Described is an apparatus for incinerating waste gas comprising; a plurality of combustion nozzles 20 arranged in periphery of an inner tube for discharging the waste gas into the combustion chamber, an incineration inner tube 30 for shielding the flare smoke, the flame light and the noise being generated during incineration of the waste gas and being discharged from the combustion nozzle 20, said incineration inner tube 30 having a plurality of air inlets 32 at its lower periphery, and an outer tube 40 for introducing the swirl air into the flame generation side for providing the swirl force to the combusted gas which is elevated within the inner tube 30, said outer tube 40 is provided with several air inlet passages 42 tangentially formed in communication with the incineration inner tube 30.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method and an apparatus for incinerating waste gas generated in a chemical or refinery plant. More specifically the present invention is directed to a method and an apparatus for increasing the incineration capacity of the ground flares by using the principle of tornado, while maintaining the ground flare""s main advantage, that is the ability to insulate the flaring smoke and noise from being observed and heard in the neighborhood of the ground flares.
Generally, a large amount of waste gas is produced when a process in chemical or refinery plant stops or re-starts. A flare system is an essential utility for most chemical plant, which is a device to convert the waste gas into a less harmful form before discharging the waste gas into the ambient air.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The ground flare illustrated in FIGS. 3a and 3b is a flare system adapted for a chemical plant. The basic construction of the ground flare consists of two circular tubes, i.e., a taller inner tube 10 and a shorter outer tube 12, which encloses the bottom portion of the inner tube 10.
The inner tube 10 serves as the wall of the combustion chamber for the waste gas incineration. An air passage is formed along the peripheral space between the inner tube and outer tube. The air, which first passed over the top of the shorter outer tube, enters the annular space between the inner and outer tubes, and then enters the combustion region inside the inner tube through the vertical air inlet placed along the periphery of the bottom of the inner tube. A combustor stack 14 is placed just inside of each vertical air inlet of the inner tube.
In each combustor stack 14, a plurality of combustion nozzles are placed facing the center of the combustion chamber in the vertical direction. The waste gas is injected through each combustion nozzle toward the center of the combustion chamber and is incinerated by the flames attached to the nozzles. The main function of the tube 10 is to form a space for the combustion chamber. At the same time, the inner tube 10 is adapted for preventing the smoke and noise, generated during the flaring operation, from being transmitted to the exterior of the combustion chamber. The outer tube 12, which encloses the lower end of the inner tube, shields the people working in the vicinity of the ground flare from the flare radiation. In addition, the outer tube also protects the flames from being blown away by the wind.
In comparison with the other types of flare systems, the ground flare provides the advantage of preventing the flaring smoke and noise from being transmitted to the exterior of the combustion chamber. The ground flare accomplishes this by using the inner tube as a constitutional element of the flare apparatus. Thus, it is possible to, in effect, mitigate the audiovisual environmental problems occurring during the flaring operation.
However, as seen from FIGS. 3a and 3b, the combustion chamber, in which the waste gas is incinerated, is shielded by the inner tube 10 and outer tube 12. Furthermore, the air required for incineration is introduced through the narrow space between the inner tube 10 and the outer tube 12. Therefore, the air supply in the ground flare system is less efficient than the air supply in the other types of flares that carry out incineration in an open space.
Because of the relatively poor air supply to the combustion region, the ground flare has a lower incineration capacity per the amount of investment and per the installation area than the other types of open space flares have. Thus, in order to obtain a similar incineration capacity to that of open space flare systems, a higher facility cost is required, which is a drawback of the ground flare. Also, a relatively large amount of flaring smoke can be generated due to the deficiency of the air introduced into the combustion chamber.
The present invention was devised in consideration of the problems stated above. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and an apparatus for increasing the incineration capacity of the ground flare, while preventing the flaring smoke and noise from escaping the combustion chamber, by employing the principle of tornado.
To this end, the method for incinerating the waste gas according to the present invention comprises the steps of:
(a) discharging the waste gas into the combustion chamber and incinerating said waste gas, and
(b) introducing the swirl into the air supply for applying a swirl force to the combustion gas that is elevated by buoyancy.
The apparatus for incinerating waste gas according to the present invention comprises:
a plurality of combustion nozzles 20 stacked vertically just inside of the vertical opening of an inner tube for discharging the waste gas into the combustion chamber,
an incineration inner tube 30 for containing the flare light, flare smoke and flare noise, generated during incineration of the waste gas discharged from the combustion nozzle 20, in the combustion chamber
a plurality of air inlets 32 at the lower periphery of the inner tube 30, and
an outer tube 40 for introducing the swirling air into the combustion chamber to apply a swirl force to the combusted gas that is elevated by buoyancy, said outer tube 40 is provided with several air inlets 42 formed in connection with the incineration inner tube 30 in the tangential direction.

Method and apparatus for increasing incineration capacity of the ground flares by using the principle of tornado

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


A torque transmission mechanism transmits a torque produced by a rotation of a driving shaft to an output shaft. A clutch mechanism is provided between a motor and the torque transmission mechanism. The torque transmission mechanism includes a magnet coupling including a driving magnet member coupled to the driving shaft side and a driven magnet member coupled to the output shaft side. The driving magnet member and the driven magnet member are arranged such that magnetic surfaces on each of which S-pole magnets and N-pole magnets are alternately arranged face other. The clutch mechanism transmits the torque produced by the rotation of the driving shaft to the driving magnet member but does not transmit a torque the driving magnet member receives from the driven magnet member to the driving shaft.

Patent document 1 document discloses a fastening tool including a torque clutch mechanism configured such that a planetary gear deceleration mechanism is coupled to the rotary shaft of a motor and adapted to interrupt power transmission to the output shaft by idling a ring gear in the planetary gear mechanism in response to an increase of load torque. Further, patent document 2 discloses a rotary impact tool in which a hammer is attached to the driving shaft via a cam mechanism and the hammer applies a striking impact in the rotational direction to the anvil to rotate the output shaft when a load of a predetermined value or greater is exerted on the output shaft.

