring layer covering a lower surface of the insulating layer therewith, the electrically conductive layer covering an inner surface of the tapered through-hole therewith such that the tapered through-hole is closed at a bottom thereof, and (f) removing the resist layer.
For instance, the first plating layer may be formed by electroless plating in the step (b). For instance, the second plating layer may be formed by electroless plating or electrolytic plating in the step (c). As an alternative, the second plating layer may be formed by electroless plating and then electrolytic plating in the step (c).
There is further provided a method of fabricating a multi-layered wiring substrate, each wiring substrate including (a) an insulating layer formed with at least one tapered through-hole, (b) a first wiring layer covering an upper surface of the insulating layer therewith, (c) a second wiring layer covering a lower surface of the insulating layer therewith, and (d) an electrically conductive layer covering an inner surface of the through-hole and closing the tapered through-hole at a bottom of the tapered through-hole, the method including the steps of (a) piling up a plurality of the wiring substrates such that the second wiring layer of an upper wiring substrate is electrically connected to the first wiring layer of a lower wiring substrate through an interlayer electrical conductor and that an interlayer insulating layer is sandwiched between upper and lower wiring substrates, and (b) applying heat to a resultant resulted from the step (a), in vacuum condition.
It is preferable that pressure is further applied to the resultant in the step (b).
For instance, the interlayer insulating layer may be formed by coating adhesive resin or thermo-plastic resin in liquid. The interlayer insulating layer may be formed by printing adhesive resin or thermoplastic resin in liquid. As an alternative, the interlayer insulating layer may be formed by transcribing adhesive resin or thermo-plastic resin in liquid.
It is preferable that the interlayer insulating layer is formed by thermally laminating adhesive resin or thermo-plastic resin which is in the form of a film.
It is preferable that the interlayer insulating layer is formed by laminating adhesive resin or thermo-plastic resin which is in the form of a film, in vacuum condition.
The advantages obtained by the aforementioned present invention will be described hereinbelow.
In accordance with the present invention, it is no longer necessary to use a substrate which are coated at upper and lower surfaces thereof with a copper film such as a copper foil through an adhesive, unlike the conventional wiring substrates. Hence, a wiring substrate in accordance with the present invention can be fabricated at lower costs than the conventional wiring substrates.
In addition, a wiring substrate in accordance with the present invention can be fabricated thinner than the conventional wiring substrates in which an electrically conductive layer is laid on a wiring layer.
The present invention further presents a multi-layered wiring substrate providing the same advantages as mentioned above.
The above and other objects and advantageous features of the present invention will be made apparent from the following description made with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the drawings.

Wiring substrate, multi-layered wiring substrate and method of fabricating those


A wiper blade assembly for mounting on the end of a wiper arm and engaging a windshield has a main yoke generally pivoted at a central pivot on the wiper arm and having a pair of outer ends, respective upper and lower secondary yokes pivoted at outer axes on the outer ends of the main yoke and having inner and outer ends, and respective tertiary yokes pivoted on the outer ends of the secondary yokes. The tertiary yokes have inner and outer ends formed as blade holders and the inner ends of the secondary yokes are also formed as blade holders. A wiper blade carried in the holders and engageable against a windshield. An outer wind-deflecting aerodynamic vane is carried on each secondary yoke between the respective outer end and the respective outer pivot and an inner wind-deflecting aerodynamic vane is carried on each secondary yoke between the respective inner end and the respective outer pivot.

A standard windshield wiper is comprised of a wiper arm normally pivoted at a lower end at the base of the windshield about an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the wiper arm and an upper end on which a blade assembly is pivoted about an axis perpendicular to a plane including the lower-end pivot axis and wiper-arm longitudinal axis. The assembly itself comprises a main yoke pivoted on the upper end of the wiper arm and normally extending generally parallel to the wiper arm. Upper and lower secondary yokes are pivoted to upper and lower ends of the main yoke and upper and lower tertiary yokes are frequently pivoted on the upper and lower ends of the secondary yokes and also in particularly long setups on the lower and upper ends of the upper and lower secondary yokes, respectively, it being noted that the terms "upper" and "lower" are here used relatively only and respectively refer to being distal or proximal, respectively, from the axis at which the wiper arm is pivoted on the vehicle. The ends of the tertiary yokes, and also normally the upper and lower ends of the lower and upper secondary yokes, are formed as claws that engage around a backing strip that in turn carries an elastomeric wiper blade. The main yoke may carry two such pairs of secondary yokes carrying respective tertiary yokes for carrying two such backing strips and blades.
A problem at high vehicle speed is that the air moving over the windshield can in effect get under the wiper blade assembly and lift it from the windshield, reducing the wiping effect. Accordingly it is known, for example from German patent document 3,004,478 to incorporate one or more air deflector members in the central main yoke of the blade assembly so that as the velocity of the moving air stream increases, the force with which the assembly is pressed down on the windscreen is also increased. However, this known method does not take account of the likely variation in pressures generated on the wiper blade by the secondary and/or tertiary yokes and although some overall improvement can be expected by the use of air deflector members on the main yoke, such use has not, thus far, solved the problem of securing good end-to-end wiping performance on a range of different windshield profiles over a range of different moving air stream configurations.

Windshield-wiper assembly with air deflector


An acoustic wave device includes: a substrate; a piezoelectric film located on the substrate; a lower electrode and an upper electrode facing each other across the piezoelectric film, at least one of the lower electrode and the upper electrode including a first conductive film and a second conductive film formed on the first conductive film; an insulating film sandwiched between the first conductive film and the second conductive film and having a temperature coefficient of an elastic constant opposite in sign to a temperature coefficient of an elastic constant of the piezoelectric film; and a third conductive film formed on edge surfaces of the insulating film and the second conductive film and causing electrical short circuits between the first conductive film and the second conductive film.

Acoustic wave devices using a piezoelectric thin film resonator are used as filters of wireless devices, for example. The piezoelectric thin film resonator has a structure designed to have a lower electrode and an upper electrode facing each other across a piezoelectric film. A region where the lower electrode and the upper electrode face each other across the piezoelectric film is a resonance region. Examples of the acoustic wave devices using the piezoelectric thin film resonator include a filter and a duplexer. The piezoelectric film, the lower electrode, and the upper electrode of the piezoelectric thin film resonator usually have negative temperature coefficients of an elastic constant. Thus, the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric thin film resonator shifts to a low frequency side as temperature increases. As described above, in the acoustic wave device, the resonance frequency, the anti-resonance frequency, and the passband change in accordance with temperature.
There has been known a piezoelectric thin film resonator that uses an insulating film such as a silicon oxide film having a temperature coefficient opposite to those of the piezoelectric film, the lower electrode, and the upper electrode as a temperature compensation film to prevent the frequency from changing in accordance with the temperature (e.g. Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 58-137317 (Patent Document 1) and 60-16010 (Patent Document 2)).
There has been known a piezoelectric thin film resonator that provides conductive films on the upper and lower surfaces of the insulating film to cause short circuits or a piezoelectric thin film resonator that embeds a temperature compensation film in the lower electrode or the upper electrode to prevent the decrease of an electromechanical coupling coefficient due to the use of the temperature compensation film (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 60-16010 (Patent Document 2), U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2011/0266925 (Patent Document 3), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,420,820 (Patent Document 4)).
It has been known that resonance characteristics degrade when the upper electrode is thinner in the peripheral portion of the resonance region than in the center portion (e.g. FIG. 8 in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-109472 (Patent Document 5)).
When the temperature compensation film is embedded in the lower electrode or the upper electrode as disclosed in Patent Documents 3 and 4, the lower electrode or the upper electrode becomes thinner in the peripheral portion of the resonance region than in the center portion. Thus, resonance characteristics degrade as disclosed in FIG. 8 of Patent Document 5.

