In a tree-structural key distribution system, renewed data of a master key and medium key are sent along with a key renewal block (KRB). KRB is such that each of devices included as leaves of a tree structure has a leaf key and restricted node key. A specific KRB can be generated for a group identified by a specific node and distributed to the group to restrict a device for which the key can be renewed. Any device not belonging to the group cannot decrypt the key, whereby the security of key distribution can be assured. Especially in a system using a generation-managed master key, a master key renewed with KRB can be distributed.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an information recorder, information player, information recording method, information playback method, information recording medium, and a program serving medium, and more particularly to an information recorder, information player, information recording method, information playback method, information recording medium, and a program serving medium, in which a tree-structured hierarchical key distribution method is used to reduce the size of a message, thereby minimizing the load of data distribution when a key such as a master key, medium key or the like has been renewed. More particularly, the present invention relates to an information recorder, information player, information recording method, information playback method, information recording medium, and a program serving medium, in which a key distribution method in which each of a number n of recorder/players is disposed at each of leaves of a tree is used to distribute a necessary key, such as a maser key or medium key, for recording or playback of a content data to or from a recording medium via the recording medium or a communications line and the master key or medium key thus distributed is used by each recorder/player to record or play back the content data.
2. Background Art
With the recent advancement and development of the digital signal processing technology, digital recorders and recording media have been prevailing. With such a digital recorder and recording medium, an image or sound, for example, can be repeatedly recorded and played back without any degradation thereof. Since digital data can be repeatedly copied many times with no degradation of the image and sound qualities, so recording media having digital data illegally recorded therein, if put on the market, will cause the copyrighters of various contents such as music, movie, etc. or legal distributors of the contents to be deprived of profits which would come to the latter if such illegal copying is not possible. To prevent such illegal copying of digital data, various illegal-copy preventing systems have recently been introduced in digital recorders and recording media.
As an example of the above illegal-copy preventing systems, SCMS (Serial Copy Management System) is adopted in the MD (mini disc) drive (MD is a trademark). The SCMS is such that at a data player side, audio data is outputted along with SCMS signal from a digital interface (DIF) while at a data recorder side, recording of the audio data from the data player side is controlled based on the SCMS signal from the data player side, thereby preventing the audio data from being illegally copied.
More particularly, the above SCMS signal indicates that an audio data is a "copy-free" data which is allowed to freely be copied many times, a "copy-once-allowed" data which is allowed to be copied only once or a "copy-prohibited" data which is prohibited from being copied. At the data recorder side, when receiving an audio data from the DIF, SCMS signal transmitted along with the audio data is detected. If the SCMS signal indicates that the audio data is a "copy-free" data, the audio data is recorded along with the SCMS signal to the mini disc. If the SCMS signal indicates that the audio data is a "copy-once-allowed" data, the audio data is converted to a "copy-prohibited" data and the SCMS signal is recorded along with the audio data to the mini disc. Further, if the SCMS signal indicates that the audio data is a copy-prohibited data, the audio data is not recorded to the mini disc. Under a control with the SCMS signal, a copyrighted audio data is prevented from being illegally copied in the mini disc drive unit.
However, the SCMS is valid only when the data recorder itself is constructed to control recording of audio data from the data player side based on the SCMS signal. Therefore, it is difficult for the SCMS to support a mini disc drive not constructed to perform the SCMS control. To apply the SCMS, a DVD player for example adopts a content scrambling system to prevent a copyrighted data from being illegally copied.
The content scrambling system is such that encrypted video data, audio data and the like are recorded in a DVD-ROM (read-only memory) and a decryption key for use to decrypt the encrypted data is granted to each licensed DVD player. The license is granted to a DVD player designed in conformity with a predetermined operation rule against illegal copying etc. Therefore, using the granted decryption key, a licensed DVD player can decrypt encrypted data recorded in a DVD-ROM to thereby play back the video and audio data from the DVD-ROM.
On the other hand, an unlicensed DVD player cannot decrypt encrypted data recorded in a DVD-ROM because it has no decryption key for the encrypted data. In short, the content scrambling system prevents a DVD player not meeting the licensing requirements from playing a DVD-ROM having digital data recorded therein in order to prevent illegal copying.
However, the content scrambling system adopted in the DVD-ROM is directed to a recording medium to which the user cannot write data (will be referred to as "ROM medium" hereunder wherever appropriate), but not to any recording medium to which the user can write data (will be referred to as "RAM medium" hereunder wherever appropriate).
That is to say, copying all encrypted data recorded in a ROM medium as they are to a RAM medium will produce a so-called pirated edition of the data which can be played back by a licensed DVD player.
To solve the above problem, the Applicant of the present invention proposed, as disclosed in the Japanese Published Unexamined Application No. 224461 of 1999 (Japanese Patent Application No. 25310 of 1998), a method in which information to identify each recording medium (will be referred to as "medium ID information" hereunder) is recorded with other data in a recording medium to allow access to the medium ID information in the recording medium only when a player going to play the recording medium has been licensed for the medium ID information.
The above method encrypts data in the recording medium with a private key (master key) acquired through licensing of the medium ID information so that any unlicensed player cannot acquire any meaningful data even if it can read the encrypted data. Note that a player licensed for the medium ID information has the operation thereof restricted against illegal copying.
No unlicensed player can access the medium ID information. The medium ID information is unique to each recording medium. Even if an unlicensed player could copy all encrypted data recorded in such a recording medium to a new recording medium, the data thus recorded in the new recording medium cannot correctly be decrypted by the unlicensed player as well as by a licensed player. Thus, it is substantially possible to prevent data from being illegally copied.
Now it should be reminded that in the above conventional system, a master key stored in a licensed device is generally common to all devices included in the same system. The master key common to a plurality of devices in a system is stored to permit one of the devices to play a recording medium having data recorded therein by any other device in the system (to secure the inter-device operability).
However, if an attacker has succeeded in attacking a device included the in the system and extracted the master key, the encrypted data recorded in the entire system can be decrypted and the entire system will be collapsed. To avoid the above, if it is revealed that an attacking of the device has uncover the master key, the master key has to be renewed to a new one and the new master key has to be granted to all the devices included in the system except for the one having been attacked. This measure can be implemented most simply by giving each of the devices a unique key (device key), encrypting the new master key with each of the device keys to provide a corresponding value, and transmitting the value to each of the devices via a recording medium. However, this will add to the size of to-be-transmitted message proportionally to the number of the destination devices.

Information recording/playback apparatus and method


A modular DIMM carrier and riser slot device includes a slot section having a slot configured to hold a plurality of memory device planars, a first latch disposed at a first end of the slot section and pivotably connected to the slot section and capable of securing a first end of the memory device planars; a second latch disposed at a second end of the slot section and pivotably connected to the slot section and capable of securing a second end of a first memory device planar, and a third latch pivotably connected to the slot section and disposed intermediate between the first and the second latches, the third latch capable of securing a second end of a second memory device planar. The slot section has an auxiliary slot section defined as an section between the second latch and the third latch. The auxiliary slot section includes a notch for receiving the third latch when the third latch is in a disengaged position, a retention notch that restrains movement of the third latch when the third latch is in an engaged position, and a power and signaling section that includes power and signaling connections usable by one or more of the memory device planars.

Modern microprocessor systems can support a large number of memory modules, generally known as dual inline memory modules (DIMM), directly attached to the microprocessor. DIMMs conventionally are installed on a planar, such as a motherboard, using slotted enclosures with latches at opposites ends of the slots. These slotted enclosures are only able to accommodate one DIMM, and are designed to hold a specific DIMM type. FIG. 1 is a side view of a conventional single-DIMM carrier 10. The carrier 10 includes DIMM latches 12 at opposite ends of slot 11. The latches pivot into place to securely hold a DIMM (not shown). The carrier 10 attaches to a planar. Such as a printed circuit board, using pins 13.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A utility tray for use with a stepladder having a flat top step, the tray comprising a generally rectangular flat central portion, rectangular side tray compartments on opposite sides of the central portion and depending therefrom, a rectangular rear tray compartment on and depending from a third side of the central portion, and a flange depending from the fourth side of the central portion, each of the tray compartments being defined by vertical sides and a bottom orthogonal to the vertical sides; one side of each of said tray compartments forming with the flange a top step-receiving compartment, and a strap for releasably securing the utility tray to a stepladder.

