An image forming apparatus comprises a recording head having a plurality of recording elements arranged in array, the recording head being utilized for recording a corrective image onto a recording material, an image reading device to acquire readout information by reading the corrective image, an carrying out section to conduct calculation to obtain a correction amount of recording characteristics, from the readout information acquired by the reading device, an image forming section to form an image onto the recording material by the recording head in which a recording characteristics of the plurality of recording elements are compensated based on the correction amount, and a controller to control the recording head so as to record the corrective image on to the recording material, wherein, the readout information in the carrying out section discriminates optical density unevenness caused by a factor not being associated with the recording head.

In recent years, the enhanced printing capability and the improved performance of an image quality of a miniature digital developing apparatus as a digital output apparatus have increased broadly due to the popularity of digital cameras. Especially, there is a strong demand for improving the quality of larger image prints and many development reports of an exposing apparatus employing a recording head with a plurality of recording elements deployed in an array for this purpose are known.
Generally, since a light emitting recording element structuring the described array-type recording head has an its own respective light emitting characteristic, when the correction of the light emitting characteristic is not adequate, optical density unevenness on an image results and is recorded when printed. As a result, it lowers the commercial value of the image. Unevenness of each recording element is generally from 20% to 40%. In order to express a photograph by continuous optical density, unevenness of each recording element has to be no more than 2%, and when a higher quality image is desired, it should be less than 1%. In regard to correction of unevenness of a recording element, for example, Japanese Patent Open to Public Inspection: Nos. H08-230235 and H10-811 disclose those techniques.
However, according to those references, following drawbacks tends to occur.
Generally, a miniature digital developing apparatus contains a chemical storage tank for a processing solution and applies the processing solution onto a recording material (hereinafter, a photosensitive material is used in many cases but is not limited to a photosensitive material) for a developing process to form an image. Generally, since heated processing solution circulates in the chemical solution tank in order to minimize the processing time, ambient oxygen easily oxidizes the processing solution and it generates a useless ingredient. This useless ingredient accumulates in the conveyance path in the developing section and is transferred onto the photosensitive material. As a result, it appears on the photosensitive material as optical density unevenness, namely dirt generated by the factor of other-than the recording of a recording head. Recently, since the duration of processing tends to be rather lengthy, it is generally when the transferring of dirt tends to occur. Other than the situation described above, unevenness caused by the development unevenness generated by evaporation of water-drops adhering in the conveyance path also appears as dirt generated by a factor other than during recording by the recording head.
Additionally, even if optical density unevenness is caused by adhesion of dirt in a development section to photosensitive material as described above and/or the unevenness of development itself, optical density unevenness is accidentally recognized to be caused by optical density unevenness associated with a recording head and a feedback to the recording head is performed.
Consequently, in the current system, when adhesion of dirt and/or development unevenness occurs, it is often an inconvenience in that optical density unevenness appears in places where no optical density unevenness exists as a result of a correction, since the correction, which should not be conducted, is performed. It is called reverse correction and occasions of optical density unevenness increases instead of decreasing.
Since in almost all cases, optical density unevenness correction is performed as part of a warm-up process before full operation of the apparatus, optical density unevenness correction is performed when the possibility of development unevenness such as dirt adhesion after an overnight down time of the apparatus. Consequently, even in a situation where an unevenness correction is unnecessary, the correction is conducted, as in the situation described above, and as a result so-called reverse correction is conducted.
Accordingly, it becomes a situation where several corrections are necessary to correct the reverse correction. Under these circumstances, since the warming-up time becomes too long, it degrades not only the operation efficiency of a miniature digital developing apparatus but also results in mental stress of the operator identical to the operations for correcting optical density unevenness are required. This can also develop into a problem which decreases operator job satisfaction.

Image forming apparatus and method for forming image


A nuclear fuel assembly having a tube-in-tube control rod guide tube design that incorporates an end plug that extends axially upward to an elevation above the lower most grid where it is sealed at its upper end to the lower end of the control rod guide tube. The guide tube lower end plug has a threaded recess in its upper surface that mates with a corresponding dashpot end plug threaded extension that is formed as an insert in the lower end of the guide tube. A hole formed through the outer wall of the guide tube end plug at the elevation of the lower portion of the recess provides a positive inspection port for assuring the proper seating of the dashpot. A method of manufacture of such a fuel assembly is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention This invention relates in general to nuclear reactor fuel assemblies and more particularly to control rod guide thimble designs for use within nuclear reactor fuel assemblies.
2. Related Art
In nuclear reactors of the type designed in the former Soviet Union, the reactor core is comprised of a large number of elongated fuel assemblies, each having a plurality of fuel rods held in an organized hexagonal array by a plurality of grids spaced longitudinally along the fuel rods and secured to stainless steel control rod guide thimbles. The stainless steel control rod guide thimbles extend above and below the ends of the fuel rods and are attached to the top and bottom nozzles, respectively. The fuel assemblies are arranged in the reactor vessel with the bottom nozzles resting on a lower core plate. An upper core plate rests on the top nozzles.
The top nozzles in the Soviet design are non-removably fixed to the stainless steel control rod guide thimbles of the fuel assembly. These complex nozzles perform several functions. First, they position the rod control cluster assembly (RCCA) relative to the control rod guide thimbles within the core so the position of the RCCA relative to the upper core plate is fixed. The RCCA positions the control rods, which are inserted into the fuel assembly as a group or cluster.
The Soviet nozzle also dampens the velocity of the control rods using springs to remove energy when the RCCA rods are dropped into the reactor core during an emergency shutdown, commonly known as a "scram". The nozzle also supplies spring loads for supporting the internals. When the upper core plate is lowered onto the nozzles, it compresses the nozzle spring. In addition, the Soviet nozzle is designed to protect the control rods when the fuel assembly is removed from the reactor vessel. Under these conditions, the RCCA is at or below the top edge of the nozzle. Finally, the Soviet design of the top nozzle allows the fuel assembly to be handled when lifted out of the core by transferring the loads through the nozzle.
Thus, the Soviet nozzle is designed to function in two positions, free and compressed. As stainless steel is used for the thimbles of the Soviet fuel assembly, the relative separation between the interior of the reactor vessel and the fuel assemblies remains constant once the assembly is in position. Spring loads are such that the nozzles can support the internals, and the spring loads as well as the RCCA positions are fixed so that all functions are static. As a result, the nozzle has built-in references around which the internals are designed. The stainless steel thimbles used in the Soviet design impose higher reactivity cost on the fuel assemblies due to their neutron capture cross-section, i.e., neutron absorption rate, and they are more difficult to attach to the grids of the fuel assemblies. Non-Soviet fuel assemblies utilize zircaloy for the thimbles which imposes less reactivity cost. However, zircaloy has a different coefficient thermal expansion than the stainless steel reactor vessel, and grows during irradiation. Expandable top nozzles, which accommodate for these variations in the dimensions of the different components within the reactor are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,534,933; 4,687,619; 4,702,882 and 4,986,959. Such nozzles, however, are used in reactors in which the top core plate rests on a core support in the form of a circular ledge within the reactor vessel. In the Soviet type reactor, the core plate rests on and is supported by the top nozzles.
As mentioned, the Soviet design top nozzle is permanently attached to the thimble tubes of the fuel assembly. The above-mentioned patents disclose removable top nozzles and U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,464 took that technology to another step in applying the removable top nozzles to the Soviet type reactor nozzle design. However, the substitution of zircaloy for stainless steel in some of the fuel assembly components, such as the thimble tubes in which the control rods move, requires further modifications to assure that impact loads experienced by the assemblies can be absorbed without damaging the assemblies or other core components. For example, in the VVER 1000 type Soviet designed reactor, when the control rods scram, they freefall and impact the top nozzle at a very high velocity. This fuel design does not use a dashpot or any other hydraulic mechanical device to minimize these high impacts. In the design described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,479,464, springs are employed to absorb some of this load. However, further means are desired to absorb the shock of the load as well as the load itself. In a standard western fuel assembly design, approximately two feet before full insertion of the control rods into the fuel assembly, the tips of the control rods enter a small diameter portion of the thimble tube called the dashpot. This dashpot is approximately one (1) millimeter larger than the control rods. Because the control rods are moving very fast at this point in the scram, there is a large volume of water which has to be accelerated up past the falling control rods to make room for them in the dashpot. This process causes the control rods to decelerate rapidly, thus lessening the impact velocity of the control rod assembly at the top nozzle adapter plate. The standard VVER 1000 style fuel assemblies do not have a dashpot and therefore the control rod assembly impacts the top nozzle at a much higher velocity. As the kinetic energy is equal to one half the mass×the velocity2, if the velocity at impact on the VVER 1000 fuel design is four times that of the standard western pressurized water reactor design, then the total energy which has to be absorbed after impact is sixteen (16) times as much. A new high energy absorption top nozzle has been designed to absorb that energy and is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,738,447. This high energy absorption top nozzle assures that the impact loads expected during scram events will be absorbed without damaging the nozzle, fuel assembly and/or control rod assembly. In addition, this new design is expandable to accommodate expansion and growth of the zircaloy components of the fuel assembly while supporting the upper core plate in a fixed position. More recently, the Temelin Unit 1 and 2 reactors of the VVER 1000 type design have experienced some problems associated with incomplete control rod insertions, which raises some safety concerns.
Accordingly, there is a further need for an improved VVER 1000 type of fuel assembly design that will overcome the incomplete control rod insertion problem while accommodating zircaloy clad control rod thimble tubes.


