A combined heat and power system and method of operation is provided. The system includes a combustion chamber configured to directly combust solid organic material. A compressor turbine is fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber. An expansion turbine is fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber. In an embodiment, the system has a low turbine pressure ratio.

Combined heat and power (CHP) systems have been utilized in many forms for over 100 years. The most common are fossil fuel fired systems that use, for example, steam turbines, gas fired turbines and internal combustion engines to produce power. The reject heat from these systems can be used for a wide range of applications such as heating, cooling, and in some cases where the waste heat temperature is high enough, can be used to drive a second cycle. Traditionally, most of the focus for traditional CHP systems has been large fossil fueled fired systems connected to district heating grids. More recently the focus moved to smaller distributed CHP systems where the heat or power generated could be better utilized by the end user. These smaller CHP systems have also been fossil fuel fired systems that commonly use small gas turbines or reciprocating engines to produce power along with usable waste heat from the cycle. Other systems that use Organic Rankine Cycle have also been used, although the quality of the waste heat is relatively low which limits the applications for the heat.
More recently, the focus to use renewable organic waste streams for fuel has been predominant and progressing the technology. Large biomass and municipal solid waste to power systems have been in operation for many decades. The ability to utilize a wide variety of organic sources in a small CHP system (for example, less than 1 MW electric) has been challenging for a number of reasons. There have been many small organic to power conversion technologies that have been utilized to varying degrees of success. Gasification of organics into syngas has been one approach to convert a solid fuel into a hydrocarbon gas for combustion in traditional power systems. Unfortunately, these systems can be costly, especially when scaled to smaller scale applications. In addition, the organic feed stock can present particular challenges in application. For example, depending on the gasification method and conversion efficiencies, the potential energy available in some organics suffers from losses that have an economic impact on the cost of power and heat. Gasification of mixed organic residues is particularly problematic for many gasification systems.
Another method applied for small CHP applications has been to use direct combustion of the organics through an appropriate combustor and using the heat through a heat exchanger to drive an externally fired engine. Traditional externally fired systems include Stirling cycle, Steam Rankine, Organic Rankine, and super critical CO2 cycles. In all of these systems the temperature of the reject heat affects the cycle efficiency. The higher the reject heat temperature the lower the power efficiency. With the exception of the steam cycle, the other thermodynamic cycles typically lose efficiency when producing even hot water at 90° C. However, with the steam cycle, the deficiency is the complexity and cost associated with a high-pressure steam circuit in a small application.
Another method that has been employed more recently is to use an open Brayton cycle gas turbine and introduce heat indirectly through a heat exchanger. Several systems have been tested where a small turbine has been coupled to an organic combustion system. In these systems ambient air is compressed in the compressor of the turbine and then directed to a heat exchanger to preheat the compressor air. The compressed and preheated air is then directed to the hot heat exchanger to be heated by the organic combustion system. The highly heated air is then expanded in the turbine to produce work to turn a generator and generate electricity. Continuing the cycle, the hot turbine gases are used for preheating in the heat exchanger as mentioned earlier. The turbine exhaust hot gases may then be exhausted or directed to a further heat exchanger where combustion air is heated with exhausted combustion gases and directed to the combustion process. In configurations disclosed by the prior art, the turbine utilizes a heat exchanger to preheat compressed ambient air. Furthermore, most existing systems employ a combustion air pre-heater to recover heat from the combustion gases as well as the heat remaining in the turbine exhaust. While these approaches improve the thermal to electric conversion efficiency, it requires multiple heat exchangers and complex piping for routing of the gases in the circuit which may reduce the overall system efficiency.
The effect of the heat exchanger is to raise the temperature of the compressor air prior to the hot heat exchanger. Heat is extracted from the expansion turbine to preheat the compressor air. The compressor air is further heated by the hot heat exchanger where heat is extracted from the combustion gases. Utilizing the heat exchanger reduces the size of the hot heat exchanger. However, it also reduces the amount of heat energy extracted from the combustion gases. In order to achieve high thermal electric efficiency, it is desired to recover as much heat as practicable from the exhaust combustion gases. Since the combustion exhaust gases cannot be directly fed back to the combustion system, a combustion air pre heater is used to recover the heat from the exhaust gases. These losses can be reduced by using the turbine exhaust air as the combustion air, but this still uses the air preheater.
Another challenge for existing systems is related to controlling the temperature of the combustion gases entering the hot heat exchanger. For applications using a Brayton cycle gas turbine, it is desirable to be able to deliver the compressor (or expander) air at the design inlet temperature of the turbine. In many cases this temperature can be as high as 950° C. To achieve this inlet air temperature, heat exchangers are operated near the maximum design temperature limits. In addition, it is desirable to be able to maintain a constant temperature at the heat exchanger. Overheating and temperature variations could cause stresses on the heat exchanger as well as the expansion turbine, while under heating would cause lower inlet temperatures, reducing power and efficiency. Variations in temperature can be a significant concern when combusting mixed fuels that can have very large differences in heat values.
Existing systems also commonly utilize a constant volume feeding system to deliver the solid fuel into the combustion chamber. However, there is no system to determine the heat value of mixed solid fuels as it is fed into the combustion chamber. As the fuel is burned, the higher heat value fuel will cause an increase in temperature of the exhaust gases while the lower heat value fuels will have the opposite effect. As a result, mixed solid fuels create varying gas temperature flows which cannot readily be corrected by adjustment of the feed system.
Another method that has been employed in recent years is to use an open Brayton cycle gas turbine and introduce heat directly through a pressurized combustion system. Several systems have been developed where a large turbine has been coupled to an organic combustion system. In these systems, ambient air is compressed in the compressor of the turbine and then directed to the combustion chamber where solid organic fuel is fed under pressure and produces combustion and heats the gas. The heated combustion exhaust is then passed through and expanded in the turbine to produce work to turn a generator and generate electricity. Large turbines typically operate at high pressure ratios where a heat exchanger is not typically used. The turbine exhaust hot gases may then be exhausted or directed to a further heat exchanger where additional thermal heat can be extracted to produce heat, cooling or process heat needs. This system has not been employed for smaller turbine systems, mainly due to economic reasons.
Still another challenge for direct fired turbine systems is to reduce the amount of particulates exiting the combustion chamber, which can cause erosion of the turbine blades and deposit and foul the heat exchanger and other thermal heat exchangers. In order to reduce the particulates, various methods have been employed including high temperature ceramic filters of varying configurations, electrostatic precipitators and cyclones. The challenge is to provide an adequate particulate removal without introducing a large pressure drop and at an acceptable cost. Ceramic filters have high efficiency but need continual cleaning to reduce the pressure drop, and automated systems are expensive. Reverse flow cyclones have been used and provide adequate removal of particles, although have the drawback of high pressure drop at high gas velocities and efficiency drops as the gas velocity drops and stops functioning below 50% of the maximum design velocity. A uni-flow cyclone can also be used for particulate removal and has the advantage of maintaining higher efficiency down to 25% of the maximum design velocity. Uni-flow cyclones also have much shorter gas residence times which reduces the amount of heat loss through the cyclone wall.
Yet another challenge for organic fuel direct fired turbine systems is a pressurized fuel feed system is needed to introduce the fuel into a pressurized combustion chamber. Several methods have been employed including rotary valve, double rotary valve, double gate valve, double flapper valve and various types of plug feeders. All of these systems have a common deficiency in that hot gas from the combustion chamber can flow in the reverse direction through these valves towards the feed supply. This introduces both an efficiency loss and a potential thermal risk. The reverse flow is due to leakage around a rotary valve or from the dead space between the double gas locks where high pressure, hot gas, flows into the space and then is released to the lower pressure inlet side when the inlet gas lock is opened.
Still another challenge for organic fuel direct fired turbine systems is to provide a combustion chamber and system that meets both the physical and economic parameters that are desired of the power system. It is desired for solid fuel combustion systems to be able to sustain high temperatures in excess of 1000° C. In addition, solid fuels may contain many different inorganic materials such as small metal, rocks and sand, as well as, salts and other minerals. In the case of sand and rocks, these inorganic materials can cause abrasion, and with salts and other minerals can create slag deposits or chemically interact with the combustion chamber material. Traditional solid fuel combustion chambers utilize either castable refractories or fired ceramic components. Refractory material can handle high temperatures, although have several deficiencies. One deficiency is that refractory materials are not very hard and are subject to abrasion. In addition, refractory castings require thick walls to achieve structural stability adding substantial amounts of weight. Additionally, the refractory material needs to be encased in steel to maintain a compressive force on the refractory when the material is hot. Refractory materials are also brittle and subject to thermal stresses that cause cracks in the refractory over time and with thermal cycling. The large thermal mass of refractory materials have a large thermal mass making startup times very long and changes to operating temperatures take longer as well due to the need to reject or absorb heat from the refractory.
Another material used for combustion chambers is silicon carbide, which is a fired ceramic. Silicon carbide can also handle very high temperatures and is extremely hard which resists abrasion. Silicon carbide components can also be made with thinner walls than refractories due to the strength of the fired ceramic. There are some deficiencies with using silicon carbide. One deficiency is that silicon carbide is brittle and subject to thermal stresses. As with refractory materials, making connections with ceramics, in particular mating with metal, is very difficult. With pressurized systems it becomes very expensive to make high temperature connections. Both refractory and silicon carbide components are also subject to damage from transportation where impact shock can cause cracks in the ceramic. Another deficiency is the high cost of firing silicon carbide.
Accordingly, while existing CHP systems were suitable for their intended purpose, the need for improvement remains, particularly in providing a CHP system having the features described herein.

