A shock absorbing member includes an outer peripheral wall having a polygonal cross-sectional shape and including a plurality of side portions, and a plurality of ribs, on an inner side of the outer peripheral wall, radially extending from a central axis and connected to an intermediate position of each of the side portions. A boundary position of adjacent side portions on an outer peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall is defined as a vertex, an intermediate position of each side portion on the outer peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall is defined as a rib connection point, and portions segmenting each of the side portion into two, with the rib connection point as a boundary, are each defined as a half-side portion.

A bumper beam for absorbing impact caused at the time of collision is provided on an inner side of a bumper to be provided at a front end of an automobile.
A bumper beam includes a bumper reinforcement to be arranged along a vehicle width direction and a pair of right and left crash boxes (shock absorbing members) which support the bumper reinforcement to a vehicle structure. At the time of collision, the crash box is compressively deformed in an axial direction thereof to thereby absorb the impact energy.
Such a crash box is constituted by a hollow aluminum extruded member, etc., and the outer peripheral wall is formed into a circular shape, a polygonal shape, etc. Further, to improve the absorbing characteristics of impact energy, a crash box in which a plurality of ribs are formed on an inside of the outer peripheral wall is proposed.
The crash box as shown in Patent Document 1, for example, includes an outer peripheral wall hexagonal in cross-section and 6 ribs radially extending from a central axis to an intermediate position of each side portion of the outer peripheral wall. When the crash box receives a compressive load, the crash box repeatedly deforms (buckling-deforms) in the axial direction in an accordion manner while deforming the portion of the outer peripheral wall sandwiched by adjacent nodes convexly and concavely in a radial direction, with the rib connection point and the vertex of the outer peripheral wall as a node and an anti-node, respectively.


A method to produce cast pieces with optimum mechanical properties having through-openings with minimal outlay in terms of equipment. A casting mold in which at least one casting core is used. A through-channel leading through the through-opening of the cast piece is formed by burning the binder in the molding material out of the casting core representing the through-opening by means of the heat input into the casting mold when pouring the molten metal into the casting mold, or by mechanically destroying, at least in part, the respective casting core representing the through-opening and the regions of the casting mold arranged in the extension of the casting core.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for casting a molten metal cast piece provided with at least one through-opening. The cast pieces referred to here are typically cylinder crankcases for high-capacity combustion engines which are cast from a cast iron metal.
2. Description of Related Art
Modern combustion engines are constantly being developed in order to reduce fuel consumption. Reducing the volume and weight of the components is key here. This trend is described among experts as 'downsizing'. The aim of 'downsizing' is, for example, to achieve performances with smaller engine sizes that previously required a larger overall installed size.
Successful downsizing of combustion engines requires inter alia enhancement of the technological properties of their individual components. Thus, the achievable performance can be more than trebled with modern engine designs at the same installation size.
Cast iron with vermicular graphite is sometimes used today instead of conventional cast iron to ensure the adequate resilience of cast iron cylinder crankcases at said power density, or high alloy cast iron materials are used to achieve the required strength.
The cast pieces of the type described above are typically cast in casting moulds, which are made up of several moulded parts and casting cores. Whilst moulded parts generally determine the external shape of a cast piece, casting cores are placed into casting moulds to represent recesses, cavities, through-openings and similar in the cast piece to be produced.
Depending on their position in or on the cast piece and the ease with which they can be removed from the mould after the cast piece has set, moulded parts and casting cores are configured as permanent moulded parts and permanent casting cores or as lost moulded parts and casting cores. Whilst permanent moulded parts and casting cores consist of materials, which can withstand the stresses and strains that occur during casting, and therefore can be used repeatedly for a large number of casting processes, lost moulded parts and casting cores usually consist of moulding materials which can be destroyed easily by the application of force or the effect of temperature. If a casting mould consists, entirely, or at least to a substantial extent, of lost moulded parts and casting cores, it is usually referred to as a lost mould, whereas casting moulds, which consist primarily of permanent, moulded parts, are referred to as permanent casting moulds even if lost casting cores are placed therein. Lost moulds are typically used for cast iron casting, whilst, permanent, casting moulds or a combination of permanent moulded parts and lost moulded parts are frequently used in light metal casting.
Lost moulded parts and casting cores are typically made of moulding materials consisting of sand mixed with an appropriate binder, which hardens when producing the respective moulded parts or casting cores as a result of a chemical reaction, provided it retains adequate dimensional stability until the molten mass cast in the casting mould sets. The components of the moulding material can be coordinated here such that the respective casting core or moulded part automatically breaks into pieces while the casting piece is cooling as a result of the stresses and strains that occur. Alternatively, or additionally, the disintegration of lost moulded parts and casting cores can be effected by applying mechanical forces. Thus, for example, casting cores can be destroyed by shaking the respective cast piece into such tiny pieces that the moulding material thereof automatically trickles out of the cast piece, or the destruction of the casting cores is speeded up by drilling, extrusion or flushing. The prerequisite for this, however, is that the cast piece is substantially completely cool so that the stresses and strains occurring during the mechanical or thermal destruction of the lost casting cores and moulded parts does not result in damage to the cast piece.
The process of cooling the cast piece has a crucial influence of its mechanical properties. Problems may occur when cooling a cast piece in that the cast piece cools at different rates in different areas as a result of uneven distribution of material or an irregular heat supply. Internal stresses and strains may occur in the cast piece as a result of such uneven cooling, which may lead to a dramatic deterioration of its mechanical loading capacity.
In order to minimise the occurrence of such stresses and strains, cooling from the casting temperature to a temperature usually below 600° C. is performed deliberately slowly when casting cast pieces with wall thicknesses that vary considerably. The casting plants used in practice are equipped with cooling sections of a specific length for this purpose, wherein said cooling sections may also include 'cooling stations' where the casting moulds containing the cast pieces to be cooled can dwell for a specific period in order to further delay cooling. If no means are available to guarantee sufficiently slow cooling, or if internal stresses and strains that are too high are still present in the cast piece even after such slow cooling, the cast pieces must be subjected to additional annealing in order to reduce the respective stresses and strains.
As an alternative option for minimising the tensile stresses in the inner region of a cylinder crankcase, DE 10 2008 048 761 A1 suggests cooling the molten metal after it has been poured into the casting mould in a directed manner such that setting of the molten mass is effected firstly inside the cast piece or a region of the cast, piece directed towards a feeder head is set. It should be possible to achieve this by influencing the setting of the respective cast piece by means of different cooling capacity of at least two independent cooling circuits provided on the respective casting mould. However, this can only be accomplished if the respective casting mould is configured as a permanent casting mould at least in the regions in which the cooling capacity is intended to be applied in a targeted manner. Specially formed sleeves are thus provided for moulding the cylinder openings of the respective cylinder crankcase, which are drawn out of the casting without damage after setting. It has proven advantageous for the removal of the sleeves after setting, if cooling of the edge of the cylinder openings is started at a different time from the cooling of the cylinder surface and the cylinder edge is cooled at a different intensity from the cooling of the cylinder surface. In this manner, the setting of the cast cylinder crankcase in the region of the cylinder openings can be performed such that the cylinder crankcase can be removed from the mould at a point when although it is set, it is still at a high temperature.
Another option for targeted accelerated cooling of cast piece regions, which are arranged inside the respective component part, is described in DE 11 2006 000 627 T5. The sand casting mould known from this document for producing a cast piece made of an aluminium alloy comprises a portion, which is formed by means of a solvent, more particularly water, soluble binder, and a further portion which is formed by means of a binder, which cannot be dissolved using the respective solvent. This division of the sand mould portions enables removal of the core formed on the basis of the soluble binder by applying pressure with the solvent, i.e. by applying pressure by means of a jet of water, for example, and consequently the inner regions of the cast piece exposed to the effect of the solvent cool more rapidly that the rest of the cast piece. Said solution only applies to cavities, which are present in the cast piece, and requires a complex design of the sand mould from different moulding materials.
Another suggestion for accelerated cooling of the regions of a cast piece surrounding a through-opening, designed for a special application scenario and suitable for light metal casting, is made in DE 10 2010 003 346 A1. In the method described here for casting a piston for a combustion engine, once the surface layers in the region of the piston pin bores nave set, the sleeves provided for removing said bores from the mould are drawn back and the region of the respective bore is cooled by means of a cooling agent, which is supplied through at least one of the sleeves.
Against the background of the prior art described above, the problem to be solved by the invention consisted in providing a method, which makes it possible to produce cast pieces with through-openings having optimum mechanical properties in a manner that requires minimal outlay in terms of equipment.

Method for casting a cast piece with at least one through-opening

Fritz Winter EisengieBerei GmbH & Co. KG


Adjusting device for a front lid with an actuator for raising the rear edge of the front lid, wherein the adjusting device has a front-lid-mounted leg with a guide and a vehicle-body-mounted retaining element with a section guided the guide, wherein the guide of the front-lid-mounted leg is movable relative to the section of the retaining element by the actuator for raising the rear edge of the front lid.

The present invention relates to an adjusting device for a front lid with an actuator for raising the rear edge of the front lid.
It is known to provide a drive for front lids of motor vehicles to allow adjustment of the front lid in certain situations. For the protection of pedestrians, a front lid can be actively raised after detecting an impact, so that a portion of the impact energy can be absorbed through deformation of the front lid. Such active front lids are usually moved vertically upward and also horizontally rearward. However, unless the lid is raised, sufficient deformation space is in most cases not available due to the rigid support structure of the vehicle.
It would therefore be desirable and advantageous to obviate prior art shortcomings and to provide an improved adjusting device that offers enhanced adjustment possibilities.