The present invention relates to a nickel/lanthana-(Ni/La203) catalyst for producing syngas from a hydrocarbon feedstream that is prepared in situ by depositing nickel (Ni) on a lanthana (La2O3) support by contacting said La2O3 support with an aqueous nickel-salt (Ni-salt) solution in the presence of an oxygen-comprising gas stream which is followed by reducing the deposited Ni. The catalyst of the present invention is characterized in that it can be continuously operated for more than 14 days in a process for producing syngas from a hydrocarbon feedstream without showing a significant loss of catalyst activity.

Processes for reforming hydrocarbons to produce a reformed gas composition comprising synthesis gas, also called syngas, are known in the art and include steam reforming, catalytic dry reforming, partial oxidation or combinations thereof.
Steam reforming of hydrocarbons is a well known method for producing syngas and involves contacting the hydrocarbon with steam. Steam reforming is highly endothermic and requires high reaction temperatures of e.g. 700-1100° C. Accordingly, care should be taken to avoid thermodynamic constraints. Furthermore, steam reforming of hydrocarbons requires relatively long contact times. Typically, the syngas mixture produced by steam reforming of a hydrocarbon such as methane has a very high H2/CO ratio of approximately 4.5-5.2. The H2/CO ratio of syngas produced by steam reforming methane may be adapted e.g. by adding CO or by removing H2. Alternatively, the H2/CO ratio of a syngas composition may be adapted to a desired value by subjecting it to the reverse water-gas shift reaction.
A syngas composition with a H2/CO ratio of approximately 1 can be produced directly by catalytic dry reforming of methane with CO2. Also catalytic dry reforming of methane is highly endothermic and should be executed at high reaction temperatures. Many catalytic dry reforming processes are known to involve rapid coke deposition leading to catalyst inactivation. In these catalytic dry reforming processes the reactor can be regenerated by feeding oxygen to the catalyst under high temperatures.
Partial oxidation in the presence of a hydrocarbon feed is a further means to produce a syngas mixture. A disadvantage of partial oxidation is that carbon dioxide is produced as a by product, which limits the selectivity for aliphatic and aromatic C2-C6 hydrocarbons of the hydrocarbon reforming process.
By combining different reforming reactions including those described herein above, the reforming process can be optimized e.g. by circumventing thermodynamic constraints and/or by reducing the costs for heating or process heat removal.
A particularly advantageous combined reforming process for producing syngas is catalytic autothermal dry reforming of lower hydrocarbons such as methane. By contacting a mixture of methane (CH4), oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) with a catalyst, endothermic dry reforming and exothermic methane oxidation can be performed in a single regime, which represents an effective means to decrease the energy consumption during syngas synthesis; see e.g. MORTOLA, et al. Eds. NORONHA, et al. Elsevier, 2007. p. 409-414. A further advantage of autothermal dry reforming is that the H2/CO ratio of the produced syngas composition is approximately 1.4-1.8, which is highly advantageous for the further use of the produced syngas in processes such as Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis.
It has been described that also nickel-based catalysts may be used in a process for the partial oxidation of light hydrocarbons to syngas. Particularly, catalysts comprising nickel supported on lanthana are known to allow a relative high conversion and selectivity in a process for producing syngas from light hydrocarbons; see e.g. EP 741107 A; U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,705 and US 2004/0127351.
A drawback when using a conventional Ni/La2O3 reforming catalyst in autothermal dry reforming of e.g. methane is deactivation of the catalyst, at least partially due to coke formation. This catalyst deactivation leads to a reduced hydrocarbon selectivity and reduced process economy.
The technical problem underlying the present invention is the provision of an improved catalyst useful in a process for converting hydrocarbons such as methane to syngas.

Nickel/lanthana catalyst for producing syngas


Exemplary embodiments are directed to a circuit breaker arrangement for medium voltage to high voltage applications. The circuit breaker includes at least one pole part housing for accommodating a vacuum insert, within which a pair of corresponding electrical contacts is coaxially arranged. A fixed electrical contact is electrically connected to an upper terminal of the pole part housing and an axial movable electrical contact is electrically connected to a lower terminal of the pole part housing and is operated by an insulating pushrod. The insulating pushrod extends through a shielding plate arranged on a lower opening of the pole part housing. The shielding plate includes a rigid moulded plastic insulating material. At least one sealing ring has an elastic material moulded on the periphery of the shielding plate.

Known circuit breaker arrangements can be used for medium voltage applications ranged between 1 and 72 kV of a high current level. These circuit breakers can be used in electrical networks to interrupt short circuit currents as well as load currents under difficult load impedances. The vacuum insert of the medium voltage circuit breaker can interrupt the current by creating and extinguishing the arc in a closed vacuum container. Known vacuum circuit breakers can have a longer life expectancy than air circuit breakers. Moreover, current interruption with vacuum means is one technology that can be used at a high voltage level. Shielding means and grounding means can be used as safety measures.
The document WO 2009/043361 A1 discloses a pole part of a medium voltage circuit breaker. A vacuum insert containing a pair of corresponding electrical contacts is embedded in insulating fashion in an epoxy resin encapsulation. The upper electrical contact within the vacuum interrupter chamber is fixed while the lower electrical contact within the vacuum interrupter chamber is movable. The movable electrical contact is passed to the outside via bellows and can be moved by an axial movable jackshaft. In order to create the electrical transmission between the lower movable electrical contact and the corresponding lower terminal, a metallic electrically conductive connection is provided between a push rod of the movable electrical contact and the outer terminal. That metallic electrically conductive connection includes a piston, which runs movable within a metallic electrically conductive cylinder which is moulded in the insulating housing of the pole part and which forms said upper terminal of the pole part.
The insulating housing of the pole part is open at the bottom in a known manner. The pole part can be connected on a mounting surface of a gear housing at the bottom side by screwing. The gear housing is provided for accommodating the jackshaft arrangement for operating the push rod of one or more pole parts mounted thereon.
In circuit breaker arrangements, the distance between high voltage parts and grounded parts can be so short that additional means are specified to realize the highest insulation voltages that are requested by the industrial standards. Some standards additionally specify creepage distances that are longer than the distance between the high voltage parts and the grounded parts.

Circuit breaker arrangement for medium voltage to high voltage applications


A thermal print head includes a boat on which the substrate, driving IC and printed circuit board are mounted, the boat being mounted on a heat sink which material and shape are changeable according to the mechanical change of the system.

The present invention relates generally to a thermal print head and more particularly to a thermal print head wherein a driving integrated circuit (IC) and a printed circuit board (PCB) are manufactured on a boat instead of on a heat sink.
A thermal print head converts electric information to thermal energy to record the information on a recording media such as thermal recording paper by discoloring the recording media according to the electric information.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional thermal print head is illustrated. As shown in the drawing, the conventional thermal print head includes a substrate 5 on which a heating element 2 and a number of driving ICs 7 for driving the heating element 2 by providing thereto an electric signal are mounted, a PCB 10 for providing the electric signal to the driving IC 7, and a number of gold wires 6 for connecting the driving ICs 7 with the electric signal generated from the PCB 10. The substrate 5 and the PCB 10 are commonly mounted on a heat sink 4. The PCB 10 is electrically connected to the heating element 2 through a common electrode 1 and a number of individual electrodes 3. It is necessary that the substrate 5 on which the heating element 2 is to be mounted should be made of a material which is stable against the high temperature and the chemical reaction during the manufacturing process. Generally, a material containing 96% or over 96% of Alumina Al.sub.2 O.sub.3 is used to make the substrate 5. Glaze of 60 .mu.m thick is coated uniformly on the alumina substrate to effectively charge and discharge the heat generated from the heat element 2 according to the current flow on the substrate. A resistive film with a specific resistance is formed on the glaze layer to generate the heat according to the current flow. The resistive film is about 1000.ANG. thick. A wiring layer (usually made of aluminum) through which the electric current flows is formed on the resistive film. The heating element and the electric wiring circuit having a specific shape are then formed by means of the photo-etching technique which is generally used for manufacturing the semiconductor devices. In order to prevent the oxidization of the heating element and the abrasion of the heating elements due to the contact with the recording media such as a thermal recording paper, a single layer of nitride-silicon or a double layer made of an oxide layer and a titanium layer is coated around the heating elements and the wirings. Alternatively, the sputtering or CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method can be used for forming the films. The foregoing processes will conclude the manufacture of the heating elements.
Referring to FIG. 2, shown is a cross sectional view of a conventional thermal print head which is manufactured by a gold wiring connection technique. It is shown in the drawing that the substrate 5 on which the driving IC 7 and the heating element 2 are mounted, and the PCB 10 are mounted on the heat sink 4 and those are electrically connected to each other by a gold wiring connection technique. Further, the driving IC 7 and the gold wire 6 are covered by resinoid 12 and 13 (preferably silicon rubber) thereby to protect the gold wire 6 from external phenomenon and vibration. Finally, a protection cap 14 for protecting the gold wire 6 and the driving IC 7 from the external impact, a connector 9 for connecting the electric signals, the heat sink 4, a thermistor (not shown) for measuring the circumference temperature, and a condenser (not shown) for preventing the external noises are assembled together to complete the manufacture of the thermal print head.
Another conventional method for manufacturing the thermal print head has been proposed. According to the method, after a driving IC is mounted on a substrate on which a heating element is formed, electrical connections between the substrate and the driving IC are all made on the substrate. Thereafter, by use of a flexible PCB, the driving IC is connected with the external signals.
In the case of the thermal print head according to the former technique in which the substrate on which the heating elements and the driving IC are formed, and the driving PCB are assembled on the heat sink, the heat sink plays a role of a mechanical fixing media which fixes the thermal print head on a system, the shape and material of the heat sink must be changed according to the system to which the thermal print head is to be installed. Therefore, the method for manufacturing the thermal print head has to be changed according to the shape and material of the heat sink and there was a problem that different types of jigs must be prepared for the different systems. On the other hand, in the case that the electrical connections are all embodied on a substrate on which the heating element are formed, although the manufacturing method is more adaptable to the mechanical change of the system, the size of the substrate becomes as large as the size of the driving IC and the electric wiring portion thereby results in increasing the cost for manufacturing the thermal print head.