Combined heat and power system and method of operation


A technique for recovering heat from a high temperature effluent stream from catalyst regeneration or the like, comprising processes and means for: (a) passing the effluent stream in heat exchange relationship in a steam generator with boiler feed water to produce high pressure steam and partially cool the effluent stream; (b) passing the partially cooled effluent stream from the steam regenerator in heat exchange relationship to preheat high pressure boiler feed water and further cool the effluent stream; and (c) passing the preheated boiler feed water to the steam generator. The apparatus and processes for thermal energy recovery may be used to treat hot regenerator effluent from FCC or OTO-type processes, thereby producing a cooled flue gas stream to discharge to ambient atmosphere.

Olefins are traditionally produced from petroleum feedstocks by catalytic or steam cracking processes. These cracking processes, especially steam cracking, produce light olefin(s), such as ethylene and/or propylene, from a variety of hydrocarbon feedstocks. Ethylene and propylene are important commodity petrochemicals useful in a variety of processes for making plastics and other chemical compounds.
The petrochemical industry has known for some time that oxygenates, especially alcohols, are convertible into light olefin(s). There are numerous technologies available for producing oxygenates including fermentation or reaction of synthesis gas derived from natural gas, petroleum liquids or carbonaceous materials including coal, recycled plastics, municipal waste or any other organic material. Generally, the production of synthesis gas involves a combustion reaction of natural gas, mostly methane, and an oxygen source into hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon dioxide. Other known syngas production processes include conventional steam reforming, autothermal reforming, or a combination thereof.
An alternate feed for the production of light olefins includes oxygenates, such as, for example, alcohols, particularly methanol and ethanol, dimethyl ether (DME), methyl ethyl ether, diethyl ether, dimethyl carbonate, and methyl formate. This conversion process is typically referred to as an oxygenate to olefins (OTO) reaction process. Many of these oxygenates may be produced by fermentation, or from synthesis gas derived from natural gas, petroleum liquids, carbonaceous materials, including coal, recycled plastics, municipal wastes, or any organic material. Because of the wide variety of sources, alcohol, alcohol derivatives, and other oxygenates have promise as an economical, non-petroleum source for light olefin production.
When methanol is the oxygenate, the conversion process is typically referred to as a methanol to olefins (MTO) reaction process. Methanol is typically synthesized from the catalytic reaction of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon dioxide in a methanol reactor in the presence of a heterogeneous catalyst. For example, in one synthesis process, methanol is produced using a copper/zinc oxide catalyst in a water-cooled tubular methanol reactor. The preferred process for converting a feedstock containing methanol into one or more olefin(s), primarily ethylene and/or propylene, involves contacting the feedstock with a catalyst composition.
The catalysts used to promote the conversion of oxygenates to olefins are molecular sieve catalysts. Because ethylene and propylene are the most sought after products of such a reaction, research has focused on what catalysts are most selective to ethylene and/or propylene, and on methods for increasing the life and selectivity of the catalysts to ethylene and/or propylene.
Catalytic processes utilizing fluidized bed technology for conversion of hydrocarbon or oxygenates involving gas-solids contacting are widely used in industry for productions of petroleum-based fuels, chemical feed stocks and other industrial materials. The gaseous reactants are contacted with solid catalyst particles to provide gaseous products. Such processes often use continuous catalytic reactor unit operations, requiring catalyst regeneration at high temperature. FCC, OTO and other processes usually employ oxidative regeneration to remove coke or other carbonaceous deposits from spent or equilibrium catalysts. These operations often utilize combustion air to bum carbonaceous matter deposited on the catalyst during the conversion reactions. Ordinarily, this regeneration is carried out in a regeneration vessel separate from the main fluidized bed reactor. Attrition of the catalyst particles can occur during circulation of the catalyst into smaller particles of, less than about 100 microns, say, less than about 60 microns, in overall diameter, i.e., the largest particle dimension.
The waste flue gas or high temperature effluent from catalyst regeneration can be treated to remove entrained particles, such as catalyst fines carried from the process. Such removal is desirable inasmuch as these particles can cause erosion and plugging problems for downstream equipment, e.g., compressors, pumps, valves, exchangers and piping. Ultimately, the particles may be vented with gases to ambient atmosphere for disposal, e.g., through a cyclone used to separate solids from gases. Thus-disposed waste gases can have recoverable thermal value or environmentally objectionable properties resulting from particulate content, which renders such gases susceptible to further treatment. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a process, which ultimately recovers thermal value to the process from such high temperature effluent from catalyst regeneration.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,391,327 to Mekler teaches catalyst regeneration wherein flue gases from a regeneration zone are directed to a heat exchange unit such as a waste-heat boiler, steam superheater, hot gas turbine or the like.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,910,768 to Woebcke et al. relates to a high pressure cracking furnace whose flue gas is used to produce high pressure steam, cool cracked gas, preheat feed and drive a turbine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,479 to Mauleon et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,915 to Harandi et al. disclose indirect cooling of catalyst regenerator flue gas with steam generation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,956,509 to Harandi et al. discloses catalytic cracking of hydrocarbons wherein hot flue gas from a catalyst regenerator flows through a heat exchanger and is reduced from 650° to 510° C. (1200° to 950° F.) and is thence passed to a downstream heat recovery system, which may include steam generation, and reduced to 190° C. (375° F.) before release to the atmosphere.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,517 to Haddad et al. discloses two-stage heating of boiler feed water with hot reactor effluent.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,121,504 to Kuechler et al. discloses a process for converting oxygenates to olefins with direct product quenching for heat recovery and to improve heat integration.
All of the above references are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Heat recovery technique for catalyst regenerator flue gas


For training for and performance of patient modeling from surface data in a medical system, a progressive multi-task model is used. Different tasks for scanning are provided, such as landmark estimation and patient pose estimation. One or more features learned for one task are used as fixed or constant features in the other task. This progressive approach based on shared features increases efficiency while avoiding reductions in accuracy for any given task.

The present embodiments relate to medical scanning. Medical scanning is performed for diagnosis and/or therapy in a clinical setting. The clinical setup may include patient modeling. The patient modeling for scanning includes, for example: localization of external body markers for determining scan ranges, estimation of patient pose for validating patient registration or positioning for the scan, estimation of patient body shape for determining patient ISO-center in computed tomography (CT) or estimating accurate Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) parameters in magnetic resonance (MR), estimation of patient weight and/or height for validating patient registration or setting intensity, and/or estimation of internal body markers for simulating topograms and/or CT images to guide scanning. Different clinical setups may use two or more tasks in the patient modeling.
When scanners are equipped with optical sensors, the optical sensor measurement may be used to solve for any of the patient modeling tasks. Where multiple tasks for patient modeling are used, a separate solution (i.e. model) may be applied for each task. These task-specific solutions are run in parallel or cascaded together depending on the nature of the problem. For example, the patient pose is first detected from the sensor measurement, then the external body markers are localized from the output pose and the input sensor measurement, and then the patient shape is estimated from the body markers and the original sensor measurement. On a totally separate execution flow, the height and the weight of the patient may be estimated as well. The fact that all these tasks rely on the same input (the sensor input) and are highly correlated is not leveraged in the separate-solution approach. Furthermore, when separate models are cascaded together in an execution flow, errors from the earlier stages are propagated to the later stages.

Multi-task progressive networks for patient modeling for medical scans


A trolling system for mounting a plurality of fishing rods to extend from selected peripheral sides of a boat. The system includes a pair of mounting members attached to the deck and mounting rods extending parallel or transverse opposing sides of the boat. A trolling bar, which is secured with the mounting rods and rod supports in spaced positions. In use, fishing rods are mounted in the rod supports and extend from the stern of the boat.

This invention is directed to a system for mounting fishing rods across the stern of a boat for trolling. There are known many systems for mounting fishing rods along opposed sides of boats for trolling. This arrangement is satisfactory for a few lines but with a large number of lines, there is a problem with them becoming entangled.
Accordingly, it an object of the instant invention to provide a system for mounting fishing rods on a boat for trolling in spaced positions to reduce the chances of the lines becoming entangled.
Another object of the invention is the provision of mounting means across the stern of a boat.
Another object of the invention is an easily installable and removable fishing rod mounting system.
Another object of the invention is a trolling system which is sturdy and dependable.
Another object of the invention is a trolling system easily installed with and removed from the boat.


