An offshore jacket or compliant tower and method of installing an offshore jacket or compliant tower where the foundation piles do not initially support the jacket. The foundation piles are driven into the sea floor. Two or more temporary support piles are driven into the sea floor. Two or more docking piles are driven into the sea floor and extend a greater height above the sea floor than the foundation piles and the temporary support piles. The jacket, which includes flexpiles, is lowered into position such that it receives the docking piles. The docking piles locate and position the jacket above the temporary support piles and the foundation piles. The jacket is provided with vertical steel tubes that correspond to the location of the temporary support piles. A bulkhead in each vertical steel tube is vertically located such that the jacket is supported and leveled by the temporary support piles and not the foundation piles. The foundation piles and flexpiles are grouted before the platform is installed on the jacket.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to fixed offshore platforms and more particularly to the installation of an offshore jacket.
2. General Background
In the offshore oil and gas industry, a variety of floating and fixed structures are used for drilling and production operations. Fixed offshore structures are generally comprised of a jacket and a platform. The jacket is an open space frame structure formed from tubular steel and extends from the sea floor to above the water line. The platform is generally formed from one or more modules that contain the living and work areas and support the derrick and associated drilling and production equipment. The platform is supported on top of the jacket and the combination of the jacket and platform is often referred to as the offshore platform.
A key design constraint for fixed offshore structures is that there be no substantial dynamic amplification of the platform's response to waves. This is accomplished by designing the platform to have natural vibrational periods which do not fall within that portion of the range of wave periods representing waves of significant energy. The several modes of platform vibration which are generally of greatest concern in platform design are pivoting of the structure about the base (commonly termed "sway"), flexure (bending) in the vertical plane, and torsion about the vertical axis. For deep water applications, greater than about four hundred meters, the conventional rigid structure design becomes uneconomical. It then becomes necessary to use compliant platforms that give a sway period greater than the range of periods of ocean waves containing significant energy. A compliant platform uses its own inertia and flexibility to increase the sway period, thereby reducing the dynamic amplification of the platform's response to waves, which in turn reduces the structural steel needed and higher cost associated with a given increase in water depth. This is accomplished by the use of flexpiles which are tubular steel members which are attached to the legs of the jacket by a combination of a top rigid connection and slip joints along the length of the flexpiles and jacket legs. The length of the flexpiles is dependent upon the of the required flexibility of the combined tower and platform.
Installation of fixed and compliant offshore structures may be accomplished in several different ways.
For a typical shallow water structure, the jacket is set in place on the sea floor and piles are driven through the legs a suitable depth into the sea floor. The piles are typically at an angle from the vertical and are connected to the top of the jacket. Once driven in place, the piles are grouted to the legs of the jacket.
For a typical deep water structure, the jacket is provided with sleeves that are attached to the lower level of the jacket such that the sleeves are at or just above the sea floor. Piles are driven through the sleeves into the sea floor through the sleeves. These piles are normally referred to as skirt piles. The skirt piles are grouted to the sleeves once driven to the desired depth. With this configuration, buoyancy can not be provided in the sleeves as all bulkheads must be removed prior to pile installation.
In another offshore platform disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,918, foundation piles are driven into the sea floor before the jacket is lowered into position. The jacket is then lowered into position and the jacket legs are stabbed into the foundation piles. The jacket legs are provided with bulkheads at a selected distance from the bottom of the legs such that the bulkheads rest upon the foundation piles before the bottoms of the legs rest upon the sea floor. In this manner, the bulkheads in the jacket legs and foundation piles have metal-to-metal contact and the jacket and platform are supported directly upon the foundation piles immediately upon installation of the jacket.
There are certain disadvantages to the installation method of the patent described above. The possibility of damaging the foundation piles or the flex piles is increased during the installation of the jacket, especially in deep water depths where control of the jacket section during lowering and placement on the bottom is difficult. A disadvantage of placement directly onto skirt piles is that the piles must be leveled before the jacket is placed onto the piles.
Compliant towers typically require twelve or more foundation piles. Achieving adequate levelness across twelve or more foundation piles becomes very difficult and impractical in deep waters.


A method of making a lariat includes twisting under tension a plurality of strands of a plastic material such as nylon to form a rope and then securing the ends of the rope to prevent the strands from untwisting. The rope is then dipped into a hot wax mixture, removed from the hot wax and dried and cooled. A powdery material such as talcum powder is then applied to a portion of the rope adjacent one end after loosely tying a hondo knot therein or prior to tying a hondo knot the powdery material is applied and a hondo knot is then tied and the hondo knot is snugged by stretching the rope.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lariat and, more particularly, to a method of making a lariat which includes an improvement in the step of forming a hondo in the lariat rope.
2. Description of the Related Art
In competitive roping contest such as in calf and steer roping and in the ranching industry lariats are in frequent and common use. Lariats are also often referred to as lassos. Lariats or lassos have been used in competitive roping contests and in ranching for many years. A lariat is formed by tying a hondo at one end of a rope to form a knotted or spliced eye through which the other end of the rope is passed to form a running noose. The hondo or eye may be protected by a leather or similar shield attached thereto called a burner to take the wear and extend the life of the lariat.
Lariats initially were made by using manila ropes, but in more recent years, more expensive but superior ropes have been constructed of plastic materials such as nylon and/or polyester.
One method of forming a rope is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,470,664 by twisting together strands of a plastic material such as nylon under tension to form a rope, tying knots in the ends of the rope to prevent the strands from untwisting, dipping the rope into a hot wax mixture, removing the rope from the hot wax and letting the rope cool, forming a hondo at one end of the rope and subsequently coating or dusting the rope with a fine talc after tying a hondo knot to make the rope slide easier.
In connection with ropes constructed of plastic materials such as nylon, the nylon makes it more difficult to tie a secure hondo knot in the rope that does not slip since plastic materials tend to make a knot slip. In order to make the hondo knot tightly secure, it is necessary to stretch the rope to a considerable degree after the knot has been tied therein. For example, in a lariat having a length of thirty feet, it is necessary to stretch the rope seven and halt to eight feet beyond Its normal length In order to securely tighten the hondo knot. This requires a relatively large amount of time, effort and expense.


A secondary suspension system for a rail vehicle includes a superstructure, a bogie arranged below the superstructure, a hydropneumatic spring unit located between the superstructure and the bogie, and at least one emergency spring cylinder.