A turbomachine, particularly a steam turbine, is provided. The turbomachine includes a machine housing and a shaft, which is guided through and guided out of the machine housing, at least on one side, wherein at least one annular gap present between the shaft and the machine housing is sealed by way of a shaft sealing assembly, wherein the shaft sealing assembly includes at least one radial double seal having two pairs of sealing surface pairs, which are spaced apart substantially radially and between which an annular sealing liquid chamber is formed, which can be supplied with sealing liquid via a sealing liquid feed line, wherein each sealing surface pair has an annular rotating sealing surface and an annular non-rotating sealing surface, which are arranged substantially axially opposite of each other and prestressed with respect to each other.

Such turbomachines are known in the prior art in the widest variety of developments. A pressure, which lies below or above the atmospheric pressure of the turbine environment, prevails inside the machine housing, depending upon the type of turbomachine. A basic problem with turbomachines is that the annular gap which exists between the shaft and the machine housing cannot be completely sealed on account of the relative movement between the shaft surface and the adjacent machine-housing surfaces. This leads to environmental fluid being able to penetrate into the interior of the machine housing, for example in the case of steam turbines with exhaust steam pressures below atmospheric pressure, which leads to an adverse effect in the operation and efficiency of the steam turbine. In the case of compressors or gas turbines, in which the machine-housing internal pressure is higher than the machine-housing ambient pressure, the process fluid, however, can escape from the interior of the machine housing into the machine-housing environment, which has a negative effect upon the thermal efficiency of the turbomachine.
A turbomachine in the form of a steam turbine with a conventional shaft seal arrangement is subsequently described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, wherein FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of the steam turbine, FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a rear seal shell of the machine housing of the steam turbine which is shown in FIG. 1 and has a conventional shaft seal arrangement, and FIG. 3 schematically shows the pressures which prevail in the shaft seal arrangement which is shown in FIG. 2.
The steam turbine 100 comprises a machine housing 102 through which extends a shaft 104 which is guided out of the machine housing 102 on both sides. The machine housing 102 is provided with a front seal shell 106 and a rear seal shell 108, wherein the rear seal shell 108 presently undertakes the task of sealing the pressure chamber 110, which is defined inside the machine housing 102, in relation to the machine-housing environment. Live steam is fed to the pressure chamber 110 of the steam turbine 100 via a feed line 112 which is provided with an emergency stop valve 114 and a control valve 116 which are in series in the flow direction. After expansion of the steam in the steam turbine 100, the exhaust steam, via an exhaust line 118, is fed to a condensing plant 124, which is provided with a cooling device 120 and is functionally connected to an evacuation device 122, and is condensed there.
The resulting condensate is conducted out of the condensing plant 124 via a line 126.
For sealing the annular gap 125 which exists between the shaft 104 and the rear seal shell 108, the rear seal shell 108, which is installed in the machine housing 102 in a fixed manner and with sealing effect or together with the machine housing 102 forms a constructional unit, is provided with a shaft seal arrangement 128, as is shown in FIG. 2. Starting from the pressure chamber 110, the shaft seal arrangement 128 comprises at least three consecutive sealing modules, specifically an inner labyrinth seal 130, a middle labyrinth seal 132 and an outer labyrinth seal 134, which seal the annular gap 125.
During operation of the steam turbine 100, exhaust steam, under an exhaust steam pressure pAD, is present in the rear exhaust steam region 138 of the machine housing 102. Air under an ambient pressure pU, which lies above the exhaust steam pressure pAD, is present outside the machine housing 102. From the exhaust steam region 138, seal steam under the seal steam pressure pSD is introduced into the annular gap 125, via a seal steam feed line 140, between the inner labyrinth seal 130 and the middle labyrinth seal 132, the seal steam pressure pSD lying slightly above the ambient pressure PU. In this case, the seal steam pressure pSD and also the temperature of the seal steam must be accurately regulated or adjusted in order to avoid leakages or damage as a result of overheating or condensate on the rear seal shell 108 and on the shaft 104. The pressure gradient of the seal steam reduces in the direction of the exhaust steam region 138 across the inner labyrinth seal 130 to the pressure level of the exhaust steam pressure PAD and in the direction of the environment reduces across the middle labyrinth seal 132 to the leak-off steam pressure pWD which prevails between the middle labyrinth seal 132 and the outer labyrinth seal 134, wherein the leak-off steam pressure pWD, contingent upon the exhaust stack draft in the leak-off steam discharge line 142, lies slightly below the machine-housing ambient pressure pU. Depending upon the level of the seal steam pressure pSD which is supplied via the seal steam feed line 140, it is also conceivable that the seal steam pressure pSD, for constructional reasons, does not fully reduce across the middle labyrinth seal 132 to the level of the ambient pressure pU and steam escapes to the outside via the outer labyrinth seal 134. In order to prevent this, further labyrinth seals, with leak-off steam discharge lines in between, can be optionally connected downstream, which is not shown in FIG. 2, however. Alternatively, a condensing plant (not shown either) can be connected downstream to the leak-off steam discharge line 142 for supporting the suction action. Depending upon the accumulating amount of condensate, condensate drains 144 can be provided between the individual labyrinth seals 130, 132, 134, wherein in FIG. 2 only one condensate drain 144 between the middle labyrinth seal 132 and the outer labyrinth seal 134 is shown.
One problem with the arrangement shown in FIG. 2 is that the use of seal steam as seal fluid results in a very complex and expensive construction, which is to be attributed in particular to the complex controlling of the seal steam and to the provision of the leak-off steam discharge line.
A further turbomachine is disclosed in DE-A-36 12 327.


An improved humidifier assembly includes a tubing and a one-way valve for equalizing pressure between gas space of a water supply container and gas space of a humidifier vessel.

Humidifying apparatus such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,110,419, 4,172,105, 4,366,105, 4,500,480, 4,674,494, 4,765,327 and 6,050,552 describe different variations of cartridge-type humidification systems and apparatus incorporating a heated humidifier module connected via tubing to a water supply reservoir. In these systems, the humidification chamber is installed within a heater receptacle. As water is evaporated in the heated humidification chamber replacement water is fed to the cavity from the adjacent water supply reservoir. The descriptions of the aforesaid patents are incorporated herein by reference.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,500,480 and 6,050,552, a water level sensing tube positioned in the humidification chamber communicates with the air space above the water level in the water supply reservoir via tubing with a one-way valve. Water is fed to the humidification chamber from the bottom of the reservoir via tubing, also provided with a one-way valve. During continuous gas flow, for example, where the humidification apparatus is used with a CPAP system or is connected to a respirator or ventilator which directs respiratory gas into the humidification chamber under pressure, the pressure in the water supply reservoir equals the pressure to which the humidification chamber is exposed. Under certain conditions, the humidification cartridge may be exposed to pressures of 150 cm H2O or more during continuous gas flow, or pressures in excess of 120 cm H2O during intermittent gas flow. The high pressure is transferred ultimately to the reservoir via the one-way tube so that the pressure inside the reservoir is near or equal to the mean pressure to which the humidification chamber is exposed. During typical operation, such high pressures in the containers of the system are not problematic. However, sudden pressure reduction in the humidification chamber can result in rapid transfer of water from the reservoir and flooding of the chamber and even into the respiratory gas tubing to a patient. The apparatus described herein is designed to substantially reduce or eliminate such flooding.

Pressure venting circuit for respiratory humidification apparatus


A process for the production of a panel, of the honeycomb support type clad on opposite sides with a skin of carbon/carbon or carbon/ceramic composite. A honeycomb support is produced by pyrolysis of a carbon cloth pre-impregnated with a thermosetting resin. Skins are produced from carbon cloth pre-impregnated with a thermosetting resin. The support and the skins are assembled with a carbon cloth pre-impregnated with a thermosetting resin between them. The assembly is polymerized and then pyrolyzed. Finally, a chemical infiltration in vapor phase is carried out for densification and reinforcement of the bonding of the assembly. Used in the production of structures requiring very high dimensional stability, such as those used in outer space.

