A main object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of measuring surface temperatures of a plurality of points of cast slab at a secondary cooling zone of a continuous caster with a good accuracy and at low cost. The method comprises the steps of inserting one end of a plurality of optical fibers 3 respectively to nozzles 1 and tubes 2, and installing each nozzle between support rolls that support the cast slab, while spraying purge air from each nozzle toward a surface of the cast slab, receiving a thermal radiation light from the cast slab at the one end of each optical fiber, gathering other ends of the optical fibers 3, 81 in a bundle to take images including a core image of the other end of each optical fibers by an imaging means 5, and calculating the surface temperature of the cast slab.

In a continuous casting process of steel, a cast slab is manufactured by: cooling a molten steel in a casting mold to produce a solidifying shell; then pulling out the produced solidifying shell to cool at a secondary cooling zone; and solidifying the shell until solidified in center. At this time, in order to control a surface temperature of the cast slab to have an appropriate value so as to inhibit generation of surface cracking and segregation of cast slab, heretofore, a measurement of the surface temperature of the cast slab at the secondary cooling zone of a continuous caster has been carried out.
As points at which the surface temperature of the cast slab is to be measured at the secondary cooling zone of the continuous caster, there are many points in a longitudinal direction (a casting direction) and a width direction of the cast slab having distances from each other. Also, in order to measure the surface temperature of the cast slab continuously, it is desirable to employ a contactless thermometer such as a radiation thermometer, however, cooling water sprayed at the secondary cooling zone becomes to be a disturbance factor. Therefore, problems as below exist.
<Error in temperature measurement due to absorption of light by water>
A thermal radiation light from a surface of the cast slab to be detected is absorbed by water existing in a light path in between the cast slab and the radiation thermometer. Because of this absorption, an error in temperature measurement can occur, and sometimes the temperature cannot be measured.
<Error in temperature measurement due to light scattering occurred by water drop>
The thermal radiation light from the surface of the cast slab to be detected is scattered and decayed by water drops existing in the light path of the radiation thermometer (dropped water from support rolls that support the cast slab and cooling water have contact with the cast slab to evaporate, after that the water vapor is condensed to be water drops in the form of a mist). Because of this scattering, an error in temperature measurement can occur, and sometimes the temperature cannot be measured. Also, in a continuous caster of a vertical bending type, a first half of the continuous casting process has a vertical pass line, that is, a measurement face of the cast slab is in a vertical position, and a last half of the continuous casting process has a horizontal pass line, that is, a measurement face of the cast slab is in a horizontal position. Therefore, influence from the cooling water to temperature measurement differs depending on places of the temperature measurement.
<Concern of ingress of large amount of water into nozzle when casting is started>
Conventionally, in order to inhibit influence from water and water drops existing in the light path of the radiation thermometer, a method of jetting purge air from nozzles toward a target of temperature measurement has been suggested. On the other hand, in a continuous caster, a large amount of water flows in a time period from before the casting is started till the very first stage after the casting is started and the like. Specifically, nowadays, in the vertical pass line in the first half of the continuous casting, a large amount of sprayed cooling water falls down. Because of this, there is a possibility of ingress of water into the nozzles that jet the purge air. Amore specific description will be made as below. As a control of cooling water, in every section that is generally called a segment, spraying of cooling water is switched on and off and the amount of the cooling water is adjusted, based on a setting to each segment. Therefore, in a very first stage after the casting is started, when a part of a cast slab reaches to a segment, a certain amount of cooling water is sprayed in the segment overall. Then, in a downstream part of the segment, in which the cast slab has not entered, the cooling water does not hit the cast slab but run down. For example, when the cast slab has reached to an area that covers ⅓ from a most upstream side of cooling zone called as a top zone of directly below of a casting mold, a remained area of ⅔ on a downstream side from the top zone does not contribute to cooling of the cast slab. A large amount of water sprayed to the area that does not contribute to cooling of the cast slab possibly enters into the nozzles for purge air of the radiation thermometer installed lower than the area. Especially, nowadays, methods to strongly cool a cast slab at a most upper portion of a secondary cooling zone of a continuous caster and the like have been developed, thus an influence from a large amount of sprayed water falling down has becoming larger than ever before.
<Problem accompanied by temperature measurement at many points>In order to inhibit surface cracking of cast slab made of Ni steel and the like in a continuous caster of a vertical bending type, conditions of strain rate and surface temperature of a cast slab at a bending part and correcting part of the continuous caster need to be adequately controlled. The strain rate is decided by structure (curvature) of each part and casting speed. The structure of each part is fixed, and it is difficult to change the casting speed since the casting speed controls productivity. Therefore, surface temperature of the cast slab at each part needs to be adequately controlled. However, there are a lot of changing factors that cannot be detected, such as degradation of cooling sprays at the secondary cooling zone, variation of heat transmission parameters such as water temperature and amount of cooling water, component and temperature distribution in a width direction of the cast slab, temperature variation and flux in a casting mold of molten steel. Therefore, it is difficult to obtain an accurate surface temperature of the cast slab at required portion by a cooling model and the like. Because of this, surface temperature measurement of a cast slab at or near each portion with a high accuracy is a very effective means.
Also, by measuring the surface temperature at only one point of the cast slab to reflect the temperature measurement value to the cooling model, it is difficult to obtain the surface temperatures of other portions with a sufficient accuracy. The reason is that since the surface temperature of the one point is influenced by a lot of parameters as described, even when a same surface temperature is detected, the temperature distribution in a thickness direction of the cast slab and a thickness of a solidifying shell are sometimes different, and in such a case, surface temperature of the cast slab at a point located lower side than the point where the surface temperature is measured is to be different from each other. As described below, it is insufficient to measure temperature at only one convenient point of the cast slab, but it is needed to measure temperatures of a plurality of points in a casting direction. It is also considered that if steel grade of the cast slab or pulling out speed of steel is changed, the optimal position in the casting direction where the surface temperature is to be measured in order to inhibit surface cracking is changed. From this viewpoint as well, it is desirable to carry out temperature measurement at a plurality of points in the casting direction.
Further, since temperature distribution exists in the width direction of the cast slab, it is also needed to measure surface temperatures of a plurality of points in the width direction of each part. Regarding the width direction of the cast slab, temperature measurements of at least points located near both ends and central portion are needed. For example, when a shaft bearing of a support roll that supports the cast slab exists in an area corresponding to ⅓ of width of the cast slab from the edge of the cast slab in the width direction, sometimes only the 2 points in the width direction near the shaft bearing have different temperatures from other points. Further, an area corresponding to ⅓ to ¼ of the width from the edge of the cast slab in the width direction may have a higher temperature than a surrounding area. Considering this, the temperature measurement is needed at 5 to 7 points in the width direction. Therefore, it is desirable to carry out the temperature measurement at 2 points in the casting direction, and for example 6 points in the width direction, on both sides of the cast slab (temperature measurement at 24 points in total). As described above, it is needed to carry out the temperature measurement at many points having distances.
In order to measure the surface temperatures at many points having distances, many radiation thermometers are needed, thereby a large amount of initial cost is needed including installation work of the radiation thermometers. For instance, in order to install 12 of radiation thermometers, a large amount of initial cost of (cost of the radiation thermometers+cost of installation work+cost of additional devices)×12 is needed. Also, considering a possibility of breakdown of the radiation thermometers, there is a need to prepare extra radiation thermometers, thereby more radiation thermometers are needed than that to be actually installed to the continuous caster. Also, when many radiation thermometers are used, its maintenance becomes troublesome, and that results in increasing running cost. Confirmations of accuracy and normal operation (checking) are required to the radiation thermometers periodically such as from every half year to every several years. In order to check the radiation thermometer, some work such as removing the radiation thermometer from the installment point and confirming the accuracy using a blackbody furnace and a reference radiation thermometer is needed. It is desirable to set a plurality of temperature points to the blackbody furnace representing temperatures to be measured, however, a certain amount of time is needed to carry out this checking work to many radiation thermometers, thereby cost for the checking also increases. Also, it is difficult to complete the checking work to all radiation thermometers in a short maintenance term of the continuous caster. Considering this, it is presumed that nearly same numbers of extra radiation thermometers as the radiation thermometers that are actually installed are needed, therefore cost becomes further increased.
