A novel implementation of a partitioned medium access control (MAC) is disclosed. The illustrative embodiment employs a shared bus that typically is already present in a wireless terminal for communication between an upper MAC and a lower MAC. The partitioned MAC implementation therefore does not require any additional communication means between the upper MAC and lower MAC, resulting in a lower-cost system. In addition, the upper MAC and lower MAC pass native data structures by reference over the shared bus, thereby eliminating the need for drivers to coordinate communication via interrupts, handshaking, etc. The partitioned MAC implementation results in a cost-effective distributed architecture in which the upper MAC resides in the terminal's host processor, and the lower MAC resides in the terminal's wireless station.

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of a wireless local area network in the prior art, which comprises: terminal 101-1, terminal 101-2, and terminal 101-3. Before terminals 101-1, 101-2, and 101-3 can communicate with each other, there must be an agreement between the terminals as to the meaning of the signals that they transmit. For example, the terminals must agree on who talks when, what constitutes a "0" and a "1," how is an error detected and corrected, etc. In the terminology of telecommunications, this agreement is called a protocol.
The terminals in a local area network share a communications channel such that if two or more of the terminals transmit into the channel simultaneously, a cacophony results and all of the transmissions are corrupted. Therefore, a local area network protocol includes a mechanism for ensuring that only one terminal at a time transmits into the shared-communications channel. This mechanism is known as medium access control. In some implementations, medium access control can provide additional services such as message encryption and authentication, as well as quality of service (QoS) provisioning and power conservation.
FIG. 2 depicts a schematic diagram of wireless terminal 101-i, wherein i is a member of the set {1, 2, 3}, in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 2, wireless terminal 101-i comprises: a host computing device 201 and a wireless station 202, interconnected as shown. Host computing device 201 is a notebook computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), etc. Host computing device 201 sends data to wireless station 202 for transmission to other wireless terminals, and similarly, wireless station 202 receives data from other wireless terminals and sends these data to host computing device 201. Wireless station 202 thus enables host computing device 201 to communicate in wireless fashion with other terminals.
FIG. 3 depicts a conceptual architectural diagram of wireless station 202 in accordance with the prior art. As shown in FIG. 3, wireless station 202 comprises: processor 303, memory 304, higher-layers module 305, logical link control (LLC) 310, medium access control (MAC) 320, physical control 330, transmitter 340, and receiver 350, interconnected as shown.
Processor 303 is a general-purpose processor that is capable of executing instructions stored in memory 304, and of reading data from and writing data into memory 304. Memory 304 is capable of storing programs and data used by processor 303, as is well known in the art, and might be any combination of random-access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk drive, etc. Higher-layers module 305 is capable of executing the tasks associated with the transport, session, presentation, and application layers of the open systems interconnect (OSI) reference model, as is well known in the art.
Logical link control (LLC) 310 performs a variety of tasks, including (i) multiplexing data packets; (ii) sending multiplexed data packets to medium access control 320 via output 311; (iii) receiving packets from medium access control 320 via link 311; (iv) demultiplexing the packets received via input 312; (v) establishing and maintaining logical point-to-point connections over the shared-communications channel; and (vi) provisioning acknowledgements for individual messages on behalf of those network protocols that require such connection-oriented or acknowledged connectionless services, as is well known in the art.
Medium access control 320 performs the channel access function, which ensures that only one terminal at a time can transmit signals onto the shared-communications channel, as well as frame addressing and detection, generating and checking frame check sequences, and delimiting logical link control protocol data units, as is well known in the art. In addition, medium access control may provide additional services including encryption, authentication, and quality-of-service (QoS) provisioning, as well as related, non-communication functions such as power management, as is well known in the art.
Physical control (PHY) 330 administers the physical transmission of signals to other terminals and the physical receipt of signals from other terminals via the network medium (e.g., radio, Ethernet, etc.), as is well known in the art. As shown in FIG. 3, physical control 330 (i) receives data from medium access control 320 via input/output 321; (ii) sends data to transmitter 340 for wireless transmission to other terminals; (iii) receives data from other terminals via receiver 350; and (iv) passes data to medium access control 320 via input/output 321.
Transmitter 340 is a hybrid analog and digital circuit that is capable of receiving data from physical control 330 and of transmitting data wirelessly into a shared-communications channel. Receiver 350 is a hybrid analog and digital circuit that is capable of receiving data wirelessly via a shared-communications channel and relaying data to physical control 330.
As described above, medium access control 320 is theoretically decoupled from the mechanism for controlling the physical (i.e., radio) transmission and receipt of message signals (referred to throughout this specification as the "physical control"). In practice, however, in some wireless local area networks, such as those that conform to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, the medium access control and the physical control are inextricably intertwined.
In order to mitigate the interdependence between medium access control 320 and physical control 330, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/421,265, entitled "Partitioned Medium Access Control," discloses a medium access control that is bifurcated into (i) an upper medium access control that provides those medium-access-control services that are independent of the physical control, and (ii) a lower medium access control that provides those medium-access-control services that are dependent on the physical control. This is especially advantageous for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks because it enables the standardization, development, and implementation of some of the medium-access-control services to be decoupled from the standardization, development, and implementation of the physical control, while maintaining full compatibility with the installed base of existing IEEE 802.11 equipment. This decoupling can result in the savings of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to semiconductor, computer, and networking companies.
FIG. 4 depicts a conceptual architectural diagram of the partitioned medium access control disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/421,265. As shown in FIG. 4, medium access control 320 is partitioned into upper medium access control 410 and lower medium access control 420, interconnected as shown. Upper medium access control 410 provides a subset of medium-access-control services that are independent of physical control 330, including transmit queuing, encryption, decryption, authentication, association, re-association, scanning, distribution, and traffic categorization (for the purposes of, for example but without limitation, quality-of-service (QoS) provisioning), as is well known in the art. The upper medium access control may also perform those functions within MAC data service and MAC management service that are independent of physical control 330, including power management, queue management, duplicate detection and filtering, fragmentation, defragmentation, queue management.
Lower medium access control 420 provides remaining medium-access-control services (i.e., those that are dependent on physical control 330), including channel access, receive validation (e.g., frame control sequence, forward error correction, etc.), and those that involve hard real-time functions and/or are physical layer-implementation dependent, such as response control (e.g., clear-to-send [CTS], acknowledgement [ACK], etc.), as are well known in the art.
There are four criteria for determining which functions belong to lower medium access control 420:
i. Functions that are specific to a given physical layer or given type of physical layer;
ii. Functions that require knowledge of the internal state of the physical layer or knowledge of implementation-specific operational characteristics of the physical layer;
iii. Hard real-time functions necessary to generate conformant communication (signaling) sequences as viewed on the (wireless) medium; and
iv. Particular other functions that "belong" in the lower medium access control because of general implementation considerations, or because a party with sufficient clout (e.g., Microsoft, etc.) wants them to be there.