Ordinary techniques for production of panels of the honeycomb type of composite carbon/resin material are not adapted to provide structures satisfying the severe conditions mentioned above.
Thus, according to one of these techniques, there are produced two skins constituted for example of several layers of carbon fiber cloth pre-impregnated with an epoxy resin, the skins are disposed on opposite sides of a honeycomb, for example of carbon cloth impregnated with epoxy resin, with the interposition of an adhesive resin film, then the assembly is subjected to polymerization ensuring both hardening of the matrix of the skins and the cementing of these latter to the honeycomb core.
Moreover, the low temperature resistance (150.degree. C.) of such a panel, the presence of the resin, simply polymerized or cross-linked, is liable, because of its ability to take up moisture, to give rise to deformation of the panel and also release gaseous components into the environment.
Moreover, such a resin does not age well and the resistance of the structure thus formed decreases with time.
In short, structures produced from such panels are not satisfactory when ultra-stable structures are needed, and are not polluting from an optical standpoint.

Process for the production of a panel of the honeycomb type and carbon/carbon or carbon/ceramic composite

Aerospatiale Societe Nationale Industrielle


A communications system includes a memory storing a table in which information identifying each server is associated with information identifying a plurality of switching devices, a communication incapability detector for detecting that a given switching device cannot relay data destined for a given server transmitted from a mobile terminal to the given server, a selector for selecting, based on the detection, a switching device other than the given switching device from among a plurality of switching devices associated with the given server, by referring to the table and information identifying the given server, and a transmitter for transmitting data to the selected switching device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communications system, a communications device and a communications method in mobile communications systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, there have been requests for the implementation of high-speed data communications for use in mobile multimedia services and for the implementation of communications systems which allow a user to use the same mobile terminal in different countries. At these requests, the standardization of next-generation mobile communications systems and the standardization of mobile communications systems using IMT-2000 (third-generation mobile communications systems) have been conducted. The development of these mobile communications systems has been begun. In the standardization of IMT-2000, for example, 3GPP has been used.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a mobile communications system using 3GPP. The mobile communications system has mobile terminals (not shown), base stations (not shown) for conducting radio communications with the mobile terminals, radio access network controllers(not shown, hereinafter "radio access network controller" is referred to as control station), a local switch device("local switch device" may be referred to as "local switching device" or "local switch") 105, a gateway switch device("gateway switch device" may be referred to as "gateway switching device" or "gateway switch") 107 connected to the local switch device 105 via a network 106 (hereinafter referred to as a core network), a router 108 connected to a public network 109, and a server 110 connected to the public network 109. Also, the term of "switch device" may be referred to as "switching device" or "switch".
The router 108 is connected to the gateway switch device 107. The router 108 directly connected to the gateway switch device 107 is hereinafter referred to as a correspondence router 108.
Data (e.g., packet data) transmitted from a mobile terminal to a given server 110 is transmitted via a base station or the like to the given server 110. In a mobile communications system using 3GPP, data transmitted from a mobile terminal to a given server 110 is transmitted via one of a plurality of gateway switch devices 107 and a correspondence router 108 connected to the device 107 to the given server 110.
However, the above mobile communication system does not include a means for allowing the selection of a given one of the plurality of gateway switch devices 107 included in communication paths between a mobile terminal and a given server 110 when the mobile terminal transmits data to the given server 110. Similarly, the mobile communications system does not include a means for allowing the selection of a given correspondence router 108 from among a plurality of correspondence routers 108 included in the communication paths between a mobile terminal and a given server 110 when the mobile terminal transmits data to the given server 110.
There has thus been a problem as described below when a mobile terminal transmits data to a given server 110. Data transmitted to a gateway switch device 107 cannot be transmitted by the gateway switch device 107 to a correspondence router 108 in cases as described below. For example, when the CPU of the gateway switch device 107 performs a large amount of processing, or when the capacity of a memory in the gateway switch device 107 is not sufficient, or when the gateway switch device 107 has some trouble in data reception and transmission processes (e.g., a failure occurs in the gateway switch device 107), the gateway switch device 107 (hereinafter referred to as a relay-incapable gateway switch device) cannot transmit the data to the correspondence router 108. As a result, the data cannot be transmitted to the given server 110.
As an existing system for solving the above problem, there is mobile communications system compliant with the standard of PDC-P. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a mobile communication system compliant with the standard of PDC-P. In FIG. 2, components identical to those in FIG. 1 are affixed identical reference numerals and will not be described. As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of gateway switch devices 107 are connected to a local switch device 105 via a core network 106.
This mobile communications system includes means for selecting one of a plurality of correspondence routers 108 when data is transmitted from a mobile terminal to a given server 110. When a gateway switch device 107 connected to the selected correspondence router 108 is capable of relay, the data is transmitted via the gateway switch device 107 and the correspondence router 108 connected to the gateway switch device 107 to the given server 110.
A mobile communications system using the 3GPP standard includes a plurality of correspondence routers 108 capable of transmitting data to a given server 110 when data is transmitted from a mobile terminal to the given server 110. However, the mobile communications system using the 3GPP standard is not provided with a memory for storing a correspondence table (see FIG. 5) in which the address information of servers 110 are associated with the address information of gateway switch devices 107, for example.
If the above mobile communications system is provided with a memory for storing the correspondence table, there is a problem as follows. When data is transmitted from a mobile terminal to a given server 110, the data is first transmitted to a local switch device 105. The local switch device 105 then accesses the correspondence table and obtains the address information of a given gateway switch device 107. The local switch device 105 then transmits the data via the given gateway switch device 107 to the server 110.
For the transmission, the mobile communications system does not establish the process of selecting one of a plurality of gateway switch devices 107 (to which data is transmitted from the local switch device 105) connected to the local switch device 105.
The local switch device 105 also cannot find a plurality of correspondence routers 108 connected to a gateway switch device 107. When transmitting data to a gateway switch device 107, the local switch device 105 cannot transmit instruction information below. The instruction information means an instruction to transmit data via a given correspondence router 108.
When a plurality of correspondence routers 108 are connected to a gateway switch device 107, the following is true. The correspondence routers 108 provide different communication paths between a mobile terminal and a given server 110. Data communications using the different communication paths show different communication abilities (data transmission speeds and data loss rates). In order to transmit data from a mobile terminal to a given server 110 via a communication path exhibiting good communication ability, the following process is required. That is, it is necessary for a given device to select a given correspondence router 108 from among the plurality of correspondence routers 108 as a correspondence router included in a communication path between the mobile terminal and the given server 110.
It is thus desirable that the mobile communications system include a means for selecting one of the plurality of correspondence routers 108 when data is transmitted from a mobile terminal to a given server 110.
A mobile communications system compliant with PDC-P includes a plurality of correspondence routers 108 being capable of transmitting data to a given server 110 when data is transmitted from a mobile terminal to the given server 110. In the mobile communications system, a local switch device 105 can select a given correspondence router 108 from among the plurality of correspondence routers 108 when transmitting data to the given server 110. When a gateway switch device 107 connected to the selected correspondence router 108 is capable of relay, the local switch device 105 can transmit data via the given correspondence router 108 to the given server 110 (FIG. 6).
The above-described conventional art, however, has the following problem. FIGS. 3 and 4 are supplementary diagrams for the description of the problem in the conventional art. When the local switch device 105 transmits data to a gateway switch device (gateway switch device incapable of transmitting data to a correspondence router 108) 107, the conventional PDC-P communications system can only change the communication path on the core network 106. Thus the gateway switch device 107 cannot forward the data to another gateway switch device 107 (FIGS. 3 and 4). A gateway switch device 107 capable of transmitting data to a correspondence router 108 is hereinafter referred to as a relay-capable gateway switch device 107.
When the mobile terminal again transmits data to the given server 110, the data is transmitted to the give server 110 if the local switch device 105 can transmit the data to a relay-capable gateway switch device 107.
However, the conventional local switch device 105 does not manage information about relay-incapable gateway switch devices 107. Thus the local switch device 105 can again transmit data to a relay-incapable gateway switch device 107. In this situation, the data cannot be forwarded from the relay-incapable gateway switch device 107 to another gateway switch device 107. As a result, the data transmitted from the mobile terminal cannot be transmitted to the given server 110.
There has thus been demand for the development of a communications system and a communications device (e.g., a local switch device) which allow data to be transmitted from a switching device (e.g., a gateway switch device) other than a relay-incapable switching device to a server 110 even when the data has been transmitted to the relay-incapable switching device (e.g., the gateway switch device).
In the mobile communications system using PDC-P shown in FIG. 6, as described above, the local switch device 105 can perform the following processing. To transmit data to a given server 110, the local switch device 105 selects a given correspondence router 108 from among the correspondence routers 108 connected to the given server 110. The local switch device 105 can transmit data via the given correspondence router 168 to the given server 110.
The selection of the given correspondence router 108 by the local switch device 105 is performed in a manner as described below.
In a correspondence table stored in a memory 125, information identifying the server 110 (e.g., address information) is associated with information identifying the plurality of correspondence routers 108, and order information is associated with the information identifying each correspondence router 108.
Suppose that the local switch device 105 has selected a given correspondence router 108 (e.g., a correspondence router corresponding to address information a) in the most recent past. When the local switch device 105 selects a correspondence router 108 next time, a correspondence router 108 next in order to the above given correspondence router 108 (e.g., a correspondence router corresponding to address information b; see FIG. 6) is selected (round robin manner).
In a round-robin manner, data transmitted from a mobile terminal is not always transmitted to a given server 110 via a communication path having good communication ability. During the transmission of data transmitted from a mobile terminal to a given server, the following problem can occur. For example, the arrival of the data at the give server can be delayed, data loss can occur, congestion can occur on the network, and congestion in a device on the network can occur.
There has thus been a demand for the development of a communications system which allows data transmitted from a mobile terminal to be transmitted via a communication path having good communication ability to a server 110.
It is common that a user of a mobile terminal makes an agreement (such as a contract) with a service provider, for example. In the agreement, it is stipulated that the service provider provides the user with a kind of information. In some cases, the service provider manages a plurality of servers. In these cases, the user must find out the location information (e.g., the URL) of a server which delivers the above kind of information. Specifically, the user must find out the location information of the server delivering the above kind of information based on the location information of the plurality of servers managed by the service provider. Thus the user cannot easily obtain the above kind of information.
A system in which an information delivery request is transmitted to the server when the user simply inputs information identifying the service provider and the information delivery request using the mobile terminal, would be convenient for the user in the following aspect. The user does not need to find out the location information of the server delivering the above kind of information.
Thus the development of a communications system with increased convenience to users has been desired.