A great number of attachments have been presented in the prior art for use with ladders, to help the person using the ladder by holding a variety of tools, implements and supplies, and keeping those articles readily available for the person working on the ladder. The prior art utility trays vary depending upon where and how they are attached to the ladder, and to some extent the type of ladders with which they are used. Thus devices which are attachable to the side rails or rungs may often be used with both stepladders and with extension type ladders, whereas devices attached to the top of the ladder would ordinarily be used only with stepladders.
Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,810 discloses a ladder caddy which may be attached to any rung of a ladder, on the front, i.e. the user side, of the ladder, and has a tray portion and a variety of openings, all for the purpose of holding tools, supplies and the like readily at hand.
Other U.S. Pat. Nos. such as 4,515,242, 4,550,803 and 5,106,045 disclose other types of utility attachments which are adapted to be attached to the side rail of a ladder, for holding tools and the like so they may be easily reached by the user.
Still other U.S. Pat. Nos. such as 4,653,608, 4,862,994 and 5,342,008 disclose attachments which are constructed so as to be attached to a ladder on the rear, i.e. opposite the user, for holding tools and the like while the ladder is in use.
Other devices are constructed so as to be used on the top of a stepladder, such as the ladder "apron" disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,453.
The prior art devices have all proposed useable devices, but the commercial success of most prior art devices has been limited by the relatively narrow capability of use of the attachments. In other words, a device which is attached to the side of a ladder may work quite well for holding tools, hardware, paint, and the like on the ladder, but when the user moves off of the ladder, the device remains attached with the tools, hardware, paint and the like. One device has sought to overcome this problem, and is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,263. This device is a tool tray which is relatively easily removable from the stepladder. A retractable ladder engaging handle extends for attaching the tray to the stepladder, and retracts out of the way when being carried by the user. The tray is removed by lifting the tray over the top of the ladder.
The present invention relates to an improved utility tray for stepladders which may be easily removed from the ladder and used as a tool caddy or tote tray when so removed. In this manner, the user may work on the ground, and then as the job may require, he may carry his tools etc. with him and climb a ladder with the tray, which is then secured to the ladder while working on the ladder.
Thus, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a utility tray for carrying tools, hardware, and the like which may be readily attached to stepladders.
Another object of the invention is to provide a utility tray which has no moving parts.
Still a further object of the invention is to provide a utility tray which may be attached to a stepladder without any modification of the ladder.
Yet a further object of the invention is to provide an improved utility tray which may be used to carry tools, hardware and the like on a jobsite and easily attached to a stepladder when needed.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a detailed consideration of the present specification and drawings, together with the accompanying claims.


A nonvolatile memory device includes a plurality of programming current driving units configured to supply memory cells with a programming current corresponding to a write data, a common programming current controlling unit configured to generate a common control voltage for controlling the programming current and a switching unit configured to transfer the common control voltage to the programming current driving unit selected among the plurality of programming current driving units by a plurality of driving selection signals.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor design technology, and more particularly, to technology for supplying a programming current for programming a memory cell.
Phase change random access memory (PCRAM) is a representative nonvolatile memory device that programs memory cells by using a programming current.
PCRAM having a nonvolatile memory characteristic can provide a random access, and can be highly integrated at low cost. PCRAM stores data by using a phase change material. To be specific, PCRAM is a nonvolatile memory device using a phase change of a phase change material depending on a temperature condition, that is, a resistance change depending on a phase change.
A phase change material is changeable to an amorphous state or a crystalline state according to a temperature condition. A representative phase change material is a chalcogenide alloy. Since a typical example of the phase change material is Ge2Sb2Te5 containing germanium (Ge), antimony (Sb), and tellurium (Te), the phase change material is called a "GST".
PCRAM causes a reversible phase change between a crystalline state and an amorphous state of the phase change material by using Joule heat generated by applying a specific current or voltage to the phase change material. The crystalline state is called a set state in terms of circuit. In the set state, the phase change material has an electrical characteristic like a metal with a low resistance. The amorphous state is called a reset state in terms of circuit. In the reset state, the phase change material has a resistance higher than in the set state. That is, PCRAM stores data on the basis of a resistance change between the crystalline state and the amorphous state, and determines the stored data by detecting a current flowing through the phase change material or a voltage change depending on a current change. In general, the set state is defined as having a logic level "0" and the reset state is defined as having a logic level "1". The phase change material maintains its state even when power is interrupted.
Meanwhile, a programming current can make the phase change material change from the crystalline state to the amorphous state, and vice versa. A set current is defined as a programming current that changes the phase change material of the memory cell to the set state, and a reset current is defined as a programming current that changes the phase change material of the memory cell to the reset state. The set current and the reset current are also called a set programming current and a reset programming current, respectively.
If the reset current is supplied to heat the phase change material for a certain time at a temperature higher than a melting temperature, the phase change material cools rapidly and changes to the amorphous state. Also, if the set current is supplied to heat the phase change material for a certain time at a temperature higher than a crystallization temperature and lower than a melting temperature, the phase change material cools slowly and changes to the crystalline state. Meanwhile, since a resistance value is differentiated according to the crystalline volume or the amorphous volume of the phase change material, a multi-level memory cell can be implemented. In general, the reset current is made to flow with a large current for a relatively shorter time than the set current, and the set current is made to flow with a small current for a relatively longer time than the reset current. That is, the state of the phase change material is changed by Joule heating generated under a specific condition by the supply of the programming current.
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram of a conventional phase change memory device.
Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional nonvolatile memory device includes a plurality of programming current driving units 121, 122, 123 and 124 configured to supply a programming current IPGM corresponding to a write data to memory cells, and a plurality of programming current controlling units 111, 112, 113 and 114 configured to generate a plurality of control voltages WDB1, WDB2, WDB3 and WDB4 for controlling the programming current IPGM.
When the memory cells are phase change memory cells, the magnitude and supply time of the programming current IPGM outputted from the programming current controlling units 111, 112, 113 and 114 are determined according to the pulse waveforms of the control voltages WDB1, WDB2, WDB3 and WDB4. Therefore, the memory cells are programmed to a set state or a reset state according to the supplied programming current IPGM.
As such, the control voltages are generated from the programming current controlling units provided at the respective programming current driving units. Therefore, an entire circuit area increases due to the programming current controlling units, and a lot of current is consumed due to a large number of the programming current controlling units.


A pitch altering cover for a drumhead is provided. The pitch altering cover includes a circular drumhead cover having an upper surface and a lower surface. The lower surface is formed to rest on a drumhead. A gasket is attached at least a portion of a parameter of the upper surface of the circular drumhead cover.

The present invention relates to a pitch altering cover and, more particularly, to a drumhead cover that alters the pitch of the drum.
The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the players hands, or with a drum stick, to produce sound. When recording or playing a live show, drummers sometimes want a deeper sound from a drum but do not want to carry a second drum or retune the drum for just one song.
As can be seen, there is a need for a device that quickly changes the pitch of a drum.


The present invention relates to a cocrystal of 2-(6-methyl-pyridine-2-yl)-3-yl-[6-amide-quinoline-4-yl]-5,6-dihydro-4H-pyrrole[1,2-b]pyrazole (Galunisertib or LY2157299) represented by formula (I) and a cocrystal former. Compared with the known solid form of Galunisertib, the cocrystal of the present invention has advantages in terms of stability, solubility, etc. The present invention also relates to a crystal form of the cocrystal, a preparation method therefor, a pharmaceutical composition thereof, and an application thereof in preparation of drugs for preventing and/or treating diseases relevant to TGF-β.

Solid forms of drugs mainly include polymorph, salt, hydrate, solvate and cocrystal. Pharmaceutical cocrystal is the crystalline form combined an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) with cocrystal former(s) (CCF) in a fixed stoichiometric ratio by weak interactions, in which the API could be in free form format or be in salt format. The weak interaction is defined as neither ionic bond interaction nor covalent bond interaction including such as hydrogen bond, van der Waals forces, π-π interactions and halogen bond. Cocrystal is a multi-component crystal, including binary cocrystal formed between two neutral solids and pluralistic cocrystal. Cocrystal can exists as polymorphs, or as hydrate or solvate. Reports have shown cocrystal has the ability to improve the crystal properties and chemical-physical properties of the drug.
2-(6-methyl-pyridin-2-yl)-3-(6-amido-quinolin-4-yl)-5,6-dihydro-4H-pyrrolo[1,2-b]pyrazole, another name LY2157299, is a transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) signaling inhibitor, English name Galunisertib. Its chemical structural formula is as following formula (I):

TGF-β includes three subtypes, TGF-β1, TGF-β2 and TGF-β3. It can affect the growth, differentiation and gene expression in many kinds of cells. TGF-β has close relationship with many diseases. As a singling inhibitor of TGF-β, LY2157299 can be used to treat cancers, pre-cancers, kidney diseases, fibrosis, and eye diseases. Patent CN100345852C disclosed LY2157299's preparation methods and mass data; U.S. Pat. No. 7,872,020B2 disclosed LY2157299 monohydrate's preparation method and its HNMR, mass data and XRPD data. The LY2157299 monohydrate described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,872,020B2 has disadvantages in low solubility and thermal phase stability issues.
In view of the disadvantages in the prior art, it is still necessary to develop new solid forms of LY2157299 including cocrystals in this field in order to meet the need in formulation in API solubility, stability and morphology.