Provided are semiconductor devices and methods of fabricating the same. The semiconductor device comprises: a floating gate pattern formed in a cell area of a semiconductor substrate; a dummy floating gate pattern extending from the floating gate pattern into an interface area around the cell area; and a control gate pattern intersecting the floating gate pattern at the cell area of the semiconductor substrate.

In general, flash memory has been developed to achieve the advantages of both a related art erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM) and a related art electrically erasable PROM (EEPROM). The flash memory is capable of electrically programming and erasing data, and its manufacturing unit costs are relatively low because of its simple manufacturing processes and miniaturized chip size.
Additionally, the flash memory has characteristics of a random access memory (RAM) in that the flash memory is a non-volatile memory, retaining its stored data even when there is no power supply, and is also capable of electrically programming and erasing information in a system. Therefore, the flash memory is often used as a memory device replacing a memory card or a hard disk of portable electronic devices.
In this flash memory, the programming of data may be performed by injecting hot electrons. That is, if hot electrons occur in a channel by an electric potential difference between a source and a drain, hot electrons having an energy of more than 3.1 eV (i.e., an electric potential barrier between polycrystalline silicon and an oxide layer constituting a control gate) are transferred into and stored in a floating gate due to a high electric field of a control gate.
Hot electron generation is unavoidable in certain flash memory devices that are designed to generate these hot electrons. However, because hot electrons may deteriorate the related art metal oxide silicon (MOS) device, the device needs to be designed to suppress device deterioration, if possible.
In this flash memory, a critical dimension (CD) of a gate is a very important factor in determining device characteristics during the forming of a gate pattern.
Usually, in order to form the gate pattern, a polysilicon layer is formed on a semiconductor substrate, and an anti-reflection layer and a photoresist pattern are formed on the polysilicon layer. Then, the anti-reflection layer and the polysilicon layer are patterned by using the photoresist pattern as a mask.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a part of semiconductor device manufacturing processes.
A semiconductor substrate 10 includes a cell area CA, a peripheral area PA around the cell area CA, and an interface area IA between the cell area CA and the peripheral area PA.
A device isolation layer pattern 11 is formed in the semiconductor substrate 10 to define an active area where devices are to be formed.
A flash memory device is formed in the cell area CA. A floating gate 13 is formed on the semiconductor substrate 10, and a polysilicon layer 15 for a control gate is formed on the floating gate 13.
A hard mask layer 17, an anti-reflection layer 19, and a photoresist pattern 20 are sequentially stacked on the polysilicon layer 15 in order to form a control gate by patterning the polysilicon layer 15 using the photoresist pattern 20 as a mask.
However, because the floating gate 13 is formed only in the cell area CA, there is a height difference between the cell area and the interface area. Thus, a thinning phenomenon occurs, in which the anti-reflection layer 19 becomes thinner as it approaches from the center to the edge in the cell area CA.
The light reflectivity of the anti-reflection layer 19 is affected by the thinning phenomenon, and varies at the edge of the cell area (due to the thickness change of the anti-reflection layer 19) during a photolithography process to pattern the polysilicon layer 15 to form a control gate. Therefore, the CD of the photoresist pattern 20 is reduced.
If the CD of the photoresist pattern 20 is reduced, the photoresist pattern 20 may collapse, and a defective memory device may be formed, or it may prevent uniform adjustment of the CD of the control gate. These limitations affect wafer yield directly and substantially, and may also deteriorate device reliability.

Semiconductor device and method of fabricating the same


A hand-gripable presentation marker carrier is disclosed for holding and quickly accessing a plurality of different color presentation markers. The carrier includes a hand-gripable support element including a plurality of marker-tip receiving structures disposed along a surface of the hand-gripable support element, the surface of the hand-gripable support element supporting each of the marker-tip receiving structures. The carrier can also include an eraser housing for receiving an eraser assembly. The plurality of presentation markers are held perpendicularly with respect to the surface of the support element, and each marker-tip receiving structure is shaped so as to grip a marker at its tip-end and hold it to the common hand-gripable support element regardless of the orientation of the common hand-gripable support element. The eraser assembly is sized such that it fits snugly within the eraser housing, and can be inserted and removed from the eraser housing with convenient and comfortable force.

It is common for presenters, educators, and other speakers to have a spontaneous need to make a presentation with "dry erase" markers and a white board in an office, briefing room, or classroom, but find no working markers. Either the markers are completely absent, or the markers that are available are missing caps, and are consequently dried out and unusable.
At other times, only one color marker is available, but more than one color is needed to make an effective presentation.
Even if all the needed colors are available, it's challenging to manage all the caps for the markers during a demanding presentation. If the caps are not properly managed, the markers begin to dry out during the presentation, making them less effective, resulting in lines that are harder to read as the presentation progresses. Further, the solvent of the "dry erase" markers is highly volatile, and rapidly begins to fill the air with unpleasant and possibly toxic fumes unless the caps of the markers are promptly replaced after the use of each marker.
Also, when there are many colored markers present, they sometimes are stacked precariously on a narrow ledge that is provided with some white boards, resulting in an avalanche of pens onto the floor, thereby delaying or disrupting the presentation.
Moreover, even if a presenter has started a presentation due to the presence of a plurality of markers of various colors, and is managing to cap and un-cap as needed, there is no guarantee that an eraser will be found. In fact, many times it is not possible to find an eraser after the presentation has begun, even though the existence of a usable and conveniently-placed eraser seemed reasonable to assume. Consequently, the hapless presenter is reduced to erasing portions of the presentation using a bare hand.
Marker carriers are known that hold a plurality of markers of various colors. However, it is difficult to remove and replace markers from such carriers during a presentation. Further, these carriers do not protect the tips of the markers, so the user is responsible for removing and replacing the caps for the markers during the presentation, or else tolerate the progressive drying of the markers during the presentation, while the room becomes heavy with the volatilized solvent evaporating from the uncapped markers.

Hand-gripable presentation marker carrier


A telescopic column includes a cylinder and a post inserted in the cylinder partially. The post includes a ladder formed thereon. A mount is attached to the cylinder. A positioning element is installed on the mount pivotally. The positioning element includes a dent for engagement with the ladder during an attempt to insert the post into the cylinder and for disengagement from the ladder when the post is extended from the cylinder. A gear is installed on the amount rotationally. A handle is installed on the mount so as to provide pivotal in an active direction and in an idle direction opposite to the active direction. An extending element is installed on the handle movably. The extending element includes a detent for engagement with the gear in the active direction of the pivotal of the handle and for disengagement from the gear in the idle direction of the pivotal of the handle.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a telescopic column.
2. Related Prior Art
Disclosed in Taiwanese Patent M274466 is a telescopic column with a post 1 inserted in a cylinder 2 partially. A mount 4 is secured to the cylinder 2. Two plates 42 are formed on the mount 4. A handle 45 is installed on the plates 42 pivotally. An extending element 44 is installed on the handle 45 movably. A positioning element 46 is installed on the plates 42 pivotally. The post 1 defines a plurality of recesses 11. The extending element 44 includes a plurality of detents 441 for insertion in the recesses 11. As the handle 45 is pivoted in an active direction, the detents 441 are inserted in some of the recesses 11 so that the post 1 is lifted. As the handle 45 is pivoted in an idle direction opposite to the active direction, the detents 441 are moved from the recesses 11 so that the post 1 is not lifted. The positioning element 46 includes a detent 461 for insertion in one of the recesses 11 so as to prevent the post 1 from falling when the handle 45 is not pivoted in the active direction. However, when the telescopic column is used under a heavy load, the detents 441 tend to leave the recesses 11 so that the extending element 44 fails to lift the post 1. Moreover, the detent 461 is in perpendicular to the remaining portion of the positioning element 46 , and tends to deform under a heavy load from the post 1.
The present invention is intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in prior art.


Methods, systems and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media for determining a center location of a ground control point used in aerial surveys. Machine learning models are used to identify in digital images pixel coordinates of the ground control point identified in the digital images. These image pixel coordinates are used in photogrammetric processing and software.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are used to obtain aerial images of a site or of a location. Ground control points are often used during an aerial inspection to help identify a geo-spatial location in the images for photogrammetric processing. The geo-spatial location of the ground control point, also referred to as a target, is used by photogrammetric processes and software to render composite and 3-dimensional geo-rectified imagery based on the aerial images. The ground control points serve as a geo-spatial reference to ensure that the aerial images are correctly positioned and aligned to a geo-spatial coordinate system.
Detecting these ground control points in the acquired images is a time consuming manual process. Moreover, manual identification of the ground control points is challenging due to differences in the conditions of acquisition of the images by the UAV. For example, the altitude of the UAV varies when obtaining images which means the size of the target in pixels is different among the images. This is often due to GPS signal variation such that the UAV does not maintain a fixed distance above the ground surface when obtaining images. Differences in UAV sensors or changing weather results in high variability in the luminosity or contrast between ground control points across sites, or for a given site across a number of survey flights. Digital images taken by a moving UAV may results in blurred or deformed images of the ground control points. Sometimes ground control points are permanently installed, for example for repeated surveys. Sometimes occlusions may occur between the surveys, for example vegetation may grow over an installed ground point, the ground control point may be made of a material that rusts, or deteriorates, the target becomes covered in dirt, etc.