Communications system, communications device, and communications method


A method for producing an electrical contact of an optoelectronic semiconductor chip (1), comprising providing a mirror layer (2), comprised of a metal or metal alloy, over the semiconductor chip; providing a protective layer (3) over said mirror layer; providing a layer sequence of a barrier layer and a coupling layer (5) over said protective layer; and providing a solder layer (8) over said layer sequence.

In modern production methods for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the light-emitting layer sequence is often first grown on a growth substrate, subsequently applied to a new carrier, and then the growth substrate is detached. This method has on the one hand the advantage that growth substrates, in particular growth substrates suitable for the production of nitride compound semiconductors, which are comparatively expensive, can be reused. Such a device is known for example from U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/377,363. This method, referred to as thin-film technology, also has the advantage that the detachment of the original substrate allows the disadvantages of the lafter, such as for example a low electrical conductivity and increased absorption of the radiation generated or detected by the optoelectronic device, to be avoided. As a result, the efficiency of LEDs, in particular the brightness, can be increased.
A further technology for the production of highly efficient LEDs is so-called flip-chip technology. Such a device is disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,514,782. Described therein is a radiation-emitting semiconductor chip which is connected to a carrier substrate both by the n contact and by the p contact by means of a direct soldered connection.
Both in thin-film technology and in flip-chip technology, it is advantageous to form the contact between the semiconductor chip and the carrier substrate as a reflecting contact. In this way, penetration of the radiation generated or detected by an optoelectronic device into the contact is avoided and consequently the absorption losses are reduced.
Such a reflecting electrical contact is disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,743. In this document, a silver layer is specified as a suitable ohmic contact for a p-type GaN semiconductor. However, mention is also made of the low adhesive strength and corrosion resistance of silver layers on nitride compound semiconductors.

Method for producing an electrical contact for an optoelectronic semiconductor chip


A drive unit for a motor vehicle having a hybrid drive, includes an internal-combustion engine, an electrical rotating machine with a pertaining energy accumulator, a transmission unit, and a control unit. The transmission unit includes at least one starting gear position which can be operated only and exclusively when defined conditions exist during a starting operation from the stationary position of the vehicle. For this purpose, the control unit is constructed such that, as a function of the charge condition of the energy accumulator, the starting operation takes place in a standard gear position of the first ratio, or the starting operation takes place in the starting gear position with a ratio of the transmission unit different from the first ratio.

The invention relates to a drive unit for a motor vehicle having a hybrid drive and, more particularly, to a drive unit for a motor vehicle having a hybrid drive, including an internal-combustion engine, an electrical rotating machine with a pertaining energy accumulator, a transmission unit, and a control unit.
Many different hybrid vehicle concepts are known, which have an internal-combustion engine and an electrical rotating machine as drive sources. From the trade journal Auto Motor Sport, Edition 11/2004, Page 62, et. seq., "Fahrbericht: Tausendsassa" ("Driving Report: An Allround Winner", a driving report relating to a BMW X5 is known. Here, a vehicle of the above-mentioned type is described which, in a lower rotational speed range of up to approximately 3,500 rpm, accomplishes the drive by a combination of the conventional internal-combustion engine and an electrical rotating machine. By adding up the torques of the two drive assemblies, a torque of 1,000 Nm is already provided here in the lower rotational speed range at 1,000 rpm. Only when 3,500 rpm have been reached, will the electrical rotating machine be uncoupled from the transmission line, and the drive is implemented in the conventionally known manner by way of the internal-combustion engine exclusively. However, it is contemplated in the case of such systems that, in the event of identical driver intentions or load demands at points in time with a clearly different charging condition of the energy accumulator, a different (not reliably reproducible) starting torque is available to the driver.
It is an object of the invention to indicate a drive unit for a hybrid motor vehicle which, if possible, always provides an identical starting torque, irrespective of the charge condition of the energy accumulator for the electric drive.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by a drive unit for a motor vehicle having a hybrid drive, including an internal-combustion engine, an electrical rotating machine with a pertaining energy accumulator, a transmission unit, and a control unit. The transmission unit includes at least one starting gear position. The control unit is constructed such that, as a function of a charge condition of the energy accumulator, above a defined charge threshold, the starting operation takes place in a standard gear position and, in an event of a charge condition below the defined charge threshold, the starting operation takes place in the starting gear position. The starting gear position has a shorter ratio than the smallest standard gear position.
By constantly monitoring the charge condition of the energy accumulator for the motor drive of the electrical rotating machine and adjusting the transmission ratio as a function thereof for generating the driving torque acting upon the driving wheels, the same driving torque is always provided almost independently of the charge condition of the energy accumulator while the load demand is identical. The energy accumulator for the electrical rotating machine, which is present in addition to a conventional starter battery and is, preferably, constructed as a capacitor arrangement, is monitored with respect to a charge threshold. Should there be a falling below this defined charge threshold, and in the event of an existing current charge condition, a corresponding load demand be present which cannot be met, for example, only by the internal-combustion engine, the transmission unit will be set to a lower gear ratio by way of a control unit, by way of which gear ratio the corresponding load demand (demanded load moment) can be met.
For this purpose, the transmission unit according to the invention has at least one additional gear position which is activated exclusively when the charge condition falls below the predefined charge threshold and exclusively during the starting operation. As an alternative to an additional gear position in the conventional transmission unit, it is also contemplated to provide a separate front-mounted auxiliary transmission with a corresponding ratio and triggering possibility. Particularly, the functionality of an continuously variable front-mounted auxiliary transmission would meet the demands for providing a constantly identical starting torque for the same load demands. With respect to the invention, it is only essential that, as a function of the charge condition of the energy accumulator, the starting operation takes place in a standard gear position of the first ratio or a starting operation takes place in the starting gear position, the starting ratio being smaller than that of the standard gear position. It is, thereby, achieved that a reproducible starting behavior is ensured for any load demand at any time, irrespective of the charge condition of the energy accumulator.
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.

Drive unit for a motor vehicle having a hybrid drive

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


Methods and systems of attaching a radio transceiver to an antenna. At least some of the illustrative embodiments are systems comprising an antenna and an integrated circuit configured to operate as a radio transceiver. The antenna comprises a ground plane having a first edge surface, and an active element having a second edge surface. The ground plane and the active element are retained together such that the first and second edge surfaces are substantially coplanar and form an antenna edge. The integrated circuit is configured to operate as a radio transceiver, and the integrated circuit is mechanically coupled to the edge of the antenna and electrically coupled to the active element.

1. Field
This disclosure is directed to antenna and radio frequency transceivers combinations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags comprise an antenna communicatively coupled to a RFID circuit. In some cases the RFID circuit and antenna are manufactured on the same substrate. In other cases, the RFID circuit is manufactured separately from the antenna, and the antenna and RFID circuit are communicatively coupled, such as by a cable. For small RFID tags, or situations where the cost of the tag needs to be low, coupling by way of a wire or cable makes assembly mechanically complex, thus driving up the cost of each tag.


The collecting tray of a ink-jet printer is equipped with a guard to prevent the paper immediately after exiting from the printer to fall to the bottom of the tray. The guard is much narrower than the width of the tray so that the guard tilts the paper. A succeeding sheet of paper pushes the tilted paper until the tilted paper is pushed beyond the end of the guard and falls to the bottom of the tray after a time delay for the ink to dry.

This invention relates to printers, in particular to paper trays of ink jet printers. In a convention ink jet printer, the output does not have a baking equipment to dry the printed ink for the sake of reduced cost and small size. As a result, if the drying speed of the ink on the output paper is slow, or if the solid area of a printed picture content is large, the following outputting paper may rub against the preceding paper to smear the undried printing.


A method to determine a distance of an object to a motor vehicle using a PMD sensor, includes measuring a phase shift of a measurement signal reflected on the object for at least one modulation frequency, the modulation frequency is selected so that in a detection range beginning at the motor vehicle a distance is unambiguously determinable from the phase shift; performing a runtime measurement for an individual signal reflected on the object during a time interval beginning at a first time point where the individual signal is emitted and ending at a second time point corresponding to a time required by the individual signal to travel twice the detection range when the reflected individual signal is measured during the time interval, determining a distance from the phase shift; and when the reflected individual signal is not measured during the time interval, discarding the phase shift without determining a distance.

