An optical system for shaping a laser beam is disclosed. The system includes a first optical element that has a lateral surface which is designed as a reflecting surface for the laser beam, where the lateral surface reshapes the laser beam at least in some segments thereof into a ring-shaped laser beam. The at least segmentally ring-shaped laser beam propagates in a propagation plane. A further optical element is provided for shaping the ring-shaped laser beam that shapes the ring-shaped laser beam at least in some segments thereof in a plane parallel to the propagation plane of the laser beam.

The present invention relates to an optical system for shaping a laser beam and to a laser system having such an optical system.
On an incident interface, a laser beam is generally split into three parts: a first part is reflected at the interface (reflected laser beam), a second part passes through the interface into the second optical medium (transmitted laser beam) and a third part is absorbed at the interface (absorbed laser beam). An interface is defined as a surface that is arranged between two media of different refractive indices. An interface at which a laser beam predominantly passes from a first into a second optical medium is referred to as a transmitting surface. An interface at which a laser beam is predominantly deflected within an optical medium is referred to as a reflecting surface. The respective fractions of the reflected, transmitted and absorbed laser beam can be modified, for example, via the wavelength and/or the angle of incidence of the incident laser beam and/or via a coating of the interface.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,497,018 discloses a laser system in which a spot-shaped laser beam is reshaped by means of an optical system into a laser beam that is ring-shaped at least in some segments thereof. The laser system includes a housing, and a beam device arranged within the housing that comprises a beam source for generating a laser beam and the optical system. The optical system comprises a first optical element and a second optical element that is designed as a collimating lens, the optical elements being arranged in an optical mount. The beam source generates a divergent primary laser beam that impinges on the collimating lens which collimates the primary laser beam and generates a parallel laser beam. The collimated laser beam impinges on the first optical element which is arranged downstream from the collimating lens in a propagation direction and is designed as a conical mirror. A conical mirror is a reflective optical element that is designed at least in some segments thereof in the shape of a cone having a base and a lateral surface abutting the base. The lateral surface of the conical mirror is designed as a reflecting surface at which the collimated laser beam is deflected through 90° and reshaped into a laser beam that is ring-shaped at least in some segments thereof.
The known optical system for shaping a laser beam generates on a target surface a line-shaped laser mark. A shortcoming lies in that the optical system is not suitable to display in the laser plane, in addition to the line-shaped laser mark, also spot-shaped laser marks, which are suited, for example, for transferring right angles.
The aim of the present invention is to develop an optical system and a laser system having such an optical system, in which it is possible, in addition to displaying a line-shaped laser mark, to transfer angles from one target surface onto another target surface.
According to the present invention, a further optical element for shaping the at least segmentally ring-shaped laser beam is provided, the further optical element shaping the ring-shaped laser beam at least in some segments thereof in a plane parallel to the propagation plane. This embodiment has the advantage in that it is possible to generate spot-shaped laser marks on a target surface in addition to a line-shaped laser mark that the ring-shaped laser beam generates on the target surface. If two spot-shaped laser marks are arranged at a specified angle to one another, the angle can be transferred with the aid of the two spot-shaped laser marks from one target surface onto another target surface.
In a preferred embodiment, the further optical element for shaping the at least segmentally ring-shaped laser beam is integrated into the lateral surface of the first optical element or directly abuts the lateral surface. This embodiment has the advantage that the alignment of the optical elements relative to each other takes place during manufacturing of the optical system, rather than at a later time, and only one optical mount is required. The alignment effort required on the part of the user is reduced.
In a further preferred embodiment, the first optical element comprises a first lateral surface segment that generates the at least segmentally ring-shaped laser beam, and the further optical element comprises a second lateral surface segment, the second lateral surface segment abutting the first lateral surface segment. The first optical element is assembled from a plurality of segments that abut one another. In this arrangement the segments are selected such that they have the desired beam-shaping properties; a first segment produces a ring-shaped laser beam and a second segment produces a spot-shaped laser beam.
In a further preferred embodiment, a further optical element having at least one interface is provided, wherein the optical element for shaping the ring-shaped laser beam in a plane parallel to the propagation plane is integrated into the at least one interface, or directly abuts the at least one interface. Owing to the optical element for shaping the ring-shaped laser beam in a plane parallel to the propagation plane being integrated into an existing interface, alignment of the optical elements relative to each other takes place during manufacturing of the optical system, rather than at a later time; an additional optical mount is not required.
Particularly preferable, a further optical element for shaping the at least segmentally ring-shaped laser beam in a plane perpendicular to the propagation plane is provided, wherein the further optical element is integrated into the at least one interface or directly abuts the at least one interface. This embodiment has the advantage that a narrow line-shaped laser mark can be generated on the target surface. The ring-shaped laser beam is shaped, for example, with the aid of collimating optics or focusing optics. Owing to the further optical element being integrated into an existing interface, the alignment of the optical elements relative to each other takes place during manufacturing of the optical system, rather than at a later time; an additional optical mount is not required. The alignment effort required on the part of the user is reduced.
The optical element for shaping the ring-shaped laser beam in a plane parallel to the propagation plane and/or the further optical element for shaping the ring-shaped laser beam in a plane perpendicular to the propagation plane are designed preferably as diffractive optical elements, and are integrated into the lateral surface of the first optical element and/or into the at least one interface of the further optical element. Diffractive optical elements shape a laser beam in such a way that the zero order of diffraction of the laser beam generates a line-shaped laser mark on the target surface and the higher orders of diffraction; in particular the first order of diffraction, generate spot-shaped laser marks. An incident laser beam can be shaped with the aid of a diffractive optical element into nearly any desired beam distribution.
The optical element for shaping the ring-shaped laser beam in a plane parallel to the propagation plane and/or the further optical element for shaping the ring-shaped laser beam in a plane perpendicular to the propagation plane are preferably designed as ground optical elements. Spot-shaped laser beams can be collimated or focused by beam shaping optics. The beam shaping optics can be integrated into the ground optical elements via a curved incident surface.
In a preferred embodiment, the first optical element is designed as a base member having a lower base, an upper base, and a lateral surface abutting the lower and upper bases, wherein the lower base and the lateral surface are designed at least in some segments thereof as transmitting surfaces for the laser beam; the base member has a first cutout portion comprising a base that is arranged in the upper base of the base member and the lateral surface which is designed at least in some segments thereof as a reflecting surface for the laser beam. This embodiment has the advantage that only one optical mount is needed and that the alignment of the two optical elements relative to each other takes place during manufacturing of the optical system. The embodiment of the base member that has two transmitting surfaces offers the advantage that additional functions can be integrated into the base member or designed so as to directly abut the base member.
Particularly preferable, the base member has a second cutout portion comprising a lower base which is arranged in the lower base of the base member, an upper base which is designed at least in some segments thereof as a transmitting surface for the laser beam, and a lateral surface abutting the lower and upper bases which is designed at least in some segments thereof as a reflecting surface for the laser beam. The optical system thus has a first and a second reflecting surface for the laser beam, wherein the lateral surface of the first cutout portion arranged in the upper base forms the first reflecting surface, and the lateral surface of the second cutout portion arranged in the lower base forms the second reflecting surface. Owing to the double reflection of the laser beam, the optical system according to the invention is not sensitive to a tilting of the reflecting surface relative to the incident laser beam. Since the second reflecting surface is likewise integrated into the base member of the optical element, only one optical mount is needed and the alignment of the first and second reflecting surface relative to each other takes place during production of the first and second cutout portion in the base member.
Particularly preferably, the first cutout portion of the base member has an upper base that is parallel to the lower base, which upper base is designed at least in some sections thereof as a transmitting surface for the laser beam. This embodiment has the advantage that a spot-shaped plumb beam is generated in addition to the ring-shaped laser beam. The beam shape of the plumb beam can be adjusted via an optical element that is integrated into or directly abuts the upper base. A collimated or focused plumb beam can be generated by collimating or focusing optics.
Also provided is a laser system comprising a beam source for generating a laser beam and comprising the optical system according to the invention. Preferably, an adjustment device is provided whereby the position of the beam source relative to the optical system and/or the position of the optical system relative to the beam source are adjustable in a propagation direction of the laser beam and/or in a plane perpendicular to the propagation direction of the laser beam.
In a preferred embodiment of the laser system there is provided a first optical system which produces a first at least segmentally ring-shaped laser beam and at least one spot-shaped laser beam, and at least one further optical system which produces a further at least segmentally ring-shaped laser beam and at least one spot-shaped laser beam.
Particularly preferred is a third optical system which produces a third at least segmentally ring-shaped laser beam and at least one spot-shaped laser beam. The ring-shaped laser beams are arranged perpendicular to one another or at a specified angle.
In a further preferred embodiment of the laser system, at least one optical system is designed in such a way that in addition to an at least segmentally ring-shaped laser beam and at least one spot-shaped laser beam, both of which extend in the same propagation plane, a spot-shaped plumb beam is produced.
Embodiments of the invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. The drawings are not necessarily intended to show the embodiments true to scale, but instead the drawings are rendered, where expedient for explanation purposes, in schematic and/or slightly distorted form. With regard to teachings readily apparent from the drawings, reference is hereby made to the pertinent prior art for further details. One should bear in mind that a great variety of modifications and changes can be made with respect to the form and detail of an embodiment without departing from the general idea of the invention. The features of the invention that are disclosed in the description, in the drawings and in the claims may be essential for further enhancement of the invention, by themselves and/or in any combination thereof. Furthermore, the scope of the invention also covers any and all combinations of at least two of the features disclosed in the description, in the drawings and/or in the claims. The general idea of the invention is not limited to the exact form or detail of the embodiments shown and described hereinbelow, nor limited to a subject matter that would be limited when compared to the subject matter as claimed in the claims. Where dimensional ranges are given, values that lie within the stated limits shall be usable and claimable also as threshold values. For reasons of simplicity, like reference symbols are used hereinbelow for identical elements or similar elements of identical or similar function.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Optical system for shaping a laser beam and laser system having such an optical system