A wireless communication system comprises a sampling module that samples a first portion and a second portion of a channel using a sampling time. A correlator module selectively correlates the first portion and the second portion, generates correlation samples, and calculates an offset based on the correlation samples. A timing module selectively adjusts the sampling time based on the offset.

Personal Handy-phone System (PHS) is a mobile telephone system that operates in the 1.88-1.93 GHz frequency band. PHS is a cordless telephone system with capability to handover signals from one cell to another. PHS cells are smaller than cells of cellular phone systems that use Global System for Mobile communication (GSM).
Typically, PHS has a transmission power of 500 mW and a range of 10-100 meters. PHS provides service with minimal congestion in areas of heavy call-traffic such as business districts, downtown, etc. This is accomplished by installing cell stations at a radial distance of every 100-200 meters. Thus, PHS is particularly suitable for use in urban areas.
PHS-based phones can be used in homes, offices, and outdoors. PHS offers a cost-effective alternative to conventional phone systems that use ground lines. Additionally, PHS-based phones can interface with conventional phone systems. Thus, where ground lines of conventional phone systems cannot reach a physical location of a subscriber, the subscriber can use PHS to establish communication with the conventional phone system and reach other subscribers served by the conventional phone system.
PHS uses Time division multiple access (TDMA) as radio interface and adaptive differential pulse code modulation (ADPCM) as voice coder-decoder (codec). A codec includes an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) that translate signals between analog and digital formats.
TDMA is a digital signal transmission scheme that allows multiple users to access a single radio-frequency (RF) channel. Interference between channels is avoided by allocating unique time slots to each user within each channel. For example, a PHS frame comprises four channels: one control channel and three traffic channels. Each channel is divided into two time slots. The control channel assigns each caller one time slot for uplink or transmission and one time slot for downlink or reception.
Unlike PCM codecs that quantize speech signals directly, ADPCM codecs quantize a difference between a speech signal and a prediction made of the speech signal. If the prediction is accurate, the difference between actual and predicted speech may have a variance that is lower than the variance in actual speech. Additionally, the difference may be accurately quantized with fewer bits than the number of bits that would be needed to quantize the actual speech. While decoding, a quantized difference signal is added to a predicted signal to reconstruct an original speech signal. The performance of the codec is aided by using adaptive prediction and quantization so that a predictor and a difference quantizer adapt to changing characteristics of speech being coded.
Referring now to FIG. 1, an exemplary PHS phone 10 comprises an antenna 12, a signal processing module 16 comprising a transmit module 18 and a receive module 20, memory 22, a power supply 24, and an I/O module 26. The I/O module 26 may comprise various user-interfaces such as a microphone 26-1, a speaker 26-2, a display 26-3, a keypad 26-4, a camera 26-5, etc.
The transmit module 18 converts user input from the microphone 26-1, the camera 26-5, etc., into PHS-compatible signals. The receive module 20 converts data received from the antenna 12 into a user-recognizable format and outputs the same via speaker 26-2, camera 26-5, etc. The signal processing module 16 uses memory 22 to process data transmitted to and received from the antenna 12. The power supply 24 provides power to the phone 10.
Digital data is typically represented by zeros and ones, which are called bits. Data is generally transmitted by modulating amplitude, frequency, or phase of a carrier signal with a baseband information-bearing signal. Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) is a form of phase modulation generally used in communication systems. In QPSK, information bits are grouped in pairs called dibits. Thus, QPSK uses four symbols that represent dibit values 00, 01, 10, and 11. QPSK maps the four symbols to four fixed phase angles. For example, symbol 00 may be mapped to (+3π/4). On the other hand, π/4-DQPSK uses differential encoding wherein mapping between symbols and phase angle varies. Additionally, π/4-DQPSK maps each of the four symbols to a real and an imaginary phase angle resulting in an eight-point constellation.
Referring now to FIGS. 2A-2B, the transmit module 18 comprises an ADPCM module 50, a framer module 52, a serial-to-parallel converter module 54, a DQPSK mapper module 56, a square-root raised cosine (SRRC) filter module 58, and an upsample module 60. The receive module 20 comprises a downsample module 70, an automatic gain control (AGC) module 72, a demodulator 75 comprising a carrier acquisition module 74 and an equalization module 76, a de-mapper and parallel-to-serial converter module 78, a de-framer module 80, and an ADPCM module 82.
When transmitting data from the phone 10 on a channel, the ADPCM module 50 converts audio and/or video signal into bits of digital data. The framer module 52 partitions the digital data into frames. The serial-to-parallel converter module 54 converts the bits in the frames into symbols. The DQPSK mapper module 56, which may utilize a modulation scheme such as π/4-DQPSK modulation, maps four real and four imaginary values of four symbols in each frame to a total of eight phase angles and generates a complex baseband signal.
The SRRC filter module 58, which is essentially a Nyquist pulse-shaping filter, limits the bandwidth of the signal. Additionally, the SRRC filter module 58 removes mixer products from the complex baseband signal. The upsample module 60 comprises a quadrature carrier oscillator that is used to convert the phase-modulated baseband signal into a phase-modulated carrier signal. The upsample module 60 transmits the phase-modulated carrier signal on the channel at a sampling frequency that is greater than twice the Nyquist frequency.
When the phone 10 receives a signal from the antenna 12, the downsample module 70 downsamples the signal using an asynchronous oscillator. The downsample module 70 down-converts the signal from the phase-modulated carrier signal to the phase modulated baseband signal. The AGC module 72 maintains the gain of the signal relatively constant despite variation in input signal strength due to transmission losses, noise, interference, etc.
The carrier acquisition module 74 demodulates the signal, retrieves carrier phase information, and decodes symbol values from the signal. The equalization module 76 corrects any distortion present in the signal. The de-mapper and parallel-to-serial converter module 78 de-maps and converts the demodulated signal into a serial bit-stream. The de-framer module 80 de-partitions the frames into digital data bits. The ADPCM module 82 converts the digital data bits into audio and/or video data and outputs the data to the speaker 26-2 and/or the display 26-3 of the phone 10.


A field effect transistor (FET) device has a fin disposed over a substrate. The fin has opposing ends defining a source and a drain and intermediate the source and the drain a channel underlying a gate. The fin is formed as a heterostructure having at least one first layer of material and at least one second layer of material that is adjacent to the first layer of material. A thickness of at least one of the first layer of material and the second layer of material is selected to obtain a particular effective device width W. Methods to fabricate the FET device are also described.

One feature of a heterojunction is that the bandgaps of two adjacent semiconductors are typically different. As a result the energy of the carriers (electrons or holes) that exists at at least one of the band edges must change as the carriers pass through the heterojunction. In most cases the discontinuities exist in both the conduction band and the valence band. In conventional nomenclature, sometimes used with superlattices, if the extrema of both the conduction and valence bands lie in the same layers, the superlattice is referred to as Type I, whereas if the band extrema are found in different layers the superlattice is referred to as Type II.
The FinFET is becoming a main architecture for CMOS technology due to its excellent scalability. However FinFET circuit design is challenging due at least to the discrete values that are available for W (the effective device width). For example, if the fin height is 30 nm and W is equal to two times the height (H) of the fin or 60 nm, and if a circuit designer desires a value of W equal to 90 nm, the circuit designer should either use one fin with W equal to 60 nm or two fins with a total W equal to 120 nm. Moreover the effective device width for various chip blocks such as SRAM and logic are typically similar. It can be appreciated that constraints can be placed on the circuit designer.

Integrated circuit having heterostructure FinFET with tunable device parameters and method to fabricate same