Power tool with clutch and magnetic torque transmission mechanism

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


An image edit device comprises a layout unit for selecting a specific layout example from a plurality of layout examples in accordance with a predetermined criterion, and laying out a plurality of image data using said specific layout example, a manual input unit, and a correction unit for correcting said specific layout example selected by said layout unit on the basis of an input from said manual input unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image edit device for laying out a plurality of image data.
2. Related Background Art
An album that binds, in the form of a file, mounts on each of which photograph prints printed on silver halide photographic paper sheets are laid out is a conventional filing form of photographs for appreciation later on. However, such method of using photographs exerts a heavy load on the user, and a new filing method for future appreciation purposes is desired.
Since the cost of color photographs has lowered very much with recent technical advances, and everyone can easily take photographs with high image quality owing to greatly improved camera performance, the amount of photographs taken by general users is increasing largely. In particular, the service for developing a film and simultaneously forming prints of all the frames in a standard size is often used since it can be easily automated and a cost reduction can be attained. As a consequence, general users have a large number of non-filed photograph prints. Since it is cumbersome to lay out and adhere photograph prints on mounts, and to add required comments, it is often the case that the number of non-filed prints becomes too large to file as the amount of photographs taken increases. In fact, for average users, before prints previously printed by a photo processing shop are filed, photographing of all the frames of the next film is finished, and non-filed prints are piled up. Since the memories of the photographing situations of photographs are lost several years after, such non-filed photographs lose their significance as important records of one's life.
In other words, the photographic technical innovation has made great progress in terms of taking, developing, and printing photographs, but has made little progress in terms of appreciating, filing, and preserving them. Since the significance of photographs is to be able to preserve high-quality images for a long period of time, the current technical imbalance necessitates a heavy load on users.
As an effective means for solving such problems, a silver halide printer that prints a series of photograph images in the layout state is proposed by, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 60-35723. This patent application discloses a silver halide printer characterized by comprising designation means such as a print magnification designation means, direction change designation means, print frame designation means, and the like, a two-dimensional moving means of a print system, and a character printing means. The object of this printer is to print a plurality of photograph images on a relatively large (e.g., A4 size) photographic paper sheet in the layout state. The operation principle of this printer is as follows.
Before exposure onto the photographic paper, the presence/absence of printing of frames on a film, the print positions, the print sizes, and the contents and positions of comments to be inserted are input to a control computer. The developed film is fed frame by frame, and images are printed while controlling their sizes and positions according to the designations in units of frames by varying the optical system and the mechanical system of the print system with reference to the pre-input print control data in units of frames.
As a non-silver halide technique, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 3-274047 is known. According to this patent application, when a plurality of frames are to be arranged using digital image data of photographs and to be output to a print device, and such photographs include those having the vertically elongated composition, the user can select one of a plurality of appropriate layouts prepared in advance in correspondence with the number of such photographs.
However, such conventional techniques leave some basic problems unsolved, and it is not a common practice to appreciate and preserve photographs in the output form that includes a plurality of photographs in the layout state.
First, the contents that require complicated operations such as layout/edit operations are not suitable for silver halide processing. The automated processes of the standard-size service have greatly contributed to the current low cost and large consumption amount of photographs. Optimal processing for the layout/edit operations is determined depending on the contents of photographs to be processed, and the user's intention must be reflected by inserting comments, setting the magnifications of frames, and so on. When such operations are to be realized using the silver halide system by controlling the mechanical system and the optical system, a very complicated device and an operator skilled in operations are required and, hence, it is difficult to realize such system at sufficiently low cost that general photograph users can use one. Such use methods of photographs can assume general practical use only on the premises that digital image data, a digital image processing technique, and a digital control printer are used. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 3-274047 above basically complies with such arrangement, but lacks many important factors required for realizing practical use.
In this way, the first objective of the present invention is to provide the basic arrangement that can realize the above-mentioned photograph output method.
Second, according to the examinations of the present inventors, solutions for the following conflicting problems need to be provided to realize general use of the layout of personal photographs. More specifically, the layout method is not suitable for automatic processing since the way of layout largely depends on the contents of photographs and the user's favor, and must be individually processed. On the other hand, a low-cost method is required to attain the photograph output format that can be used personally. The cost includes the prime cost of mechanical equipment, expendables, and the like, and the personnel expenses of expert operators who can meet individual needs. The latter cost is large particularly in the conventional methods disclosed so far, and the techniques have not reached a practical use level yet.
On the other hand, the following method is known. As shown in FIG. 38, a plurality of frames 1 to 5 are laid out within a printable area 6 of a paper sheet 7, and photographs are assigned to these frames, so that a plurality of photographs can be laid out on a single paper sheet, thus obtaining an attractive print. However, when this method is applied to conventional silver halide photograph prints, a high-grade technique is required to print a plurality of photographed frames onto a single photographic paper sheet, and such application is difficult to attain.
Nowadays, along with the development of the digital image processing technique and its peripheral devices, photographs are converted into digital data, and the digital data are subjected to layout processing on the computer screen. Thereafter, these digital data are printed out using a color printer, thus easily obtaining the above-mentioned print.
In order to provide a service for printing a plurality of photographed frames on a single paper sheet using such digital processing, the following procedure may be used.
1) A plurality of pieces of layout information (to be referred to as templates hereinafter) in each of which the positions and sizes of a plurality of photographs are registered and prepared in advance so as to facilitate order reception.
2) The user selects a desired template, and designates photographed frames to be assigned to the frames of the selected template.
3) In the development laboratory, a printer lays out and prints out the photographs on the basis of the selected template.
As described above, a plurality of layout patterns called templates are prepared in advance, and after a desired template is selected, photographs are assigned to the frames of the template, thus allowing easy layout of the photographs.
However, photographed frames have length (vertical) and breadth (horizontal) positions, and photographs taken recently have not only a normal 35-mm photographic film size, i.e., a length/breadth ratio (to be referred to as an aspect ratio hereinafter) of 3 (breadth):2 (length) (36 mm:24 mm), but also have a so-called panorama size, hi-vision size, and the like, i.e., are trimmed to 3 (breadth):1 (length) (36 mm:12 mm) and 16 (breadth):9 (length) (36 mm:20 mm).
Therefore, when a photograph having an aspect ratio different from that set by the template is assigned to a predetermined frame in the layout print service, an unwanted blank area is formed, or layout imbalance occurs, resulting in an unattractive print.
A photograph having, e.g., the panorama size is normally magnified to twice the normal magnifying ratio to obtain a wide print. When a photograph having the panorama size is assigned to a frame, the magnifying ratio is increased to be larger than the normal one, and the magnified photograph is assigned. In such case, not only layout imbalance occurs, but also the photograph may extend beyond the printable area of the paper sheet.
Also, when a photograph taken at the length position is assigned to a frame for a photograph taken at the breadth position, it may extend beyond the printable area of the paper sheet.
In view of the above problems, templates corresponding to different combinations of photographs of every aspect ratios may be prepared. However, the number of combined patterns becomes huge, and it is troublesome to select an appropriate template from them.

Image edit device adapted to rapidly lay-out photographs into templates with means for preview and correction by user


A controllable playback device is placed in a mobile station (125) which is capable of playing a recorded announcement to the user of the mobile station (125) when activated by the infrastructure equipment of the cellular communication system. The cellular communication system determines if a voice channel is available (506), and if unavailable, an estimate of a retry time period is performed (512). After the estimate of the retry time period, the system forms and sends a message to the mobile station (125) including the retry estimate (515). The mobile station (125) receives the message, and activates the controllable playback device to announce to the user of the mobile station (125) that the system is fully loaded and that an access attempt at a time related to the retry estimate would likely be successful.

When a cellular system is operating at or near capacity, the mobile stations are likely to experience trouble accessing the system because a communication channel is not available at that time. To notify the mobile station that a communication channel is not available, a "fast busy" signal is supplied to the user of the mobile station. This indicates to the user of the mobile station that access is currently being denied, and that an attempt to access the communication channel at a later time is necessary. The user's typical response is to immediately try to gain access to a communication channel, and if denied, the process continues (perhaps indefinitely). When this occurs, the user of the mobile station can become frustrated, while the infrastructure within the communication system supports the extra burden of this connection process. Thus a need exists for an improvement to this potentially frustrating and burdensome process during communication channel access.

Method and mobile station for activating a playback device in a communication system


The present invention relates to diagnosing glycogen storage diseases in mammals.

Glucose, a major source of energy for the body, is stored in the form of glycogen. It is later released with the help of enzymes. Glycogen is found mainly in liver and muscle cells, while the kidneys and intestines are minor storage sites. The underlying problem in all of the Glycogen Storage Diseases (GSD) is the use and storage of glycogen. Currently, there are about eleven known types of GSD that affect humans. All of the different types of GSD, also referred to as glycogenoses, result in the body not being able to produce sufficient glucose in the blood stream or to utilize glucose as a source of energy. Almost all forms of GSD occur when a child inherits the affected gene from both parents (autosomal recessive inheritance), each of whom is a carrier but may not be affected by GSD themselves.
Glycogen Storage Disease Type IV (also referred to as GSD IV, brancher deficiency, Andersen disease or amylopectinosis) represents 0.3% of all glycogenoses. In the human, it is a rapidly progressive disorder leading to terminal liver failure unless liver transplantation is performed. In Norwegian Forest Cats, GSD IV is fatal, primarily affecting striated muscles and the nervous system, while the liver remains relatively unaffected (Fyfe et al. 1992; Fyfe et al. 1994). A fatal neonatal disease closely resembling GSD IV has recently been reported in the American Quarter Horse, wherein clinical signs varied from stillbirth, transient flexural limb deformities, seizures, and respiratory or cardiac failure to persistent recumbency (Render et al. 1999; Valberg et al. 2001; Sponseller et al. 2002).
Thus, GSD IV is a clinically heterogeneous disorder. It is caused by a deficiency of the glycogen branching enzyme (GBE) (EC 22.214.171.124). The deficiency leads to an accumulation of glycogen having very long outer branches. This structurally abnormal glycogen is thought to trigger the body's immune system, causing the body to actually attack the glycogen and the tissues in which it is stored. Several mutations have been reported in the gene encoding human GBE, i.e., the GBE1 gene, in patients with the classic phenotype. Mutations in human GBE1 have also been identified in patients with the milder non-progressive hepatic form of the disease. The GBE amino acid sequence shows a high degree of conservation throughout species. Human GBE1 cDNA is approximately 3 Kb in length and encodes a 702-amino acid protein. The human GBE1 gene is located on chromosome 3p 14 and consists of 16 exons spanning at least 118 kb of chromosomal DNA.
In the Norwegian Forest cat, GSD IV is caused by a 6.1 kb deletion that eliminates exon 12 of the feline GBE1 gene (Fyfe et al. 1997).
Diagnosis of GSD IV is made on the basis of an individual's symptoms, the results of a physical examination and of biochemical tests. Occasionally, a muscle or liver biopsy is required to confirm the actual enzyme defect. GBE deficiency may be a common cause of neonatal mortality in Quarter Horses that is obscured by the variety of clinical signs that resemble other equine neonatal diseases. Therefore, despite the foregoing, there is a need in the art for additional diagnostic tests for diagnosing GSD IV in horses.

Method of detecting equine glycogen storage disease IV


A tunnel barrier layer includes a non-magnetic oxide, wherein a crystal structure of the tunnel barrier layer includes both an ordered spinel structure and a disordered spinel structure.

A giant magnetoresistance (GMR) element made up of a multilayer film of a ferromagnetic layer and a non-magnetic layer, and a tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) element with an insulating layer (a tunnel barrier layer, and a barrier layer) used for the non-magnetic layer are known. In general, a TMR element has a higher element resistance but a larger magnetoresistance (MR) ratio than a GMR element. Attention has been focused on TMR elements, as an element for a magnetic sensor, a high-frequency component, a magnetic head, and a nonvolatile magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM).
TMR elements can be classified into two types depending on a difference in the mechanism of tunnel conduction of electrons. One type is a TMR element using only a bleeding effect (a tunnel effect) of a wave function between ferromagnetic layers. The other type is a TMR element in which a coherent tunnel (in which only electrons having the symmetry of a specific wave function tunnel) in which the symmetry of the wave function is maintained is dominant. The TMR element in which coherent tunneling is dominant can obtain a larger MR ratio than a TMR element using only a tunnel effect.
MgO is an example of a tunnel barrier layer in which a coherent tunnel phenomenon occurs. As a material in lieu of MgO, for example, ternary oxides (Mg—Al—O) made up of Mg, Al, and O are also being studied. Mg—Al—O has improved lattice matching with a ferromagnetic material as compared with MgO, and even when a high voltage is applied, it is unlikely that an MR ratio will be lower than in conventional MgO.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 5586028 discloses an example in which MgAl2O4 having a spinel-type crystal structure is used for a tunnel barrier layer.
Further, Japanese Patent No. 5988019 discloses a ternary oxide (Mg—Al—O) having a cubic crystal (a disordered spinel structure) having half a lattice constant of the spinel structure. Since the disordered spinel structure is a metastable structure, the tunnel barrier layer can be formed without being limited to the stoichiometric composition of the spinel structure. In the disordered spinel structure, the lattice constant can be continuously changed by adjusting the Mg—Al composition ratio. Further, Japanese Patent No. 5988019 discloses a magnetoresistance effect element in which a tunnel barrier layer having a disordered spinel structure and a BCC-type Co—Fe-based ferromagnetic layer are combined. When the tunnel barrier layer having the disordered spinel structure and the BCC-type Co—Fe-based ferromagnetic layer are combined, a band folding effect is suppressed, and the magnetoresistance effect element stably exhibits a large MR ratio.
The tunnel barrier layer having the ordered spinel structure described in Japanese Patent No. 5586028 cannot obtain a sufficiently large MR ratio. Further, in the tunnel barrier layer having the disordered spinel structure described in Japanese Patent No. 5988019, the MR ratio easily decreases when a high voltage is applied. A large MR ratio and a high voltage resistance are required to improve an output voltage of a magnetoresistance effect element.
In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a magnetoresistance effect element capable of improving an output voltage.