An apparatus for measuring the flow rate of an intake air flowing through an air passage which communicates with an internal combustion engine is disclosed. The apparatus includes a heat-generating resistor element disposed in the air passage for detecting the flow rate of the intake air in the air passage, and at least one protective member disposed on upstream and/or downstream side(s) of the heat-generating resistor element as viewed in an air flow direction in which the intake air flows through the air passage, so as to extend in a direction perpendicular to the air flow direction. The protective member(s) is/are formed of a water-absorptive porous material, and have a plurality of holes formed through the thickness thereof in the air flow direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a apparatus for measuring the flow rate of intake air in an intake air passage of an internal combustion engine, which apparatus includes a heat-generating resistor element in the form of a hot wire or a hot film, for example, and more particularly to such an measuring apparatus wherein the heat-generating resistor element is effectively protected against dust in the intake air, and/or water, oil and other contaminants in the back fire from the engine.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
As known in the art, various types of air flow meters are disposed in an intake air passage of an internal combustion engine, to detect the flow rate of intake air supplied to the engine. As one type of such air flow meters, there is known a thermal flowmeter as disclosed in JP-B2-1-45009, which includes a heat-generating resistor element in the form of a hot wire, hot film and the like, which is disposed in an intake air passage. The disclosed thermal flowmeter is adapted to determine the flow rate of the intake air, by detecting a change in the electrical resistance of the resistor element, which varies with the amount of heat transfer from the element to the air flowing through the passage.
In the thermal flowmeter thus installed in the intake air passage of the internal combustion engine, the surface of the heat-generating resistor element may be contaminated by dust contained in the intake air, or water, oil and others contained in the backfire blowing back from the engine, whereby the thermal conductivity of the resistor element and consequently the output characteristics of the element are changed. As a result, there arises a deviation of the output of the resistor element from the actual flow rate of the intake air. This deviation gradually increases with an increase in the amount of the contaminants attached to the resistor element, with a result of chronological reduction in the detecting accuracy of the flowmeter.
In view of the above, it has been proposed to provide a protective member or members of various mesh structures, which is/are located upstream and/or downstream of the heat-generating resistor element disposed in the intake air passage, so as to capture dust, water, oil and other contaminants which would otherwise be attached to the resistor element.
Some examples of such protective member are disclosed in JP-A-54-74779, which have various kinds of mesh structures such as a sieve mesh, honeycomb mesh, and a mesh consisting of a bundle of tubes. Another form of protective member is disclosed in JP-A-63-243720, which is a network or honeycomb metal structure having good electric conductivity, adapted for removing an electrostatic charge from dust which passes through the structure. It is also proposed in JP-A-1-169323 to heat a mesh-like member for capturing dust in the intake air, to thereby enhance its capability of capturing the dust. A further form of protective member as disclosed in JP-U-1-102722 is a net which is located in the vicinity of a heat-generating resistor element on the upstream side thereof as viewed in a direction in which the intake air flows. This net is adapted to cause a slight turbulence of the air passing therethrough, so as to give a rotating force to dust passing through the net and thereby prevent the dust from attaching to the resistor element.
However, the protective members as described above are all formed from a metal sheet, a metal wire and the like having a relatively smooth surface, to which dust, water, oil and other contaminants are less likely to be attached. Thus, the known protective members suffer from low capability of capturing the contaminants. Further, the dust, water, oil and others once attached to the protective member are likely to be removed from the member, and eventually pass through the protective member and are attached to the heat-generating resistor element. Thus, the amount of the contaminants attached to the resistor element cannot be effectively reduced by the known protective members.

Intake air flow rate measuring apparatus for internal combustion engine, having water-absorptive porous protective member


Linear or cyclic carbonates as potential monomers for isocyanate-free polyurethanes and polycarbonates were prepared from polyols and dialkyl carbonates or diphenyl carbonates. This invention was developed to produce linear or cyclic carbonates with or without using catalysts. Polyol compounds were reacted with carbonates such as dimethyl carbonate and diethyl carbonate to produce the corresponding linear and/or cyclic carbonate.