The present disclosure relates to a system for the secondary suspension of a superstructure or a rail vehicle. The system includes a hydropneumatic spring unit as an active spring element which is placed between the superstructure and a bogie arranged below it and which ensures at least one raised traveling level NF for the superstructure when the rail vehicle is traveling.
In addition to the secondary suspension being used for the increase of comfort in the conveyance of passengers, a rail vehicle normally also has a primary suspension. The primary suspension acts between the wheel axles of the rail vehicle and the bogie and is used predominantly for absorbing hard shocks to which the rail vehicle is subjected during its travel as a result of an uneven rail guidance and the like. In contrast, a secondary suspension between a superstructure and railborne bogie of a rail vehicle is used for the additional vibration isolation of the superstructure in order to permit a particularly comfortable travel of the rail vehicle when conveying passengers. In many cases, the secondary suspension also interacts with a roll control for the superstructure.
From European Patent Document EP 0 690 802 B1, a secondary suspension for a rail vehicle is known which is constructed in the manner of a hydropneumatic suspension. The secondary suspension is achieved by a hydraulic cylinder whose pressure chamber is connected with a hydropneumatic pressure accumulator. By the gas volume of the hydropneumatic pressure accumulator, a vertical spring effect is achieved. Furthermore, the hydraulic cylinder is equipped with a pendulum support which forms a part of a piston rod which having a joint at an upper end. During transverse movements, the pendulum support swings out, its end rolling on a corresponding surface. Since the radius of the end surface of the pendulum support is larger than the distance of the joint from its supporting surface, a restoring moment takes place during transverse movements which, as a result of the constant distance of the joint from the supporting surface, is independent of the spring excursion.
It is generally known to use conventional steel springs for the secondary suspension in the simplest case, in addition to a pneumatic suspension or hydropneumatic suspension. The superstructure is normally cushioned with respect to the bogie by two passive spring elements, in which case the bogie normally carries a pair of wheel axles which establish the contact with the rail.
However, when a secondary suspension is constructed by steel springs as passive spring elements, the problem arises that the superstructure level may change as a function of the loading. In the present disclosure, the superstructure level is the vertical level of the superstructure relative to the bogie or to the ground.
From European Patent Document EP 0 663 877 B1, a system for the secondary suspension is known which avoids the above-noted problem in that no steel springs are used for the secondary suspension. The secondary suspension is implemented by a hydropneumatic spring unit. The hydropneumatic spring unit consists of a spring leg and of a hydropneumatic pressure accumulator. These assemblies carry out the function of cushioning the superstructure as well as the function of damping the spring excursions. The spring leg is fastened on the superstructure and on the bogie. During a spring excursion, the piston in the spring leg displaces a defined oil volume. In the hydropneumatic pressure accumulator connected with the spring leg, this oil volume acts against a gas cushion which is separated from the oil volume by a membrane and is therefore used as a springy element. The hydraulic fluid, as the liquid column, therefore takes over the function of the power transmission. Vehicle vibrations during the travel are damped by the nozzles housed in a nozzle block. As the load of the superstructure increases, the gas volume in the hydropneumatic accumulators is compressed. Without any level control system, this would result in a lowering of the superstructure, as in the case of the above-described passive spring element. However, in order to avoid this lowering, the reduction of the gas volume has to be compensated by feeding a corresponding amount of hydraulic fluid. For this purpose, the level control system is provided which carries out this compensation as a function of the distance between the superstructure and the bogie measured by a level sensor. The controlling of level changes takes place continuously and with little time delay while the vehicle is stopped. During the travel, the mean vehicle level is also continuously monitored and compensated.
In certain application cases, it is defined that, in addition to a raised traveling level NF, the superstructure also has to take up a station platform level NB which is below it and which, in a lowered position of the superstructure matches the door steps of the rail vehicles with the height of the station platform, so that an entering and exiting becomes possible without steps. Furthermore, it has to be provided that, despite such a lowered station platform level NB, in the case of a system failure in the station, the superstructure of the rail vehicle, while being operated independently and manually, can also be brought to an emergency level NN situated above the platform level, for resuming the travel. Furthermore, it is to be provided that, in the event of a system failure, the superstructure of the rail vehicle, during the travel, is not lowered from the raised traveling level NF to below the emergency level NN.
Despite the system failure, this emergency level NN situated between the lowered station platform level NB and the raised traveling level NF permits an at least slow continued traveling of the rail vehicle.
In the case of the known system for the secondary suspension with an active level control system, an emergency level NN, starting from a traveling level NF, however, can be adjusted only if sufficient storage pressure is still present in the storage accumulator and the assigned valve is operated manually. Thus, an emergency level NN does not have to be ensured under all circumstances.
The present disclosure provides a system for the secondary suspension by which, despite a system failure, under all conditions, the superstructure, when stopped, can take up an emergency level NN from a lowered station platform level NB and, in the event of system failure during travel, the superstructure is not lowered below the emergency level NN from the raised traveling level NF.
Thus, according to the present disclosure, a secondary suspension system for a rail vehicle includes a superstructure and a bogie arranged below the superstructure. Also included is a hydropneumatic spring unit located between the superstructure and the bogie. The hydropneumatic spring unit provides, in a normal operation, at least one raised traveling level for the superstructure and a lowered platform level for the superstructure that is lower than the at least one raised traveling level. Further included is at least one emergency spring cylinder, wherein when the system fails, the at least one emergency spring cylinder provides an emergency spring level situated between the at least one raised traveling level and the lowered platform level.
The present disclosure includes the technical teaching that, by a hydropneumatic spring unit being used as an active spring element in the normal operation, in addition to the raised traveling level NF, a lowered station platform level NB can be adjusted for the superstructure. Additionally, at least one emergency spring cylinder is provided which, when the system fails, ensures an emergency operation by an emergency spring level NN situated in-between the traveling level NF and the lowered platform level NB. On the one hand, the emergency spring level NN, in the event of a system failure, can be adjusted by an automatic moving-out of the emergency spring cylinder. On the other hand, it is also conceivable, as an alternative, that the emergency spring level NN occurs in the event of a system failure by the already moved-out emergency spring cylinder which therefore is already in readiness.
According to the present disclosure, having an active secondary suspension with respect to the flexible adjustment of different superstructure levels connected with a passively functioning emergency operation permits at least a slow continued traveling of the rail vehicle. In principle, the emergency suspension is automatically activated when the system pressure decreases. During the stoppage times, that is, in the area of the station stop, this has the effect that the superstructure can reach a higher emergency spring level NN from the lower station platform level NB.