Partitioned medium access control implementation


Disclosed is composition useful for reducing the concentration of mercaptans in hydrocarbons comprising: (A) a first diazo component and (B) a second component comprising a nucleophilic acceptor. The composition can be added to hydrocarbons such as fuel oil to reduce mercaptans without increasing turbidity or color. Triethylene diamine and 1,2-epoxyhexadecane are disclosed to be exemplary diazo and nucleophilic acceptor components.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to hydrocarbons having reduced levels of mercaptans and a method and composition for preparing the hydrocarbons having reduced levels of mercaptans. This invention particularly relates to treating hydrocarbons with a mercaptan scavenging composition to reduce mercaptan levels in the hydrocarbons.
2. Background of the Art
Mercaptans, a source of "sourness," can be present in both petroleum crude oils and in the fuels produced therewith. These compounds, having the general formula:R—SHwherein R is an alkyl or other organic group, are generally undesirable as they have a very unpleasant smell and can have a negative impact upon the environment. For example, in Manitoba Canada, federal and provincial regulations set 0.5 parts per million (0.5 ppm) as the permissible concentration in the air.
Petroleum and other crude oils are most commonly converted into finished products in a fuel products refinery. Typically, the fuel products produced are gasoline, distillate fuels such as diesel and heating oils, and bunker or residual fuel oils. Atmospheric and vacuum distillation towers are used to separate the crude into narrow boiling fractions. A catalytic cracking unit cracks high boiling vacuum gas oil into a mixture ranging from light gases to very heavy tars and coke. In general, very heavy virgin residuum having average boiling points greater than 1100° F. (593° C.) is blended into residual fuel oil or thermally cracked into lighter products in a visbreaker or coker.
Overhead or distillate products in the refining process generally contain very little, if any, hydrogen sulfide, but may contain sulfur components found in the crude oil, including mercaptans. However, substantial amounts of mercaptans and other organo-sulfur compounds are found in vacuum distillation tower bottoms, which may be blended into gas oils and fuel oils. It is for this reason that mercaptans are often present in bunker fuel oils.
For the purposes of the present invention, "oil" is meant to include the unrefined and refined hydrocarbon products derived from petroleum or from liquefaction of coal, both of which contain sulfur compounds. Thus, the term "oil" includes, particularly for petroleum based fuels, wellhead condensate as well as crude oil which may be contained in storage facilities at the producing field and transported from those facilities by barges, pipelines, tankers, or trucks to refinery storage tanks, or, alternatively, may be transported directly from the producing facilities through pipelines to the refinery storage tanks. The term "oil" also includes refined products, interim and final, produced in a refinery, including distillates such as gasoline, distillate fuels, oils, and residual fuels.
Refined fuels must be brought within mercaptan specifications for marketability. In the processing of oils, it is desirable to eliminate or reduce atmospheric emissions of noxious mercaptan or other organo-sulfur compounds associated with sulfur containing oils, in order to improve environmental air quality at refineries. It is also desirable to remove or reduce mercaptan is fuels, particularly the bunker fuels. For example, large ships, a major user of bunker fuels, can have difficulties with environmental regulations at some ports.
Efforts have been made in the part to sweeten fuels that had sulfur compounds present. EP 0 538 819 to Roof, et al., discloses that Sour sulfhydryl group containing oils can be treated with an effective amount of a sweetening, hydrogen sulfide vapor reducing quaternary ammonium compound. The compounds disclosed in this reference are stated to be especially suitable for high boiling, heavy residual fuels under low mix conditions. EP 0 067 036 similarly discloses Quaternary ammonium hydroxides as mercaptan scavengers.
WO-0234863 to Munson discloses another method of removing mercaptans from hydrocarbon streams. In this reference, it is disclosed to use basic metal salts that react with mercaptans to form mercaptides. The metal salts are dissolved or suspended in ionic liquids, which tend to have virtually no vapor pressure. After the mercaptides are adsorbed into the ionic liquid, the demarcaptanized hydrocarbon stream can be removed, for example by distillation, decantation or gravity separation. Then the mercaptides can be oxidized, for example, by exposure to air, to form disulfides. The disulfides are insoluble in the ionic liquids, and can be readily removed.
Another reference is this art area is EP 0 499 743 to Frame, et al., which is also U.S. Pat. No. 5,064,525. Therein, it is disclosed to use a two step process for sweetening a sour hydrocarbon fraction containing tertiary mercaptans and primary or secondary mercaptans. In one step the mercaptans in the sour hydrocarbon fraction are reacted with hydrogen in the liquid phase and in the presence of a selective hydrogenolysis catalyst to selectively hydrogenolyze the tertiary mercaptans. In another step, the primary and/or secondary mercaptans are oxidized by reacting them with an oxidizing agent in the presence of oxidation catalyst and a basic component.
An older reference in this art area is U.S. Pat. No. 3,144,403 to Jacob. Therein, a process for reducing the mercaptan content of hydrocarbons by oxidation of mercaptans to disulfides is disclosed. In this process, hydrocarbons containing mercaptans are contacted with a phenylene diamine inhibitor sweetening agent and oxygen in the presence of an alkaline catalyst consisting essentially of a solid anion exchange resin. The process further includes separating the hydrocarbons having reduced mercaptan content from the solid resin.

Hydrocarbons having reduced levels of mercaptans and method and composition useful for preparing same


Systems and methods for adaptively streaming video content to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) or wired transmit/receive unit may include obtaining a media presentation description that comprises a content authenticity, requesting a key for a hash-based message authentication code; receiving the key for the hash-based message authentication code, determining a determined hash for a segment of the media presentation description, requesting a reference hash for the segment from a server, receiving the reference hash for the segment from the server, and comparing the reference hash to the determined hash to determine whether the requested hash matches the determined hash.

Where media is transferred over an open or an attack-prone network, either complete content or parts of content that can be used to inject maliciously crafted media files can be protected. ISO/IEC 23009-4 may allow out-of-band validation of segment integrity and authenticity, so that, inter alia, a client may be able to detect a mismatch between a received segment and the segment hash or message authentication code. The server side may be unaware of the attack and/or may not be able to localize the attack.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Detecting man-in-the-middle attacks in adaptive streaming


Simple network management protocol or SNMP is encapsulated into HTTP traffic. The HTTP traffic is in a form that allows it to pass through a firewall. At one end, and SNMP request is encapsulated and sent to a remote computer. The remote computer de-encapsulates the request and responds to the SNMP request. The SNMP response is encapsulated as an HTTP response, and sent to the management station which interprets the results.

Simple network management protocol or SNMP is described in various RFCs, including SNMP v1 described in re RFC1155, Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), 1997 and other flavors of SNMP including v2 and v3. SNMP can be used to exchange data between computers that indicates about network activity. The data travels between a number of managed computers/nodes and a network management station. A number of different network devices such as sub agents, master agents, and the like may also be managed using the SNMP protocol. The details of SNMP communications are well known in the art. The communications may produce a file, such as a MIPS file, that includes a textual data describing the network. The system often uses a polled interface which sends information to every item on the network, and receives information back.
SNMP is used by existing computer programs such as HP OpenView™.

Communication techniques for simple network management protocol


To form a body, a preform is produced by welding together two essentially flat sheet-metal blanks (2,3) at their margins. This preform is then deformed in a mold by internal high-pressure forming to produce the desired body. In this way, complex metal bodies can easily be formed.

The invention relates to a method of making a preform for internal high-pressure metal forming, as well as to a preform produced by the method. The invention further relates to a method for producing a body from the preform, and to a body produced by the method.
It is known to shape tubular metal objects by "hydroforming": for example reference can be made to EP-A-0620056, which shows how a tubular body is assembled from a number of tube sections to form a preform. In "hydroforming", ie. internal high-pressure forming, the tube is deformed by subjecting the interior of the tube to pressure, usually hydraulic pressure, so that it is permanently deformed and is pressed against a mold surrounding the tube. This process is basically known.
Tubular preforms used hitherto have enabled a multitude of essentially tubular bodies to be shaped by subjecting the preform to internal high-pressure forming. However, there exists a need for other kinds of bodies, eg. containers, and in particular fuel tank, which hitherto have not been produced by internal high-pressure forming. At present, fuel tanks made of metal are formed from two deep-drawn halves each having a peripheral flange. The halves are positioned with their flanges in register, and are joined together in a sealed manner by roller seam welding at the flanges. Although this method of manufacture yields good results, one drawback is the space taken up by the welded flange extending around the tank. For technical reasons associated with the welding, this flange must have a certain width. Also, the shape of the tank is subject to restrictions due to the minimum radii which are imposed.
Besides containers, it may be disadvantageous for other bodies, such as supports for example, if their design is restricted to a tubular cross-section.
Therefore, the problem which poses itself is to extend the use of internal high-pressure metal forming to non-tubular bodies, in particular containers and supports. A further problem which is posed is to provide a fuel tank made of metal which achieves the best possible ratio between overall dimensions and capacity and on which in particular the peripheral flange is extremely small or nonexistent.

Method of producing and utilizing deformable workpieces for high-pressure forming and products formed thereby


A continuous multi-stage vertically sequenced gasification process for conversion of solid carbonaceous fuel material into clean (low tar) syngas. The process involves forming a pyrolysis residue bed having a uniform depth and width to pass raw syngas there through for an endothermic reaction, while controlling the reduction zone pressure drop, resident time and syngas flow space velocity during the endothermic reaction to form substantially tar free syngas, to reduce carbon content in the pyrolysis residue, and to reduce the temperature of raw syngas as compared to the temperature of the partial oxidation zone.

