A modular bank teller station wherein a single teller can provide banking service to a plurality of banking customers, including a frame having a plurality of interconnected wall members attached thereto to define a bank teller control area isolated from a plurality of customer receiving areas. A communications system is provided for visual and audible communication between the teller and the customer. For transaction of banking business a tray system is provided which will allow the transfer of bank transaction material between the teller and the customer while keeping the tray access openings covered in the absence of a tray.

The present invention relates broadly to static structures, namely, buildings and associated substructures dedicated to a specific purpose. More particularly, the present invention relates to a bank teller station providing enhanced security for bank personnel and that is easily installed when constructing a bank or otherwise installing banking facilities in an existing structure.
Typically, bank teller stations will exist as designated areas of an elongate counter top with several teller stations aligned in a row. Each teller will transact business with a single customer across the counter top. In some situations, a row of vertically oriented bars will separate the teller area from the customer area or, in other situations, a window may be installed. Generally, the teller is exposed to the lobby area.
Most modern banking facilities also include automatic teller machines which will accept deposits and otherwise conduct banking business without the involvement of a human teller. Nevertheless, most banking customers would rather transact business, especially with regard to deposits, during a one-on-one exchange with a live human teller.
Drive-through banking represents an intermediate position between automatic teller machines and counter top transactions. There, the teller is typically located behind a thick glass window and transaction materials are transported between the customer and the teller using pneumatic tubes through which cylindrical capsules travel containing the transaction materials. A microphone and speaker system is typically employed for voice communication between the teller and the customer. Sometimes the customer can see the teller across the drive-through area or, if the customer is at the window, the customer can see the teller therethrough.
Teller security, quite obviously, is greatest with an automatic teller machine due to the fact that no teller is involved. Secondly, the drive-through situation provides some teller security while providing an intermediate level of teller/customer interaction. Nevertheless, the burden is on the customer to conduct banking business from within an automobile. Teller security is almost completely compromised with the in-bank counter top face-to-face transaction system. During the transaction process, the teller is almost completely vulnerable to the whims of the customer and, should the customer turn out to be a thief, the teller may then be placed in danger. The threat is enhanced if the thief is armed.
Therefore, there exists a need for a bank teller station wherein a teller can provide personalized service and yet maintain the safety of the teller and the bank's funds. Further, since a teller will typically deal with one customer at a time, it would be advantageous to provide a teller station which could serve multiple customers easily when attended by a single teller.


An image-forming lens set includes an aperture stop, a first lens with positive power, a second lens with negative power and a third lens, which are arranged from an object side order. The first lens has two opposite surfaces including a convex surface facing the object side, and at least one of the two opposite surfaces is a non-spherical surface. The second lens has two opposite surfaces including a concave surface facing the object side, and at least one of the two opposite surfaces of the second lens is a non-spherical surface. The third lens has negative refractive power becoming greater from a center to a periphery of positive refractive power. The third lens has two non-spherical opposite surfaces including a convex surface facing the object side. At least one of the first, second and third lenses is coated with a layer of optical film for filtering light.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image-forming lenses and more particularly, to an image-forming lens set having a plurality of lenses.
2. Description of the Related Art
Following fast development of multimedia technology, image-forming lenses have been intensively used in a variety of mobile electronic products such as digital camera, mobile camera telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), and etc., for picking up images.
Further, to satisfy the requirements of high-tech product users for better convenience, quality and utility, high-tech products must be small-sized while maintaining the quality and lowering the cost. Image-forming lens sets encounter the same market challenge, i.e., image-forming lens sets must have a simple structure design to lower the cost and reduce the aberrations so as to improve the quality and reduce the size, satisfying the requirement for better product utility.


A current generator, including a chopper stabilization operational amplifier, a transistor, and an impedance unit is provided. The chopper stabilization operational amplifier includes a first input terminal, a second input terminal, and an output terminal. The transistor includes a gate coupled to the output terminal of the chopper stabilization operational amplifier, a first source/drain coupled to the first input terminal of the chopper stabilization operational amplifier, and a second source/drain serving as a current output terminal of the current generator. The impedance unit includes a first terminal coupled to the first source/drain of the transistor, and a second terminal coupled to a first voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a current generator, and more particularly, to a current generator having a high efficiency and a high current matching.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1A is a circuit diagram illustrating a conventional current mirror. Current mirror technology is a widely used method for providing a stable current. With respect to a conventional current mirror as shown in FIG. 1, a current of each channel is obtained by mirroring from a reference current IREF1 via a transistor Tr1. Lower voltage drops between drain-sources of transistors Tr2, Tr3 . . . are helpful for improving an efficiency of the current mirror in its entirety. However, in such a conventional current mirror, in order to decrease errors of the currents i1, i2 . . . of the channels and improve the matching between the currents i1, i2 . . . of the channels, the transistors Tr2, Tr3 . . . of the current mirror cannot be designed for operating in a linear region and the transistors Tr2, Tr3 must be implemented with long channel transistors. Unfortunately, this causes great voltage drops between the drain-sources of the transistors Tr2, Tr3 . . . , thus decreasing the efficiency of the current mirror in its entirety.
FIG. 1B is a circuit diagram illustrating a current mirror further employing an operational amplifier. In order to improve the efficiency of the current mirror in its entirety, conventionally, operational amplifiers 101 are often employed for coupling with gates of the transistors Tr2, Tr3 . . . of the current mirror, for introducing an operational amplifier 101 feedback mechanism. The operational amplifiers 101 are provided for controlling the transistors Tr2, Tr3 . . . to operate in the linear region. The resistors R with small resistance are further employed for reducing additional voltage drops. In such the way, voltage drops between the drain-sources can be reduced, and the entire efficiency of the current mirror can be improved. However, different offset voltages of operational amplifiers 101 of different channels often cause errors of currents i1, i2 . . . of the channels. This decreases the matching of the currents.


An emergency information lighting system (100/200/300), comprising a primary light source (110/210/310) and a housing (112/212/312) for the primary light source (110/210). The housing (112/212/312) includes a first wall (120/220/320) with indicia openings (126/226/326) which correspond to emergency information. The primary light source (110/210/310) emits primary light, which passes through the indica openings (126/226/326) to display the emergency information to a viewing environment. The housing (112/212) or a bulb (316) incorporates a phosphorescent material (132/232/332) which, in the absence of the primary light, emits passive light to display the emergency information to the viewing environment.

A common emergency information lighting system comprises a primary light source and a housing for the primary light source. The primary light source has electrically powered lighting components (e.g., filaments, transformer ballast, etc.) and an envelope (i.e., a "bulb") that surrounds these lighting components. The housing typically comprises a series of walls, and a front wall includes indica openings which correspond to emergency information. For example, the openings can spell out the word "EXIT" or show an arrow pointing in an appropriate escape direction. A business office, factory, school, or other public building can have dozens and sometimes even hundreds of such emergency information lighting systems.
When the primary light source is illuminated, the primary light shines through the indicia openings, thereby displaying the emergency information. However, when the primary light source is not illuminated because its power supply is interrupted, the information will not be visible. In this situation, supplemental power can be provided via a battery or secondary electric source (e.g., an on-premise emergency generator) so that the emergency information will remain visible during emergency conditions.


A method and apparatus for emulating a perimeter induction unit, in which the perimeter induction unit is replaced by an emulation unit carried in a plenum above the space to be heated or cooled. A temperature sensor is mounted within the space, and a computer provides programmed control, either centrally or locally. The emulation unit is connected to the primary air ducts and secondary liquid source formerly used for the perimeter induction unit. It includes a primary air inlet for accepting and regulating a flow of ventilated, preconditioned primary air from the primary air ducts, and a secondary air inlet for accepting a flow of return air from the space as well as filtering the return air and passing it over a heat exchanger carrying secondary cooling liquid at a preselected temperature. Primary and secondary air is mixed within a mixing chamber and delivered to the space by a blower at a preselected combined air volumetric flow rate. A computerized controller implements a control method that allows the system to maintain the space at a selected temperature during summer or intermediate/winter load patterns.