According to a an embodiment of the present disclosure, the emergency spring cylinder includes a hydraulic tension cylinder and a piston, and the tension cylinder can be moved out by a pressure spring. The force exercised by the pressure spring in the tensioned condition upon the tension cylinder is stored by a rearward admission of pressure medium to the tension cylinder. When this rearward pressure decreases, the piston or the tension cylinder carries out the move-out motion as a result of the now predominant spring force.
A space-saving arrangement may be achieved in that the pressure spring is produced of steel in the manner of a coil spring which coaxially surrounds the tension cylinder. As a result of this arrangement of the pressure spring, which is exposed to the outside, the applicable spring force can be maximized because of the large diameter. Simultaneously, the components of the tension cylinder, which can be moved relative to one another, are protected by the pressure spring surrounding them.
With respect to the flow of force, the emergency spring cylinder can be connected in parallel or in series to the hydropneumatic spring unit.
In the case of a parallel connection, the emergency spring cylinder can be arranged to be acting locally next to the hydropneumatic spring unit between the superstructure and the bogie. The side-by-side arrangement, in the case of existing secondary suspensions with a hydropneumatic spring unit as an active spring element, may allow a retrofitting to take place in a simple manner by adding the emergency spring cylinder in order to permit an emergency operation or the concerned rail vehicles.
As an alternative, it is also conceivable to have an embodiment configured such that the emergency spring cylinder coaxially surrounds the hydropneumatic spring unit and is disengaged in the normal operation, with the emergency spring cylinder being used in the emergency operation. This embodiment of a parallel connection represents a space-saving solution because little space is required for installing the secondary suspension, according to the present disclosure. Also, in the emergency operation, parts of the hydropneumatic spring unit continue to participate in the power transmission. That is, they do not remain completely unutilized.
In addition, for the just-noted embodiment, for the emergency operation, the hydropneumatic spring unit is vertically guided by a coaxial upper pin via a corresponding recess on a side of the superstructure. It is also conceivable to arrange the guiding elements in a reverse manner, so that a pin is arranged on a side of the undercarriage, which pin is vertically guided in a corresponding recess on a side of the hydropneumatic spring unit or the like.
A series connection of the emergency spring cylinder and the hydropneumatic spring unit according to the flow of force is possible, in that both units are arranged behind one another in the flow of force and therefore act simultaneously. For reaching the lowered station platform level NB for the superstructure, an additional action upon the tension cylinder takes place in order to compress the pressure spring. In this embodiment, a difference is made in the normal operation between the operation when traveling and the operation when stopped, that is, at the station platform. During travel, the hydropneumatic spring unit acts in series with the steel spring of the tension cylinder; that is, the tension cylinder is pressureless and the steel spring can oscillate. In contrast, at the station platform, the steel spring is compressed by the action upon the tension cylinder in order to implement a lowering of the rail vehicle to the station platform level NB. If the hydropneumatic spring unit fails (system failure), the steel spring takes over the secondary suspension. The flow of force is created by the direct contact of the piston and the cylinder of the hydropneumatic spring unit in the end stop position, whereby the spring rigidity is also increased in the case of a corresponding design. The transverse suspension is maintained as a result of the series arrangement. In contrast to the above-described embodiments, here the steel spring of the emergency suspension is always positioned correctly, so that there are no take-over problems with respect to the latter.
The automatic moving-out of the piston of the emergency spring cylinder takes place as a result of a pressure drop. As an alternative, it is also conceivable that, in the normal operation, the piston of the emergency spring cylinder remains moved-out while being disengaged. The hydropneumatic spring unit ensures the traveling level NF, and that, after an activating of unlocking devices, the piston can at least partially be lowered inside a pot-shaped cylinder housing surrounding it. This has the effect that also the lowered station platform level NB can be reached. In the event of a system failure during the travel, the normally closed unlocking devices ensure the moved-out position of the piston of the emergency spring cylinder so that the emergency level NN is ensured by way of the emergency spring cylinder. In the event of a system failure in the station, that is, during a stoppage, pressure has to be applied by way of another circuit. This can be achieved by a manual operation or by the pressure medium stored in an additional storage device.
In the first-described embodiment, the piston of the emergency spring cylinder should include at least one piston sleeve telescopically displaceable against a spring force into the piston in order to ensure the spring deflection along the required spring travel. A high spring force can be generated in that an elastomer element is coaxially surrounded by a coil spring made of spring steel. In this embodiment, high spring forces can be implemented for a secondary suspension so that a multiple arrangement of emergency spring cylinders for the secondary suspension for ensuring the emergency operation can possibly be avoided.
It may also be conceivable to completely eliminate the hydropneumatic spring unit in this embodiment. The reason is that the emergency spring cylinder of this embodiment can also be used directly for the level control by the admission of pressure medium to a pressure chamber. This will then be a type of vertically adjustable emergency spring which is locked in the moved-out position of the piston and to this extent takes over the function of the secondary spring in the normal operation as well as of the emergency spring in the emergency operation.
The system according to the present disclosure for the secondary suspension includes a hydropneumatic spring unit as well as an emergency spring cylinder which can be acted upon by a pressure medium. The system can be operated by a single hydraulic circuit or by two separate hydraulic circuits. In the case of a single hydraulic circuit, the hydropneumatic spring unit as well as the emergency spring cylinder can be supplied with pressure medium therefrom. However, the minimal dynamic pressure in a hydraulic accumulator should be sufficiently dimensioned such that the pressure spring of the emergency spring cylinder can be kept in the compressed condition. In contrast, in the case of two hydraulic circuits, one hydraulic circuit is assigned to the hydropneumatic spring unit, and the other hydraulic circuit is assigned to the emergency spring cylinder. The two hydraulic circuits allow for different operating pressures to be a provided for the two circuits, which results in freedom with respect to the design and dimensioning of the pressure medium aggregates.
The hydropneumatic spring unit may comprise a pendulum support so that transverse movements between the superstructure and the bogie are permitted and restoring forces are applied for centering the superstructure.
In order to implement an active level control between the raised traveling level NF and the lowered station platform level NB, a level sensor is provided for measuring the actual distance between the superstructure and the bogie. The level sensor operates as an actual value generator and transmits the electrical measuring signals to an electronic control unit comprising a regulating unit which generates corresponding adjusting signals for the valve control of the hydraulic circuits based on defined desired values, so that the desired superstructure level can be adjusted. This normally takes place via the hydropneumatic spring unit.
Other aspects of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following descriptions when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