<problem in a case where nozzles are made to be closer to surface of cast slab>
There is a problem caused by a structure of vertical bending type of a continuous caster of recent years. In a continuous caster of a vertical bending type, a dummy bar (a plurality of blocks made by steel connected to one another) is disposed inside before casting is started to be used as a bottom cap when the casting is started. At the same time of starting of casting, the dummy bar has a role to lead pulling out of a cast slab downward. When the dummy bar leads pulling out, a strong tension is applied to the dummy bar by a pinch roll. In a bending part of the continuous caster, the dummy bar passes the part bending at an axis of a connecting portion of the blocks. Because of this, sometimes the bent portion of the dummy bar widely deviates outside from the external tangent line of adjacent support rolls (external tangent line on a side of cast slab). Therefore, if the nozzles for purge air are projected to near the surface of the cast slab, the dummy bar possibly hits the nozzles. If the dummy bar hits the nozzles, by being caught up in the support rolls, the nozzles bend and thereby the radiation thermometer gets broken, or the bent nozzles damage the support rolls and the damage is sometimes transferred to the cast slab. This makes a great negative effect to a quality and productivity of the cast slab.
As a provision of preventing collision of the dummy bar and the nozzles, it is considered to provide a moving structure to evacuate the nozzles. However, since inside of the continuous caster is hot and humid, such a moving structure easily gets broken, thereby it is difficult to stably use the structure for a long period of time. Also, installation of a large moving structure in Which an sufficient provision is given for preventing breakdown is sometimes difficult considering space, or possibly disturbs maintenance capacity and the like of the continuous caster.
Considering different problems as described above, for example, Patent Document 1 suggests a surface temperature measuring apparatus of slab comprising a first pipe in which an optical fiver is inserted and a space formed by covering a backward portion of the first pipe by a second pipe to circulate cooling water (claims of Patent Document 1). Then, Patent Document 1 describes that the backward portion of the first pipe is connected to a compressed air source and air sent from the backward are jetted from a top end of the first pipe. (Patent Document 1, the second page, left column, line 16 to right column, line 8). It is also described that a copper pipe having good heat conductivity is inserted to an inner surface of top end of the first pipe (Patent Document 1, second page, left column, line 9 to line 15). Further, it is described that by inserting a thin portion that is configured only by the first pipe to a gap between support rolls of the continuous caster to circulate cooling water in the space, it is possible to cool to the top end of the first pipe, therefore it is possible to protect the optical fiber from heat, and by jetting air from the top end of the first pipe, it is possible to prevent ingress of water drops, and at the same time, since water vapor existing in sight is blown away to open the sight, it is also possible to certainly enter the thermal radiation light radiated from the surface of the slab to the top end of the optical fiber (Patent Document 1, second page, left column, line 19 to right column, line 8).
However, the apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is an apparatus to measure a surface temperature at only one point of a cast slab, therefore it is not an apparatus that resolves the problems accompanied with the temperature measurement at many points described above. Also, when the invention described in Patent Document 1 was made, main stream type of the continuous caster was of a vertical type or a bending type, and pass lines of cast slab make a straight line or a curve having a constant curvature. Therefore, it is presumed that there has not been considered of clash of nozzles for purge air and a dummy bar at all.
Also, Patent Document 2 suggests a cooling control method of a continuous cast comprising the steps of, in a secondary cooling zone of a continuous cast equipment, detecting a temperature distribution in a width direction on a surface by a temperature measurement structure in the width direction of a cast slab, carrying out adjustment of flow amount of cooing water automatically by a flow amount adjustment structure via an arithmetic device that controls the temperature distribution in the width direction on the surface to correspond to an intended temperature, thereby controlling temperature of the cast slab (Patent Document 2, claim 1). In Patent Document 2, there is no description of configuration of the thermometer itself. Intended continuous caster of the method described in Patent Document 2 is of a bending type, and a correction point of the cast slab is only one point at a horizontal pass line close to the end of process in a casting direction (Patent Document 2, FIG. 1 and the like). A thermometer is disposed to the correction point, and moving the thermometer in the width direction of the cast slab by using the temperature measurement structure, the temperature distribution in width direction on the surface is measured (Patent Document 2, second page, left below column, line 3 to right below column, line 8).
However, the method described in Patent Document 2, in the same manner as in the case where a moving structure to evacuate the nozzles as described is disposed, has problems of breakdown and having a large space, since a structure to move the thermometer in the width direction is installed. Specifically, in a case where a surface temperature of cast slab is measured in a continuous caster of a vertical bending type, if such a structure is installed to a vertical pass line, it is considered that stable operation of the structure is further disturbed since the structure is subjected to cooling water including foreign substance such as a large amount of oxide scale peeled off from a surface of the cast slab.
Patent Document 3 suggests a cooling apparatus installed inside a roller apron to cool a camera type thermometer for slab surface that measures a temperature of slab surface, wherein a water cooling jacket is provided to a circuit of the camera type thermometer for slab surface, a skirt having a folding-fan shape is provided to a lower portion of the water cooling jacket, an air spray nozzle having a ring shape and many jet holes on side surface and lower surface is provided on the upper side of the camera type thermometer for slab surface in the water cooling jacket, and an air spraying device formed by a member having a shape of straight line attached to one side of the skirt and located inside the skirt, the air spraying device forming an air membrane laterally or obliquely downward (Patent Document 3, claim 1). According to this cooling apparatus, since the camera type thermometer for slab surface is equally cooled efficiently, which eliminates a negative pressure, it is possible to inhibit taking in of water vapor from the slab surface, and since the water vapor coming from the slab is removed and sight of the camera type thermometer for slab surface is secured, radiation heat from the slab also can be inhibited (Patent Document 3, second page, left column, line 24 to line 34).
However, although the skirt described in Patent Document 3 can be applied at a pass line which is nearly in a horizontal position where the camera type thermometer sees downward, in a case where the pass line is vertical in a continuous caster of a vertical bending type, that is, a surface of cast slab is nearly in a vertical position, and a direction of air purge is nearly horizontal, a large amount of water flows in a time period from before the casting is started till the very first stage after the casting is started and the like, and neighborhood of the skirt is in a state being nearly sunk in water. At that time, if such a large skirt having a folding-fan shape as described in Patent Document 3 is used, uniformity in flow amount of air is disrupted and there is a high possibility of taking in water into the skirt from some part. Also, sometimes there is no space to install such a large skirt.
Also, Patent Document 4 suggests a surface temperature measuring method of cast slab in a continuous caster by means of a radiation thermometer, the method comprising measuring a surface temperature of cast slab by the radiation thermometer in a state that spray of a second cooling water to an intended area of temperature measurement on the surface of cast slab is temporarily stopped to thereby inhibit generation of water vapor from the second cooling water in the intended area of temperature measurement on the surface of the cast slab (Patent Document 4, claim 1).
However, in the method described in Patent Document 4, since spray of cooling water is temporarily stopped when temperature measurement is carried out, amount of heat extraction from the surface of the cast slab is largely different between when the temperature measurement is carried out and when the temperature measurement is not carried out, and there is a possibility that the surface temperature of the cast slab is high when the temperature measurement is carried out. The temperature difference between when the temperature measurement is carried out and when the temperature measurement is not carried out differs depending on different conditions. That is, representativeness of values of temperature measurement is vitiated. Also, nowadays, a method to strongly cool a cast slab at a most upper portion of a continuous caster and the like have been developed, and in an area where some of a large amount of cooling water used at the most upper portion (pass line nearly in a vertical position), water that influences value of temperature measurement cannot be sufficiently eliminated only by temporarily stopping the spray of cooling water between specific support rolls, and sometimes conditions cannot be satisfied to enable the measurement.