The invention relates to a method for ascertaining a distance of an object from a motor vehicle using a PMD sensor and a PMD sensor.
PMD sensors (Photonic Mixing Device-Sensor) are well-known in the art as optical sensors, whose functional principle is based on the time-of-flight-principle (time of flight). A measuring signal emitted from a signal source is reflected at an object and is received again by a signal detector. Hereby, light-measuring signals, modulated by a modulation frequency, are usually used, wherein a phase shift is determined by comparing the emitted and the received measuring signal. From this phase shift, distances to the object can be calculated, albeit with ambiguity, because since the phase shift is considered, each distance that is modified by a multiple of the modulation wave length associated with the modulation frequency results in the same phase shift.
The use of low modulation frequencies is usually not desired because even though long wavelengths are present, the measurement and thus the duration of a measurement cycle is significantly prolonged, so that distance measurements are not available at the desired frequency. The use of high frequencies, however, offers many advantages because the overall efficiency of the PMD sensor increases with increasing frequency. Especially the local resolution and range of the measuring signal can be enhanced. However, higher frequencies pose the problem that a detection range, which begins at the motor vehicle, and within which an unambiguous determination of a distance based on the phase shift is possible, is correspondingly shorter. A further problem is that, at usual illumination intensities that are adjusted to such a detection range or definiteness range, highly reflective objects, e.g. so-called retro-reflectors, may still generate a signal at greater distances which, when only considering the closest possible distance, may generate an erroneous signal due to the phase shift.
To solve this problem in applications using great detection ranges it was proposed to expand the detection range by combining multiple frequencies. Hereby, the measuring signal is modulated within a measurement cycle by several different modulation frequencies, for example three modulation frequencies, and phase shifts are correspondingly determined for each modulation frequency. From these phase shifts multiple possible distances result as described above. Only distances that were determined for all phase shifts are possible solutions so that, depending on the selection of the different modulation frequencies, the detection range within which an unambiguous identification of a distance is possible can be expanded.
However, this solution has the disadvantage that due to the number of modulation frequencies, the time until a reliable (unambiguous) identification of a distance to an object is determined by the required exposure times. This significantly prolongs the measurement cycle. In addition this solution is limited by the selection of the possible frequencies, particularly by the upper maximum frequency. This limitation prevents the optimal combination of amount of light and modulation frequency.

Method for ascertaining a distance of an object from a motor vehicle using a PMD sensor


An apparatus comprising a transceiver circuit. The transceiver circuit comprises a plurality of bus input/outputs (I/Os). The transceiver circuit may be configured to directly couple (i) an analog signal to the bus I/Os when the bus I/Os are in a first state and (ii) a plurality of first digital signals to the bus I/Os when the bus I/Os are in a second state.

Until recently, cellular telephone (cellphone) car kits (i.e., devices to mount a cellphone handset into a "nest" in a vehicle for hands-free user operation of the cellphone) were low volume products whose main users were "road warriors" and other business customers willing to pay several hundred dollars for such equipment. Recently however, some European countries and American states and localities have introduced legislation banning the use of cellphone handsets by drivers. As a result, the market for car kits has started to expand rapidly, and this trend is expected to continue. As car kits have moved into mass markets, the demand for a much lower cost solution is driving cellphone handset manufacturers to seek lower cost architectures. Simultaneously, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol is becoming the standard interface on low-end cellphone handsets. The USB and/or USB On-The-Go protocol (the Universal Serial Bus 2.0 On-The-Go (USB OTG) Supplement, Revision 1.0, published December 2001 and hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety) is anticipated to be the primary data interface protocol for almost all cellphone handsets within a few years.
A typical cellphone handset with USB (or USB OTG) interconnecting capability has two connectors for interconnection to external devices. The two connectors are (i) a "jack plug" socket for attachment of an earpiece or other audio interface device to the cellphone and (ii) "sprung contact" type connector pads (or pins). The sprung contact connector is implemented for the USB interface (or port), battery charging to the cellphone handset battery, analog output to a cellphone car kit, etc. A typical cellphone handset that implements the USB OTG protocol includes a digital circuit (i.e., a baseband processor ASIC) that is configured to receive and present the digital portion of the cellphone signals and a physical layer interface (PHY) in an external IC that is configured to receive and present the analog portion of the cellphone signals.
The cost of a cellphone car kit is often more than the cost of the phone itself. The car kit incorporates a USB host that receives USB digital audio output packets, and converts the digital audio into analog form and plays the audio on the car kit loudspeaker(s). The car kit USB host also receives analog audio signals from the car kit microphone(s), converts the audio analog signals into digital form and transmits them over the USB bus to the cellphone handset.
A number of conventional solutions to reduce the cost and simplify the cellphone handset to car kit interconnection have been proposed. One proposed solution is to add two (i.e., mono in, mono out) or three (i.e., mono in, stereo out) pads/pins to the "sprung contact" connectors typically used by handset manufacturers to interface between the handset and the car kit. However, the implementation of additional connector pads/pins is unattractive because of the increased cost to the cellphone handset and the increased potential for unreliable contacts.
Another proposal is to add a jack plug connection to the car kit for interfacing to the audio socket on the handset. However, adding a jack to the car kit is unlikely to receive a favorable response from consumers who would like to be able to connect the handset to the car kit simply by placing the handset in the "nest" provided in the car kit. The added jack also has the potential for unreliable contacts.
Another proposal is to share the D+, D− and either the ID or the VBus pins found in the USB or USB OTG interface by capacitive coupling the audio signals within the cell phone to the USB or USB OTG signal pins. However, the disadvantages of capacitive coupling the audio signals within the cell phone to the USB or USB OTG signal pins include (i) the audio signals to be coupled to the USB pins must be switched elsewhere within the cellphone handset and (ii) having additional capacitance connected to the USB signaling pins is undesirable, even when the unconnected side of the capacitance is "floating". Additionally, the conventional proposals where external multiplexing is implemented do not provide a solution that is compliant with High Speed (HS) USB (i.e., 480 Mb/s) since the USB connection requires very tightly controlled characteristics on the D+ and D− signal conductors.

Method and/or apparatus for implementing USB and audio signals shared conductors


A computing device comprises a memory and a control unit coupled to the memory. The control unit is configured to receive a patient model and identify a plurality of port locations on the patient model for accessing a workspace using a plurality of instruments controlled by a computer-assisted device. For each of the port locations, the control unit determines a collision volume for portions of the computer-assisted device proximal to the port location, a reachability metric, and an anthropomorphic metric. For each combination of the plurality of port locations, the control unit determines a collision metric based on overlaps of the collision volumes for the port locations in the combination, and an aggregate metric for the combination. The control unit is also configured to display one or more of the combinations of the plurality of port locations to a user along with a corresponding aggregate metric.

More and more devices are being replaced with autonomous and semiautonomous electronic devices. This is especially true in the hospitals of today with large arrays of autonomous and semiautonomous electronic devices being found in operating rooms, interventional suites, intensive care wards, emergency rooms, and/or the like. For example, glass and mercury thermometers are being replaced with electronic thermometers, intravenous drip lines now include electronic monitors and flow regulators, and traditional hand-held surgical instruments are being replaced by computer-assisted medical devices.
These electronic devices provide both advantages and challenges to the personnel operating them. Many of these electronic devices may be capable of autonomous or semiautonomous motion of one or more repositionable arms and/or end effectors. It is also common to operate the electronic devices via teleoperation using one or more input control devices on an operator workstation to control the motion and/or operation of the repositionable arms and/or the end effectors. When these teleoperated devices are used to perform procedures in a workspace with limited access points through which the end effectors are inserted and then teleoperated, the location of the access points is important to successfully performing the procedure. For example, when the end effectors are medical instruments being used to perform a minimally-invasive surgical procedure, the end effectors are typically inserted into the patient through one or more small orifices or incision sites that may be referred to as ports. The location of the ports is important as their location limits which portions of the patient's interior anatomy may be reached using the end effectors, the likelihood that the end effectors and/or repositionable arms may collide, the ease with which an operator (e.g., a surgeon) may teleoperate the end effectors, and/or the like. Port placement is typically subject to tradeoffs as good port placement for reaching target anatomy within the patient may also result in a high likelihood of collisions, reduced operability, and/or the like. In addition, a good port placement for one patient and/or procedure may not be as good for a different patient and/or procedure due to differences in patient anatomy, target tissue structures, and/or the like.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have systems and methods to aid in the selection and placement of ports for a minimally invasive procedure that account for and/or allow for tradeoffs between the factors affecting the quality and appropriateness of various port placement locations.