System for the secondary suspension of a superstructure of a rail vehicle having an active spring element

Knorr-Bremse Systeme fur Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH


A architecture is provided to enable a client web browser to conduct and manage a multilevel search. The browser includes an application layer interface. The application layer interface is for coupling to network via a protocol stack. The browser also includes a markup language parser. The parser receives information from the application layer interface. The browser includes a graphical user interface for presenting information to a user and allowing the user to specify a set of multilevel search parameters. The browser also includes a multilevel object factory coupled to receive a first input relating to a target web page and a second input specifying a multilevel browser operation such as a multilevel search. The multilevel object factory specifies a remote object agent that orchestrates a multilevel browser operation based upon the first and second inputs. The remote object agent is exported from the web browser to execute on a network server.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to network client and server devices and programs. More particularly, the invention relates to a web browser and server-side systems that provide automated multilevel-search-related functions.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Internet enables companies and individuals to post information using an interconnected set of web pages. A first web page is connected to a second web page using a hyperlink. The HTTP protocol is used to transfer data across the Internet from one machine to another so that when a user clicks on a hyperlink in a web page, the web page referenced by the hyperlink is accessed. The action of a user clicking on a sequence of links to move from one web page to another is known as "surfing the web" or "web browsing." Typically a client software system known as a "web browser" is used to this end. Search engines are provided to help a user find web pages related to a specific topic. Typically a search engine maintains a database of web pages and performs searches based on keywords found in the web pages. In most cases the search engine is implemented within a web server as opposed to a client device.
While web browsers are very useful, prior art web browsers are in many ways limited. For example, most browsers contain a search mechanism known as "find in page." In the Microsoft Internet Explorer, the "find in page" feature works by having a use activate the "edit" menu and then the "Find (on this page)" submenu. Alternatively the user may select CRTL+F in order to activate the "find in page" menu. When the user selects "find in page" a dialog box appears. A user is able to enter a word into this dialog box. If the word is in the markup file currently loaded into the web browser, the word will be highlighted to the user.
While the "find in page" feature found in prior art web browsers is useful it lacks desirable functionality. For example, a current web page loaded into a browser usually includes one or more hyperlinks. If the desired word is on a page pointed to by any of the hyperlinks of the currently loaded page, the "find in page" feature would turn up a negative result. This forces the user to select each hyperlink and then perform a separate "find in page" search on each page referenced by the current page. In some cases this can be most distressing to the user, for example when the current page contains very many hyperlinks or has a richly link-nested structure. In such cases the user is forced to spend undue time searching for the desired word. It would be desirable to have a browser or a browser plug-in that would facilitate word and concept searches through multilevel document structures. Such a browser would increase the productivity of network users. It would also be desirable to allow a user to print pages linked to a given base level document or perform other page-specific functions to a nested structure of linked pages without needing to manually access and specify operations for each page.
Another area where a more powerful web browser is needed is caused by poor server systems. For example, when visiting a certain company's web site user may be presented with a search engine specific to that web site. In some cases these search engines produce a lot of results that are irrelevant. In many cases the keywords requested in the search do not even appear in the returned web pages. For example a user may run a search and receive 450 results, but only three of these are of interest. To process such an output, the user must spend undue time hunting for the three documents of interest among the 450 results. For example these 450 results are displayed 20 per results page. The user then views each results page, clicks on each link that may be of interest, and views the contents thereof. When each page is accessed, the user uses a "find-in-page" search to determine whether the keyword is actually found in the document and if so, the context of its use. It is also problematic that the user has to select a "next" link to get another page of 20 page titles to view. Sometimes it can take tens of seconds or more to access the next set of titles. It would be desirable to have a web browser with built-in intelligence that could automate the process of wading through irrelevant search results. Other related client-side search acceleration techniques are also needed to allow a user control over searching instead of being limited by the abilities of a distant server's search facilities.
The concept of metadata aids in the computer manipulation of web-based information such as web sites. XML (extensible markup language) uses metadata to describe the content of resources such as web pages. A dialect of XML is called RDF (resource description framework). RDF supports the notion of a pointer so that graphs may be represented in a computer readable format. For example, a web site may be described using an RDF description. The RDF description can be written to contain a set of searchable properties to describe each web page in the web site hierarchy. The properties of each RDF-described web page can include a pointer to a page pointed to by that page. In this way a computer manipulatable site map representation may be maintained by the a server. When this information is made available to another computer, the other computer can then read the site map and perform operations thereon. This can improve the ability of a search engine to search a site, for example.
Another technology of interest is remote object technology. Remote object technology is defined form use with object-oriented programming environments. One example of an object oriented programming environment is the Java™ from Sun Microsystems Inc. Java™ defines objects that execute over a "virtual machine." The virtual machine is a software model of a generic machine. A Java™ object is compiled into a virtual machine language known as "bytecodes." The bytecodes are then translated by the virtual machine (or a just-in-time compiler) to run on the native processor of a target platform. An example of a distributed object technology is RMI™ (remote method invocation). RMI™ is a Java™ based distributed object technology. Another example of a distributed object technology is CORBA (common object request broker architecture). The aforementioned distributed object technologies are known in the art.
Distributed object technology allows object-oriented classes to be defined that include a server-side remote object and a client-side object stub, also called a "proxy." The server-side remote object implements one or more services and a communication protocol to communicate with the client-side stub. The client-side stub provides the client with an API ("interface" in object-oriented programming terminology) to call functions (i.e., "invoke methods" in object oriented programming terminology). When a method is invoked on the client-side stub, a remote procedure call and a set of parameters are marshaled into a message and sent across a communication channel to the server-side remote object. The server-side remote object then receives the message, unmarshals the parameters, invokes the corresponding method on behalf of the client, marshals a set of results into a message, and sends the message back to the client.
Remote objects can be used to specify remote agents. A remote agent is a program that runs on a remote server node on behalf of a client. A remote agent can be defined as a static remote agent or a mobile agent. A mobile agent is a process that migrates from a first machine to a second machine to a third machine. For example, the first machine passes an object to the second machine and the object is executed in the second machine. After some processing, the mobile agent migrates to the third machine. In some cases the mobile agent clones itself or otherwise spawns off more agent objects to execute on the third machine. Mobile agents can be used to specify a query or to carry information, for example. A remote agent object is static if it only runs on the second machine but never migrates or clones itself to run on a third machine.
It would be desirable to have a smart browser technology that could allow a client to control multilevel operations on a remote server site. For example it would be desirable for a client to specify an operation such as generating a list of all pdf files downloadable from a given company's web site. It would be desirable for a smart browser to specify a search for all documents on a web site that contain a keyword or meet a set of criteria. It would be desirable to have fast methods to go through a set of results returned by a search engine. It would be desirable to provide a technique whereby a smart browser could interact with a server to customize, manipulate, and/or prune a set of returned results to more rapidly highlight and locate desired information. It would be desirable to have a distributed object framework whereby a smart browser could identify a set of multilevel operations and have these multilevel operations carried out on behalf of the client on a remote server. It would be desirable to have a system whereby a client could specify a mobile agent to carry out client-defined filtering and/or multilevel operations. It would be desirable for the client-created mobile agent to execute remotely on one or more network servers to carry out the tasks as specified by the client.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Remote-agent-object based multilevel browser