This invention relates to the field of air conditioning, and more specifically to the field of retrofitting existing air conditioning devices with more effective devices to improve occupant comfort and take advantage of inherent diversity in air conditioning loads.
The perimeter induction unit is a type of air conditioning device that was widely used in non-residential building construction during the period 1950-1975. It should be noted that the term "air conditioning" is used herein in its general sense, encompassing all methods of treating air to obtain desired temperature and humidity levels, including cooling, heating and humidification processes. The perimeter induction unit is described in detail below in connection with FIG. 1, and for the present it suffices to describe this unit as an effort to reduce existing air conditioning construction costs in large buildings by performing a portion of the final air conditioning in the space to be conditioned, rather than centrally. Thus, instead of heating or cooling air centrally and distributing it in relatively large ducts, this system supplies primary air at relatively high pressure in small ducts, together with heated or chilled secondary liquid, so that air from the space could be conditioned as required to achieve to desired temperature and humidity. The result was the units found mounted on the floor at the outer wall of many offices, hotel rooms and the like, easily identified by their intake grilles located adjacent the floor and outlet grilles located in the upper horizontal surface. Most such systems were installed as "two-pipe" systems, having a single liquid supply line and a single liquid return line, shared by the chilled and heated water systems, which of course cannot operate concurrently. This system is described in detail in a number of references, and is well summarized in the 1987 ASHRAE Handbook: Heating Ventilating and Air-Conditioning Systems and Applications, published by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, at pages 3.1-3.3.
Although the perimeter induction unit did achieve decreased construction costs, it has presented significant problems in service. First, the savings in HVAC system installation is offset by space lost in the heated space, owing to the conditioning unit itself, generally mounted on the floor. This space amounts to about 5-8% of usable floor space in a normal office. Also, this system is particularly unsuited for buildings where large variances in thermal load are experienced. Night building heat loss, coupled with large solar gains require the air conditioning system to be able to provide heating and cooling in the same occupied period. This situation is most prevalent in the early spring and late fall. Unlike buildings using a distributed air system, even zoning the building will not allow for simultaneous heating and cooling of different zones, as the secondary liquid system must be either heated or chilled, not both.
Perhaps most seriously, however, perimeter induction units are inherently susceptible to problems arising during normal use, such as the "bookshelf" effect. The unit is generally about as high as a desk-top or window sill, and the availability of that much flat space in most offices is a magnet for books, papers and the like. These articles cover the outlet grilles, leading to user complaints about poor heating or cooling. Similarly, the secondary heating or cooling that takes place in the unit itself is accomplished by a coil, which is generally protected by a filter. This imposes a maintenance problem greatly exceeding the task of cleaning centrally-located filters, and any lack of such maintenance is soon felt in decreased system effectiveness. Additionally, performance problems may be addressed by inexperience maintenance personnel, or by users themselves, by simply opening secondary liquid flow valves or lowering secondary water temperature in a misguided attempt to improve performance. In fact, such adjustment can produce condensation on the secondary liquid coil, and if the system is not equipped with a condensate removal system (as many are not) then damage to the building rapidly ensues.
Given their many problems, one would expect building owners to abandon perimeter induction units altogether, in favor of modern variable air volume systems. Unfortunately, however, such conversions are not so simple. Primarily, the original justification for perimeter induction units was their small duct requirements, and replacing the entire duct system in an office building is not an attractive option. Structural constraints in vertical ducting and primary equipment spaces virtually eliminate this option. Similarly, some owners have tried to implement a conversion on a floor-by-floor basis rather than installing a central system, but that design requires a mechanical room on each floor, coupled with local duct work and air handling units. Therefore, the expected space gains from such a conversion quickly disappear.
What the art needs, but has not been able to devise, is a way to employ the basic design of the perimeter induction unit system while replacing the units themselves, without requiring replacement of the entire building distribution system. That system is offered in the present invention.

Method and apparatus for emulating a perimeter induction unit air conditioning system


A hanger seal system includes a first seal and a second seal disposed between a hanger and a hanger housing, creating a fixed-volume annular region filled with a first fluid; and a trapped pressure compensator (TPC) disposed in the annular region and filled with a second fluid. The TPC is collapsible from an initial position to a collapsed position in response to a pressure being applied to the outside of the TPC exceeding a predetermined amount. Additionally, the TPC occupies an initial volume in the initial position and a reduced volume in the collapsed position and a fluid pressure in the annular region exceeding the predetermined amount causes the TPC to move from the initial position to the collapsed position. This causes an increase in volume of the annular region such that the fluid pressure in the annular region is below the predetermined amount when the TPC is in the collapsed position.

In subsea hydrocarbon drilling operations, a tubing hanger is attached to the topmost tubing joint in the wellhead to support the tubing string. The tubing hanger is typically located in a tubing hanger housing, with both components incorporating a sealing system to ensure that the tubing conduit and annulus are hydraulically isolated.
Seals are used between the tubing hanger and the tubing hanger housing to seal off wellbore pressure. The use of multiple seals forms a fixed-volume annular region between the tubing hanger, the tubing hanger housing, and the seals and does not allow pressure to be released from this region. In some instances, a fluid such as seawater may occupy this annular region. During hydrocarbon production, the temperature of the fluid in the annular region may increase, for example as a result of the increased temperature of the hydrocarbons flowing through the tubing string supported by the tubing hanger. Increasing the temperature of a fluid in a fixed volume can greatly increase the pressure of the fluid. This increase in pressure may challenge the integrity of the annular seals, tubing hanger, or tubing hanger housing.


A pneumatic coupling for connecting a driven machine member, such as a gantry type carriage of a measuring machine, to a drive member whereby the driven member is moved along a given axis; the coupling substantially comprising a bracket integral with the driven member and defining two facing walls. perpendicular to the aforementioned axis; and a drive element integral with the drive member. and located between the walls of the bracket via the interposition of respective air pads. fitted to the walls via respective spherical supports.

The present invention relates to a pneumatic coupling for connecting a driven machine member, such as a gantry type carriage of a measuring machine, to a drive member whereby the driven member is moved linearly along a given axis.
For precision applications, such as measuring machines, driven members are connected by pneumatic couplings to the drive members for moving the former linearly along a given axis. Such couplings comprise a bracket integral with the driven member and defining two facing walls perpendicular to the axis along which the driven member travels; and a drive element integral with the drive member, located between said walls, and cooperating with the same via the interposition of a fluid passage.
Movement of the drive element along said axis is thus transmitted to the bracket and, consequently, to the driven member, via the fluid passage, which presents a high degree of rigidity perpendicular to its thickness. Any "spurious" movement perpendicular to the axis of motion, due to vibration or dimensional inaccuracy of the drive system, is prevented from being transmitted to the bracket by virtue of the fluid passage providing for very little friction between the drive element and bracket.
Known couplings of the type briefly described above present several drawbacks, which it is an object of the present invention to eliminate.
Firstly, due to the very small thickness (roughly 10 .mu.m) and the rigidity of the fluid passage, known couplings do not provide for compensating for any spurious rotation about an axis perpendicular to the axis of motion, which rotation is transmitted to the driven members of the machine, thus impairing measuring precision.