Method and apparatus for measuring surface temperature of cast slab

NIPPON STEEL & SUMITOMO METAL CORPORATION


A process for recovering paraxylene from a substantially hydrocarbon feedstock. The recovery comprises cooling the hydrocarbon feedstock in at least one refrigerated crystallization stage that is indirectly refrigerated by evaporating at least a portion of a substantially liquid stream comprising ammonia. The crystallization stage may also be cooled by an ethylene refrigerant, which has been cooled by heat exchange with a substantially liquid stream comprising ammonia. The process further comprises a series of cooling substeps. This invention is also directed to an ammonia absorption refrigeration process powered by an enthalpy source from or near a paraxylene recovery unit.

Paraxylene is a commodity chemical that is oxidized to terephthalic acid and purified to produce purified terephthalic acid, an intermediate in the manufacture of polyester. In 2001, the total world installed capacity of paraxylene was approximately 21 MMTA (million metric tons per annum), and 4.3 MMTA in the U.S.
The production of paraxylene begins with a suitable substantially hydrocarbon feedstock. As used herein, such a substantially hydrocarbon feedstock suitable for the production of paraxylene can come from several sources, and can be categorized into high and low paraxylene concentrations. The term "substantially hydrocarbon feedstock" refers to a hydrocarbon feedstock that comprises and often consists essentially of ethylbenzene, paraxylene, metaxylene, orthoxylene, and optionally aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbon impurities.
Most feedstocks from which paraxylene is recovered are derived from catalytic reforming processes found in many petroleum refineries. The reformate product generally comprises C6 to C11 aromatics wherein the C8 aromatics fraction generally comprise metaxylene, orthoxylene, paraxylene and ethylbenzene. Other byproducts of the reforming reaction are hydrogen, light gas, paraffins, naphthenes and heavy C12+ aromatics. Paraxylene-containing feedstocks may also include pyrolysis gasoline, conventional toluene disproportionation products, conventional transalkylation products, and the intra-stage products of paraxylene recovery processes.
In all of these feedstocks, the xylene isomers are generally near their equilibrium distribution, which is about 25% paraxylene, about 50% metaxylene, and about 25% orthoxylene. The C8 distillation fraction of these feedstocks generally comprises all of the C8 aromatic isomers due to the close proximity of their boiling points. The low equilibrium concentration of paraxylene is further diluted by the presence of ethylbenzene, such that the C8 fraction derived by distillation from reformate (reformate xylenes) typically comprises from about 10 to about 20 weight percent ethylbenzene, and more typically from about 15 to about 18 weight percent ethylbenzene. The C8 fraction of pyrolysis gasoline typically comprises as much as about 30 to about 60 weight percent ethylbenzene, whereas the C8 fraction of conventional toluene disproportionation typically comprises only about 2 to about 7 wt % ethylbenzene. Dilution by ethylbenzene and the equilibrium distribution of the xylene isomers reduces the paraxylene content of these feedstocks to as low as about 10 to about 25 weight percent paraxylene, with reformate xylenes typically comprising about 15 to about 20 weight percent paraxylene. It is understood that these feedstocks may be preprocessed to selectively remove metaxylene or orthoxylene, which would increase the paraxylene concentration. Thus, substantially hydrocarbon feedstocks with low paraxylene concentrations generally comprise less than about 50 weight percent paraxylene, commonly less than about 30 weight percent paraxylene, and from time to time less than about 20 weight percent paraxylene.
Substantially hydrocarbon feedstocks with high paraxylene concentrations generally comprise at least about 50 weight percent paraxylene, commonly at least about 70 weight percent paraxylene, and from time to time at least about 80 weight percent paraxylene. Substantially hydrocarbon feedstocks with high paraxylene concentrations arise from sources including feedstocks produced by Selective Toluene Disproportionation (STDP), selective alkylation, or selective transalkylation, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,097,543 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,026, and in W. W. Kaeding, et al., J. Catal., 67, 159 (1981). They are also found in the second or subsequent stages of multi-stage crystallization processes for recovering paraxylene from substantially hydrocarbon feedstocks with low paraxylene concentration. Substantially hydrocarbon feedstocks with high paraxylene concentration also include the paraxylene-enriched stream produced in the selective adsorption zone of a hybrid adsorption/crystallization paraxylene process, such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,060.
Two processes useful for recovering paraxylene are low temperature crystallization, and selective adsorption on a molecular sieve. "Parex" is the most widely applied molecular sieve adsorption process, as described in D. P. Thornton, Hydrocarbon Proc. 49 (1970) at pp. 151-155, which is incorporated herein by reference. This process is based on the principle of continuous selective adsorption in the liquid phase employing fixed beds of solid adsorbent. The adsorbent is made from a zeolite, and the separation technique is based on small differences in affinity to the adsorbent. Paraxylene has the strongest affinity to the adsorbent and is thus preferentially adsorbed. The affinity of the desorbent liquid is positioned between those of paraxylene and the other feed components. When the desorbent affinity is too low, it will take a lot of effort to remove the paraxylene from the adsorbent. If the affinity is too high, the paraxylene is not capable of displacing the desorbent from the adsorbent. Furthermore, the volatility of the desorbent should differ sufficiently from that of the feed compounds to allow for separation of the paraxylene-desorbent and non-paraxylene-desorbent mixtures by distillation.
A crystallization process can also be used to recover paraxylene from a substantially hydrocarbon feedstock. Such a paraxylene crystallization process comprises an isomerization section, a fractionation section, and a crystallization section. Alternatively, such a crystallization process comprises a section for producing a substantially hydrocarbon feedstock with high paraxylene concentration, a fractionation section, and a crystallization section.
To efficiently recover a purified paraxylene from such substantially hydrocarbon feedstocks, the crystallization process includes one or more crystallization stages which generally comprise, jacketed crystallizers, which are typically scraped wall vessels with refrigerated jackets through which a vaporizing refrigerant passes. The crystallization stages may also comprise at least one reslurry drum. The crystallization stage may also comprise a scraped wall heat exchanger, where the material being crystallized is passed through a scraped tube side of the heat exchanger and vaporizing refrigerant is passed through the shell side of the heat exchanger.
Ethylene is often used as a refrigerant to recover paraxylene in paraxylene crystallization processes that use a substantially hydrocarbon feedstock, since efficient paraxylene recovery from these dilute paraxylene streams requires temperatures as low as about −90° F. Ethylene vapor generated from ethylene liquid in the crystallization stages from heat transfer from the material being crystallized exhibits a vapor pressure that is still above atmospheric pressure at these low temperatures, and thus can be conveniently used in a typical vapor recompression refrigeration loop. When using a hydrocarbon refrigerant such as ethylene, it is desirable that the refrigerant vapor pressure is above atmospheric at the temperatures encountered in the crystallization section to prevent oxygen ingress from potential leaks, which could lead to explosive mixtures.
However, since the critical temperature of ethylene is about 49° F., it is generally not possible or practical to condense ethylene in heat exchangers via air or water cooling. Thus, the ethylene vapor exiting the crystallizers is compressed and condensed by exchange with another refrigerant, typically propane or propylene. The propane or propylene circulates in another vapor recompression loop, and the propane or propylene vapor is condensed by air or water cooled exchangers. Thus, a typical practice of a paraxylene crystallization process uses this cascaded ethylene/propane or ethylene/propylene refrigeration circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,177,265 issued to Lammers discloses a multi-stage crystallization process for recovering paraxylene from a C8 or mixed xylene feed, wherein ethylene refrigerant is used to cool the first stage, and propane is used to cool a subsequent stage. Commercial variations of the Lammers process also utilize propane refrigerant for condensing and optionally desuperheating the ethylene refrigerant for other miscellaneous refrigeration requirements such as trim cooling of the feed to the crystallizers, and cooling of the fractionation system off-gas to improve recovery of benzene into the light aromatics byproduct stream.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,448,005 issued to Eccli et al. discloses a crystallization process for paraxylene recovery where a single temperature crystallization production stage is used for producing paraxylene from a feed having an above equilibrium paraxylene concentration, such as from a selective toluene disproportionation process. The process uses a refrigeration system to provide cooling to a temperature of about −20° F., and propane or propylene can be used for the refrigerant.
The above processes utilize propane or propylene vapor compression refrigeration loops for the recovery of paraxylene. In these loops, the propane or propylene vapors produced by the transfer of heat are subsequently compressed to a higher pressure after which the vapors can be condensed by air or water cooled heat exchangers. The propane or propylene refrigeration compressors are costly, complex and inefficient machines requiring a substantial amount of energy to operate. Reducing the size of or eliminating these machines would substantially reduce the capital cost required to build paraxylene units as well as reduce energy consumption and operating costs. These processes also require costly heat exchange equipment to perform refrigerant cooling in addition to the high cost of the coolant utilities themselves. Thus, there is a need for a more cost effective mechanism for performing refrigeration in paraxylene recovery processes.
Ammonia Absorption Refrigeration (AAR) can be a cost-effective, energy saving process that has been used for providing moderate temperature refrigeration. In AAR, an enthalpy source such as waste heat reboils an ammonia fractionator that is fed a stream enriched in ammonia relative to water, (also shown as strong aqua in FIG. 6). The fractionator separates the stream enriched in ammonia relative to water into a higher purity ammonia vapor overhead stream, and a stream enriched in water relative to ammonia (also shown as weak aqua in FIG. 6) bottoms stream. The ammonia vapor overhead stream is condensed via air or water cooling to liquid ammonia refrigerant. The liquid ammonia refrigerant is then directed to the refrigerant users. As enthalpy is transferred indirectly from the material being refrigerated, the liquid ammonia refrigerant evaporates and generates ammonia refrigerant vapor. The ammonia vapor is directed to an absorber, along with the stream enriched in water relative to ammonia which absorbs the ammonia vapor while releasing heat of absorption. The heat of absorption is typically removed by water cooling the absorber.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,652 issued to Zondek discloses a process for freeze concentration of liquid mixtures including solutions by directly contacting the mixtures with a miscible refrigerant in at least two stages. Zondek discloses that good results are obtained when the product being concentrated is xylene and the refrigerant is ammonia. The process also permits the selected separation of crystals at two or more temperatures where crystals can be removed from a first stage and also from a second stage or succeeding stages.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,826 issued to Kagawa discloses a process comprising (1) mixing a paraxylene containing feed with an inert liquid refrigerant, (2) feeding the mixed liquid into a lower part of a bubble tower type crystallization tower, (3) evaporating the refrigerant to form a slurry of p-xylene crystals in the paraxylene feed, (4) separating the inert refrigerant as a vapor from the liquid surface of an upper part of the crystallization tower, and (5) separating paraxylene crystals from the slurry discharged from the upper part of the crystallization tower. Examples of inert refrigerant include carbon dioxide, ammonia, and lower hydrocarbons having 2 to 4 carbon atoms.
Both the '652 and '826 patents disclose direct contact crystallization processes in which the refrigerant is injected directly into the solution being crystallized. Direct contact cooling with a refrigerant requires costly capital equipment and expenditures in energy to efficiently separate the refrigerant from the hydrocarbon streams being cooled. For this reason, direct contact cooling has found limited commercial applications.
In the context of other pure product or byproduct directed processes, the product must be stripped substantially free of all residual ammonia. In the context of paraxylene recovery, the ammonia refrigerant would need to be reduced to on the order of 1 ppmw from the crystallization section reject filtrate, since it is a severe poison to the acid catalysts used in paraxylene unit isomerization sections.
As a result of these and other challenges, AAR has not been successfully applied for the separation of paraxylene from mixed aromatics.
It has now been found that indirect AAR, in accordance with the present invention, can be utilized to provide cooling for paraxylene crystallization while overcoming the problems realized from processes where ammonia was added directly to the feedstocks.
It has also been found that refrigeration derived from an AAR process comprising certain vaporization, water/ammonia contacting, separating and revaporizing steps in accordance with the present invention, results in substantially improved process economics for paraxylene crystallization than traditional processes relying on capital and energy intensive propane vapor recompression refrigeration systems.
It has also been found that several enthalpy sources distinct to a paraxylene crystallization process can power the integrated AAR in accordance with the present invention, resulting in a substantial savings in energy costs and reduction of undesirable emissions of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