Tunnel barrier layer, magnetoresistance effect element, method for manufacturing tunnel barrier layer, and insulating layer


A room air conditioner includes an air inlet, an air outlet, a heat exchanger disposed between the inlet and outlet, and an air circulation fan. The inlet is opened and closed by motor-driven inlet vanes. The outlet is opened and closed by a vertically slidable motor-driven door. Air direction control vanes extend across the outlet for varying the direction of discharged air. Before the door is either opened or closed, the air control vanes are automatically swung upwardly to a clearance position to avoid interfering with movement of the door. When the inlet and outlet are to be closed, the inlet vane motor is actuated prior the door motor to ensure that the inlet and outlet are fully closed simultaneously, even though it takes longer for the inlet vanes to travel to their fully closed state. A sensor determines when the door reaches an almost-closed state, and the door motor continues to operate for a set period thereafter to ensure that the door becomes fully closed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner and methods of its operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An air conditioner according to the prior art includes, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, a suction grille member 5 formed with a plurality of suction inlets 3 for sucking in room air and disposed at a lower portion of an indoor unit body 1 (hereinafter referred to as a body), and a discharge outlet 7 formed at an upper front surface of the body 1 for discharging indoors the air which is heated or cooled while passing through the air conditioner.
The discharge outlet 7 is provided with horizontal vanes 9 swingable about horizontal axes for vertically adjusting the direction of the air discharged indoors therethrough and vertical vanes 11 rotatable about vertical axes for horizontally adjusting the direction of the air.
The air conditioner is provided with a discharge outlet door 13 for preventing foreign objects from entering therethrough and for forming an external appearance thereof.
The body 1 includes a cover member 15 for forming an external appearance thereof and for protecting the various elements therein.
The cover member 15 is provided with a manipulating unit 17 for adjusting the amount and direction of the air discharged through the discharge outlet 7, selecting the operating modes (automatic, cooling, heating, dehumidifying, blow and the like) and to start/stop the operation.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, driving means for horizontally moving the discharge outlet door 13 is formed by a support member 19 fixed to an upper front area of the body 1, a discharge outlet motor 21 fixed to the support member 19 to generate a power for vertically moving the discharge outlet door 13, a pinion 23 coupled to an axis 22 of the discharge outlet motor 21, and a rack for changing a rotary movement of the pinion 23 to a rectilinear movement.
Furthermore, driving means for moving the horizontal vanes 9 includes a louver motor 27 (by way of example, a stepping motor) disposed in the body 1 and a plurality of link members 29 for being cooperatively driven by the louver motor 27 to thereby rotate a plurality of horizontal vanes 9.
In the air conditioner thus constructed, when a user selects an operation mode according to the manipulation of a remotely controlled unit or an operating unit 17 to thereby activate an operation/stop key (hereinafter referred to as operation key), the discharge outlet motor 21 is driven in a forward direction to rotate the rack 25 downward, so that the discharge outlet door 13 coupled to the rack 25 is moved downward to thereby open the discharge outlet 7.
At this time, when it is determined by door open/close sensors attached at predetermined upper and lower positions of the discharge outlet 7 that the discharge outlet 7 is completely opened, the discharge outlet motor 21 is stopped, and an indoor fan (not shown) is rotated to cause the room air to be sucked into the body 1 through the suction inlet 3.
The room air sucked through the suction inlet 3 passes through a heat exchanger (not shown) to thereafter be heat-exchanged by latent heat of refrigerant flowing in the heat exchanger.
The heat-exchanged air is guided upward to thereafter be discharged indoors via the discharge outlet 7, which is then adjusted in its direction vertically or horizontally according to angles of the horizontal vanes 9 and vertical vanes 11 to perform an air conditioning in the room.
At this time, when an operation key associated with the horizontal vanes 9 is turned on at the operating unit 17, the louver motor 27 is rendered operative and a plurality of link members are cooperatively driven to vertically swing the horizontal vanes 9.
When the key is turned on again, the louver motor 27 is rendered inoperative and the horizontal vanes 9 is are stopped to thereby establish a vertical component of the direction of the air flow.
When the operating key is turned off under a normal operation of the air conditioner thus described, the discharge outlet motor 21 is driven in reverse, and the pinion 23 is driven to shift the rack 25 upward, so that the discharge outlet door 13 is moved upward to close the discharge outlet 7.
When it is determined by the door open/close sensors that the discharge outlet 7 is completely closed, the discharge outlet motor 21 is stopped and the air conditioner enters a stand-by state until the operation key is turned on again.
However, there is a problem in the conventional air conditioner thus constructed, in that the suction inlet 3 is open at all times even when the air conditioner is not operated, to enable dust, foreign objects and the like to be induced into the body 1 and to accumulate on surfaces of the heat exchanger and to thereby decrease the performance thereof.
There is another problem in that the vertical vanes 9 are randomly positioned when the air conditioner is turned off to thereby cause an unsatisfactory open/close operation of the discharge outlet door 13 due to contact between the door and the horizontal vanes 9 possibly resulting in a destruction of elements or an erroneous operation thereof.
There is still another problem in that upward travel extent of the discharge outlet door 13 may be limited due to a deformation of parts when a heavy load or the like is placed on an upper area of the body 1 to thereby press the upper area thereof downwardly. As a result, the discharge outlet door 13 may not be pushed far enough to enable the door open/close sensors to detect open/close operations of the discharge outlet door 13, thereby resulting in an error.

Room air conditioner having inlet and outlet closures and methods for their operation


A lithography apparatus having variable lenses.

In optical lithography, a desired pattern may be created on a substrate by providing a resist layer on the substrate and exposing this layer to a patterned beam of radiation. The pattern thereby created in the resist layer may be used in subsequent procedures (e.g. etching, metal deposition, etc.) to create a desired structure in or on the substrate, for instance a microcircuit structure. Patterning the beam of radiation may be done, e.g., with a reticle or a micromirror device, and generally the patterned beam of radiation is first guided through a lens system before reaching the substrate.
Conventionally, the lens system was such that each lens would sequentially receive the patterned beam of radiation, i.e. the beam was first passed through (or reflected by) lens 1, then through (or reflected by) lens 2, etc. More recently, however, it has been proposed to further add to certain systems a set of lenses constructed and arranged such that the cross section of the patterned beam impinges on a plurality of lenses in the set. An example of such a set of lenses is for instance a microlens array (MLA). See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,133,986.
A disadvantage of using conventional MLAs in lithographic apparatus, however, is that the lenses are not individually controllable. E.g., if several of the lenses in the MLA are out of focus (for instance because the substrate is warped or because of errors in manufacturing the MLA), it is cumbersome if not impossible to correct for this focal deficiency without negatively affecting the focus of the other lenses in the MLA.
Therefore, what is needed is an exposure system comprising a set of lenses, wherein the set of lenses comprises variable lenses. Furthermore, what is needed is a set of lenses comprising variable lenses.


The present invention provides a polymer derived from a cellulosic, lignocellulosic, or polysaccharide material having superabsorbent properties. Methods for making the polymer and personal care absorbent products that incorporated the polymer are also provided.