A digitally controlled asymmetrical delay circuit (DCADC) is described in which the amount of delay for an input transitioning in one direction (e.g. low to high) is controlled independently from the amount of delay for the input signal transitioning in the opposite direction (high to low). This digitally controlled asymmetrical delay circuit is applied to a memory address decode circuit. The DCADC is controlled by the WRITE/READ signal such that there is minimal delay when the WRITE signal is low (the READ signal is high), minimizing the delay introduced in the access time. When the WRITE signal is high (the READ signal is low), extra delay is added to the selection relative to the deselection of a memory location. In this manner, input noise during a WRITE is filtered out without slowing the access time.

Asymmetrical delay circuits, as shown in FIG. 1, are circuits which exhibit different delays, between the input signal 10 and the output signal 12, for the rising and falling edges of a digital pulse. FIG. 2 shows the timing diagram, depicting the input and output signals, of an example of a prior art asymmetrical delay. As is shown, there is some amount of delay when the input transitions from low-to-high and a different amount of delay when the input transitions from high-to-low. Asymmetrical delay circuits are sometimes used in the address decode circuitry for a memory to ensure the deselection of one memory location before selection of the next memory location. In that application, the asymmetrical delay will also prevent temporary access to an intermediate address when there is some timing skew associated with the individual address bit lines becoming set at slightly different times, if the difference in the time between select and deselect is greater than the amount of skew.
Asymmetrical delay circuits are also used to delay the enabling verses the disabling of a WRITE into a memory so that sufficient time is allowed for establishing access to the correct memory location before enabling of the WRITE.
In a memory, it may be desirable to have a slow select/fast deselect of an addressed cell during WRITE to prevent a temporarily incorrect address from being written into. But during READ, an excessively slow select is not desirable since it directly effects access time.

Digitally controlled delay applied to address decoder for write vs. read


A metallic bellows, composed of precipitation hardening stainless steel, includes ridge portions and valley portions formed alternately and continuously, an average grain size of 10 to 15 μm, and compressive residual stress of not less than 500 MPa provided to at least surfaces of the ridge portions and the valleys by surface working.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bellows which is used for, for example, vehicle suspension devices, gas springs, accumulators, and vacuum apparatuses, and relates to a manufacturing method for the bellows.
2. Description of the Related Art
Austenite stainless steel (Japanese Industrial Standard (=JIS)·SUS304) is often used as a material for the above metallic bellows since the austenite stainless steel is easily processed. Alternatively, precipitation hardening stainless steel is used as a material for the above metallic bellows so as to improve durability of the metallic bellows. In producing a metallic bellows, first, both longitudinal sides of a stainless steel plate having an appropriate thickness are brought into contact with each other and are connected by arc welding, so that a material pipe is produced. Next, the material pipe is cut at a predetermined length and is then subjected to cold rolling using, for example, spinning working so as to have a predetermined thickness of a bellows. After that, the pipe is subjected to solution heat treatment by heating to a solution temperature thereof, and is then subjected to plastic working such as hydraulic bulging so as to be formed into a bellows. In a case in which precipitation hardening stainless steel is used, precipitation hardening heat treatment is further performed.
In a case in which a metallic bellows is dynamically used so as to act as, for example, a spring, setting is performed so as to stabilize the loading property of the bellows after precipitation hardening heat treatment, and surface working is then performed by providing compressive residual stress to a surface of the bellows so as to improve durability thereof. The surface working is performed by shot peening in which metallic particles are shot at a surface of the bellows at high speed or by honing in which glass beads are used instead of the metallic particles (for example, paragraphs 0015 to 0022, Table 1, and FIG. 1 in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-304412).
Austenite stainless steel such as SUS304 is better in view of workability (for example, paragraphs 0006 to 0013, and FIGS. 1, 3, 4 and 6 in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-172449). However, a metallic bellows made of SUS304 is low in material strength, whereby the design maximum stress thereof is 850 MPa. In order to meet requirements of miniaturization and light weight of bellows in recent years, high strength materials may be used. An example of the high strength material is SUS631 of precipitation hardening semi-austenite stainless steel. When SUS 631 is used as a material for the bellows, the design stress thereof is 1100 MPa, which is about 1.3 times as large as that of a case in which SUS304 is used (for example, lower left and lower right of column 3 in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 1-184225).
However, when fatigue test is performed on the bellows made of SUS631, the fatigue strength of the bellows made of SUS631 is lower than that of SUS304 as shown in FIG. 8. Generally, when the material strength is increased, the workability is reduced due to decreased elongation of the material. In particular, in the metallic bellows, since bulging having large reduction rate is performed, the fatigue strength may be reduced due to material defects such as micro-cracks generated in the bulging.

Method for manufacturing metallic bellows


A method, of manipulating a raw branch history (RBH), can include: providing a RBH relevant to a conditional branching instruction in a program; and filtering the RBH to obtain a filtered branch-prediction predicate. A related method, of making a branch prediction, can include: manipulating, as in the above-mentioned method, a RBH relevant to a given conditional branching instruction (CBI) to obtain a corresponding filtered branch-prediction predicate; and predicting a branching direction of the given CBI based upon the corresponding filtered branch-prediction predicate. Such methods operate upon data provided by a memory representing a Branch Register-Dependency Table (Br_RDT) that includes: entries corresponding to registers in a CPU, respectively; each entry in the Br_RDT being indicative of how content of a corresponding register in the CPU is dependent or not upon other ones among the plurality of registers in the CPU.

A branch prediction is a prediction of what direction will be taken upon execution of a conditional branching instruction included within a sequence of code being executed by a machine. Branch prediction mechanism are generally known, and is used to improve the rate at which the code sequence can be executed.
In general, a Branch History Table (BHT) or Global History Register (GHR) is included with a Central Processing Unit (CPU) in a processor. The BHT is used for making branch predictions. Typically, the BHT is arranged so that the number N of rows (or depth) corresponds to the number of working registers in CPU 400, e.g., 32, 64, etc. Each row represents an R-bit word, where the value of R (or length of the BHT) corresponds to the number of columns in the BHT, where R is a positive integer. Typically, the GHR is a one-row array, also of length R, i.e., the GHR represents an R-bit word. The output of either the BHT or the GHR is an R-bit vector representing a local or global branching history, respectively.
In operation, when a prediction is to be made regarding the next conditional branching instruction, an R-bit branch history vector (HV) is output from either the BHT or the GHR. The prediction is based upon the R-bit history vector HV. Hence, the R-bit history vector HV can be described as a predicate to the branch prediction, i.e., as a branch-prediction predicate. All of the R-bits in the HV are used in making the prediction.
Generally, the value of R (again, representing the length of each entry in the BHT or the length of the GHR) is fixed as a part of the architecture of the processor. Some architectures, however, are arranged so that the value of R can be adaptively adjusted. Despite the adaptive adjustment, i.e., despite whatever size R takes, all of the R-bits in the HV are used in making the prediction.