International Business Machines Corporation


An improved drumhead construction for drums of the type used in percussion sections of bands and orchestras utilizes a sound absorbing muffling ring attached to the drumhead to minimize the amplitude and duration of undesirable resonance sounds or over-ringing. The muffling ring according to the present invention includes a flat annular ring having a sound absorbing surface such as felt adjacent to the inner, or non-battered surface of a drum head membrane. The sound absorbing ring is attached to the drumhead membrane only at certain locations of the ring, thereby permitting unattached portions of the ring to float with respect to the drumhead membrane, away from the membrane in response to initial brisk movement of the membrane in response to a drum beat, thereby minimizing attenuation of initial drumhead membrane vibrations which produce desired sharp attack sounds. The muffling ring includes means for resiliently urging the sound absorbing portion thereof back into contact with the drumhead membrane, thereby dampening the amplitude and duration of undesired resonances in the drumhead. In a preferred embodiment, a second annular ring-shaped lamination made of an elastic material such as fibreboard is attached to the inner surface of the sound absorbing ring lamination, and urges the sound absorbing lamination into contact with the membrane. The muffling ring is preferably attached to the inner, or non-battered surface of the batter membrane of a drumhead. In drums provided with a second, resonating drumhead, a muffling ring may be attached to the resonating drumhead instead of or in addition to the muffling ring attached to the batter drumhead.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to percussion musical instruments, specifically drums. More particularly, the invention relates to a drumhead construction having improved acoustical characteristics.
B. Description of Background Art
A variety of drums are used by orchestras, bands and other such musical groups Drum types commonly used by musicians include kettle drums, also known as tympani, base or kick drums, and snare drums. All of these drums include one or two heads, each having a membrane made of an animal skin or synthetic polymer sheet. The membrane is held in tension over the open end of a hollow cylindrical shell, the outer surface of the membrane being used as a striking or batter surface which is impacted by a drumstick, mallet or hand, causing the drumhead and air column within the shell to vibrate at audible frequencies.
The fundamental vibration frequency, harmonics or overtones of the fundamental vibration frequency, and decay or dampening time of sounds produced by a drum are determined primarily by characteristic or normal vibration modes excited in the drumhead membrane when it is struck by a drumstick, mallet, hand or other object. Vibration frequencies and resonance or dampening characteristics of the drumhead vibration modes are in turn determined in part by the diameter, weight per unit area, compliance or elasticity, and other such properties of the drumhead membrane. Drumhead vibration frequencies are also determined by the amount of tension exerted on the drumhead membrane. This tension is usually controlled by means of an adjustable hoop attached to the drumhead membrane and clamped to the shell. Therefore, producing desired tones from a drum requires that tension in the drumhead be accurately and uniformly adjusted by the drum hoop tensioning means.
Since the required tension is often times quite large, polyester film, because of its high strength, resistance to weather changes, consistency and tone quality, is the preferred material for the manufacture of drumhead membranes. Unfortunately, polyester films such as MYLAR.TM., when struck with a drumstick, produce undesirable high-frequency resonant overtones which may have a substantially long decay time. The task of reducing or eliminating undesirable overtones creates substantial problems in tuning drumheads, and in the "miking" (picking up sounds with a microphone). amplification and recording of drum sounds produced in a concert hall or other such venue.
In an effort to decrease the amplitude of undesirable high frequency drum resonances, and/or to dampen or decrease their resonant decay times, drummers and sound engineers have heretofore resorted to a variety of less than optimum methods.
One make-shift approach to dampening undesirable drumhead overtones consists of placing or attaching pieces of sound deadening material on the outside surface of a drumhead. Facial tissue, felt, paper towels and cloth have been used for this purpose, but the results achieved are inconsistent at best. Also, from an aesthetic point of view, pieces of paper or cloth taped to a drumhead are very unsightly, for both live performances and televised concerts.
Taping towels, paper or cloth to one area of a drumhead to reduce the amplitude and duration of undesirable overtones also has the unwanted consequences of over-muffling one area of the drumhead, while having little effect on the remainder of the head. This results in the production of a somewhat unbalanced set of frequencies, owing to the fact that the dampening of overtones is confined to a localized area of the drumhead contacted by the dampening materials. A loss of overall tone quality and musical effect is the usual result. Also, the drummer is presented with the problem of avoiding the muffled area when striking the drumhead. This problem is aggravated when individual drums of a large set of drums, sometimes as many as ten, must be struck in rapid succession.
Another approach to muffling drumhead overtones, used primarily on base drums having an open end, consists of placing a pillow or blanket inside the drum, in contact with the inside surface of the drumhead. At best, this method results in unpredictable or weird sounds to be produced by the drum.
In an effort to solve the harmonic ringing problem, some manufacturers of drumheads have constructed laminated drumheads having multiple plies. An inherent problem with such drumheads is the dull, over-muffled sound produced by the drums. Also, it is difficult to maintain the same relative tension in the two plies. The result is an inconsistent product.
Other approaches to drumhead overtone dampening have included laminating foam or rubber rings to an inner surface in the drumhead. However, the weight of such materials prevents the drumhead from vibrating in a desired fashion. Moreover, the tone quality and musical effect are degraded by such muffling rings.
Since no completely satisfactory solution to the problem of drumhead ringing control existed heretofore, the present invention was conceived of to solve that problem.


It is provided isolated polynucleotides that include sequences from genomic region around the gene CD 81. The polynucleotides include polymorphisms associated with treatment response of HCV patients to interferon-α and ribavirin combined therapy and are useful as the probes in screening for patients who will response to interferon-α and ribavirin combined therapy. It is further provided linkage disequilibrium structure of the CD81 gene and haplotype information within a particular LD block, which can be used for prediction of the treatment outcome of the interferon-α and ribavirin combined therapy on HCV patients.