Cocrystal of 2-(6-methyl-pyridine-2-yl)-3-yl-[6-amide-quinoline-4-yl]-5,6-dihydro-4H-pyrrole[1,2-b]pyrazole, preparation method therefor, and pharmaceutical composition


An energy storage device includes: an electrode assembly; a case that houses the electrode assembly; and a spacer that is a side spacer disposed between the electrode assembly and the case. The spacer has a rear portion disposed to face the electrode-assembly end portion, a side portion extended in a direction along the side surface of the electrode assembly, and a connection that rotatably connects the side portion to the rear portion.

Conventionally, there is known an energy storage device including a case that houses an electrode assembly and a side spacer disposed between the electrode assembly and the case. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a battery provided with; a wound electrode group housed in a metal exterior can; a positive insulating cover fitted to one end portion of the wound electrode group including a positive current collector tab; and a negative insulating cover fitted to the other end portion of the wound electrode group including a negative current collector tab. In this battery, the positive insulating cover includes a U-shaped member having first and second side walls facing each other, a rear member, and a holding portion for holding a positive current collector tab and an extended portion of a positive electrode lead connected to the positive current collector tab. Patent Document 1 describes that the above structure achieves a highly safe battery in which contact among the lead, the electrode group, and the exterior can is prevented.


A thermal object detecting method for; obtaining a thermal image of a measuring space by two-dimensional thermal image detecting method for detecting two-dimensional thermal image information, obtaining position information of an object in the measuring space by object position detecting device, obtaining distance data between said two-dimensional thermal image detecting device and said object from the position information, and correcting the temperature level of the object in the thermal image in the measuring space or correcting the size of the object in the thermal image in said measuring space, using the distance data from the object as correction factor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal object measuring apparatus for detecting a thermal object by using a pyroelectric sensor for detecting infrared rays, (in particular, heat rays) and a distance sensor using near infrared rays.
2. Related Art of the Invention
Recently there is a growing need for means of detecting a human body, without making any contact, in the field of air-conditioning, lighting, security and others.
As means for detecting human bodies existing in a space, various methods have been used or proposed so far, including a method of using a CCD camera to detect a human body from the obtained image, a method of detecting a human body by detecting an infrared ray using a guantum type infrared ray camera, and a method of detecting a voltage output generated while a thermal object moves by installing a Fresnel lens before the sensor, and by using an inexpensive pyroelectric type infrared ray sensor.
However, in the method using a CCD camera mentioned above, the detection algorithm for picking up a human body from the image is very complicated, the apparatus is huge, the processing time is long, and the system is very expensive. In the method of using the quantum type infrared ray sensor, the sensor must be cooled during operation, and the apparatus is large and expensive, so it is not practical for general use. The method of using the pyroelectric type sensor solves the problems of the size and price of the quantum type sensor, but a still human body cannot be detected, and errors are caused by wind or the like. By installing a chopper before the sensor, a still human body can be measured, but other heat sources having a similar radiation temperature and area may be mistook as a human body.
As a distance sensor for measuring the distance to an object, methods of using ultrasonic waves, millimeter waves, and laser radar are known. The method of using ultrasonic waves is practical at a distance of about 5 m, but at a further distance it is hard to enhance the directivity up to the precision required for detecting a human body. The methods of using millimeter waves and laser radar are actually used in the field of measuring the bumper-to-bumper distance of vehicles, but the apparatus is very large and expensive, and it is harmful to the eyes, and there were many restrictions for its use.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A hydraulic control system for vehicle includes: an engine; an oil pump driven by the engine; a clutch device brought into engagement to enable power transmission between the engine and drive wheels by delivering a pressurized fluid thereto, and brought into disengagement to interrupt the power transmission between the engine and the drive wheels by discharging the fluid therefrom; and an accumulator storing the fluid delivered to the clutch device. The hydraulic control system is configured to control the hydraulic pressure applied to the clutch device, to stop the engine while bringing the clutch device into disengagement upon satisfaction of a predetermined stopping condition, and to restart the engine while bringing the clutch device into engagement upon satisfaction of a predetermined restarting condition. In the hydraulic control system, a hydraulic circuit increases flow rate of the fluid flowing between the accumulator and the clutch device when the engine is stopped.

In recent years, so-called "stop and start" control (abbreviated as "S & S" control hereinafter) of an engine has been adapted to reduce fuel consumption and emissions of automobiles. Under the S & S control, the engine is automatically stopped and restarted upon satisfaction of predetermined conditions. For example, the engine is stopped when an accelerator pedal is returned, and restarted when a brake pedal is returned.
However, when stopping or restarting the engine by the S & S control, an output torque of the engine would be varied significantly and hence a powertrain would be vibrated by such torque fluctuation. In order to reduce such vibrations, a clutch disposed between the engine and drive wheels is brought into disengagement to interrupt power transmission therebetween when stopping or restarting the engine by the S & S control. The clutch will be brought into engagement to allow power transmission between the engine and the drive wheels after the engine is restarted.
Basically, the above-mentioned clutch is actuated hydraulically by a mechanical pump driven by the engine. That is, the pump is also stopped when restarting the stopping engine and hence the hydraulic pressure is unavailable to actuate the clutch. Therefore, an optional accumulator is required to deliver hydraulic pressure to the clutch even when the engine is stopped by the S & S control.
One example of a vehicle drive device using such accumulator is described in JP-A-2010-151229. According to the teachings of JP-A-2010-151229, the accumulator is connected through a solenoid valve to a first oil passage of a hydraulic circuit connecting a shift valve to a forward clutch. A shut-off valve is also disposed on the first oil passage between the shift valve and a connection point with a second oil passage that is also connected to the accumulator. The solenoid valve opens the second oil passage just before activating the pump and closes the second oil passage just before inactivating the pump. The first oil passage is closed by the shut-off valve when delivering oil to the forward clutch from the accumulator.
JP-A-2010-151229 also describes a bypass passage extending parallel to the second passage to circumvent an orifice on the second oil passage, and a one-way valve disposed on the bypass passage to allow the oil to flow only toward the forward clutch.
According to the teachings of JP-A-2010-151229, the oil can be delivered promptly to the forward clutch from the accumulator through the bypass passage having the one-way valve when restarting the engine while using hydraulic pressure stored in the accumulator. By contrast, when the pump is driven by the engine, the oil is delivered from the pump to the accumulator through the second oil passage having the orifice. In this situation, since the oil is delivered through the orifice, the oil is stored into the accumulator slowly. That is, hydraulic pressure generated by the pump can be delivered promptly to the forward clutch when the engine is restarted and the pump is thereby activated. For this reason, the accumulator can be downsized.
According to the teachings of JP-A-2010-151229, however, the hydraulic pressure delivered to the forward clutch may not be returned to the accumulator smoothly. For example, given that a shift position of a transmission is shifted from a drive (D) position to a neutral position, the forward clutch has to be promptly brought into disengagement. However, the drive position would not be shifted smoothly from the D position to the N position if it takes too long to depressurize the forward clutch.
Such disadvantage may be solved by arranging a one-way clutch on the bypass passage taught by JP-A-2010-151229 to allow the oil to flow from the forward clutch only toward the accumulator. In this case, the forward clutch is allowed to be promptly brought into disengagement by returning the oil smoothly from the forward clutch to the accumulator. However, by contrast, it may take time to deliver the oil from the accumulator to the forward clutch to bring the forward clutch into engagement. Consequently, an engagement response of the forward clutch would be slowed when restarting the engine.
Alternatively, the time period to pressurize or depressurize the forward clutch may also be reduced by increasing the diameter of the orifice formed on the oil passage to the forward clutch. However, if the orifice is diametrically expanded to improve hydraulic response, vibrations and pulses of the oil caused by the solenoid valve would not be suppressed by the orifice and would propagate to the forward clutch. Consequently, controllability of the forward clutch would be degraded.
With the conventional hydraulic control system taught in the art, there still remains a need for improving hydraulic response to actuate the clutch device quickly and smoothly when automatically stopping and starting the engine.


