An interlock mechanism is provided for furniture units and the like of the type having two or more drawers, and functions to permit only one of the drawers to be opened at any given time, so as to avoid tipping, etc. The interlock includes a plurality of blocks slidably mounted in a vertical guide, with an actuator provided for each drawer. Each actuator comprises an arm having an upper portion pivotally mounted to the guide, and a lower portion with a notch shaped to selectively engage a pin on the associated drawer, such that closing and opening the drawer rotates the arm between corresponding unlocked and locked positions. Each actuator also includes a wedge pivotally connected with the lower portion of the arm, and slidably supported on the guide to reciprocate inbetween adjacent blocks when the associated drawer is opened, so as to lock closed all remaining drawers. Preferably, the vertical guide is formed in a unique, upright stiffener channel in the case, so as to maximize the lateral space available for the drawers.

The present invention relates to furniture units of the type having two or more drawers, and in particular to a drawer interlock therefor.
Furniture units with drawers are generally well known in the art, and typically include multi-drawer vertical files, such as those used in freestanding file cabinets, pedestals for desks, worksurfaces, computer support units, and other similar furniture applications. When the drawers in such furniture units are to be used for relatively heavy articles, such as document storage, the unit is preferably provided with some type of drawer interlock mechanism that will permit only one of the drawers to be opened at any given time, so as to avoid vertical instability, tipping, etc. Such interlock mechanisms are normally provided as a safety feature in all freestanding vertical files.
Many different interlock systems have been developed in an attempt to economically, yet reliably interlock the drawers on vertical file cabinets. However, such prior mechanisms are typically not very flexible to adapt readily to different drawer configurations, and normally require substantial space within the interior of the file cabinet, which in turn reduces the maximum size and associated storage capacity of the drawers
Another problem associated with prior drawer interlock mechanisms is that the actuators can be rather easily displaced inadvertently from their set locked or unlocked positions, such as by tilting the cabinet, impacting or vibrating the cabinet, and other similar causes, which can sometimes occur as a consequence of opening and closing the drawers. When an interlock actuator becomes misaligned, the open drawer cannot be completely closed, and the closed drawers cannot be opened. Hence, the misaligned actuator must be manually shifted back into its correct position before proper file drawer operations can be restored. This type of adjustment must sometimes be made by skilled maintenance personnel, particularly when the user is not familiar with the specific furniture unit.


In a multiple phase claw pole type motor which includes: a plurality of claw poles including a claw portion extending in an axial direction and having a magnetic pole surface facing a rotor in a state of being separated from the rotor by a small gap, a radial yoke portion extending radially outwardly from this claw portion, and an outer peripheral yoke extending from this radial yoke portion in the same direction as the direction of extension of the claw portion; a stator core formed by alternately placing the claw poles in a circumferential direction so that a distal end of each claw portion faces the outer peripheral yoke of an adjacent one of the claw poles; and a stator constructed by sandwiching an annular coil with the adjacent claw poles of this stator core, a multiple phase claw pole type motor characterized in that the claw poles are formed by compacting a magnetic powder and are formed of a magnetic compact having a DC magnetizing property of its flux density becoming 1.7 teslas or more when 10000 A/m of magnetic field is applied.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiple phase claw pole type motor used in the fields of industry, home electric appliances, motor vehicles, and the like, and, more particularly, to a multiple phase claw pole type motor having an improved stator iron core.
(2) Description of Related Art
Claw pole type iron cores are attracting attention which are provided in ordinary rotating electric motors for the purpose of improving the rate of use of magnetic fluxes by increasing a winding factor of windings, as disclosed in JP-A-2003-333777 for example.
In the conventional rotating electric motor having a claw pole type iron core, claw poles of the iron core are formed by laminating a rolled plate and, therefore, can only be obtained in a simple shape. Therefore, the conventional rotating electric motor cannot be obtained as a desirable high-efficiency motor.

Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems Co., Ltd.


A power tool includes a base for supporting a workpiece to be machined. A tool unit can move relative to the base and has a tool for machining the workpiece. A light projection device can project light onto the workpiece. A control device can control the light projection onto the workpiece in response to the position of the tool relative to the workpiece and/or in response to the illumination level of the workpiece.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to power tools, such as table saws, miter saws, slide-type miter saws and band saws, having a light source that can illuminate a portion of a workpiece.
2. Description of the Related Art
Miter saws are known that have a light for illuminating a workpiece, and in particular, onto a cutting line marked on the workpiece, which cutting line is generally a pencil mark. If the work area is dark or not well lit, the light can assist the operator to safely and easily adjust the workpiece position, so that the cutting line is aligned with the saw blade.
However, in known saws, the operator must manually operate a switch in order to turn the light on or off. Thus, the operator must turn the light on every time the light is necessary and then the operator must remember to turn off the light when the cutting operation is finished. If the operator forgets to turn off the switch after completing the cutting operation, the light may unnecessarily stay lit for a long time. Thus, power will be unnecessarily consumed and the light may prematurely burn out from overuse.