According to most recent World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, around 170–200 million individuals have chronic HCV infection worldwide. The HCV prevalence shows significant geographic variations and demographic variations within a geographic area. In Europe, and particularly in the Mediterranean countries, the prevalence of HCV infection increases in parallel with age, while in the United States it is most common in persons 30–49 years of age, see W. R. Kim, The burden of hepatitis C in the United States, Hepatology 36 (2002) S30–S34. The incidence of new infections with HCV is declining in the developed countries while the number of new cases is still increasing in the underdeveloped countries, largely due to the use of contaminated blood for transfusion. The major risk factor for HCV transmission has changed over time from blood transfusion related cases to injecting drug use in the Western world. The relative importance of other risk factors has not changed much over time. These include unsafe sex with multiple partners, occupational and perinatal exposures, nosocomial and iatrogenic infections, unsafe tattooing, piercing and acupuncture, see M. J. Alter, Prevention of spread of hepatitis C, Hepatology 36 (2002) S93–S98.
Hepatitis C is caused by a small RNA virus belonging to the flaviviridae family and has been recently classified as the only member of the genes hepacivirus, see B. Robertson, G. Myers, C. Howard, T. Brettin, J. Bukh, B. Gaschen, et al., Classification, nomenclature, and database development for hepatitis C virus (HCV) and related viruses: proposals for standardization, Arch Virol 143 (1998) 2493–2503. The HCV genome is a 9.6 Kb single-stranded RNA which encodes a single polypeptide of about 3000 amino acids, see M. Major, S. M. Feinstone, The molecular biology of hepatitis C, Hepatology 25 (1997) 1527–1538. This HCV polypeptide is cut post-translationally to generate several structural and non-structural proteins including two envelope glycoproteins (E1 and E2), the nucleopeptide protein (core-C) and several non-structural (from NS2 to NS5) proteins. Some of the viral proteins have been shown to involve in the pathogenesis of the liver disease and also in the development of resistance to interferon therapy. The HCV core proteins, either in its full-length or truncated forms, have been shown to provoke apoptosis of infected cells, see A. Ruggieri, T. Harada, Y. Matsuura, T. Miyamura, Sensitization to Fas-mediated apoptosis by hepatitis C virus core protein, Virology 229 (1997) 68–76, and thus might directly involved in the pathogenesis of liver disease, of cell proliferation and liver cancer development. The core proteins and NS5A have also been reported to interfere with cellular metabolism of lipids and with a direct effect on the development of steatosis, see G. Perlemuter, A. Sabile, P. Letteron, G. Vona, A. Topilco, Y. Chretien, et al., Hepatitis C virus core protein inhibits microsomal triglyceride transfer protein activity and very low density lipoprotein secretion: a model of viral-related steatosis, FASEB J 16 (2002) 185–194, which is a characteristic feature of hepatitis C, see L. Rubbia-Brandt, R. Quadri, K. Abid, E. Giostra, P. J. Male, G. Mentha, et al., Hepatocyte steatosis is a cytopathic effect of hepatitis C virus genotype 3, J Hepatol 33 (2000) 106–115. In addition, NS5A may contain an interferon sensitivity determining region (ISDR) capable of regulating the cellular response to interferon, see N. Enomoto, I. Sakuma, Y. Asahina, M. Kurosaki, T. Murakami, C. Yamamoto, et al., Mutations in the non-structural protein 5A gene and response to interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus 1b infection, N Engl J. Med. 334 (1996) 77–81. This protein region can bind and inhibit protein kinase R (PKR), whose activity is pivotal for the development of intracellular antiviral state in response to interferon, see S. L. Tan, M. G. Katze, How hepatitis C virus counteracts the interferon response: the jury is still out on NS5A, Virology 284 (2001) 1–12.
There are six major different HCV genotypes and multiple subtypes. Genotypes 1a and 2b are most common in Europe and the United States, followed by genotypes 2 and 3. These four genotypes are also common in the rest of the world. On the other hand, the other genotypes are only common in particular geographic area, such as Egypt in the case of genotype 4, South Africa in the case of genotype 5, and Southeast Asia in the case of genotype 6. The viral genotype is important in terms of the treatment efficacy of antiviral therapy, see T. Poynard, P. Marcellin, S. S. Lee, et al., Randomized trial of interferon alpha 2b plus ribavrin for 48 weeks or for 24 weeks versus interferon alpha 2b plus placebo for 48 weeks for treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus. Lancet 352 (1998) 1426–32, and J. G. McHutchison, S. C. Gordon, E. R. Schiff, et al., Interferon alpha-2b alone or in combination with ribavirin as initial treatment for chronic hepatitis C. N Engl J. Med. 339 (1998) 1485–92, with better responses associated with genotypes 2 and 3 than with genotype 1. Some of the HCV strains had been reported to have enhanced virulence, but the molecular determinants and mechanisms conferring this property remain elusive, see P. Farci, S. J. Munoz, A. Shimoda, et al., Experimental transmission of hepatitis C virus-associated fulminant hepatitis to a chimpazee. J Infect Dis 179 (1999) 1007–11. Furthermore, genetic variations within a region of NS5A have been deduced to associate with the treatment effectiveness of interferon therapy, as shown in isolates of Japanese subtype 1b, see N. Enomoto, I. Shakuma, Y. Asahina, et al., Mutation in the nonstructural protein 5A gene and response to interferon in patients with chronic hepatitis virus 1b infection. N Engl J. Med. 334 (1996) 77–81. However, this result could not be reproduced in European and American isolates of HCV 1, see R. T. Chung, A. Monto, J. L. Dienstag, L. M. Kaplan, Mutations in the NS5A region do not predict interferon-responsiveness in American patients infected with genotype 1b hepatitis C virus. J Med Virol 58 (1999) 353–8, and S. Zeuzem, J. H. Lee, W. K. Roth, Mutations in the non-structural 5A gene of European hepatitis C virus isolates and response to interferon alpha. Hepatology 25 (1997) 740–4.
The natural history of hepatitis C is very heterogeneous, it can either progress towards cirrhosis and its complications, though over a quite long period of time, or remain as benign and one-progressive chronic infection in the majority of the HCV carriers. The severity, progression, and outcome of hepatitis are influenced by several cofactors, see A. Alberti, L. Chemello, L. Benvegnu, Natural history of hepatitis C, J Hepatol 31 (Suppl 1) (1999) 17–24. Retrospective studies conducted in patients with hepatitis C observed for 10–30 years after infection indicate that 17–55% (mean 42%) developed cirrhosis, 1–23% developed HCC and 4–15% died of liver related causes. These figures are quite reduced in most prospective studies where over a follow-up period of 8–16 years after exposure 7–16% of the patients developed cirrhosis (mean 11%), 0.7–1.3% developed HCC and 1.3–3.7% died of liver related causes, see L. B. Seeff, Natural history of chronic hepatitis C, Hepatology 36 (2002) S35–S46. In a series of retrospective-prospective studies lasting 9–45 years, it was found that 0.3–15% of the developed cirrhosis, 0–1.9% HCC, and 0–2.8% died of liver related diseases. These investigations also revealed that many host and environmental factors can influence the course and outcome of chronic hepatitis C and account for the great heterogeneity of this disease. These differences are very well described by the quite different outcomes and rates of progression to cirrhosis seen when distinct cohort of patients were followed-up for a similar period of time (20–25 years) after infection. In adult patients, mainly males, infected at the age of 45–65 years with a large inoculum through blood transfusion in the pre-serologic era, 15–27% developed cirrhosis, see R. L. Koretz, H. Abbey, E. Coleman, G. Gitnick, NANB post-transfusion hepatitis: looking back on the second decade, Ann Intern Med 119 (1993) 110–115, F. Tremolada, C. Cassin, A. Alberti, C. Drago, A. Tagger, M. L. Ribero, G. Realdi, Long-term follow-up of NANB (type C) post-transfusion hepatitis, J Hepatol 16 (1992) 273–281, and A. M. Di Bisceglie, Z. D. Goodman, K. G. Ishak, J. H. Hoofnagle, J. J. Melpolder, H. J. Alter, Long-term clinical and histopathological follow-up of chronic post-transfusion hepatitis, Hepatology 14 (1991) 969–974, compared to 4% with community-acquired hepatitis C, see A. J. Rodger, S. Roberts, A. Lanigan, S. Bowden, N. Crofts, Assessment of long-term outcomes of community-acquired hepatitis C infection in a cohort with sera stored from 1971–1975, Hepatology 32 (2000) 582–587, 1% of young drug-addicts, see D. L. Thomas, J. Astemborski, R. M. Rai, F. A. Anania, M. Schaeffer, N. Galai, et al., The natural history of hepatitis C virus infection: host, viral and environmental factors, J Am Med Assoc 284 (2000) 450–456, 0.4–2% of young women contaminated by anti-D Ig preparations, see E. Kenny-Walsh, for the Irish Hepatology Research Group, Clinical outcome after hepatitis C infection from contaminated anti-D immune globulin, N Engl J Med 340 (1999) 1228–1233, and 0.3% of children with hepatitis C, see M. Wiese, F. Berr, M. Lafrenz, H. Porst, V. Olsen, Low frequency of cirrhosis in a hepatitis C (genotype 1b) single-source outbreak in Germany: a 20-year multicenter study, Hepatology 32 (2000) 91–96. These findings indicate that size and source of infection, age and gender are important variables affecting the course and outcome of chronic hepatitis C.
The treatment of patients with chronic HCV infection is based largely on consensus guidelines, see National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference Panel statement: management of hepatitis C. Hepatology 26 (1997) Suppl 1:2S–10S, and EASL International Consensus Conference on Hepatitis C: Paris, 26–28, Feb. 1999, consensus statement. J Hepatol 30 (1999) 956–961. The 1999 recommendations, see EASL International Consensus Conference on Hepatitis C: Paris, 26–28, Feb. 1999, consensus statement. J Hepatol 30 (1999) 956–961, suggest that naïve patients with the above-described indications and without contraindications to treatment with interferon or ribavirin should receive combination therapy. Treatment consists of 3 million U of interferon-α administered subsetaneously three times a week and 1200 mg of ribavirin orally per day for patients with weight greater than 75 kg and 1000 mg of ribavirin for those less than 75 kg. Usually, ribavirin is taken in divided doses, given in the morning and evening, and interferon is given before bedtime.
The efficiency of these therapies is usually and conventionally determined by measuring a biochemical response (normalization of alanine aminotransferase levels), but recently the introduction of assays for the detection of HCV RNA have allowed the assessment of virologic response (as defined by a negative result on a qualitative PCR assay for HCV RNA) as a criteria for successful therapy as well. Since responses to therapy may not be maintained after treatment is stopped, the success of clinical trials has been evaluated in terms of the response at the end of therapy (end-of-treatment response) and six months after the cessation of treatment (sustained treatment response). Patients with a sustained virologic response have a high probability of having a durable biochemical, virologic, and histologic response, see O. Reichard, H. Glaumann, A. Fryden, G. Norkrans, R. Wejstal, O. Weiland, Long-term follow-up of chronic hepatitis C patients with sustained virological response to alpha-interferon. J Hepatol 30 (1999) 783–787.
The rate of end-of-treatment response of HCV patients to interferon monotherapy was as high as 40 percent, but the rate of sustained response is less than half of this, see T. Poynard, P. Marcellin, S. S. Lee, et al. Randomised trial of interferon alpha2b plus ribavirin for 48 weeks or for 24 weeks versus interferon alpha2b plus placebo for 48 weeks for treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus. Lancet 352 (1998) 1426–1432, and J. G. McHutchison, S. C. Gordon, E. R. Schiff, et al. Interferon alfa-2b alone or in combination with ribavirin as initital treatment for chronic hepatitis C. N Engl J Med 339 (1998) 1485–1492. This is especially true in persons infected with HCV genotype 1a or 1b, the most prevalent genotypes in the United States and western Europe. Two large, prospective trials, see T. Poynard, P. Marcellin, S. S. Lee, et al., Randomised trial of interferon alpha2b plus ribavirin for 48 weeks or for 24 weeks versus interferon alpha2b plus placebo for 48 weeks for treatment of chronic infection with hepatitis C virus. Lancet 352 (1998) 1426–1432, and J. G. McHutchison, S. C. Gordon, E. R. Schiff, et al., Interferon alfa-2b alone or in combination with ribavirin as initital treatment for chronic hepatitis C. N Engl J Med 339 (1998) 1485–1492, demonstrated that the combination of interferon-α and ribavirin significantly elevates the percentage of naive patients who have a sustained virologic response, from 16% to 40%. Also, both studies showed that the treatment regimens with optimal clinical outcome were associated with the viral genotype and pre-treatment viral load. For patients infected with HCV genotype 2 or 3 and in those with low viral loads before treatment, the response was maximal after 24 weeks of the treatment, whereas patients infected with genotype 1 and those with a high viral load before treatment required a course of 48 weeks for an optimal outcome. This finding led to the recommendation that the duration of treatment should be based on the HCV genotype and the pretreatment viral load, see EASL International Consensus Conference on Hepatitis C: Paris, 26–28, Feb. 1999, consensus statement. J Hepatol 30 (1999) 956–961. However, since tests for the quantification of HCV RNA are still not standardized, and since the viral load naturally fluctuates over time, the viral load is currently not routinely used for determining the treatment regimen.
Therapy of chronic hepatitis C has greatly improved in recent years with the use of interferon-α and ribavirin combined therapy. The therapy has been further improved more recently with the use of pegylated interferons (PEG-IFNs), again combined with ribavirin. The recent NIH Consensus Conference of the Management of Hepatitis C has concluded that on the basis of available data the highest response rates to antiviral therapy for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C have been achieved using the combination of PEG-IFNs and ribavirin, at least for patients infected with HCV-1 and such regimen has been therefore proposed as the new standard of therapy for chronic hepatitis, see C A. Alberti and L. Benvegnu, Management of hepatitis C, J. Hepatology 38 (2003) S104–S118.
Factors influencing the rate of sustained virological response include viral and host factors, as well as the pathogenesis state of the liver. The viral factors include viral genotype (types 1a, 2 and 3 are favorable to response), level of viraemia (less than 2 million copies/ml is favorable), and level of viral heterogeneity (degree of variability in E2/NS1 region of HCV correlates with response to IFN). The favorable host factors include younger age (less than 40) as well as female sex. The beneficial pathogenic factors are lower ALT and AST levels before treatment, absence of cirrhosis and low fibrotic histological scores, and lower hepatic iron content, see A. Alberti and L. Benvegnu, Management of hepatitis C, J. Hepatology 38 (2003) S104–S118, and G. M. Lauer and B. D. Walker, Hepatitis C virus infection, N Engl J Med 345 (2001) 41–52. In addition, due to the great extent of inter-individual variations in response to the treatment, it has been speculated that host genetic factors may also play an important role.
CD81 is a membrane bound protein composed of four transmembrane and two extracellular domains with a molecular weight of 26-kDa, see S. Levy, S. C. Todd, and H. T. Maecker, CD81 (TAPA-1): A molecule involved in signal transduction and cell adhesion in the immune system. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 16 (1998) 89–109. It is a member of the superfamily of proteins known as tetraspanins, see H. T. Maecker, S. C. Todd, and S. Levy, The tetraspanin superfamily: molecular facilitators. FASEB J. 11 (1997) 428–442. Most tetraspanins were originally identified as leukocyte antigens; however, it is now becoming evident that generally tetraspanins, particularly CD81, is expressed in many different cell types and involved in a variety of cellular functions including cell adhesion and migration, alteration of cell morphology, and activation state of a cell, see I. Tachibana and M. E. Hemler, Role of transmembrane 4 superfamily (TM4SF) proteins CD9 and CD81 in muscle cell fusion and myotube maintenance, J. Cell Biol. 146 (1999) 893–904. In the immune system, on the B cell CD81 forms a complex with CD21, CD19, and Leu13. Formation of this complex decreases the threshold for B cell activation through the B cell receptor by bridging Ag specific recognition and CD21-mediated complement recognition, see D. T. Fearon and R. H. Carter, The CD19/CR2/TAPA-1 complex of B lymphocytes: linking natural to acquired immunity. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 13 (1995) 127–149. On T cells CD81 associates with CD4 and CD8 and provides a costimulatory signal with CD3, see T. Imai, M. Kakizaki, M. Nishimura, and O. Yoshie, Molecular analyses if the association of CD4 with two members of the transmembrane 4 superfamily, CD81 and CD82. J. Immunol. 15 (1995) 1229–1239. It is also shown that expression of CD81 by T cells greatly enhances cognate T-B cell interactions and greatly amplifies Th2 polarized intracellular activation pathways, see J. Deng, R. H. Dekruyff, G. J. Freeman, D. T. Umetsu, and S. Levy, Critical role of CD81 in cognate T-B cell interactions leading to Th2 responses, Intl. Immunol. 14 (2002) 513–523.
Recently, it was shown that HCV particles bind CD81 and this binding is mediated by the interaction of the second extracellular loop of CD81 with HCV envelope 2 glycoprotien in vitro, see P. Pileri, Y. Uematsu, S. Campagnoli, G. Galli, F. Falugi, R. Petracca, A. J. Weiner, M. Houghton, D. Rosa, G. Grandi, and S. Abrignani, Binding of hepatitis C virus to CD81. Science 282 (1998) 938–941. Since the interaction between CD81 and E2 is sufficient for binding of whole HCV particle, it was postulated that CD81 may act as a receptor for the attachment and entrance of HCV into the cell, see M. Flint, C. Maidens, L. D. Loomis-Price, C. Shotton, J. Dubuisson, P. Monk, A. Higginbottom, S Levy, and J. A. McKeating, Characterization of hepatitis C virus E2 glycoprotein interaction with a putative cellular receptor CD81. J. Virol. 73 (1999) 6235–6244. However, until now there is no conclusive evidence to demonstrate the involvement of CD81 in the cellular uptake of HCV virions. More recently, it was showed that the protein level of membrane bound CD81 in isolated human peripheral blood cells and hepatocytes was significantly down-regulated by the treatment of interferon-α alone or combined with ribavirin, see B. Kronenberger, B. Ruster, R. Liez, S. Weber, A. Piier, J. H. Lee, W. K. Roth, and S. Zeuzem, Interferon alfa down-regulates CD81 in patients with chronic hepatitis C. Hepatology 33 (2001) 1518–1526. Also, levels of total CD81 protein of the PBLs of HCV-infected patients are significantly higher than those of the healthy subjects. Furthermore, cell surface-associated CD81 protein was lower 4 weeks after initiation of therapy in patients with an initial virologic response compared with initial virologic non-responders. Therefore, it is concluded that interferon-α and ribavirin regulate the expression of CD81 in vitro and in vivo. CD81 expression correlates with initial virologic response in patients with HCV infection. However, the detailed regulatory mechanism of CD 81 expression by interferon-α and ribavirin remains unclear. Moreover, the underlying reason that differentiates patients with different level of CD81 expression in response to therapy requires further studies at the genomic level, particularly for the sustained response of the therapy.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for detecting a propensity of an individual to respond effectively to treatment of interferon-α and ribavirin combined therapy