Acoustic wave device and method of fabricating the same


A method for remote monitoring includes (1) generating first sensor data from a first sensor at a first network node of a communications network and (2) sending the first sensor data from the first sensor to a second network node that is remote from the first network node, via the communications network. The first network node is powered from an electrical power grid that is separate from the communications network. The first sensor data may be raw sensor data and/or lossless sensor data.

The field of the disclosure relates to real-time and interval data collection using massive distributed sensor networks, analysis, and anomaly detection for, in one implementation, power grid systems.
Current monitoring sensor technologies are limited by the need for sufficient power (either wired or through batteries), communications capabilities, and real estate at appropriate locations for effective data collection. Power grids are traditionally monitored through costly installation of new sensors with wireless communication capabilities or through monitoring equipment located at power substations. Both solutions are costly and plagued by delayed data reporting, loss of power when the energy grid suffers a failure, and coarse data resolution. For example, a single monitored substation may typically serve roughly 1000 or more homes. When power fails at these sites, any sensors connected directly to the power network lose both power and communication capabilities until such a time that power grid is restored. In a power grid embodiment, there can be a serious public safety issues while power is partially or totally offline. Additionally, power grid metrics today suffer from fragmentation issues due to the large number of individual power companies, delays in detection reporting times, and the lack of intelligence with secondary power within the collection framework.


The invention is related to phosphorus substituted kinase inhibitory compounds, compositions containing such compounds, and therapeutic methods that include the administration of such compounds, as well as to processes and intermediates useful for preparing such compounds.