The present invention relates to a modified cellulosic, lignocellulose or polysaccharide having superabsorbent properties and, more particularly, to a sulfated cellulosic, lignocellulose or polysaccharide.
Personal care absorbent products, such as infant diapers, adult incontinent pads, and feminine care products, typically contain an absorbent core that includes superabsorbent polymer particles distributed within a fibrous matrix. Superabsorbents are water-swellable, generally water-insoluble absorbent materials having a high absorbent capacity for body fluids. The superabsorbent polymers (SAP""s) in common use are mostly derived from acrylic acid, which is itself derived from oil, a non-renewable raw material. Acrylic acid polymers and SAP""s are generally recognized as not being biodegradable. Despite their wide use, some segments of the absorbent products market are concerned about the use of non-renewable oil derived materials and their non-biodegradable nature. Acrylic acid based polymers also comprise a meaningful portion of the cost structure of diapers and incontinent pads. Users of SAP are interested in lower cost SAP""s. The high cost derives in part from the cost structure for the manufacture of acrylic acid which, in turn, depends upon the fluctuating price of oil. Also, when diapers are discarded after use they normally contain considerably less than their maximum or theoretical content of body fluids. In other words, in terms of their fluid holding capacity, they are xe2x80x9cover-designedxe2x80x9d. This xe2x80x9cover-designxe2x80x9d constitutes an inefficiency in the use of SAP. The inefficiency results in part from the fact that SAP""s are designed to have high gel strength (as demonstrated by high absorbency under load or AUL). The high gel strength (upon swelling) of currently used SAP particles helps them to retain a lot of void space between particles, which is helpful for rapid fluid uptake. However, this high xe2x80x9cvoid volumexe2x80x9d simultaneously results in there being a lot of interstitial (between particle) liquid in the product in the saturated state. When there is a lot of interstitial liquid the xe2x80x9crewetxe2x80x9d value or xe2x80x9cwet feelingxe2x80x9d of an absorbent product is compromised.
In personal care absorbent products, U.S. southern pine fluff pulp is commonly used in conjunction with the SAP. This fluff is recognized worldwide as the preferred fiber for absorbent products. The preference is based on the fluff pulp""s advantageous high fiber length (about 2.8 mm) and its relative ease of processing from a wetlaid pulp sheet to an airlaid web. Fluff pulp is also made from renewable, and biodegradable cellulose pulp fibers. Compared to SAP, these fibers are inexpensive on a per mass basis but tend to be more expensive on a per unit of liquid held basis. These fluff pulp fibers mostly absorb within the interstices between fibers. For this reason, a fibrous matrix readily releases acquired liquid on application of pressure. The tendency to release acquired liquid can result in significant skin wetness during use of an absorbent product that includes a core formed exclusively from cellulosic fibers. Such products also tend to leak acquired liquid because liquid is not effectively retained in such a fibrous absorbent core.
A need therefore exists for a superabsorbent material that is simultaneously made from a biodegradable renewable resource like cellulose or other lignocellulosic or polysaccharide, that is inexpensive, and that has a low void volume when saturated. In this way the superabsorber can be used in absorbent product designs that are efficient such that they can be used closer to their theoretical capacity without feeling wet to the wearer. These and other objects are accomplished by the invention set forth below.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a superabsorbent polymer. The polymer of the invention is a modified cellulose, modified lignocellulose, or modified polysaccharide having superabsorbent properties. The modified polymer is a sulfated polymer. In one embodiment the polymer is a sulfated cellulose; in another embodiment, a sulfated lignocellulose; and in another embodiment, a sulfated polysaccharide. The polymer of the invention is a water-swellable, water-insoluble polymer having a high liquid absorption capacity and a low free liquid value. In one embodiment, the polymer has a liquid absorption capacity greater than about 20 g/g. In another embodiment, the polymer has a free liquid value of less than about 40 percent by weight based on the total amount of liquid absorbed. In a further embodiment, the polymer has a free liquid value of less than about 30 percent by weight based on the total amount of liquid absorbed. In one embodiment, the modified polymer is a crosslinked polymer.
In other aspects of the invention, methods for making the superabsorbent polymer and absorbent products that incorporate the superabsorbent polymer are provided.


A secondary electron image generated by an electron beam is detected by a secondary electron/secondary ion detector while a silicon substrate is etched by a focused ion beam from a back surface of a semiconductor chip. A time point where the electron beam transmits through the silicon substrate, a contrast of a secondary electron image of a separation layer, a polysilicon layer and the like is detected by a picture image processing system is assumed to be a processing end point. At this time, by changing a setting for an acceleration voltage of the electron beam, an arbitrary remaining silicon thickness can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to semiconductor processing method and system for processing a semiconductor chip with high accuracy.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in processing and analyzing a semiconductor chip, a processing to a semiconductor chip has been performed from a surface thereof using a focused ion beam (FIB). In recent years, however, as a design rule for a semiconductor process becomes finer and finer and a semiconductor chip includes more and more layers stacked therein, it becomes more difficult to analyze a semiconductor chip from a surface thereof. In such circumstances, techniques for performing processing and analysis of a semiconductor chip from a back surface have become important. To analyze a semiconductor chip from a back surface thereof, a silicon substrate has to be processed so as to have a very small thickness. In general, in order to process a silicon substrate so as to have a small thickness, as shown in FIG. 9, it is necessary to form a trench such that a remaining thickness of silicon is precisely controlled to be uniform. In FIG. 9, the reference numeral 1 denotes a silicon substrate located in the back surface side of a semiconductor device and the reference numeral 4 denotes an interlevel insulation film located in the surface side of the semiconductor device. The interlevel insulation film 4 includes a polysilicon layer, a metal interconnect layer and the like together constituting a semiconductor integrated circuit or the like. The reference numeral 6 denotes a focused ion beam generator used for forming a trench in a silicon substrate. The reference numeral 6a denotes a focused ion beam.
When a trench (large area excavation in silicon) is formed by performing a focused ion beam processing from a back surface of a semiconductor chip, OBIC (optical beam induced current) generated when a PN junction is exposed to light is used in detection of an end point of a trench processing. Specifically, in this method, a laser is irradiated to part of a semiconductor chip which is to be processed, increase in OBIC caused as a silicon film thickness is reduced is monitored, and a maximum point in a graph showing observed variation points is determined to be a processing end point. This processing method will be described with reference to FIG. 10. In FIG. 10, the reference numerals 1 through 5 show a structure of a semiconductor chip. Specifically, the reference numeral 1 denotes a silicon substrate of which a surface is a back surface of a semiconductor chip. The reference numeral 2 denotes a polysilicon layer. The reference numeral 3 denotes a metal interconnect layer. The reference numeral 4 denotes an interlevel insulation film. The reference numeral 5 denotes a separation layer. Moreover, the reference numeral 6 is a focused ion beam generator. The reference numeral 6a is a focused ion beam. The reference numeral 7 denotes a laser light irradiator for irradiating laser light used for observing the progress of formation of a trench. The reference numeral 7a is laser light. In the structure of FIG. 10, the focused ion beam 6a is scanned while part of the semiconductor chip to be processed is exposed to the laser light 7a using the laser light irradiator 7, thereby performing a trench processing. As the trench processing proceeds in such a manner, a silicon remaining thickness becomes smaller and smaller and, accordingly, light irradiated to a PN junction at a silicon interface is increased. The reference numeral 22 denotes a measurement instrument for measuring OBIC varying according to the amount of irradiated light. This variation in OBIC is shown in a graph of FIG. 11. FIG. 11 is a graph showing variation in OBIC relative intensity obtained by the measuring equipment 22 with processing time. In FIG. 11, an OBIC relative intensity is increased as the trench processing proceeds. By monitoring the variation in the OBIC relative intensity and detecting a maximum point of the OBIC, a processing end point is determined. Details of the trench processing technique employing OBIC observation are described in the following non-patent reference 1.
(Non-patent reference 1) J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B20 (6), November/December 2002
(Patent reference 1) Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-50919