Pneumatic coupling for connecting a driven machine member to a drive member


The present invention is a process for designing the internal cooling passages with these small scale features using a meshed solid model in a FEA program to perform the CFD analysis. Instead of modeling these small scale features (cooling holes, impingement holes, and turbulators) in the meshed FEA solid model, most of the small scale features are replaced by grid extraneous source terms in which the small scale feature is eliminated from the solid model and replaced with point source terms. The source terms can duplicate the effect of the feature within the analysis without requiring the complex analysis that such features would require in the analysis. Text files for each of the cooling holes, impingement holes and turbulators are inputted and then translated into grid extraneous source terms that include position, energy, and continuity. A conjugate CFD solver performs an analysis and produces new values for the thermal and boundary conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to air cooled turbine airfoils, and more specifically to a process for modeling of specific detailed features including turbulators, impingement holes and film holes in a turbine airfoil.
2. Description of the Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
A gas turbine engine includes a turbine section with at least one stage of stator vanes and rotor blades that are exposed to a high temperature gas flow from the combustor for the extraction of mechanical energy used to drive the compressor of the engine, or in the case of an industrial gas turbine engine (IGT) to also drive an electric generator. It is well known in the art of gas turbine engines that the efficiency of the engine can be increased by passing a higher temperature gas flow into the turbine. However, a limit to the highest temperature is imposed by the material properties of the first stage airfoils and to the amount of internal cooling provided to these airfoils. Later stages of airfoils also may require cooling but are not as limiting as to the turbine inlet temperature as are the first stage airfoils because the first stage is exposed to the highest temperature.
A cooled turbine blade design for a heavy-duty gas turbine has major specification targets to be achieved, which include performance, emissions, lifetime, and cost and development time. The front stages of the gas turbine are exposed to the most severe conditions in terms of loading, specifically the thermal loads, requiring materials such as nickel based single crystal alloys, which result in associated costs in the manufacturing supply chain. The consequences of working closer to an achievable technology limit in general results in engineering design of new components being complex, engineering development time raises and constraints become more severe, overall investment risks increase, individual process steps become more dependent on each other and interfaces get more complex, and the available response time to field issues are reduced. Desired inlet temperatures are about 2150 K for an aircraft engine and 1850 K for an IGT, which far exceed the allowable material temperatures of 1320 to 1475 K for super alloys without thermal barrier coatings (TBC) and 1475 to 1625 K with a TBC. But, effective in addition to efficient cooling are needed because the slightest over temperature in any part of the turbine material such as a hot spot in a blade or vane from insufficient cooling will lead to failure of that part.
Lifting of cooled turbine blades and vanes is also an important design factor in a gas turbine engine. These airfoils are exposed to cycles of high operating temperature with high stress levels due to rotation and/or pressure forces followed by low temperatures and forces when the engine is shut down. Lifting of cooled turbine blades requires three-dimensional finite element models to be available which represent the part detail in a physically reduced complexity which can be handled with available methods and computing power. It takes development engineers involved (mainly aerodynamic design, mechanical design, cooling and mechanical integrity) several months to get an iterated feasible design solution, where, what is often called an "optimum solution", has been allowed only limited iterations on the overall three-dimensional level involving all interfaces in between disciplines.
The design goal for a turbine blade (or vane) is to reduce the temperature of the blade surface to within the material capability using a minimum amount of cooling flow. The internal geometry is designed to sufficiently cool the blade allowing it to efficiently operate at very high temperatures. Cooling fluid extracted from the compressor is circulated through internal serpentine passages that internally cool the blade by a combination of convection and impingement cooling. The design intent in the internal passages is to maximize the heat transfer coefficient. Flow is extracted from the internal cooling circuit and ejected through numerous small holes located near the leading edge, as well as along the pressure side and suction side of the external surface for film cooling purposes. The turbine blade geometry and associated fluid dynamics and thermodynamics is complex, three-dimensional and unsteady. The internal flow-fields alone can be quite challenging to study computationally due to the internal serpentine cooling circuit. The external flow-field is challenging to model computationally due in part to the scales of the film cooling holes in relation to the overall geometry.
Traditionally, the heat transfer problem has been studied by decoupling the external flow, internal flow and film cooling holes. By this, we mean that the modeling of the external flow, internal flow and film cooling holes is done separately. Thermal modeling of a modern convective/film cooled gas turbine airfoil has traditionally been distributed over three domains. They include a flow path fluid domain (calculated with correlation or computational fluid dynamics or CFD), an internal cooling fluid domain (calculated with correlation or CFD), and an airfoil solid domain (calculated with finite element analysis or FEA). The three domains must communicate together in order to achieve a balance of mass flow and thermal energy. This communication between the three domains has typically been achieved through script driven transfer of thermal/flow boundary condition information, which is a time consuming and error prone process.
Recent modeling of cooled turbine airfoils include the use of conjugate heat transfer in which not only is the heat transfer in the turbine material accounted for but also the coupling between the internal and the film cooling of the turbine material. Conjugate heat transfer modeling simultaneously solves all three domains in a single coupled model, potentially saving time and virtually eliminating heat balance errors between the three domains. The metal temperature and gas pressure information may be passed directly to the FEA mechanical model. However, prior art conjugate simulations for entire internal and film cooled turbine blades are few due to the high computational cost.
A majority of the cooling air (and therefore the design effort) in modern turbines is used by the first and second stage airfoils for cooling. These cooling designs tend to have a high convective efficiency internal cooling schemes that exhaust cooling air in the form of film cooling. A modern cooled industrial power turbine airfoil may have multiple serpentine passages feeding about 1000 film holes. To further add to the complexity, internal cooling effectiveness is augmented by around 100 turbulators or around 2000 impingement holes. All features are important to the thermal model and cannot be neglected without compromising physical accuracy. However, conjugate CFD analysis of such a configuration is not practical due to the meshing effort and the computational demands.
The primary difficulty associated with conjugate analysis of the aforementioned modern airfoil is a result of miss-matched length scales. For example, an industrial gas turbine airfoil may have a passage height of about 200 mm which is a manageable solution by industry standards but approaching the upper limit of practicality for use in an iterative design environment. This same 200 mm airfoil may have around 1000 plus film holes with a diameter of around 1.0 mm. It is known that a maximum cell size of 1/10th to 1/50th of the hole diameter is required to capture film hole physics for accurate prediction of film cooling. To decrease average flow path cell size from 1.0 mm to 0.1 mm increases the mesh size by three orders of magnitude. Accordingly, aggressive mesh size transition (high manpower) must be used to keep computational demands within the limits of practicality. Many attempts have been made to automate the meshing process. However, the geometric complexity of internal cooling circuits has largely prevented efficient automation.

Process for conjugate CFD analysis of a turbine airfoil


A thermoplastic composition comprises polycarbonate, an impact modifier having a pH of about 3 to about 7, and a flame retardant essentially free of bromine and chlorine.

The disclosure related to polycarbonate compositions, particularly to impact modified polycarbonate compositions.
Addition of rubbery impact modifiers is commonly used to improve the toughness of aromatic carbonate polymer compositions. It is particularly desirable for impact modified polycarbonate compositions to have ductile properties below freezing temperatures (0° C.) so that the compositions may be employed in a range of temperatures and conditions. In many applications the compositions must also be flame retardant. Unfortunately, the inclusion of rubbery impact modifiers often has a negative impact on flame retardancy. Halogenated flame retardants have, in the past, provided flame retardancy without a significant negative impact on physical properties. Due to environmental concerns however it is considered important to employ flame retardants that are free of bromine and chlorine. Some commonly used flame retardants that are free of chlorine and bromine frequently must be used in amounts that have a negative impact on physical properties. Thus, the combination of flame retardancy and desirable physical properties, particularly ductility, can be difficult to achieve, especially at a thickness less than 5 millimeters (mm).
Accordingly, there is a need for an impact modified polycarbonate composition with good physical properties and flame retardancy at a thickness less than 5 mm.


A method and apparatus for identifying tissue structures in advance of a mechanical medical instrument during a medical procedure. A mechanical tissue penetrating medical instrument (22) has a distal end for penetrating tissue in a penetrating direction. An optical wavefront analysis system (32-50) provides light to illuminate tissue ahead of the medical instrument and receives light returned by tissue ahead of the medical instrument. An optical fiber (30) is coupled at a proximal end to the wavefront analysis system and attached at a distal end to the medical instrument proximate the distal end of the medical instrument. The distal end of the fiber has an illumination pattern directed substantially in the penetrating direction for illuminating the tissue ahead of the medical instrument and receiving light returned therefrom. The wavefront analysis system provides information about the distance from the distal end of the medical instrument to tissue features ahead of the medical instrument.