Improving the delivery of drugs and other agents to target cells and tissues has been the focus of considerable research for many years. Though many attempts have been made to develop effective methods for importing biologically active molecules into cells, both in vivo and in vitro, none has proved to be entirely satisfactory. Optimizing the association of the inhibitory drug with its intracellular target, while minimizing intercellular redistribution of the drug, e.g., to neighboring cells, is often difficult or inefficient.
Most agents currently administered to a patient parenterally are not targeted, resulting in systemic delivery of the agent to cells and tissues of the body where it is unnecessary, and often undesirable. This may result in adverse drug side effects, and often limits the dose of a drug (e.g., glucocorticoids and other anti-inflammatory drugs) that can be administered. By comparison, although oral administration of drugs is generally recognized as a convenient and economical method of administration, oral administration can result in either (a) uptake of the drug through the cellular and tissue barriers, e.g., blood/brain, epithelial, cell membrane, resulting in undesirable systemic distribution, or (b) temporary residence of the drug within the gastrointestinal tract. Accordingly, a major goal has been to develop methods for specifically targeting agents to cells and tissues. Benefits of such treatment includes avoiding the general physiological effects of inappropriate delivery of such agents to other cells and tissues, such as uninfected cells.
Many of the current treatment regimes for cell proliferation diseases such as psoriasis and cancer utilize compounds which inhibit DNA synthesis. Such compounds are toxic to cells generally but their toxic effect on rapidly dividing cells such as tumor cells can be beneficial. Alternative approaches to anti-proliferative agents which act by mechanisms other than the inhibition of DNA synthesis have the potential to display enhanced selectivity of action.
In recent years it has been discovered that a cell may become cancerous by virtue of the transformation of a portion of its DNA into an oncogene i.e. a gene that, on activation, leads to the formation of malignant tumor cells (Bradshaw, Mutagenesis 1986, 1, 91). Several such oncogenes give rise to the production of peptides which are receptors for growth factors. The growth factor receptor complex subsequently leads to an increase in cell proliferation. It is known, for example, that several oncogenes encode tyrosine kinase enzymes and that certain growth factor receptors are also tyrosine kinase enzymes (Yarden et al., Ann. Rev. Biochem., 1988, 57, 443; Larsen et al., Ann. Reports in Med. Chem. 1989, Chpt. 13).
Receptor tyrosine kinases are important in the transmission of biochemical signals that initiate cell replication. They are large enzymes that span the cell membrane and possess an extracellular binding domain for growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF), and an intracellular portion that functions as a kinase to phosphorylate tyrosine amino acids in proteins and hence influence cell proliferation. Various classes of receptor tyrosine kinases are known (Wilks, Advances in Cancer Research, 1993, 60, 43-73) based on families of growth factors thath bind to different receptor tyrosine kinases. The classification includes Class I receptor tyrosine kinases comprising the EGF family of receptor tyrosine kinases such as the EGF, TGFα, NEU, erbB, Xmrk, HER and let23 receptors, Class II receptor tyrosine kinases comprising the insulin family of receptor tyrosine kinases such as the insulin, IGFI and insulin-related receptor (IRR) receptors and Class III receptor tyrosine kinases comprising the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) family of receptor tyrosine kinases such as the PDGFα, PDGFβ and colony-stimulating factor 1 (CSF1) receptors.
It is known that Class I kinases such as the EGF family of receptor tyrosine kinases are frequently present in common human cancers such as breast cancer (Sainsbury et al., Brit. J. Cancer, 1988, 58, 458; Guerin et al., Oncogene Res., 1988, 3, 21 and Klijn et al., Breast Cancer Res. Treat., 1994, 29, 73), non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) including adenocarcinomas (Cerny et al., Brit. J. Cancer, 1986, 54, 265; Reubi et al., Int. J. Cancer, 1990, 45, 269; and Rusch et al., Cancer Research, 1993, 53, 2379) and squamous cell cancer of the lung (Hendler et al., Cancer Cells, 1989, 7, 347), bladder cancer (Neal et al., Lancet, 1985, 366), oesophageal cancer (Mukaida et al., Cancer, 1991, 68, 142), gastrointestinal cancer such as colon, rectal or stomach cancer (Bolen et al., Oncogene Res., 1987, 1, 149), cancer of the prostate (Visakorpi et al., Histochem. J., 1992, 24, 481), leukaemia (Konaka et al., Cell, 1984, 37, 1035) and ovarian, bronchial or pancreatic cancer (European Patent Specification No. 0400586). As further human tumor tissues are tested for the EGF family of receptor tyrosine kinases, it is expected that their widespread prevalence will be established in further cancers such as thyroid and uterine cancer. It is also known that EGF type tyrosine kinase activity is rarely detected in normal cells, whereas it is more frequently detectable in malignant cells (Hunter, Cell, 1987, 50, 823). It has been shown more recently (W. J. Gullick, Brit. Med. Bull., 1991, 47, 87) that EGF receptors that possess tyrosine kinase activity are overexpressed in many human cancers such as brain, lung squamous cell, bladder, gastric, breast, head and neck, oesophageal, gynaecological and thyroid tumors.
Accordingly, an inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinases should be of value as a selective inhibitor of the growth of mammalian cancer cells (Yaish et al. Science, 1988, 242, 933). Support for this view is provided by the demonstration that erbstatin, an EGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor, specifically attenuates the growth in athymic nude mice of a transplanted human mammary carcinoma that expresses EGF receptor tyrosine kinase but is without effect on the growth of another carcinoma that does not express EGF receptor tyrosine kinase (Toi et al., Eur. J. Cancer Clin. Oncol., 1990, 26, 722.) Various derivatives of styrene are also stated to possess tyrosine kinase inhibitory properties (European Patent Application Nos. 0 211 363, 0 304 493 and 0 322 738) and to be of use as anti-tumor agents. The in vivo inhibitory effect of two such styrene derivatives that are EGF receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors has been demonstrated against the growth of human squamous cell carcinoma inoculated into nude mice (Yoneda et al., Cancer Research, 1991, 51, 4430). Various known tyrosine kinase inhibitors are disclosed in a more recent review by T. R. Burke Jr. (Drugs of the Future, 1992, 17, 119).
Kinase inhibitors have valuable pharmacological properties and can be used, for example, as anti-tumoral drugs and as drugs against atherosclerosis. The phosphorylation of proteins has long been known as an important step in the differentiation and proliferation of cells. Phosphorylation is catalyzed by protein kinases that are divided into serine/threonine kinases and tyrosine kinases. The serine/threonine kinases include protein kinase C and the tyrosine kinases include PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor)-receptor tyrosine kinase and Bcr-Abl kinase.
Kinase inhibitors inhibit cellular kinases that are involved in disease states, for example, Bcr-Abl. Chronic myelogenous Leukemia (CML) is a hematological stem cell disorder associated with a specific chromosomal translocation known as the Philadelphia chromosome that is detected in 95% of patients with CML and 20% with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL). The molecular consequences of the translocation is the fusion of the abl protooncogene to the bcr gene resulting in the production of an activated from of Abl tyrosine protein kinase. The Bcr-Abl protein is capable of inducing leukemias in mice, thus implicating the protein as the cause of these diseases. As the tyrosine kinase activity of the Bcr-Abl protein is essential to its transforming ability, an inhibitor would be useful therapy for these disorders.
In addition, kinase inhibitors prevent the development of resistance (multi-drug resistance) in cancer treatment with other chemotherapeutic drugs or remove existing resistance to other chemotherapeutic drugs.
Two processes, the de novo formation of vessels from differentiating endothelial cells or angioblasts in the developing embryo (vasculogenesis) and the growth of new capillary vessels from existing blood vessels (angiogenesis), are involved in the development of the vascular systems of animal organs and tissues. Transient phases of new vessel formation (neovascularization) also occur in the adult body, for example, during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy or wound healing. On the other hand, a number of diseases are known to be associated with deregulated angiogenesis, for example, retinopathies, psoriasis, hemangioblastoma, hemangioma, and neoplastic diseases (solid tumors). The complex processes of vasculogenesis and angiogenesis have been found to involve a whole range of molecules, especially angiogenic growth factors and their endothelial receptors, as well as cell adhesion molecules.
Recent findings show that at the center of the network regulating the growth and differentiation of the vascular system and its components, both during embryonic development and normal growth and in a wide number of pathological anomalies and diseases, lies the angiogenic factor known as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), along with its cellular receptors (see Breier, G., et al., Trends in Cell Biology 6, 454-6 (1996) and the references cited therein).
VEGF is a dimeric, disulfide-linked 46-kDa glycoprotein and is related to platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). It is produced by normal cell lines and tumor cell lines, is an endothelial cell-specific mitogen, shows angiogenic activity in in vivo test systems (e.g. rabbit cornea), is chemotactic for endothelial cells and monocytes, and induces plasminogen activators in endothelial cells, which are then involved in the proteolytic degradation of extracellular matrix during the formation of capillaries. A number of isoforms of VEGF are known that show comparable biological activity, but differ in the type of cells that secrete them and in their heparin-binding capacity. In addition, there are other members of the VEGF family, such as placenta growth factor (PLGF) and VEGF-C.
VEGF receptors are transmembranous receptor tyrosine kinases. They are characterized by an extracellular domain with seven immunoglobulin-like domains and an intracellular tyrosine kinase domain. Various types of VEGF receptor are known, e.g. VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, and VEGFR-3.
A large number of human tumors, especially gliomas and carcinomas, express high levels of VEGF and its receptors. This has led to the hypothesis that the VEGF released by tumor cells could stimulate the growth of blood capillaries and the proliferation of tumor endothelium in a paracrine manner and thus, through the improved blood supply, accelerate tumor growth. Increased VEGF expression could explain the occurrence of cerebral edema in patients with glioma. Direct evidence of the role of VEGF as a tumor angiogenesis factor in vivo has been obtained from studies in which VEGF expression or VEGF activity was inhibited. This was achieved with antibodies that inhibit VEGF activity, with dominant-negative VEGFR-2 mutants that inhibited signal transduction, or with the use of antisense-VEGF RNA techniques. All approaches led to a reduction in the growth of glioma cell lines or other tumor cell lines in vivo as a result of inhibited tumor angiogenesis.
In addition, hypoxia, a large number of growth factors and cytokines, e.g. Epidermal Growth Factor, Transforming Growth Factor a, Transforming Growth Factor A, Interleukin 1, and Interleukin 6, induce the expression of VEGF in cell experiments. Angiogenesis is regarded as an absolute prerequisite for those tumors that grow beyond a maximum diameter of about 1-2 mm; up to this limit, oxygen and nutrients may be supplied to the tumor cells by diffusion. Every tumor, regardless of its origin and its cause, is thus dependent on angiogenesis for its growth after it has reached a certain size.
Three principal mechanisms play an important part in the activity of angiogenesis inhibitors against tumors: 1) inhibition of the growth of vessels, especially capillaries, into avascular resting tumors, with the result that there is no net tumor growth owing to the balance that is achieved between apoptosis and proliferation; 2) prevention of the migration of tumor cells owing to the absence of bloodflow to and from tumors; and 3) inhibition of endothelial cell proliferation, thus avoiding the paracrine growth-stimulating effect exerted on the surrounding tissue by the endothelial cells that normally line the vessels.
Inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases, e.g., Alvocidib (U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,727; also known as flavopiridol) have been identified as a potentially useful therapeutic agents for a variety of cancers, including gastrointestinal and colon tumors, leukemias and myelomas (see, for example, Intl. J. Oncol., 1996, 9, 1143).
Inhibitors of tyrosine kinases, including Bcr-Abl, e.g., Gleevec, are useful for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), and potentially for treatment of other cancers that express these kinases, including acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and certain solid tumors. Gleevec was approved for the treatment of inoperable and/or metastatic malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs).
Inhibitors of Flt3 tyrosine kinase, e.g., CEP-701 (U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,986) and Midostaurin (U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,330), have potential utility for the treatment of a variety of cancers (Cancer Res., 1999, 59, 10).
Inhibitors of MAP Erk kinase, e.g., PD-184352 (U.S. Pat. No. 6,251,943), have been identified as potentially useful therapeutic agents for a variety of oncological disorders, including colon, breast, pancreatic and non-small-cell lung cancers (see, for example, Proc. Am. Soc. Clin. Oncol., 2003, 22, abstract 816).
Other kinase inhibitors, e.g., doramapimod (U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,921), have been identified as potentially useful therapeutic agents for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and Crohn's disease.
Other kinase inhibitors, e.g., BAY-43-9006 (U.S. Publication No. 2002/0165394) have been identified as potentially useful therapeutic agents for a variety of cancers including gastrointestinal and colon tumors, leukemia and carcinoma (Curr. Pharm. Design, 2002, 8, 2269).
Cytokine receptors are critical for the development and homeostasis of immune cells. These receptors all require the cytoplasmic tyrosine kinase JAK3 for signaling (Changelian, P. S. et al., Science, 2003, 302, 875). CP-690,550 (WO 02,096,909) is an orally available Janus kinase (JAK)-3 inhibitor, for the potential treatment of transplant rejection and psoriasis.
Thus, there is a need for therapeutic agents that are kinase inhibitors with improved pharmacological properties, e.g., drugs having improved kinase-inhibitory activity and pharmacokinetic properties, including improved oral bioavailability, greater potency and extended effective half-life in vivo. Such inhibitors would have therapeutic potential as, e.g., anticancer agents. Such kinase inhibitory compounds may be used to treat breast cancer, non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs), adenocarcinomas, squamous cell cancer of the lung, oesophageal cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, colon cancer, rectal cancer, stomach cancer, prostate cancer, leukaemia, ovarian cancer, bronchial cancer, pancreatic cancer, thyroid cancer, uterine cancer, brain cancer, lung squamous cell cancer, bladder cancer, gastric cancer, head and neck cancer, gynaecological and thyroid tumors, to prevent the development of resistance (multi-drug resistance) in cancer treatment with other chemotherapeutic drugs or remove existing resistance to other chemotherapeutic drugs, retinopathies, hemangioblastoma, hemangioma, and neoplastic diseases, gliomas, to inhibit tumor angiogenesis, myelomas, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), inoperable and/or metastatic malignant gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs), treatment of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, treatment of cell proliferation diseases, and for the treatment of transplant rejection and psoriasis.
New kinase inhibitors should have fewer side effects, less complicated dosing schedules, and be orally active. In particular, there is a need for a less onerous dosage regimen, such as one pill, once per day.
Assay methods capable of determining the presence, absence or amounts of kinase inhibition are of practical utility in the search for inhibitors as well as for diagnosing the presence of conditions associated with kinase activity.