Filtered branch-prediction predicate generation


The present invention relates to display devices, and more particularly to an optical sensing frame in which an infrared sensor module is fastened to a case top with a bracket to secure an assembly margin and prevent the infrared sensor module from mismatching with a liquid crystal display module by relative movement; and a display device therewith, the optical sensing frame includes a case top having a frame shaped upper side, and sides bent and extended from four sides of the upper side perpendicular thereto, first to third brackets fastened to an inside of the upper side of the case top at three corners thereof respectively, and an infrared sensor module placed in each of the first to third brackets.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to display devices, and more particularly to an optical sensing frame in which an infrared sensor module is fastened to a case top with a bracket to secure an assembly margin and prevent the infrared sensor module from mismatching with a liquid crystal display module by relative movement; and a display device therewith.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, a touch screen, one of interface types between a user and an information and communication device which uses various kinds of displays, is an input unit which enables interface with the device by touching a screen with a hand or a pen, personally.
Being a device that can be used by any one only by touching a button displayed on a display device with a finger, handling the touch screen conversationally and intuitively, the touch screen is applied to many fields, such as issuing machines in banks and public agencies, different medical apparatuses, tour and major facility guidance and traffic guidance.
In the touch screen, there are resistive type, capacitive type, ultrasonic wave type, infrared type, and so on depending on methods of perception.
Though above types have advantages different from one another, recently, the infrared type touch screen is paid attention owing to a minimized pressure applied thereto, and convenience of arrangement.
A related art infrared type touch screen assembly will be described with reference to the attached drawing.
FIG. 1 illustrates a perspective view of a related art touch screen assembly.
Referring to FIG. 1, the related art touch screen assembly is provided with a special purpose fastening device 15 for fastening the infrared sensor module to an upper side of a finished liquid crystal display module 30.
The touch screen assembly has a touch input region including toughened glass 25 on an underside of the fastening device 15 which holds the infrared sensor module that is not fastened to the liquid crystal display module 30. That is, the toughened glass 25 is positioned on the liquid crystal display module 30, and the toughened glass 25 serves as a touch surface. In this instance, the toughened glass 25 is coupled to the liquid crystal display module 30 such that an underside of the toughened glass 25 is in contact with an upper surface of a case top of the liquid crystal display module 30.
In the meantime, the liquid crystal display module 30 has a liquid crystal panel and underlying optical sheets and a backlight unit fastened at edges and an underside thereof by the case top and a bottom cover.
In this case, a liquid crystal display device with the infrared type touch screen assembly has a problem in that making the liquid crystal display device with the infrared type touch screen assembly more slimmer is impossible due to a thickness thereof greater than a sum of thicknesses of the fastening device 15 which holds the infrared sensor module, the toughened glass 25, and the liquid crystal display module 30.
And, the related art infrared type touch screen assembly is required to have a step for fastening and securing the touch screen assembly to the liquid crystal display module after the touch screen assembly is fabricated individually, and in order to implement a touch, assembly of components and matching coordinates of the liquid crystal panel and the touch screen assembly is required.
The related art infrared type touch screen assembly has the following problems.
First, a touch detecting can be made available only when the touch screen assembly and liquid crystal display module fabricated individually are coupled after the touch screen assembly and liquid crystal display module are fastened with respective fastening devices. And, since the toughened glass is required to be positioned between the touch screen assembly and the liquid crystal display module for protecting the liquid crystal display module from the fastening device of the touch screen assembly, the liquid crystal display device becomes thicker and heavier.
Second, reflection at the toughened glass which is used as the touch surface makes brightness of the liquid crystal panel poor, and reflection of room lighting is visible on the touch screen.
Third, the individual fabrication of the touch screen assembly and liquid crystal display module can cause mismatch between the fastening device which holds the infrared sensor module and the underlying liquid crystal panel to cause touch detection impossible or touch sensitivity poor if the touch screen assembly and the liquid crystal display module move relative to each other during fabrication, assembly, transportation or use of a finished product.