A packing material has a plurality of separable layers of pliable material. Each layer has a region containing a plurality of domes in a pattern extending in two directions. The plurality of domes are nested together in the region. The plurality of domes each have a top, a base and a side extending from the top to the base at an angle of divergence exceeding 10°. The plurality of domes have a dome height of at least ⅛ inch. Adjacently nested pairs of the domes have between them an overhead gap no greater than 10% of the dome height. The plurality of separable layers with the plurality of domes can be separated and disoriented to occupy a larger volume. These separable layers may be discrete layers, pleats in a web, or sections of a web.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to packing materials for use in, cushioning items, and more specifically to a packing material having a plurality of layers of material which nest to take a relatively small amount of space prior to use, but which layers can be pulled apart and disoriented to take up a larger amount of space to function as a packing material.
2. Description of Related Art
In the past, there have been many attempts to provide packing materials for positioning around items to be shipped in containers, boxes or otherwise. Crumpled newspaper is one such packing material that is and has been in widespread use. Shredded paper is another such material. These materials suffer from moisture absorption and provided limited elastic cushioning. Another common material is plastic "bubble wrap," trademarked "BUBBLE WRAP" by the Sealed Air Corporation and which consists of a lower layer and an upper layer with numerous air bubbles formed therebetween for holding air. This packing material is very useful because it is very light in weight. However, one particular problem with bubble wrap material, which has not been overcome is the fact that even when it is not in use, it still takes up a large amount of space. Bubble wrap material is bulky and space consuming through its entire life—from manufacturing, shipping, storage on distributor and retail shelves, in homes or factories before use and lastly during its disposal. Because of the large continual space requirements, individuals, businesses, and others may be reluctant to purchase and store this material.
Various other types of packing materials have also been invented and used, including, pellets made of styrofoam or other materials, shells made of styrofoam, etc. Another material used for packing is embossed paper. Again, as with the bubble wrap, a common problem among all of these materials is that they are bulky during their entire life.
Other efforts in this and related areas include the following:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,778 to Hurwitz, et al., which discloses a cushioning material for packing in the form of an expanded paper material which can be shipped in an unexpanded form and expanded prior to use. It is designed with a plurality of slits and then pulled to form hexagonal cells.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,643 to Francis, discloses a plastic film having a permanently embossed design or geometric shape for controlling the coefficient of friction between adjacent sheets of film.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,575,781 to Pezely, discloses a plastic film wrapping material formed with hemispherical protuberances thereon. These sheets will nest loosely and take up significant storage space.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,231,454 to Williams, discloses a cushioning packaging material formed of either one or two sheets having a plurality of hollow projections extending from one side of the sheet in the same direction. When a bottom surface is utilized, a vent is provided in the projections to allow air to escape. Again, this material will occupy much space prior to use.
Others works, in related areas, include: U.S. Pat. No. 2,285,335 to Hurt; U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,154 to Thomas; U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,811 to Tomikawa, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,187 to Raley; U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,663 to Hale; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,835 to Trounstine, et al.,
See also U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,144 to Bustin (embossed sheet material useful for making bags); U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,772 to Flieger (reclosable packaging seals made of interconnecting indentations); and U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,456 to Fabre (constructional elements with peg-and-socket joints).
What has not been previously developed, and what would be highly desirable, is for a packing material that takes up very little space prior to use, but provides bulk and elastic cushioning when in use. The present invention achieves this, as will be hereinafter described. It is believed that nothing prior hereto has been successful in achieving this, and that none of the previous work of others teaches or suggests all of the aspects of the present invention.