During invasive medical procedures employing a tissue penetrating medical instrument, such as a needle or a scalpel, there is a need to identify tissue structures in advance of the medical instrument so as to control the depth of penetration of the tip or cutting edge of the medical instrument. This may be done to ensure that the penetration is to the right depth, but usually more importantly, this is done to ensure that the medical instrument does not penetrate too deeply and thereby damage tissue structure unnecessarily.
During surgery important tissue is often damaged inadvertently. For example, biopsy patients often report a loss of sensation or motion control due to nerve damage sustained during surgery. It would be desirable to provide surgeons with a means to visualize better or measure the distance of the tip of a surgical device, such as a scalpel, to nerve tissue so that the surgeon can avoid penetrating tissue so deeply as to damage the nerve tissue.
Another current medical problem occurs during tests of certain body fluids or during localized injections, where a needle used to extract body fluids or inject medication must penetrate one body structure without penetrating a subsequent structure. For example, in performing a spinal tap it is desirable to penetrate the dural membrane containing the spinal fluid, but highly undesirable to penetrate, or even touch the spinal cord itself as that can cause sever injury and potentially permanent paralysis. Yet, this is generally carried out without the aid of any means for seeing the physical relationship of the tip of the spinal tap needle to the spinal structures or even a way of measuring the distance from the tip to structure that must not be penetrated. Similarly, in carotid injections in small laboratory animals it is often difficult to find the artery or vein in small animals, and it can be very difficult to keep from penetrating entirely through the artery or vein, once it is found. This can make drug delivery excessively time consuming and difficult to control.
The use of optical coherence domain reflectometry ("OCDR") has been disclosed as a technique for examining the reflectivity of an animal structure to a limited depth therein. In OCDR a short coherence length light source is used in a scanning Michelson interferometer to determine the distance of a point from which light is scattered to a reference position. This is disclosed, for example, in Swanson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,579 entitled METHOD AND APPARTUS FOR PERFORMING OPTICAL MEASUREMENTS, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. In particular, Swanson et al. discloses the use of a fiber optic Michelson interferometer having a test fiber placed adjacent to the surface of an animal structure and coupled through a lens for illuminating the structure and coupling the backscattered light back into the fiber. The backscattered light is then interfered with a scanning reference reflector to measure the reflectivity profile of the structure to a limited depth therein. However, the usefulness of this technique is limited by the size and vulnerability of the lens assembly associated with the test fiber.
Tearney, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,003, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING OPTICAL MEASUREMENTS USING A FIBER OPTIC IMAGING GUIDE WIRE, CATHETER OR ENDOSCOPE, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, extends OCDR to optical coherence tomography ("OCT"). Tearney et al. discloses that an OCDR test fiber may be combined with a catheter or endoscope having a scanning imaging system at the distal end thereof for obtaining multiple measurements of the distance to a body structure used to create a tomograhic image of the structure. Like Swanson et al., the disclosure of Tearney et al. is limited by the use of an optical system at the distal end of the test fiber, and it is static with respect to tissue depth. Colston et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,669 entitled OPTICAL COHERENCE DOMAIN REFLECTOMETRY GUIDEWIRE, which discloses a fiber optic OCDR system for guiding a guidewire through an arterial system is similarly limited.
A method for analyzing tissue based on the information obtained from OCT is also discussed in Song et al., "Simultaneous measurements of thickness and refractive index of microstructures in obscure specimens by optical coherence tomography," Optik Volume 111, Issue 12, pages 541-543 (2000). Like Swanson et al. and Tearney et al., the disclosure of Song et al. is limited optics and essentially static depth measurements.
A technique for analyzing the contours of eye surfaces using OCT to provide autofocussing of a laser scalpel in eye surgery has been disclosed in Wei et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,004,314 entitled OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY ASSISTED SURGICAL APPARATUS. While in-line tomography, that is, obtaining OCDR data relative to various locations along the axis of propagation of the OCDR light is disclosed, this system is limited to use with a non physically invasive laser tool applied to the eye, which is especially adapted for light transmission, and is limited by the use of large, free-space optics for coupling the OCDR into the eye.
Winston et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,228,076 entitled SYSTEM AND MTHOD FOR CONTROLLING TISSUE ABLATION describes the combining OCDR with an endoscope used for laser ablation to distinguish tissue. However, it is limited in applicability by the size of the endoscope and distal optics.
In both manual and robotic surgery, the surgeon and surgical robot must know: (a) where a cut is occurring, and (b) what is being cut. This information describes the current state of a procedure. In addition, ideally the surgeon and robot would know where a cut is about to occur and what is about to be cut. This information, referred to as feedforward, is much harder information to acquire.
A surgical robotic arm typically provides, from sensors mounted thereon, six position values, six velocity values, and six acceleration values. Combining this information with basic anatomy information can let the robot know where and what it is cutting and to estimate what it is cutting, but does not allow the robot actually to sense the tissue that is being cut or to sense ahead of the cut. Such advance, or feedforward, information, as well as feedback, has been supplied for surgical procedures by, magnetic resonance imaging ("MRI") and ultrasound on a routine basis. However, neither of these techniques has sub-millimeter resolution. So, for delicate work they are not optimal. In addition, MRI is severely constrained in application by its size, its cost, and the strength of the magnets involved. Ultrasound has considerably worse spatial resolution than MRI.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system that can be used both to determine the current state of a mechanical tissue penetrating medical instrument, such as a mechanical scalpel, biopsy needle, or injection needle, to scan tissue ahead of the medical instrument while it is moving, to identify and avoid damaging tissue structures such as blood vessels and nerves.

Tissue structure identification in advance of instrument


The present invention is directed to methods for an off-site supervisor or well owner to evaluate the rig load data provided by a well service rig at a well site by evaluating charts of sensor data obtained from sensors on or associated with the well service rig. A rig load data chart can be reviewed and activities completed by the rig identified based on the data curves on the rig load data chart. In addition the hook load carried by the service rig can be determined by evaluating the rig load data charts of sensor data. Furthermore, well bore and tubing conditions in the well can be analyzed based on the rig load data in the rig load data charts while tubing and rods are being pulled from the well or well bore.

After a well has been drilled, it must be completed before it can produce gas or oil. Once completed, a variety of events may occur to the formation causing the well and its equipment to require a "work-over." For purposes of this application, "work-over" and "service" operations are used in their very broadest sense to refer to any and all activities performed on or for a well to repair or rehabilitate the well, and also includes activities to shut in or cap the well. Generally, work-over operations include such things as replacing worn or damaged parts (e.g., a pump, sucker rods, tubing, and packer glands), applying secondary or tertiary recovery techniques, such as chemical or hot oil treatments, cementing the well bore, and logging the well bore, to name just a few. Service operations are usually performed by or involve a mobile work-over or well service rig (collectively hereinafter "service rig" or "rig") that is adapted to, among other things, pull the well tubing or rods and also to run the tubing or rods back in. Typically, these mobile service rigs are motor vehicle-based and have an extendible, jack-up derrick complete with draw works and block. In addition to the service rig, additional service companies and equipment may be involved to provide specialized operations. Examples of such specialized services include: a chemical tanker, a cementing truck or trailer, a well logging truck, perforating truck, and a hot-oiler truck or trailer.
It is conventional for a well owner to contract with a service company to provide all or a portion of the necessary work-over operations. For example, a well owner, or customer, may contract with a service rig provider to pull the tubing from a specific well and contract with one or more service providers to provide other specific services in conjunction with the service rig company, so that the well can be rehabilitated according to the owner's direction.
It is typical for the well owner to receive individual invoices for services rendered from each company that was involved in the work-over. For example, if the portable service rig spent thirty hours at the well site, the customer well owner will be billed for thirty rig hours at the prevailing hourly rate. The customer is rarely provided any detail on this bill as to when the various other individual operations were started or completed, the speed at which the operations took place, how much material was used, or whether any problems were encountered in the well. Occasionally, the customer might be supplied with handwritten notes from the rig operator, but such is the exception, not the rule. Similarly, the customer will receive invoices from the other service companies that were involved with working over the well. The customer is often left with little to no indication of whether the service operations for which it is billed were done properly, and in some cases, even done at all. Further, most well owners own more than one well in a given field and the invoices from the various companies may confuse the well name with the services rendered. Also, if an accident or some other notable incident occurs at the well site during a service operation, it may be difficult to determine the root cause or who was involved because there is rarely any documentation of what actually went on at the well site. Of course, a well owner can have one of his agents at the well site to monitor the work-over operations and report back to the owner, but such "hands-on" reporting is often times prohibitively expensive.
The present invention is directed to evaluating rig load data provided to a chart in a display from sensors on the service rig to determine the activities accomplished by the service rig, the hook load carried during an activity by the service rig and well bore conditions evaluated by reviewing the rig load data during the removal of tubes and rods from a well or well bore.