Gasification can convert carbon-containing materials to useful chemical products. These chemical products typically involve synthesis gas (syngas), which can be further combusted to produce electricity, or chemically reacted to produce oxygenates or hydrocarbons in catalytic systems.
Several types of gasification and pyrolysis methods and apparatuses have been developed to achieve efficient conversion of biomass into clean gaseous products. Many of the gasification processes known in the art have failed due to insufficient attention to low tar production, efficient tar destructions, and full decarbonization of char and ash.
Existing downdraft gasifiers require very high quality wood fuels or biomass, such as ash free wood blocks or high quality wood chips, and cannot be scaled up to economically attractive scales without severely increased tar production. Multi-stage downdraft gasifiers which comprise separate zones for fuel pyrolysis, partial oxidation, and reduction of bed gas, have also been developed, however such gasifiers known in the art also result in substantial amount of tar production, significant tar levels retained in the syngas, and the ash containing very high levels of unconverted carbon content.
CZ Patent No. 295171 discloses a three zone biomass gasifier comprising vertically oriented mutually nested cylindrical containers defining drying chamber, distillation chamber and a combined reduction & combustion chamber, respectively. The gasifier is configured such that the gaseous mixture being generated in the chamber drying and distillation chambers can be exhausted, and introduced through a bypass into the combined reduction/combustion chamber for additional burn, and reduction to desired components of the gas. This gasifier is structurally complicated, and is known for its poor controllability and flexibility of performance.
PCT Publication No. WO 2015/090251 discloses a device for the multi-stage gasification of carbonaceous fuels, which comprises a hermetically sealed vertical container which is fitted with insulation. Inside vertical container is pyrolysis chamber which is adapted for filling with carbonaceous fuel from above of the container. Under pyrolysis chamber is provided a partial oxidation chamber for oxidation of the pyrolysis product which is delimited by a refractory casing and the partial oxidation chamber is followed by a reduction zone for chemical reduction of oxidized product gas.
The devices/systems as disclosed in CZ 295,171 and WO 2015/090251, result in considerable amount of tar in the product gases, which in turn clogs the cleaning devices used to clean the product gases. Further these systems have no means to effectively manage the reduction reaction and failed to produce consistent flow and quality of syngas.
For example, in the system described in WO 2015/090251, the residues obtained after pyrolysis and/or oxidation steps flow down, and collects at the bottom of the gasifier to form a reduction bed. As it well known in the art that pyrolysis/oxidation make an uneven/non-uniform bed due to the angle of repose of the falling material. The height difference between the center portion and the peripheral portion of such beds is so large that the pressure loss of gases passing through the bed have negative impact and an effective endothermic reaction cannot be achieved to increase the caloric value of produced gas.
CZ 28354 discloses a downdraft gasifier, comprising vertically stacked pyrolysis chamber, oxidation chamber and reduction chamber, wherein an attempt was made to improve the quality for produced syngas by providing a homogenizer on the floor of the reduction chamber. However, this arrangement also fails to provide a char bed of uniform depth and promotes channeling of the syngas, and leads to undesirable results.
WO 2016/075362 discloses a method and apparatus for gasifying raw material in an attempt to form low tar gaseous products, wherein the raw material is pyrolyzed in the presence of pyrolysis air to form a pyrolysis product, the pyrolysis product is then moved to a lower part of the gasifier, wherein a primary air is introduced countercurrently to the lower part, followed by carrying out a final gasification in a lower part of the gasifier in order to form a gasified gas. The gasified gas is then introduced into a catalytic oxidation part and through a catalyst layer of the catalytic oxidation part, and reforming the gasified gas by means of the catalytic oxidation in the presence of reforming air in the catalytic oxidation part, in order to form a gaseous product. This reference does not mention any means to effectively manage the reduction reactions, and would fail to produce consistent flow and quality of produced gas.
Therefore, a need exists for a process and system for gasification of carbonaceous material to form consistent clean product gases, such as syngas, while substantially reducing tar contents.
This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention.

Process for converting carbonaceous material into low tar synthesis gas


A mobile constructed from a single sheet of material having alternating cut lines and fold lines so that wind striking the mobile causes the intervening panels to undulate.

Devices that model the appearance and simulate the movement of land or sea animals include ornaments, decoys, lures, and wind direction indicators. Such devices (such as figurines) generally fall into one of four categories: (1) those that rotate about a rod, (2) those that appear as stationary silhouettes, (3) those having bodies that sway or bounce in the wind, or (4) those that undulate in the wind.
Referring to the first three categories identified above, there have been numerous designs employed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,953 to McKinney discloses a fowl decoy whose body is pivotally connected to a stand and whose neck and body are connected together with a mechanism including tension strings. The mechanism is complex and must be installed in the body of the fowl by an assembler. A string tied to the mechanism is tugged and relaxed by a remotely positioned person. However, if pulling the string is discontinued, the decoy just stands there looking like an unanimated decoy.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,063 to Heiges discloses a decoy simulating a fowl having a neck fastened at a first end to a ball that is set in the decoy body for universal movement, and fastened to a rotatably mounted head of the fowl at a second end. The neck is comprised of a long multiple-turn tightly wound helical spring with a plastic sheet around it.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,942 to Lanius has the head and neck of a fowl decoy pivotally connected to a body. A cord is attached to the head of the decoy and the cord has a weight fastened to it which tends to restore the neck of the decoy to its high position. A person situated remotely may tug on a string to cause the neck and head to bow. When the string tension is relieved the weight restores the neck and head to an upright attitude.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,654 to Denny discloses a wild fowl decoy such as a turkey, the body of which contains electric motors that are operatively coupled to the head and neck. The motors are actuated by electric signals from a remote transmitter.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,206,747 to Skwarek discloses a wind indicator having multiple sections including a tail section for catching wind, a front section for indicating the direction of the wind, a tail mounting section, a joiner for joining the tail mounting section with the front section, vanes for catching the wind, projections that fit into disk type structures, and a pole upon which the assembly rotates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,288 to Payne et al. discloses a decoy resembling an animal. Parts of the decoy's anatomy, such as the neck, head, ears, and tail are connected in a pivotable articulated manner to the main body. String is connected to the body parts which move if the string is tugged. The body parts are restored to a resting position as a result of being connected to the ends of rubber bands having ends anchored to the body. Unless the string is tugged and relaxed, the decoy has little advantage over a figurine. The construction is complex and expensive to manufacture. Moreover, its complexity and several moving parts increase the likelihood of a breakdown.
Turning now to the fourth category discussed above, devices configured to undulate in the wind simulate to a greater extent the movement of fish, birds, and the like, and are displayed in places such as lawns, patio areas, in front of windows, or even inside houses near open windows. Although there are numerous prior art embodiments within the first three categories, the field of undulating ornaments/decoys is quite limited and presently incorporates compound design structures.
An undulating mobile is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,888 to Gomez. The '888 patent discloses a fish-shaped mobile or "wind sculpture" wherein a fish is segmented into sections and the sections are joined by a string. The mobile further incorporates weights secured to the segmented portions to maintain a vertical arrangement and draw the strings taunt. Due to the discontinuity between sections, the fish sways in the wind. Because of the numerous string attachments in the mobile, as well as balancing of the weights, assembly is tedious. Also, the assembly of numerous parts increases cost.
Therefore, there exists a need in the art for an undulating mobile that comprises few parts and is easily constructed.