Internet connected electrical switches can benefit from an electronic rather than mechanical means to indicate their output power level. In one embodiment a touch-controlled dimmer switch is disclosed, including an interactive, uniformly illuminated bar of light, indicating the output power state of a dimmer switch. In response to a user moving their finger on a touch-sensitive front cover the dimmer switch illuminates corresponding regions with well-defined edges on a touch sensitive cover. The illuminated regions can be elongated, wider than a typical finger and encompass the most recently touched location, thereby providing improved feedback between the finger position on a touch sensitive surface and the operating point of an electrical switch. In several embodiments a segmented backlight is used to implement the interactive illuminated bar of light by uniformly illuminating the bounds of a touch region on the front surface of the switch corresponding to a particular output power state of the dimmer switch. Means are provided to produce closely spaced elongated illuminated regions with substantially uniform intensity and well-defined perimeters, well suited for internet connected smart light switches. In another aspect a translucent layer behind the touch sensitive surface can contain decorative and interchangeable artwork, illuminated by the segmented backlight.

Several US states now require light switches to provide dimmer functionality to meet energy efficiency requirements. Modern light switches provide a variety of means to control the dimmer functionality (e.g. rotational knobs, mechanical sliders and buttons operable to increase and decrease the light intensity). More recently solid state touch-sensitive electrical switches (e.g. dimmer switches) have been developed. Touch-sensitive switches eliminate the need for moving parts and instead can use capacitive touch technology and a touch-sensitive user interface surface. Without moving parts, touch-sensitive dimmer switches need a means to indicate operating point of the switch that does not rely on the position of a mechanical actuator. One method to achieve this is with a plurality of illuminated indicators (e.g. lights and LEDs) to indicate the operating point of the dimmer. Illuminated indicators are an effective visual indication of the dimmer set point, since they can be observed in dark conditions or from far away. However, using light to effectively convey the operating point of a dimmer switch is challenging. For example, LEDs are point light sources generated by small semiconductor junctions. It is therefore difficult to make large uniformly illuminated features with an LED. Hence indicator LEDs are typically a few millimeters in diameter. Materials in the dimmer switch (e.g. polymers) can also scatter light from LEDs, thereby causing indistinct indications.
Another challenge is to combine the illuminated indicators with the touch sensitive surface, thereby providing distinctly and uniformly illuminated regions of the touch sensitive surface. Previous attempts to illuminate the touch sensitive surface have used LEDs to directly illuminate small areas of the touch surface with point light sources. U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,494 issued to Foreman and U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,494 issued to Grinsphoon discloses touch sensitive dimmer switches but do not address the challenge of illuminating one or more segments of the touch sensitive portion of the switch. U.S. Pat. No. 5,336,979 issued to Watson discloses a touch based dimmer with a plurality of indicator lights (LEDs) to show the operating point of the dimmer switch. In the Watson disclosure, the indicator lights are located beside the touch sensitive surface and do not illuminate the touch sensitive surface. Additionally, Watson does not disclose any means to uniformly illuminate discrete segments of the touch-sensitive surface of the dimmer. The GRAFIK and Vierti dimmer switch product lines available from Lutron Inc. of Cooperstown Pa., use a plurality of LEDs behind a touch sensitive surface to indicate the dimmer operating point. The LEDs directly illuminate the user interface surface and the shape of the illuminated segments is determined primarily by the LED shape. The touch sensitive surface is narrow, and this is due in part to the spot size of the LEDs. The GRAFIK and Vierti products do not contain means to create uniformly illuminated distinct segments with well-defined edges. The GRAFIK and Vierti products do not provide means to tailor the shape of individual illuminated segments, so as to indicate the dimmer operating point. In a related challenge, previous illuminated dimmer switches do not provide means to uniformly illuminate a segment wider than a typical adult finger (e.g. wider than 1 centimeter).
Some light switch designs have used an LCD touch screen as the touch sensitive dimmer surface. These designs illuminate the entire backlight and use the liquid crystal layer to produce an indication of dimmer position. The liquid crystal layer has a dark appearance in the unenergized state and can diminish the aesthetic appeal of the dimmer switch. As far as I am aware no variable load control device (e.g. dimmer switch) previously disclosed, is effective to provide a touch sensitive surface with large, uniformly illuminated discrete segments.

Smart illuminated electrical switch with touch control


Embodiments include a synthetic jet device formed within layers of a package substrate, such as to provide a controlled airflow for sensing or cooling applications. The jet device includes an electromagnetically driven vibrating membrane of conductive material between a top and bottom cavity. A top lid with an opening covers the top cavity, and a permanent magnet is below the bottom cavity. An alternating current signal conducted through the membrane causes the membrane to vibrate in the presence of a magnetic field caused by the permanent magnet. By being manufactured with package forming processes, the jet (1) is manufactured more cost-effectively than by using silicon chip or wafer processing; (2) is easily integrated as part of and with the other layers of a package substrate; and (3) can be driven by a chip mounted on the package. Embodiments also include systems having and processes for forming the jet.