A watthour meter socket adapter carries rigid conductors extending from a connection to jaw contacts in a housing, the conductors mounting the socket adapter between the lower load mounting connections and the upper line mounting connections in a meter fitting to define an in-service metering position where the socket adapter and the watthour meter are disposed in the normal out-of-service, non-metering position in the meter fitting. The socket adapter housing is spaced from a ground terminal insulating block mounted over a ground terminal in the meter fitting. In another aspect, a plurality of current transformers are carried on a plate which mounts in an existing K-series meter fitting line and load terminal connections footprint.

The present invention relates, in general, to electrical power metering apparatus and, specifically, to electrical watthour meter socket adapters and watthour meter sockets.
In the electric utility industry, plug-in, socket-type watthour meters are commonly employed to measure electric power consumption at a residential or commercial building establishment. A socket is mounted on a wall of the residence or building and contains terminals which are connected to electric line and electric load conductors. The terminals are also connected to internal conductors within the socket which extend to jaw contacts positioned to receive the blade terminals of a plug-on watthour meter to complete an electric circuit through the watthour meter between the line and load terminals and the conductors.
One type of meter socket has a ring-type cover which includes an outwardly projecting, annular mounting flange surrounding an opening in the cover through which the blade terminals of a watthour meter extend. The mounting flange is sized to mate with a complementary formed mounting flange on the bottom of the watthour meter.
In high power applications, current levels exceed the ratings of commonly available watthour meters. In these applications, current transformers are placed around the incoming line conductors and connected to watthour meter receiving jaw contacts to enable watthour meters to measure load current and provide a scaled power measurement.
A special socket, referred to as a K-series socket, shown in FIGS. 1–5 has been developed. The socket is designed for single or three-phase power and is designed to carry current up to 400 amps or more. Rigid bus bar terminals are provided in the upper portion of the socket for receiving the line conductors. Similar plate-like bus bar terminals are mounted at the bottom of the socket for receiving the load conductors. A single mounting fastener, such as a threaded stud, is provided on each load bus bar for receiving a rigid load bus bar extending from a watthour meter which is mountable in the socket. Similar mounting fasteners or threaded studs are mounted in a first row on the upper line power bus bars for receiving a separate line bus bar extending from a watthour meter.
As also shown in FIGS. 1–5, shorting bus bars extend between each line bus bar and the corresponding load bus bar provide a power connection from the power distribution line network to the individual load distribution network in a building.
A cover is mountable over the socket and has an aperture formed in a slidable cover portion for allowing an end portion of the watthour meter to extend therethrough for easy viewing of power measurements. The aperture is mounted in a plate slidably captured on the back of the socket cover. The aperture is offset from the center of the plate such that flipping the plate 180° enables the watthour meter when moved from a lowered operative position to a separate upper inoperative position, to extend through the aperture.
In the inoperative position, the line bus bars on the watthour meter are disengaged from the line bus bar fasteners and moved to a separate spaced row of fasteners, also extending from the line bus bars. However, separate electrically insulting posts are provided in a spaced manner from the load bus bar studs for receiving the load bus bars on the watthour meter in the disconnected position. This disconnects the watthour meter from measurement or service and places it in an out-of-service position.
Attempts to use a watthour meter socket adapter for a plug-in watthour meter in a K-series socket have met with limited success. The size and location of the line conductor insulator blocks, the ground terminal connector and the ground terminal insulator block necessitated socket adapter bus bars having a smaller cross-section than required for current applications up to 400 amps. In addition, additional features and refinements added over time such as cutouts in the sidewall of the socket adapter to accommodate the insulator blocks and ground terminal, make use of the socket adapter difficult without first removing the additional features and refinements.
As is evident from FIGS. 1–5, a specially designed watthour meter with rigid bus bars is necessary for mounting in the K-series socket in both the power measurement and non-power measurement positions. The shape, thickness and spacing of the meter bus bars must also take into account a ground terminal and associated insulator block and insulator blocks between the line bus bars. As a result, prior K-series sockets have not been able to successfully receive watthour meter socket adapters designed for receiving standard, plug-in watthour meters.
In electrical power service sites, it frequently becomes necessary to up grade the electrical power service to supply higher current to the customer site. At high current levels, current transformers are employed to provide lower current levels which can be metered by watthour meters. However, such current transformers require special mounting in a socket which increases installation time and results in a higher installation cost.
It is believed that there still is a need for a watthour meter socket adapter which can be successfully employed in a K-series watthour meter socket. It is also desirable to provide a watthour meter socket adapter for mounting a plug-in watthour meter in a K-series meter socket which can be economically constructed with minimal modification to existing watthour meter socket adapter designs. It would also be desirable to provide a current transformer mounting apparatus which fits within an existing K-series meter socket footprint for reduced installation time and costs when it becomes necessary to increase power to a customer site.


An eccentrically rotating apparatus has a rotating table 5, a bearing board 4 and a support board 2 spaced apart from each other in a vertical direction and having a common axis C arranged on a base plate 1. The rotating table 5 has a support pole 6 and a weight 7. The support board 2 has a support tip 2a connected to the bearing board 4 with a predetermined space apart and movably arranged on the base plate 1. The apparatus includes a sensor 11 for detecting a position of the weight 7 and a driving unit 9 activated by detected signals from the sensor 11. The rotating table 5 is eccentrically rotated such that the driving unit 9 pushes up the support board 2 at a time when the sensor 11 detects the weight 7.

As one of the conventional generators which utilize eccentric torque, for example, Japanese utility model registered No. 3,170,852 discloses a flywheel attached torque generator. This generator can provide smooth and stable continuous rotations as suppressing uneven rotations by removing reverse torque acted on a rotating driving shaft of the generator.