Method and system for evaluating weight data from a service rig


A tunable optical filter includes a tunable Fabry-Perot (FP) filter, two tunable waveguide Bragg gratings (WBGs) and a 2×2 3-dB coupler. In one embodiment, the WBGs are implemented in a silicon substrate using polysilicon filled trenches. The FP filter is implemented with two silicon nitride trench WBGs with a gap region between them. The FP filter and the WBGs are respectively tuned to transmit and reflect a selected wavelength. A broadband optical signal is propagated into a first port of the coupler. The coupler propagates half of the beam to one WBG and the other half to the other WBG. The WBGs reflect these portions back to the coupler, which then propagates the reflected portions to the FP filter.

Transmission bandwidth demands in telecommunication networks (e.g., the Internet) appear to be ever increasing and solutions are being sought to support this bandwidth demand. One solution to the problem is to use optical networks, where dense wavelength-division-multiplexing (DWDM) technology is used to support the ever-growing demand for higher data rates. Commonly used optical components include optical filters.
One conventional optical filter uses a Fabry-Perot (FP) filter. As is well known, FP filters have two reflective surfaces and a cavity between. A FP filter allows optical signals of the resonant wavelengths to pass through, reflecting signals that are not of the resonant wavelengths. However, a conventional FP filter has multiple transmission peaks with the distance between peaks referred to as the free spectral range (FSR). FP filters achieve relatively narrow pass bands, which are desirable in many optical filter applications, but the multiple transmission peaks may be unsuitable for DWDM applications. The FSR may be decreased by lengthening the distance between the reflective surfaces, but this increases the width of the pass bands. Further, conventional PWC-based FP filters are typically implemented using MEM technology or other relatively complex technology. Thus, a conventional FP filter may not be practical for use in DWDM applications.
On conventional optical filter uses a Fabry-Perot (FP) filter. As is well known, FP filters have two reflective surfaces and a cavity between. A FP filter allows optical signals of the resonant wavelengths to pass through, reflecting signals that are not of the resonant wavelengths. However, a conventional FP filter has multiple transmission peaks with the distance between peaks referred to as the free spectral range (FSR). FP filters achieve relatively narrow pass bands, which are desirable in many optical filter applications, but the multiple transmission peaks may be unsuitable for DWDM applications. The FSR may be decreased by lengthening the distance between the reflective surfaces, but this increases the width of the pass bands. Further, conventional PWC-based FP filters are typically implemented using MEM technology or other relatively complex technology. Thus, a conventional FP filter may not be practical for use in DWDM applications.

Silicon-based tunable single passband optical filter


An information display system is provided having a transmitter and a plurality of uniquely identified display terminals, each terminal having an IR receiver. Uniquely identified sets of messages are transmitted in by the IR transceiver for reception by the display terminals. Between each set of transmissions, the receiver is periodically activated. Once the presence of a transmission is sensed by the receiver, a timer forces the receiver to remain activated while it compares the uniquely identified received messages to the display terminals unique identification. The receiver stores the message that matches the identification of the display terminal and the timer forces the receiver to remain deactivated at least until the entire set of transmissions has been completed.

An exemplary electronic information display system provides an integrated pricing and advertising system for displaying up-to-date pricing information as well as advertising information on remote display terminals throughout a retail store as described and disclosed in patent application Ser. No. 07/753,004, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/352,553, now abandoned. Generally, such a system has a store platform computer which provides a data base for pricing and advertising information within each store. A plurality of battery powered electronic information display terminals, which communicate with the store platform computer via an optical link, are mounted throughout the store at various merchandising locations. The optical link is implemented by an IR transceiver (or a grid of IR transceivers) which is electrically connected to the store platform computer and by an IR transceiver in each of the remote display terminals.
Two important requirements for electronic display terminals are low price and long battery life. Typically, the battery life must be four to five years. In order to make an inexpensive battery last for four to five years, the average current drain over the life of the battery must not exceed about 15 microamps. Considering that an infrared receiver may consume up to 3 mA if it continually remains activated over a five year period, measures must be taken to reduce the power consumption of the receiver.

Power conserving receiver operation for a remote electronic display system


In order to avoid the continuation of the abnormality control state by detecting the disconnection abnormality of the ground wiring line of a power supply control device provided between a DC power supply and a plurality of inductive loads, the power supply control device to which electric power is supplied through a power supply terminal includes a microprocessor that performs switching control of power switching elements, a constant voltage power supply, and commutation diodes connected in parallel to inductive loads, a power capacitor connected between the power supply terminal and a ground terminal is charged by the commutation current of the intermittently driven inductive loads when the ground terminal is disconnected and accordingly the voltage of the power capacitor rises, and the disconnection abnormality of the ground wiring line is detected when the voltage exceeds a predetermined threshold value and the power switching elements are simultaneously cut off.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply control device for inductive loads that controls the duty ratio of a power switching element connected between a DC power supply and an inductive load. In particular, the present invention relates to an improvement of a power supply control device when ground terminals of a DC power supply, an inductive load, and a power supply control device are connected to a common ground circuit through separate ground wiring lines.
Background Art
In the related art, for example, in a linear solenoid that is a part of an in-vehicle electrical load, a power switching element is interposed at the upstream position of each of a DC power supply as a vehicle battery and a linear solenoid as a plurality of inductive loads, and an excitation current for each inductive load is variably adjusted by controlling the duty ratio of the power switching element.
As a current control device for such a known electrical load, a current control device based on an external feedback control method is disclosed in which the duty ratio of a power switching element is controlled through a comparison deviation integrating circuit, which is configured by hardware, according to a conduction command signal, which corresponds to a conduction target current that is generated by a microprocessor, and a current detection signal by a current detection resistor connected in series to the linear solenoid (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).
In addition, a current control device for an electrical load based on an internal feedback control method is disclosed in which a microprocessor that sets a conduction target current controls the duty ratio of a power switching element through comparison deviation integrating means, which is configured by software, according to a current detection signal by a current detection resistor connected in series to a linear solenoid (for example, refer to Patent Document 2).
In addition, a power supply control device for an in-vehicle electrical load is disclosed in which ground terminals of an in-vehicle electrical load, which is an inductive load, and a power supply control device therefor are connected to the vehicle body and an additional connection between the ground terminals is made by the external common negative line (for example, refer to Patent Document 3).    [Patent Document 1] JP-A-2006-100509 (FIG. 1, abstract)    [Patent Document 2] JP-A-2006-238668 (FIG. 1, abstract)    [Patent Document 3] JP-A-2008-107157 (FIG. 1, abstract)
According to Patent Documents 1 and 2 described above, negative terminals of the current control device as a power supply control device, the vehicle battery as a DC power supply, and the linear solenoid as an inductive load are connected to the vehicle body, which is a common ground circuit, through separate ground wiring lines.
In addition, the current control device has an abnormality determination function. For example, when a closing command is given to the power switching element, if no voltage is applied to the inductive load, a disconnection abnormality of the switching element or the load wiring line is determined. In addition, when an opening command is given to the power switching element, if a voltage is applied to the inductive load, a short-circuit abnormality of the switching element or a short-to-power abnormality in which the positive-side load wiring line is short-circuited to the power line is determined. Thus, abnormality detection is performed for each linear solenoid.
However, there is a problem in that the current control device performs an uncertain control operation and accordingly accurate abnormality determination cannot be performed when the disconnection abnormality of the ground wiring line occurs due to poor contact of a negative terminal connector of the current control device or the loosening of a terminal of a vehicle body connecting portion of the ground wiring line, and the like.
In addition, in the case of Patent Document 3 described above, an external common negative line other than the vehicle body ground connection needs to be added between the in-vehicle electrical load as an inductive load and the power supply control device. Accordingly, there is a problem in that the wiring cost is increased.