With increasing interest in greener alternative processes to produce chemicals and materials, cyclic carbonates, which are potential monomers for the environmentally benign production of aliphatic polycarbonates and polyurethanes by ring-opening polymerization (ROP), have attracted attention in recent years. These aliphatic polymers, besides having traditional applications in engineering, optical devices, seatings, seals, coatings and high performance adhesives, are expected also to find use in biomedical field because of their biocompatibility and low toxicity.
Aliphatic polycarbonates are currently produced industrially from an alkanediol, such as 1,6-hexanediol, and phosgene, triphosgene and dialkyl carbonates. Polyurethanes are produced using polyols, such as alkanediols and glycerol, and isocyanate, which is derived from the reaction between an amine and phosgene. Since phosgene and low-molecular weight isocyanates have undesirable toxicological profiles, attempts have been made to develop routes to make polyurethanes from other sources however none of these have yet been commercially established. A demand has now emerged for isocyanate free polyurethanes for different applications using environmentally friendly production process.
Lately, a number of reports have appeared on the synthesis of cyclic carbonates by a phosgene-free route, but have focused on five-membered cyclic carbonate including addition of carbon dioxide to epoxides using metal containing catalysts under pressure, and by transesterification of polyols with dialkyl carbonate using metal-, or enzymatic (lipase) catalysis. For use in ROP process, however, six-membered cyclic carbonates are preferred to the five-membered one because of being less thermodynamically stable than its ring-opened polymer and thus retaining CO2, during the polymerization process.
Synthesis of six-membered trimethylene carbonate is traditionally achieved by reacting 1,3-propanediol with phosgene or its derivatives. Among the other reactions studied, metal catalysed coupling of oxetane such as trimethylene oxide with carbon dioxide has given high yields of trimethylene carbonate. A method of cyclic carbonate synthesis from 1,3-propanediol and ethyl chloroformate in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of triethylamine has been reported. Transesterification of 1,3-propanediol with dialkyl carbonate catalyzed by metal or organo-catalysts has been proposed as a more environmentally benign procedure. Syntheses of six-membered cyclic carbonates with functional groups from poly-functional alcohol such as trimethylolpropane (TMP) or pentaerythritol (PE) have required more complicated methods with low yields. Polycyclic six-membered carbonates could be prepared by radical polymerization of acrylic monomers with pendant cyclic carbonate groups. As a different approach, tris- or tetrakis (alkoxycarbonyloxy) derivatives, obtained from catalytic transesterification of trimethylolpropane (TMP) and diethyl carbonate (DEC), have been subjected to thermal disproportionation using Aerosil 200 at 200-220° C. followed by distillative depolymerisation under reduced pressure, to give the cyclic product 5-ethyl-5-ethoxycarbonyloxymethyl-1,3-dioxan-2-one with a low yield.
Lipase catalysed synthesis of the six-membered cyclic trimethylene carbonate from 1,3-diol and dimethyl or diethyl carbonate has been achieved in a solvent system of acetonitrile and toluene (4:1, v/v) using very high concentration (600-900% w/w of the diol) of the immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B, Novozym®435 (N435), however with moderate yield (53%) and low productivity.
Synthesis of cyclic carbonates with functional groups using lipase-mediated reaction between TMP and dialkyl carbonate in solvent free condition has recently been reported. The product formed was a mixture of cyclic- and linear (mono-, di- and tri-) carbonates, the proportions of which depended on the reaction conditions used. Subjecting the product mixture to thermal cyclization at 70-90° C. without the biocatalyst converted the linear carbonates to the cyclic ones. However these enzymatic reactions have limitation of high enzyme cost.


An assembly for reusing greywater in a building for flushing toilet and other purpose to save the freshwater. The assembly includes a diverter to route a portion of greywater from drainpipes to a feed line. From the feed line, the greywater is collected in a pump tank. The pump tank has a pump that can lift the greywater from the pump tank to a storage tank positioned at a top level in the building, the pump tank is at the lower level in the building. A supply line transports the greywater stored in the storage tanks to the toilet tanks for flushing the toilet bowl.

Water is precious for human life and must be saved. Besides the use of water for drinking, water is needed for a variety of purposes including domestic and industrial. Recycling of wastewater is also known, and recycled water is used for industrial purposes and the like. However, the higher costs of recycling the water are a major roadblock and countries rely on nature to recycle the water.
Thus, a need is appreciated for devices and methods that allow the reuse of wastewater in a more economical way than recycling the water.
The terms "pipe" and "line" are interchangeably used hereinafter and refers to a conduit for transporting fluid from one point in space to another point in space. The fluid can be liquid or gasses.


Techniques for placing a first storage network device into maintenance mode in a virtualized computing environment in which each data store is connected to at least one host computing system via a storage network device are described. In one embodiment, a first data store having an active input/output (I/O) path to a first host computing system via the first storage network device is identified. Further, migration of virtual machine disks (VMDKs) on the first data store and/or migration of workloads running on the first host computing system are recommended such that the VMDKs can be accessed by the workloads via any other storage network device.

Computer virtualization is a technique that involves encapsulating a representation of a physical computing machine platform into a virtual machine (VM) that is executed under the control of virtualization software running on hardware computing platforms (also referred to herein as "hosts" or "host computing systems"). A group of hardware computing platforms may be organized as a cluster to provide hardware resources for VMs. VMs may use virtual machine disks (VMDKs) to store its operating system, program files, and other data associated with its activities. The VMDKs that the VMs can access may reside on a data store connected to host computing systems via storage network devices such as fibre channel (FC) switches, Ethernet switches, FC over Ethernet (FCoE) switches and the like. In a data center it is common to see multiple storage network devices and multiple VMs running on multiple clusters of hosts, with each host connected to at least one data store via at least one storage network device.

Placing a storage network device into a maintenance mode in a virtualized computing environment


Corrosion inhibiting composition for use in aqueous or semi-aqueous stripping, cleaning, abrasive lapping and abrasive slurry compositions that form 5, 6, 7, or 8-membered chelating rings with a base metal together with a film forming polymeric chelation agent. Optionally there is included an oxygen scavenger.

Corrosion inhibitors are commonly found in cleaning and stripping compositions used in the semiconductor industries where various metals such as aluminum, aluminum alloys, titanium, titanium alloys, titanium/tungsten, tungsten, copper, etc are utilized.
The different functional classifications by which corrosion inhibitor compounds can be categorized are as follows:
1. Chelating agents
2. Reducing agents
3. Oxygen scavengers
4. Film forming agents
5. Oxidizing agents which form a protective film, typically of metal oxide.
None of the corrosion inhibitor types are effective for all mechanisms of corrosion or for all metal or metal alloys. Oxygen scavengers are not particularly effective at eliminating oxygen induced corrosion of iron or its alloys in the presence of an aqueous solution of high ionic character. Neither prior art corrosion inhibitors used in the semi-conductor industry that are chelating agents or oxygen scavengers are effective in preventing corrosion of iron or carbon steel in the presence of water, oxygen or high ionic activity aqueous or semi-aqueous solutions.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,147 to Settineri et al discloses the use of sulfonium corrosion inhibitors which inhibit corrosion of metal surfaces, particularly ferrous and cuprous metal surfaces in aqueous acid solutions alone or in combination with other chelating agents such as an aminocarboxylic acid, for example, ethylene diaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA).
U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,332 to Lee et al, which is herein incorporated by reference discloses chelating agents and solvent systems which can be used with the inhibitors of the present invention. The reference does not disclose a film forming polymeric chelating agent.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,707,947 and 5,753,601, which are herein incorporated by reference, disclose phenol derivatives that adsorb onto or absorb into the surface of neutral (zero valent) metals and/or chelation of their anions with the oxidized cationic metal surface which reduces the dissolution rate of the oxidized surface.


A wavefront interferometry system including: a wavefront interferometer that during operation combines a reference beam from a reference object and a measurement beam from a measurement object to generate a combined beam; and a processor system programmed to processes the combined beam to concurrently generate therefrom a control signal and information about the difference in wavefront profiles of the reference and measurement objects, wherein the control signal controls a system parameter so as to maintain an optical path length difference between a spot on the reference object and a corresponding spot on the measurement object at a constant value mod 2π.