Field
Embodiments of the invention are related to a synthetic jet device formed within or as the layers of a package substrate having layers of conductive traces, conductive vias, and dielectric material. The jet device includes an electromagnetically driven vibrating membrane of conductive material between a top and bottom cavity. A top lid with an opening covers the top cavity, and a permanent magnet is below the bottom cavity.
Description of Related Art
Traditionally, fans and blowers can be used to create airflow, such as to cool an active electronic device (e.g., transistor or computer processor) or to provide a controlled amount of airflow for sensing purposes. Unfortunately, fans and blowers are very inefficient air movers when scaling down to very small sizes such as at a millimeter (mm) scale. Thus, a device may be manufactured to deliver relatively large flow rates even for these very small scales. However, such manufacturing technologies can be time consuming and expensive. Therefore, there is a need for a quickly and inexpensively fabricated device to deliver relatively large flow rates for very small scales, such as a mm scale device.


A vibration damping silicone composition of superior long term storage stability and vibration damping properties contains (A) a silicone oil, (B) a heavy calcium carbonate powder, (C) a light calcium carbonate powder, and (D) a fatty acid or a fatty acid derivative.

Not applicable.
Not applicable.
Not applicable.
This invention relates to a vibration damping silicone composition, more specifically a vibration damping silicone composition of superior storage stability and vibration damping properties.
Silicone compositions containing silicone oils and fillers are vibration damping materials due to the low viscosity temperature dependency of the silicone oils and their large bulk compressibility. These compositions have been used for vibration damping members of precision equipment such as precision measurement devices, magnetic disks, magneto optical disks, other magnetic signal reading devices, compact disks, laser disks, and other optical signal reading devices. For example, a silicone composition prepared by mixing a silicone resin powder and a calcium carbonate powder with a silicone oil is described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-080277. However, there exists a need for vibration damping silicone compositions that would possess superior vibration damping characteristics without using expensive silicone resin powders
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide a vibration damping silicone composition having superior storage stability and vibration damping properties.
These and other features of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the detailed description.
Not applicable.
The invention is directed to vibration damping silicone compositions containing (A) 100 parts by weight of a silicone oil, (B) 20-250 parts by weight of a heavy calcium carbonate powder, (C) 10-100 parts by weight of a light calcium carbonate powder, and (D) 0.01-20 parts by weight of a fatty acid or a fatty acid derivative.
The silicone oil component (A) functions as the medium for dispersing micropowders of component (B) and component (C), and is typically an organopolysiloxane that is a liquid at room temperature. Groups bonded to silicon atoms in the organopolysiloxane are exemplified by monovalent hydrocarbon groups such as methyl, ethyl, and propyl, and other alkyl groups; vinyl, butenyl and other alkenyl groups; phenyl, tolyl and other aryl groups; and 3,3,3-trifluoropropyl and other halogenated alkyl groups. Hydroxyl groups, or methoxy, ethoxy and other alkoxy groups can be substituted for some of the hydrocarbon groups. Alkyl groups are most preferable, and methyl is particularly preferable because of the excellent storage stability of such compositions.
The molecular structure of the organopolysiloxane can be linear, partially branched linear, branched, or cyclic, but a linear structure is preferred. The kinematic viscosity of component (A) at 25xc2x0 C. should be 100-1,000,000 mm2/s, preferably 500-500,000 mm2/s. When the kinematic viscosity at 25xc2x0 C. is less than 100 mm2/s, component (B) and component (C) are difficult to maintain in a uniformly dispersed state in component (A); whereas when it exceeds 1,000,000 mm2/s, the handling properties deteriorate, and component (B) and component (C) become difficult to disperse in component (A). Component (A) is exemplified by dimethylpolysiloxanes end blocked by trimethylsiloxy groups, dimethylpolysiloxanes end blocked by dimethylvinylsiloxy groups, dimethylpolysiloxanes end blocked with silanol groups, and copolymers of methylphenylsiloxane and dimethylsiloxane end blocked by trimethylsiloxy groups.
To increase the long term storage stability and reliability of component (A), it is preferred that it contain less than 1,000 ppm of organosiloxane oligomers with not more than 20 silicon atoms. Silicone oils with reduced amounts of such oligomers can be obtained by subjecting silicone oils with oligomer content of 10,000-40,000 ppm to stripping after ordinary equilibrium polymerization to reduce the content of oligomer. For example, such silicone oils can be produced by processes in which oligomers are removed by (i) a thin film evaporator at 270-350xc2x0 C. and 0.1-15 mmHg, (ii) processes in which oligomers are extracted and removed with alcohols such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol, or ketones such as acetone and methylethylketone, or (iii) by reprecipitation methods.
Heavy calcium carbonate powder component (B) is the filler used for the vibration damping silicone composition. It is also referred to in the art as crushed calcium carbonate, and is typically produced by grading crushed white lime. This type of heavy calcium carbonate powder is commercially available under names such as WHITONE P-30 and WHITONE P-305, by Toyo Fine Chemicals, Co., Ltd.; and NANOX# 30 by Maruo Calcium Co., Ltd. Heavy calcium carbonate powder with surfaces treated with a fatty acid or a fatty acid derivative are particularly preferred because of the superior stability of dispersions of component (B) in component (A). Some examples of suitable fatty acids which can be used for this surface treatment are caprylic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, cerotic acid, behenic acid, elaidic acid, and arachidic acid. Fatty acid derivatives which can be used are exemplified by alkali metal salts, alkaline earth metal salts, or metal salts of such fatty acids.
The average particle size of the heavy calcium carbonate powder is preferably 0.01-300 xcexcm, and more preferably 0.01-100 xcexcm. The amount of component (B) used in the composition is 20-250 parts by weight, preferably 50-200 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of component (A). When there is less than 20 parts by weight of component (B), the vibration damping characteristics of the composition of the invention deteriorates, and when the amount exceeds 250 parts by weight, its operating properties deteriorate.
Light calcium carbonate powder component (C) is another filler which is used with component (B). Light calcium carbonate powder is referred to in the art as precipitated calcium carbonate, and is typically produced by dehydrating and drying a light calcium carbonate slurry obtained by reacting dense limestone with carbon dioxide gas. Again, the surface of the powder component (C) can be treated with any of the fatty acids or fatty acid derivatives noted above.
These types of light calcium carbonate powder are commercially available under names such as HAKUENKA CC from Shiraishi Calcium Co., Ltd., and CALFINE 200 from Maruo Calcium Co., Ltd. The average particle size of component (C) is preferably 0.01 xcexcm-300 xcexcm, more preferably 0.01-100 xcexcm. The amount of component (C) used in the composition is 10-100 parts by weight, preferably, 15-80 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of component (A). When less than 10 parts by weight of component (C) is used, the vibration damping properties of the composition of the invention deteriorate, and when the amount exceeds 100 parts by weight, its operating properties deteriorate.
The total amount of the heavy and light calcium carbonate powders components (B) and (C) preferably exceeds 150 parts by weight, more preferably 170 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of component (A).
Fatty acid or fatty acid derivative component (D) is present to improve the storage stability and dispersibility of the vibration damping silicone composition of the invention. Component (D) can comprise a fatty acid such as caprylic acid, lauric acid, myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, cerotic acid, behenic acid, elaidic acid, and arachidic acid. Component (D) can also comprise a fatty acid derivative such as an alkali metal salt, an alkaline earth metal salt, or a metal salt of such fatty acids. Fatty acids with 6-31 carbon atoms or their derivatives are preferred. One example of a preferred fatty acid derivative is zinc stearate. The amount of component (D) used in the composition is 0.01-20 parts by weight, preferably 0.1-15 parts by weight, per 100 parts by weight of component (A). When less than 0.01 parts by weight of component (D) is used, the storage stability of the composition of the invention deteriorates, and when the amount exceeds 20 parts by weight, its vibration damping characteristics deteriorate.
While silicone compositions according to the invention contain components (A)-(D), inorganic powders other than calcium carbonate powders (B) and (C), can be included as an additional component. Some examples of suitable inorganic powders which can be used include silica micropowder, glass micropowder, clay, bentonite, diatomaceous earth, quartz powder, talc, titanium oxide powder, tin oxide powder, aluminum oxide powder, and iron oxide powder. In addition, there can be included components such as anti-oxidants, rust preventatives, flame retardants, pigments, and dyes, provided the component does not impair the function of the composition of the invention.
Silicone compositions of the invention are produced by uniformly mixing components (A)-(D). This can be accomplished with a ball mill, a vibrating mill, a kneader mixer, a screw extruder, a paddle mixer, a ribbon mixer, a Banbury mixer, a Ross mixer, a Henschel mixer, a flow jet mixer, a Hubbard mixer, or a roll mixer. The composition can be heated during the mixing process, preferably at a temperature of 30-200xc2x0 C.
Silicone compositions according to the invention exhibit superior storage stability and vibration damping properties, and are characterized by low temperature dependence. The silicone compositions can be used in shock absorbers by filling elastic containers such as rubber bags or rubber cylinders with the composition. The silicone compositions are particularly suitable for shock absorbers used in compact disk players, compact disk changers, mini-disk players, and car navigation devices.