Power supply control device for inductive loads


Disclosed herein is a function for controlling sound output during power on. Upon the start of its booting-up process, a mobile communication terminal determines whether a key for entering the silent mode is pressed by the user. If the corresponding key is pressed, the mobile communication terminal changes a sector of a profile in which sound information is stored, so as to boot-up in the silent mode. Because the mobile communication terminal can change the current profile during the booting-up, the user can prevent the power-on sound from being generated during power on.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method for entering a silent mode and a mobile communication terminal for the same, and in particular, a method for enabling entry into a silent mode upon power on and a mobile communication terminal for the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the use of mobile communication terminals becoming more popular, various convenient user functions are being realized. In particular, as mobile communication terminals increasingly serve as an information processing apparatus that provide necessary information to the user regardless of time and place, various related functions are being added thereto. For example, mobile communication terminal users can exchange a variety of information with each other, to inquire after the other party's welfare or make important appointments.
Mobile communication terminals, which nowadays are one a necessity frequently used in everyday life, offer various user conveniences, but causes unexpected disadvantages as well. For example, the alerting tone of the mobile communication terminal, when generated in a public place, often causes the surrounding persons to feel uncomfortable. Further, the alerting tone of the mobile communication terminal, generated during a public performance or a concert, may cause the actors or musicians to lose their attention. As a solution to this problem, there is a method for switching an alerting mode of the mobile communication terminal to the silent mode.
Mobile communication terminals create other problems when powered on. For example, when turning on a mobile communication terminal that was powered off in a vibration mode, the mobile terminal will boot-up in a silent state. However, when turning on a mobile communication terminal that was powered off in a normal mode, the process of booting-up the mobile terminal will generate a Power-On sound. As a result, when the user intends to turn on the mobile communication terminal in a public place such as a lecture room or a conference room, the Power-On sound may be generated, because the user cannot control the sound generated during power-on.
The conventional mobile communication terminal cannot control the sound during power-on because a sector of a profile in which the sound information is stored by the terminal manufacturer is fixed, so the mobile communication terminal intactly reads the previously stored profile information.

Method for entering silent mode and mobile communication terminal for the same


A combination fertilizer and seeding Implement includes a front section of disk type fertilizer openers and a rear section of frame mounted seed openers. The fertilizer openers are connected by drawbars to a rockshaft which is vertically adjustable to accommodate different ranges of operating depths of the frame mounted tools. Shank depth is set by frame height, and the vertical adjustability of the rockshaft facilitates a wide range of frame operating heights for different tool depths while maintaining optimum disk opener drawbar angles.

During agricultural seeding operations, placing fertilizer in soil at controlled separation from seed helps prevent high fertilizer concentrations from harming the young plants. Machines are available with a machine configuration having separate openers for seed and fertilizer. With many of the separate opener configurations, there is a reduced number of fertilizer openers. Typically there is one fertilizer opener for two seed openers, and the fertilizer application point is approximately equally spaced between the two seed application points. An example of such a machine is the John Deere 1895 Air Drill with two rows of disk-type rockshaft-mounted seed openers combined with one row of disk-type rockshaft-mounted fertilizer openers. Another example is the Bourgault 5710 Air Hoe Drill with shank-type frame-mounted seed openers and frame-mounted disk-type fertilizer openers. Disk-type openers are relatively complex and expensive compared to hoe openers. However, disks tend to have lower draft and higher residue flow capacity. Controlling fertilizer placement depth on frame mounted fertilizer openers can be difficult and time-consuming.
On implements wherein the operating depth of a shank opener is set by the machine frame position, changes in fertilizer placement relative to seed placement require adjustment of the position of a disk-type fertilizer opener relative to the frame. Changes in the disk opener position relative to the frame are also required to raise the disk opener above the ground surface when only the shank openers are in use. Rockshaft mounted openers typically have a limited range of preferred rotational position due to a limited acceptable range of attack angles between the application boot and the soil surface.

Seeding implement with front rockshaft-mounted fertilizer openers


A method for aligning the sputter target onto a backing plate having a peripheral arcuate-shaped flange on its bonding surface to provide an aligned and uniform solder bonded interface; and the sputter target/backing plate assembly so produced.

Cathodic sputtering is widely used for the deposition of thin layers of material onto desired substrates. Basically, this process requires a gas ion bombardment of a target having a face formed of a desired material that is to be deposited as a thin film or layer on a substrate. Ion bombardment of the target not only causes atoms or molecules of the target materials to be sputtered, but imparts considerable thermal energy to the target. This heat is dissipated beneath or around a backing plate that is positioned in a heat exchange relationship with the target. The target forms a part of a cathode assembly that, together with an anode, is placed in an evacuated chamber filled with an inert gas, preferably argon. A high voltage electrical field is applied across the cathode and the anode. The inert gas is ionized by collision with electrons ejected from the cathode. Positively charged gas ions are attracted to the cathode and, upon impingement with the target surface, these ions dislodge the target material. The dislodged target material traverses the evacuated enclosure and deposits as a thin film on the desired substrate, which is normally located close to the anode.
In addition to the use of an electrical field, increasing sputtering rates have been achieved by the concurrent use of an arch-shaped magnetic field that is superimposed over the electrical field and formed in a closed loop configuration over the surface of the target. These methods are known as magnetron sputtering methods. The arch-shaped magnetic field traps electrons in an annular region adjacent to the target surface, thereby increasing the number of electron-gas atom collisions in the area to produce an increase in the number of positive gas ions in the regions that strike the target to dislodge the target material. Accordingly, the target material becomes eroded in a generally annular section of the target face, known as the target raceway.
In a conventional target cathode assembly, the target is attached at a single bonding surface to a nonmagnetic backing plate to form a parallel interface in the assembly. The backing plate is used to provide a means for holding the target assembly in the sputtering chamber and to provide structural stability to the target assembly. Also, the backing plate is normally water-cooled to carry away the heat generated by the ion bombardment of the target. Magnets are typically arranged beneath the backing plate in well-defined positions to form the above-noted magnetic field in the form of a loop or tunnel extending around the exposed face of the target.
To achieve good thermal and electrical contact between the target and the backing plate, these members are commonly attached to each other by use of soldering, brazing, diffusion bonding, mechanical fastening or epoxy bonding.
Smooth surface diffusion bonding is an applicable method of bonding, but has only limited use in the bonding of sputtering target components. The bond is produced by pressing the material surfaces into intimate contact while applying heat, to induce metallurgical joining and diffusion to a varying extent across the bond interface. Bonding aids, metal combinations which are more readily joined, are sometimes applied to one or both of the surfaces to be bonded. Such coatings may be applied by electroplating, electroless plating, sputtering, vapor deposition or other usable techniques for depositing an adherent metallic film. It is also possible to incorporate a metallic foil between bonding members that has the ability to be more easily bonded to either of the materials to be joined. The surfaces to be joined are prepared by chemical or other means to remove oxides or their chemical films which interfere with bonding.
Smooth surface diffusion bonding requires extreme care in preparation and in maintaining surface cleanliness prior to and during the bonding operation to ensure reliable bond qualities. Because the diffusion bond interfaces are planar, they are subject to stressing in simple shear which commonly leads to peeling away at the ends of the bond area. The formation of brittle intermetallics at the bond interface, which increase in thickness with the associated long times of heat exposure, add to the potential of bond shear failure. An additional technique for bonding, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,459 includes the pre-bonding step of providing machined grooves in the surface of one of the components to be solid-state bonded. This feature causes disruption of the bond surface of the associated component during heated pressure application. The material having the greater strength of hardness will normally be provided with the grooves such that, during bonding, it will penetrate into the softer member with the softer metal substantially filling the grooves.
Groove bonding is applicable to bonding many dissimilar materials, but is limited to materials that have dissimilar melting temperatures because the process must occur near the melting temperature of the lower melting point alloy. This precludes the use of this technique for similar metals. It is also possible that the saw tooth nature of the grooves may act as a stress concentrator and promote premature cracking in the alloys near the bonds. Furthermore, machining of the grooves is a time consuming operation.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,836,506, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, a method is disclosed for performing a surface roughening treatment to the bonding surface of the sputter target and/or backing plate, followed by solid state bonding. This roughening surface treatment provides 100% surface bonding compared to only 99% surface bonding in the absence of the surface treatment. The treatment further provides a bond with over twice the tensile strength of a bond formed from the non-treated smooth surfaces.
In all of the above diffusion bonding processes, elevated temperatures of varying degree are applied to form the bond between the target and the backing plate. Thus, in each of these processes, changes in the microstructures of the target and backing plate materials are likely to occur because prolonged exposure of metals to elevated temperatures causes grain growth. Great strides have been made in this art to process sputter target blanks to achieve certain microstructures that are linked to increased sputtering efficiency and improved thin film quality. After a desired microstructure is obtained in the sputter target, the microstructures could be in jeopardy of being altered by elevated temperature bonding methods for attaching the target to the backing plate.
Additionally, although diffusion bonding has been proven successful, extra large target/backing plate assemblies require large scale diffusion bonding presses and this poses a significant capital expenditure.
Prior art attempts to solve the problem of distorting the microstructure of the sputter target and maintaining a consistent and uniform bond, requires the placing of wire gauges between the sputter target and backing plate. This method is labor intensive, costly and the wire spacer gauges tend to move during the bonding process. Additionally, when the wire gauges are used on the outer edges of the sputter target assembly, bowing of thin or large targets can occur due to an inconsistent thickness of sputter target material. Thickness uniformity of sputter targets is particularly important for ferromagnetic materials in order to achieve good thickness and sheet resistance uniformity of sputtered films.
It is an object of the invention to provide a method of forming a bonded sputter target/backing plate assembly that has a uniform thickness bond interface and uniform flatness of the target sputtering surface.
Another object of the invention is to provide a bonded sputter target/backing plate assembly that does not compromise the microstructural characteristics of the sputter target.
Another object of the invention is to provide a bonded sputter target/backing plate assembly having at least two spaced-apart peripheral flange segments disposed on the bonding surface of the backing plate and at least two peripheral notch segments to accommodate the at least two peripheral flange segments on the backing plates.