Phase-shift interferometry is an established method for measuring a variety of physical parameters ranging from intrinsic properties of gases to the displacement of objects such as described in a review article by J. Schwider entitled "Advanced Evaluation Techniques In Interferometry," Progress In Optics XXVII, Ed. E. Wolf (Elsevier Science Publishers 1990). The contents of the Schwider article are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference. Interferometric wavefront sensors can employ phase-shift interferometers (PSI) to measure the spatial distribution of a relative phase across an area or two-dimensional section, i.e., to measure a physical parameter across a two-dimensional section.
An interferometric wavefront sensor employing a PSI typically consists of a spatially coherent light source that is split into two beams, a reference beam and a measurement beam, which are later recombined after traveling respective optical paths of different lengths. The relative phase difference between the wavefronts of the two beams is manifested in a two-dimensional intensity pattern or interference signal known as an interferogram. PSIs typically have an element in the path of the reference beam which introduces three or more known phase-shifts. By detecting the intensity pattern with a detector for each of the phase-shifts, the relative phase difference distribution of the reference and measurement beam wavefronts can be quantitatively determined independent of any attenuation in either of the reference or measurement beams.
Phase shifting in homodyne detection methods using phase shifting methods such as piezo-electric driven mirrors have been widely used to obtain high-quality measurements under otherwise static conditions. The measurement of transient or high-speed events have required in prior art either ultra high speed phase shifting, i.e., much faster than the event time scales and corresponding detector read out speeds, or phase shifting apparatus and methods that can be used to acquire the required information by essentially instantaneous measurements.
Several methods of spatial phase shifting have been disclosed in the prior art. In 1983 Smythe and Moore described a spatial phase-shifting method in which a series of conventional beam-splitters and polarization optics are used to produce three or four phase-shifted images onto as many cameras for simultaneous detection. A number of US patents such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,248, U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,938, U.S. Pat. No. 5,663,793, U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,741, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,883,717 disclose variations of the Smythe and Moore method where multiple cameras are used to detect multiple interferograms. One of the disadvantages of these methods is that multiple cameras are required or a single camera recording multiple images and complicated optical arrangements are required to produce the phase-shifted images. The disadvantages of using multiple cameras or a camera recording multiple images are described for example in the commonly owned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/765,368 (ZI-47) entitled "Apparatus and Method for Joint Measurements of Conjugated Quadratures of Fields of Reflected/Scattered and Transmitted Beams by an Object in Interferometry" by Henry A. Hill. The contents of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/765,368 are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference.
An alternative technique for the generation of four simultaneous phase-shifted images for a homodyne detection method has also been disclosed by J. E. Millerd and N. J. Brock in U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,330 B1 entitled "Methods And Apparatus For Splitting, Imaging, And Measuring Wavefronts In Interferometry." The technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,330 B1 uses holographic techniques for the splitting of a beam into four beams. The four beams are detected by a single pixelated detector. One consequence of the use of a single pixelated detector to record four phase-shifted images simultaneously is a reduction in frame rate for the detector by a factor of approximately four compared to a PSI recording a single phase-shifted image on a single pixelated detector with the same image resolution. It is further observed that since the generation of the multiple beams in the technique described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,303 B1 is performed on a non-mixed beam of an interferometer, the alternative technique of U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,303 B1 is most readily applicable to for example a Twyman-Green type interferometer.
Another alternative technique for generating the equivalent of multiple simultaneous phase shifted images has also been accomplished by using a tilted reference wave to induce a spatial carrier frequency to a pattern in an interferogram, an example of which is disclosed by H. Steinbichler and J. Gutjahr in U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,363 entitled "Method For Direct Phase Measurement Of Radiation, Particularly Light Radiation, And Apparatus For Performing The Method." This another alternative technique for generating the equivalent of multiple simultaneous phase shifted images requires the relative phase of the reference and measurement field to vary slowly with respect to the detector pixel spacing.
The another alternative technique for generating the equivalent of multiple simultaneous phase shifted images using a tilted reference wave is also used in an acquisition technology product FlashPhase™ of Zygo Corporation. The steps performed in FlashPhase™ are first acquire a single frame of intensity or interferogram, next generate a two-dimensional complex spatial frequency map by a two-dimensional finite Fourier transform (FFT), next generate a filter and use the filter to isolate a first order signal, then invert the filtered spatial frequency map by an inverse two-dimensional FFT to a phase map or wavefront map. Although the acquisition technology product FlashPhase™ is computationally complex, it is very fast on today's powerful computers.
Other methods of generating simultaneous multiple phase-shifted images include the use of gratings to introduce a relative phase shift between the incident and diffracted beams, an example of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,624,569. However, one of the disadvantages of these grating methods is that careful adjustment of the position of the grating is required to control the phase shift between the beams.
Yet another method for measuring the relative phase between two beams is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,116 in which a linear grating and five detector elements are used. However, this method only measures the difference in height of two adjacent spots on a measurement object and not the simultaneous measurement of a two-dimensional array of spots on the measurement object. The method also generates a set of multiple beams as a mixed beam of an interferometer and therefore has a similar limitation to the technique described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,303 B1 wherein the alternative technique of U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,303 B1 is most readily applicable to for example a Twyman-Green type interferometer.
A disadvantage of the techniques for generating simultaneous multiple phase shifted images described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,303 B1 is a first order sensitivity to variations in the relative sensitivities of conjugate sets of detector pixels and to variations in corresponding properties of the optical system used to generate the four phase shifted images wherein a conjugate set of pixels is four.
It is noted that wavefront sensing can be accomplished by non-interferometric means, such as with Hartmann-Shack sensors which measure the spatially dependent angle of propagation across a wavefront. These types of sensors are disadvantageous in that they typically have much less sensitivity and spatial resolution than interferometric wavefront sensors.
Variable frequency and multiple frequency sources have been used to measure and monitor the relative path length difference such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,474 entitled "System For Measuring Distance Between Two Points Using A Variable Frequency Coherent Source" by R. D. Reasenberg, D. Phillips, and M. C. Noecker and in references contained therein. The contents of U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,474 are herein incorporated in their entirety by reference. The variable frequency source techniques have further been used to remove phase redundancy in making absolute distance measurements.
Prior art also teaches the practice of interferometric metrology using heterodyne techniques and a detector having a single detector element or having a relatively small number of detector elements. Prior art further teaches the practice of interferometric metrology using a step and stare method with a single-homodyne detection method for the acquisition of conjugated quadratures of fields of reflected and/or scattered beams when a detector is used that comprises a large number of detector elements. The term single-homodyne method is used hereinafter for homodyne detection methods wherein the reference and measurement beams each comprise one component corresponding to a component of a conjugated quadratures. The respective conjugated quadrature of a field is |a|sin φ when the quadrature x(φ) of the field is expressed as |a|cos φ.
The step and stare method and single-homodyne detection method are used in prior art in order to obtain for each detector element a set of at least three electrical interference signal values with a substrate that is stationary with respect to the respective interferometric metrology system during the stare portion of the step and stare method. The set of at least three electrical interference signal values are required to obtain for each detector element conjugated quadratures of fields of a measurement beam comprising a reflected and/or scattered field from a spot in or on a substrate that is conjugate to the each detector element.
Commonly owned prior art teaches the practice of acquisition of the respective at least three electrical interference signal values in interferometric metrology when operating in a relatively fast scanning mode wherein each of the at least three electrical interference signal values corresponds to the same respective spot on or in a substrate and contain information that can be used for determination of joint measurements of conjugated quadratures of fields in both spatial and temporal coordinates.
As will be appreciated from the description presented below, various embodiments of the invention described herein involve scanning and non-scanning interferometric metrology using a single- and multiple-homodyne detection methods to obtain non-joint and joint measurements, respectively, of conjugated quadratures of fields either reflected and/or scattered or transmitted by a substrate with a detector having a large number of detector elements, that exhibits an intrinsic reduced sensitivity to effects of vibrations and environmental changes, and that enables compensation of effects of vibrations and of environmental changes. The classification of multiple-homodyne detection methods is used hereinafter for homodyne detection methods wherein the reference and measurement beams each contain information about two components of each of one or more conjugated quadratures. For each spot in and/or on the substrate that is imaged a corresponding set of at least three electrical interference signal values is obtained. Each of the set of at least three electrical interference signal values contains information for determination of either a non-joint or a joint measurement of respective conjugated quadratures of fields and in addition contains information for the enablement of a procedure for the compensation of effects of vibrations and of environmental changes in the phases corresponding to conjugated quadratures as cyclic errors.
Prior art teaches a homodyne detection method, referenced herein as a double homodyne detection method, that is based on use of four detectors wherein each detector generates an electrical interference signal value used to furnish information about a corresponding component of a conjugated quadratures of a field such as described in cited U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,303 B1 and in Section IV of the article by G. M D'ariano and M G. A. Paris entitled "Lower Bounds On Phase Sensitivity In Ideal And Feasible Measurements," Phys. Rev. A 49, pp 3022-3036 (1994). The four detectors generate the four electrical interference signal values simultaneously and each electrical interference signal value contains information relevant to one conjugated quadratures component. Accordingly, the double homodyne detection method does not make joint determinations of conjugated quadratures of fields wherein each electrical interference value contains information simultaneously about each of two orthogonal components of the conjugated quadratures although the four electrical interference signal values are obtained jointly with respect to time.
Various multiple-homodyne detection methods described herein, e.g., the bi-homodyne and quad-homodyne detection methods, obtain measurements of the at least three electrical interference signal values wherein each measured value of an electrical interference signal contains simultaneously information about two orthogonal components of a conjugated quadratures. The faster rate for the determination of conjugated quadratures is achieved when using the quad-homodyne detection method relative to the bi-homodyne detection method to obtain the measured values of the electrical interference signal values in two measurements. The next fastest rate for the determination of conjugated quadratures is obtained when operating the bi-homodyne detection method configured for operation with a set of three phase shift values.
Compensation for effects of vibrations and environmental changes as described herein is implemented by two different procedures. In each of the two different procedures, advantage is taken of properties of various embodiments of the invention with respect to compensation for effects of vibrations and environmental changes as cyclic errors. In one procedure, the compensation for the effects of vibrations and environmental changes is based on information obtained when operating in the reference frame to reduce the effects of vibrations and environmental changes.
In the reference frame, the optical path length difference between a spot on the reference object and a corresponding spot on the measurement object is maintained a constant value mod 2π at the reference frequency. The reference frequency is controlled by using information from a portion of the reference and measurement beams or a portion of the information contained in the respective two-dimensional arrays of electrical interference signal values corresponding to the corresponding spots on the reference and measurement objects.
A description of the first procedure is given in the corresponding portion of the description of the first embodiment of the present invention. In the second procedure, a spatial frequency is introduced into the relative path length between the reference and measurement beam objects and the effect of the spatial frequency is used in the measurement of the cyclic errors in the phases of measured conjugated quadratures that represent the effects of vibration and environmental changes. The measured values of cyclic errors are used in a subsequent procedure to compensate for the effects of vibrations and environmental changes. The measured values of cyclic errors may also be used to monitor changes in position, angular orientation, and/or deformation of a measurement object corresponding to phase measurements mod 2π. The monitored changes in position, angular orientation, and/or deformation corresponding to phase measurements mod 2π can be used as an error signal to a servo systems that control either the reference frequency and/or the relative positions, angular orientations, and/or deformations of the reference and measurement objects corresponding to phase measurements mod 2π.
The error signal used to monitor changes in the relative position of the corresponding portions of the reference and measurement objects comprises two-dimensional spatial Fourier components of the phases of the conjugated quadratures of relative path length differences between the reference and measurement objects corresponding to the cyclic errors. The information about changes in the relative angular orientation of the reference and measurement objects is obtained by using linear displacement information about two different portions of the array of relative path length differences between the reference and measurement objects. The information about changes in relative deformations of the reference and measurement objects is obtained by using linear displacement information about three or more different portions of the array of relative path length differences between the reference and measurement objects.
The spatial frequency is introduced into the relative path length between the reference and measurement beam objects by introducing a tilt between the reference and measurement objects. The role of the tilt which may be used is different from the roles of the tilt used in the product FlashPhase™ and in published US Patent Application 20050046864 entitled "Simultaneous phase-shifting Fizeau interferometer" by J. E. Millerd and J. C. Wyant. In US Patent Application 20050046864, the tilt is used to make it possible to separate the reference and measurement beams after the reference and measurement objects, respectively, so that the reference and measurement beams can be optically processed separately before subsequently recombining the optically processed reference and measurement beams to form mixed output beams. In FlashPhase™, the tilt is used to introduce a spatial carrier frequency that enables the extraction of conjugated quadratures across a wavefront from a single array of measured electrical interference signal values. The tilt in both cases is not used to generate information about the effect of the vibrations and environmental changes.
In the second procedure described herein, the tilt is used to generate information about the effects of the vibrations and environmental changes that appear as cyclic errors for subsequent use in compensation for the effects of the vibrations and environmental changes including the effects of rotation and deformations.
With respect to information content and signal-to-noise ratios, the conjugated quadratures of fields obtained jointly in an interferometric metrology system that is operating in a scanning mode and using either the bi-homodyne or quad-homodyne detection methods are substantially equivalent to conjugated quadratures of fields obtained when operating the interferometric metrology system in a step and stare mode, i.e., a non-scanning mode. The conjugated quadratures of fields obtained jointly when operating in the scanning mode and using either the bi-homodyne or the quad-homodyne detection methods also have reduced sensitivity, i.e., only in second and higher order effects, to pinhole-to-pinhole variations in properties of a conjugate set of pinholes used in a confocal microscopy system and reduced sensitivity, i.e., only in second and higher order effects, to pixel-to-pixel variation of properties within a set of conjugate pixels of a multipixel detector in confocal and non-confocal microscopy systems.
The conjugated quadratures of fields obtained jointly when operating in the scanning mode and using either the bi-homodyne or the quad-homodyne detection method further have reduced sensitivity, i.e., only in second and higher order effects, to pulse to pulse variations of the input beam used in generating the conjugated quadratures of fields and can exhibit reduced sensitivity, i.e., only in second and higher order effects, to a relative motion of a substrate being imaged during the acquisition of joint measurements of the conjugated quadratures of fields. The reduced sensitivity is relative to conjugated quadratures of fields obtained when operating with a single-homodyne detection method in either a scanning or non-scanning mode. In microscopy applications, conjugated quadratures of fields are obtained for each spot in and/or on a substrate that is imaged.
The conjugated quadratures of fields that are obtained jointly in a non-dispersion and dispersion linear or angular displacement interferometer operating in a scanning mode and using either the bi-homodyne or the quad-homodyne detection methods have a reduced phase redundancy problem as compared to non-dispersion and dispersion linear or angular displacement interferometer operating in a scanning mode and using a single-homodyne detection method.
The signal-to-noise ratios obtained operating in the reference frame are generally greater than the signal-to-noise ratios obtained when not operating in the reference frame such as with the techniques for generating simultaneous multiple phase shifted images in the presence of vibrations and environmental changes.