Process for recovering paraxylene utilizing ammonia absorption refrigeration


A connection detector (40) is mounted on a lock arm (20) of a first housing (10) and is movable in a direction interesting a resilient displacement direction of a lock arm (20) between an initial position and a detection position. The first housing (10) is formed with supporting wall portions (16) substantially parallel to the resilient displacement direction of the lock arm (20). The supporting wall portions (16) are formed with recesses (17). The connection detector (40) is formed with projections (46) that fit into the recesses (17) for restricting a displacement of the lock arm (20) in an unlocking direction when the connection detector (40) is at the detection position.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
US Patent Application Pub. No. 2011/0008988 discloses a connector with a female housing and a male housing. The female housing includes a receptacle, a locking band and a detector. The male housing is formed with a lock. The locking band is displaced resiliently in an unlocking direction when the two housings are half-connected. Thus, a movement of the detector toward the receptacle is restricted. The locking band resiliently returns when the two housings are connected properly and the detector can move into the receptacle. The detector is in contact with an inner wall surface of the receptacle when the detector is locked in the receptacle, thereby restricting a movement of the locking band in the unlocking direction.
An operating force in the unlocking direction applied to the locking band portion is received by the inner wall surface of the receptacle via the detector. At this time, a direction of the force acting on the receptacle is parallel to a wall thickness direction of the receptacle. The rigidity of the receptacle in the wall thickness direction is structurally weak. Thus, if the operating force in the unlocking direction applied to the locking band is strong, the receptacle may be deformed and the locking band may be displaced in the unlocking direction.
The invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to improve the reliability of a locking function.


A surface of a vehicle component can be dynamically deformable surface. The dynamically deformable surface can be configured to undergo deformations to dynamically form a dynamic button or other user interface element on demand. The dynamically deformable surface can include one or more biosensors. When a user engages the dynamic button with a portion of the body, the one or more biosensors can acquire user biodata. The user biodata can be used by the vehicle as input for various purposes. For instance, the vehicle can operate as a health-monitoring and/or comfort monitoring system. As a result of these arrangements, buttons and other user interface elements can appear and disappear depending on the need and/or application, providing a cleaner vehicle cockpit interface and greatly expanding the possibilities of where such buttons can be located at and how many things can be controlled by the driver using physical interfaces.

There are various in-vehicle user interfaces that enable a user to interact with a vehicle. For instance, a vehicle can be equipped with buttons, switches, and dials in various regions of cockpit, such as on the steering wheel, console, or doors. These user interfaces give users the ability to control certain vehicle functions. In some instances, the vehicle can be configured so that a driver or other vehicle occupant can more easily perceive the presence of user interface elements.

Dynamically deformable surfaces to analyze user conditions using biodata

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


According to one embodiment, a liquid cooling module includes a chassis, a supply liquid manifold and a return liquid manifold that are both fluidly coupled to a coolant source, a piece of information technology (IT) equipment that is mounted to the chassis and has an IT component, and a frame structure that includes: a pair of primary beams that are coupled to the chassis, a pair of secondary beams, each secondary beam being coupled to both primary beams, and a cold plate that is coupled to the pair of secondary beams. The plate is arranged to come into direct contact with the component. The plate is fluidly coupled to the supply liquid manifold to receive liquid coolant from the source and is fluidly coupled to the return liquid manifold to return warmed coolant to the source that is produced when heat generated by the component is transferred into the coolant.

Thermal management for a data center that includes several active electronic racks is critical to ensure proper performance of servers and other IT equipment (e.g., performing IT data processing services) that is operating in the racks. Without proper thermal management, however, the thermal environment (e.g., temperature) within the racks may exceed thermal operational thresholds, which may result in adverse consequences (e.g., servers failing, etc.). One way to manage the thermal environment is the use cooling air to cool the IT equipment. The cooling air is recirculated using cooling units that extract heat captured by the cooling air. One commonly used cooling unit is a computer room air conditioning (CRAC) unit that is a device that intakes hot exhaust air and supplies cooling air into the data center to maintain the data center's thermal environment.
Recently, data centers have been deploying more high-power density electronic racks, where more high-density chips are packaged closer together on a server printed circuit board (PCB) to provide more processing power. In addition, a server PCB may include electronics that are mounted on both sides, which may be required for very compute-intense applications. This is especially the case due to developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based services, which require high performance and high power density processors, such as control processing units (CPUs) and graphic processing units (GPUs). Cooling these high-density racks by maintaining a proper thermal environment may be an issue with existing cooling systems, such as a CRAC unit. For instance, although the CRAC unit may maintain the thermal environment with more conventional (or lower-density) racks, the unit may be unable to effectively cool high-power density racks because they may generate heat load at a higher rate due to the higher density electronics. In some cases, liquid cooling becomes a more efficient and feasible cooling solution in high power density or high heat flux scenarios.


The embodiments disclosed describe a double opening beverage can lid system. The system includes a can lid having a pour panel associated with a pour opening and a vent panel associated with a vent opening. A tab is attached to the can lid. The tab includes a primary tab portion configured to open the pour opening, and a secondary tab portion configured to open the vent opening. A rivet hole facilitates attachment of the primary tab portion and the secondary tab portion to the can lid. A shelf is bent about 180° around a rear edge of the primary tab portion. The shelf blocks at least a portion of the secondary tab portion from contacting the vent panel.

Beverage containers or cans generally have a lid having a score line or lines defining a tear panel which is opened when a riveted tab pushes in the tear panel when the back of the tab is raised and thereby creates the primary opening of the can.
The primary or pour opening in many known designs, in addition to being the exit for the liquid in the can, is also the entrance for air to replace the exiting liquid. This dual use of the primary opening interferes with smooth pouring of the liquid contents. Accordingly, there have been many attempts, mostly unsuccessful, to provide a second, vent opening or tear panel and a convenient means or apparatus for opening both the pour and vent tear panels.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0108552 to Tamarit Rios discloses a method and apparatus for opening both a pour opening and a vent opening on a beverage can using a single pull tab. The Tamarit Rios invention may be improved upon, particularly with regard to design for manufacture and other refinements and optimizations.


The invention relates to a machine (10) for machining and/or measuring a workpiece (49). Machine (10) has a machine frame (18), a first transverse member (24) which is rotatably mounted by means of a first round guide (25) about a first rotational axis (D1) on the machine frame (18) and on which a tool unit (11) with a tool (13, 14) is arranged, where the tool (13, 14) is arranged at a distance from the first rotational axis (D1). Machine (10) also has a second transverse member (40) which is rotatably mounted by means of a second round guide (41) about a second rotational axis (D2) on the machine frame (18), and on which a workpiece clamping device (12) is arranged at a distance from the second rotational axis (D2). The two rotational axis (D1, D2) are aligned parallel to one another.

The invention relates to a machine for machining and/or measuring a workpiece. The machine is set up in particular as a machine tool for metal-removing machining of a workpiece. A tool unit of the machine can have a machining tool and/or a measuring tool. Furthermore, a workpiece clamping device for holding a workpiece is provided, where the tool unit and the workpiece clamping device can be moved and/or pivoted relative to one another. In this way, the tool of the tool unit and a workpiece held in the workpiece clamping device can be moved relative to one another and machined and/or measured.
A machine tool for electrochemical machining of metal workpieces is known from DE 10 2004 040 578 B3. The machine tool has a turntable rotatable about a vertical axis. Above the turntable a cross beam is arranged on a machine frame such that it is vertically movable and can pivot about a horizontal rotational axis. The tool is arranged in the form of tool cathodes on the cross beam. These can in turn be arranged on a horizontally movable carriage.
DE 10 2006 034 123 B34 furthermore describes a milling and drilling machine as well as a workpiece table arrangement. The workpiece table arrangement is arranged such that it is horizontally movable on the machine frame. At the same time, it has a transverse member pivotable about a horizontal rotational axis, where the central bar of the transverse member is arranged offset relative to the rotational axis. A tool unit that can move longitudinally along two coordinate axes is arranged above the workpiece table arrangement.