In a film forming apparatus according to the aerosol deposition method, the thickness of a structure being formed can be controlled accurately. The film forming apparatus includes an aerosol generating part in which raw material powder is to be provided, a compressed gas cylinder and a pressure regulating part for introducing a gas into the aerosol generating part to blow up the raw material powder thereby generating an aerosol, a substrate holder for holding a substrate on which a structure is to be formed, a nozzle for spraying the aerosol generated in the aerosol generating part toward the substrate, and a sensor to be used for obtaining an amount of primary particles that have contributed to film formation by impinging on the substrate or the structure formed thereon from among the raw material powder contained in the aerosol sprayed from the nozzle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film forming apparatus for manufacturing a structure by spraying a powder on a substrate at high speed so as to deposit the powder.
2. Description of a Related Art
Recent years, in the field of the micro electrical mechanical system (MEMS), fabrication of sensors, actuators, or the like employing piezoelectric ceramic by using film formation methods has been studied in order to further integrate those elements for practical use. As one of the film formation methods, the aerosol deposition method, which is known as a technology for forming a film of ceramic, metal, etc., receives attention. The aerosol deposition method (hereinafter, also referred to as "AD method") is a method of generating an aerosol containing raw material powder and spraying it on the substrate to deposit the powder due to the collision energy at that time and form a film, which method is also referred to as spray deposition method or gas deposition method. Here, the aerosol is referred to as fine particles of a solid or liquid floating in a gas.
Japanese Patent Application Publication JP-P2001-348659A discloses an apparatus for fabricating a ceramic structure according to the aerosol deposition method. As shown in FIG. 1 of the document, in the aerosol deposition method, micro powder of the order of submicron is used as a raw material. The micro powder of the row material is provided within an aerosol generator 13, and a carrier gas such as nitrogen (N2) is ejected from a compressed gas cylinder 11 via a carrier pipe 2, and thereby, the raw material powder is blown up and floats in the carrier gas to generate the aerosol. On the other hand, the air inside of a structure forming chamber 14 is exhausted by an exhaust pump 18 and a substrate 16 held by a substrate holder 17 is provided therein. When the aerosol introduced from the aerosol generator 13 via the carrier pipe 12 is sprayed toward the substrate 16 from a nozzle 15, the raw material powder is accelerated by a high speed air flow, impinges on the substrate 16, and is deposited thereon.
However, in such an apparatus for fabricating a ceramic structure (film forming apparatus), there occurs a problem that the thickness of the structure formed on the substrate cannot be controlled accurately. This is because, although the thickness of the structure is controlled by adjusting the relative speed between the substrate and the nozzle in the film forming apparatus according to the AD method, actually the density of the raw material powder (aerosol density) contained in the aerosol is unstable. In order to solve such a problem, JP-P2001-348659A discloses on the first page that an amount of ceramic fine particles within the aerosol is sensed by a sensor and a signal output from the sensor is fed back to the apparatus for fabricating a ceramic structure so as to generate an aerosol containing many primary particles of ceramic in an amount stable over time and adjust the deposition height of the ceramic structure.
However, it has been known that the aerosol density and the film forming speed are not in proportion strictly. In the AD method, during carriage of the generated aerosol, the micro powder of the raw material (primary particles) is agglomerated by the electrostatic force or the like, and, for example, agglomerated particles (secondary particles) having a diameter of several micrometers or more are formed. Such an agglomeration of particles occurs more easily as the aerosol density is higher. However, such agglomerated particles cannot contribute to the film formation because kinetic energy of the agglomerated particles is consumed for crushing themselves. Accordingly, when the aerosol density is the same, the film forming speed differs depending on the ratio between the primary particles that contribute to film formation and the secondary particles that do not contribute to the film formation contained in the aerosol. Here, the ratio cannot be controlled. Therefore, according to the method of controlling the respective parts of the film forming apparatus on the basis of the consumed amount of raw material powder, the thickness of the structure cannot be controlled accurately, either.
On the other hand, Jun AKEDO et al., "Influence of Carrier Gas Conditions on Electrical and Optical Properties of Pb (Zr, Ti) O3 Thin Film Prepared by Aerosol Deposition Method", Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 40 (2001), pp. 5528–5532, Part. 1, No. 9B, September 2001, The Japan Society of Applied Physics discloses that an electric or optical phenomenon occurs at the time of film formation in the AD method.


The disclosed invention provides a technique that assists in selecting a proper standard part independently of production achievements of parts and information which is arbitrarily input by a user regarding specification items to decide on a similarity between parts. Disclosed is a products information management assistance apparatus that decides on standard part information based on past products information records. The apparatus includes a products information storing unit that stores information on parts registered in records such as required specifications in the past, parts organization, parts specifications, and cost; a similarity-between-parts calculating unit that calculates a similarity between parts registered in records from parts specifications, a parts standardization effect calculating unit that calculates an effect if the above parts have been standardized in a scope in which they are grouped by similarity; and a standardization analysis result display unit that displays the parts standardization scope and standardization effect together.

The present invention relates to a products information management assistance apparatus for use in selecting a standard part based on past products information.
An example of background art in this technical field is found in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-234399 which is hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1. In this publication, there are descriptions that, as a problem, a user who is going to select a standard part cannot select a proper standard part unless having adequate knowledge of similarity definitions and that a solution includes the following: a multidimensional database that stores multidimensional data representing attributes of a standard part from parts data; a production achievements database that stores production achievements data representing amounts of production of parts; a neighborhood range input device that receives input of a neighborhood range value associated with an attribute name and creates a neighborhood range database; a standard part decision device that reads multidimensional data stored in the multidimensional database and production achievements data stored in the production achievements database, selects a standard part by applying neighborhood range data to the read data on parts, and outputs standard part data; and a display device that displays the standard part data" (refer to Abstract).

Products information management assistance apparatus


The invention provides a method for producing 3′-phosphoadenosine 5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS), the method including subjecting ATP to sulfation and phosphorylation by use of adenosine 5′-triphosphate sulfurylase (ATPS) and adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate kinase (APSK), wherein an adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) supply/regeneration system including adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP), polyphosphate, polyphosphate-driven nucleoside 5′-diphosphate kinase (PNDK), and polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase (PAP), or an adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP) supply/regeneration system including adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP), polyphosphate, polyphosphate-driven nucleoside 5′-diphosphate kinase (PNDK), and adenylate kinase (ADK) is employed instead of ATP.

PAPS is a sulfate donor which is widely employed in living organisms, including microorganisms, plants, and higher animals. PAPS has been reported to be related to several diseases (e.g., proteoglycan-associated diseases). PAPS plays a very important role in vivo, and could be employed in, for example, the field of medicine.
Known methods for enzymatically synthesizing PAPS include a method in which PAPS is produced from ATP through two-step reaction employing two enzymes (ATPS and APSK) extracted from baker's yeast or rat liver (the below-described formulas 1 and 2).
However, this method produces only a small amount (several milligrams to several tens of milligrams) of PAPS, and requires ATP, which is an expensive substance; i.e., this method is not necessarily considered industrially practical.
(In the aforementioned formulas, ATP represents adenosine 5′-triphosphate; ADP represents adenosine 5′-diphosphate; APS represents adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate; PPi represents inorganic pyrophosphate; and SO42− represents a sulfate ion.)
Therefore, practical production of PAPS requires employment of microorganism-derived enzymes which ensure high productivity and easy handling (first requirement); and establishment of an ATP supply/regeneration system which does not require ATP (i.e., an expensive substance) (second requirement).
In connection with the first requirement, Onda, et al., have reported that PAPS can be efficiently produced through two-step reaction employing two highly thermostable enzymes (ATPS and APSK) derived from a bacterium belonging to the genus Bacillus or Thermus (Patent Documents 1 to 3).
When the method of Onda, et al., is carried out, ATPS and APSK must be purified from a suspension of disrupted thermotolerant bacterium cells. However, the method involves problems in that the amounts of these enzymes contained in the bacterial cells are small, and thus large amounts of the cells must be cultured, and that purification of these enzymes requires a very intricate process.
Meanwhile, in connection with the second requirement, Ibuki, et al., have reported that a method in which a PAPS synthesis system is linked to an ATP regeneration system including acetyl phosphate and acetate kinase, and ADP produced through APSK reaction is converted into ATP for recycling (Non-Patent Document 1).
However, this method still employs ATP (i.e., an expensive substance) as a substrate at an early stage of reaction, and employs a large amount of acetyl phosphate (i.e., an expensive substance) as a phosphate donor for ATP regeneration. Therefore, the method has not yet been put into practice.
Conventionally known inexpensive phosphate donors include polyphosphate (Poly Pn). Known ATP supply/regeneration systems employing polyphosphate and adenosine 5′-monophosphate (AMP) include a system represented by the below-described formulas (3) and (4) and utilizing the cooperative effect of polyphosphate kinase (PPK) and adenylate kinase (ADK) (Patent Document 4); and a system represented by the below-described formulas (5) and (6) and employing polyphosphate:AMP phosphotransferase (PAP) and ADK (Patent Document 5).