A heat-generating element of a heating device for heating air includes at least one PTC element and, lying on opposing side surfaces of the PTC element, electric strip conductors. A heat-generating element that is improved with respect to the safety against electric flashovers is created with the invention under consideration by means of surrounding the two electric strip conductors on the outside by a non-conductive insulating layer. A heating device for heating air with multiple heat-generating elements is also disclosed with each heating element including at least one PTC element and, lying on opposing side surfaces of the PTC element, electric strip conductors and multiple heat-emitting elements that are arranged in parallel layers and that are held in position lying on opposing sides of the heat-generating element. The heat-emitting elements are essentially potential-free and protected against electric flashovers with a higher degree of certainty due to the fact that the heat-emitting elements lie on opposing sides of the heat-generating element, with an insulating layer placed in between.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention under consideration relates to a heat-generating element of a heating device for heating air, comprising at least one PTC element and, lying on opposing side surfaces of the PTC element, electric strip conductors. Such a heat-generating element is known, for example, from EP 1 061 776, which is traced back to the current applicant.
In particular, the heat-generating element is deployed in an auxiliary heater for a motor vehicle, and comprises multiple PTC elements, arranged in a row, one behind the other, that are energized via electric strip conductors that extend parallel to one another and that lie flat on opposing sides of the PTC elements. The strip conductors are normally formed by parallel strips of metal. The heat-generating elements formed in this way are deployed in a heating device for heating air in a motor vehicle, where said heating device comprises multiple layers of heat-generating elements having heat-emitting elements that lie on their opposing sides. These heat-emitting elements are positioned so that they lie against the heat-generating elements in a relatively good heat-transferring contact by means of a holding device.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the aforementioned state of the art, a holding device of the heating device is formed by a frame in which multiple layers of heat-generating and heat-emitting elements that run parallel to one another are held by means of a spring bias. In an alternative development, which likewise discloses a generic heat-generating element and a generic heating device and that is described, for example, in EP 1 467 599, the heat-generating element is formed by multiple PTC elements arranged one behind the other, in a row in one level, said PTC elements also being called ceramic elements or positive temperature coefficient thermistors, and being energized on opposing side surfaces by strip conductors that lie on these side surfaces. One of the strip conductors is formed by a circumferentially closed profile, and the other strip conductor by a strip of metal that is supported at the circumferentially closed metal profile with an electrically insulating layer in between. The heat-emitting elements are formed by segments arranged in multiple parallel layers, said segments extending at right-angles to the circumferentially closed metal profile. In the generic heating device known from EP 1 467 599, multiple circumferentially closed metal profiles formed in the manner described in the preceding are provided, said metal profiles being arranged parallel to one another. To some extent, the segments extend between the circumferentially closed profiles and project beyond them to some extent.
In the case of the aforementioned heat-generating elements, there is a requirement that the electric strip conductors must be in good electrical contact with the PTC elements. Otherwise, the problem that arises is an increased transition resistance, which, particularly in the case of the use of the heat-generating elements in auxiliary heaters for motor vehicles, can lead to local overheating due to the high currents. As a result of this thermal event, the heat-generating element can be damaged. Furthermore, the PTC elements are self-regulating resistance heaters that emit a lower heat output at an increased temperature, so that local overheating can lead to a disturbance in the self-regulating characteristics of the PTC elements.
In addition, at high temperatures in the area of an auxiliary heater, vapours or gases can develop that can result in a direct hazard for persons in the passenger compartment.
Correspondingly problematic is also the use of generic heat-generating elements at high operating voltages, such as voltages up to 500 V, for example. For one thing, a problem here is that the air that flows against the heat-emitting elements carries moisture and/or dirt with it, which can penetrate into the heating device and cause an electric flashover, i.e., a short-circuit, here. On the other hand, there is fundamentally the problem of protecting persons working in the area of the heating device from the current-carrying parts of the heating device or of the heat-generating element.

Heat-generating element of a heating device


The present invention relates to an improved mechanism (100) for attaching a ground-engaging surface maintenance implement, preferably a front-mounted rotary sweeper (300), to a traction vehicle (200). The mechanism includes a four-bar linkage (102) to "yaw" the implement from an initial position, where the sweeper brush axis is generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the traction vehicle (200), to a first or second position, characterized by the brush axis assuming an angled (i.e., non-perpendicular) orientation, the first and second positions being equal but opposite to one another. The mechanism further includes a central pivot (104) which permits the implement to "roll" or rotate preferably about a horizontal axis perpendicular to the brush axis such that the sweeper (300) can maintain ground contact across its lateral width when traversing laterally uneven terrain. The preferred mechanism also includes a force-producing device (148), selectively activated by the operator, to translate the implement from its initial position to the first or second position or anywhere in-between. Finally, the preferred embodiment of the present invention includes ground-contacting caster-wheels (318) to support or partially support the weight of the sweeper and therefore relieve the weight borne by the sweeper brushes (304).