In the body (6) of a spinning reel for fishing, a spool shaft (1) has a spool mounted at a tip end portion thereof and is attached to a slider (5) at a back end portion thereof. A traverse cam shaft (7) supported within the reel body has a traverse cam groove (8) provided thereon. The slider is engaged with the traverse cam groove so that the spool shaft freely slides back and forth within the reel body in association with rotation of a fishing reel handle (9). The traverse cam groove is formed so that the pitch thereof gradually increases in the longitudinal direction from a front portion of the traverse cam shaft to a rear portion thereof. The spool mounted at the tip end portion of the spool shaft has a barrel portion (2') of uniform diameter extending between a front flange portion (3) and a rear flange portion (4). As a result of the traverse cam groove having a non-uniform, increasing pitch, there is a gradual increase in the amount of fishing line wound on the spool toward the front portion of the spool, even though the diameter of the barrel portion of the spool is uniform.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fishing reels, and more particularly to an improved structure for reciprocating the spools of spinning reels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. Sho. 61-152269 discloses a spinning reel for fishing with a spool having a tapered surface. Specifically, the spool has a so-called "forward tapered surface" in which the diameter of a winding barrel portion of the spool gradually decreases from a rear portion thereof toward a front portion thereof. Such a tapered construction lightens the resistance of the fishing line when it is let out, rendering casting far easier than otherwise. Japanese Utility Model Registered Publication No. 3007531 discloses a different taper design, wherein the diameter of the winding barrel portion gradually decreases from the front portion toward the rear portion. In the case of this design, the so-called "inverse tapered surface" prevents the fishing line from collapsing when the fishing line is let out.
Japanese Utility Model Examined Publication No. Sho. 63-2568 discloses an innovation relating to the cam shaft of a fishing reel. According to the publication, a traverse cam shaft for reciprocating a spool back and forth has a cam groove with a longitudinal pitch that gradually increases from a front portion toward a rear portion. As a result, the line let-out resistance of the fishing line wound around the spool is reduced.
However, even though designing the winding barrel portion to have a forward tapered surface can lighten the line resistance during casting, when the fishing line is cast, the wound line in the vicinity of a spool front flange may collapse forwardly, resulting in a large amount of the wound line being let out at once. This is caused by various factors, including (i) resistance between the line windings during the casting operation, and (ii) variations in the line, such as in the width of the line, the tension in the line, and the like. As a result, the fishing line cannot be let out smoothly after all, which, among other drawbacks, has a negative influence upon the casting distance.
On the other hand, use of the inverse tapered surface design for the winding barrel portion has a stabilizing effect on the wound fishing line and tends to prevent the fishing line from collapsing forwardly during casting. However, the inverse taper causes the line let-out resistance to increase, which, in turn, negatively impacts the casting distance, just as above.
Further, both the forward and the inverse tapered surface designs have a drawback in that special cutting or tooling is necessary to shape the spool to have the forward tapered surface or the inverse tapered surface. This increases the cost of manufacture of the spool, which is itself another problem.
The conventional approach, described above, of changing the pitch of the cam groove of the traverse cam shaft is designed to increase the amount of wound line from the front portion of the spool toward the rear portion thereof, whereby the line let-out resistance is reduced. This approach, however, also gives rise to the line-collapsing phenomenon.

Fishing spinning reel having a cam shaft with a groove of non-uniform pitch reciprocating the spool


A bridge amplifier circuit comprising two amplifiers in bridge configuration having a feedback path from the output of one of the amplifiers to the reference input of the other amplifier, together with compensation means for reducing the voltage variation at the reference input. In this way offset and distortion are reduced, although the gain of the amplifier circuit is not affected by the presence of the feedback path.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a bridge amplifier circuit comprising a first and a second amplifier, each having a signal input, a reference input and an output, for supplying an amplified input signal to a load coupled between the outputs.
2. Description of Related Art
Such an amplifier circuit is known from the Data Handbook IC01b "Semiconductors for Radio and Audio Systems", p. 1247, 1995 of Philips Semiconductors. In a bridge configuration this amplifier circuit, the TDA1516, is used for driving a load coupled between the outputs of the two amplifiers. A drawback of the known bridge amplifier circuit is that Offsets can occur between the outputs of the two amplifiers, which causes a DC current to flow through the load. This in its turn results in unnecessary power consumption.

High gain low distortion bridge amplifier with feedback


Character model graphs are created, and the parameters of the model graphs are adjusted to optimize character recognition performed with the model graphs. In effect the character recognizer using the model graphs is trained. The model graphs are created in three stages. First, a vector quantization process is used on a set of raw samples of handwriting symbols to create a smaller set of generalized reference characters or symbols. Second, a character reference model graph structure is created by merging each generalized form model graph of the same character into a single character reference model graph. The merging is based on weighted Euclidian distance between parts of trajectory assigned to graph edges. As a last part of this second stage “type-similarity” vectors are assigned to model edges to describe similarities of given model edge to each shape and to each possible quantized value of other input graph edge parameters. Thus, similarity functions, or similarity values, are defined by different tables on different model edges. In the third stage, model creation further consists of minimizing recognition error by adjusting model graphs parameters. An appropriate smoothing approximation is used in the calculation of similarity score between input graph and model graphs. The input graph represents a word from a work sample set used for training, i.e. adjusting the model graph parameters. A recognition error is calculated as a function of the difference between similarity scores for best answers and the one correct answer for the word being recognized. The gradient of the recognition error as a function of change in parameters is computed and used to adjust the parameters. Model graphs with adjusted parameters are then used to recognize the words in a test set, and a percent of correct recognitions in the test set is calculated. The recognition error calculation with the work set, the parameter adjustment process, and the calculation of the percent of correct recognitions with the test set is repeated. After a number of iterations of this process, the optimum set of parameters for the model graphs will be found.

With the advent of tablet computers with handwritten pen input and with the advent of handwritten pen input for composing messages to be sent on the internet, there is an increasing need for a real time or on-line character recognizer.
In the past, a character recognizer has used a set of reference symbols and a procedure of estimating the similarity between input handwritten trajectory and the trajectory of a given reference symbol. The recognition answer is the reference symbol that has maximum similarity between its trajectory and the input trajectory.
In "Coding and comparison of DAGs (Directed Acyclic Graphs) as a novel neural structure with applications to on-line handwriting recognition," by I-John Lin and S. Y. Kung (IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, 45(11):2701-8, November, 1997, both the description of input trajectory and the description of the trajectory for each reference symbol are Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs). Having a certain similarity function defined on pairs (input graph edge, model graph edge), i.e. having a score assigning to any edge of a direct product of these two graphs, one can use a dynamic programming procedure for calculating similarity score of these graphs. Different paths connected between initial and last nodes in input graph and the initial and last nodes in the model graph can be interpreted as possible alternative descriptions of the input trajectory and the model trajectory, respectively. The main advantage of this approach is a possibility of choosing different descriptions of the same input trajectory segment while estimating its similarity to trajectory segments of different symbol models. This dynamic programming approach was described in the above-cited publication by I-John Lin and S. Y. Kung.

Training an on-line handwriting recognizer


A biological agent and methods for inhibiting plant pathogens are provided. More particularly, this invention provides the use of Pseudomonas resinovorans in the biological control of inter alia: Ralstonia solanacearum, Verticillium dahliae and Phytophthora infestans. This invention further relates to a biological combination agent for inibiting Colletotrichum coccodes, in addition to the above pathogens.