Semiconductor processing method and system

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


In a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device, and a method of fabricating the same, the nonvolatile semiconductor memory device includes a cell doping region and source/drain regions in a semiconductor substrate, the cell doping region being doped as a first conductive type, a channel region disposed between the source/drain regions in the semiconductor substrate, a tunnel doping region of the first conductive type formed in a predetermined region of an upper portion of the cell doping region, the tunnel doping region being doped in a higher concentration than that of the cell doping region, a tunnel insulating layer formed on a surface of the semiconductor substrate on the tunnel doping region, a gate insulating layer surrounding the tunnel insulating layer and covering the channel region and the cell doping region exposed beyond the tunnel doping region, and a gate electrode covering the tunnel insulating layer and on the gate insulating layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and a method of fabricating the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device and a method of fabricating the same that can improve electrical characteristics and a degree of integration of a floating gate tunneling oxide (FLOTOX) type and an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) type semiconductor memory device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) cell includes a floating gate that is electrically insulated with a periphery like in an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM). An EEPROM records data of "1" or "0" by injecting or discharging electrons into/from the floating gate. However, the EEPROM utilizes an electron injecting/discharging mechanism that is very different from that of the EPROM.
In the EPROM, the injection of electrons into the floating gate is performed by a hot electron having a higher energy than the electrons flowing between a source and a drain, and the discharge of electrons is performed by an energy of ultraviolet light. On the contrary, in the EEPROM, the injection and discharge of the electrons into/from the floating gate are performed by a tunnel current that passes through a tunnel insulating layer having a thickness of about 100 Å. That is, even though the tunnel insulating layer is an insulator, e.g., SiO2, if a high electric field, e.g., higher than 10 MeV/cm, is applied to both ends of the tunnel insulating layer, a Fowler-Nordheim (F-N) current flows. Thus, the injection and discharge of the electrons in the EEPROM is performed using the F-N current.
Primarily, a floating gate tunneling oxide (FLOTOX) type EEPROM cell and a metal nitride oxide semiconductor (MNOS) type EEPROM cell are used in semiconductor devices. The FLOTOX memory cell used as a standard memory cell includes two transistors, i.e., a selection transistor that selects a desired bit line and a memory transistor that stores data as one memory cell. In the memory transistor, a floating gate for storing data by accumulated electric charges and a control gate for controlling the floating gate are formed while interposing a thin interlayer dielectric therebetween.
FIG. 1 illustrates a cross-sectional view of a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device including a conventional FLOTOX memory cell.
Referring to FIG. 1, a selection transistor 5 and a memory transistor 7 are separated from each other by a predetermined distance. More specifically, a first conductive layer 31 formed of a polysilicon, an interlayer dielectric 32, and a second conductive layer 33 formed of a polysilicon are formed as gate patterns 30 of the selection transistor 5 and the memory transistor 7 on an upper portion of a gate oxide layer 12 surrounding a tunnel insulating layer 14 on a surface of a semiconductor substrate 10. A source region 20 of the memory transistor 7 and a bit line junction region 24 of the selection transistor 5 are located in the semiconductor substrate 10. A cell doping region 26, in which n-type impurities are doped in high concentration, is located on a lower portion of the tunnel insulating layer 14 for facilitating performance of the injection and discharge of electrons. A high concentration doping region 26′ for reducing a contact resistance may be further formed on a side surface of the cell doping region 26 in a direction of the selection transistor 5.
A width L1 and a thickness of the tunnel insulating layer 14 are very important in a reliability of the EEPROM. In particular, because the width L1 of the tunnel insulating layer 14 is directly related to the integrity of the EEPROM, it is desirable that the width L1 is narrow.
FIG. 2 illustrates a cross-sectional view of an area "a" shown in FIG. 1 for illustrating problems in the conventional EEPROM.
Referring to FIG. 2, a first depletion region 28 is generated on a boundary of the cell doping region 26, when a voltage is applied to the bit line junction region 24. More specifically, both sides and the lower end of the cell doping region 26, and portions contacting the tunnel insulating layer 14 and the gate insulating layer 12 are depleted, as shown by a second depletion region 29. The width of the first depletion region 28 increases as the applied voltage increases. The increase of the width causes a band-to-band tunneling phenomenon by connecting the first and second depletion regions 28 and 29. When the band-to-band tunneling phenomenon occurs, current is leaked in the first and second depletion regions 28 and 29 due to electron-hole pairs.
In FIG. 2, a distance D1 between end portions of the tunnel insulating layer 14 and the cell doping region 26 can be increased so that the first and second depletion regions 28 and 29 do not contact each other, however, as the distance D1 increases, the integrity of the EEPROM is reduced. Therefore, it is desirable that the distance D1 is short. Consequently, the distance D1 and the width L1 of the tunnel insulating layer 14 should be minimized in order to increase the integrity of the EEPROM without allowing contact between the first and second depletion regions 28 and 29.
However, the tunnel insulating layer 14 is generally formed by wet etching a thermal oxide layer (not shown) to expose the substrate 10, and thermally oxidizing the exposed substrate 10. Since the wet etching method is an isotropic etching method, the etching is performed in a direction of the side surface of the substrate, thus the width L1 of the tunnel insulating layer 14 may become larger than the desired pattern size. In addition, the etching time increases and the etching is made along an interface between a photoresist pattern (not shown) and the thermal oxide layer. Accordingly, a profile of the sidewall of the tunnel insulating layer 14 becomes inclined. The inclined profile degrades an efficiency of the EEPROM programming similar to the increase of the width L1 of the tunnel insulating layer 14.


In a cyphertext (CT) network, a method for detecting anomalies comprising analyzing cyphertext data flows within the CT network where the CT network includes one or more encryption devices for encrypting plaintext data packets into cyphertext data packets such that the cyphertext data flows are directed to one or more destination devices. The cyphertext data includes multiple CT data packets and each CT data packet includes header information where each header includes source address information, destination address information and differentiated service code point (DSCP) information representative of traffic class information. The method further includes analyzing the traffic class information of each header, including using maximum entropy estimation for detecting one or more anomalies within the traffic class distribution of each flow based on the header information for that traffic class.

In recent years network intrusion detection has become an important area for both commercial interests as well as academic research. Applications of network intrusion detection typically stem from the perspectives of network monitoring and network security. For network monitoring, characteristics such as flows which use a link with a given capacity, flow size distributions, and the number of distinct flows are of interest. In network security, attention is paid to characterizing known or unknown anomalous patterns of an attack or a virus.
Network Intrusion Detection Systems (NIDS) work by detecting malicious activity such as denial of service attacks, port scans or attempts to crack into computers. A NIDS reads all of the incoming packets and tries to find suspicious patterns known as signatures or rules.
Network Behavior Anomaly Detection (NBAD) Systems work by continuously monitoring the network for unusual events or trends. NBAD programs track critical network characteristics in real time and generate an alarm if an unusual event or trend is detected that could indicate the presence of a threat. Large-scale examples of such characteristics include traffic volume, bandwidth use and protocol use. In order for NBAD to be optimally effective, a baseline of normal network or user behavior must be established over a period of time. Once certain parameters have been defined as normal, any departure from one or more of them is flagged as anomalous.
Unfortunately the use of IPsec (Internet Protocol Security), which encrypts network traffic, renders network intrusion detection virtually useless unless traffic is decrypted at network gateways. One alternative to NIDSs are host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDSs) which provide some of the functionality of NIDSs but with limitations. HIDSs cannot perform a network-wide analysis and can be subverted if a host is compromised.
Many present day networks, including the Navy network, are moving towards the encryption of all traffic. For instance, a large portion of the Navy network is Type-1 encrypted. Currently available market/commercial products do not address a fully cyphertext network. They work by blocking application layer exploits, detecting HTTP specific attacks, employing deep packet inspection technologies and characterizing unencrypted flows.
Presently there are no industry/government solutions available to address the problem of cyber attack detection within fully encrypted network traffic where the problem is compounded by the scarcity of available parameters.
Industry also faces a problem when it comes to cloud computing and processing of encrypted packets. Their solution is Homomorphic Encryption, where a specific algebraic operation performed on the plaintext side is equivalent to another (possibly different) algebraic operation performed on the cyphertext side. Unfortunately Homomorphic Encryption does not address detection of cyber attacks on the cyphertext side of the network.

Cyphertext (CT) analytic engine and method for network anomaly detection

The United States of America, as Represented by the Secretary of the Navy


The blast machine consists of a self-propelled vehicle including a pair of independently driven magnetic treads capable of adhering to and traversing ferromagnetic vertical surfaces and the underside of ferromagnetic horizontal surfaces. The blast machine includes a blast unit having a pair of blast wheels supported on the magnetic treads for propelling the blast unit over ferromagnetic surfaces The blast unit is mounted so as to be able to pivot about two axes relative to the treads so that the treads can follow and traverse curved surfaces without changing the orientation of the blast unit. The treads can also flex allowing them to traverse surfaces having varying contours. Moreover, the angle of the blast unit relative to the surface to be cleaned can be adjusted to ensure the proper orientation for blast cleaning The blast unit includes a unique mechanism for retrieving spent abrasive and debris from the surface and a separator for separating the reusable abrasive from the debris when the unit is oriented either vertically or upside down.

The invention relates, generally, to blast cleaning devices and, more particularly, to a blast cleaning machine having magnetic treads for cleaning substantially vertical surfaces as well as the underside of horizontal surfaces such as are typically found on ship hulls and storage tanks.
Blast cleaning machines typically consist of a blast wheel having a plurality of blades extending radially therefrom. The blast wheel is mounted in a housing and is rotatably driven at high speed. Abrasive such as steel shot is fed onto the blades and is projected against the surface to be cleaned. The impact of the abrasive with the surface to be cleaned dislodges paint, rust and other debris from the surface. Typically, the debris is removed from the system and the spent abrasive is recirculated back to the blast wheel. The housing can either be of a stationary type into which the article to be cleaned is placed or a mobile type that is propelled over the surface to be cleaned.
One such mobile blast cleaning machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,377,922 issued to Bergh. While such a device performs very well on horizontal and near horizontal surfaces, it cannot clean vertical surfaces nor can it clean the underside of horizontal surfaces such as the bottom of ship hulls. A blast cleaner specifically designed for cleaning vertical surfaces is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,034,262 issued to Pawlson. The Pawlson device is a relatively small, hand-held unit that is impractical for large cleaning jobs or jobs where it is impractical or impossible for a human operator to work. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,864,876, issued to Diehn, discloses a fixture for supporting a blast cleaning device fixed to a vertical surface by electromagnets.
Thus, a blast cleaner that can traverse vertical and the underside of horizontal surfaces and efficiently clean large areas is desired.

Magnetic track self-propelled blast cleaning machine


A remote control signal transmitter. A movable contact section includes a plurality of movable contacts and has elasticity. A wiring substrate has a movable contact section thereon. A crystal oscillator is mounted on the wiring substrate. A control section transmits a remote control signal in accordance with an operation of the movable contact section. In this structure, the movable contact section has a holding section that is abutted with the crystal oscillator.