Apparatus and methods for reduction and compensation of effects of vibrations and of environmental effects in wavefront interferometry


A method for assisting a hitching operation between an agricultural utility vehicle and an implement to be attached thereto includes providing a vehicle side first laser unit and a vehicle side second laser unit, generating a first vertical light fan by the vehicle side first laser unit, and generating a second vertical light fan by the vehicle side second laser unit. The first and second vertical light fans are aligned with a hitching point or a reference point that characterizes the hitching point on the implement for carrying out the hitching operation.

A system that assists a driver in hitching a trailer to a vehicle is disclosed in U.S. Publication No. 2010/0212170 A1. The system comprises three point light sources that generate a light pattern on a reflecting surface of the trailer that is to be hitched so that it converges into a single point of light as soon as the trailer is in a position relative to the vehicle that is appropriate for hitching.
A use of the known system is primarily suitable in the automobile sector. Under unfavorable local conditions such as typically arise in the agricultural sector, however, there is the possibility that the points of light cannot be seen or are only poorly seen on the surface of the attachment that is to be hitched because of dirt or interference in the line of sight.
Therefore, there is a need for a method for hitching that has been adapted for use with agricultural utility vehicles.

Method for assisting a hitching operation


A linear motor armature includes a sealed metal case having a base portion with at least one cooling channel formed therein and having a central chamber. An epoxy block is disposed within the central chamber. A lamination stack is disposed within the epoxy block. A coil assembly is disposed within the lamination stack, and the coil assembly is cooled by means of the cooling channel. Preferably, more than one cooling channel is provided to facilitate bi-directional cooling flow.