A small cost-effective crossbar switch is provided. A switch circuit is disposed in each of a plurality of nodes which are cascade connected with each other in a plurality of stages. Each switch circuit receives from a node of a previous stage a designated address to specify directly or indirectly the relative position in which a target switch circuit is present, determines whether the designated address represents a specific value “0”. When it is determined that the specific value is represented, each switch circuit allows data output to a node-out line, decrements the received designated address by “1” to generate a new designated address, and supplies this new designated address to a node of the subsequent stage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a crossbar switch mounted on a computer, for example, for image processing, and to a product associated therewith.
2. Description of the Related Art
A crossbar switch is a system component for realizing, with few limitations, the node coupling in a multiprocessor. Typical crossbar switches have a plurality of buses arranged in the form of a two-dimensional grid. Switch mechanisms are disposed in each of a plurality of intersection points (called "cross points") where buses intersect with each other. At the time of operation, a data path defined by a combination of certain portions of buses and cross points between node-in lines (buses for the data input to each node) and node-out lines (buses for the data output from each node) can be selectively switched by controlling connection/disconnection of cross points with switch mechanisms.
Advantages of the crossbar switch are in excellent non-blocking ability preventing collisions between the data and a comparatively simple structure and control thereof. For this reason, they are used in many data processing devices.
It is well-known that the structure of the conventional crossbar switch requires that the number of switch mechanisms be a square of the number of nodes. Furthermore, in the case of parallel connections, an additional circuit element such as an input buffer or arbiter for each bus has to be provided to avoid the problem of competition between the output lines. For this reason, the size of the crossbar switch was difficult to reduce.
For example, in a crossbar switch of a configuration switching 256 to 1024 nodes, the number of cross points is 64 kilopoints to 1 megapoints. If the bus width of a parallel bus is 32 bits, then the number of switches is maximum 32 megaunits. Configuring and mounting such a large-scale system on a small area is extremely difficult with present process rules. Furthermore, with the conventional configuration of crossbar switches, not only the switch control during changeover processing of data paths becomes more complex as the number of switches increases, but also the number of lines for switch control rapidly increases.
The present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a small cost-effective crossbar switch, without increasing the number of lines and without increasing the complexity of switch control during changeover processing of data paths, even when the number of switches is increased, and to provide a product associated therewith.

Crossbar switch, method for controlling operation thereof, and program for controlling operation thereof


A directional coupler includes: a hollow coaxial line including a central conductor forming a main line and an outer conductor surrounding the central conductor and having an opening formed therein; a dielectric substrate covering the opening and provided with film-shaped ground conductors, wherein a film-shaped ground conductor covers a rear surface of the dielectric substrate facing the central conductor via the opening and a film-shaped ground conductor covers a front surface of the dielectric substrate, respectively, and are grounded; and a coupling line provided on the rear surface of the dielectric substrate in a region surrounded by the ground conductor formed on the rear surface and serving as an auxiliary line, wherein the ground conductor formed on the front surface is provided with a conductor-removed portion in which a portion of a conductor film in a region facing the coupling line via the dielectric substrate is removed.

Some apparatuses, which perform a film-forming process or an etching process on a substrate by using a plasmarized processing gas, plasmarize the processing gas by supplying microwaves of high-frequency power to the processing gas.
In order to accurately detect a power level of the microwaves supplied to the processing gas, a directional coupler is used to extract a portion of traveling waves of the microwaves while avoiding influence of reflected waves generated in a supply path of the microwaves.
Patent Document 1 discloses a directional coupler, in which a window is provided in an outer conductor of a coaxial line having a central conductor and the outer conductor, and a substrate for a coupling line is disposed to cover the window, thereby electromagnetically coupling the coupling line with the coaxial line to extract a high-frequency signal from the coupling line.

Directional coupler for use in a substrate processing apparatus, where the directional coupler includes a coaxial line coupled to a conductor on a substrate


An improved arrangement and process for packaging integrated circuits are described. More particularly, a universal lamination tool is described that functions to secure an adhesive film to a lead frame. The lamination tool of the present invention uses compressed gas to press the lead frame against the adhesive film. In this manner, the lamination tool itself does not physically press on the lead frame thereby substantially reducing the likelihood of damage to the bonding wires or other delicate components during this stage of the encapsulation process. Moreover, such a lamination tool is not package specific making it applicable for a wide variety of package configurations and lead frame sizes.

There are a number of conventional processes for packaging integrated circuits. Many packaging techniques use a lead frame that has been stamped or etched from a metal sheet to provide electrical interconnects to external devices. A die is electrically connected to portions of the lead frame via bonding wires or other suitable electrically connections. Generally, the die, lead frame and bonding wires are then encapsulated in a mold while leaving selected portions of the lead frame exposed to facilitate electrical connection to external devices.
There are a number of processes for encapsulating such IC packages. One relatively recently developed encapsulation process is film-assisted molding. In film-assisted molding, the bottom surface of the lead frame is not pre-taped prior to encapsulation, rather, the lead frame is positioned on an adhesive film. A package specific lamination tool then presses on designated portions of the lead frame to ensure good adhesion between the adhesive film and the lead frame. The adhesive film then prevents molding compound from covering the portions of the lead frame that are in contact with the adhesive film during encapsulation. After the molding compound has cured, the encapsulated lead frame and film are removed from the mold and the film is peeled off of the lead frame.
Although existing film-assisted molding techniques, and others, work well, there are continuing efforts to develop even more efficient designs and methods for encapsulating integrated circuits.


A wet etching solution includes hydrogen fluoride in an amount of about 0.1% to about 3% by weight of the etching solution, an inorganic acid in an amount of about 10% to about 40% by weight of the etching solution, the inorganic acid being one or more of nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and/or hydrochloric acid, a surfactant in an amount of about 0.0001% to about 5% by weight of the etching solution, the nonionic surfactant including one or more of alkylphenol ethoxylate and/or ammonium lauryl sulfate, and water.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a wet etching solution. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to a wet etching solution having an improved oxide selectivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, semiconductor devices and display devices, e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, plasma display panels (PDPs), and so forth, may be fabricated by, e.g., photolithography. Photolithography may include several processes, e.g., etching.
Etching refers to a process of removing predetermined portions of material by wet etching, i.e., removal of material via application of a chemical, or by dry etching, i.e., removal of material via plasma. As opposed to dry etching, wet etching may be isotropic, i.e., removal of material in all directions at the same rate, thereby being suitable for use in three-dimensional devices, e.g., metal wiring or contact holes in a semiconductor device. For example, portions of an oxide layer may be etched to form and/or to expose active regions, e.g., source/drain regions, gate regions, and so forth, on a semiconductor substrate.
Conventional wet etching may include a buffered oxide etchant (BOE), e.g., a diluted hydrofluoric acid (HF) solution containing ammonium fluoride. However, conventional wet etchants may have low oxide selectivity, i.e., a ratio between etching rates of different materials, thereby causing incorrect etching of the oxide materials and of structures adjacent thereto, e.g., a metal silicide (MSix) gate stack. In other words, application of a conventional wet etching solution to an oxide material may cause excessive etching of elements adjacent thereto, thereby damaging the adjacent elements. For example, the conventional BOE may have a very high etching ratio of metal silicide to silicon oxide, e.g., remove portions of metal wiring about five to ten times faster than portions of the oxide material.


A radio frequency identification tag apparatus includes a display unit, a radio frequency identification tag unit and a laser direct structuring antenna unit. The radio frequency identification tag unit is electrically connected to the display unit. The laser direct structuring antenna unit is wirelessly coupled to the radio frequency identification tag unit.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio frequency identification tag apparatus, and especially relates to a radio frequency identification tag apparatus with a laser direct structuring antenna.
Description of the Related Art
The radio frequency identification (RFID) tag is very popular now. The radio frequency identification system comprises three parts as following. (1) The tag or the transponder: It comprises an IC chip which can store information and an antenna with special packaging. (2) The reader or the interrogator: It comprises an antenna, an RF transceiver module and a data processing module to communicate with the tag or the transponder. (3) The host computer: It processes data sent from the reader or the interrogator.
The related art radio frequency identification tag is flat, which is attached on the object. Using the related art radio frequency identification tag will usually have a lot of problems, so that the identification data in the related art radio frequency identification tag cannot be read. Especially when the object is made of conduct materials, the incident wave is totally reflected and the phase difference is 180 degrees, so that the effective reading distance of the related art radio frequency identification tag is reduced from several meters to 1˜2 centimeters. Even the related art radio frequency identification tag cannot work. So the related art radio frequency identification tag cannot be applied to metal objects.
Another related art radio frequency identification tag may be applicable to metal objects. However, such related art radio frequency identification tag has a large volume, the working distance is not long, and the cost is too high. Especially, the working distance is too short to be applied to most of the application for the radio frequency identification tags. Therefore, the disadvantages of the related art radio frequency identification tags are that the volume is large, the working distance is not long, and the cost is too high.

Radio frequency identification tag apparatus with laser direct structuring antenna


The invention relates to a control device and a control method which enhance accuracy in detecting a speed of a driven body to stably control drive means. An encoder signal control section (25) compares lengths of time between a rising measurement time kept by a rising edge interval counting section (38) and a rising period of the latest rising edge stored in a rising edge interval history section (39), and then outputs a value of either the rising measurement time or the rising period, whichever is longer based on a comparison result, so that a period of a pulse signal (36) can be accurately predicted and be a real-time approximate, which allows for accurate calculation of the speed of the driven body based on the accurately outputted period of the pulse signal (36), and the accuracy in detecting the speed of the driven body can be enhanced with the result that the drive means can be stably controlled.