Machine for machining and/or measuring a workpiece, comprising two pivotable transverse members


Scalable image compression is exploited to facilitate the creative process in the post-production of motion pictures. Specifically, digital intermediate (DI) processing of motion pictures is enabled by dynamically rendering proxies 126 (steps 122, 124, 128) in response to client requests (steps 116, 118). A DI application is designed to enhance the efficiency of post-processing and the quality of the work product of the editors, colorists and other creative people. The DI application also provides a method for efficiently formatting the product for film, digital cinema, DVD and other video applications.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the workflow employed in the creation of motion pictures and video and more specifically to the tasks encountered in digital intermediate processing in the post-production of motion pictures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital Intermediate (DI) Processing
While a small but growing number of motion pictures are being recorded and/or exhibited using digital cameras and/or digital projectors, most motion pictures are recorded and exhibited using film. Even though a motion picture may be recorded and exhibited using film, a large and growing number of motion pictures are employing digital processing techniques in post-production. This processing is known as digital intermediate (DI) processing. Examples of post-processing include: editing (deciding which images will be included and in what order), color correction, special effects, pan & scan, sub-titles, shot separation, re-framing, scene classification, artifact removal, resolution enhancement, noise reduction, sharpening, and verification. After DI processing, the images are recorded back to film to create the various prints involved in the mastering and distribution of motion pictures.
The DI process creates a reduced resolution "proxy" of each image for post-processing. This is done by down sampling the digital image to a fixed resolution. Each down sampled version is then compressed at a fixed quality level and the compressed proxies are stored. The selection of the resolution and quality level represents a tradeoff among processing power, storage capacity, display capability and the requirements of the various editing functions. When a post-processor (editor, colorist, etc.) requests a certain scene or cut, the corresponding compressed images are decompressed to display the sequence of proxies. The proxies are distinct digital images, created from, but entirely separate from the digital versions of the original images. Storage of the compressed proxies is required in addition to storage of the digital versions of the original images. Post-processing generates one or more decision lists that include a list of the operations that were carried out on each of the proxies. Once editing, color correction etc., are completed on the proxies, the decision lists are applied to the digital images so that the same operations are carried out on the digital versions of original images.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,191 describes a digital video editing and publishing system in which digital video data are compressed, intraframe-only, and stored. Selected frames of the compressed data are decompressed, edited and recompressed. The edited and compressed video sequence is decompressed and then recompressed using both intraframe and interframe compression. The parameters of the intraframe compression used in creating this digital master file are set such that the decompressed image is of a selected resolution and quality commensurate with the target publication medium. This approach combines the ability to decompress and edit individual frames by using intraframe compression only initially and the superior compression capability of intraframe and interframe compression. This approach does not utilize a proxy for editing. Consequently, if the target publication medium is of very high resolution the editing process may be very cumbersome.
JPEG2000 is the new international image compression standard (ISO/IEC 15444) and offers state-of-the-art compression performance for still imagery and a number of functionalities designed to specifically address the transmission and storage requirements of emerging imaging applications. In particular, JPEG2000 offers several mechanisms to provide for scalability and random access into compressed codestreams to reduce the amount of data to be transmitted during distribution of large digital images. Specifically, low resolution versions, reduced spatial regions, and reduced quality images or combinations thereof can be extracted from the codestream. To this end, the image data are compressed and stored in packets in the codestreams.
The JPEG2000 features were developed to facilitate transmission of large images such as for storage and distribution of medical imagery. Additionally, JPEG2000 is being used for distributing large overhead images as well as maps. These images and maps can be viewed in an interactive way to reveal different spatial regions at resolutions desired by the user. The library of congress is considering using JPEG2000 to allow users to browse archival imagery over the internet. Significantly, JPEG2000 has been selected for the distribution of Digital Motion Pictures. This selection was based largely on the fact that a single file can serve both high resolution, as well as medium resolution projectors. Specifically, the entire file may be suitable for a high resolution projector. Alternately, medium resolution imagery can be extracted (at the theater) for use by a medium resolution projector.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Digital intermediate (DI) processing and distribution with scalable compression in the post-production of motion pictures


Embodiments of the present invention provide a low voltage continuous time common mode feedback (CMFB) module, for low voltage operational amplifiers, providing good linearity, wide bandwidth and low systematic offset. The common mode feedback module includes a controlling module and an initializing module. The controlling module and the initializing module are parallel common mode feedback loops. The controlling module is a main CMFB loop and the initializing module is an auxiliary CMFB loop and both the loops work simultaneously. The controlling module and the initializing module receive a first differential input voltage and a second differential input voltage supplied by differential outputs of a main differential amplifier. Both the CMFB loops are low gain amplifiers in order to provide operation as linear as possible over the entire differential output operating range of the main differential amplifier.

The market and the need to develop efficient portable electronic equipment have pushed the industry to produce circuit designs with very low voltage (LV) power supply and also often constrained to low power (LP) consumption. The basic problem with using conventional analog differential and/or operational amplifiers in fine-line CMOS technology is that the threshold voltage and drain source saturation voltage do not scale down at the same rate as the supply voltage.
An operational amplifier, the most omnipresent analog system building block, has had to adapt in order to function in today's low voltage, high noise environment. Therefore, fully differential design principles have been applied to the operational amplifiers.
However, when a differential amplifier is in a feedback configuration, a high differential gain of a fully differential amplifier stabilizes differential-mode signals within the amplifier, but common-mode signals can float. Extra circuitry, called a common mode feedback (CMFB) circuit, is required to increase a common mode loop gain of the amplifier so that the common-mode signals are stabilized. The CMFB circuit implements a negative feedback loop that must be compensated properly to minimize loop settling time and to maintain stability. Often, designing the CMFB circuit is more challenging than the actual operational amplifier's design due to the difficulty in properly compensating the CMFB circuit.
The CMFB circuit averages both differential output voltages to produce a common mode voltage VCM. The voltage VCM is then compared to a desired reference common-mode voltage VCMR. A difference between VCM and VCMR is amplified and this error voltage is used to change the common mode bias current. If the common-mode voltage VCM is continuously compared with a constant reference voltage VCMR, then the common mode feedback circuit is referred as a continuous time common mode feedback circuit.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional continuous time common mode feedback circuit 100. The circuit 100 includes four identical transistors 102, 104, 106, 108 and two transistors 110 and 112. The common mode feedback circuit 100 averages two differential signals VCMP and VCMM that are supplied by differential outputs OUTP and OUTM of a main differential amplifier (not shown) and compares the average to the reference common mode voltage VCMR by using the four identical transistors 102, 104, 106 and 108 configured into two differential pairs.
Currents through the transistors 102, 104, 106 and 108 are given by the following equations:IDP0=IB/2−ΔI; IDP1=IB/2+ΔI; IDP2=IB/2−ΔI; IDP3=IB/2+ΔI;
Where IDP0 is the current through the transistor 102, IDP1 is the current through the transistor 104, IDP2 is the current through the transistor 106, IDP3 is the current through the transistor 108 and IB is the current flowing to the transistors 102, 104, 106 and 108.
The current IDP0 equals IDP2 and IDP1 equals IDP3. Currents through the transistors 110 and 112 are equal to IB. Now if the differential signals VCMP and VCMM are averaged with VCM which is greater than VCMR, currents through the transistors 102 and 108, IDP0 and IDP3 will decrease causing currents IDP1 and IDP2 through transistors 104 and 106 to increase. The increased current in the diode connected transistor 110 causes a voltage VCNTRL to increase. The increase in the voltage VCNTRL is applied to the gate of the transistors which are part of the operational amplifier output stage current sink (not shown). The current being sunk into the drain of those transistors will increase, causing a reduction in the voltage of nodes VCMP and VCMM, thus reducing the common mode output voltage VCM. The same analysis can be used to describe the behavior of the CMFB circuit when the differential signals VCMP and VCMM are averaged with VCM smaller than VCMR.
However, this conventional method cannot be used in low voltage power supply environment without severely limiting an output voltage swing (VCMP-VCMM) of the operational amplifier and the non-linear behavior of the differential pairs of the circuit 100.
Some other conventional common mode feedback schemes are also used. In one method, the common mode voltage VCM is periodically refreshed to the common mode reference voltage VCMR. This circuit is well suited for low voltage applications to increase the output voltage swing. However, as the circuit is based on switched capacitor technique, additional switching noise is introduced to output signals.
Another conventional common mode feedback scheme is designed with resistors. The amplifiers have problems of resistor tolerances and the large value resistors degrade the performance of the amplifiers by limiting the voltage swing, thereby forcing operation at higher supply voltages where the limited voltage swing is not a disadvantage.
Therefore, there is a need of a novel continuous time common mode feedback circuit for low voltage operational amplifiers for providing a good linearity, a wide bandwidth and a low systematic offset.

Continuous time common mode feedback circuit, system, and method


In a magnetic data recording/reproducing device comprising a linear motor mounted on a main plate for driving a carriage assembly having a magnetic head, the linear motor comprises a pair of coils integrally arranged with the carriage assembly on both sides thereof and a pair of magnetic circuit devices for generating magnetic fields in a direction intersecting that of electric currents flowing through the pair of coils. The linear motor further comprises a cover plate fixed to the main plate such that the pair of magnetic circuit devices are held on the main plate. The cover plate is integrally provided with a pair of urging members for urging the pair of magnetic circuit devices from upward.