Sputter target and backing plate assembly


A porous metal structure having a continuous metal phase intermingled with a continuous tortuous porous phase. The continuous tortuous porous phase can be made to terminate at a surface of the porous metal structure with elongated pores. The porous metal structure can be made to have a bulk density divided by the density of the metal of from, for example, 0.99 to 0.01. Such structures can be made by electrodepositing a metal in the interstitial spaces of a polymer foam and by electroforming a metal in the interstitial spaces of a stretched porous structure of sintered polymer beads.

The instant invention is in the field of porous metal structures. More specifically, the instant invention relates to porous metal structures having elongated pores and/or porous metal structures having relatively high density and methods for producing such structures.
A number of metal foam structures have been reported; see, for example the text book by Ashby et al., Metal Foams, A Design Guide, 2000, ISBN 0-7680-0555-8. Metal foams are characterized as having open cell topology or closed cell topology. The metal of either structure is a continuous phase. The cells of the closed cell structure are a discontinuous phase entrapped in the continuous metal phase. The cells of the open cell structure are interconnected to form a continuous tortuous phase intermingled with the continuous metal phase.
Open cell porous metal structures to be used, for example, as substrates for battery electrodes can be made by depositing a metal (such as nickel) onto the surfaces of an open cell polymer foam preform (usually open cell polyurethane foam) followed by vaporization of the polymer, see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,076,888; 4,957,543; and 5,738,907. The '907 patent pointed out that the pores of such open cell porous metal structures tend to be somewhat oval in shape but can be made to be more isotropic (not unlike the combination of a circle and a polygon) by appropriate stretching of the open cell polymer foam preform in a direction transverse to the direction of production of the foam.
The cell size of open cell porous metal structures ranges from about 0.1 millimeter to about 2 millimeters, Ashby, supra. The relative density (relative to solid metal) of open cell porous metal structures ranges from as low as 0.02 to about 0.25, Ashby, supra. The relative density of sintered metal structures (such as sintered bronze bearings) ranges from about 0.6 to about 0.88.
In 1977 Frank E. Towsley was granted a patent on a unique open cell porous metal structure made, for example, by electrodepositing a metal in the interstitial spaces of a compacted bed of polystyrene particles followed by dissolution of the polystyrene, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,371, herein fully incorporated by reference.
Towsley used such a porous cellular metal, for example, in an improved electrolytic cell; see U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,992, herein fully incorporated by reference. Towsley suggested a number of other applications such as a filtration membrane, an electrode assembly for batteries, lightweight structural members, impact energy absorbers, and abrasive grinding combinations.
The cell diameter of Towsley's open cell porous metal structure can be relatively small (for example, 0.0001 millimeter) to relatively large (for example, 1 millimeter or more) depending of the diameter of the polystyrene particles used. The relative density of Towsley's open cell porous metal structure ranged from about 0.01 to about 0.5.
The aspect ratio of an anisotropic pore of an open cell porous metal structure is the ratio of the larger diameter of the pore divided by the smaller diameter of the pore. Due primarily to surface tension forces, the pores of open cell porous metal structures tend to be generally spherical in shape. However, it would be an advance in the art of open cell porous metal structures if the aspect ratio of the pores were greater than 1.5. For example, pores having an aspect ratio of greater than 1.5 (at least at the surface of the filter) are preferred for filtering particulate materials from fluids so that the filtered particulate does not blind or block the pore. In addition, it would be an advance in the art if the relative density (relative to solid metal) of open cell porous metal structures could be increased over prior art structures.


A dispenser assembly for a refrigerator appliance is provided. The dispenser assembly includes a dispenser body that defines a dispenser recess. A heated liquid water outlet is configured for directing a flow of heated liquid water towards a container within the dispenser recess. The dispenser assembly also includes a cooling mechanism configured for selectively directing a flow of gaseous fluid towards the container within the dispenser recess.

Certain refrigerator appliances include a dispenser for directing ice from the refrigerator's ice maker and/or liquid water to the dispenser. A user can activate the dispenser in order to direct a flow of ice or liquid water into a cup or other container positioned within the dispenser. Liquid water directed to the dispenser is generally chilled or at an ambient temperature. However, certain refrigerator appliances also include features for dispensing heated liquid water.
Heated liquid water can be used to make certain beverages, such as coffee or tea. Refrigerators equipped to dispense heated liquid water can assist with making such beverages. However, such beverages are generally brewed at relatively high temperatures, and consumers generally consume such beverages at lower temperatures. Consuming beverages at relatively high brew temperatures or handling containers with beverages at relatively high brew temperatures can be inconvenient and undesirable.
Accordingly, a refrigerator appliance with features for cooling liquid within a container positioned in a dispenser of the refrigerator appliance would be useful.

Dispenser assembly for a refrigerator appliance


The present invention relates to a light-emitting device comprising at least one light-emitting diode, which emits light, and a housing arranged to receive at least a portion of said light. The housing comprises a translucent inorganic material and is provided with at least one recess, which comprises positioning and orientating means. The at least one light-emitting diode is arranged in the at least one recess and is positioned and orientated by said positioning and orientating means, and a translucent inorganic contact layer material is arranged between the at least one light-emitting diode and the housing in the at least one recess to receive at least portion of the light and to connect said light-emitting diode to said housing.

Semiconductor light-emitting devices, such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and laser diodes (LDs), are among the most efficient and robust light sources currently available.
Light extraction is a key issue for light emitting devices. A common problem with semiconductor light-emitting devices is that the efficiency with which light may be extracted from the device is reduced due to internal reflection in the interface between the device and the surroundings, followed by reabsorption of the reflected light in the device. The internal reflection is due to that the refractive index of the device materials is higher than the refractive index of the material in which the device is packaged or encapsulated.
For high efficient light extraction, it is advantageous if the light extracting materials are in direct contact with the light-emitting device. However, in high power applications, where single solid-state light emitting devices with an effect of up to 3 Watts per square mm or arrays of such devices, with a total effect of up to 100 Watts or more, a lot of heat is dissipated from the light emitting devices. Temperatures of up to 250° C. are easily reached for such high power application.
Thus, for high-power applications, a heat resistant encapsulation has to be used. Thus it would be advantageous to use a fully inorganic approach, as inorganic materials may be chosen that have very high temperature resistance.
JP-2003179270-A describes a semiconductor light emitting element coated directly with a translucent coating material made of polymetaloxane or ceramic and that is heat resistant.
However, the processing temperature for connecting the coating material and the light emitting element must be low, e.g. lower than 340° C., or otherwise, the n/p-junctions in the light emitting element will be damaged.
For coatings/encapsulations of ceramic materials, it would be advantageous to be able to use higher temperatures, for example to increase the range of different materials which can be used, and in steps of attaching other components, such as for example lenses, to the encapsulation.
However, substrates and circuitry on which light-emitting semiconductor devices are arranged are often heat sensitive. Thus, it would be advantageous with a device that allows for high-temperature processing of the encapsulation without damaging the substrate and/or circuitry.
For high-intensity applications, it would also be advantageous to be able to easily arrange several semiconductor light-emitting devices under one and the same encapsulation to, for example, reduce the size of the device and to improve color mixing.