Although the present invention can be utilized with a wide variety of ground-engaging surface maintenance implements, such as dozer blades or grass dethatchers for example, it is particularly advantageous when used with rotary sweepers. A typical rotary sweeper comprises a series of disc-shaped brushes mounted on a common, horizontally transverse brush shaft, the brushes effectively forming a large, cylindrical sweeper. Such sweepers are commonly used to clean hard surfaces (e.g., roads, sidewalks, parking lots) of dirt, snow, or other loose debris. By operatively connecting the brush shaft to a power source (e.g., motor), the shaft can be selectively rotated about its axis, forcing the brushes to spin. Engaging the spinning brushes with the ground produces the desired sweeping action. The sweeper itself is connected to a traction vehicle which is capable of moving the sweeper across an unswept surface. While many rotary sweepers are incorporated into "dedicated" vehicles (e.g., street sweepers), the preferred embodiment of the present invention pertains to those detachably mounted to the front of a multi-purpose traction vehicle. This invention specifically relates to the way in which the sweeper is connected to such a vehicle.
While several implement connecting mechanisms are known in the art, few have proven well-suited for use with front-mounted rotary sweepers. This is attributable to two peculiar characteristics of these sweepers. First, the range of motion necessary to effectively operate a sweeper is more complex than that required for other implements. Second, unlike other implements, the ground-contacting elements of a rotary sweeper are subject to rapid and continual wear during use. The sweeper connecting mechanism must be capable of accommodating this wear without adversely affecting either sweeper performance or range of motion. Each of these particular problems is discussed below.
Sweeper Range of Motion
Rotary sweepers operate most effectively when the sweeper is adjustable over a wide range of motion. That is, the connecting mechanism should provide the necessary "degrees of freedom" to permit versatile positioning of the rotary sweeper relative to the vehicle. To take advantage of aviation terms to describe these various motions, the preferred degrees of freedom would include "yawing" (pivoting about a substantially vertical axis); "rolling" (pivoting about a generally horizontal axis perpendicular to the brush shaft axis); and "pitching" (pivoting about a laterally horizontal axis generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle). Motion of the sweeper about any one axis should not interfere with movement about either other axis. Similarly, the range of motion should be unaffected by changes in connecting mechanism geometry due to sweeper wear (further discussed below).
Assuming the initial position of the rotary sweeper is such that it sweeps straight ahead (e.g., the brush shaft axis is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle), yawing permits the sweeper to translate or pivot about a substantially vertical axis so that the brush shaft axis assumes an angled (i.e., non-perpendicular) orientation relative to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Adjustable yaw allows the operator to control the direction of debris discharge independent of vehicle direction. Ideally, sweeper yaw is adjustable such that it can sweep to the left (yaw left), to the right (yaw right), or anywhere in between.
When the sweeper encounters a surface that is laterally sloping or irregular, it is preferable that the sweeper pivot or roll about a substantially horizontal axis perpendicular to the brush axis shaft. This "rolling" motion improves performance by allowing the sweeper to maintain ground contact across its lateral width. Thus, the need for repeated passes over the same area is reduced or eliminated.
Lastly, it is desirable for the rotary sweeper to "pitch" about an axis which is laterally horizontal to the vehicle. This motion accomplishes two objectives. First, when not in operation, pitching the sweeper to an "up" position assists in transporting the sweeper from one site to the next. Second, during operation, the ability to "float" about the pitch axis permits the sweeper to effectively follow ground contours regardless of the differential elevation of the vehicle.
Sweeper Wear
Rotary sweepers are unique compared to other ground-engaging implements in that the sweeper element itself is subject to continual wear. This constant wear necessitates a specialized connecting mechanism. As previously mentioned, the sweeper is defined by a series of brushes aligned on a common brush shaft. Each brush comprises a plurality of radially extending flexible filaments that perform the sweeping task. Unlike other implements, the brush filaments of the rotary sweeper are sacrificial and are subject to constant wear due to abrasive contact with the ground. As the filaments wear, the diameter of the sweeper is reduced. However, effective sweeping is possible even at significantly reduced brush diameters. Therefore, the preferred connecting mechanism accommodates reduced brush diameters without adversely affecting performance or range of motion.
Another factor accelerating sweeper wear is brush loading. If the floating weight of the sweeper is supported solely or substantially by the brushes, excessive brush filament wear will occur. Thus, it is preferable to incorporate a load-supporting means into the connecting mechanism to control the loading of the brushes.
While several connecting mechanisms have been tried in the past, the applicants are aware of two that particularly address the unique operational requirements of the rotary sweeper. The first is the simple "vertical axis pivot" as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,330,025 to Bentley. The second is the more elaborate four-bar linkage connecting mechanism currently used by M-B Companies, Power Broom Division (hereinafter referred to as M-B), on its model MLT-CT. Although both are commendable for solving long-standing problems, shortcomings are evident with each design. The Bentley vertical axis pivot and the M-B design are separately discussed below.
Vertical Axis Pivot
A common approach to yawing the sweeper is to provide a vertical axis pivot about which the sweeper assembly may rotate (i.e., yaw). An example of a rotary sweeper utilizing this connecting mechanism is shown in the Bentley patent and depicted in FIGS. 12, 13, and 14 herein. In this reference, the rotary sweeper assembly yaws by pivoting about axis "II." The Bentley patent also discloses a connecting mechanism that permits rolling and pitching of the sweeper about axes "I" and "III" respectively.
Accordingly, Bentley discloses a connecting mechanism that provides the desired degrees of freedom. Additionally, Bentley is notable for providing sweeper support (not shown in FIGS. 12-14) to reduce bristle loading and thus lessen brush filament wear. Nevertheless, the simple vertical axis pivot has a significant drawback. In order to achieve acceptably large yaw angles, the sweeper must be placed sufficiently forward of the vehicle such that, when pivoted to its maximum yaw position, the rear edge of the sweeper will not contact the vehicle. But placing the sweeper far forward of the vehicle requires a connecting mechanism of increased length. This additional mechanism length is undesirable for several reasons. First, it increases the total weight of the implement assembly and places that weight farther forward of the vehicle. This makes the vehicle/implement combination longer and less maneuverable during operation. More importantly, this additional weight can adversely affect the stability of the vehicle when the sweeper is in the "up" or transport position. Second, as the distance from the vertical axis pivot to the sweeper grows, the rotational radius of the sweeper about the vertical axis pivot also increases. The end result is that, when pivoted to its maximum yaw position, the center of the yawed sweeper becomes laterally offset from the center of the vehicle. That is, the sweeper no longer clears a path directly in front of the vehicle, but rather clears a parallel, offset path. When this occurs, the vehicle tires will contact unswept ground, compacting the debris and making effective sweeping more difficult. Possible solutions to this problem include reducing the effective yaw angle, thus reducing the offset; or increasing the width of the sweeper, thus ensuring that the vehicle width is always swept. Neither of these options is desirable.
As such, there are problems associated with the simple vertical axis pivot. These drawbacks are addressed to some degree by the more complex four-bar linkage connecting mechanism used by M-B and discussed below.
Four-Bar Linkage
The four-bar linkage connecting mechanism (i.e., the M-B design) shown in FIGS. 9, 11, 11A, and 11B herein, theoretically improves upon the simple vertical axis pivot connecting mechanism, discussed above, in several respects. Noting the drawings are not necessarily to scale, FIG. 11 discloses a rotary sweeper attached to a vehicle (not shown) with a four-bar linkage wherein a front crossbar A supports the sweeper and a base link B is fixed to the vehicle. Pivotably connected between front crossbar A and base link B is a pair of left and right links C and D. Pivot joints E, F, G and H connect the respective members. FIG. 9 shows this same linkage in simplified form. A hydraulic cylinder J connects base link B and right link D at attachment points K and L respectively. Extension and retraction of hydraulic cylinder J forces right link D to pivot about joint H drawing crossbar A (and thus the attached sweeper) and left link C through their defined range of motion. Accordingly, displacing the hydraulic cylinder "translates" the linkage, thereby yawing the sweeper. Note that, per FIGS. 9 and 11, retracting hydraulic cylinder J causes the four-bar linkage to rotate to the left (i.e., counterclockwise). When this occurs, the rotary sweeper itself actually yaws to the right. Similarly, extension of cylinder J causes the four-bar linkage to rotate to the right (i.e., clockwise), causing the sweeper to yaw to the left. Table IV shows the approximate lengths, dimensions, and angles of the M-B four-bar linkage. Refer to FIG. 9 for more information.
TABLE IV ______________________________________ FIG. 9 Dimensional Data Item Value ______________________________________ A 9.25 in B 15.25 in C, D 17.40 in M 3.00 in N 100.degree. N' 41.degree. N" 166.degree. P 80.degree. P' 108.degree. Q 30.degree. ______________________________________
Translational motion of the linkage described above is advantageous to the rotational motion of the simple vertical axis pivot for two reasons. First, it allows the sweeper to achieve a given yaw angle while keeping its lateral width more closely centered about the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Accordingly, the lateral offset problem inherent with the vertical axis pivot is reduced. Second, the more efficient motion of the four-bar linkage allows attachment of the sweeper in closer proximity to the vehicle, therefore reducing the overall length and weight of the connecting mechanism.
However, unresolved issues remain with the M-B four-bar linkage. For example, referring to FIG. 11, the mechanism permits yawing and pitching of the sweeper but not rolling. Without rolling capability, the sweeper cannot traverse laterally uneven surfaces without sacrificing sweeper effectiveness. But more importantly, this lack of rolling freedom is particularly detrimental once the sweeper brushes begin to wear. With new brushes installed, the plane of the four bar linkage is substantially parallel to the ground. Since translation of the four-bar linkage occurs only within the plane of the linkage itself, yawing of a sweeper with new brushes is not problematic. However, as the brushes wear, the sweeper must be lowered (i.e., the forward end of the connecting mechanism must be pitched downward) to maintain proper brush/ground contact. When this occurs, the plane of the four-bar linkage, as shown in FIG. 11A, is no longer parallel to the ground. Without this parallel relationship, yawing of the sweeper from the straight ahead position causes the trailing edge of the sweeper to elevate and the leading edge to drop. See FIG. 11B where the trailing edge is to the right. This forces the brushes at the leading edge of the sweeper to engage the ground at a higher contact pressure than those at the trailing edge. The end result is uneven or "conical" wear of the sweeper. This wear pattern significantly reduces the life of the brushes and hampers effective sweeping in subsequent yaw positions.
Another problem with the M-B mechanism depicted in FIGS. 9 and 11 results from the location of hydraulic cylinder J. As with most hydraulic cylinders, mounting of the cylinder such that it can efficiently transfer force is highly desirable. For example, attaching the cylinder so that it acts generally perpendicular to link D as shown in FIG. 9 will ensure optimal force transfer from the cylinder to the four-bar linkage. Additionally, placing attachment point L away from pivot H (i.e., increase dimension M), increases the mechanical advantage of cylinder J. That is, by placing attachment point L closer to pivot F, cylinder J requires less force to translate the four-bar linkage than if attachment point L is placed close to pivot H. Unfortunately, by restricting the physical location of attachment point K to stationary link B, it is difficult to obtain improved mechanical advantage while maintaining the perpendicular relationship between cylinder J and link D. The M-B four-bar linkage sacrifices mechanical advantage in favor of maintaining the desired perpendicularity. As such, the force required to extend and retract cylinder J is higher than it would be if attachment point L were located proximate to pivot F. To generate this larger force without increasing cylinder size, it is necessary to increase the threshold (or minimum) pressure required to extend and retract the cylinder.
The disadvantage resulting from this higher threshold pressure is that the hydraulic cylinder may be unable to move (i.e., no yaw ability) when the sweeper is in its raised position. This is attributable to the fact that the hydraulic cylinder shares a parallel hydraulic pressure source with the sweeper motor (i.e., the hydraulic motor that spins the brush shaft). As such, supply pressure to the cylinder is dependent on the simultaneous hydraulic requirements of the sweeper motor. If the hydraulic resistance of the sweeper motor (including the resistance of the attached brush) is very low, the pressure within the hydraulic system is lessened. The resistance of the sweeper motor is at a minimum when it is in a "no-load" condition; i.e., when the sweeper is raised. Thus, if the hydraulic cylinder has a threshold pressure higher than the system pressure in the no-load condition, it is not possible to yaw the raised sweeper. Rather, hydraulic resistance of the sweeper motor must first be increased by lowering the sweeper into contact with the ground. This sequence is undesirable as the operator often prefers to yaw the sweeper to one side or the other prior to engaging it with the ground.
Another problem with the M-B design is the absence of overload protection for the hydraulic cylinder. When the M-B sweeper encounters an immovable object during operation, the external load applied to the sweeper must be partially reacted through cylinder J. The resultant load that must be reacted by the cylinder may easily exceed the maximum design load of the cylinder (i.e., the load expected during normal operation). When this occurs, critical components including but not limited to cylinder J, and attachment points K and L may fail.
Accordingly, the M-B four-bar linkage, while an improvement over prior mechanisms, has unresolved problems.
The present invention addresses the issues associated with the prior art connecting mechanisms. In particular, the connecting mechanism of the present invention provides a more compact design that provides improved brush life, eliminates uneven brush wear, provides better terrain following, provides cylinder overload protection, and allows yawing of the sweeper in the raised position.