1. Field of the invention
This invention relates to a biological agent and methods for inhibiting plant pathogens. More particularly, this invention relates to the use of Pseudomonas resinovorans (R. resinovorans) in the biological control of inter alia: Ralstonia solanacearum (R. solanacearum), Verticillium dahliae (V. dahliae) and Phytophthora infestans (P. infestans). This invention further relates to a biological combination agent for inhibiting Colletotrichum coccodes, in addition to the above pathogens.
For the purposes of this specification, a bacterium is deemed to be characterised by the bacterium deposited at the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures under deposit number 100189, if there is a similarity of more than 85% between the other bacterium and the deposited bacterium, according to the BIOLOG identification system, of Biolog, Inc, 3938 Trust Way, Hayward, Calif. 94545, USA.
2. Description of the Prior Art
R. solanacearum (previously known as Pseudomonas solanacearum) is a soil-borne, pathogenic bacterium which causes bacterial wilt in plants and which is of substantial economic importance because it is endemic in most if not all the tropical and subtropical countries of the world. R. solanacearum colonises the roots of plants and penetrates the xylem and multiply within the vascular tissue of plants. Furthermore, it has a wide host range and the measures for controlling the disease are still limited.
Although some control measures for the biological control of R. solanacearum have been developed in vitro, a disadvantage of these measures is that they often fail in vivo and are seldom successful under natural conditions on a commercial scale. These biological control measures often fail under field conditions, because they are mainly based on the assumption that the biological agent is capable of competing with the pathogen under conditions that favour the pathogen, such as naturally infested soils. Reference is made, for example, to Trigalet, A., Frey, P. and Trigalet-Demery, D. 1994. Biological control of bacterial wilt caused by P. solanacearum: State of the art and understanding. In: Bacterial Wilt: The Disease and its causative agent, P. solanacearum (A. C. Hayward and G. L. Hartman, eds). CAB International pp. 225-233.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,162 discloses a method for inhibiting Verticillium wilt on a susceptible host plant, said method including the steps of applying to the host plant an effective amount of Bacillus polymyxa 9A, which has been designated A.T.C.C. accession number 39564.
A disadvantage of the said method disclosed in the above patent is that it is not effective against R. solanacearum.
P. resinovorans has previously been isolated from maize root exudate. However, the antagonistic properties of P. resinovorans to R. solanacearum, V. Dahliae, and P. infestans have hitherto been unknown. The applicant has surprisingly found that P. resinovorans exhibits antagonistic properties to not only R. solanacearum, but also to V. dahliae and P. infestans and is able to compete with these pathogens in field conditions and on a commercial scale.
It is accordingly objects of the present invention to provide a biological agent and methods for the inhibition of plant pathogens, with which the aforesaid disadvantages may be overcome or at least minimised and to provide a useful alternative to the known agents and methods.
According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a biological agent for inhibiting pathogens in susceptible plants and/or plant material including a bacterium characterised by a bacterium deposited at the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures under deposit number 100189.
Further according to the invention the biological agent includes a bacterium that is of the strain deposited at the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures under deposit number 100189.
Even further according to the invention the agent is effective in the biological control of any one or more of the pathogens selected from the group comprising Ralstonia solanacearum, Verticillium dahliae and Phytophthora infestans.
The biological agent may include another antagonist to pathogens of Solanaceae plants.
The said other antagonist may comprise one or more antagonists selected from the group comprising Bacillus subtilis and Trichoderma harzianum.
Preferably the other antagonist is non-pathogenic to plants of the family Solanaceae.
Further according to the invention the biological agent includes a carrier for the said bacterium.
The carrier may comprise particulate perlite.
The biological agent may further include a buffer and/or suitable nutrients for the said bacterium.
Preferably the ratio between the said bacterium and the carrier is in the range of between 1:8 to 1:12, on a mass per mass basis.
According to a second aspect of the invention there is provided a method for inhibiting pathogens in susceptible plants and/or plant material including the step of applying the above biological agent to such plants and/or plant material.
According to a third aspect of the invention there is provided a method for inhibiting pathogens in plants and/or plant material including the step of treating said plants and/or plant material with a bacterium characterised by a bacterium deposited at the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures under deposit number 100189.
Further according to the invention the plants and/or plant material are treated with a bacterium that is of the strain deposited at the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures under deposit number 100189.
Even further according to the invention the method is effective in the biological control of any one or more of the pathogens selected from the group comprising Ralstonia solanacearum, Verticillium dahliae and Phytophthora infestans.
The method may include the further step of immobilising the said bacterium in a carrier comprising particulate perlite, a buffer, and nutrients.
The plant material may comprise a potato seed piece and the seed piece may be treated by applying the said bacterium as an aqueous suspension, prior to planting the seed piece. deposited at the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures under deposit number 100189; and Bacillus subtilis.
The biological combination agent may further include Trichoderma harzianum.

Biological agent and methods for inhibiting plant pathogens


Heteroaryl-aryl compounds such as compounds represented by the Formula:HT-[Ph1]r-Py-Het-ETmay be used in electronic devices such as organic light-emitting devices. For example, the compounds may be used as an emissive material in an emissive layer.

1. Field
The embodiments relate to emissive compounds for light-emitting layers in devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Organic light-emitting devices (OLED) are becoming increasingly important in lighting and display applications. OLEDs may include an emissive or light-emitting layer that includes a host material and an emissive component dispersed within the host material. Emissive materials of OLED devices may have problems with low stability. This potential deficiency with emissive materials may contribute to low efficiency and short lifetime of the devices comprising the emissive materials.


A trapezoidal correction processing portion performs trapezoidal correction (distortion correction) on video image areas each of which is divided into a plurality of video image areas separately in accordance with the divided video image areas. In this case, each of the video image areas is divided into a plurality of areas. Further, a pair of right and left virtual image formation sections perform trapezoidal correction in a mirror symmetric manner, and the center position of the wearer's eye in each of the virtual image formation sections is so adjusted that the center position coincides with a distortion-free image corrected by using a small amount of correction.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a virtual image display apparatus, such as a head-mounted display worn around the head for use.
2. Related Art
In recent years, as a virtual image display apparatus that allows formation and observation of a virtual image, such as a head-mounted display, there is, for example, a proposed apparatus in which the retina of each eye is so scanned with image light that an image is projected onto the retina, and the apparatus has a see-through configuration that allows the image light, which forms a virtual image, to be superimposed on outside light that is light from the outside (see JP-A-2007-178941).
To project light that will form an image in an oblique direction, it is, for example, necessary to perform distortion correction in which distortion produced in a projected image undergoes trapezoidal correction or any other type of correction. In contrast, as a technology used with a scanning image display apparatus that performs image projection based on optical scanning, there is a known technology that corrects trapezoidal distortion by changing the amplitude of deflection in an image projection process (see JP-A-2007-199251), although the technology is not intended for a head-mounted display. In a head-mounted display, to perform image projection in an oblique direction, for example, from the ear or nose side, some type of correction is necessary to correct image distortion as in a typical image display apparatus. It is also conceivable to perform correction, such as trapezoidal correction, on an image based on signal processing in a unit that produces the image.
When trapezoidal correction or any other type of correction is performed on a projected image, a greater amount of correction in general results in not only a smaller projected image and hence lower resolution but also a larger unused, waste area. To produce a high-definition image, for example, it is therefore necessary to form a higher-resolution image. However, in a head-mounted display, which is particularly required to be compact and lightweight, the resolution provided by an image generator is limited. Further, in a head-mounted display, each component desirably has a simple structure because the apparatus needs to be compact and lightweight, and when image projection is performed based, for example, on optical scanning, the structure of the apparatus is preferably simple, unlike the apparatus capable of controlling complicated optical scanning described in JP-A-2007-199251.


The invention relates to a printing method of creating an image on a medium by discharging a plurality of colored inks each containing a colorant and clear ink containing no colorant from a nozzle toward the medium. Further the colored inks are discharged from the nozzle toward a unit region defined in the medium by an amount determined on the basis of respective amounts of cyan ink and magenta ink included in the colored inks to be discharged to the unit region.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a printing method and a printing apparatus.
2. Related Art
There are printing methods (ink jet recording methods) of printing an image on a medium by discharging ink from nozzles toward the medium. In these methods, various types of ink, including colored ink such as yellow ink, magenta ink, cyan ink, and black ink, and colorant-free clear ink, are used. Furthermore there is proposed a printing method that aims to mitigate the embedding of colored ink in a medium (image) (for example, refer to JP-A-2009-172972). In this method, first a droplet of clear ink is ejected onto the medium, and then a droplet of colored ink is ejected onto the medium so that it lands on the droplet of the clear ink. Then the colored ink droplet spreads on the clear ink droplet while staying wet. With this method, the diameter of a dot formed with the colored ink can be made larger than that formed with colored ink alone. Consequently it is possible to mitigate the embedding of colored ink in a medium.
By discharging colored ink and clear ink in the above manner, the embedding of the colored ink in a medium can be mitigated, but the resultant image is more prone to become blurred as a larger amount of clear ink is discharged. For example, if clear ink is discharged onto an image such that droplets of all the types of colored ink (e.g., yellow ink, magenta ink, cyan ink, and black ink) will land on droplets of the clear ink, namely, if clear ink is uniformly discharged onto a whole image, the resultant image may become blurred, in which case the quality of the image is lowered.


A distinct cultivar of Heuchera plant named xe2x80x98Canyon Bellexe2x80x99, which is characterized by its compact habit, shiny dark green leaves, and rich red flowers.

The present invention is hereby cross-referenced to the three related claimed inventions entitled Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Duetxe2x80x99 (Ser. No. 09/203,861), Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Melodyxe2x80x99 (Ser. No. 09/203,863), and Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Chimesxe2x80x99 (Ser. No. 09/203,864) which all four together resulted from the same breeding program as herein described.
This new cultivar of Heuchera is the result of a long-term, controlled breeding program that was conducted by Dara Emery, Plant Breeder at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden (SBBG), from the early 1980s until his death in 1992. xe2x80x98Canyon Bellexe2x80x99 is an F2 hybrid of Heuchera elegans (unpatented) and a hybrid form of Heuchera sanguinea (unpatented). It is unascertainable which parentxe2x80x94Heuchera elegans or a hybrid form of Heuchera sanguinea xe2x80x94is the seed or pollen parent. The objective of this breeding program was to select for compact, floriferous forms of Heuchera that were more diminutive than other forms in the nursery trade. Plants that exhibited an overall dwarf stature of low-growing, mounding foliage and flowers that are similarly proportioned were selected from the various crosses made. At least one of the parents had to be a native California species, in keeping with the overall mission of SBBG""s breeding program to develop garden-worthy plants from the state""s native flora. In this case, H. elegans is the California native; it has white-pink flowers and was used for its compact size. Heuchera sanguinea is an Arizonan species that is much larger in habit; it was used for its red flowers.
The closest comparison plants are the parent Heuchera elegans and the commercial cultivar Heuchera. xe2x80x98Canyon Delightxe2x80x99 (unpatented). xe2x80x98Canyon Bellexe2x80x99 is distinguishable from Heuchera elegans by its larger stature, larger foliage, taller flower stalks and flower color. xe2x80x98Canyon Bellexe2x80x99 is distinguishable from Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Delightxe2x80x99 by its smaller foliage; glossier leaf texture and flower color.
The cultivar was first and subsequently asexually reproduced by the inventor at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in Santa Barbara, Calif. by vegetative cuttings. Tip cuttings 2 to 3 inches long were put in flats of medium grade perlite and placed in a lath house mist bed with bottom heat and intermittent mist of de-ionized water. All plants so obtained exhibited identical characteristics, which were true to the original plant.
A closely related cultivar is the variety Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Delightxe2x80x99 (unpatented), which was selected by the inventor at an earlier stage in the breeding program and introduced to commerce. It is referred to and described herein as a comparison variety but is not the subject of any claim.
The features that together distinguish this cultivar from other Heuchera cultivars are as follows:
1. Dark glossy green leaves.
2. Compact habit.
3. Rich red flowers.