An inkjet recording apparatus of conventional art is mounted in a printer, a facsimile machine, and a copier, and used as recording means which records an image onto a recording medium in the form of a paper sheet or a thin plastic sheet on the basis of image information. Such an inkjet recording apparatus conducts recording with a print head ejecting ink droplets and therefore has features that the recording means can be easily downsized, that dense images can be recorded at high speed, that the running cost is low, and that the level of noise generated thereby is low owing to the non-impact system. Moreover, the inkjet apparatus has also an advantage that color images are easily recorded with use of multicolor ink.
Drive sources of the inkjet recording apparatus include, for example, a carriage motor which reciprocates and drives a carriage having a print head, an automatic sheet feeder (ASF) motor which feeds a recording medium to a print position, a recovery motor which performs head-cleaning, and a conveyance motor which feeds a recording medium for each print scanning. In the conventional art, a stepping motor is frequently used as the above drive source for such reasons as that it is easy to reduce the cost and that the control is simple.
As mentioned above, the inkjet recording apparatus has a low noise level since it adopts the non-impact system. However, a direct-current (DC) motor is now more frequently used as the above drive source for the purpose of further noise reduction or the like. In order to control this DC motor, a servo control is applied.
FIG. 34 is a block diagram showing electrical configuration of a servo control system 1 for use in the inkjet apparatus of the conventional art. Command voltage acting as a control command is inputted by a servo controller 3 to a DC motor 2 which is to be controlled, and on the basis of the command voltage, a motor shaft rotates. The motor shaft has its rotation angle and rotation speed respectively measured by a speed meter 4 and a position meter 5. The measured position information and speed information are fed back to the servo controller 3, and on the basis of provided target position and target speed, the servo controller 3 outputs command voltage for controlling the DC motor 2. The speed meter 4 and the position meter 5 are realized by a later-described encoder 6.
FIG. 35 is a view schematically showing a configuration of the encoder 6 of the conventional art.
In the encoder 6, a detector 8 detects light emitted by a light emitting diode (abbreviated as LED) 7 through a code wheel 9 so that signals are generated. The code wheel 9 is composed of light-transmitting parts 9a and non-light-transmitting parts 9b each of which has a predetermined distance L. In the detector 8, photodiodes 8a are arranged at predetermined distances, and light detected by each photodiode 8a is converted into an electric signal which is then outputted, with the result that the outputted electric signal is outputted by a comparator 10 as differential output signals 11.
FIG. 36 is a view showing a waveform of the differential output signal 11 outputted by the comparator 10 and waveforms of two electric signals 12a and 12b inputted to the comparator 10. The differential output signal 11 has the waveform which is turned over at intersections 13 of the two electric signals 12a and 12b outputted by the respective photodiodes 8a. Now, in the case where the speed is constant, a duty cycle of the differential output signal 11 will be theoretically 0.5. However, the duty cycle changes with various factors. One of the major factors is a difference in sensitivity of the photodiodes 8a.
FIG. 37 is a view showing a waveform of the differential output signal 11 outputted by the comparator 10 and waveforms of the two electric signals 12a and 12b inputted to the comparator, which shown waveforms are produced in the case where there is a difference in sensitivity of the photodiodes 8a. The sensitivity of the photodiodes 8a represents an amplitude difference of the electric signals 12a and 12b. FIG. 37 shows the differential output signal 11 in the case where amplitude of one electric signal 12a is smaller than that of the other electric signal 12b. Accordingly, it can be seen that the difference in sensitivity of the photodiodes 8a changes the duty cycle of the differential output signal 11 as shown in FIG. 37. However, the period T of the differential output signal 11 is not influenced and therefore equal to the period T of the differential output signal 11 shown in FIG. 36. Consequently, the differential output signal 11 of the encoder 6 has the most accurate period T (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2002-34274, for example).
Even though there is a difference in sensitivity of the photodiodes as described above, the output signal of the encoder has the most accurate period. Accordingly, in order to obtain more precise speed information, a simple-edge sampling method is adopted in which a period is counted from one rise to next rise of output signal, for example.
Further, in order to obtain more precise speed information and position information even when the photodiodes are different in sensitivity, a method is adopted of sampling both edges of each of two differential output signals which are out of phase with each other.
Taking a paper-feed control in the inkjet recording apparatus as an example, a sheet is fed at high speed at first, and a low-speed servo control is started at a short distance before a stop position. After that, the mode is shifted to a stop mode just before the target stop position so that the sheet is stopped at the target position. In this case, the sheet stopping accuracy is highly influenced by stabilization of a constant-speed servo control at the short distance before the stop position.
In driving the ASF motor at low speed as mentioned above, the output signal of the encoder will have smaller changes, thus resulting in longer update intervals of the position information and the speed information. As a result, the position information is not updated when the updating interval of the position information is longer than the servo period. In this case, it is determined that the sheet has stopped, and the speed information is controlled to be zero.
If a recording sheet has not reached a target position at this time, higher command voltage is outputted to the ASF motor to move the recording sheet to the target position. However, an actual speed may not be zero and in such a case, there is a problem of unstable servo control such that the speed may be so high for the recording sheet to be fed over the target position.
The unstable servo control impedes the recording sheet from being printed at desired position, and problems are caused, for example, that in the case where the recording sheet fails to stop at the target position and stops over the target position, a gap will appear between print data, while in the case where the recording sheet stops before the target position, the print data will overlap each other. Moreover, in the case where the recording sheet has reached far over the target position, the recording sheet will need to be moved in the opposite direction and back to the target position, resulting in lower print speed.
Further, in the case where the speed information is controlled so as not to be zero when the position information is not updated, the speed information will not be zero even when the actual speed is zero, therefore causing a problem of unstable servo control as described above.


A method and apparatus for sorting and performing redundant analysis of particles in an aerosol is disclosed. Redundant analysis reduces the possibility of false positive analyses, which is advantageous in the art. The apparatus may comprise an aerosol concentrator, an optical particle analyzer, an electrosprayer and a charged particle analyzer. A method according to the invention may comprise delivering a concentrated aerosol stream to an optical particle analyzer; analyzing each particle of interest and selectively triggering an electrosprayer to electrospray each particle of interest; adding a charge to the particle, which is then moved by electrostatic forces to a charged particle analyzer; and performing a second, redundant analysis of each charged particle collected on the charged particle analyzer to confirm the identity of the particle of interest. The apparatus and method may also be adapted to perform redundant analysis of disguised particles that are coated to disguise their payload.

This invention pertains to the field of collecting, sorting and analyzing particles in an aerosol and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for collecting an aerosol, sorting particles within the aerosol and subjecting the particles to redundant analysis for the purpose of identifying the particles.
The separation and capture of particles or aerosols from air or other fluid streams are of concern in two contexts: first, in determining the type and concentration of such particles/aerosols and, second, in cleansing the fluid stream for subsequent use. For example, the detection or extraction of airborne biological or chemical warfare agents, biological contamination in confined spaces, such as aircraft or hospitals, or industrial pollutants (either in ambient air or in smokestacks) may be required in various scenarios.
Much effort has been expended in the past in the collection of aerosols, the extraction of particles from aerosols and the analysis and identification of particles in aerosols.
The prior art includes methods and apparatus for analyzing particles in gases in possible target areas, including public buildings, critical infrastructure such as water supply facilities, and defensive installations such as military bases. The prior art includes sampling of the atmosphere from possible target areas. In some prior art technologies, all of the particles from a sample are isolated, and then the particles are analyzed. In other prior art methods, the volume of the sample is reduced, and a representative portion of the particles is analyzed.
The prior art recognizes that the avoidance of false positives is of critical importance. A false positive with respect to explosive particles, pathogen particles, radioactive particles, and any other adverse particles, may lead to unnecessary evacuations and possible injury and death. In addition, if a particular method and apparatus result in repeated false positives, then the level of confidence in that method and apparatus may be degraded to the point that vigorous responses to protect the public will become difficult to achieve. However, to date, none of the prior art adequately addresses the problem of false positives.

Method for sorting and analyzing particles in an aerosol with redundant particle analysis


A sealing apparatus (22) for use with a traveling grate (18) including a base (44) and one or more legs (42) extending upwardly from the base (44). The sealing apparatus (22) includes at least one flange (52) extending outwardly from one or more of the legs (42). The flange (52) includes a surface (53) extending between the leg (52) and one or more edges (52A, 52B, 52L) of the flange (52). The surface (53) includes a sealing portion (55) adjacent to the leg (52) and one or more discharge portions (56) sloped downwardly from the sealing portion (55) to one or more of the edges (52A, 52B, 52L), for discharge of wear materials therefrom. The sealing portion (55) is positioned proximate to a portion of the traveling grate (18) and defines a gap (G2) therebetween. The gap (G2) is configured to mitigate flow therethrough.

Stokers can be used to feed a fuel such as coal or biomass to and/or through a furnace for combustion on a traveling grate in an interior area of the furnace. Combustion of the fuel creates heat, pressure and combustion byproducts such as ash in the interior area of the furnace. The stokers generally include a stationary base secured to the floor beneath the furnace. Typical stokers include a seal defined by a sealing portion of the base which sealingly engages a plurality of plates that move with the traveling grate, for example on a chain conveyor system. The purpose of the seal is to ensure that a proper amount of air passes into the furnace to aid in the combustion of the fuel on the plurality of plates. Improper amounts of air can cause non-uniform combustion of the fuel and create hot spots, causing deterioration and premature failure of the plurality of plates that move with the traveling grate.
Moreover, the seal is subject to mechanical wear because the plates move relative to the sealing portion of the base. In addition, the combustion byproducts are typically abrasive and can migrate into the seal. The abrasiveness of the combustion byproducts can accelerate wear of the seal, which will increase the gap through which an improper amount of combustion air can enter the furnace.

Reduced wear and self cleaning stoker seal