Ground control point center determination


A ball and socket-type swivel connector for use with second stage scuba regulators used by scuba divers. The ball is made from a metal with good corrosion resistance. The ball is held in position by a low friction bushing. The bushing, compresses the metal swivel ball with light assembly pressure. This is accomplished by machining or molding the same radius of the swivel ball into one side of the low friction bushing. No seawater can enter the swivel. The ball has a unique O-ring slot or channel that completely encircles the ball along a path that permits an O-ring to wipe the bushing upon swiveling of the connector and prevents seawater from entering the swivel. No area exists for seawater to collect around the O-ring. The preferred embodiment uses a high-grade stainless steel swivel ball, low friction polymer bushing material and an internally lubricated low friction O-ring. A wiper ring boot, a ball and socket wiper that utilizes an outer boot as a wiper ring, keeps sand and contamination out of the rotational mechanism of the swivel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of scuba diving equipment and more particularly to a ball and socket swivel connector for second stage regulators.
2. Background Art
Scuba regulators utilizing ball swivels have been available for some time. The problem with current ball swivel designs is the O-ring sealing reliability and the effects of that reliability on product safety. In prior art designs the swivel ball is made from metal, "mostly chromed plated brass". This is a very cost-effective means to produce the ball. However, due to the effects of corrosion, the ball suffers from reliability problems. Current ball swivel designs allow seawater to leak into the O-ring sealing areas. When seawater is trapped inside the sealing area it will corrode the swivel ball. Once the swivel ball starts to corrode, the chromed surfaces degrade rapidly. The end result is the pressure sealing O-ring is often cut or abraded allowing system pressure to leak out. This is a safety concern. One could make the swivel ball from a material that will not corrode using various non-corrosive plating or machining the ball from expensive alloys such as titanium. These are effective solutions, but costly.
Another problem with the prior art design is it makes no provision to contain O-ring lubrication. Once the sealing O-ring becomes dry of lubrication, the metal swivel ball will tend to bind or require greater effort to rotate due to friction. In addition, the prior art design allows saltwater and fine sand to enter the system. This can scratch the metal ball and over time will degrade the O-ring. A better swivel ball sealing design is needed.
Applicant herein has addressed these problems with the swivel connector disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,188,869. In the low-pressure ball swivel design of the '869 patent, the ball is made from a metal with good corrosion resistance. The ball is then held into a true position by two separate low friction bushings. The two bushings, "sandwich" the metal swivel ball with light assembly pressure. This is accomplished by machining or molding the same radius of the swivel ball into one side of each of the two low friction bushings. Thus the ball is held in position with extreme precision. The bushing could be machined or molded from many low friction plastics or internal lubricated materials.
Because the '869 patent discloses a stainless steel or titanium ball that rotates axially in a 30 degree range of motion, a pressurized condition, creates higher coefficient of friction between the metal swivel ball and O-ring. Also, when the O-ring is "sandwiched" or squeezed between two low friction bushings under light assembly pressure, even more friction is added to the metal ball and O-ring contact. Further, the overall design has manufacturing difficulty and would have better durability if the O-ring could be located in such a way as to expel debris before it could become impacted into the seawater side of the assembly.

Scuba regulator connector using swivel ball and one-piece bushing


A hybrid electric drive system for a hybrid powered vehicle which includes a combustion engine, and a transmission. An electric machine and the combustion engine are coupled to the transmission in the hybrid electric drive system providing engine and/or electric machine drive power for the vehicle. A clutch is mechanically communicating with and positioned between the combustion engine and the transmission to decouple the combustion engine from the transmission. An energy storage system is configured to transfer and receive power with the electric machine, and is configured to recharge using power from the electric machine. A hybrid system controller is configured to respond to a regenerative braking mode of the vehicle. While the hybrid electric drive system is in the regenerative braking mode, the hybrid system controller is configured to initiate shifting of the transmission into one or more selected gears relating to one or more selected electric machine speeds.

Known hybrid power systems with hybrid drives or drive trains may include an internal combustion engine, and electric motor or machine combination. The engine may include a diesel or gasoline engine driving a power train and/or charging an energy storage system, for example, a high voltage battery, wherein the engine and the high voltage battery provide plural drive sources to a hybrid vehicle. It is also known to arrange an internal combustion engine and/or one or more electric machines in such a manner that they can be operatively connected to each other by gears, for example, planetary gear sets or the like, and couplings. Different operating states of the combustion engine and electric motor(s) can effect fuel consumption, dynamic performance of the vehicle, and pollutant emissions. These techniques focus on interactions between the engine, transmission and motor/generator during active driving.
In hybrid vehicles it is important to obtain higher more efficient use of fuel, and improve mileage per gallon of fuel consumed. This may be accomplished by a traction motor driving the vehicle as much as possible. In order to utilize the traction motor instead of burning fuel, it is necessary for a traction motor operating as a generator to recapture as much power as possible when the vehicle is being braked. Recapturing power is limited because a transmission gear ratio is linked to the speed range of a combustion engine, even though traction motor operation during regeneration may have a wider range of operation speeds.

Recuperative transmission down shifting multiple gears and engine decoupling


One embodiment provides a method, including: identifying, on an information handling device, a communication between a first user and at least one other individual; determining, based upon an analysis of context data associated with the communication, that an indication exists to implement a visual change to an aspect of the communication; and; implementing, responsive to the determining, the visual change to the aspect. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Individuals frequently utilize their information handling devices ("devices"), for example smart phones, tablets, laptops and/or personal computers, and the like, to communicate with one another. For example, an individual may transmit a communication to another individual via text message, email, social media message, chat room message, etc. The formatting of one or more portions of a communication may be manually adjusted to better convey a composing individuals' message and/or to emphasize an aspect of the communication.


A Caller ID telephone device is shown, which can identify the caller of a telephone call in either the on-hook or off-hook states. The CID telephone device includes a circuit for detecting a CPE alerting signal, a circuit for generating an acknowledgment signal when the CPE alerting signal is detected, a circuit for demodulating the modulated CID data stream, and a circuit for analyzing the data stream and output parallel data.

Caller identification (CID) service is the generic name for a service provided by the telephone companies (i.e., Stored Program Controlled Switching systems; SPCSs) to deliver information such as the caller's telephone number and/or name to a telephone set (i.e., Customer Premises Equipment; CPE) of the called subscriber at the beginning of a call. A variant of CID, Caller Identification on Call Waiting (CIDCW), delivers this information about an incoming caller while the called subscriber is already engaged in a phone call.
The caller identity information can be used in many ways. A few examples include tracking who has called over a specified period of time, accessing data base information on the calling party, tracing malicious callers, storing number in memory for quick redialing, and blocking unwanted calls.
In most countries, the caller identity data stream is transmitted in 1200 baud Bell 202 standard or CCITT V.23 FSK (Frequency Shift Keying) format. The telephone or adjust box demodulates the FSK signal and displays the caller's number and/or name on an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display). In FIG. 1, there is shown a format of the transmitted data stream for the CID service.
Referring to FIG. 1, the transmitted data stream includes a channel seizure signal 21 which serves to notify a CPE that the caller identity data packet (or CID data message) will be transmitted followed by a mark signal 22 containing a train of "1" bits. This mark signal 22 is used to identify the head of a data message. The data stream further includes CID data packet 20 which is composed of ASCII codes of which is framed by a start bit and a stop bit. The data packet 20 contains the CID information on telephone number, name, month, date, hour, minute and so on. The size of data packet 20 is 144 bits in the U.S.A. and is about 250 bits in Canada. The data stream finally includes a checksum word signal 23 which is transmitted after the data packet 20. The checksum signal 23 is used to ensure that the CPE has received the data packet correctly. That is, error detection is provided by the use of the checksum word 23.
FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating the caller information reception process of a telephone set 10 (i.e., CPE) in an on-hook state. In this state, the CID data is transmitted to a called subscriber during a 4 second pause interval between first and second ring signals RING#1 and RING#2. The ring signals are used to ring a bell of the telephone set (i.e., CPE) 10 at the called party and are each continuous for about two seconds, as is well known.
FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating the caller information reception process of a telephone set in an off-hook state. In this state, SPCS 12 applies a CPE alerting signal ALERT of 2130 Hz and 2750 Hz dual tone to the CPE (i.e., telephone set ) 10 of the called subscriber for 80 msec I/-5 msec. This signal is intended to alert the CPE to prepare for the incoming CID data. Within about 100 msec after detecting the CPE alerting signal ALERT, the CPE 10 should reply to the SPCS 12 with an acknowledgment signal ACK. Once the SPCS 12 has detected the acknowledgment signal ACK, it transmits the CID data to the CPE 10 via 1200 baud Bell 202 format FSK signal. But, in this case, the channel seizure signal is not transmitted and only the mark signal is transmitted to the CPE only for 66.7 msec.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of an analog telephone set having CID function only in the on-hook state. Referring to FIG. 3, the telephone set includes a CID receiver 30, two switches 40 and 44, AC coupler 42, and telephone circuitry 46. Further, the CID receiver 30 includes a ring detector 32, a demodulator 34 for performing the demodulation of the received FSK signals, an energy estimator 36 for estimating the energy of the received signals, and a comparator 38 for converting the demodulated signals to a serial bit stream.
The ring detector 32 serves to detect whether the first ring signal is applied, and to close the switch 40 when the first ring signal is detected. The AC coupler 42 performs AC-coupling for the CID data signal received via the telephone line. This circuit 42 allows the telephone set to remain in the on-hook state substantially, regardless of the operation state of the CID receiver 30. The AC-coupled signal is provided to the demodulator 34. The ring detector 32 then causes the switch 40 to be open before the second ring signal is received. When the called subscriber lifts the handset of the telephone set after he/she identifies the caller's identity, the switch 44 becomes closed and the telephone circuitry 46 thus goes to the off-hook state.
According to this technique, it is easy for a CID receiver to receive the CID data in the on-hook state because the receiver 30 is equipped with the ring detector 32.
However, in order to receive the data in the off-hook state, the receiver 30 needs a tone detector for detecting the CPE alerting signal transmitted from the SPCS and a tone generator for generating the acknowledgment signal in response to the CPE alerting signal. In addition, there is a drawback that it is fairly difficult to design the demodulator and comparator suitable for noise characteristics and relatively high transmission speed in analog techniques. Additional external logic circuitry is further required for processing the channel seizure signal, mark signal, start bit and stop bit since the final output of the CID receiver is the serial bit stream.