The present invention relates to a magnetic data recording/reproducing device for recording and reproducing data on and from a disk-shaped magnetic recording medium through a magnetic head. More specifically, the present invention relates to a magnetic data recording/reproducing device comprising a linear motor for use in driving a carriage assembly having a magnetic head mounted thereon in a radial direction relative to a magnetic recording medium.
As well known in the art, flexible disk drives are a type of magnetic data recording/reproducing device on which a flexible disk can be mounted for the purpose of recording and reproducing data. Flexible disks have recently been increased in storage capacity. Typical flexible disks have a storage capacity of 1-2 megabytes (hereinafter, referred to as a normal capacity). There have been developed flexible disks with a storage capacity of 128 megabytes (hereinafter, referred to as a large capacity). In response to this, flexible disk drives have also been developed that can be used with a flexible disk of the large capacity.
The flexible disk drives used with a flexible disk of the normal capacity is different in mechanism from those used with a flexible disk of the large capacity. One of the differences lies in the structure of driving means for use in driving a carriage assembly having a magnetic head mounted thereon in a predetermined radial direction relative to a flexible disk mounted within the flexible disk drive. More specifically, the flexible disk drive for the normal-capacity flexible disk uses a stepping motor as the driving means. On the other hand, the flexible disk drive for the large-capacity flexible disk uses a linear motor as the driving means. Such a linear motor is called a voice coil motor.
The linear motor that is used as the driving means for the flexible disk drives used with the flexible disk of the large capacity will now be described. The linear motor comprises a pair of coils integrally assembled with the carriage assembly on both sides thereof, and a pair of magnetic circuit devices for generating a magnetic field in a direction intersecting that of an electric current flowing through the pair of coils.
Now, the description will be made with regard to one of the pair of magnetic circuit devices. The magnetic circuit device typically comprises a permanent magnet polarized along the thickness thereof and a yoke member. The yoke member comprises a center yoke which serves as a drive axis, a back yoke, and a pair of side yokes. The center yoke extends in the direction along which the carriage assembly moves and passes through the coil. The back yoke has a main surface extending in parallel with the center yoke at a certain distance and being opposed to the center yoke. The pair of side yokes are for magnetically connecting both ends of the center yoke with corresponding ends of the back yoke. The permanent magnet is fixed to the main surface of the back yoke. The center yoke, the back yoke, and the side yokes are each made of a steel plate having a thickness of at least 3 mm.
With this structure, by causing the electric current to flow through the coil in a direction intersecting that of the magnetic field generated by the magnetic circuit device, a drive force occurs in a direction extending to the drive axis on the basis of interaction of the electric current with the magnetic field. The drive force causes the linear motor to move the carriage assembly in the predetermined radial direction.
By the way, the pair of magnetic circuit devices should be mounted on a main substrate or plate of the flexible disk drive so as not to cause a positional deviation thereof. The pair of magnetic circuit devices have leakage flux because the permanent magnet is made of an advanced magnetic material. The leakage flux tends to adversely influence the magnetic head mounted on the carriage assembly.

Magnetic data recording/reproducing device having a linear motor which includes a pair of coils integrally assembled with a carriage assembly on both sides thereof


A non-volatile ferroelectric memory with very slight disruption of the memory contents during a read operation. The ferroelectric capacitors are connected to the row and column control lines through transistor switches. Control logic senses the level of current flowing into the ferroelectric capacitor during a read operation. If the current flow exceeds a threshold, the transistor switches are activated to reverse the polarity of the voltage applied to the ferroelectric capacitor.

This invention relates generally to integrated circuit memories and more specifically to non-volatile memories.
Semiconductor memories are widely used in computer systems and come in many varieties. Non-volatile memories represent one important type of memory. These memories continue to store information even if power to the memory is turned off or otherwise interrupted.
Ferroelectric material has recently been used to make non-volatile memories. These non-volatile memories typically contain an array of cells containing ferroelectric capacitors. These cells are accessed by a grid of row and column lines since each cell is connected between one row and one column line. By applying a voltage between one row and one column line, one cell is uniquely addressed and the applied voltage appears across the addressed cell.
The addressed ferroelectric cell acts like a capacitor and charges up to the applied voltage. Unlike a capacitor, though, the cell keeps it charge even after the applied voltage is removed. In this way, the memory can store information when no voltage is applied to the memory. To store a logic one, a cell is charged to a first voltage. To store a logic zero, a cell is charged to a second voltage. The second voltage usually has the same magnitude as the first voltage but is of opposite polarity.
Information is read from a cell in a destructive read operation. As part of the read operation, voltage which is sufficient to store a logic one in a cell is applied to the cell. The amount of current flowing through the cell while this voltage is applied indicates the value previously stored in the cell. A relatively high current flow indicates the cell changed from storing a logic zero to storing a logic one. A relatively low level of current flow indicates the cell previously stored a logic one. Thus, the state of the cell is sensed by measuring the current flow when the reading voltage is applied.
After the sense portion of the read operation, the cell will always store a logic one. If the cell contained a logic zero which is changed to a logic one during a read, the previous value stored in the cell must be restored. To achieve this result, logic circuitry built into the memory initiates a write operation to write a logic zero into the accessed cell.
Destructive read out suffers from two shortcomings. First, it can take up to two access cycles to read information from memory. In the first, the information is sensed. In the second cycle, the information is rewritten into the cell. This extra cycle can slow down operation of a ferroelectric memory.
A second shortcoming of a destructive readout is that the information in memory may be totally lost if the power to the memory is removed during the read operation. In particular, if power is lost after the contents of the cell are sensed but before the contents are rewritten, correct contents of the cell will never be restored. Since non-volatile memory is often used to store information which must be saved in the event of an unexpected power loss, this second shortcoming can present a significant problem.

Non-destructive readout ferroelectric memory cell


A substance for preventing, delaying the onset of, or treating one or more than one autoimmune disease, the substance comprising a polynucleotide construct comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding the pro-apoptotic protein BAX and encoding one or more than one autoantigen for the autoimmune disease. A method for preventing, delaying the onset of or treating an autoimmune disease in a patient comprising selecting a patient who is susceptible to developing the autoimmune disease, who is developing the autoinimune disease or who has the autoinimune disease and administering to the patient one or more than one dose of a polynucleotide construct comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding the pro-apoptotic protein BAX and encoding one or more than one autoantigen for an autoimmune disease, or comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding the adenoviral protein E3-GP19k, or comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding ΔBCL-2.

Autoimmune diseases cause significant human morbidity and mortality. These diseases include approximately 80 diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus and multiple sclerosis, and affect approximately 5% of the population of the United States. One autoimmune disease, type 1 diabetes, is the most frequent chronic disease in children, and has a steadily increasing worldwide incidence.
Generally, the onset of type 1 diabetes begins with the display by antigen presenting cells (APCs) of autoantigens synthesized by pancreatic beta cells. This display results in the immune system destruction of pancreatic beta cells mediated mostly by T helper 1 (Th1) and cytotoxic T lymphocytes and, thereby, to the loss of insulin production.
Many prophylactic and therapeutic approaches for type 1 diabetes attempt to prevent the destruction of beta cells by inducing the immune system to delete, inactivate or suppress pathogenic self-reactive lymphocytes, such as by administering vaccines that solely deliver autoantigen, or by administering substances are direct effectors of the immune system, such as cytokines. However, currently available DNA-based vaccines are not completely efficient in preventing the disease, and the use of some of these vaccines are associated with inducing or enhancing autoimmunity rather than preventing the disease. Additionally, the use of cytokines is associated with significant morbidity.
Therefore, there is a need for a new method for preventing, delaying the onset of, or treating autoimmune diseases using vaccines that are not associated with these disadvantages. Further, there is a need for a new method for preventing, delaying the onset of, or treating type 1 diabetes using vaccines that are not associated with these disadvantages.

Substances for preventing and treating autoimmune diseases


A circuit for driving a load may include a control loop having a response characteristic. A headroom signal indicative of the headroom voltage of the circuit may set one or more parameters of the response characteristic. A load sign indicative of electrical loading on the circuit may further set the response characteristic.

Unless otherwise indicated, the foregoing is not admitted to be prior art to the claims recited herein and should not be construed as such.
With the integration of high resolution cameras into mobile devices such as smart phones and computing tablets, high current (e.g., >1A) flash LEDs are typically required for high pixel (e.g., >5M pixel) cameras. Thus, the power dissipation in power management ICs (PMICs) that include flash LED drivers is elevated. Since the flash LED driver is one of the higher power consumption modules in a PMIC, minimizing the power dissipation from the flash LED driver is an important consideration in a PMIC design to extend battery life and reduce thermal risks.
Typically, a flash LED driver includes an output stage and a current regulator that regulates the output current of the output stage. The current regulator may include an error amplifier that is connected to the output stage in a feedback loop.
Power dissipation can be reduced by reducing the headroom voltage of the flash LED driver. Headroom voltage refers to the voltage drop between the driver's voltage supply and the output voltage of the driver. However, when the headroom voltage is decreased, the feedback loop tends to drive the output stage into the linear region, thus reducing the system loop gain. Conversely, when the headroom voltage is increased, the output stage is driven into the saturation region with much larger gain (e.g., 50-60 dB or higher), which reduces phase margin and thus system stability.
Further exacerbating the problem is that conventional PMIC designs cannot anticipate what devices (smart phones, computer tablets, portable cameras, etc.) the PMICs will be used in, and how such devices will be used by the end user. Accordingly, a given PMIC can be exposed to a wide range of headroom voltage conditions and load conditions and so its design is not likely to be adequate for all use cases.

Adaptive stability control for a driver circuit


A partition manager relocates a logical partition from a primary shared processor pool to a secondary shared processor pool in response to a predetermined condition, such as a hardware failure. The relocated logical partition is allocated a smaller quantity of processing units from the secondary pool than it was allocated from the primary pool. A quantity of processing units reserved for a second logical partition is identified in the secondary shared processor pool, and a portion of those reserved processing units are allocated to the relocated logical partition. The reserved processing units may be redistributed among multiple relocated logical partitions.