Recently, various electronic devices (e.g., TV, video recorder, air conditioner) have been diversified and inexpensive. Thus, the remote control transmitter for remotely controlling them has been desired to be inexpensive while providing secure and reliable operation.
A conventional remote control transmitter will be described with reference to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the conventional remote control transmitter.
FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the conventional remote control transmitter.
In FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, case 101 has a substantially box shape and is made of insulating resin. Case 101 has, at the upper face thereof, opening hole 101A and a plurality of through holes 101B.
With regards to wiring substrate 102, an upper face and a lower face thereof have a plurality of wiring patterns (not shown). The upper face of wiring substrate 102 has conductive section 102A and a plurality of fixed contacts 102B. Electronic components such as light-emitting diode 106A, microcomputer (hereinafter referred to as MPU) 106B, crystal oscillator 106C or the like are mounted at the upper face of wiring substrate 102. In this way, control circuit 106 for transmitting a remote control signal is provided.
Crystal oscillator 106C, which is used to provide a timer function or to display time, is formed of two thin plates of quartz crystal and a filament for connecting them. Thus, crystal oscillator 106C has a relatively weak structure. In order to prevent breakage due to impact by the dropping or the like, crystal oscillator 106C is bonded to wiring substrate 102 by adhesive agent 107 (e.g., silicone agent).
Display element 103 is formed of liquid crystal or the like. Elastic connection section 104 is provided by layering a conductive layer and insulative layers. A display section of an upper face of display element 103 is exposed from opening hole 1A of case 101. Then, elastic connection section 104 is attached between wiring substrate 102 and display element 103 such that elastic connection section 104 is vertically flexed. In this way, an upper end and a lower end of elastic connection section 104 have an elastic contact with an electrode (not shown) of a lower face of display element 103 and conductive section 102A respectively, thereby allowing conductive section 102A and display element 103 to be electrically connected.
Movable contact section 105 made of material such as rubber is provided on wiring substrate 102 and is housed in case 101. An upper face of movable contact section 105 has a plurality of dome-shaped depressing sections 105B. Depressing sections 105B are upwardly protruded from through holes 101B of case 101.
A lower face of depressing section 105B of movable contact section 105 has movable contact 105A that is opposed to fixed contact 102B of wiring substrate 102 with a predetermined space therebetween.
Furthermore, wiring substrate 102 is fixed to case 101 by a fixation member (e.g., screw). In the manner as described above, a remote control transmitter is configured.
Hereinafter, a case will be described in which a user uses the remote control transmitter having the above configuration to operate an electronic device by, for example, depressing a prescribed depressing section 105B for power source switching, volume control, or another function. Then, an infrared remote control signal corresponding to this operation is transmitted from control circuit 106 to the electronic device. As a result, ON/OFF of the power source, volume control, or another function of the electronic device is provided remotely.
When the user specifies the time at which the electronic device starts or stops its operation or recording, for example, the user depresses a prescribed depressing section 105B to allow display element 103 to display time, thereby specifying the time. Thereafter, the specified time is transmitted as a remote control signal to the electronic device, and the electronic device memorizes the specified time. According to the above procedure, the electronic device starts or stops its operation or recording at the predetermined time.
A remote control transmitter having a display element formed of liquid crystal and having a similar structure as that of the above-described remote control transmitter is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 3-173198.
In the above-described conventional remote control transmitter, crystal oscillator 106C used for a timer function, a time display function or the like is fixed via adhesive agent 107 to wiring substrate 102 in order to prevent crystal oscillator 106C from being damaged. Therefore, its assembling (e.g., application or solidification of adhesive agent 107) tends to take time and cause a cost increase of the remote control transmitter.


A valve plug is biased inwardly by a spring (90) to close an opening (10) in a cap (2) for a fuel tank filling and venting tube. A valve stem includes a first portion (62) which is engaged by the spring (90) and a second float cage portion (40) that is secured to and extends axially inwardly from the plug. A collapsible retainer (70) is secured to the cage (40) and has an abutment surface (74) which engages an abutment surface (68) on the first portion (62) to hold the cage (40) and the first portion (62) in position relative to each other and to transmit axial forces therebetween. A fusible material ring (88) is positioned radially between the retainer (70) and the cage (40) to prevent the retainer (70) from collapsing. At elevated temperatures, the ring (88) melts to allow the retainer (70) to collapse, the cage (40) and first stem portion (62) to separate from each other, and the valve plug and cage (40) to move away from the opening (10).

Fuel tanks on vehicles are subject to a number of safety requirements. These requirements include a venting system for relieving pressure in the tank when such pressure exceeds a predetermined level and a thermal relief system for preventing explosions when the temperature in the tank becomes excessive.
One known type of venting system is a pressure relief valve having a valve plug that is positioned outwardly of a vent opening in the valve housing and is spring biased to close the opening. A valve stem is attached to the plug and extends inwardly therefrom into the tank. The inner end of the stem carries a spring abutment for one end of a compression spring. The other end of the spring abuts the valve housing around the vent opening. The spring is calibrated to allow the valve plug and stem to move outwardly to relieve pressure when the pressure exceeds a predetermined level and to reseat the valve plug to close the vent opening when the pressure drops back down to an acceptable level. This valve arrangement has the advantages of simplicity/of construction, reliability, and low cost.
One approach to providing thermally/activated pressure relief is the use of a fusible material that melts at elevated temperatures to cause a vent opening or openings to be uncovered. The fusible material may itself be the cover for the opening, or it may be used to attach a nonfusible material cover to another portion of the venting structure. The latter arrangement has the advantages of allowing a relatively large opening to be uncovered very quickly and of requiring only small amounts of fusible material.
The separate provision of a pressure relief valve and thermal relief based on the melting of fusible material tends to complicate the overall structure of a safety system. Forming the stem from inner and outer portions which are held together by a fusible material permits the system's structure to be simplified. An example of this approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,188, granted Mar. 28, 1988, to Z. Gabrlik et al., and assigned to the assignee of the present application. In that patent, a major problem with the approach was recognized. This problem is that the stem in such a valve arrangement is subjected to significant tension forces by the biasing means, proportional to the amount of pressure required to activate the valve to vent the tank. Known fusible materials that are practical for use in a tank thermal relief system do not have sufficient strength to maintain their structural integrity at realistic venting pressures. Therefore, fusible materials are not practical for use as a direct load-carrying link in a valve stem. The solution to this problem arrived at in the above-cited patent was to arrange the inner and outer portions of the stem in a mechanically interlocking, load-transmitting position and to use the fusible material to maintain the stem portions in this position. In two embodiments disclosed in the patent, fusible material plugs extended radially through adjacent aligned openings in the inner and outer portions to hold the inner and outer portions together. In a third embodiment, the inner portion is formed of two legs, and the fusible material is positioned radially between the two legs.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,686,875, granted Oct. 9, 1928, to I. I. Nelson et al., discloses a spring biased pressure relief valve for a boiler. The valve has an inner chamber and an outer chamber. A valve element closes a passageway between the two chambers. Pressure in the boiler exceeding a predetermined amount causes the valve element to move upwardly to open the passageway to allow fluid to move from the inner chamber to the outer chamber and out through an outlet. A valve stem extends upwardly from the valve element. A spring positioned externally of the valve casing is positioned between the head of an adjustment screw and the upper end of the stem to bias the valve element into a closed position. The upper portion of the stem which abuts the spring is fusible to melt at a predetermined external temperature to release the spring. This is described as permitting the valve to operate independently of excess pressure in the boiler.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,040,764, granted Jun. 26, 1962, to A. R. Feinberg, discloses a relief valve for fluid storage tanks, such as hot water tanks, which is actuated in response to predetermined fluid temperature or fluid pressure conditions within the tank. The valve includes a rod that extends through the valve seat and terminates at its inner end in a chisel-like point that is urged against a fusible body. A spring is positioned between an abutment carried by the rod and an abutment carried by the valve element to hold the valve closed. High temperature conditions cause the fusible body to melt to allow the rod to move inwardly and thereby release the spring and allow the valve to open.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,724,878, granted Aug. 13, 1929, to J. A. Jensen, discloses a vent device for tanks of vehicles that transport liquid fuels and the like in bulk. A top disk that forms a cover melts under fire conditions to allow a ball valve element to be expelled. A second ball valve element seats in an overturn condition. U.S. Pat. Pat. No. 4,458,711, granted Jul. 10, 1984, to F. S. Flider, discloses a vent valve with a plastic housing which has a thin walled break-away top portion to provide an enlarged aperture under severe over-pressurization and which melts under severe fire conditions to provide an even larger aperture for maximum venting. C. J. Green discloses vehicle fuel tank valves for relieving pressure and preventing liquid spillage in U.S. Pats. No. 4,325,398, granted Apr. 20, 1982; U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,325, granted Jul. 3, 1984; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,215, granted Dec. 11, 1984. Each of these three patents also discloses the use of fusible material for attaching a portion of the valve housing that covers a large vent opening to the rest of the housing. U.S. Pat. No. 2,489,787, granted Nov. 29, 1949, to E. W. Knowlton, discloses a safety cap for tanks or containers used for storing fluids like gasoline. The cap has a ball valve which relieves pressure. A fusible disk melts under high temperatures to uncover vent openings. The melting of the disk does not directly affect the functioning of the valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,606, granted Nov. 11, 1975, to R. D. Keller, discloses a fuel tank filler cap with a pressure relief valve having a spring biased valve plug and a stem which carries a spring abutment. The cap body has a separate vent valve with a ball that rolls in a retainer to close the vent opening when the cap is in a tilted orientation.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,357,681, granted Sep. 5, 1944, to C. R. Morton, discloses a fire detecting and alarm device in which each end of a spring is held down by a strip with a section of fusible material that melts at a predetermined temperature to release the spring. The manner in which the section of fusible material is incorporated is not disclosed. The device also has plugs that are held in openings in containers of fire extinguishant by fusible material that melts to release the extinguishant. U.S. Pat. No. 2,375,832, granted May 15, 1945, to E. Tyden, discloses an automatic fire protection sprinkler head in which a lever is held in position by a retainer which is in turn adhesively held to the spreader portion of the head by a fusible material. Under fire conditions, the fusible material melts to allow the lever to displace the retainer and release the cap on the nozzle. The lateral stress in the lever under normal conditions is described as being resisted by the normal friction between the spreader and the retainer and the adhesive quality of the fusible material. U.S. Pat. No. 3,669,302, granted Jun. 13, 1972, to M. Markarian, discloses an electrolytic capacitor that has a vent opening sealed by a fusible material.