Telephone device for caller identification


The invention relates to an aqueous coating dispersion comprising at least electrically conductive particles, which particles comprise at least a first binder, a conductive polymer and a non-ionic stabilizer, characterized in that the coating dispersion contains 50 to 99 wt. %, relative to the total amount of solids present, of a second binder, which second binder does not form part of the electrically conductive particles. The invention also relates to a process for the preparation of the aqueous coating dispersion and to the use thereof in an anticorrosive paint, to the anticorrosive paint based on the aqueous coating dispersion according to the invention and to the metals protected herewith.

Such a coating dispersion is known from EP-A-589529. The dispersion described in this patent contains electrically conductive particles in a dispersant described in EP-A-589529. The particles comprise a binder, stabilized by a non-ionic stabilizer, and an electrically conductive polymer. The dispersion of electrically conductive particles is obtained by polymerizing monomers into an electrically conductive polymer in the presence of a dispersion of binder particles stabilised by means of a non-ionic stabilizer. The binder is a thermoplastic polymer. The dispersion of electrically conductive particles described in EP-A-589529 is characterised by a homogeneous particle size. Moreover, the electrically conductive polymer is homogeneously distributed over the electrically conductive particles. The stability of the dispersion of electrically conductive particles described in EP-A 589529 is realized because the electrically conductive particles also contain a non-ionic stabilizer. Such a dispersion has been found to be very stable, even when it contains ionic compounds.
In 1981 already Mengoli et al. suggested in J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 1981, 26, 4247-4257, that conductive polymers could be used to protect metals against corrosion. However, the first positive results were obtained by Thompson only 10 years later, using a coating based on polyaniline; they were reported in Los Alamos National Report LA-UR-92-360. It was found that soft steel was protected against corrosion in salt and acid environments, even in areas where scratches were made in the coating.
The drawback of the dispersion known from EP-A-589529, however, is that the anticorrosive effect of a coating based thereon is considerably less in a damp or wet environment than in a dry environment. As metal generally corrodes in a damp environment, this can be seen as a major drawback for the application in anticorrosive paint.

Aqueous coating dispersion, process for the preparation thereof and use thereof in anticorrosive paint


A method of preparing a catalyst comprising a) contacting a non-aqueous solvent, a carboxylic acid, and a chromium-containing compound to form an acidic mixture; b) contacting a titanium-containing compound with the acidic mixture to form a titanium treatment solution; c) contacting a pre-formed silica-support comprising from about 0.1 wt. % to about 20 wt. % water with the titanium treatment solution to form a pre-catalyst; and d) thermally treating the pre-catalyst to form the catalyst. A method of preparing a catalyst comprising a) contacting a non-aqueous solvent and a carboxylic acid to form an acidic mixture; b) contacting a titanium-containing compound with the acidic mixture to form a titanium treatment solution; c) contacting a pre-formed chrominated silica-support comprising from about 0.1 wt. % to about 20 wt. % water with the titanium treatment solution to form a pre-catalyst; and d) thermally treating the pre-catalyst to form the catalyst.

An economically important class of olefin polymerization catalysts includes chromium-silica-titania catalysts. The titanium-containing compounds used in the production of these catalysts are water-sensitive compounds and small amounts of water present during production of the catalyst can result in the ineffective deposition of titania onto the catalyst. An ongoing need exists for improved methods of preparing chromium-silica-titania catalysts.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A recovery manager discovers replication properties of datastores stored in a storage array, and assigns custom tags to the datastores indicating the discovered replication properties. A user may create storage profiles with rules using any combination of these custom tags describe replication properties. The recovery manager protects a storage profile using a policy-based protection mechanism. Whenever a new replicated datastore is provisioned, the datastore is dynamically tagged with the replication properties of their underlying storage, and will belong to one or more storage profiles. The recovery manager monitors storage profiles for new datastores and protects the newly provisioned datastore dynamically, including any or all of the VMs stored in the datastore.

Storage replication is a data protection strategy in which data objects (e.g., files, physical volumes, logical volumes, file systems, etc.) are replicated to provide some measure of redundancy. Storage replication may be used for many purposes, such as ensuring data availability upon storage failures, site disasters, or planned maintenance. Storage replication may be managed directly between storage systems, such as storage arrays, in an approach referred to as storage-based replication or array-based replication (ABR), in contrast to host-based replication.
To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have been used, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common to the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.

Dynamic protection of storage resources for disaster recovery


Provided is a sheet material discrimination apparatus including: an impact force applying member for colliding with the surface of a sheet material, an impact force receiving member for receiving the impact force applying member through the sheet material, a detecting unit for outputting an electric signal corresponding to an impact force received by the impact force receiving member, and a cushioning material for absorbing the impact force transmitted to the detecting unit, wherein a support member having a bending rigidity higher than the bending rigidity of the detecting unit with respect to the impact force is arranged between the detecting unit and the cushioning material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet material discrimination apparatus for allowing an impact force applying member to collide with a sheet material and detecting an impact force through a sheet material by a detecting unit such as a piezoelectric element, and more particularly, to the improvement of stability of an output of a piezoelectric element to enhance a discrimination accuracy.
2. Related Background Art
In an image forming apparatus adopting an electrophotographic system, an ink jet system, or any other type of printing system, it is preferable to automatically discriminate a sheet material to be processed and adjust an image forming condition, a treating condition, a conveying speed, and the like. As a result, various sheet material discrimination apparatuses for automatically discriminating a sheet material have been proposed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-026486 discloses a sheet material discrimination apparatus for detecting an impact force caused when an impact force applying member is allowed to collide with a sheet material by a piezoelectric element. In this case, a sheet material is discriminated by detecting a voltage output generated when the piezoelectric element receives an impact force to be deformed by bending.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-024550 discloses a sheet material discrimination apparatus for allowing an impact force applying member to collide with a sheet material to detect an impact force through a sheet material by a piezoelectric element. In this case, the piezoelectric element is sandwiched between an impact force receiving member and a cushioning material, and a compressive force due to the impact force received by the impact force receiving member through the sheet material affects on a whole surface of the piezoelectric element. The cushioning material absorbs the impact force received by the piezoelectric element to prevent noise and vibration of a casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,021 discloses an image forming apparatus for forming an image on a sheet material. In this case, an image is formed in an image forming part, and then temperature of a heat roller of a fixing device for fixing a transferred toner image on a sheet material is detected to control the temperature of the heat roller based on the detected temperature.
In the sheet material discrimination apparatus disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2004-026486, a piezoelectric element is positively deformed by bending due to an impact force of an impact force applying member to obtain a large output. However, the piezoelectric element is allowed to be arbitrarily deformed by bending, whereby the piezoelectric element may cause a bending vibration due to an impact force and a contact with the sheet material. Due to the bending vibration of the piezoelectric element, a complicated vibration mode is formed in a plane of the piezoelectric element, to thereby generate a large spike noise which is superimposed on the output of the piezoelectric element. As a result, in a simple output processing for simply detecting peak values and sorting the obtained values, a measurement result high in reproducibility is not be obtained, and a resolving ability for discriminating a sheet material is lowered.
In the sheet material discrimination apparatus disclosed by Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2005-024550, because bending and deformation are constrained by an impact force receiving member, a bending vibration of the piezoelectric element is less likely to be caused. However, when a height of a detecting part, which includes a cushioning material by reducing a width of the impact force receiving member, is to be reduced, a bending rigidity of the piezoelectric element becomes insufficient, whereby a vibration is more likely to be caused. An output of the piezoelectric element becomes a value corresponding to a combined stress for every deformation such as a slip, shearing, compression, and bending of the piezoelectric element. Therefore, in view of extracting a signal component with a good SN ratio in a single mode, it is considered that a component of another mode is included as a noise component.
Therefore, by focusing on a compressing transformation of a stress of a piezoelectric element, the present invention has been made with a structure in which a detecting unit for extracting only a compressional component is provided, and a stable output with less noises is obtained.
Extracting only a compressional component according to the present invention includes not only a case of extracting only compressional components (100% compressional component) but also a case where a compressional component is predominant among the extracted.