A foil or membrane for covering bone defect locations and for promoting bone regeneration, comprised of titanium and which is inelastic, stress-free and plastically deformable. The foil has a thickness of less than 0.1 mm. The thickness lies especially in a range of 0.025 mm. It is advantageously roughened at least on one surface or grooved. Cut pieces have a cut burr which projects from one surface and in the use of the foil, turned to the bone with sealing edges. A method of making such a foil with the aforesaid characteristics comprises a removal of the surfaces of the rolled foil by a chemical foil until the desired thickness is reached. A nail for fixing the foil in position has a spherical shaped head and in its concavity merges with a saw-tooth barbed pin with a radius.

In order to promote the development of bone substances at bone defects, it is known to cover the defect location with a foil so as to hold the soft tissue with the foil from growing into the defect location. It is further known to fill the region in which new bone growth is to occur with a granulate and to cover the volume thereof with a foil. The granulate, usually hydroxyapatite, has a "place holding" function in which the bone growth can occur and the foil is usually composed of a textile material of such fibers as have been long used for the stitching of wounds. This fabric has a protective effect when positioned over the bone defect and held in place by stitching, for example.
The fiber structure at the edges of the fabric, as a result of cutting operations, for example, during a surgical procedure, and the mechanical properties of the textile material, especially its elasticity, are not fully ideal for many applications.
In EP 622 052 A1, a process for forming a foil is described to promote bone growth in the dental field. An image of the defect location is taken, usually digitally, and a model is formed, whereby a stiff foil can be shaped to the model, i.e. given the desired shape. The foil material used was, for example, shape-stable titanium in a thickness of say 0.3 mm.
German patent 43 02 709 C1 deals with a covering of a bone growth region provided with a bone-growth promoter like hydroxyapatite granules, in which the membrane is bendable and ductile and requires a stiffening in the form of a rigid titanium foil of a thickness of 0.3 to 1 mm with perforations.
Titanium metal is also used for dental impressions, bone nails, plates and rails for surgical purposes. The tolerance to titanium is high and X-rays are not obscured because the wall thicknesses of the titanium articles utilized need not be particularly great.

MKE Metall- und Kunststoffwaren Erzeugungs GmbH


A device is provided for increasing the pH of an acidic aqueous stream, which may result from commercial activity in petroleum, mining, metal finishing and food processing sectors, among others. A container defines an upright reactor portion with a cross-section that increases upwardly, along with inlet and outlet conduits connected to an inlet and an outlet between which the reactor portion is located. The conical portion contains a bed of substantially water-insoluble alkaline salt particulate, such as MgSO, the bed being such that, when the pH of the inflowing aqueous stream is below 7, contact between the particulate and the aqueous stream will raise the pH of the outflowing stream to a level above that of the inflowing stream.

In any growing community, the need for fresh water keeps pace with the population. Where fresh water is derived from rivers and freshwater lakes, it is common for the system effluent (wastewater) to be treated and then returned to the original source. In order to avoid harming the environment, local legislation usually establishes minimal limits for the quality of the wastewater that is discharged into the environment.
One such characteristic is the pH level (acid-base level). Specifically, it is regarded as desirable that the pH of wastewater being discharged into the environment should not drop below 6 (a pH of 7 being neutral).
To control the pH of the wastewater, particularly involving industrial aqueous effluent, a number of different processes are presently in common use. These processes usually are based on the addition of carefully measured alkaline reagents to the effluent, using a variety of process control mechanisms.
All of these pH control systems rely on the continuous measurement of the pH of the treated water and often also on the pH of the raw effluent. The measurement data thus obtained are then used through a control mechanism to add the required amount of reagent to achieve the desired result.
This prior approach is subject to a number of problems that can cause variations in the effluent pH, and tend to be labour and maintenance intensive. For example, the neutralizing agents commonly utilized are difficult to handle, hazardous, and often require special training for their proper use.
Despite recent developments in this area, there remains a need for a contact system for the neutralization of acidic waters, which is automatic, efficacious, and cost-effective.

Device for increasing pH of an aqueous stream


A process for increasing the specific output of a combined cycle power plant and providing flexibility in the power plant rating, both without a commensurate increase in the plant heat rate, is disclosed. The present invention demonstrates that the process of upgrading thermal efficiencies of combined cycles can often be accomplished through the strategic use of additional fuel and/or heat input. In particular, gas turbines that exhaust into HRSGs, can be supplementally fired to obtain much higher steam turbine outputs and greater overall plant ratings, but without a penalty on efficiency. This method by and large defines a high efficiency combined cycle power plant that is predominantly a Rankine (bottoming) cycle. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention include a load driven by a topping cycle engine, powered by a topping cycle fluid which exhausts into a heat recovery device.