Optical sensing frame and display device therewith


The image heating apparatus heats a toner image beard on a recording material while conveying the recording material at a nip portion, and includes: a heater; a fixing member; a pressure member; a first temperature detecting member; a second temperature detecting member configured to detect a temperature on non-sheet-passing area; a control device; and an air supplying member supplying an air to the non-sheet-passing area. The air supplying member is started to be drive when a temperature detected by the second temperature detecting member reaches a predetermined temperature which is higher than the target temperature. The control device controls the quantity of the air in response to information related to the power supplied to the heater when a temperature detected by the second temperature detecting member reaches the predetermined temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image heating apparatus which is used for heating an image on a recording material in an electrophotographic or electrostatic recording image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile, or a multifunction machine having a plurality of functions thereof.
An image heating apparatus includes, for example, a fixing device that fixes an unfixed image on a recording material, and a gloss increasing device configured to heat an image fixed on a recording material to increase the gloss of the image.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus often uses a heat-roller-type or film-fixing-type fixing device configured to fix an unfixed toner image on a recording material. The heat-roller-type fixing device generally includes a fixing roller as a fixing member and a pressure roller as a pressure member that are pressed against each other and rotated. The fixing roller includes a desired functional layer such as a release layer, or an elastic layer and a release layer on an outer periphery of a metal hollow roller base member.
The hollow roller base member is heated from inside by a heater such as a halogen lamp provided in the body, and power supplied to the heater is controlled so that an outer surface of the fixing roller is maintained at a predetermined fixable temperature. The pressure roller has a rubber layer on a circumstance surface of a bar core, and is elastically pressed against the fixing roller to form a nip portion having a predetermined width between the pressure roller and the fixing roller. Generally, a recording material bearing an unfixed toner image is introduced into the nip portion and held and conveyed, and the unfixed toner image is fixed as a fixed image on a recording material surface by the heat of the fixing roller and the nip pressure.
The film-fixing-type fixing device includes a heater such as a ceramic heater fixedly supported, and a tubular film as a fixing member configured to come into contact with the heater. The fixing device also includes a pressure roller configured to be pressed against the heater via the film to form a nip portion between the pressure roller and the film. Generally, a recording material bearing an unfixed toner image is conveyed in the nip portion, and the unfixed toner image is fixed on the recording material by the heat of the film heated by the heater and the pressure of the nip portion.
In the film-fixing-type fixing device, the film is directly heated by the heater. After the power is turned on, the nip portion reaches a predetermined temperature in a short time, thereby significantly reducing the waiting time after the power is turned on. Heating only a necessary section of the film advantageously reduces power consumption. An on-demand device can be configured using a heater and film material having a low heat capacity.
Consequently, the ceramic heater as a heat source may be electrified and heated to a predetermined fixing temperature only when image forming is performed, thereby providing an advantage of a short waiting time from powering on of the apparatus to a state where image forming can be performed, that is, a quick start property, and a significantly low power consumption during standby.
In the heat-roller-type or the film-fixing-type fixing device as described above, when small-size recording materials having a smaller width than a maximum-size recording material having a maximum width that can be passed in the device are continuously passed and subjected to fixing, an excessive increase in surface temperature on a non-sheet-passing area of the fixing member, that is, a temperature at the non-sheet-passing area increase may occur.
This is because if the small-size recording materials are continuously passed, heat is not removed by the recording materials but is stored in the non-sheet-passing area of the nip portion through which the recording material is not passed. This phenomenon is referred to as a non-sheet-passing-area temperature increase of the fixing device, and an excessive temperature increase at the non-sheet-passing area may cause hot offset, or thermal degradation of components that constitutes the device. More specifically, in order to fix an entire area of a maximum-size recording material, for example, an A4 horizontal sheet (297 mm), the temperature of the fixing member in a width direction needs to be uniform over a width or more of the maximum-size recording material.
However, if small-size recording materials having a smaller width than the maximum-size recording material, for example, A4 vertical sheets (210 mm size) are continuously passed, the temperature of the fixing member excessively increases at the non-sheet-passing area, and there is a difference in temperature of the fixing member between a sheet-passing area and the non-sheet-passing area. Thus, if the maximum-size recording material, or a middle-size recording material (for example, B4 vertical sheet) having a larger width than the small-size recording materials continuously passed is passed, hot offset may occur in a section corresponding to a non-sheet-passing area of the small-size recording material to produce a poor image.
The excessive temperature increase on the non-sheet-passing area of the fixing member that occurs in the continuous passage of the small-size recording materials described above is particularly remarkable in a film-fixing-type fixing device including a fixing member having a reduced heat capacity for energy saving. In order to prevent hot offset caused by the temperature increase at non-sheet-passing area, a conventional fixing device provides a period for cooling the non-sheet-passing area after continuous passage of the small-size recording materials.
Specifically, after continuous passage of the small-size recording materials, a period is provided in which a next print job is not accepted for a predetermined time or until a signal value of a detecting unit, configured to detect the temperature of the fixing member or the pressure member on the non-sheet-passing area, reaches a predetermined value. After substantially uniform temperature distribution is obtained over the entire area in the width direction of the fixing member or the pressure member, the maximum-size recording material or the like is passed. However, it takes several ten seconds to several minutes to obtain substantially uniform temperature distribution over the entire area in the width direction of the fixing member or the pressure member, thereby reducing productivity.
A configuration is also known in which an air supplying fan is provided in a fixing device, and a cooling system is provided, which is configured to supply air to non sheet-passing areas on opposite end portions of a fixing roller and a pressure roller and to cool the non-sheet-passing areas, thereby suppressing temperature increase at a non-sheet-passing area. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H04-051179, an air supplying fan placed in a fixing device selectively supplies cooling air to non-sheet-passing areas on opposite end portions. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-076209 discloses a configuration in which when an air supplying fan supplies cooling air to a non-sheet-passing area, an air supplying area of the air supplying fan can be adjusted according to a width of a recording material to be passed to accommodate recording materials of different sizes.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-072399 discloses a configuration in which a temperature detecting member, configured to detect the temperature on a non-sheet-passing area of a fixing member, is provided to adjust the quantity of air of an air supplying fan according to a detection temperature.
However, the conventional fixing devices described above, including the cooling system in which the air supplying fan is provided to supply air to a heating roller and a pressure roller in a non-sheet-passing area, have the problems described below. The cooling capacity of the air supplying fan sometimes does not reach a proper level, depending on the types of recording materials that are passed, which may cause poor fixing or hot offset. FIG. 1A illustrates a schematic configuration of a fixing device including an air supplying fan, and its relationship to the temperature distribution in a ceramic heater section. A recording material 401, a ceramic heater heat generating section 404, and air supplying fans 402 and 403 are provided. The recording material 401 is conveyed around a broken line B passing through a central portion of the ceramic heater 404.
The amount of heat generation of the ceramic heater heat generating section 404 is adjusted based on a result of a temperature detecting unit provided at a point Q on the central portion of the ceramic heater heat generating section 404, and the central portion of the ceramic heater heat generating section 404 is controlled to a desired temperature. A line K and a broken line J each show the temperature distribution of the ceramic heater heat generating section 404 when recording materials having different heat capacities are passed. The broken line J shows the temperature distribution when a recording material having a high heat capacity is passed, and the line K shows the temperature distribution when a recording material having a lower heat capacity, as compared to the broken line J, is passed. As shown, the temperature at non-sheet-passing areas G and H is higher for a recording material having a higher heat capacity.
Heat generated by the ceramic heater heat generating section 404 is transferred to a recording material to be passed. At this time, the amount of heat transferred to a recording material increases with an increase in the heat capacity of the recording material. Specifically, the temperature difference between the recording material sheet-passing area and the non-sheet-passing areas G and H of the ceramic heater heat generating section 404 increases with an increase in the heat capacity of the recording material. The temperature increase at the non-sheet-passing areas G and H increases temperatures on recording material end portions L and M to cause hot offset. In order to prevent hot offset, a method is conceivable for cooling the non-sheet-passing areas G and H by uniformly increasing the quantity of air of the air supplying fan.
However, in this case, passage of a recording material having a low heat capacity reduces the temperature at the recording material end portions L and M to cause poor fixing. A method is conceivable of solving the above problem by providing a member configured to detect the heat capacity of a recording material or a member configured to detect an environmental temperature in the device, and adjusting the quantity of air of an air supplying fan according to a detection result, which increases cost of the device.
A method is conceivable of providing a thermistor configured to detect the temperature on a non-sheet-passing area of a fixing member through which a recording material is not passed, and adjusting the quantity of air of an air supplying fan according to the detection temperature. However, if the quantity of air is determined based on the temperature at the non-sheet-passing area, the temperature may overshoot to cause poor fixing or hot offset when the temperature increasing speed is high.
If the quantity of air is uniformly set in response to the case of a high temperature increasing speed on the end portion of the fixing member, overcooling may cause poor fixing. If the quantity of air is set in response to the case of a low temperature increasing speed on the end portion, an insufficient cooling capacity may damage the fixing member (film).