Sheet material discrimination apparatus, sheet material information output apparatus, and image forming apparatus


A dot impact type serial printer is provided with a print head which has a plurality of print wires for printing an image. The print wires required to print a particular image are thrust toward a platen successively upon receiving a print timing signal, where each print timing signal is delayed from the previous print timing signal by a predetermined time interval t. The delay of each print timing signal is based on the time required for a surface wave, caused by the impact of print wires on the platen, to pass lengthwise across the platen and is selected to be less than one-half the surface wave travel time.

The present invention relates to a dot impact type serial printer applicable to, for example, a computer output terminal.
It is a common practice with a conventional dot impact type serial printer to arrange the tips of print wires in a single array or in two or three parallel arrays. Selected print wires in the same array which match a desired print pattern are driven at the same time to impact against a platen.
Since the selected wires of each array impact against the platen at the same time, the surface of the platen is elastically deformed to a noticeable extent. Such deformations of the platen are sequentially propagated along the platen to produce surface waves having various frequency components. The surface waves are repetitively reflected at the ends of the platen and propagated back and forth along the surface of the platen. While the surface waves are so propagated back and forth, a standing wave, having the same period as the time in which the surface wave passes along the length of the platen, is generated in the surface of the platen.
The dot impact type serial printer continuously impacts the print wires thereof against the platen at a predetermined period. Hence, the surface waves are continuously generated and, when the impacting period is identical with the period of the standing wave, the surface waves cooperate with the standing wave. In this case, surface oscillation is stably occurred on the surface of the platen. Such surface oscillation constitutes the source of unpleasant noise.

Printing method for dot impact type serial printer


A display module and a vehicle-mounted display device are disclosed. The display module includes a middle frame, a display panel and an elastic adhesive body; the middle frame includes a first frame body, being arranged around an opening region and having a bearing surface; the display panel includes a middle portion and an edge portion; the adhesive body is located between the bearing surface and the edge portion; the middle frame further includes a second frame body, located at an edge of the first frame body and, the second frame body is located at a side of the first frame body away from the display panel, and an orthographic projection of the edge portion on a plane where the bearing surface is located at least partially overlaps with an orthographic projection of the second frame body on the plane where the bearing surface is located.

With the development of vehicle-mounted display devices, in order to allow drivers to watch the contents displayed on the vehicle-mounted display devices without affecting normal driving, the vehicle-mounted display devices have gradually developed from embedded vehicle-mounted display devices embedded in the dashboard to floating vehicle-mounted display devices standing above the dashboard body.

Display module and vehicle-mounted display device

Hefei Xinsheng Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.


A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium stores a learning program that causes a computer to execute a machine learning process for graph data. The machine learning process includes: generating, from graph data to be subjected to learning, extended graph data where at least some of nodes included in the graph data have a value of the nodes and a value corresponding to presence or absence of an indefinite element at the nodes; and obtaining input tensor data by performing tensor decomposition of the generated extended graph data, performing deep learning with a neural network by inputting the input tensor data into the neural network upon deep learning, and learning a method of the tensor decomposition.

A graph structure learning technique that enables deep learning of data on a graph structure (hereinafter, one form of an apparatus that performs such graph structure learning being referred to as "Deep Tensor") has been known. In learning by Deep Tensor, a partial structure contributing to discrimination is able to be extracted automatically from graph structures that have been input.
[Patent Literature 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2016-207072    [Patent Literature 2] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2014-059754    [Patent Literature 3] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2017-129995    [Patent Literature 4] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2015-204084
[Non-patent Literature 1] "Deep Tensor: Eliciting New Insights from Graph Data that Express Relationships between People and Things", Koji Maruhashi, Fujitsu Sci. Tech. J., Vol. 53, No. 5, pp. 26-31 (September 2017)
In machine learning technology, selection from two learning patterns is possible, the two learning patterns being: learning (learning with labels) in consideration of values of nodes (node labels) forming a graph serving as an input; and learning (learning without labels) not in consideration of the node labels. For example, for data of a graph structure representing connections between chemical elements of a chemical compound, learning in consideration of types of the chemical elements corresponding to nodes is desirable. However, one may like a discriminant rule in a discriminant model (a learning model) of deep learning to allow a specific node among nodes of data of a graph structure to be indefinite.
However, Deep Tensor is not equipped with a learning pattern not in consideration of labels for some of nodes in a graph that has been input. Thus, even if an element of a specific node is allowed to be indefinite under a true discriminant rule, data corresponding to an element not included in training data are difficult to be discriminated correctly.
For example, a situation is now be supposed, where in a discriminant problem: when a specific partial structure is present in a graph structure serving as an input, a TRUE determination is able to be made correctly; when the specific partial structure is not present in the graph structure, a FALSE determination is able to be made correctly; a label related to one specific node in the partial structure is indefinite; and labels related to the other nodes are definite.
If learning with labels is performed in this situation, in spite of the label for the one specific node being allowed to be indefinite, the learning with labels will be constrained by the labels of the other nodes in the learning data, and a FALSE determination will be made when a label that is not in the learning data has been assigned to the one specific node, resulting in determination error.
Further, if learning without labels is performed in the above situation, since a partial structure assigned with another label will match a node having a definite label in the partial structure, a TRUE determination will be made, resulting in determination error.

Computer-readable recording medium, learning method, and learning apparatus


An image forming apparatus includes a body, a conveyance unit, an image carrier, a transfer unit, and a pre-transfer guide. The body has a sheet passage for conveying sheets along inner and outer conveyance surfaces mutually facing. The conveyance unit includes the outer conveyance surface and is supported pivotably between an open position and a closed position relative to the inner conveyance surface. The transfer unit rotatably supports a transfer roller. The pre-transfer guide includes a first guide on the outer conveyance surface and a second guide on the inner conveyance surface. The first guide has a contact segment protruding toward the second guide. The first guide and the transfer unit are supported independently swingably relative to the transfer unit. The first guide is urged toward the second, and the distance between the two guide surfaces is restricted by the contact segment touching a contacted portion.

The present disclosure relates to image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, printers, and facsimile machines as well as multifunction peripherals incorporating their functions.
Many known image forming apparatuses such as copiers and printers have a sheet conveyance passage provided vertically near a side surface of the apparatus body to achieve compactness of the apparatus as a whole. In the vertically provided conveyance passage, a pair of conveyance rollers is disposed. It is common to provide a conveyance unit fitted with one of such a pair of conveyance rollers, or a transfer roller kept in pressed contact with an image carrying member to form a transfer nip, or the like and to configure the conveyance unit openable and closable with respect to the apparatus body. This construction permits the conveyance passage to be widely exposed for jam disposal and maintenance work.
Just short of the transfer nip, a pre-transfer guide is provided, and a sheet is guided along the pre-transfer guide to the transfer nip. One important target to be managed in image formation at the transfer nip is the gap between a conveyance unit-side guide, which is a part of the pre-transfer guide, and a body-side guide, which is disposed at a position opposite the conveyance unit-side guide.


A method for performing virtualization, includes managing data between a virtual machine and a bus controller by transmitting an input output (IO) request from the virtual machine to a service virtual machine that owns the bus controller. According to an alternate embodiment, the method for performing virtualization includes managing isochronous data between a virtual machine and a bus controller. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Virtualization is a technique in which a computer system is partitioned into multiple isolated virtual machines (VMs), each of which appears to the software within it to be a complete computer system. A conventional virtual machine manager (VMM) may run on a computer to present the abstraction of one or more VMs or guests to other software. Each VM may function as a self-contained platform that runs its own software stack, including an operating system (OS) and applications. Collectively this software stack is referred to as "guest software."
Guest software running on a VM expects to operate as if it were running on a dedicated computer. For example, the guest software expects to control various computer operations and have access to physical (i.e., hardware) resources during these operations. The VMM controls which physical devices are assigned to each VM and also implements virtual devices which are visible to the VMs. If a physical device is fully assigned to a single VM, it is not available to the other VMs in the computer system. If a physical device is to be shared by more than one VM, the VMM typically implements a virtual device for each VM and arbitrates access of the virtual devices to the physical device.
USB 2.0 (Universal Serial Bus Revision 2.0 Specification, published 2002) is an external bus that supports data rates of up to 480 Mbps. USB 2.0 is an extension of USB 1.1 (Universal Serial Bus Revision 1.1 Specification, published 1996) and is fully compatible with USB 1.1. Current virtualization software solutions provide limited support for USB 2.0.