Overview
Combined cycle power plants and cogeneration facilities utilize gas turbines (GT(s)) as prime movers to generate power. These GT engines operate on the Brayton Cycle thermodynamic principle and typically have high exhaust flows and relatively high exhaust temperatures. These exhaust gases, when directed into a heat recovery boiler (typically referred to as a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG)), produce steam that can be used to generate more power and/or provide process steam requirements. For additional power production the steam can be directed to a steam turbine (ST) that utilizes the steam to produce additional power. In this manner, the GT produces work via the Brayton Cycle, and the ST produces power via the Rankine Cycle. Thus, the name "combined cycle" is derived. In this arrangement, the GT Brayton Cycle is also referred to as the "topping cycle" and the ST Rankine Cycle is referred to as the "bottoming cycle," as the topping cycle produces the energy needed for the bottoming cycle to operate. Thus, the functionality of these cycles is linked in the prior art.
Rankine Cycle
Steam has been used for power applications for more than a century. Early applications utilized a pump to bring the water up to the desired pressure, a boiler to heat the water until it turned to steam, and a steam engine, typically a piston type engine, to produce shaft horsepower. These power plants were used in factories, on locomotives, onboard steamships, and other power applications.
As technology progressed, the trend for the use of steam engines diminished and the use of steam turbines increased. One advantage of the steam turbine was its overall cycle efficiency when used in conjunction with a condenser. This allowed the steam to expand significantly beyond normal atmospheric pressure down to pressures that were only slightly above an absolute vacuum (0.5 to 2 pounds per square inch absolute (psia)). This allowed the steam to expand further than in an atmospheric exhaust configuration, extracting more energy from a given mass of steam, thus producing more power and increasing overall steam cycle efficiency. This overall steam cycle, from a thermodynamic perspective, is referred to as the Rankine Cycle.
FIG. 1 illustrates the thermodynamic operation of the Rankine Cycle. In FIG. 1, graph (100) illustrates the Rankine Cycle on a Pressure versus Volume plot. From point (101) to point (102), water is pressurized at constant volume. From point (102) to point (103), the water is boiled into steam at constant pressure. Point (103) to point (104) defines the process where the steam expands isentropically and produces work. Then, from point (104) to point (101) the low-pressure steam is condensed back to water and the cycle is complete.
Also in FIG. 1, graph (110) illustrates the Rankine Cycle on a Temperature versus Entropy plot. From point (111) to point (112), water is pressurized. From point (112), the water is boiled into steam at constant temperature until it is all steam, then it is superheated to point (113). Point (113) to point (114) defines the process where the steam expands isentropically and produces work. From point (114) to point (111) the low-pressure steam is condensed back to water at constant temperature to complete the cycle. See Eugene A. Avallone and Theodore Baumeister III, MARKS' STANDARD HANDBOOK FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERS (NINTH EDITION) (ISBN 0-07-004127-X, 1987) in Section 4-20 for more discussion on the Rankine Cycle.
Power Plant Cycle
For a number of decades, the Rankine Cycle has been used to produce most of the electricity in the United States, as well as in a number of other countries. FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic of the basic Rankine Cycle, with the four primary components being the Boiler Feed Pump (BFP) (201), Boiler evaporator/superheater (BOIL) (203, 205), Steam Turbine (ST) (207), and the Condenser (COND) (209). Note that either one or multiples of any component are possible in the arrangement, but for simplicity, only one of each is shown in FIG. 2. The sub-critical Rankine Cycle (steam pressures less than 3206.2 psia) starts as water at the inlet (211) of the BFP (201). The water is then pumped to a desired discharge pressure by the BFP (201). This pressurized water (202) is then sent to the evaporator (EVAP) (203) where heat is added to the pressurized water. Typically this is accomplished by burning a fuel in the boiler, and the heat of combustion is then transferred to the pressurized water that is routed through tubes and other passages and/or vessels in the boiler. As sufficient heat is added to the pressurized water, it boils and turns into steam (204). This steam now exists in the two-phase region where both steam and water coexist at the same pressure and temperature, called the saturation pressure and saturation temperature. For most applications designed in recent decades, this steam (204) is then sent to a superheater section (SHT) (205) in the boiler where it is heated to a higher temperature than saturation temperature. This steam (206) is now referred to as superheated steam. Superheated steam reduces (but does not eliminate) the risk of water carryover into the steam turbine (207), which is of concern since water carryover can cause extensive internal steam turbine damage. Of more importance, however, is the fact that superheated steam yields better cycle efficiencies. This is of great importance to large central power stations.
Once produced, the superheated steam (206) is sent to the steam turbine (207), typically via one or more pipes. The steam then begins to expand in the steam turbine (ST) and produce shaft horsepower. After traveling through the steam turbine down to a low exhaust pressure, the steam exits the ST (208), and is sent to the condenser (209), where it is then condensed back into water. This device is typically a tubed heat exchanger, but can also be other types of heat exchangers such as a spray chamber, air-cooled condenser, or other heat exchange device used for a similar purpose. After rejecting heat from the low-pressure steam and condensing the steam back to water, the condenser collects the water in an area commonly referred to as the hotwell (HW) (210), where it is then typically pumped through the condensate line (211) and back to the BFP (201). Shaft horsepower produced in the ST is converted into electrical power in the generator (GEN) (212). This cycle of one unit of water from the point of beginning, through the system, and back to the point of origin defines the basic Rankine Cycle.
Current power plants using only steam as the motive fluid typically use a boiler to produce the steam. This boiler may be fueled by a variety of fuels, including oil, natural gas, coal, biomass, as well as others, such as nuclear fuel. The boilers may also use a combination of fuels as well. Depending upon capital cost considerations, fuel costs, maintenance issues, and other factors, the owners and engineers will select the steam pressure and temperature at which the boiler will produce steam.
Due to the size and weight of large steam turbines, they require extended periods for start-up. This is due to the thick metal casings and large heavy rotors that are utilized in their construction. Therefore, these machines require long start-up periods to allow these heavy components to warm up uniformly, and avoid interference between stationary and rotating parts that may occur due to differential thermal expansion.
Although the heavy construction is a deterrent to rapid startup, it provides for robust construction and sustained performance levels. Even after four (4) years of nearly continuous service, the performance decay for a large ST should be less than 2%. This performance decay, combined with the fact that the boiler feed pumps only consume about 2% of the ST output, mean that the performance levels for a ST sustain near optimum levels for extended periods of time, even with decay in the auxiliary loads (BFP). In other words, if the BFP efficiency decays from 75% to 65%, the auxiliary load only increases from 2.00% to 2.31%. This is a small effect on the net output of the Rankine cycle plant, and is another one of its major advantages.
Brayton Cycle
The Brayton Cycle varies quite differently from the Rankine Cycle, as a major part of the cycle involves the compression of the working fluid, which is a compressible gas. This process consumes a great deal of power, therefore, efficient compression of the working fluid is essential to an efficient Brayton Cycle.
Common engines that utilize a Brayton Cycle are aircraft turboprops, jet engines, and gas turbines for stationary application. These engines work by ingesting air (the working fluid), compressing it to a higher pressure, typically 3 to 30 times that of the surrounding ambient air, adding heat through direct combustion (although heat addition from an external source is also possible), and then expanding the resulting high-pressure hot gases through a turbine section. Aircraft engines primarily produce thrust to propel an aircraft through the air. Therefore, some or perhaps none of their output is in the form of shaft horsepower (a turboprop gas turbine engine may drive the propeller, but may also produce some thrust from the high velocity exhaust gases).
For stationary gas turbine applications, the purpose of the engine is to produce shaft horsepower. Approximately ⅔ of the energy produced by the turbine section of the gas turbine is required to drive the compressor section, with the remaining ⅓ available to drive a load. This drawback of GT systems may be used to advantage in the present invention as described later in this document.
Aircraft engines utilize the Brayton Cycle because these engines offer high thrust-to-weight ratios. This is needed to minimize the aircraft weight so it can fly. For stationary applications, gas turbines are used to provide electrical power at peak loads. This is another advantage the Brayton Cycle engines have over Rankine Cycle engines: rapid start and stop times (relatively speaking). Since steam turbines are large heavy engines, it is necessary to start them slowly, and allow the heat to slowly soak into the thick casings so as to avoid thermal distortion and potential rubs between the stationary components and rotating components of the engine. A large power plant steam turbine may require a 24-hour warm-up sequence from cold start to reach full load. However, due to the lower operating pressures and lighter weights, gas turbines can be started and brought to fall load within a matter of minutes of start-up.
Therefore, many utilities in the United States and other countries use gas turbines to provide electrical power during peak demand. These turbines are not very efficient in simple cycle (25% to 30% LHV), but meet the electrical demand requirements for a few hours each day.
Steam Turbine Design
When designing a steam turbine for a power plant application (constant speed), the steam turbine design engineer first examines the output rating desired by the customer. This is because the steam turbine will be custom designed and manufactured for the customer to his specification. The steam turbine will not be totally designed from a clean sheet of paper as may be inferred by "custom", but will utilize components from a "family" of hardware and have a unique steam path for the application. After turbine rating, the ST design engineer will look at the plant steam conditions, and based upon these parameters determine an inlet flow to the turbine high-pressure (HP) section. Utilizing this information, the ST design engineer can select the optimum HP casing for the application. In a similar fashion, he can also select the optimum intermediate pressure (IP) and low-pressure (LP) casings as well.
Knowing which casings to use, the engineer then selects the appropriate blading (both stationary and rotating) for the application. This blading size is determined primarily by the volume flow (as opposed to mass flow) of steam through the turbine. With casings and blading determined, the engineer completes the ST design by selecting valves, controls, instrumentation, and other accessories required for operation of the ST. The final design is a high efficiency ST optimized for the customer's steam conditions and desired rating.
An interesting note concerning this design philosophy is that two STs with the same steam conditions but with large differences in rating (for example, 200 MW versus 400 MW) may actually appear almost identical when viewed from the outside. This is because the optimum casings selected were designed to cover the flow range of both units. However, due to the large volume flow differences, the large unit would have blades that are approximately twice the size (height) internally. It is interesting to note, however, that both these units might have nearly the same HP and IP casings. This means that the larger ST, even with a dramatic increase in rating, may be only incrementally more expensive to manufacture than the ST with the lower rating. This fact may be used to advantage in the present invention as described later in this document.
Gas Turbine Design
Unlike the steam turbine, the gas turbine is not a custom designed machine for each customer. Although accessories such as the starting means, lube oil cooler type, and control options may be specified by the customer for a particular application, the core engine is essentially standard. Much of this is due to the fact that the gas turbine is actually a packaged power plant, which needs essentially only fuel to produce power. In contrast, the steam turbine is merely a component of a power plant, and requires a boiler, BFP, and condenser to become a complete power plant. Therefore, the gas turbine compressor section, combustion system, and turbine section must all be designed to work together. Since the design of the GT is a highly intensive engineering task, GT designs are generally completed and extensively tested, after which they are mass produced without variation to the core engine design. This eliminates the customer's ability to specify power output for either a facility with gas turbines only or a combined cycle facility in the prior art. When building a combined cycle plant, the customer simply must choose from a selection of standard offerings by a manufacturer that best meets his needs for power output, efficiency, and cost.
Steam Turbine/Gas Turbine Efficiency and Rating Comparison
The largest and most efficient GT available today for 60-cycle power production is rated at approximately 250 MW with an efficiency of 40.0% LHV (Lower Heating Value). An example of this GT is the Westinghouse model 501G. This is in contrast to STs that can be rated up to as high as 1500 MW and have overall cycle efficiencies in excess of 45% LHV. Therefore, comparing a Rankine Cycle power plant to a Brayton cycle power plant, where each employs the largest and most efficient turbine available, the single ST Rankine cycle is approximately six (6) times larger in rating and 12.5% more efficient than the Brayton Cycle with its best GT. This fact may be used to advantage in the present invention as described later in this document.
Cogeneration/Combined Cycle
One characteristic of the gas turbine is that it expels high volumes of exhaust gases at high temperature. With the advent of the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and higher energy prices, more focus was put on finding ways to utilize the energy contained in these high temperature exhaust gases.
Significantly higher energy prices in the early 1970s signaled the start of a wave of small power plants built using the principles of cogeneration. Cogeneration is defined as the simultaneous production of mechanical or electrical energy in conjunction with thermal energy. In other words, the utilization of an engine (gas turbine or otherwise) to produce power, while at the same time using waste heat from the engine for another process, thus displacing fuel that would otherwise be used for said process. This was a very efficient method from a fuel utilization perspective and was encouraged by the United States Public Utilities Regulation and Policies Act (PURPA) of 1978, which mandated that the local utilities must purchase power from qualified cogenerators, and buy it at a rate which included avoided cost for new power plants.
At first cogeneration projects were small, typically less than 50 MW. They consisted of small gas turbines with a HRSG to produce steam. In many instances, the steam pressures were relatively low (less than 600 psig), as the steam was used for process requirements. Some projects included a steam turbine, while others did not. As the industry matured, larger plants with higher steam pressures were designed to increase bottoming cycle efficiency. In addition, the major gas turbine manufacturers designed and built larger and more efficient gas turbines to meet the needs of the cogeneration marketplace. Soon, due to their high efficiency, low emissions, and low capital cost (dollars per kW of capacity), cogeneration power plants gave way to combined cycle power plants (plants that produced only power and provided no useful thermal energy as was the case with cogeneration plants). Some cogeneration projects are still being proposed and constructed, but they are now typically referred to as combined heat and power (CHP) projects.
Although there was this gradual shift from small cogeneration projects to large combined cycle power plants, the arrangement and overall system and method for producing power was for the most part unchanged. The gas turbine(s) was the primary engine, and a HRSG was utilized to capture the heat in the GT exhaust gases. Optimized for maximum power production, the steam turbine(s) produced additional power equal to approximately 50% of the power produced by the gas turbine(s). The HRSG was typically a two or three pressure level boiler to maximize heat recovery and steam turbine was designed to accept steam from all pressure levels of the HRSG. A review of the manufacturers standard combined cycle offerings will illustrate this trend. The 1997 TURBOMACHINERY HANDBOOK, (USPS 871-500, ISSN 0149-4147), tabulates standard combined cycle power plants available from various manufacturer's including ABB, General Electric, and Westinghouse. In most every instance, the steam turbine's output is within the range of 40% to 60% of the gas turbine(s) output. General Electric informative document GER-3567G, 1996, "GE Heavy-Duty Gas Turbine Performance Characteristics," by Frank J. Brooks provides the output for the gas turbines used in their combined cycle power plants.
In summary, the system and method utilized by the major manufacturer's of combined cycle power plant turbomachinery evolved from the small cogeneration power facilities that were designed to produce both power and thermal energy simultaneously. The sizes for combined cycle power plants have grown from small cogeneration projects under 50 MW to large structured plants producing in excess of 700 MW (as in the Westinghouse 2X1 501G combined cycle). These plants are primarily gas turbine power plants, with the steam turbine producing additional power which is nominally 40% to 60% of the power produced by its associated gas turbine(s). With the gas turbine as the prime engine, the ratings on the standard combined cycle power plants are very rigid, as gas turbines are production line items, versus steam turbines which are largely custom designed and manufactured. A new system and method that offers more flexibility, without compromising the benefits of combined cycle power such as high efficiency, low emissions, and low capital cost, would be welcomed by the industry.