Many manufacturing applications require the generation of a linear force for movement of machining equipment. Conventional A/C and D/C motors produce a rotary torque about an axis which must be converted into a linear force before it can be used in such applications. Such conversion is accomplished by a screw and nut, a sheave and cable, or a rack and pinion, among others. These designs are problematic in that they tend to wear out relatively quickly, and they are incapable of producing high linear speeds.
Linear motors are also known which directly produce a linear force in response to an electric input. Typically, a linear motor takes advantage of the variable magnetic reluctance produced in the vicinity of slots in a pole face of a magnetic member. An armature of a magnetic material, having windings therein, is urged to step from position to position along the pole face as defined by the slots or, alternatively, the magnetic member is movable while the armature is stationary.
In such designs, the armature portion usually comprises a coil disposed within a lamination stack, and surrounded by an epoxy block. A cooling tube is typically provided adjacent the epoxy block for drawing heat from the armature.
The force which such linear motors are capable of producing is limited by resistive heating in the windings of the armature of the motor. The normally used copper cooling tube requires mechanical retention within the epoxy case, and provides somewhat limited armature cooling capacity. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an improved armature design with increased cooling capacity.
Another problem with such designs is that the epoxy molding may create difficulty in manufacturing the armature. The epoxy is typically molded around the coil and laminate stack within a separate mold. It is then removed from the mold and trimmed, and the mold is cleaned out for the next molding operation. These steps require handling which adds manufacturing cost. Additionally, the wire harness typically gets wet and is subject to damage during epoxy molding and grinding of the epoxy block.
Another shortcoming of prior art designs is that wire harnesses extending from the epoxy block are typically unprotected and exposed to damage or moisture during operation of the linear motor. Wire harness damage may result in substantial downtime for the equipment.
A further shortcoming of prior art designs is that such designs are typically limited to a single-pass cooling arrangement wherein a cooling fluid travels from one end of the armature to another. In this configuration, the cooling fluid may be substantially heated by the time it reaches the opposing end of the armature, and therefore uneven cooling occurs.


In an electronic camera including optics for focusing an image of a subject at an image plane; an area image sensor disposed at the image plane for receiving the image subject and producing a digital image representing the subject; storage memory coupled to the area image sensor for storing the digitized image of the subject; and a moveable display being moveable between a user viewable position to a print position and adapted to be selectively coupled to the storage means for displaying an image of the subject. The camera further includes an optical printer being adapted to be optically coupled to the display when in its print position for producing a hard copy output of the subject represented by the display; and logic and control circuitry being responsive to the display moving to its print position for deenergizing the display after an image to be printed is selected and for reenergizing the display means when in its print position.

It is known in the prior art to provide an electronic camera which uses an area image sensor. Digital images produced from the image sensor are stored in memory and these images can be shown on a display so that the user can determine which image should be stored for use in producing hard copy images. Typically, these images can be stored in a magnetic disk or a compact PCMCIA Flash RAM Card.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,301 an electronic camera is disclosed which includes a display device. The camera also includes a digital-to-analog converter which sends signals to the display. Also, the digital-to-analog converter selectively sends these images to a magnetic tape for storage. Images on the magnetic tape can then be produced as a hard copy by a printer which is provided on the camera. A problem with the approach in U.S. Pat. No. 4,262,301 is approach is that a print must be made in order for a user to determine whether it is satisfactory.
A shortcoming with prior electronic cameras is that the printer is spaced from the camera and must be electrically coupled to digital storage structure within the camera which frequently produces artifacts. Printers often use a structure which provide relative movement of a head and a media sheet which induces artifacts into the output hard copy print and is therefore difficult to provide an effective structure mounted on a camera body.


An injection molding apparatus includes an injector that obtains molten resin by melting resin, and injects the molten resin, a hot runner that is a flowing path of the molten resin, and a temperature rising part that is provided in a part of the hot runner, and increases a temperature of the molten resin to be higher than a melting temperature in the injector.

Injection molding is well known as a method of obtaining a molded product by supplying molten resin injected from an injector to a cavity formed in a mold, and then curing the molten resin by cooling.
In injection molding, resin is melted in an injector, and obtained molten resin is injected from the injector and flowed in a hot runner. The molten resin is further led to a product part forming a part of cavity, via a spool, a gate, and the like formed in a mold. Just before (an upstream side of) a cavity, a nozzle may be disposed as described in Patent Document 1, for example, and the molten resin may be led out from a nozzle and supplied to a cavity.
A temperature of a hot runner is kept at 200-220° C., for example, and a temperature of a mold is substantially at a room temperature. Therefore, the molten resin injected into a cavity is deformed (namely, molded) along the shape of the cavity, cured while decreasing a temperature by heat being removed, and formed as a molded product.
In such injection molding, it is attempted to decrease the amount of resin to lower the product cost, or to produce a thin-wall product with a small thickness dimension (wall thickness) for the purpose of obtaining a lightweight molded product to decrease CO2 emissions. However, in this case, if the injection conditions are the same as those for molding a thick-wall product, a flowing distance of molten resin may be shorten.
When such a situation occurs, for example, molten resin does not reach an end of the product part. In other words, a filling defect occurs and a corresponding portion is lost, or so-called deformation occurs and a defective molded product is produced.
For avoiding such a problem, it is considered to increase a molten resin injection pressure. In this case, a pressing force to molten resin is increased, and a flowing distance of molten resin is expected to increase. However, when a molten resin injection pressure is increased, a burr is likely to occur on a parting surface, especially near a gate. Thus, it is also considerable to increase a mold clamping pressure to narrow a gap causing a burr as much as possible. However, for obtaining a high mold clamping pressure, a large size or high power displacement mechanism is necessary for mold clamping/opening by displacing a movable mold. Thus, an injection molding apparatus is increased in size and weight. Further, such a displacement mechanism is generally expensive, and increases a capital investment.
From the above viewpoint, Patent Document 2 has proposed a method of molding a resin molded product having a thin-wall portion at a low equipment cost. The method comprises forming first and second resin paths in a mold, opening a valve provided in the second resin path after molten resin that is led to a product part from the first resin path passes through a portion forming a thin-wall portion, and supplying the molten resin from the second resin path to an unfilled portion of the product part.
In the related art described in the Patent Document 2, for storing a valve opening timing, or a timing of supplying molten resin from the second resin path, in a control unit, it is necessary to previously determine a relationship between an elapsed time after start of molten resin injection and a molten resin reaching position in a product part by repeating tests. This is troublesome, and takes a long time for performing the tests.
As described in the paragraph [0027] of the Patent Document 2, it is also considerable to provide a detection unit in a product part, and to detect that molten resin passes through a predetermined position by using the detection unit. However, in this case, a molten resin injection pressure must be changed depending on the position of the detection unit.
Thus, it is considered to increase a temperature of molten resin and decrease a viscosity of molten resin by setting a high temperature for melting resin in an injector, and to lead the molten resin into a cavity after maintaining the high temperature/low viscosity state in a hot runner. However, in this case, according to the inventor's intensive studies, a molded product with an insufficient strength may be often produced due to a change in physical properties of the molten resin.
Moreover, the injection molding apparatus disclosed in the Patent Document 2 is of a so-called multipoint gate type, in which a plurality of gates is present for leading molten resign to a product part. Thus, a weld line is formed, degrading the external appearance quality of molded product. In addition, a plurality of valve gates must be provided, increasing mold costs.