Systems and methods for guided port placement selection


A liquid silicone rubber composition that prior to its cure has a suitable fluidity and excellent moldability and that cures into a highly flame retardant silicone rubber molding with excellent electrical properties. The liquid silicone rubber composition comprises. (A) polyorganosiloxane, PA1 (B) microparticulate silica, PA1 (C) aluminum hydroxide powder, PA1 (D) zinc carbonate powder, PA1 (E) polyorganohydrogensiloxane, PA1 (F) benzotriazole, PA1 (G) the reaction mixture of PA1 (H) hydrosilylation reaction catalyst.. (a) a platinum compound and PA2 (b) 3,5-dimethyl-1-hexyn-3-ol, and

This invention relates to liquid silicone rubber compositions. More particularly, this invention relates to a liquid silicone rubber composition that yields a highly flame retardant cured product that also has excellent electrical properties such as tracking resistance, arc resistance, and erosion resistance. The invention additionally relates to a method for preparing the subject liquid silicone rubber composition.
Silicone rubbers are widely used in diverse applications because of their excellent heat resistance, excellent resistance to aging, and excellent electrical properties. However, a drawback to silicone rubbers is their flammability, and in response to this numerous compositions have been proposed to date that provide self-extinguishing (flame retardant) silicone rubbers. For example, Japanese Patent Publication Kokoku No. Sho 44-2591 (2,591/1969) teaches the composition afforded by blending a platinum compound flame retardant, such as chloroplatinic acid or a platinum-olefin complex, into a silicone rubber compound. However, the admixture of just a platinum compound provides only a small improvement in flame retardancy. This fact has resulted in the proposal of compositions that achieve improvements in the flame retardancy of silicone rubber through the combination of these platinum compounds and inorganic filler such as described in Japanese Patent Publication Kokoku No. Sho 47-21826 (21,826/1972) and Japanese Patent Publication Kokoku No. Sho 51-23979 (23,979/1976). Other tactics known for achieving additional improvements in the flame retardancy of the subject silicone rubber compositions consist of increasing the addition of the nonflammable inorganic filler component and reducing the addition of the flammable polyorganosiloxane component. Unfortunately, the silicone rubber compositions made by these tactics have very high viscosities and thus cannot be used in applications where fluidity is a critical factor, for example, as in injection molding.
Therefore, desired is a liquid silicone rubber composition that prior to its cure has a suitable fluidity and excellent moldability and that cures into highly flame retardant silicone rubber moldings with excellent electrical properties.
As a result of extensive investigations directed to solving the problems described above, the inventors have discovered that these problems can be solved by the admixture of specific additive components into a particular type of addition reaction-curing liquid silicone rubber composition. The present invention was achieved based on this discovery.
In specific terms, then, the object of the present invention is to provide a liquid silicone rubber composition that prior to its cure exhibits suitable fluidity and excellent moldability and that cures to give highly flame retardant silicone rubber moldings with excellent electrical properties and does so without sacrificing mechanical strength.

Liquid silicone rubber composition and method for the preparation thereof


A routing control system comprising a spanning tree producing portion provided in a master node of a radio access network. The spanning tree producing portion produces a spanning tree of the network whenever it receives connection information sent from slave nodes of the network. The spanning tree is delivered to each slave node. A memorizing portion is provided in each of the nodes and memorizes the spanning tree as a routing table. A health check portion is provided in each of the nodes and transmits the connection information to the spanning tree producing portion when topology change of the network is detected. The said health check portion updates the routing table in cooperation with those of adjacent nodes.

This invention relates to a routing control system for use in a radio access network and, in particular, to a routing control system of a dynamic routing type.
A radio access network system is used to connect computers with one another and to transmit packets among the computers. The computers are, for example, personal computers and/or workstations. The radio access network system comprises a plurality of base stations each of that is connectable to one of the computers by radio. The base stations adopt a point-to-point protocol to communicate with the computers respectively. Each of the computers can transmit a packet to any one of the other computers through the radio access network system.
A conventional base station used in the radio access network system includes a router adopting a routing information protocol (RIP) or an open Shortest path first (OSPF) method to control dynamic routing.
The RIP gives the radio access network a shortest path from a source base station to a destination base station. Furthermore, the RIP periodically makes the router exchange routing control information with adjacent routers to update a touring table memorized in the router, thereby the RIP can deals with a fault (such as a cutting) of a link between the base stations and with addition (or attachment) of an additional base station to the radio access network.
However, the RIP has a problem that a hop number is limited to a predetermined number. That is, the RIP can not route a packet when the number of the base stations on the shortest path between the source and the destination base stations is not smaller than the predetermined number.
The OSPF method is suitable for a large-scale network larger than a network such that the RIP is adopted because it does not have the above mentioned limitation of the hop number. In addition, the OSPF method decides a shorter route between the source and the destination base stations after consideration of traffic congestion of the network.
However, the OSPF method is an exaggerated method for the radio access network system such that the base stations are connected to the computers respectively by using the point-to-point protocol.
Additionally, both of the RIP and the OSPF method have a common problem that static routing control is necessary to avoid a state that the packet circulates in a loop included in the radio access network. That is, a network manager of the radio access network must pay attention to loops of the base stations. The problem mars degree of freedom regarding attaching/removing base station to/from the radio access network.

Dynamic routing control system and method for radio access network


A slot motor apparatus for a circuit breaker is disclosed. The slot motor has first and second legs connected by a thin web, and an extending portion extending rearward from the rear faces of the legs. Slot motor-arc plate assemblies having an arc plate assembly received at least partially overtop of the extending portion are also disclosed, as are assemblies having the arc plate assembly received very close to the rear faces of the slot motor legs. Circuit breakers, slot motor-arc plate assemblies, slot motor covers, and methods of operating the slot motor-arc plate assemblies are disclosed, as are other aspects.

Circuit breakers can include electrical contact assemblies having multiple contact arms per phase. The contact arms are intended to blow apart from the stationary electrical contact due to magnetic repulsion forces generated under very high short circuit conditions. It is desirable that such circuit breakers interrupt as quickly as possible in order to limit damage to the protected electrical equipment. Slot motors have been used to increase interruption speed. Currently, not only is there a demand to decrease the relative size of existing circuit breakers, but also to further improve interruption speed.
Thus, improved slot motor apparatus adapted to be used in circuit breakers are sought.

Slot motor, slot motor cover, slot motor—arc plate assembly, and methods of operation


A semiconductor package is provided with a package main body including a base portion configured by joining thin plates integrally, and a semiconductor device accommodating portion provided on one surface of the base portion, electric terminals electrically connected to a semiconductor device in the accommodating portion and exposed to an outer surface of the accommodating portion, and a heat high-transfer element including at least one layer-like member provided in the base portion. The layer-like member is configured independent of the base portion by a material having a thermal conductivity higher than that of the base portion, and extends from a position corresponding to a heat-generation site of the semiconductor device to a position in an outside of the heat-generation site corresponding position.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor package accommodating a semiconductor device therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
A semiconductor package comprising a package main body including a base portion having a first surface and a second surface on the side opposite to the first surface, and a semiconductor device accommodating portion provided on the first surface and accommodating a semiconductor device therein; and electric terminals provided in the semiconductor device accommodating portion, electrically connected to the semiconductor device, and exposed on an outer surface of the semiconductor device accommodating portion, has been conventionally known.
A semiconductor device is formed by mounting a desired circuit pattern on a surface of a substrate made from substrate material which is usually silicon, and generates a large amount of heat from the circuit pattern during its operation. When a temperature of the circuit pattern exceeds a certain temperature, the circuit pattern cannot work with its desired performance.
In the conventional semiconductor package, at least the base portion of the package main body is made from material with a high thermal conductivity, for example, copper, aluminum, copper alloy, or aluminum alloy, in order to radiate the heat generated by the semiconductor device. Heat generated by the semiconductor device accommodated in the semiconductor device accommodating portion is transferred to the package main body, mainly to the base portion, and it is further radiated to a material which is in contact with the package main body, mainly with the base portion, for example, a semiconductor package supporting member on which the base portion is placed, air surrounding the package main body, and the other materials.
In recent years where high integration of a circuit pattern mounted on a semiconductor device advances and heat quantity generated by the semiconductor device increases, various structures for improving a heat transfer efficiency of the semiconductor package have been proposed.
JP-A-2004-288949 discloses one example of a structure for improving a heat transfer efficiency as described above. In a semiconductor package disclosed in JP-A-2004-288949, a graphite sheet is brought in close contact with a second surface of a base portion of a package main body. Since the graphite sheet has a high thermal conductivity, heat transferred from the second surface of the base portion of the package main body is diffused rapidly in a direction extending along the second surface, so that a heat transfer efficiency from the base portion of the package main body to a material neighboring thereto is involved.
JP-A-2001-144237 discloses another example of the structure for improving a heat transfer efficiency as described above. In the structure for improving a heat transfer efficiency, a plurality of graphite sheets and a plurality of metal thin plates are laminated alternately. The metal thin plate increases a transfer amount of heat due to its large thermal capacity and the graphite sheet improves heat radiation from the metal thin plate due to its large thermal conductivity.
In the structure for improving a heat transfer efficiency described in JP-A-2004-288949, the graphite sheet is sandwiched between the second surface of the base portion and a predetermined position on a surface of a semiconductor package supporting body when the base portion of the package main body of the semiconductor package is fixed to the predetermined position on the surface of the semiconductor package supporting body by screws, so that the graphite sheet is brought in close contact with the second surface of the base portion and the predetermined position on the surface of the semiconductor package supporting body.
In the fixation utilizing screws as described above, however, uniformity of the degree of the close contact of the graphite sheet to the second surface of the base portion of the package main body of the semiconductor package and the predetermined position on the surface of the semiconductor package supporting body becomes impaired easily. That is, the heat transfer efficiency from the second surface of the base portion to the predetermined position on the surface of the semiconductor package supporting body becomes uneven easily on these surfaces. In addition, the heat transfer efficiency of the graphite sheet in its thickness direction is smaller than that of the graphite sheet in a direction along its surface.
Accordingly, the structure for improving a heat transfer efficiency described in JP-A-2004-288949 can not perform sufficient cooling effect to an increase in heat quantity generated by a semiconductor device in recent years.
In the structure for improving a heat transfer efficiency described in JP-A-2001-144237, the plurality of graphite sheets and the plurality of metal thin plates laminated alternately are mutually brought in close contact with each other using screws, a bonding agent or an adhesive agent to be fixed to each other.
The structure for improving a heat transfer efficiency described in JP-A-2001-144237 is improved in heat radiating efficiency due to an increase in the number of graphite sheets used and the use of the plurality of metal thin plates as compared with that described in JP-A-2004-288949. However, since the alternately laminated graphite sheets and metal thin plates are fixed each other by the screws, the bonding agent or the adhesive agent as described above, the uniformity of the degree of the mutual close contact between the plurality of graphite sheets and the plurality of metal thin plates becomes impaired easily. That is, the mutual heat transfer efficiency between the plurality of graphite sheets and the plurality of metal thin plates becomes nonuniform easily. In addition, the heat transfer efficiency of the graphite sheet in its thickness direction is smaller than that of the graphite sheet in a direction along its surface.
Accordingly, even in the structure for improving a heat transfer efficiency described in JP-A-2004-288949, it can not perform a sufficient cooling effect to the increase of the heat quantity generated by a semiconductor device in recent years. Further, since the alternately laminated graphite sheets and metal thin plates fixed each other by the screws, the bonding agent or the adhesive agent as described above have a relatively large thickness, the thickness of the structure for improving a heat transfer efficiency described above becomes relatively large.