High density combined cycle power plant process


A heat dissipating structure of a print circuit board to improve heat-dissipation efficiency for mounted electronic components while retaining required soldering strength is disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heat dissipation structure of a multilayer print circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, due to miniaturization and high density packaging of electronic apparatus, heat generation density of an electronic device is increased and the temperature within the electronic device becomes higher than ever before. In order to prevent the temperature from exceeding a permissible temperature range of electronic components in the electronic device, techniques for efficiently dissipating heat from heat generating components have been proposed.
For example, the Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication JP 2001-168476 discloses a heat dissipation structure with a plurality of through holes which are bored in an area in contact with a heat generating element on an print circuit board, a conductive plating which is applied to inside wall of each through hole, and a heat dissipation element which is equipped with a plurality of holes bored on the rear surface of the print circuit board. The contact area and the through holes are filled with solder and the heat dissipation element is soldered to the through holes.
The Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication JP 2005-158914 discloses another heat dissipation structure with a heat dissipation pattern formed on a print circuit board to contact heat dissipation pads of an integrated circuit (IC) package, and one or more through holes which are bored through the heat dissipation pattern in this heat dissipation structure and the through holes are filled with a heat conductor like solder.
With the heat dissipation structure which employs through holes as disclosed in both publications JP 2001-168476 and JP 2005-158914, there is a danger of a solder shortage caused by solder leaking, like a cream solder which is described later, leaking out of the through holes when the circuit board is processed in a solder reflow furnace. Therefore, with the heat dissipation structures disclosed in the abovementioned patent publications, a probability for causing a faulty electric connection of electronic components and solder cracks increases due to the solder shortage.
In view of the problem involved, it is an object of the present invention to provide a heat dissipation structure for a print circuit board to improve heat dissipation efficiency while retaining a necessary soldering strength.

Heat dissipation structure of a print circuit board

Abstract: The heat dissipation structure of a print circuit board comprising a stack of multiple layers including a mounting surface layer on which electronic components including heat generating components are soldered. On both sides of the print circuit board, inner vias bore surface layers but inner layers are not bored. Core vias bore the inner layers in the print circuit board but the surface layers are not bored. The inner vias and the core vias are positioned at the predetermined distance over the layer surface. Heat from heat generating components is conducted through the inner vias on surface layers and the core vias inside the circuit board to the outside, high efficiency of the heat-dissipation is achieved.


A passive low pass filter of a surface mounted device configuration has counter-wound coils and at least one capacitor. Each coil has a centerline. The centerlines are parallel to one-another and perpendicular to a plurality of plates of the capacitor. The windings of the coils and the plates of the capacitor are encased in a dielectric encapsulant.

This invention related to a passive low pass filter and more particularly to a passive low pass filter of a surface mount device configuration.
Low pass filters are used in computer, communications, and automotive industries. Currently, discrete components such as ferrite block and surface mounted device capacitors are used as low pass filters to reduce noise generated by nearby electrical components. The filters reduce noise by passing electrical signals having frequencies within a specified filter pass band and attenuating noise induced frequencies that lie outside the pass band.
The passive low pass filter is a circuit essentially behaving as a frequency sensitive voltage divider. At high frequencies the output behaves as if it is shorted while at low frequencies the output appears as an open circuit. Passive low pass filters comprise one or more inductances and compacitences tuned to suppress or attenuate the unwanted signals while allowing passage of a band of wanted signals. A typical low pass filter has an inductor, a capacitor and a dielectric encapsulant. The encapsulant commonly encases the filter and engages to and separates a plurality of plates which comprise the capacitor. A variety of low pass filters of a surface mount configuration exist, they include a T-filter, a LC-filter and a xcfx80-filter.
The consumer markets for low pass filters are requiring greater frequency attenuation utilizing smaller components. As attenuation increases, noise becomes a greater problem. The magnetic field of the inductor, otherwise known as a coil, may produce a form of noise known as eddy currents across the capacitor plates.
The invention provides a passive low pass filter of a surface mounted device configuration. The filter comprises two coils, each wound about their own parallel centerlines. The coils are preferably counter-wound to enhance the flux linkage between the windings of the coil, thereby, increasing the inductance of the coil. Each coil is in electrical contact with at least one capacitor. Each capacitor has a plurality of hot plates and at least one ground plate. Each one of the ground plates alternate between each one of the hot plates. The ground and hot plates are generally perpendicular to the centerlines. Separating the ground plates from the hotplates is a dielectric encapsulant which also encases the coils. Preferably, the coils generate a magnetic field parallel to ground conductor plates and end conductor plates mounted externally to the encapsulant and generally perpendicular to the capacitor plates. This orientation eliminates the problem of induced eddy currents at the ground and end conductor plate locations.
Preferably, the low pass filter is of a xcfx80-type configuration wherein the coils are disposed between a first and a second capacitor. The plurality of hotplates of each capacitor have a feed plate connecting to a bottom winding of each coil. Top windings for the first and second coils of the xcfx80-type configuration are directly connected.
Thus, an advantage of the present invention is a reduced size.
Another advantage of the present invention is an inductance increase.
Yet another advantage of the present invention is the elimination of eddy currents.

Passive low pass LC filter with counter-wound coils