Pressure and thermal relief valve for fuel tank


In a method for marking a fuse in order to allow for the rapid visual identification of certain characteristics of that fuse, the fuse is provided with: a first color-coded visual indicia indicative of an amperage rating of the fuse; a second color-coded visual indicia indicative of an action value of the fuse; and/or a third color-coded visual indicia indicative of a voltage rating of the fuse.

The present invention is a method for marking fuses.
In maintaining various electrical equipment, installation and/or replacement of fuses is an important task. Each fuse has a specified amperage rating, voltage rating, and action value. For example, for glass cartridge-type fuses, these values are usually stamped onto one of the metal end caps of the fuse, and therefore, such values are often difficult to read. It is critical that the appropriate fuse be used and installed to prevent damage to associated electric and/or electronic equipment.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a method for marking fuses that allows for the rapid visual identification of the amperage rating, voltage rating, and/or action value of a particular fuse.


In a milking parlor having a milk line to which milking clusters are connected and a wash line to which clean-in-place washer units are connected, milk from the milk line is directed through a pipeline to a single receiver tank that is maintained under a vacuum draw during the milking operation. Milk from the receiver tank is periodically pumped to a bulk tank. During wash up, the receiver tank is filled with wash water, and wash water is then pumped from the receiver tank through the milk pipelines leading to the bulk tank and then back by return lines to the receiver tank, and wash water is also pumped from the receiver tank to the wash line. The wash water from the wash line passes through the washer units, which are now connected to the teat cups of the milking cluster, thence to the milk line, and back through the milk line and the milk pipeline back to the receiver tank. Washing action may be enhanced by periodic injection of air into the wash supply line connected to the wash line to provide slugs of wash water that pass through the teat cup clusters and associated equipment.

In large dairies, cows are typically milked in milking parlors in which several cows are milked simultaneously. When one group of cows has finished milking, that group is let out of the parlor and another group of cows is let in to be milked. The milk from each cow is typically drawn from the teat cup cluster--attached to the cow's udder--through a milk hose to a common milk pipeline which is under a vacuum draw. The milk from several cows is drawn through the pipeline to a common receiver tank where the milk is discharged from the pipeline into the tank. The receiver tank is connected to a vacuum pump so that the interior of the receiver tank is under vacuum pressure, thereby drawing the milk from the milk pipeline into the receiver tank. Periodically, the milk from the receiver tank is pumped by a milk pump through pipelines to a large bulk tank where it is held and cooled while awaiting transfer to a milk tank truck. The receiver tank is typically mounted in the parlor at the end of the common milk line, whereas the bulk tank is usually located in another room or building which is typically a substantial distance away from the cows in the milking parlor. In the typical double-herringbone milking parlor, a receiver tank and milk pump are located in the parlor at the end of the milk line on each side of the parlor.
When all of the cows in the herd have completed milking, the milking equipment and pipelines must be cleaned and sanitized before the next shift of milking begins. Commonly, a wash line is installed above the milking stations at which the cows are milked. When the milking shift has been completed, the dairyman typically connects the teat cups in the teat cup cluster to a clean-in-place unit washer or a wash manifold which is connected by a hose to the wash line. Wash water mixed with sanitizing chemicals in a wash tank or sink is then supplied to the wash line, through the clean-in-place manifold, the teat cups and the milk hose to the milk line; the wash water in the milk line is then drawn back to the receiver tank and pumped back by the milk pump through the pipelines that extend to the bulk tank. Bypass valves are opened to allow the wash water to recirculate rather than being passed into the bulk tank, and the recirculated water is eventually discharged to a drain. A connection may be made between the wash line and the milk line through a valve which is opened to provide some direct flow of wash water from the wash line to the milk line to provide a more thorough cleaning of the milk line.
In some systems, a separate wash water holding tank is provided in addition to the receiver tanks and the wash sink. The wash tank holds a large quantity of hot wash water and sanitizing chemicals. A pump is connected to the wash tank to pump the wash water into the wash lines. The relatively large capacity of the wash tank combined with the pressure applied to the wash water by the pump allows a vigorous flow of wash water to be provided to the wash lines and thence to the various milk pipelines to thoroughly clean the pipelines. To obtain enhanced cleaning action, air injector systems have been developed which allow air to be injected into the wash lines so that the wash water is driven along in "slugs" separated by air pockets to enhance the scrubbing and cleaning action of the wash water.
While such conventional washing systems adequately clean the various milk pipelines and related equipment, the washing lines and equipment add significant costs to milking parlor construction. The wash lines, wash sinks, wash tanks, receiver tanks, connectors and other equipment typically are formed of expensive stainless steel to ensure maximum cleanliness and durability. The milk pumps provided at the receivers which are located at the end of each milk pipeline for each side of the parlor must be of the highest quality. In addition to the significant capital cost of the long lengths of washing pipeline that are required for typical milking systems, the number of pipes through which the wash water must pass and the length of the pipes results in significant loss of heat from the hot wash water passing through the pipes, with the result that operating costs for hot water heating are significant. The space within the milking parlor that is physically occupied by the various wash lines also constrains the design of the parlor and reduces the space available for other equipment within the parlor. The long lines and the capacitors of the receiver tanks and wash tank has also required that large amounts of wash water be used during the wash-up process, which is a significant concern in areas where water is rationed or particularly expensive.
Some milking parlors have been installed in which the receiver tanks at the end of each of the two milk lines (for a double sided parlor) have been eliminated, and the large wash water holding tank has been employed also to serve as a receiver tank during milking. In these parlors, each of the two milk lines was connected to a single common line that extends to the wash/receiver tank. A milk pump is used to pump the accumulated milk from the wash/receiver tank to the bulk tank. During wash-up, a separate wash pump is used to pump wash water from the wash/receiver tank through the wash lines and the milking units and back through the milk lines to the wash/receiver tank. Because of the relatively long distance between the milking units and the wash/receiver tank (typically located outside of the milking parlor) difficulties may be encountered in obtaining adequate vacuum draw on the milk in the lines leading to the wash/receiver tank, particularly where the common milk line enters the receiver tank below the level of accumulated milk in the tank or where it enters at a higher level but with the requirement for a vertical section of milk pipeline through which milk must be drawn against gravity.

Method and apparatus for cleaning milking pipelines and milking equipment


A power management device includes a power demand predicting section, demand control section, demand issuing section, and acceptance receiving section. The power demand predicting section calculates a first predicted amount of power demand, representing a result of prediction of power demand of a power consumer on a date and time in a future, and a second predicted amount of power demand, being calculated after the first predicted amount of power demand, and represents a result of prediction of power demand of the consumer on the date and time in the future. The demand control section determines a demand for prompting the consumer to adjust the amount of power demand based on the first and the second predicted amounts of power demand. The demand issuing section issues the demand determined by the demand control section to the consumer. The acceptance receiving section receives acceptance of the issued demand by the consumer.

The present technology relates to a power management device, a power management method, and a demand notifying device.
In the past, power supply to power consumers in many countries has been monopolized by power companies. However, the entries of entities other than power companies into a power retailing business and power futures trading have recently been realized or promoted with an objective of further improving efficiency of the electric power industry and supplying power at lower prices by introducing principles of competition into the electric power industry.
Power futures trading for example predicts a necessary amount of power in advance and sells or buys power for a following day or up to 24 hours ahead through a power market. Thus, in order for entities engaged in power retailing and power futures trading to have an advantage in power trading and make large profits, power demand needs to be predicted accurately.
As technology for predicting power demand, a total power demand amount predicting device has been proposed which predicts a total amount of power demand by taking in meteorological variables including an air temperature and humidity in the past and data on a total amount of power demand and further performing learning by a neural network (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 5-18995 referred to as Patent Document 1 hereinafter).