(In the aforementioned formulas, ATP represents adenosine 5′-triphosphate; ADP represents adenosine 5′-diphosphate; AMP represents adenosine 5′-monophosphate; Poly Pn represents polyphosphate; and n represents an integer.)
There has already been reported a method in which the ATP supply/regeneration system utilizing the PPK-ADK cooperative effect is applied to enzymatic synthesis of PAPS (Patent Document 6). However, detailed analysis of this method has revealed that the amount of PAPS produced is at most about 5 mM. Extensive studies on the cause of such low yield have shown that the ATP supply/regeneration system utilizing the PPK-ADK cooperative effect does not function effectively, and difficulty is encountered in maintaining higher concentration of ATP than that of ADP or AMP in the reaction system, resulting in non-efficient PAPS production (see Comparative Example 1 described below).
PPK is considered to function as a polyphosphate synthase in vivo, and the equilibrium of the enzymatic reaction represented by formula (4) is greatly shifted to the side of polyphosphate synthesis (Non-Patent Document 2). As has been indicated, since PPK exhibits low ATP synthesis activity, although the ATP supply/regeneration system employing the enzyme functions well in, for example, a reaction in which the concentration of a substrate is low (i.e., about 5 mM or less), the system fails to function satisfactorily in a reaction in which the concentration of a substrate is high (i.e., more than 10 mM).
There has not yet been reported a case where the ATP supply/regeneration system employing PAP and ADK is applied to enzymatic synthesis of PAPS. However, since ADK completely reversibly catalyzes the reaction represented by formula (6), as described below in Comparative Example 2, the concentration of ATP in the reaction system fails to be maintained high, resulting in non-efficient PAPS production.
Therefore, practical production of PAPS requires establishment of a new potent ATP supply/regeneration system which can maintain higher concentration of ATP than that of ADP or AMP.
Examples of means for establishing such a potent ATP supply/regeneration system include employment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa-derived polyphosphate-driven nucleoside 5′-diphosphate kinase (PNDK). Recently, Pseudomonas aeruginosa-derived PNDK has been identified (Non-Patent Documents 3 and 4), and a gene encoding the enzyme has been obtained (Non-Patent Documents 2 and 5).
Similar to the case of PPK, PNDK exhibits polyphosphate-driven ADP phosphorylation activity. However, the amino acid sequence of PNDK has no homology to that of PPK, and PNDK exhibits remarkably high specific activity; i.e., 100 or more times that of Escherichia coli-derived PPK, and about 1,000 times that of Pseudomonas aeruginosa-derived PPK (Non-Patent Document 2). In contrast to the case of PPK, PNDK exhibits almost negligibly low polyphosphate synthesis activity, and the reaction equilibrium is greatly shifted to the side of ATP synthesis. Therefore, PNDK is considered an ideal enzyme employed for an ATP supply/regeneration system.
However, productivity of the enzyme PNDK in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is low. Therefore, when the enzyme is employed on an industrial scale, a gene for producing the enzyme must be cloned through a genetic recombination technique, and the enzyme must be mass-produced by use of a host such as Escherichia coli. However, in experiments previously performed by the present inventors, even when such a genetic recombination technique was employed, productivity of the enzyme is still low, and thus the enzyme was difficult to put into practice.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3098591    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 3078067    Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent No. 3029915    Patent Document 4: WO 98/48031    Patent Document 5: WO 03/100056    Patent Document 6: JP-A-2002-78498    Non-Patent Document 1: Nucleic Acids Symp. Ser., 27, 171-172 (1992)    Non-Patent Document 2: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99, 16684-16688 (2002)    Non-Patent Document 3: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 94, 439-442 (1997)    Non-Patent Document 4: Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 281, 821-826 (2001)    Non-Patent Document 5: Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99, 16678-16683 (2002)

Method of enzymatically synthesizing 3′-phosphoadenosine-5′-phosphosulfate


A logic device includes first and second logic blocks and a connection block. Each of the first and second logic blocks configured to perform at least one function, the first logic blocks connected to first connection lines and the second logic blocks connected to second connection lines. The connection block electrically connected to the first and second logic blocks via the first connection lines and the second connection lines, respectively. The connection block including connection cells configured to select one of multiple connection configurations between the first connection lines and the second connection lines based on a desired function.

1. Field
Some example embodiments relate to a logic device and/or an operating method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, configurable or re-configurable logic devices, such as programmable logic devices (PLDs), which may be designed by users, have been widely used. Users may control connection between signal lines included in the logic device to configure or re-configure the logic device to thereby implement a desired function.

Logic device and operating method thereof


The present disclosure relates to a surgical system for treating an anatomical structure according to a plurality of target planes and/or axes, comprising:                a robotic device (1) comprising:                    an end effector (2) defining a current plane or axis,            an actuation unit (11) coupled to the end effector (2),                        a tracking unit (3) configured to determine a pose of the current plane or axis,        a control unit coupled to the tracking unit and configured to control the actuation unit (11) to align the current plane or axis of the end effector (2) with each one of the plurality of target planes and/or axes to treat the anatomical structure,        the robotic device being operable in at least the following modes:        a working mode wherein a treatment is being performed with the end effector constrained to one target plane or axis by the actuation unit, and        a waiting mode wherein no treatment is being performed and the actuation unit is operable to move the end effector in alignment with another target plane or axis,        wherein the control unit is further configured to:        (a) determine that the robotic device (1) is in the waiting mode;        (b) detect a triggering force applied to the end effector (2) and/or the actuation unit (11) in at least one first direction;        (c) as a result of determination (a) and detection (b), trigger a position change of the end effector (2) by the actuation unit (11) to align the current plane or axis with a next target plane or axis.

Some surgical procedures require carrying out a plurality of steps wherein an anatomical structure is treated.
For example, total knee arthroplasty typically requires cutting both the femoral epiphysis and tibial epiphysis in order to remove the damaged bone and cartilage and install a knee prosthesis. To that end, a surgeon has to carry out five or more cuts on the femur and one or more cuts on the tibia by using an oscillating saw through cutting blocks.
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a knee intended to receive a knee prosthesis including a femoral component FC and a tibial component TC. Generally, the cuts to be made on the femur F are: a distal cut along plane F1, an anterior cut along plane F2, a posterior cut along plane F3, and anterior and posterior chamfers F4, F5 connecting the distal plane and the anterior, respectively posterior, plane. A cut has to be made on the tibia T along plane T1.
In order for the surgeon to carry out all these planes accurately and in a reduced time, robotic systems have been developed.
For example, document WO 2018/103945 teaches a robotic system which comprises a motorized actuation unit, a planar mechanism with a first end attached to a terminal segment of the actuation unit, a second end rigidly attached to an end-effector which is a saw. The saw comprises a body, a saw blade movable relative to the body, and a handle configured to be held by the surgeon to perform the cut. The robotic system also comprises trackers (not shown) respectively attached to the saw and to the patient to determine in real time a relative position of the saw and the bone to be cut, and a control unit configured to compensate small movements from the patient or the surgeon, in order to maintain alignment of the saw blade with a determined plane according to which a cut has to be carried out. FIGS. 2A-2F show perspective views of such a robotic device 1 while carrying out the tibial cut, the distal cut, the anterior cut, the posterior cut, the anterior chamfer cut and the posterior chamfer cut, respectively.
The control of the end effector position for carrying out each cutting step may typically be defined as a sequence of the three followings steps, that are executed in a loop:                stage 1: the robotic device maintains the cutting position prior to and during the cut; the robotic device is not supposed to deviate from the desired cutting position as long as the bone cutting is not complete;        stage 2: the cut is complete; the robotic device is waiting for an instruction to move to the next cutting position; meanwhile, generally, the robotic device maintains the end effector position at the previous cutting position;        stage 3: after receiving an instruction, generally from the user for safety reasons, the robotic device displaces the end effector to the next cutting position.
In order to trigger a change from stage 2 to stage 3, the user may have to use a footswitch, buttons provided on the end effector or on the robotic device, or a virtual button integrated in a software Graphical User Interface and displayed on a touch screen.
This triggering step may require the user to search the footswitch in a non-visible zone, remove his/her hands from the end effector, and/or instruct another person to activate the robotic device, which takes time, interrupts the user's workflow and may be frustrating for the user.