Image heating apparatus having fixing member and supplying cooling air to a non-sheet-passing area for cooling the fixing member


The present invention relates to a coaxial cooling/heating coil structure and a mold configured with the same, in which the coaxial cooling/heating coil is comprised of: a frame, configured with a cooling channel having an inlet, provided for a cooling water to flow therein, and an outlet, provided for discharging the cooling water therefrom; and a heat-conducting coil, disposed inside the cooling channel. The coaxial cooling/heating structure is fitted to a mold to be used for enhancing the preheating efficiency of the mold while improving the time required for cooling the mold.

In the operation of injection molding process, it is common to preheat the female die and male die to a specific temperature before the two dies are integrated for injection since the preheated mold can prevent the melted plastic from cooling down too rapidly and becoming somewhat "sticky" and thus ensure the melted plastic that is being injected into the same through its sprue gate, to flow smoothly therein and arrive at the mold cavity for molding.
It is noted that the conventional preheating structures for injection molds, which can be electric heaters or high-frequency heater, are fixed heaters being fitted inside either the female die or the male die of the injection molds. As a conventional high-frequency mold structure shown in FIG. 1, the male die 11 and female die 12 are configured with inserts 13, 14 in respective while there is an electric heating coil 16 and cooling pipe 17 being configured inside the male die 11 and a sprue gate 15 for the mold structure being formed on the female die 12. The electric heating coil 16 is activated for preheating the male die 11 before the two dies 11, 12 are integrated and clamped, and then the two dies 11, 12 can be integrated and provided for a melted plastic to be filled therein through the sprue gate 15, by that since the preheating can prevent the melted plastic from cooling down too rapidly, the melted plastic is able to solidified and molded correctly inside the mold structure, and thereafter being cooled down by the cooling pipe 17 for preparing the final product of the injection molding to be detached from the mold structure.
Nevertheless, the aforesaid conventional mold structure is shorted in the sizes of its male die and female die as they can be very big and bulky. As a larger die will required a longer time for preheating the same to a specific temperature, the production time for an injection molding process using the mold to produce a product is prolonged and consequently the production yield of the injection molding is adversely affected. Not to mention that the lager a die is, the more energy it will need for the preheating which not only is not energy efficient, but also can be very costly. Moreover, as there is cooling water kept circulating inside the cooling pipe even at the time when the electric heating coil is activated for preheating the male die or female die, the male die or female die is being cooling down as it is being heated which not only might prevent the same from being heated to the specific temperature, but also can waste a lot of energy.
Except for the aforesaid internal heater embedded inside the die, there are external preheating structures for preheating the mold, as the heater 20 shown in FIG. 2. The heater of FIG. 2 is composed of a burner 21 and a fuel pipe 22, in which as the fuel pipe 22 is connected to the burner 21 by an end thereof while another end of the fuel pipe 22 is connected to a fuel supply, fuel can be fed to the burner 21. As shown in FIG. 2, the flame 23 from the burner 21 of the external heater 20 is adapted for heating a forging mold for forging machines or an injection mold for injection molding as the molds are composed of a top die 24 and a bottom die 25 and thus the temperatures of the heated molds can be increased from room temperature to a working temperature. Nevertheless, although the aforesaid external heater is able to achieve the expected preheating effect, it can be very time-consuming and difficult to apply that it is only suitable for large-size forging machines or injection molds, and is not adapted for molds of precision injection molding.
In addition, there is a conventional preheating structure that is configured with a hollow heating coil whereas the hollow heating coil is structured for allowing cooling water to flow inside the hollow coil. However, as the cooling water is flowing inside the heating coil, the cooling water is not able to cool down the corresponding mold effectively and thus the heat dissipating efficiency of the mold is poor. If a better cooling effect is required, it is required to increase the inner diameter of the heating coil for increasing the flow of the cooling water, but at the cost of larger and heavier heating coil.
There are already many heating devices for mold preheating, as those disclosed in TW Pat. Appl. No. 92123778, TW Pat. Appl. No. 92123775 and TW Pat. Appl. No. 94127663. In the driving device for instant mold preheating module disclosed in TW Pat. Appl. No. 92123778, the inserts in a mold will first be identified and driven by the driving device for enabling the same to be preheated during the clamping process for die integration, As the volumes of the inserts are usually comparatively smaller, they can be heated to a specific temperature rather fast. Moreover, also as the inserts are small in size, they can be cooled down equally fast after the melted plastic had filled uniformly in the mold cavity and after mold injection. As the instant mold preheating module in the aforesaid TW patent is a high-frequency induction heating device packed inside ceramics or plastic steel, which can be fitted inside grooves formed on the inserts for using the eddy currents from the heating device to heat up the inserts to a specific temperature in an instant manner. Thereby, not only the time required for preheating the mold is decreased, but also the preheating efficiency of the mold is improved. On the other hand, the instant heating method and device of molding equipment disclosed in TW Pat. Appl. No. 92123775 is an improvement over that disclosed in TW Pat. Appl. No. 92123778. In TW Pat. Appl. No. 92123775, the high-frequency induction heating energy is designed to work directly on the inserts of a mold for heating the surfaces of the same to a specific temperature in an instant manner, by that not only the preheating efficiency is improved with less energy consumption, but also it can ensure the melted plastic to flow smoothly in the mold cavity for molding. Furthermore, the device disclosed in TW Pat. Appl. No. 94127663 is further an improvement over the one disclosed in TW Pat. Appl. No. 92123775. In the TW Pat. Appl. No. 94127663, the connection between the heating coil and the transformer is redesigned and structured for enabling the two to be detachable, so that the preheating device can be move easily and rapidly around a mold so as to be used for preheating any portion of the mold in a precise manner.
However, those prior-art preheating devices are only aimed for the improvement in preheating efficiency. Thus, it is in need of a preheating device capable of fitted to a mold to be used for enhancing the preheating efficiency of the mold while reducing the time required for cooling the mold.

Mold having a coaxial cooling and heating coil structure