This disclosure relates generally to virtualization in computing systems, and more particularly to synchronization, replication, and migration of micro-partitions. A micro-partition in a high availability solution may regularly save its processing state and its memory state to an alternate host machine to provide failover support in the event of a primary host machine failure, and may require the availability of processing resources associated with the alternate host machine in addition to resources associated with the primary host machine.

Managing CPU resources for high availability micro-partitions

International Business Machines Corporation


An apparatus for the selective catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide contained in a hydrogen-rich mixed gas flow, includes a reaction chamber filled with a catalyst and a cooling chamber through which a coolant flows formed between successive plates. The plates have openings that form inlet and outlet channels for the mixed gas flow and the coolant. An oxidizing gas is supplied directly into the inlet channel for the mixed gas flow. For two-stage apparatuses, a separating plate without an opening for the inlet channel for the mixed gas flow is arranged between the first and the second stage, and an apparatus for supplying the oxidizing gas to the second stage is passed into the outlet channel for the mixed gas flow from the first stage.

The invention relates to an apparatus for selective catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide in a hydrogen-rich mixed gas flow.
An apparatus of this generic type and having a plate-type construction, which is intended to reduce the proportion of carbon monoxide in the gas produced by a water-vapour reformer, is disclosed in DE 195 44 895 C1. In this arrangement, plates with reaction chambers and heat-exchanger chambers are stacked on one another alternately. Each plate has four through-openings in each case for the mixed gas flow or heat carrier medium inlet and outlet. In order to allow air to be supplied with a different volume flow in each stage, holes can also be provided on the end faces of the plates having the reaction chambers, through each of which holes air can be metered into the reaction chambers. However, additional components need to be provided in order to distribute the air.
Furthermore, DE 87 09 386 U1 discloses an apparatus for using a probe, arranged in the flow direction of the first gas, in order to apply a second gas to a reaction chamber through which gas flows.
WO-A-97 25752 describes a multistage apparatus for selective catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide, which comprises a plurality of plates, stacked on behind the other.
EP-A-0 776 861, which forms the prior art, discloses a method and apparatus for selective catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide. In the disclosed apparatus, plates having reaction chambers and heat-exchanger chambers are alternately stacked one on top of the other. Air is supplied at the end faces of the reaction chambers.
The object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for selective catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide in a hydrogen-rich mixed gas flow, with simplified supply and mixing for the oxidizing gas.
This object is achieved by the apparatus according to the invention.
Integration of the supply for the oxidizing gas into the inlet channel for the mixed gas flow represents a solution that is simple and cost-effective for production. In a first advantageous configuration, the supply ends in the manifold channel, where there is no catalyst material. There is thus no need for any additional mixing path or distributor structures. Furthermore, the ratio of the reaction and cooling chambers to one another can be varied as required, in terms of volume and/or the number of plates.
A plurality of stages can be integrated in one physical unit, without any problems. In this case, high flexibility is nevertheless maintained by the variable inlet position for supplying the oxidizing gas. Overall, the apparatus according to the invention has improved characteristics in terms of volume requirement, weight and costs.
Advantageous configurations of the apparatus for supplying the oxidizing gas results in reliable homogenization of the gas mixture between each individual stage.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Device for selective catalytic oxidation of carbon monoxide


A power transmission incorporates a plurality of torque-transmitting mechanisms having stationary piston torque-transmitting mechanisms. Each of the torque-transmitting mechanisms is controlled by one or more hydraulic master cylinders, which provide hydrostatic apply pressure for the respective torque-transmitting mechanisms. The control apparatus may incorporate either two or three master cylinders for controlling five torque-transmitting mechanisms through a plurality of selectively operable valve mechanisms.

Powertrains for automotive use generally have a plurality of forward gear ratios and at least one reverse gear ratio. Many of these powertrains employ planetary gear mechanisms, which are controlled in ratio by selectively engageable torque-transmitting mechanisms such as clutches and brakes. These clutches and brakes are generally hydraulically applied mechanisms and therefore require a control system that will both engage the torque-transmitting mechanisms and disengage the torque-transmitting mechanisms. The mechanism for controlling the application and exhausting of the torque-transmitting mechanisms has generally taken the form of electro-hydraulic mechanisms and usually includes a positive displacement hydraulic pump and a plurality of solenoid mechanisms and valve mechanisms for the distribution of fluid from the hydraulic pump.
The use of a continuously operating pump while providing the necessary and required hydraulic pressure does also consume a considerable amount of energy. The pump must run continuously and supply pressure continuously whenever the powertrain is placed within at least one of the gear ratios.

Hydrostatically applied clutch system with multiplex master cylinders


A packet transmission control device includes a socket detecting system that detects addresses and ports of a first device and a second device, which perform a packet communication in a network by transmitting/receiving data packets, a socket storing system that stores addresses and ports detected by the socket detecting system, a session information detecting system that detects session information regarding the packet communication according to a communication protocol of the packet communication between the first device and the second device, a session information storing system that stores the session information detected by the session information detecting system, a terminal capability detecting system that detects terminal capability of each of the first device and the second device prior to the packet communication according to the communication protocol, and a terminal capability storing system that stores the terminal capabilities detected by the terminal capability detecting system.