Injection molding method and apparatus therefor


The oscillating pressurized spray tip protection assembly is comprised of a tip guard and a lock plate that lock together via securing means over an oscillating spray tip in order to protect against wear when said spray tip is penetrating ground. The spray tip protection assembly utilizes a material that is strong, and more durable than the spray tip enclosed therein such that the life of the spray tip is increased. The tip guard has a cavity contoured to an exterior surface of the oscillating spray tip with an opening at a front end of the tip guard thereby enabling pressurized water to exit from both the oscillating spray tip as well as the tip guard.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of pressure washing equipment, more specifically, pressure washer tips and means of preservation.
Pressure washers and oscillating spray tips used in connection therewith have been around for some time. More specifically, high-pressure water devices are sometimes used to locate buried utility lines by directing a jet of high-pressure water into the ground, which blasts the soil away. This process is sometimes referred to as "potholing." When using a pressure washer and an oscillating spray tip to detect utilities, the oscillating spray tips can wear down as they are repeatedly impacting hard surfaces and rock located underground. Oscillating spray tips are made of brass and can range from $50 to $80, and can wear down after a couple of weeks of use in "potholing." That being said, use of the oscillating spray tips becomes an expensive cost in conducting "potholing" operations. What is needed is a means of prolonging the lifetime of these spray tips.
The device of the application at bar seeks to overcome the shortfalls of oscillating spray tips used in "potholing". A tip protection assembly is uniquely contoured to protect the oscillating spray tips in order to prolong the life thereof.
B. Discussion of the Prior Art
As will be discussed immediately below, no prior art discloses a tip protection assembly for use with an oscillating spray tip, which is comprised of a tip guard and a lock plate that are secured together via securing means; wherein the tip guard is constructed of a material that is more durable than the oscillating spray tip material, and which protects the oscillating spray tip from wear and tear in connection with use as a means of "potholing"; wherein the tip protection assembly when installed upon an oscillating spray tip encases the oscillating spray tip therein so as to prevent unwanted disassembly and exposure.
The Gardner et al. Patent Application Publication (U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0131792) discloses a spray nozzle shroud for a pressure washer tip. However, the spray nozzle shroud is not a tip protection assemblage that is installed and encloses an oscillating spray tip in order to protect said tip from wearing down when potholing.
The Karasawa Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,981,721) discloses a coupling for high pressure fluid having a washer that is designed to extend the life of the joint. However, the coupling is not directed to protection of an oscillating spray tip that is used to penetrate the ground in order to detect utilities located thereunder.
The Perret Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,515) discloses a spray tip for a flat orifice tube that utilizes a rotatable turret member. However, the spray tip for a flat origice tip is not a protection assemblage that preserves the life of an oscillating spray tip when used to penetrate the ground in order to detect utilities.
The McCann Patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,763) discloses a removable reversible spray tip member for use with a variety of airless spray systems. However, the spray tip member is not a spray tip protection assembly that encases an oscillating spray tip in order to protect and prolong the useable life of said spray tip when used to penetrate the ground.
The Gilpatrick et al. Patent Application Publication (U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0270402) discloses an assembly for controlling water turbulence through a high pressure cleaning machine that includes a nozzle body, which has an inlet, an outlet, and a flow path. However, the assembly is not specifically suited for prolonging the useful life of a brass oscillating spray tip that is used to penetrate the ground to detect items thereunder.
The Gardner et al. Patent Application Publication (U.S. Pub. No. 2009/0065612) discloses an adjustable nozzle for a pressure washer. However, the adjustable nozzle is not a spray tip protection assembly that inhibits wear of said spray tip when used to pentrate ground for detecting objects thereunder.
The Strandell Patent (U.S. Pat. No. Des. 524,403) illustrates an ornamental design for a nozzle tip for a pressure washer. Again, the design is not an assembly designed to protect a spray tip from wear when used to penetrate the ground in search of objects thereunder.
While the above-described devices fulfill their respective and particular objects and requirements, they do not describe a tip protection assembly for use with an oscillating spray tip, which is comprised of a tip guard and a lock plate that are secured together via securing means; wherein the tip guard is constructed of a material that is more durable than the oscillating spray tip material, and which protects the oscillating spray tip from wear and tear in connection with use as a means of "potholing"; wherein the tip protection assembly when installed upon an oscillating spray tip encases the oscillating spray tip therein so as to prevent unwanted disassembly and exposure. In this regard, the greeting card display frame departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art.

Oscillating pressurized spray tip protection assembly


An apparatus and method for controlling energy feedback for electric vehicles includes acquiring an accelerator-pedal travel value, a brake-pedal travel value and a current vehicle speed value, and determining whether the brake-pedal travel value is equal to 0%. Feedback torque based on the current vehicle speed value and the brake-pedal travel value with various conditions is then calculated. Mechanical energy generated by the feedback torque T is converted into electric energy and transmitted to battery of the electric vehicle for storing. Accordingly, the endurance mileage of electric vehicle may be effectively prolonged and the utilization efficiency of battery is improved.

During deceleration, the traditional fuel-fired vehicle adopts the mechanical brake. During the braking, the kinetic energy of vehicle is rapidly and greatly consumed by the mechanical friction such that realize the brake effect. This braking manner has the following disadvantages: if the vehicle brakes frequently or continuously, great amount of heat may be generated, and the brake may have the heat regression problem, which may give adverse influences to the brake effect; due to mechanical friction, the service life of brake shall be shortened, and the economy of vehicle shall be reduced. For an electric vehicle, its essential component is the battery, which is very important for the endurance mileage of electric vehicle. If it is decelerated with the brake of traditional fuel-fired vehicle, during braking, the energy is not fed back or absorbed, thereby the utilization rate of energy is very low, and a great amount of energy is wasted, the result is unfavorable for the endurance mileage of electric vehicle.
In prior arts, a regenerative brake energy feedback scheme to improve the endurance mileage of electric vehicle is provided. For example, Chinese patent applications No. CN1473724A and CN1647968A, etc., have mentioned the regenerative braking scheme, however, the structures of their systems are complex and the control methods are very complicated.

Apparatus and method for controlling energy feedback for electric vehicle


Fluid propelled tube cleaning tool for removal of deposits from the interior wall of a tube as a substantially cylindrical body, with a tail portion at one end, with a plurality of spaced cutters, with each cutter having a plurality of cutting blades extending radially from the cutters and with flexible bushings for each cutter which permit the force exerted by the cutter blades against the interior wall of the tube to be adjusted by axially compressing the flexible bushings.

It is well known that fluid driven projectiles or scrappers can be used for the removal of mud, slim, scale or other deposits from the interior wall of a tube, such as a condenser, heat exchanger or similar tubing. Such scrappers generally comprise one or more cutters which extend outwardly from a shaft. Generally, the tail portion of the projectile will contain a section which will enable the projectile to be forced through the tubing by the use of fluid and will also allow for some fluid to pass through the projectile device, cleaning debris from in front of the projectile as the projectile moves through the tube. There are some difficulties with this arrangement, a few of which are the limited contact which a cutter blade has with the inner wall of the tube and the lack of ability to control the pressure exerted by the cutter blades on the inside wall of the tube. Examples of non-adjustable tube cleaning tools are described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,170,997, 2,734,208, and 4,281,432. The present invention is designed to overcome these difficulties by providing a new cutter design that will enable more surface area of each cutter blade to contact the inner wall of the tube. This will enable the tube to be more thoroughly cleaned on each pass of the projectile through the tube, thereby requiring fewer passes to completely clean the tube. In addition, the pressure exerted by each blade can be manually adjusted at the work site which will enable this device to be used on both hard and soft deposits on the interior wall of the tube.


This application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication method in a directional communications system, and a receiver. The method of this application includes: receiving a request message; and performing directional channel listening in a direction facing a transmitter, and sending a response message if it is learned through the listening that a channel is available, or skipping sending the response message if otherwise. According to the method of this application, after receiving the request message, the receiver performs directional channel listening in the direction facing the transmitter.