Method and apparatus for supporting universal serial bus devices in a virtualized environment


Polyurethane can be reclaimed from solvent-containing or solvent-free polyurethane wastage by adjusting the amount of solvent, preferably with methyl ethyl ketone; adding an emulsifier, preferably, acylpolyethyleneglycolester; then adding about twelve times the wastage weight of water; mixing, preferably for about one hour at room temperature to form an emulsion; and then expelling the solvent as a two-phase distillate using steam; separating solvent from the resulting two-phase distillate; filtering off polyurethane granular material left floating in the water residue, and drying the separated granular material.

Solvent-free polyurethane pastes are often used for manufacturing synthetics which find application as surface goods in the shoe and leather goods industries, for example, handbags, luggage, and upper materials for shoes.
Solvent-free polyurethane pastes are typically composed polyol and isocyanate prepoloymers and may also include fillers, pigments and flow-control agents.
Waste paste containing polyurethane is sometimes produced due to mistakes, for example, defective batches, and when processing equipment such as pumps and lines are cleaned with solvents, e.g., methyl-ethyl ketone, to remove residues. Thus, polyurethane waste pastes may be either solvent-free or contain solvent.
Plants typically process solvent containing polyurethane waste pastes by expelling solvent. Depending on the residual solvent content, the expelling processes may produce a highly viscous or heavily encrusted non-flowing residue which must be disposed of as special waste material. Special disposal requirements may also apply to many solvent-free waste pastes because they can rarely be used or reprocessed.
The possibilities for modifying or reprocessing polyurethane paste wastage to enable reuse or simplify disposal are limited.

Process for recovering polyurethane from polyurethane waste pastes


An image projection apparatus includes a lamp, an optical modulator which modulates light emitted from the lamp to correspond to image data, a ballast which operates the lamp, a power supply unit, and a duct in which the power supply unit, the ballast, and the lamp are accommodated. The duct includes a first absorption hole and a main exhaust hole that communicate with an outside, and forms an air-flow path on which the first absorption hole, the power supply unit, the ballast, the lamp, and the main exhaust hole are disposed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image projection apparatus, and more particularly, to an image projection apparatus having a duct and a fan to cool each of elements of the image projection apparatus, such as a lamp or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a plane view schematically showing a structure of a conventional image projection apparatus. A lamp 20, a color wheel 21, a digital mirror device (DMD) 22, and a projection lens 23 are shown in FIG. 1. The lamp 20, the color wheel 21, the DMD 22, and the projection lens 23 constitute an optical system for projecting an image. Reference numeral 30 denotes a power supply unit (PSU), and reference numeral 31 denotes a ballast for operating the lamp 20. Reference numeral 10 denotes a housing, and air vents 11, 12, 13, and 14 through which the air comes in and out are formed in the housing 10.
The lamp 20 radiates white light. The color wheel 21 includes a color filter through which each of red light, blue light, and green light passes selectively and which is rotatably installed before the lamp 20. When the white light irradiated by the lamp 20 passes through the color wheel 21, the white light is changed into monochromatic lights, such as red light, blue light or green light. The DMD 22 modulates the monochromatic lights passing through the color wheel 21 according to image data input from a control board (not shown). Modulated light is projected by the projection lens 23 on a screen (not shown).
Elements that need to be cooled to drive the image projection apparatus are the lamp 20 and the PSU 30, and if necessary, the DMD 22, the ballast 31, and the color wheel 21 can also be cooled. Four cooling fans 41, 42, 43, and 44 are shown in FIG. 1. The cooling fan 41 cools the lamp 20. The cooling fan 42 cools the ballast 31. The cooling fan 43 is installed to flow the air from the DMD 22 to the PSU 30 and cools both the DMD 22 and the PSU 30. The fan 44 cools the color wheel 21.
In the conventional image projection apparatus shown in FIG. 1, an additional fan for each of elements that need to be cooled is installed. Of course, a desired cooling performance can be obtained using the conventional image projection apparatus having the above structure. However, in the conventional image projection apparatus shown in FIG. 1, since a plurality of fans are installed to absorb and exhaust the air separately, paths through which the air comes in and out become complicated. Thus, it is difficult to effectively install the air vents 11, 12, 13, and 14. In addition, the air flowing through each fan collides with the housing 10. As such, a cooling efficiency may be lowered. In addition, the plurality of fans, which are separated from the complicated air-flow paths, may cause noise.


In an inverter circuit for a backlight assembly, a first sinusoidal voltage and a second sinusoidal voltage having an opposite polarity to that of the first sinusoidal voltage are applied across terminals of 2n CCFLs. Each of respective primary coils of n first balance transformers are connected in series with corresponding first terminals of a first set of n CCFLs from the 2n CCFLs. Each of respective primary coils of n second balance transformers are connected in series with corresponding first terminals of a second set of n CCFLs from the 2n CCFLs. The secondary coils of the first balance transformers and the secondary coils of the second balance transformers are connected in series with each other to form a loop. Accordingly, the backlight assembly makes it easy to troubleshoot a failure in the CCFLs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic display devices. More particularly, the present invention relates to an inverter circuit, a backlight assembly, and a liquid crystal display with the backlight assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, information processing devices have rapidly evolved to encompass a wide variety of physical configurations and functionalities. Information processed by these processing devices takes the form of an electrical signal. Therefore, users require a display device to visually recognize information processed by the information processing devices.
One example of an existing display device is a flat panel display such as a liquid crystal display ("LCD"). An LCD displays an image using liquid crystals. Relative to other display devices, an LCD is thin, lightweight, consumes little power, and utilizes a low driving voltage. Therefore, an LCD is widely used in various fields.
Such an LCD includes a liquid crystal panel displaying an image and a backlight assembly providing light to the liquid crystal panel. (An illustrative example of an LCD panel is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-49747).
FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram of a conventional backlight assembly. FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary arrangement for the conventional backlight assembly.
Referring to FIG. 9, the conventional backlight assembly includes twenty-four cold cathode fluorescent lamps ("CCFLs") 910 and twenty-four balance transformers 920a-920x. As a liquid crystal panel increases in size, the backlight assembly may be equipped with a plurality of CCFLs to provide uniform brightness in the liquid crystal panel.
Sinusoidal voltages are applied from an inverter 900 to the CCFLs 910, and thus sinusoidal currents flow through the CCFLs 910. If sinusoidal voltages with the same polarity are applied to respective first terminals of the CCFLs 910, interference with a driving circuit of the liquid crystal panel occurs to generate interference pattern noise on the liquid crystal panel. Additionally, in the case of a large-sized LCD utilizing CCFLs 910 having a long length, when the CCFLs 910 are driven by an one-side-high, voltage-driving method, it is virtually impossible to maintain uniform brightness in a longitudinal direction along the CCFLs 910. To prevent these problems, the CCFLs 910 are divided into two groups as illustrated in FIG. 9, and high sinusoidal voltages with opposite polarities are applied, respectively, to the two groups. That is, the inverter 900 is configured to output both a positive high voltage ("PHV") and a negative high voltage ("NHV"). The positive high voltage/negative high voltage is applied to the left side/right side, respectively, of the odd-numbered CCFLs 910 (when numbered from the top), and to the right sides/left sides, respectively, of the even-numbered CCFLs 910.
The CCFLs 910 have a negative resistance and are all connected in parallel to each another. Therefore, when a current starts to flow through a given one of the CCFLs 910, the resistance of this CCFL decreases and thus a current easily flows through this CCFL. Since current is concentrated at this CCFL, the remaining CCFLs are not turned on. To prevent this problem, the balance transformers 920a-920x are connected in series to the CCFLs 910, as illustrated in FIG. 9.
The balance transformers 920a-920l are disposed at the left sides of the CCFLs 910, while the balance transformers 920m-920x are disposed at the right sides of the CCFLs 910. The balance transformers 920a˜920x include primary coils 921a-921x connected directly to the CCFLs 910, respectively, and secondary coils 922a-922b installed adjacent to the primary coils 921a˜921x, respectively. When a current flows through the CCFLs 910, a current flows through the primary coils 921a-921x, and a current also flows through the adjacent secondary coils 922a-922x. Since the secondary coils 922a-922x are connected in series to form a loop, the current flowing through the secondary coils 922a-922x causes the current to flow through the primary coils 921a-921x. As a result, currents flowing through the CCFLs 910 become substantially equal to one another.
In this configuration, a balancing voltage of each balance transformer necessary for balancing the CCFLs 910 can be obtained by grounding one point of the secondary coils 922a-922x and detecting a voltage between the grounded point and a detection node 940 remote from the grounded point. In a normal state, the balancing voltage is in the range of about 1 V to about 2 V.
This balancing voltage varies with the distribution of the resistances including the negative resistances of the CCFLs 910. Active use of this property enables detection of an open circuit or short circuit attributable to a failure in the CCFLs 910. That is, when an open circuit or short circuit occurs due to a failure in the CCFLs 910, a voltage (e.g., 5˜6 V) higher than a normal voltage is detected at the detection node 940 as a result of the balancing operations of the balance transformers 920a-920x.
The conventional backlight assembly has two problems. One is lifetime degradation of the CCFLs 910, and another is that a temperature gradient makes it difficult to troubleshoot a failure in the CCFLs 910. These problems will now be described in greater detail with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10.
Referring to FIG. 9, the negative high voltage ("NHV") is directly applied to the CCFLs 910, while the positive high voltage ("PHV") is indirectly applied to the CCFLs 910 through the balance transformers 920a-920x. Thus, there is a difference between loading of the negative and positive high voltages NHV and PHV. In general, since the high voltage output uses virtually identical driving pulses with different polarities in the same circuit, an imbalance may occur in positive and negative driving pulses when there is a difference in loading. When an imbalance occurs in the driving pulses, the lifetime of the CCFLs 910 is shortened due to migration of mercury vapor therein.
Referring to FIG. 10, in the conventional backlight assembly, the CCFLs 910 are disposed horizontally in a vertically-standing protection structure 1020. The protection structure 1020 has a rear surface covered with a reflection plate 1010 and a front surface covered with a diffusion plate 1000. In the conventional backlight assembly, temperature increases in an upward direction due to heat by light emitted from the CCFLs 910, resulting in a temperature gradient.
The CCFLs 910 each have a temperature-dependent resistance. Therefore, due to the temperature gradient, the upper CCFLs 910 have a lower resistance while the lower CCFLs 910 have a higher resistance. To eliminate the resistance differential between the CCFLs 910, the balance transformers 920a-920x operate to balance the CCFLs 910. Accordingly, a voltage of, for example, about 3V is induced at the detection node 940. When an increase in voltage is detected at the detection node 940 in the conventional backlight assembly, it is virtually impossible to find out which of the resistance differences between the CCFLs 910, and an open or short circuit due to failure in a CCFL 910, has caused the voltage increase. Accordingly, it is difficult to accurately troubleshoot failure in the CCFL 910.