Power management device, power management method, and demand notifying device


An optical disc includes a disc base plate of a light-transmitting synthetic material having a recess for mounting a magnetic plate, and a holding part, integral with the disc base plate, for loosely holding the magnetic plate mounted in the recess with respect to the disc base plate. It is possible with the present optical disc to prevent distortion of the disc base plate otherwise caused by the difference in thermal expansion coefficients of the two components to inhibit double refraction of the disc base plate otherwise caused by such distortion to maintain good recording/reproducing characteristics.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a disc for recording information signals, such as an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc, referred to hereinafter as an optical disc, and a method for producing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has hitherto been proposed a disc for recording information signals, such as an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc.
With such disc, information signals can be recorded to a higher density, and hence a disc of an extremely small size has been proposed. For example, a small-sized magneto-optical disc 64 mm or less in diameter has been proposed.
The magneto-optical disc, which is small-sized and capable of recording to a higher density, is loaded on a disc rotating and driving device for being rotated at a higher velocity. While the disc is rotated at a higher velocity, a light beam radiated from an optical pickup is directed to a recording track provided on a signal recording layer formed on a major surface of the disc, while an external magnetic field is applied by the magnetic head for recording desired information signals on the disc.
For accurately radiating the light beam on the recording track of the magneto-optical disc rotated at an elevated velocity, it is necessary for the disc to be positively unified with a disc table of the disc rotating and driving device and to be positioned and loaded highly accurately with respect to the disc table.
Meanwhile, for positively unifying the magneto-optical disc to the disc table and loading the disc accurately with respect to the disc table, a disc loading system has been proposed in e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,787,009 and 4,829,510, according to which, with the magneto-optical disc set on the disc table, a chucking magnetic plate of e.g. a magnetic metal material, placed at the center of the magneto-optical disc, is magnetically attracted by a permanent magnet provided on the disc table, for loading the magneto-optical disc on the disc table.
With the magneto-optical disc 1, employed in the disc loading system taking advantage of the magnetic attraction by the permanent magnet, a metal plate 3 as a magnetic plate is placed for closing a center opening 2 formed in the disc 1, as shown in FIG. 1. A disc rotating and driving device 4 for rotationally driving the magneto-optical disc 1 includes a spindle motor 5 having a rotary shaft 6 integrally carrying a disc table 7 and a permanent magnet 9 integrally mounted on the distal end of the rotary shaft 6 by means of a magnet holder 8. A centering member 11 is mounted at the center of the disc table 7 by being housed within a housing recess 10 formed at the center of the disc table, and is biased by a coil spring 12 for being moved axially of the rotary shaft 6.
Referring to FIG. 1, the magneto-optical disc 1 is set on the disc table 7, with the centering member 11 engaged in the center opening 2 with the rim of the centering hole 2 being supported by the disc table 7. The magneto-optical disc 1 is loaded as one with the disc table 7 by the metal plate 3 being magnetically attracted by the magnet 9. When set and loaded on the disc table 7, the magneto-optical disc 1 has its center of rotation aligned with the axis of the rotary shaft 6 by the centering member 11 which is introduced into engagement with the centering opening 2 while being moved axially of the rotary shaft 6.
By thus attracting the metal plate 3 on the magneto-optical disc 1 by the magnet 9 of the disc table 7, and centering the disc by the centering member 11, when setting the magneto-optical disc 1 on the disc table 7, the disc 1 may be loaded on the disc table 7 as one with and with highly accurate positioning relative to the disc table 7. On the other hand, the chucking mechanism of positioning and integrally loading the magneto-optical disc 1 on the disc table may be simplified in structure.
Meanwhile, the magneto-optical disc 1, which is of a reduced diameter and permits of high density recording of information signals, is housed in the disc cartridge 13, and loaded in this state on the disc rotating and driving device 4.
Meanwhile, the previously proposed metal plate mounted on the magneto-optical disc is bonded to a base plate or substrate of the magneto-optical disc, formed of a synthetic resin, such as a transparent polycarbonate resin, with the aid of a UV curable adhesive or a double-sided adhesive tape, in a manner free from positional deviation on the disc substrate.
However, since the thermal expansion coefficient of the metal plate differs markedly from that of the disc base plate formed of synthetic resin, if the metal plate is joined to the disc base plate with the aid of the above-mentioned adhesive, the metal plate may be peeled off from the disc base plate on repeated expansion and contraction of the metal plate and the disc base plate due to changes in ambient temperatures. On the other hand, if the metal plate and the disc base plate are secured strongly to each other in a manner free from peeling on repeated expansion and contraction, distortion may be produced in the disc base plate with changes in the ambient temperature, so that double refraction is produced within the disc base plate and hence information signals cannot be recorded or reproduced with good recording/reproducing properties on or from the signal recording layer formed on the surface of the disc base plate.
Above all, if the metal plate is bonded to the disc base plate with the aid of a UV curable adhesive, the risk is extremely high that double refraction be produced within the disc base plate during curing of the adhesive. If the UV curable adhesive is employed, it becomes difficult to improve the productivity of the magneto-optical disc because of the curing time involved in curing the adhesive.
On the other hand, since the double-sided adhesive tape is lacking in bonding strength, sufficient reliability in the bonding between the metal plate and the disc base plate cannot be assured with the use of such adhesive tape.

Optical disc with magnetic member in a recessed portion thereof and method for producing said optical disc


The invention relates to a transparent gas barrier packaging laminate having a required bending stiffness, comprising outer layers of heat-sealable polyolefin, two polymer carrier layers each being coated with a SiOx gas barrier layer, wherein the two polymer carrier layers with SiOx layers are laminated to each other by means of an intermediate polymer layer, which in comparison to the other surrounding layers is relatively stiff and thicker. The required stiffness of the packaging laminate is obtained by the I-beam interaction between the two carrier layers and the intermediate distancing polymer layer. Preferably, the thickness of the intermediate polymer layer constitutes from about 30 to about 55% of the total thickness of the packaging laminate. The invention also relates to a packaging container such as a pouch or similar manufactured from the packaging laminate and to a method of manufacturing of the packaging laminate.

On the market today, there is an increasing demand for packages for beverage and liquid food of the type that are single-use disposable plastic pouches, preferably at least partly, at some portion of the package, transparent to display the contents to the consumer when exposed on the shelf, e.g. in the food store. Most commonly such packages are provided with a straw for direct drinking or a pull-tab for opening and pouring of the contents. Such packages do not have the advantage of having the dimension and grip stability of the more common paperboard packaging laminate drink packages of the Tetra Brik®-type. However, they have the image of a more positive environmental profile in many countries, with the argument that the amount of used packaging material as well as the volume of the emptied package is very small and because it may be recyclable with other similar flexible plastic items. Furthermore, the traditional Tetra Brik®-type packages have an oxygen barrier layer of aluminium foil, which in some countries is less desirable and which also makes a transparent package impossible.
In the high-speed, continuous packaging processes well known for the paperboard packages of the Tetra Brik®-type, a web of the packaging laminate is continuously formed into a tube, filled with contents and sealed off to pillow-shaped packaging containers by a simultaneous heat sealing and cutting operation. The pillow-shaped packaging container is then normally foldformed into a parallellepipedic packaging container. The main advantage of this continuous tube-forming, filling and sealing packaging process concept is that the web may be sterilized continuously just before tube-forming, thus providing for the possibility of an aseptic packaging process, i.e. a process wherein the liquid content to be filled as well as the packaging material itself are reduced from bacteria and the filled packaging container is produced under clean circumstances such that the filled package may be stored for a long time even at ambient temperature, without the risk of growth of microorganisms in the filled product. An important factor for long-term storage is of course also the gas barrier properties of the filled and sealed packaging container, which in turn is highly dependent on the gas barrier properties of the packaging laminate itself but also on the qualities of the seals and of the opening arrangement of the final package. An other important advantage of the Tetra Brik®-type packaging process is, as stated above, the possibility of continuous high-speed packaging, which has considerable impact on cost efficiency. The pouch-type drink packages available today on the market, are however, typically manufactured by other non-aseptic, more complex and expensive processes of less continuous character.
In the prior art it is also known to apply gas barrier coatings of SiOx onto a substrate by means of plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). The advantages with a SiOx gas barrier layer compared to other gas barrier materials are firstly that it has a positive environmental profile, secondly, that it is not affected when in contact with surrounding moisture or liquid, it is transparent and since it is applied in very thin layers, also flexible and resistant to cracking when bent or folded.
It is known from EP-A-385054 to laminate two gas barrier layers of a silicon compound, such as silicon dioxide, facing each other, by means of an intermediate binder layer. This document, however, is silent on the stiffness properties of the laminate and does not describe a thicker or stiffer intermediate layer. Moreover, the silicon dioxide (SiO2) layers described are very different from the PECVD-coated layers of SiOx intended according to this invention.
There is thus a need for a thin, transparent, gas-tight, metalfoil-free packaging laminate having suitable properties for an aseptic, continuous highspeed packaging process similar to the Tetra Brik Aseptic® packaging process.
An important factor in such a process is the stiffness and stability of the packaging laminate. If the laminate web is too flexible and easy to displace in the high-speed tube-forming operation, the process will not be able to run safely and continuously. On the other hand, if the packaging laminate is too thick in order to obtain the required stiffness, it may be difficult to manage in the fold-forming operation. Moreover and naturally, the cost-efficiency of the material itself wilt be reduced with increasing thickness. The pouch-type drink packages available today on the market often have a laminated structure including a single gas barrier layer of, for example, an ethylene vinyl alcohol polymer (EVOH), and do not have the requirements on stiffness properties according to the present invention.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a packaging laminate that alleviates the above discussed disadvantages and problems.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a transparent packaging laminate, having gas barrier properties suitable for aseptic packaging and long-term storage, as well as sufficient bending stiffness to be suitable for continuous, high speed packaging of liquid foods by means of a continuous tube-forming process.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a packaging laminate having the required stiffness but being sufficiently thin for foldforming of the package at at least one end of the package.
The invention is also directed to a packaging container filled with beverage or liquid food produced from the packaging laminate of the invention as well as to a method of manufacturing of the laminated packaging material of the invention.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Transparent plastic gas barrier packaging laminate


It is provided a control device of a hybrid vehicle having an engine, an electric motor, a clutch disposed in a power transmission path between the engine and the electric motor, and a hydraulic power transmission device with a lockup clutch disposed in a power transmission path between the electric motor and drive wheels, the control device being configured to engage the clutch and provide slip control of the lockup clutch when the engine is started from motor running using the electric motor, and to lower an engagement pressure of the lockup clutch as compared to the case of an engine start caused by an acceleration request from a driver if the start of the engine is an engine start caused by a request from a hybrid system.

A hybrid vehicle is known that includes an engine, an electric motor, a clutch disposed in a power transmission path between the engine and the electric motor, and a hydraulic power transmission device with a lockup clutch disposed between the electric motor and drive wheels. For example, a parallel hybrid power train 1 (power transmission device) of Patent Document 1 is an example thereof.
Patent Document 1 describes that when the engine is started from motor running using the electric motor, a shock due to torque variation generated at the time of engine start is suppressed by slip operation of the lockup clutch.