Surgical system and method for triggering a position change of a robotic device


Provided is an information memory medium comprising a recording layer containing a polymeric liquid crystal having a ferroelectric chiral smectic phase, wherein said polymeric liquid crystal comprises a polymeric liquid crystal having a temperature region, in which its electric-field response time changes by the factor of not less than 200 times, within a temperature range of the ferroelectric chiral smectic phase on the side of higher temperatures than its glass transition temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information memory medium making use of a polymeric liquid crystal. More particularly, it relates to an information memory medium utilizing a ferroelectric chiral smectic phase of a polymeric liquid crystal. It also relates to an information recording/holding process making use of such a medium.
2. Related Background Art
Optical recording methods have been hitherto put into practical use as methods that can provide a large capacity and can achieve superior random access. In particular, researches on rewritable type optical disks are being pushed forward, and it is attempted to put into practical use those utilizing photomagnetic effect and those utilizing phase changes. Of these mediums, polymeric liquid crystals are proposed also as materials for information memory mediums (Japanese Patent Applications Laid-open No. 59-10930, No. 59-35989 and No. 62-154340). In particular, as a recording method, a method is proposed in which spiral pitch lengths of a cholesteric polymeric liquid crystal are changed or pits are formed in the state of no alignment to change optical reflectance in multi value (Japanese Patent Applications Laid-open No. 62-107448 and No. 62-12937).
The above information memory mediums making use of polymeric liquid crystals, however, have so low an erasing speed that it has been questioned for them to be put into practical use. In order to solve such a problem, for example, information memory mediums utilizing a ferroelectric polymeric liquid crystal are proposed (Japanese Patent Applications Laid-open No. 63-153520, No. 63-266647 and No. 63-271228). These utilize glass transition points for carrying out the information recording/holding process.
On the other hand, taking note of high-speed response, an information memory medium utilizing surface stabilization effect of a low-molecular ferroelectric liquid crystal is also proposed (Journal of Applied Physics, 67, p.996, 1990).
The above conventional techniques, however, have been disadvantageous in that, as in the former techniques, the electric-field response speed is lowered and no high response speed can be sufficiently achieved when the glass transition temperature of the ferroelectric liquid crystal is made sufficiently higher than the room temperature so that recorded data can be stably held.
In the latter technique in which the surface stabilization effect of a low-molecular ferroelectric liquid crystal is utilized, no recording layer can be retained unless the medium has a cell structure, and also the cell must be constructed with a cell thickness of about 1 .mu.m. This has brought about a difficult problem on the manufacture. In addition, the recorded data are unstable compared with those of the mediums in which the polymeric liquid crystals are used, and hence unsuitable for their long-term storage, disadvantageously.

Information memory medium and information recording/holding process making use of the medium


Method for mitigating interference is established by means of a local wireless communication (204, 206) between a first portable communication device (PCD) (102, 301) and a second PCD (104, 302). The first and second PCD (301, 302) respectively communicate with first wireless network (110, 306, 310) and second wireless network (112, 308, 312) having different wireless air interface protocols. The local wireless communication link (107) is used to share (208) information (109, 111) concerning one or both of the first and second PCD. The information is then used to determine a communication priority (210) as between the first and second PCD with respect to at least one communication mode. The information is also used to selectively establish (212) an interference mitigation policy (304) to provide assured communications for the PCD with priority. The interference mitigation policy is executed (214) in the first and second PCD to cooperatively provide assured communication for the PCD with priority.

1. Statement of the Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate to RF interference management, and more particularly to RF interference management for commercial cell phone devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
One or more radio transceiver devices can be integrated into a personal communication device such as a cellular telephone. For example, Bluetooth, WiFi, cellular and GPS radios can all be included within a single personal communication device. The various radios integrated into a single personal communication device can be managed to permit their apparent simultaneous operation without harmful interference. The operation is said to be apparently simultaneous insofar as the various radios may appear from a user perspective to be operating simultaneously.
The need for radio management operations frequently arises due to the relationship of the frequencies on which one or more radio devices within a single device are communicating. For example, Bluetooth and WiFi are deployed in the same spectrum at 2.4 GHz. Some cellular bands are adjacent to Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS frequency spectrum. Moreover, algebraic frequency relationships are known to exist between allocations of one radio and another radio. Even small non-linearities cause transmitters at one frequency to generate spurious energy at another frequency. Typically the spurious emissions will appear at frequencies defined by: ax+/− by where a and b are small integers and x and y are radio operational frequencies. Other interference scenarios can arise where radio transmissions from one radio of the personal communication device generate noise energy that extends beyond the intended bandwidth of the signal. This noise energy can interfere with communications operations of other radios included on the device.
In general, cellular radios can be characterized by certain attributes that drive interference management techniques: For example, providers promise users only commercial quality service and it is therefore accepted that reduced radio performance may occur during times of simultaneous operation. Also, apparent (rather than actual) simultaneous radio operation is acceptable. Perhaps most importantly, interference management can be adequately provided internally of the device itself since it has advance knowledge of which radios are present and can include control and processing resources that facilitate management of the various radios which are present.
In contrast to conventional commercial cellular communications, the LMR communication equipment used by first responders (e.g., policemen and firemen) must deliver mission critical quality of service. For these users, reduced radio performance due to interference is not acceptable. Also, from the standpoint of the first responder, a loss in simultaneous operation may be acceptable if necessary to maintain the reliability of mission critical communications.
Cellular telephones are often used in close proximity to LMR radios used by first responders. In some scenarios one or more radio transceivers included on the cellular telephone may operate in the same frequency range or a frequency range adjacent to one that is used by the LMR equipment. Without a mechanism to effect mitigation of interference, critical or high priority messages directed to either the cellular transceiver or first responder radio device can be masked by lower priority messages to the other device. Ultimately, the lack of communication management can prevent important messages from achieving required performance and reliability standards. Device users cannot be expected to anticipate when interference is likely to occur, and cannot be expected to control the severity of such interference effectively In fact, the potential for interference is increasing due to a focus on efficient use of spectrum. The problem is often compounded because users are not aware when a message has been masked due to interference.

Interference management service for portable communication devices


The present invention discloses a system and method for channel coding data within a digital communication system. A data receiving circuit receives a digital input data sequence and periodically inserts known symbols, such as zeros, into the digital input data sequence as part of a convolutional zero code of the present invention. It forms an expanded digital input data sequence. An encoder is operatively connected to the data receiving circuit and trellis encodes the expanded sequence to produce a channel coded data stream such that the number of connections between trellis nodes in a trellis are reduced.