Light-emitting device with inorganic housing


A ball grid array semiconductor package includes a semiconductor chip mounted to the top side of a printed circuit board (PCB), having a copper circuit pattern at a position outside a chip mounting zone. A plurality of bond wires electrically connect the chip to the copper circuit pattern. A rectangular ring-shaped metal heat spreader is attached to the PCB surrounding the chip, with the outer periphery of the ring substantially coextensive with the outer periphery of the PCB. A molding compound is provided in a zone inside the heat spreader thus protecting the chip and wires from atmosphere, while the molding compound extends to a heat spreader portion, leaving other portions of the heat spreader exposed to atmosphere. A plurality of solder balls are included on the bottom side of the PCB and are used as signal input and output terminals of the package. The BGA package easily dissipates heat during the operation of the package, improving the operational reliability of the package. A plurality of grooves may be formed on the heat spreader, to improve the integrating force between the molding compound and the heat spreader and to protect the chip from moisture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a method of producing BGA (ball grid array) semiconductor packages and to a BGA package produced through such a method and, more particularly, to an improvement in such a method for producing BGA packages, with improved quality, improved heat dissipating effect and reduced manufacturing cost, by forming a strip or reel-type metal carrier frame by attaching a plurality of unit PCBs (printed circuit boards) to individual PCB carriers of a metal carrier frame and by using a part of such a metal carrier frame as heat spreaders of individual resulting BGA packages.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIGS. 1A and 1B show the construction of a typical BGA (ball grid array) semiconductor package. As shown in the drawings, the typical BGA package comprises a PCB (printed circuit board) 1 and a semiconductor chip 2 attached to the top of the PCB 1. The chip pads of the semiconductor chip 2 are electrically connected to the circuit pattern 11 of the PCB 1 through a plurality of wires 3. The semiconductor chip 2, which is attached to the top of the PCB 1, is packaged with a mold compound 4 thus being prevented from being brought into contact with atmosphere and being prevented from oxidation or corrosion.
In the prior art, such BGA packages are produced using a PCB strip, which includes a plurality of PCBs integrated into a single strip and having individual circuit patterns 11. However, such a method of producing the BGA packages using such a PCB strip is problematic in that the method causes waste of an expensive PCB and thereby increases the manufacturing cost of the BGA packages.
That is, the typical method of producing such BGA packages uses a PCB strip, which includes a plurality of PCBs 1 integrated into a single strip, in an effort to smoothly feed the PCBs and to effectively control the positions of PCBs. However, after producing the BGA packages, it is necessary to cut the PCB strip into individual PCBs, with PCB margins being cut out and discarded thus increasing the manufacturing cost of the packages.
In addition, the PCBs 1 used in the typical BGA packages is made of resin, so that the PCBs 1 may be deformed due to thermal expansion while they are treated in repeated high temperature steps of a package producing process. Such thermally-deformed PCBs cause problems during continued steps of the package producing process.
In the typical BGA package, a plurality of solder balls 5 formed on the PCB 1 are used as signal input and output terminals of the package. When the tips of the solder balls 5 are not leveled on the same plane thus failing to maintain the flatness, the package has some open solder balls when the package is mounted to a mother board. In this case, the BGA package cannot perform its function. When the PCBs 1 are thermally deformed or bent while they are treated in the repeated high temperature steps as described above, the solder balls 5 on each PCB 1 inevitably fails to maintain the flatness, so that such solder balls 5 reduce the quality of a resulting package and thereby reducing productivity and operational reliability of the BGA packages.

Ball grid array semiconductor package using a metal carrier ring as a heat spreader


A process for the preparation of a fluoroiodoalkane compound represented by the formula: CF3(CF2)n—Y, wherein n is 0 or 1. The process includes contacting A, B and C. A is represented by the formula: CF3(CF2)n—Y, wherein n is 0 or 1, and Y is selected from the group consisting of: H, Cl, Br, and COOH. B is a source of iodine, and C is a catalyst containing elements with d1s1 configuration and lanthanide elements. The process occurs at a temperature, and for a contact time, sufficient to produce the fluoroiodoalkane compound.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure is related to the synthesis of CF3I and CF3CF2I. More particularly, the present disclosure is related to a family of catalysts used in the synthesis of CF3I and CF3CF2I.
2. Description of Related Art
Trifluoroiodomethane (CF3I) and pentafluoroiodoethane (C2F5I) are useful chemicals. CF3I is a potential fire extinguisher substituting for trifluorobromomethane, a fluorine-containing intermediate compound for introducing a trifluoromethyl group in producing surfactants, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, and a refrigerant with low global warming potential when blended together with some hydrofluorocarbons. C2F5I is used as a synthesis intermediate in many applications related to the field of fluorinated surface-active substances, and more particularly, as bases for fire-extinguishing formulations, as hydrophobic and olephobic finishes on various substrates, and as a medical agent.
Both batch and continuous processes have been developed for the production of trifluoroiodomethane. For batch process, it has been shown that trifluoroiodomethane can be prepared by reacting trifluoroacetic acid or its derivative with iodine. However, this process required strict control of reaction conditions and moisture level in source materials, and moreover, expensive silver trifluoroacetate had to be used in order to achieve a high yield of trifluoroiodomethane.
Alternatively, trifluoroiodomethane can be made through continuous vapor-phase reaction. However, the catalyst families developed so far for known processes are limited to supported salts of alkali and alkaline earth metals and CuI. These catalysts suffered from rapid deactivation due to carbon formation during reaction and/or the loss and sintering of active components in catalysts.
Accordingly, there is a need to develop alternative catalyst systems and processes that overcome, alleviate, and/or mitigate one or more of the aforementioned and other deleterious effects of the prior art catalysts and processes.


A bubble making apparatus and method for producing an orderly chain of simply connected large bubbles. Bubble forming vents are provided into a bubble forming chamber at one end of a bubble forming tube. Bubbles propagate along the tube and are expelled through a bubble outlet port as a chain of bubbles with the aid of air flow through bubble propulsion vents. The chain of bubbles is supported by air flow from an air outlet port disposed below the bubble outlet port.

The earliest bubble making device has been known for centuries, and simply consists of a surface containing an opening, most frequently a hoop or ring, that can be dipped into an appropriate bubble forming solution (liquid soap, for example). Surface tension causes the bubble solution to form a film that stretches across the opening, and a bubble is readily formed and expelled from the opening in response to the user blowing gently on the film in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the opening.
Of course, this bubble blowing device most often serves as a toy for small children, and like many other toys, has been updated over the years in the wake of progressing technology. There is hardly a toy available that has not been improved through electronic or other means to produce the same results as manually operated toys of days gone by, and these technologically improved toys enjoy widespread popularity. Children of today demand toys that are active rather than passive in nature, and the market has responded with a wide variety of electronic and electromechanical toy products.
There are many examples of mechanized bubble blowing devices, some operated by battery power, that can produce many more bubbles than a simple manual bubble blowing device of the type just described. The deft user of the simple bubble blowing toy can produce many special effects with bubbles, and among the favorites is the construction of a chain of bubbles, sometimes involving competitions centering around the production of the longest chains.
There are mechanized devices available that can produce limited chains or garlands of bubbles, but these have the disadvantage of producing their garlands from a massive volume of very small bubbles, or requiring manual intervention by the operator to produce viable chains of simply connected large bubbles.
Accordingly, a need arises for an electrically operated bubble making toy that will produce lengthy chains of relatively large, simply connected bubbles without requiring the manual intervention of the user.