A fuel supply device for direct methanol fuel cells includes a fuel tank for storing liquid fuel, a wick structure formed on the fuel tank, the wick structure for receiving the liquid fuel from the fuel tank, a sheet stack disposed on the wick structure, the sheet stack for absorbing and transferring, in an upward direction, the liquid fuel supplied to the wick structure, and an electrode plate disposed on the sheet stack for supplying, in an upward direction, the liquid fuel absorbed into the sheet stack. The fuel supply device may continuously and uniformly supply a proper amount of liquid fuel and effectively remove by-products generated in a fuel cell. Thus, a long life, efficient fuel cell may be created with the fuel supply device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a fuel supply device for direct methanol fuel cells. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fuel supply device for direct methanol fuel cells including a wick structure and a sheet stack. A fuel supply device of the present invention may provide a continuous and uniform supply of liquid fuel in a proper amount and effectively remove by-products.
2. Description of the Related Art
To meet recent demands for portable, small, light-weight electronic equipment, fuel cells are attracting public attention as a battery for electronic equipment. Fuel cells, having a higher energy density than secondary cells, are advantageously used in small, light-weight, electronic equipment. Also, since fuel cells can supply energy to electronic equipment for a long period of time with a single fuel supply, they are suitable for use in portable equipment. Further, fuel cells produce only carbon dioxide and water as by-products. Therefore, fuel cells do not cause air pollution and are environmentally friendly energy sources.
Fuel cells are classified by electrolytes contained in the cells, including, for example, phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC), alkaline fuel cells (AFC), polymer electrolyte fuel cells (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell, PEMFC), molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), and direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC).
Fuel cells generate energy by chemical reactions. For example, a chemical reaction of hydrogen ions and oxygen produces heat and water. The heat generated is converted into electric energy and supplied to electronic equipment. However, if hydrogen is used as a fuel, a fuel tank having a relatively large volume is needed. Also, if highly pressurized hydrogen is used to reduce the volume of the fuel tank, a high pressure fuel storing system is needed, which, for safety reasons, is not suitable for use in portable electronic equipment.
Since direct methanol fuel cells use liquid fuel as a hydrogen supply source, direct methanol fuel cells can store much more hydrogen than if hydrogen gas were being stored. Also, direct methanol fuel cells have an advantage in that they may be used for a longer period of time than conventional secondary cells. Further, because direct methanol fuel cells may be readily recharged, they are suitable for use in portable electronic equipment.
As shown in FIG. 1, a direct methanol fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly, which includes an anode 2, a membrane 1 and a cathode 3. Reactions occurring in anodes and cathodes of direct methanol fuel cells are shown in the following Reaction Scheme (I).

When methanol is used as a liquid fuel, a methanol cross-over phenomenon occurs, whereby highly concentrated methanol passes through the membrane of a fuel cell without ionization. Such a cross-over phenomenon may cause efficiency of the fuel cell to deteriorate, since the supplied fuel is consumed without participating in the reaction. Therefore, in order to reduce the cross-over phenomenon, methanol is diluted with water in a proper ratio to control the concentration of methanol in the liquid fuel at a predetermine level, before being supplied. However, since water mixed with methanol is surplus moisture and is not needed for the chemical reaction to generate energy, it should be smoothly discharged off to improve the efficiency of the fuel cell. Also, the carbon dioxide generated as a by-product of the chemical reaction should be effectively removed from the membrane. Otherwise, the chemical reaction in the fuel cell is hindered by the carbon dioxide and the fuel cell efficiency reduced.
Therefore, there is a demand for a fuel supply device that continuously supplies a proper amount of liquid fuel to direct methanol fuel cells and effectively removes carbon dioxide and water generated in the fuel cells.
A related solution provides a fuel supply device including a wick structure to supply liquid fuel to an anode of a fuel cell through the capillary phenomenon between the fuel cell and a fuel storing tank. However, this fuel cell device solve the problem associated with the methanol cross-over phenomenon, since the anode is in contact with the liquid fuel through the wick structure, whereby an excessive amount of the liquid fuel is supplied in a short time. Also, this fuel cell device cannot effectively remove carbon dioxide and water generated as by-products in the fuel cell, causing deterioration of the efficiency of the fuel cell.
In addition, some passive fuel supply devices using a porous medium are known. Fuel cells employing these passive fuel supply devices using a porous medium are largely affected by the performance of the porous medium in terms of fuel cell efficiency. The porous medium transports and supplies a liquid fuel from a fuel tank to the fuel cell by capillary force through direct contact with an anode of the fuel cell. Therefore, quality of the porous medium is determined by porosity and pore size distribution. If the pore size distribution of the porous medium is large, it is difficult to uniformly supply liquid fuel to an electrode surface and to remove by-products such as carbon dioxide and vapor. When transportation of liquid fuel to the membrane through the electrode is hindered due to carbon dioxide and vapor, the efficiency of the fuel cell is hastily deteriorated and fuel leakage may occur.

Fuel supply device for direct methanol fuel cells


A sheet-feeding cassette includes a main body. A locked portion allows the main body to be locked to a locking portion in a cassette accommodating section by inserting the main body in the cassette accommodating section. An unlocking unit is provided for detaching the locked portion from the locking portion when the main body is drawn out of the cassette accommodating section. A handle is provided in the main body and includes fixed and movable grips. The fixed grip has a recess with a “]” shaped cross section open to the insertion direction. The movable grip is slidable to a fitted state in the recess of the fixed grip when the handle is gripped, and a projecting state projecting partially from the recess when gripping is released. The unlocking unit operates for unlocking in accordance with changing of states of the movable grip from the projecting state to the fitted state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses such as a copying machine, a facsimile machine, and a printer and a sheet-feeding cassette for feeding a sheet to such image forming apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus like those described above is provided with a locking structure which locks a sheet-feeding cassette when the sheet-feeding cassette is set in a cassette accommodating section of the image forming apparatus, and unlocks the sheet-feeding cassette when the sheet-feeding cassette is drawn out of the cassette accommodating section.
As an example of the locking structure, Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. 2006-76695 (hereinafter, referred to as "patent document 1") discloses a known locking structure which is provided with a locking pin in a cassette accommodating section of an image forming apparatus, a pivotal locking lever locked by the locking pin on a side of the sheet-feeding cassette, and a spring for retaining the locking lever to be locked to the locking pin.
According to this locking structure, the locking lever is locked to the locking pin by the spring when the sheet-feeding cassette is set in the cassette accommodating section. The locking lever is pivotally moved apart from the locking pin against the spring by a drawing force, so that the locking structure is unlocked when the sheet-feeding cassette is drawn out of the cassette accommodating section.
Thus, when unlocking is performed with the technology disclosed in the patent document 1, a large amount of force is required which includes a force for drawing the sheet-feeding cassette out of the cassette accommodating section and a force for pivotally moving the locking lever so as to detach the locking lever from the locking pin against the spring. Therefore, room for improvement in operability has been left. Further, there has been a disadvantage that a loud sound occurs when the locking lever is moved back by the spring after the locking lever is detached from the locking pin.
The present invention was made to solve the problems of the conventional technology, and its object is to provide a sheet-feeding cassette and an image forming apparatus capable of performing unlocking without need for a large amount of force and without occurrence of a loud sound.

Sheet-feeding cassette and image forming apparatus