It is well known that digital data transmitted over a communications channels is subject to signal impairments created by noise, distortion and fading, creating transmission errors. These types of errors can also occur when digital data is stored on devices, including magnetic media or solid-state memories that contain imperfections. This noise is critical in wireless communications where the noise can be extensive and the amount of power used in communication is limited. Typically, the noisy channel is characterized by the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which is a ratio of the signal energy over the noise energy in decibels. It is also possible to take the difference in transmission rates into account and define the SNR per bit when the efficiency of codes is compared with different code rates.
It is known that introducing a controlled amount of redundancy by coding in a selected message before a transmission over a communications channel corrects possible errors due to noise, as noted by Dr. Claude Shannon. In a noisy channel, the transmission rate is reduced to obtain accuracy. A limit, called the Shannon limit, shows the upper bound of the transmission rate for lossless communications in a noisy channel.
Block codes were first used in communications, but these block codes were not efficient when comparing to the Shannon limit. More efficient channel codes have been developed on the basis of trellis coding. A trellis encoder includes a Finite State Machine (FSM) and typically a signal mapper. The trellis is generated by the FSM, while code words are binary sequences that are one-to-one mappings of all distinct paths on the trellis by the signal mapper. When a special input sequence is transmitted, the path corresponding to this input sequence is found on the trellis, and the code word generated by the signal mapper. On the decoding side, a maximum likelihood (ML) decoder as a Viterbi decoder or a Maximum a Posteriori (MAP) decoder converts the received code words into the input sequence.
One important parameter of the Finite State Machine is the memory length m that decides the trellis. The most widely used trellis codes include convolutional codes and turbo codes, as noted in many teachings, including the IEEE technical paper entitled, "Modulation Encoding For Linear Gaussian Channels," IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Volume 44, No. 6, October 1998, the disclosure which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Other examples of trellis coding, the use of convolutional codes, and convolutional encoders are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,706,312; 6,108,374; 6,215,827 assigned to Lucent Technologies; and 6,347,122 assigned to Agere Systems, the disclosures which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
As is known to those skilled in the art, trellis coded modulation is a combined method for joint coding and modulation based on the design of convolutional codes. These are matched to a modulation signal, which is established to maximize the Euclidian distance between a modulated sequence. A trellis diagram is a graph that represents the changing time of a Finite State Machine by defining the states as vertices. Any possible state transitions are displayed as edges. As to the various types of codes, a convolutional code is generated by a linear shift-register circuit and performs a convolution operation on an information sequence, while a turbo code is generated by a parallel concatenation of two (or more) simple convolutional encoders that are separated by interleavers. Thus, along the lines of a turbo code, a concatenated code is established cascading two codes separated by an interleaver. In a generator matrix, a K×N matrix produces a code word (of length N) of a block code by multiplying the information block of length K. The hamming distance is the number of places in which two sequences of equal length differ. The minimum distance of a code is the smallest hamming distance between any pair of code words. The weight distribution is a list of the hamming distances of each code word from a given reference code word.
A Viterbi algorithm is an efficient method for decoding convolutional codes based on finding the path on a trellis diagram that is at a minimum distance from a receive sequence. Related to Viterbi coding is Maximum-Likelihood (ML) decoding that maximizes the probability of a receive sequence given any of the possible code words. If code words are equally likely, there could be minimum possible error probability.
A convolutional code has been used in GSM and IS-95 systems. Its signal mapper consists of code word generators that define the addition and multiplication on the finite algebra. It is not efficient in comparison of its results to the Shannon limit. Its efficiency would be increased as the memory m increases. Both the computational complexity and memory storage for the Viterbi decoder will be doubled as m increases one. Thus, this approach is not feasible even for m=20. Turbo code, as noted before, is a further development of the convolutional code using parallel concatenation of two or more of the convolutional encoders and a pseudo-random interleaver. This code system allows a user to transfer the information in a noisy channel almost without distortion by a rate close to the Shannon limit. Unfortunately, it has a longer delay than that delay used with the conventional convolutional code. In any event, both convolutional codes and turbo codes are recommended in the third generation wireless communication systems, similar to UMTS and CDMA 2000.

Error correction trellis coding with periodically inserted known symbols


A purge concentrate for purging paint spraying and other coating equipment has about 20%-60% by weight water; about 10%-40% by weight of an active solvent; about 10%-50% by weight of a co-solvent; about 1-9% by weight of a penetrant; and about 0.2-2.0% by weight wetting agent. It need not be heated to the curing temperature of heat curing paints and thus purges these paints more effectively.

The present invention relates in general to compositions, methods and apparatuses for flushing paints or other coatings from equipment such as automated and manual paint sprayers and paint dip installations, and in particular to a new and useful solution which is water-based and uses low amounts of volatile organic compound (VOC) solvents, which have conventionally been used in much greater concentrations for flushing paints and other coatings, in particular, non-water-based paints and other coatings.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,701,922 and 5,632,822 are both incorporated here for reference.
It is known to purge automated paint sprayers and paint dip equipment during maintenance and color changes using solvents based on:
______________________________________ Alcohol Fluorinated Hydrocarbon Terpene Aliphatic Hydrocarbon Chlorinated solvent Aromatic Hydrocarbon ______________________________________
All of these solvents are considered hazardous and most forms are considered to be volatile organic compounds or VOC's. They may be used in the 100% pure form or as blends, using combinations of the solvents.
VOC's are heavily regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and by SARA and HAPS laws. The EPA regulates the amount of VOC which any particular company can emit into the atmosphere. This ceiling limits the production output of the company which, in particular, when automated equipment is used, it is much less than the total output that the company may be capable of sustaining without such regulations. The ceiling is particularly difficult to deal with also because these companies use paints which themselves contain high percentages of VOC solvents. The solvent percentages range from 5% to 80%, depending on the paint.
Current paints and other coatings fall into six categories as follows:
______________________________________ Epoxy Polyester Polyurethane Polyamid Enamels Water Borne ______________________________________
For the purpose of this disclosure, paints will be grouped into the general category referred to as coatings, which may include not only paints but other liquids meant to be coated onto surfaces. Coatings, in turn, are divided generally into VOC coatings containing some VOC solvents and non-VOC coatings, such as water-borne coatings.
Various automated and manual devices, equipment and techniques are known for applying coatings onto structures. Among these is the use of electrostatic spraying equipment which pumps paint from a holding vessel or drum and sprays the paint through a manual air gun or automated, robot controlled, reciprocating paint nozzle, disc or bell-shaped applicator. The paint may also be pumped to a dip tank which applies the coating by dipping structures into the tank. For electrostatic coating, the paint is charged with 20,000 to 80,000 volts and applied to a grounded structure or substrate to be coated. The advantage to electrostatics is that it allows most of the coating to go directly onto the substrate and minimizes over-spraying and excess air emissions.
The use of electrostatic spraying thus reduces VOC discharge and permits high-volume application of coatings while still remaining within the strict EPA regulations. This technique also reduces the amount of paint used during the operation.
When a new color is needed for the substrates, all paint lines containing the last color must be purged. Currently this is done by drawing solvent from a holding vessel or drum and circulating it through the system lines and out through the sprayers or drains. Some of the solvent may be recirculated while a remainder of the solvent is disposed of as a hazardous waste. A new color is then introduced into the system. Problems associated with these types of solvents, whether they are VOC or not, include flammability, toxic fume exposure to employees, evaporative losses and odors.
One example of an electrostatic nozzle and other equipment particularly suited for robot-controlled coating, is manufactured by Binks Manufacturing Company of Franklin Park, Ill. One such nozzle supplied by Binks is known as the Mini-Mizer series, which is a high-speed circumferencial atomizer, especially suited for atomizing high-solids coatings, water-borne coatings and conventional solvent base coating systems.
Due to the presence of high voltage, a serious problem which occurs, in particular, during the purging operation, is the problem of arcing. Both the nozzles and the hoses and lines connected to the nozzles can pick up charges and pose an arcing hazard. Although conductive materials can be sprayed with the Mini-Mizer nozzle, the manufacturer of the nozzle advises users to utilize an extra degree of electrical insulation from ground, for the spray equipment.
One company which is involved in the spraying of substrates and which must comply with EPA regulations concerning emissions, is Lozier, which operates from seven different locations and which utilizes robotic spray booths. It is estimated that a company like Lozier would utilize approximately 4,000 gallons of cleanser per month for its seven locations for exclusive use in purging the spray equipment. It is common to require on the order of 40 color changes per day, switching colors among approximately 180 available colors. Each color change must be followed by a purge cycle which is as quick and effective as possible to permit quick restarting of the spraying equipment with a new color.
Reducing VOC's and other undesirable components from the purging fluid, would represent a substantial improvement in the field, resulting in increased production rates which are still within the EPA requirements.
Currently, acetone is not considered a VOC. Although many manufacturing facilities are using acetone to reduce their VOC emissions, there are some severe setbacks when using this alternative:
1. Acetone is highly flammable;
2. Acetone has severe overexposure precautions as it pertains to the user; and
3. Acetone by itself is ineffective and, therefore, is mixed with other solvents which are typically HAPS, VOC, flammable, and SARA regulated.
Typical formulations include:
30% Acetone 70% MEK (HAPS, SARA, Flammable)
40% Acetone 60% Xytene (HAPS, SARA, Flammable)
50% Acetone 50% Toluene (HAPS, SARA, Flammable)
These solvents still emit high levels of VOC (50-70%) and these blends are not water reducible, compared to the low VOC, low vapor pressure aqueous blends of the present invention which emit 6-15% VOC. The present invention is a dramatic improvement environmentally and produces a friendlier atmosphere for in-plant operation than acetone based solvents.
The present invention is also more closely tailored to use in purging equipment containing heat curable liquids, although other liquids can also be purged with the composition of the present invention.

Water-based flushing solution with low VOC content