Inverter circuit, backlight assembly, and liquid crystal display with backlight assembly


A liquid droplet ejection device for ejecting a liquid from a nozzle of a head to a workpiece, the liquid droplet ejection device including: a table for loading the workpiece; a first shifting section capable of shifting the table in a first direction and in a second direction approximately intersecting the first direction at a right angle; a plurality of carriages having the head; and a second shifting section capable of positioning each of the carriages by mutually shifting each of the carriages along the second direction.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a liquid droplet ejection device which ejects a liquid from a nozzle of a head to a workpiece, a liquid droplet ejection method, a manufacturing method of an electro-optical device, an electro-optical device, and electronic equipment.
2. Related Art
A liquid droplet device may be used as a drawing system designed to eject a liquid droplet by an inkjet method to a workpiece. The drawing system may be used in manufacturing an electro-optical device such as a flat-panel display.
A liquid droplet ejection device ejecting a liquid by the inkjet method has a head for ejecting the liquid droplet. In view of this existing technology, there is proposed a device ejecting ink for a color filter to a glass substrate by using such head (first related art example).
JP-3159919 is an example of related art (p. 4 or p. 6, FIG. 1).
This type of liquid droplet ejection device has a carriage holding a head which is constructed such that the carriage shifts to a different area upon completion of drawing in an area where there is a glass substrate.
On the other hand, for example, work on manufacturing the flat-panel display with a larger screen is proceeding, and work on manufacturing a larger glass substrate used for such a flat-panel display is also proceeding. Consequently, in case of drawing over an entire surface of a large glass substrate by ejecting a liquid, a shifting distance of a carriage having a head becomes long, so that there is a problem of not being able to improve productivity of the workpiece through liquid ejection.

Liquid droplet ejection device, liquid droplet ejection method, manufacturing method of electro-optical device, electro-optical device and electronic equipment


A magnetic-inductive flow meter with a measuring tube (1) made of metal, which is flowed through by a medium (4) which has a minimum electrical conductivity and is permeated by a magnetic field generated by means of an arrangement of magnets (5), in the region of which field at least two measuring electrodes (6) arranged diametrically on the measuring tube (1) are provided for sensing the inductively generated measuring voltage, the metal measuring tube (1) being provided with an electrically insulating inner layer (7) and an electrically conductive grounding disk (8) being arranged at the end face for grounding the medium flowing through the measuring tube (1), which disk is connected to ground via the measuring tube, the grounding disk (8′) consisting of an electrically conductive plastic which comes to lie in sealing contact directly against the end face (2) of the measuring tube (1) in order to be connected to ground by the direct contact.

The invention relates to a magnetic-inductive flow meter with a measuring tube made of metal, which is flowed through by a medium which has a minimum electrical conductivity and is permeated by a magnetic field generated by means of an arrangement of magnets, in the region of which field at least two measuring electrodes arranged diametrically on the measuring tube are provided for sensing the inductively generated measuring voltage, the metal measuring tube being provided with an electrically insulating inner layer and an electrically conductive grounding disk being arranged at the end face for grounding the medium flowing through the measuring tube, which disk is connected to ground via the measuring tube.
The area of use of such a magnetic-inductive flow meter extends to the determination of volumetric or mass flows of a flowable medium, such as liquids, slurries, pastes and the like. The flowable medium must in this case have a specific minimum electrical conductivity in order for the measuring method to work. Flow meters of the type of interest here are distinguished by quite accurate measuring results, without any pressure loss being caused in the pipeline system by the measurement.
Furthermore, magnetic-inductive flow meters do not have any movable components or components protruding into the measuring tube, which are particularly liable to wear. The flow meters of interest here are used primarily in the chemical industry, pharmaceuticals and the cosmetics industry as well as communal water and waste-water management and the food industry.
Faraday's law of induction forms the basis for the measuring method. This natural law states that a voltage is induced in a conductor moving in a magnetic field. When this natural law is exploited in measuring technology, the electrically conductive medium flows through a measuring tube in which a magnetic field is generated perpendicularly in relation to the direction of flow. The voltage induced in the medium as a result is picked up by an arrangement of electrodes. Usually two measuring electrodes inserted opposite each other in the measuring tube are used as the arrangement of electrodes. Since the measuring voltage obtained in this way is proportional to the average flow rate of the flowing medium, the volumetric flow of the medium can be determined from this. Taking the density of the flowing medium into account, its mass flow can be ascertained.
It is generally known that the measuring tube of a magnetic-inductive flow meter can be produced completely from plastic. Since the plastics used are electrical insulators, no separate electrical insulating measures have to be taken for the arrangement of the measuring electrodes in the wall of the measuring tube and the like. However, measuring tubes of plastic are generally only pressure-resistant to a limited extent.
DE 102 60 561 A1 discloses a flow meter which has a measuring tube made of metal, with the result that the problems indicated above do not exist in the case of this construction. Since, however, a metal measuring tube is electrically conductive, local insulating measures are required. For example, the measuring electrodes are inserted over an insulating layer with respect to the measuring tube. In particular, the inner surface of the measuring tube is lined or coated with an electrically nonconductive material. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is suitable for this for example. The electrically insulating lining of the metal measuring tube is required in order for the measuring principle, which is based on an induction of voltage into the flowing medium, to work. The electrically insulating inner layer of a metal measuring tube may be produced in various ways. On the one hand, it is known to draw a plastic tube—known as a liner—into the metal measuring tube and fixed it there with respect to the measuring tube. On the other hand, an electrically insulating plastic may be sprayed onto the inner surface of the metal measuring tube. After curing, the electrically insulating inner layer is obtained.
For the measuring principle used here to work, it is additionally also required to ground the medium which flows through the measuring tube. Additional grounding means which are connected to ground via the in any case grounded metal measuring tube and transfer the ground potential to the medium flowing through are customary here for ground potential application. For this purpose, additional grounding electrodes may be used, inserted just like the measuring electrodes into the wall of the metal measuring tube. However, this is quite laborious in production engineering terms. Therefore, a grounding disk is usually used for the purpose of ground potential application of the medium flowing through. The grounding disk is annular and is flowed through by the medium. The grounding disk is arranged on the side of the flange of a measuring tube that is on the inlet side, alongside a sealing ring sealing the flange of the measuring tube with respect to the grounding disk. The grounding disk placed in this way is connected to the grounded metal tube via a grounding cable. The connection is formed by means of a soldered and/or screwed connection. This has the result that there is the risk of the exposed grounding cable being torn away. In addition, the fitting and electrical connection of the conventional grounding disk is quite laborious.

Magnetic-inductive flow meter with a grounding disk