Connecting mechanism for attaching a ground-engaging surface maintenance implement to a traction vehicle


A managing structure for an umbilical member includes a flexible conduit for leading an umbilical member inserted therein from a front arm of a robot to a working tool mounted on a wrist of the robot, a first conduit mounting portion provided adjacent to the front arm, and a second conduit mounting portion provided adjacent to a point where the umbilical member is connected to the working tool. One end of the conduit is attached to the first conduit mounting portion, while the other end of the conduit is attached to the second conduit mounting portion. The conduit is laid so that a section thereof between the first conduit mounting portion and the second conduit mounting portion does not contact the body of the robot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a managing structure for an umbilical member of an industrial robot used with a working tool mounted thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
An industrial robot (hereinafter referred to as simply a "robot") has a working tool mounted at the forward end of the front arm thereof, and an umbilical member, containing one or more wires and tubes, is very frequently used to supply, to the working tool, materials including air, energy such as electricity, and signals. In such a case, the umbilical member is generally led to extend above the front arm of the robot to the working tool. FIG. 1 shows an example of such a prior art.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 designates a robot controlled by a robot controller 2. A first wrist element 11 is provided at the forward end of a front arm 10 of the robot 1 so as to be rotatable about a first axis A extending in a longitudinal direction of the first wrist element 11. A second wrist element 12 is mounted on the first wrist element 11 as to be rotatable about a second axis B extending substantially perpendicular to the first axis A. A third wrist element 13 is mounted on the second wrist element 12 so as to be rotatable about a third axis C1 extending substantially perpendicular to the second axis B, and has a working tool H provided at the forward end flange portion thereof. A part (such as a support base) of the working tool H may double as the third wrist element 13.
In this case, the working tool H is a hand having suction pads. Reference numeral 3 designates an air supply/suction unit disposed outside the robot 1. An air tube 31 connected to the air supply/suction unit 3 merges at an appropriate point with a control cable 21 for supplying electric power and electrical signals, etc. and connects to a solenoid valve box 4. The air is supplied or removed through a tube (umbilical member) 7 arranged from the solenoid valve box 4 to the hand H. The robot controller 2 controls the air supply/suction unit 3 and the solenoid valve box 4 in a well-known manner to switch between the air supply to the suction pads of the hand H (i.e. the holding "off" mode) and the air suction (i.e. the holding "on" mode) from the suction pads of the hand H.
The problem posed in this case is that the rotation about the axes A, B, C1 during the operation of the robot 1 may cause the umbilical member 7 to contact with the body (the forward portion beyond the front arm 10) of the robot 1 or to wind around the wrist elements 11, 12 or be pulled strongly by the wrist elements 11, 12. This trend is especially conspicuous in the case where the operation range about the axis C1 is wide (about 360 degrees, for example). For example, in a handling robot system for transferring disordered objects from one pallet to another pallet and arranging them into order, it is generally true that the axes of the wrist elements of the robot maintain a predetermined arrangement and that only the rotation about the last axis (the axis C1) covers a wide range in order to set the objects in phase with each other. Therefore, the above problem is liable to occur in such a handling robot system.
To avoid this problem, in the prior art, a method was employed in which the umbilical member 7 was laid so as to extend away from the robot by a sufficiently large distance body as shown in FIG. 1 and was connected to the hand (working tool) H.
However, such an arrangement of the umbilical member 7 involves a risk that the behavior of the umbilical member 7 is unstable when the robot wrist elements rotates about the axes (especially about the third axis C1), thereby causing the umbilical member 7 to contact (interfere) with a part of the robot body (the forward portion beyond the front arm) or the peripheral devices to damage the umbilical member itself or the peripheral devices. Also, the umbilical member 7 contacting and rubbing other objects generates fine dust and deteriorates the working environment. To overcome this problem, a method is possible in which the motion of the umbilical member 7 is controlled elastically by using an L-shaped member 5 and an elastic member 6 to hang the umbilical member 7 above the front arm 10. However, this method cannot sufficiently prevent the interference. Further, a large burden is imposed on the wires and tubes by the bending or twisting.

Managing structure for umbilical member of industrial robot


A bonding apparatus comprising a bonding tool, means for driving the bonding tool, means for detecting an amount of crushing of a bonding portion during bonding, means for calculating a rate of change of the amount of crushing detected by the amount-of-crushing detecting means, means for setting a target value, which is inputted from an external source, of the amount of crushing of the bonding portion, and means for controlling the driving means. When the rate of change of the amount of crushing calculated by the calculating means is smaller than a predetermined value, the controlling means compares the amount of crushing detected by the amount-of-crushing detecting means with the target value. When the amount of crushing detected by the amount-of-crushing detecting means is smaller than the target value, the controlling means discriminates that the bonding is being performed in a satisfactory manner and hence should be continued.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for bonding lead wires or the like to pads and terminals of electronic elements and semiconductor devices, and to a method and apparatus for testing a bonded portion. More particularly, the invention relates to the bonding of a magnetic head, an LED, an EL, a liquid crystal, a thermosensitive head, etc.
2. Description of the Related Art:
According to the conventional technology, lead wires are connected to pads and terminals of electronic elements and semiconductor devices by soldering (including the reflow method), ultrasonic joining, hot pressing or resistance coupling. As one of the ultrasonic joining methods, ultrasonic bonding (wedge or ball) was particularly popular. In the joints of lead wires with pads and terminals of electronic elements and semiconductor devices, it is important to secure good quality and reliability; consequently, attempts have been made to develop a high-quality and high-reliability bonding technology.
To this end, there have been proposed various kinds of means for discriminating whether or not the individual bonded portion is good. This prior art is exemplified by: the concept of detecting a high-frequency current waveform from an ultrasonic generator and discriminating, by the current intensity and waveform, whether or not the bonded portion is good, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publications Nos. SHO 61-237438, SHO 61-237440 and SHO 62-76731; the concept of detecting and discriminating an abnormality when the output and the vibrating time of an ultrasonic generator are outside the respective predetermined ranges, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 61-294830; and the concept of measuring the vibration of a bonding tool, by monitoring the ultrasonic wave during bonding, to detect a bonding status, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 62-293731.
Further, various high-reliability bonding methods and apparatuses have been proposed. This prior art is exemplified by: a bonding method in which the temperature of a lead wire heated by heat or light rays is measured by a non-contact thermometer, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 63-232438; a bonding method in which the position of a bonding tool is detected and then the movement of the bonding tool is controlled, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 63-257238; a bonding method in which the load during bonding is varied and controlled, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 1-129430; a bonding method in which the ultrasonic frequency and output are varied and controlled, depending on the bonding manner and position, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 1-184841; and a bonding method in which attenuation of ultrasonic vibration of a bonding tool is measured and the ultrasonic vibration is stopped when it becomes normal, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 2-156548.
Meanwhile, in testing and evaluating a bonding portion after it has been bonded, it is a common practice to observe the bonding portion with visual inspection by an operator. This prior art is exemplified by: the concept of detecting the width of bonding of a bonding portion and discriminating, by the detected width, whether or not the bonded portion is good as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 55-59731; the concept of converting pictures, which are photographed by a low-magnification camera and a high-magnification camera, into binary images and detecting deviation of bonding, the diameter of a ball, the shape of a ball and peeling, as disclosed also in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. SHO 55-59731; and a semiconductor device which discriminate the quality of a bonding portion according to heights printed by bonding tool on which ridges in different width are formed as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. HEI 1-273328.
However, the bonding apparatus of the prior art would occasionally be encountered with connection defects, such as lowered connection strength of the bonding portion and a peeled surface, so that the functions of semiconductor devices and electronic elements can be impaired or the defective products can be caused. Because of this, the apparatus is not entirely reliable.
On the other hand, with the prior means for discriminating whether or not the bonded portion is good, it is easy to inspect the bonded portion but is difficult to discriminate whether or not the bonded portion is very reliable. Consequently, it was impossible to secure the reliability and quality in connecting the bonding portions of lead wires with pads and terminals of semiconductor devices and electronic elements, so the defective products increased with the peeled surface, the lead wires at the bonded portion breaking off while in use, the functions of the semiconductor devices, electronic elements, etc. were deteriorated with increased connection resistance.
Further, in the prior testing method and apparatus, after bonding, the bonded portion is visually inspected by an operator, because this test depend on the operator's skill, it is difficult to grasp the connection quality of the bonded portion, causing a poor operativity and hence taking a long time to conduct a test.

Bonding apparatus and testing apparatus of a bonded portion


A tapered roller for a tapered roller bearing, the tapered roller bearing having a raceway and a flange, and the tapered roller having a rolling surface configured to roll on the raceway and an end surface at the end of the rolling surface configured to face the flange. The end surface includes an abutment surface having a curvature and a radially outer end and a radially inner end and is configured to contact the flange. The curvature increases monotonically from a starting point on the abutment surface to the radially inner end of the abutment surface.