The present invention relates to a packet communication control device and method for a network where data is transmitted in the form of packet.
In a field of the packet communication in which information is transmitted/received in unit called packet, the quantity of information transmitted/received through the network is getting larger in association with the well-developed communication infrastructures such as a LAN (Local Area Network) and the Internet, and with the enhancement of various communication terminals dedicated to such a network. In particular, in an application of voice communication, an IP (Internet Protocol) telephone system, which enables the vice communication with the packet transmission/reception gathers attentions. An existing PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) system uses its dedicated exchanger system, and a fixed connected condition should be taken over between two communication terminals, which requires running cost therefor. In a network system using the packet communication, all the terminals on the network can share the common cable and therefore general purpose network apparatuses can be used for communication therebetween, which provides a low-running-cost communication system.
The Internet Protocol (IP) which is a mainstream protocol for the packet communication system transmits/receives packets each including a header portion and a payload (information) portion. The header portion contains information necessary for transmitting/receiving the packets. For example, the header contains IP addresses and port numbers of the sending end and destination (i.e., a receiving end). The payload portion contains the information to be transmitted/received. The IP addresses are assigned to respective terminal apparatuses, which includes local addresses which are unique for respective apparatus (i.e., one for each apparatus) inside the LAN, and global addresses which are unique for apparatuses within the upper networks such as the Internet. The ports allow the packets to be transmitted from or received by applications implemented in the apparatuses.
In order to exchange the packets among the apparatuses belonging to different addressing systems such as a case where the packets are exchange between the local addressing system and global addressing system as described above, conversion of the IP addresses and the ports should be performed.
FIG. 11 is a diagram for illustrating a network system 100 employing a conventional data conversion for exchange data among the network systems having different addressing systems. The network system 100 includes a LAN 111, a network 112, a router 101, terminals 113 and 114. The LAN 111 is a network in which data packets are transmitted/received in accordance with the IP, and the local addressing system is employed. The network 112 is a network, which is an upper network with respect to the LAN 111. In the network 112, data packets are transmitted/received in accordance with the IP and the global addressing system is employed. The router 101 has a function of controlling transmission/reception of data packets between the networks having different addressing systems. As shown in FIG. 11, the router 101 is connected to the networks 111 and 112. The terminals 113 and 114 transmit data packet in accordance with the IP. The terminal 113 is connected to the LAN 111, while the terminal 114 is connected to the network 112. In the example shown in FIG. 11, it is assumed that the IP address of the terminal 113 is a "local address A", the IP address of the router 101 is a "global address B", and the IP address of the terminal 114 is a "global address C".
Between the terminals 113 and 114, due to the difference of the employed addressing systems, it is impossible for each terminal to transmit/receive data packets only by designating the IP address of the other. In order for allowing the data exchange between the terminals of the LAN 111 and the network 112, a so-called IP masquerade function is utilized. Specifically, when a data packet is transmitted from the terminal 113 to the terminal 114, a packet of which the sending apparatus's IP address (i.e., A) and the port used in the terminal 113, the receiving apparatus' IP address (i.e., C) and the port used in the terminal 114 are written in the header is transmitted to the router 101. The router 101, where receives the packet transmitted from the terminal 113, converts the IP address A of the sending apparatus and the port used in terminal device 113 written in the header of the packet are converted into the global address B of the router 101 and the port assigned thereto. The packet of which the IP address and the port are converted is transmitted from the router 101 to the terminal 114. The terminal 114, which receives the packet transmitted from the router 101, refers to the header of the received packet, and transmits a packet, in which the sending apparatus's IP address C, the port used in the terminal 114, the receiving apparatus's IP address and the assigned port are written to the router 101. The router 101 which receives the packet transmitted from the terminal 114 converts the receiving apparatus's IP address C and port as assigned which are written in the header of the packet into the IP address A and the port used in the terminal 113. The packet of which the IP address of the receiving apparatus and the port are converted is transmitted from the router 101 to the terminal 113.
In the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) used for the IP telephone, the IP addresses and the ports of the sending/receiving apparatuses are written not only in the header but also in the payload. However, according to the IP masquerade function as implemented in the router 101, which only converts the data in the header of the packet, the converted packet includes different IP addresses in the header and the payload. In such a case, the received terminal cannot process the received packet. Further, even if the receiving apparatus can process the received packet, a newly created packet created by the receiving apparatus cannot be converted by the router 101. In view of such a configuration, some methods for converting the addresses not only in the header but also in the payload have been suggested. Examples of such methods are disclosed in Japanese Patent Provisional Publications No. P2002-152260A and No. P2001-156852A.
FIG. 12 shows a conventional voice communication system 200 in accordance with ITU-T Recommendation H.323, which is a typical VoIP. As shown in FIG. 12, the voice communication system 200 includes a LAN 211, a network 212, a router 201, terminals 213 and 214, and a gate keeper 215.
The LAN 211 is a network in which packets are transmitted/received in accordance with the IP. The LAN 211 employs the local addressing system. The network 212 is the upper network with respect to the LAN 211, in which packets are transmitted/received in accordance with the IP. The network 212 employs the global addressing system. The router 201 is for controlling transmission/reception of packets between network systems employing different addressing systems. The router 201 is connected to the LAN 211 and the network 212. The terminals 213 and 214 are IP telephones allowing the voice communication in accordance with H. 323. The terminal 213 is connected to the LAN 211, and the terminal 214 is connected to the network 212. The gate keeper 215 is a server, which functions to convert telephone numbers and IP addresses in accordance with H. 323, and authentication in accordance with H. 323. The gate keeper 215 is connected to the network 212.
The router 201 includes an NAT (Network Address Translation) unit, 202, a storage unit 203, a LAN side interface 204, and a WAN side interface 205. The NAT unit 202 converts the address and port written in the header and payload of a packet based on predetermined data stored in the storage 203. The storage 203 stores a correspondence table containing the IP address and port for the NAT of the EP (End Point) 1, the corresponding IP address and port of EP 2, and converted address and port.
It should be noted that EP referred to above is a common name for a terminal: EP 1 represents the terminal device 213, and EP 2 represents the terminal device 214.
The IP address and port for the NAT of the EP 1 are those for converting the IP address of the packet transmitted by the EP1 into the IP address and the port in accordance with the global addressing system. The IP address is the global IP address assigned to the router 201 itself, and the port is a port assigned in each case. The IP address and port of the EP 2 are the global address and port of the EP 2. The correspondence table stores the relationship of IP addresses and ports before and after the conversion by the NAT unit 202. The LAN side interface 204 interfaces the connection with the LAN 211. The WAN interface 205 interfaces the connection with respect to the network 212.
FIG. 13 is a sequence chart illustrating operation of the voice communication system 200. In FIG. 13, a case where a communication with the terminal 214 (EP 2) is requested by the terminal 213 (EP 1). The router 201 only converts the IP addresses and ports of the packets transmitted from the terminal 213, and those received by the terminal 213, and detailed description is omitted for the sake of brevity.
Firstly, the terminal 213 transmits an ARQ (Admission Request) to the gate keeper 216 (S601). The ARQ is a request for admission according to H.323. The gate keeper 215, which has received the ARQ from the terminal 213, transmits an ACF (Admission Confirm) to the terminal 213 (S621). The ACF is an admission confirmation, and the gate keeper 215 also transmits the IP address of the terminal 214. When the ACF is received from the gate keeper 215, the terminal 213 starts opening a channel open according to the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) with respect to the terminal 214 based on the received IP address of the terminal 214 (S603, S641).
When the channel open for the TCP has been finished, the terminal 213 transmits a Setup, which is a forward message attempting to connect an H.323 entity of the terminal 213 itself with an H.323 entity of the terminal 214 (S605). For transmitting the message, port 1720 which is used in H.225 that is compliant with H.323. The terminal device 214, which has received the Setup from the terminal 213, transmits, to the terminal 213, a "CallProceeding" that is a backward message notifying that the call proceeding is started (S643). Then, the terminal 214 transmits the ARQ to the gate keeper 215 (S645). The gate keeper 215 that receives a request for admission from the terminal 214 transmits the ACF to the terminal device 214 (S623). The terminal 214, which has received the admission confirm from the gate keeper 215, ringers a bell, and transmits an Alerting to the terminal 213 (S647). Further, when the terminal 214 responds, a Connect is transmitted to the terminal 213 to notify that the terminal responds (S649).
The terminal 213, which has received the Connect transmitted by the terminal 214, starts a channel open proceeding according to H.245 in order to establish connection between entities of the terminals 213 and 214 (S607, S651). During the channel open proceeding according to H.245, data is exchanged between the terminals 213 and 214, and "AuType", which is a data compression method used for data communication, and other parameters for communication are determined. It should be noted that "AuType" is transmitted through "OpenLogicalChannel". When the channel open proceeding according to H.245 has been finished, a voice communication according to H.323 is executed between the terminals 213 and 214 (S609, S653). When the voice communication between the terminals 213 and 214 is finished, an end proceeding according to H.245 is-performed between the terminals 213 and 214 (S611, S655). When the end proceeding has been finished between the terminals 213 and 214, the terminal 213 transmits a "ReleaseComplete" to the terminal 214 to notify that the connection with the terminal 214 will be released (S613). Thereafter, the terminal 213 transmits DRQ (Disengage Request) to the gate keeper 215 (S615). The DRQ is an end notification according to H.323 with respect to the gate keeper 215. The gate keeper 215, which has received the DRQ transmitted from the terminal 213, transmits a DCF (Disengage Confirm) to the terminal 213 (S625). The DCF is a notification, which is transmitted from the gate keeper 215, for confirming the end of the communication according to H.323. When the terminal 214 has received the "ReleaseComplete" transmitted from the terminal 213, the terminal 214 transmits the DRQ to the gate keeper 215 (S657). Similarly, the gate keeper 215, which has received the DRQ from the terminal 214, outputs the DCF to the terminal device 214. With above procedure, the gate keeper 215 finished the end proceeding of the communication between the terminals 213 and 214 (S627).
As above, when the "VoIp" is used, by changing the payload as well as the header, the voice communication using the packet transmission can be realized even between the terminals employing different addressing systems.
According to H.323, when two terminals are performing the communication, the ports (1720) managing the call control are occupied, and the channel open according to H.245 with respect to the port cannot be performed. Thus, it is impossible for a third terminal to interrupt the communication between two terminals and to communicate with one of the two terminals. Even if another port is opened and the H.245 channel open is performed, a terminal capability of the destination determined by the channel open according to H.245 is unknown, and therefore, "AuType" cannot be determined. As above, the "VoIP" such as H.323 is configured to handle a communication between two terminals, and a case where a third terminal interrupts to communicate one of the two terminals is not assumed. Therefore, according to the conventional communication system, it is impossible to allow the third terminal to communicate with one of the two terminals which have been communicating.

Packet communication control device and packet communication control method


In a biological wastewater treatment process including secondary clarification, the improvement comprising monitoring the salinity of the wastewater flowing to secondary clarification and adjusting the salinity of the wastewater flowing to secondary clarification by adding water or by adding salt.

The present invention relates to biological wastewater treatment processes including secondary clarification. More particularly, but without limitation thereto, the present invention relates to activated sludge wastewater treatment processes, and especially to those activated sludge wastewater treatment processes employing oxygen-enriched air or substantially pure oxygen for aeration of the material in the reactor of the process.
Activated sludge wastewater treatment processes in general terms employ a reactor in which a suspension of various microorganisms aerobically biodegrade dissolved and colloidal organics in the wastewater flowing into the process, with oxygen being continuously supplied to the suspension in the form of air, oxygen-enriched air, or pure oxygen. A downstream settling tank or secondary clarifier gravitationally separates the flocculated microorganisms from the treated wastewater. A portion of the suspension recovered from the secondary clarification step of the process is recycled to the reactor, and the remainder is passed through a sludge treatment process to remove any remaining water from the sludge and to render the sludge suitable for disposal by landfilling, for example, or for further use, e.g., as a fertilizer.
A species of an activated sludge process which has been briefly mentioned above aerates the reactor with pure or substantially pure oxygen. This sort of process, sometimes referred to in industry as Union Carbide's "Unox" process, is very often employed where space for the activated sludge reactor or reactors (typically there are several reactors in series) is limited or where there is a desire to reduce capital costs and a supply of oxygen is on hand, since the pure oxygen process supplies the same amount of oxygen as a conventional process using ordinary air, in roughly one-fifth the volume required in a conventional process. The reactors in a pure oxygen activated sludge process are thus typically small compared to the reactors in other activated sludge processes, and have a much shorter residence time for materials passing through the reactors.
Because of the much shorter residence times and higher throughputs associated with the pure oxygen activated sludge treatment processes, those changes in the character of the influent wastewater which could adversely affect the system's microorganisms or the secondary clarification are not as easily counteracted and can be more critical in their effects. Relatively minor changes in the character of the incoming wastewater which would have little adverse effect in other processes because of a dilution factor in a large reactor, or which could be corrected over time with little damage to the overall process or to the waters in which the treated effluent is to be discharged, become much more troublesome in a pure oxygen activated sludge process.
For this reason, a thorough understanding and appreciation of the effect on the overall process of changes of various magnitudes in the character and composition of the incoming wastewater stream becomes critical, if damage either to the process or to the environment is to be avoided.