In a high-frequency (for example, 60 GHz) communications system, a wavefront of an electromagnetic wave attenuates relatively rapidly. Therefore, to increase a coverage area and also effectively suppress interference, a signal is transmitted in the high-frequency communications system by using a directional transmission and directional receiving technology. The high-frequency communications system is one of directional transmission and receiving communications systems.
In the directional communications system, mutual interference exists when different transceiver devices communicate with each other. For example, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing that mutual interference exists in a directional communications system. As shown in FIG. 1, in the directional communications system, a direction of transmission between a TX 1 and an RX 1 is the same as a direction of transmission between a TX 2 and an RX 2. A signal sent by the TX 2 causes interference to the RX 1, and a signal sent by the TX 1 may also cause interference to the RX 2. Assuming that the TX 1 (or the TX 2) is communicating with the RX 1 (or the RX 2), if the TX 2 (or the TX 1) fails to detect that a communication signal already exists and starts to send data, interference is caused.
To resolve the interference problem in the directional communications system, a transmit-end device first needs to listen to a channel before sending data. If it is learned through the listening that the channel is unavailable, the transmit-end device backs off; or if it is learned through the listening that the channel is available, the transmit-end device then transmits the data. However, in an existing channel listening method, a transmit-end device performs directional channel listening on a basis of omnidirectional channel listening. The following problems often exist: 1. When interference actually exists in a directional communications system, the interference cannot be learned through listening by using the existing channel listening method. As a result, the transmit-end device sends data, causing mutual interference with a transceiver device that is already in communication. 2. When interference actually does not exist in a directional communications system, it is erroneously detected by using the existing channel listening method that interference exists. As a result, the transmit-end device does not send data, causing a waste of channel resources.

Communication method in directional communications system, communications system, and receiver


There is disclosed a method for forming a solid, epoxy-functional silicone resin by hydrolyzing and condensing a mixture of at least one organoalkoxysilane and a beta-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)-functional trialkoxysilane in the presence of an organotitanate catalyst. The silicone resins prepared according to the instant method find utility in the formulation of powder coatings, either alone or in combination with organic resins.

In an environmentally conscious and highly regulated society various industries have an ever increasing incentive to reduce undesired emissions. The coatings industry has addressed this challenge to some degree by developing systems which have low volatile organic content (VOC). completely solventless coatings which posses excellent physical properties being particularly prized. One type of solventless coating method gaining favor is powder coating. In brief, this method involves the application of a fine powder thermoplastic or thermoset resin formulation to a substrate using a technique such as dipping in a fluidized bed of the powder or electrostatic spraying therewith. After the substrate is coated, it is heated to fuse the powder into an adherent film. In the case of thermoset resins, the film may also be cured on the substrate.
As in the development of other coating systems, it has been found that powder coatings incorporating silicones, such as the compositions described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,890 to Boyd et al., can offer unique advantages over corresponding formulations based only on organic resin. However, known solid silicone resins based on phenyl and alkyl-functional siloxane units have limitations in that they generally exhibit poor flexibility and have limited compatibility with organic resins. Such silicone resins are generally prepared by hydrolyzing and condensing chlorosilanes or alkoxysilanes, the latter in the presence of an acid catalyst. Alternatively, it has been found that silicone resins can be synthesized from certain alkoxysilanes with the aid of a titanate catalyst. For example. U.S. Pat. No. 3,258,382 to Vincent teaches a method of hydrolyzing phenyl substituted or aliphatic hydrocarbon substituted alkoxysilanes using an orthotitanate or a partial condensate thereof.
Organosilicone compositions containing organotitanates are also known in the primer art. For example, United States Pat. No. 4,546,018 to Ryuzo et al. discloses primer compositions which promote adhesion of room temperature-curable silicone rubber to solid substrates. The primers comprise (A) a silicone-modified epoxy resin containing both epoxy and alkoxy groups and (B) an organotitanium acid ester.
U.S. Pat. No. 4.598,134 to Hirai et al. teaches a primer composition for heat-curable silicone rubber comprising (1) a component selected from (A) an organosilicon compound having at least one epoxy group and at least one silicon-bonded alkenyl group or silicon bonded hydrogen group or (B) a mixture of an organosilicon compound having silicon-bonded hydroxyl and silicon-bonded alkenyl or silicon-bonded hydrogen and an epoxy-functional alkoxysilane. (II) a trialkoxysilane containing a hydrogen or unsaturated aliphatic group and (III) and organotitanate ester.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,483 to Nakasuji et al. discloses primer compositions which are mixtures of (A) a reaction product of an alkoxysilane with an epoxy resin, (B) an epoxy-functional alkoxysilane and (C) a titanate. These primers are said to improve adhesion of room-temperature curable silicone rubber to various substrates.


A power supply system comprises: a switched-capacitor converter, a multi-tapped autotransformer, and an output stage. The multi-tapped autotransformer includes multiple primary windings. The switched-capacitor converter includes multiple circuit paths coupled to the primary windings. For example, a first circuit path includes a first capacitor; a second circuit path includes a second capacitor. The power supply further includes a controller that controllably switches an input voltage to the first circuit path and the second circuit path, conveying energy to the primary windings of the multi-tapped autotransformer. The output stage of the power supply is coupled to receive energy from a combination of the first primary winding and the second primary winding of the multi-tapped autotransformer. Via the received energy, the output stage produces an output voltage that powers a load.

As its name suggests, a conventional switched-capacitor DC-DC converter converts a received DC input voltage into a DC output voltage.
In one conventional application, the input voltage to the conventional switched-capacitor converter falls in a range between 40VDC to 60VDC. In such an instance, switches in the switched-capacitor converter are controlled to transfer charge stored in respective capacitors, resulting in conversion of the input voltage such as a 48VDC to an output voltage such as 12VDC for a so-called conventional 4:1 switched-capacitor converter. In other words, a conventional switched-capacitor converter can be configured to convert a 48VDC voltage into a 12VDC voltage.
To avoid so-called hard switching in the switched-capacitor converter, the switches in the switched-capacitor converter are preferably switched when there is near zero voltage across them and near zero current flowing through them.
The undesirable hard switching in a conventional switched-capacitor converter may be mitigated by placing an individual inductor in series with a respective capacitor in each stage of the switched-capacitor converter. This results in a resonant (or semi-resonant) switching converter. Such a switched-capacitor converter is sometimes termed a switched tank converter (STC). The resonant tank circuit formed by a series connection of an inductor and capacitor has an associated resonant frequency that is based upon the inductance and capacitance of these components.
Switching of the switches in the conventional switched-capacitor converter at the respective resonant frequency results in so-called zero current switching (ZCS), which reduces switching losses and provides good power conversion efficiency.

Switched-capacitor converter with multi-tapped autotransformer


A suction sign holder is provided having a suction cup and a tack. The suction cup and tack having mating surfaces between which a sign is held. The mating surfaces can be provided with a plurality of concentric grooves and ridges or other projections which mate together and frictionally hold a sign therebetween. The shaft of the tack can be provided with a raised rib or a groove disposed on the shaft of the tack at an angle. The rib may additionally have a sloping leading edge and a perpendicular trailing edge such that the shaft is easily inserted yet resists backing out of the bore.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to suction cups for holding objects, and more particularly to a suction cup with a removable tack for holding objects such as signs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For many years businesses have been hanging signs using thumb tacks and suction cups. It is quite common to provide a suction cup with a tack that is pressed into the top of the suction cup. In my U.S. Design Pat. No. 311,933 I disclose one such suction cup and tack sign holder. This type of sign holder has become popular among the owners of retail establishments and particularly fast food chains for hanging signs in their windows. In many fast food restaurants there are booths or tables near windows on which signs have been held using suction cup with tack type holders. Oftentimes these signs are within easy reach of patrons. Some customers, particularly children, have pulled the signs causing the sign to tear or the tack to pop out of the suction cup. Other children have attempted to pull the tack from the suction cup. Some tacks used with suction cups have a sharp metal tip which could injure one who steps on it or otherwise presses his body against it. For this reason tacks used with suction cups have a blunt plastic tip that fits into a longitudinal bore in the neck of the suction cup. Because even blunt tacks are small they also pose a potential risk to small children who may put them in their mouths and swallow them. Thus, there is a need for a suction cup and tack combination in which the tack is difficult to remove by children. However, since the product is intended for reuse with different signs, it should not be unduly difficult for an adult to remove the tack from the suction cup.
There is also a need for a suction cup and tack type sign holder which more firmly grips the sign being held. Such a device would make it more difficult for children to tear the sign away from the holder. If this device is used it would also be less likely that a strong breeze would tear the sign away from its holder.