Guide flanges in roller bearings, such as e.g. tapered roller bearings, can be either straight or spherical. Straight flanges are mainly used for roller bearings of smaller diameters and thus also smaller flange widths. In this case, a flange width is often too small to produce a defined profile on an available flange surface. Spherical flanges, i.e. flanges having a constant curvature, find application mostly in roller bearings having larger diameters and thus also having larger flange widths. A spherical flange is characterized in that a radius, which defines a flange shape facing towards a roller raceway, has its origin substantially on an axis of rotation of the rollers (roller rotational axis), wherein small deviations are allowed due to alignment errors.
For reducing the sliding friction between the flanges and the end surfaces of the rollers of a roller bearing, the sections of the end surfaces of the rollers of conventional bearings, which sections oppose the flanges, are spherical, in order to achieve a small contact surface. In the case of a flange that is also spherical, the curvature of the flange is smaller than the curvature on the end surface of the roller.
For a more detailed description of roller bearings having spherical flanges, FIG. 1 shows, in a schematic representation, a longitudinal section of a roller bearing 10, which is formed in an exemplary manner as a tapered roller bearing. The roller bearing 10 includes a bearing inner ring 11, a bearing outer ring 12, and a plurality of rollers 13, which can roll on races or raceways 14, 15 formed by the inner sides of the bearing rings 11, 12. In the case of a tapered roller bearing, tapered rollers are the rollers corresponding to the rollers or rolling-element rollers or rolling elements 13.
The tapered rollers 13 can roll on an inner raceway 14, which is formed in the bearing inner ring 11, and on an outer raceway 15, which is formed in the bearing outer ring 12. In a tapered roller bearing, the raceways 14, 15 are formed as conical outer surfaces. In the longitudinal section shown in FIG. 1 of the tapered roller bearing 10, the raceways 14, 15 define, in an imaginary extension, an inner line 16 and an outer line 17, which meet on an axis of rotation 18 of the roller bearing 10 ideally at a center of rotation 19.
During operation of the bearing 10, each (tapered) roller 13 rotates around its own roller axis 20, wherein an imaginary extension of the roller axis 20 ideally also intersects with the center of rotation 19. For the tapered rollers 13, a rolling condition on the raceways 14, 15 is realized by a relative position of the inner line 16, outer line 17, bearing axis of rotation 18, and roller axis 20, which all intersect in the center of rotation 19, so that during a relative rotation of bearing inner ring 11 and bearing outer ring 12, the tapered rollers 13 roll on the raceways 14, 15 substantially without slippage, and an amount of sliding friction related thereto is minimized.
When supporting axial forces, in order to also optimize the friction that occurs in the axial direction, i.e. in the direction of the bearing rotational axis 18, the rollers 13 used in roller bearings can have a curvature on their end side 21, identified by a radius R, so that the sections of the end side surface of the roller 13, which sections oppose the flanges, have the shape of a ball surface. As is indicated in the enlargement of FIG. 1, this surface is in contact at a contact point 22 with a straight- or spherically-embodied flange 23, for example of the bearing inner ring 11.
Away from the region of a possible contact point 22, the end side 21 can also be flat or have another shape, while the sections of the end surfaces of the roller 13, which sections oppose the flanges, have a constant curvature. Curvature is generally understood to mean the change in direction per traversed length of an infinitesimally short curved piece. A circle having the radius r thus has the same, constant curvature 1/r everywhere; its direction changes everywhere equally strongly. With all other curves the curvature can vary from curve point to curve point, or along a path on the one three-dimensional surface. The inverse of the curvature is referred to as the radius of curvature. This is the radius of that circle (circle of curvature) which represents the best approximation of the observed curve in the vicinity of the contact point.
In roller bearings, such as for example cylindrical roller-, barrel roller-, or ball-bearings, which are designed with straight or flat flanges, in comparison to spherically embodied flanges the roller-flange contact has a higher surface pressure (Hertzian pressure) between the roller end side 21 and the flange surface. Here the Hertzian pressure is understood to be the greatest pressure that prevails in the middle of the contact surface of two elastic bodies. If, such as with roller bearings having straight flanges, two elastic bodies (curved roller end side and straight or flat flange) are pressed against each other, then in the ideal case they touch only in a punctiform manner. However, in the real case, a flattening and thus a contact surface arises at the contact point 22 due to the elasticity. A characteristic pressure distribution (surface pressure) arises on the contact surface in both bodies, wherein the pressure is always highest in the middle. If, as here, a ball outer surface and a flat flange surface touch, a touch- or contact-ellipse results. Due to the comparatively high surface pressure, with roller bearings having straight flanges, a relatively poor lubricant film formation generally results at higher effective forces. In addition, in comparison to spherical flanges, straight or flat flanges lead to smaller contact ellipses between the roller end side and the flange surface facing this, for which reason an overlapping of the contact ellipse with the flange edges can result only at extreme loads. Likewise, with straight- or flat-embodied flanges, there is a low sensitivity of the contact point 22 to alignment errors, so that a defined contact point 22 between roller 13 and flange is possible. While on the one hand a greater skewing of the roller 13 is made possible with flat-embodied flanges, on the other hand a relatively poor guiding of the rollers results during operation.
Tapered roller bearings in the large bearing field can, as shown with reference to FIG. 1, be embodied with spherical flanges 23, which compared to straight or flat flanges results in a lower surface pressure between the roller end side 21 and the flange surface or abutment surface facing towards the roller 13. In addition, spherically-designed flanges 23 lead, compared to straight flanges, to larger contact ellipses between the roller end side 21 and the opposing flange surface, so that overlappings of the contact ellipse with the flange edges and thus edge stresses can frequently result. In general, with spherically-designed flanges 23 there is a higher sensitivity of the contact point 22 to alignment errors than is the case with flat- or straight-embodied flanges. Although on the one hand spherical flanges have a lower skewing of the roller 13 as a consequence, on the other hand due to the narrow osculation between the roller end side 21 and the flange surface facing towards roller 13, the roller 13 can be guided better during operation. A defined contact point 22 between the roller 13 and the flange 23 is also theoretically possible with spherical flanges by a different choice of the radii of curvature (and/or their origins) of roller end surface 21 and spherical flange surface.
However, one of the main disadvantages of a spherical flange and a spherical end surface of the rolling-element roller is the resulting sensitivity of the contact point 22 between the roller end side 21 and the flange 23 to alignment error. Deviations in the raceway angle, roller angle, flange radius, as well as roller end side radius have a decisive influence thereon.

Configuration for a roller of a roller bearing


An electric guitar includes a neck and a body connected with the neck. The neck includes a mounting plate, a plurality of touch keys and a display screen. The touch keys and the display screen are mounted on the mounting plate. The touch keys are positioned at an upper edge or lower edge of the display screen. The body includes an outer shell, a human-machine interface, a control circuit board, a speaker and a power source. The human-machine interface is mounted on an upper surface of the outer shell. The control circuit board, the speaker and the power source are mounted in the outer shell; the touch keys, the display screen, the speaker and the human-machine interface are electrically connected with the control circuit board. The mounting plate is positioned at a right side surface of the outer shell.

To play electric guitar well, one needs to be familiar with the music, and master the finger positions after lots of long-term training. In other words, a beginner needs to learn and practice for a long time to plays a graceful flowing music using the electric guitar. The electric guitar by which the beginner can play graceful flowing music without a good understanding of music and without any finger position training has not been available so far.


A wire rope is provided which has an independent wire rope core (IWRC) covered by a plastic jacket. Outer strands are laid on this plastic jacket and wormings or spacers extend from the plastic jacket in between the outer strands to form gaps between the outer strands. Another jacket is provided over the outer strands which also fills the gaps between the outer strands. Both the IWRC and the outer strands are preferably lubricated. A method is also disclosed for manufacturing such wire rope.

Most wire rope users like plastic impregnated wire ropes, such as disclosed, for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,462 belonging to the present applicant and called Cushion Rope®, because such ropes are clean and their plastic exterior minimizes sheave and drum wear. The additional benefit is that the plastic impregnation also increases rope fatigue life.
On the other hand, conventional plastic impregnation of ropes is not a very controlled process since it is difficult to control how the rope is impregnated. Usually, the plastic just fills randomly the voids of the interior of the rope. During this process, it is difficult to avoid situations whereby two or more outer rope strands contact each other or the outer rope strands contact the outer strands of the core when the rope is flexed during use. These contact points become steel-to-steel abrasion points during the operation of the ropes, leading to the eventual failure of the rope.
Maintaining the strand-to-strand and strand-to-core separation in a plastic impregnated rope is quite difficult. One such method is disclosed in applicant's Canadian Patent Application No. 2,393,220 where specially designed plastic bands are provided to prevent contact between the wires of the core and those of the outer strands. However, this system requires a precise operational control and still leaves the possibility of contact between the wires of the outer strands.
In applicant's Canadian Patent No. 2,041,206 there is described a wire rope in which the core is provided with a plastic jacket and with wormings or spacers laid on the circumference of the jacketed core between the outer strands, so as to form separations between outer strands. The wormings are then normally compressed by the outer strands so as to fill the voids that exist between each pair of adjacent outer strands and the core. These types of ropes provide improved fatigue life, however, they are not fully plastic impregnated since they have only the core that is jacketed with plastic. For this reason, customers who wish to benefit from the cleanliness and low sheave and drum abrasion provided by fully plastic impregnated ropes, are reluctant to use such core jacketed ropes, also called Cushion Core® ropes, even when they are provided with wormings or spacers to improve their fatigue life.
Initial attempts at filling the outer strand voids of Cushion Core® ropes, whether they were provided with wormings or not, were unsuccessful mostly because the strand-to-strand plastic filling was frequently lost early in the life of the rope due to the flexing of the rope in use.
There is consequently a need to find a way whereby Cushion Core® ropes could be improved so as to provide their outer strands with plastic filling which would not fall-off during operation of the rope and which would increase the rope fatigue life over a similar fully plastic impregnated ropes.

Double jacketed wire rope and method of manufacture thereof


A connecting structure of an electrical supply bus, by which a power supply module or a logic package is easily mounted in a case for an electronic device. The connecting structure of an electrical supply bus consists of: guide rails provided with a plurality of wedge-like spaces; a plurality of wedge-like blocks respectively accommodated in the plurality of wedge-like spaces; a stepped shaft which is inserted into a through hole provided in each of the guide rails and has a plurality of thick shaft portions; and an electrical supply bus facing the guide rails. An external thread portion of the stepped shaft is fitted into an internal thread portion of the guide rail. Thus, when the operating portion is rotated, the stepped shaft moves in the direction of said shaft. Then, each of the thick shaft portions moves a corresponding one of the wedge-like blocks. Thus, each of the wedge-like blocks pushes the electrical supply bus against the guide rails.

The present invention generally relates to a connecting structure of an electrical supply bus and, more particularly, to a connecting structure of an electrical supply bus for use in an electronic device such as a computer system.
Hitherto, electrical supply buses of this kind have been used as paths for supplying electric power to printed circuit boards of a computer system, as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (JP-A) No. 148493/1980 official Gazette (hereunder referred to as a first Official Gazette) or No. 28134/1980 official Gazette (hereunder referred to as a second official Gazette).
In the case of the electrical supply bus disclosed in the first Official Gazette, the electrical supply bus is connected to a power supply module or a logic package by using screws.
Namely, there has been devised a method by which a connecting portion of an electrical supply bus is placed at the rear side of a logic package and by which the electrical supply bus is connected to the logic package by tightening screws from the outside of a case after the logic package is inserted into the case.
In the case of another method employing the electrical supply bus disclosed in the second Official Gazette, coil springs are used at the rear side of a logic package. The electrical supply bus is pressed against the logic package by utilizing the pressure of the coil springs. Thus, the electrical supply bus is connected to the logic package.
The aforementioned two methods are examples of a method of connecting an electrical supply bus to the rear side of a card.
Another example of a conventional method is to insert an electrical supply bus 10, which is attached to a power supply module or a logic package 27, into a case 25 along guide rails 26 thereof and to then connect the electrical supply bus 10 to the guide rails 26 at a plurality of places on the contact surface between the bus 10 and each of the rails 26, as illustrated in perspective diagrams of FIGS. 1A and 1B.
FIG. 2 illustrates the conventional method of connecting the electrical supply bus to the guide rails at the plurality of places on the contact surface between the bus and each of the rails, and is an exploded perspective diagram showing an enlarged view of a connecting portion of the electrical supply bus, namely, a connecting portion between the bus and one of the rails.
Generally, the guide rails 19 are attached to the case 25, and the electrical supply bus 10 is attached to the power supply module or the logic package 27.
In the case of this example of the conventional method, screw holes 21 are formed in the guide rail 19 at a plurality of places. Screws 20 can be inserted into these holes from above, respectively.
Next, an operation of the conventional connecting structure of the electrical supply bus illustrated in FIG. 2 will be described hereinbelow.
FIG. 3 is a sectional diagram showing the connecting state of the electrical supply bus, which is taken on line E--E of FIG. 2. After the electrical supply bus 10 is inserted into the case along the guide rails 19, each of the screws 20 is tightened from the corresponding one of the screw holes 21. Thus, the tip end portion of each of the screws 20 pushes down the electrical supply bus 10 against the lower portion of the guide rail 19.
The electrical supply bus 10 is connected to each of the guide rails 19 by utilizing the forces of these screws 20.
FIG. 4 is a perspective diagram illustrating a structure for performing another conventional method of connecting the electrical supply bus to the guide rails at the plurality of places on the contact surface between the bus and each of the rails.
Further, FIG. 5 is a sectional diagram showing the connecting state of the electrical supply bus, which is taken on line F--F of FIG. 4. This conventional structure uses many connector contacts 23 for connecting the electric supply bus to the guide rails. The connector contacts 23 are placed in two rows or lines on both sides of the guide rail 22, respectively, so that the electrical supply bus 10 is sandwiched between the two rows of the connector contacts 23.
Next, an operation of the conventional structure illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5 will be described hereinbelow.
When the electrical supply bus 10 is inserted onto the guide rails 22, the interval between the two lines of the connector contacts 23 increases. Then, the electrical supply bus 10 is connected to the guide rail 22 by utilizing the spring force generated in the connector contacts 23 at that time.
Additionally, there has been provided another example of the structure, which is provided with a mechanism 24 for connecting the electrical supply bus 10 to the guide rail 22 by preliminarily increasing the interval between the two rows of the connector contacts 23 when the electrical supply bus 10 is inserted thereonto, and by then narrowing the interval therebetween after the electrical supply bus 10 is inserted thereonto.
The aforementioned conventional structures, however, have the following problems.
First problem is that, in the structure using the screws for fixing the electrical supply bus which has been described as the example of the conventional method, it is difficult to tighten the screws for fixing the electrical supply bus onto the guide rails after the power supply module or the logic package is inserted into the case.
The reason is that the guide rails are mounted in the inside of the case. Thus, the screws for fixing the electrical supply bus should be tightened in the inside of the case. Especially, it is very difficult to tighten screws in an inner part, which does not allow a worker' hands to have access thereto, of the case.
Furthermore, there has been an example of a connecting structure in which a fixing-screw tightening portion of an electrical supply bus is placed at the rear side of a logic package and in which thus, screws for fixing the electrical supply bus are tightened from the outside of a case after the logic package is inserted into the case, similarly as the case of the connecting structure of the electrical supply bus described in the first Official Gazette. In the case of this example, although a connecting operation is simplified, only two places, at which the fixing screws are tightened, are assured for a single logic package. Therefore, the structure has too few connection places or points to supply a large or heavy current that is necessary for an operation of an apparatus such as a current large scale computer.
Second problem is that an operation of connecting the electrical supply bus is troublesome and time-consuming in the case of the connecting structure using the screws for fixing the electrical supply bus, which has been described as the conventional structure.
The reason is that a plurality of screws distributedly or dispersedly arranged on the guide rails should be individually tightened in the case of the hereinabove mentioned structure.
Third problem is that, in the case of the aforementioned conventional structure for connecting the electrical supply bus to the guide rails by using many connector contacts provided therein, a large force is needed when connecting the electrical supply bus.
The reason is that an inserting force increases at the time of inserting the electrical supply bus onto the guide rails as a result of connecting the bus thereto by utilizing the elasticity of may connector contacts in the aforementioned conventional structure.
Further, the problem of the inserting force is solved by the structure provided with a mechanism by which the electrical supply bus is connected to the guide rail by preliminarily increasing the interval between the two rows of the connector contacts when the electrical supply bus is inserted thereonto, and by then narrowing the interval therebetween after the electrical supply bus is inserted thereonto. However, the number of components increases with the result that the cost thereof rises.
Fourth problem is that it is difficult to ensure high reliability in the case of employing the structures which have been described as the conventional structures and which are adapted to connect the electrical supply bus to the power supply module and so on by using the coil springs and the many connector contacts.
The reason is that it is difficult to assure a contact pressure for a long time owing to the presence of a limit to the elasticity of the spring coils and the many connector contacts.

Connector for electrical supply bus with thick shaft portion actuated wedge blocks