A method, apparatus, and program storage device convert text-based UNIX man pages to formatted Windows help topic files of the type including non-textual formatting information. Porting of applications to other operating systems is facilitated due to the decreased effort required to port the applications' associated on-line help documents. Moreover, the resulting help topic files may then be used to compile on-line help for multiple platforms which utilize such help topic files, e.g., Windows NT, Windows 95, Windows 3.1x, and even GUI UNIX variations such as X-Windows and Motif.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to document conversion, and in particular, to computer-implemented tools for porting documents between computer platforms.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cross-platform compatibility continues to be increasingly important for the success of a computer software application. A number of computer platforms such as variations of UNIX, Windows NT, Macintosh, Windows 95, Windows 3.1x, DOS, OS/2, etc. each command a substantial market share of the computer software industry.
The ability of a software maker to "port" a computer software application to other platforms expands the possible user base for the application and consequently can often increase sales of the application. However, porting applications between incompatible platforms can be costly and time-consuming, and thus, a substantial need continues to exist for tools which automate some of the steps required to port an application to another platform.
A particular need has arisen for porting UNIX applications to alternative platforms such as Windows NT. In porting applications between UNIX and Windows NT, however, a number of difficulties arise, not the least of which involves developing new Windows NT-compatible on-line help documents for the ported UNIX application.
In character-based versions of UNIX, the on-line help system relies on coded ASCII format help documents known as man pages. Formatting codes for the man pages are in the form of text codes embedded in the help text.
In contrast, the Windows on-line help system used in graphical user interfaced (GUI) platforms such as Windows NT as well as Windows 3.1x and Windows 95 utilizes help files that are compiled from Rich Text Format (RTF) help topic files, where links between help topics and other codes are designated using specific non-textual formatting information (e.g., topic identifiers, or context strings, are formatted as hidden text, and pop-up buttons are formatted as underlined text). Other information (e.g., keywords, browse sequences, etc.) may be stored in footnotes.
The significant differences between UNIX man pages and Windows help topic files makes it difficult and time-consuming to port man pages into a format suitable for use in Windows. Typically, hardcopies of the man pages may need to be scanned in, converted to text using optical character recognition (OCR), and then manually reformatted to include suitable formatting codes for a help topic file.
Therefore, a significant need has continued to exist for a manner of automating the conversion of text-based UNIX man pages to formatted Windows help topic files.

Method of converting man pages to help topic files


A percussion tool has a cooling air channel for guiding a cooling air flow from a cooling air fan to an outside wall of a cylinder of an internal combustion engine. The cooling air channel is tapered to the extent that partial cooling air flows guided between the respective cooling fins are branched off the main cooling air flow. In such a way, the flow rate of the cooling air flow in the cooling air channel remains substantially constant, resulting in optimized engine cooling. The cooling air channel may be divided into two cooling air channels downstream of the cylinder. One of the cooling air channels guides cooling air to an exhaust gas system of the internal combustion engine, while the other cooling air channel guides cooling air to an outside wall of the guide housing of a hammer mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a percussion tool having a combustion engine.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Percussion tools such as hammer drills and/or percussion hammer drills having a combustion engine—hereinafter referred to in short as hammer drills—are known in particular as relatively heavy breakers, which are essentially worked vertically in a downward direction. In petrol-powered hammer drills of this kind, a cooling air fan driven via the crankshaft of the combustion engine is provided for cooling the engine. The cooling air fan produces a cooling air flow which is conducted along the outside of the combustion engine cylinder, particularly along the cooling fins provided on the outside of the cylinder. The engine cooling exhaust air discharged from the engine is usually very hot in this case and must therefore be conducted away from the hammer drill by the shortest route.
The percussion mechanism driven by the combustion engine provided to generate the working movement of the hammer drill may also heat up intensely due to the air compression, particularly when a pneumatic percussion mechanism is involved. In order to cool the percussion mechanism, it is therefore known for an additional fan wheel to be provided, which produces a separate flow of cooling air for the percussion mechanism. The appropriate space must be provided for installing this additional fan wheel and design work undertaken.
A rock drill in which a cooling air flow is produced by a cooling air fan is known from DE 866 633 C. The cooling air flow is conducted over ribs to the outer wall of an engine cylinder after which it emerges on the underside of the hood forming the cooling air duct. The problem addressed by the invention is that of specifying a hammer drill and/or percussion hammer drill, in which improved cooling of the components is possible.

Percussion tool having cooling of equipment components


An imaging device including 2-dimensionally arranged pixels for receiving light is provided. The imaging device includes a first area configured to detect a horizontal phase difference based on horizontal phase difference information obtained from pixels configured to detect the horizontal phase difference, a second area configured to detect a vertical phase difference based on vertical phase difference information obtained from pixels configured to detect the vertical phase difference, and a third area configured to detect horizontal and vertical phase differences based on horizontal phase difference information and vertical phase difference information obtained from pixels configured to detect the horizontal and vertical phase differences, wherein the first area is adjacent to a horizontal border of the third area, wherein the second area is adjacent to a vertical border of the third area, and wherein the third area is located at a center of the imaging device.

For a digital photographing apparatus to pick up, or in other words, to capture, a clear still image or moving pictures, it is needed to precisely focus on an object. Auto-focus techniques for automatically adjusting focus include a phase difference automatic focus adjusting technique, which may be referred to hereinafter as 'phase difference detection AF'.
Recently, phase difference detecting pixels capable of performing phase difference detection AF by using imaging pixels for inputting an image have been suggested.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Imaging sensor capable of detecting phase difference of focus


The disclosure provides an approach for computing service paths for a service chain identifying a sequence of services. One method includes including information about a plurality of hosts in a heap. Each of the plurality of hosts includes at least one service virtual computing instance (SVCI) configured to provide at least one of the services of the service chain. The information includes, for each of the plurality of hosts, a number of service paths computed for the service chain at the host and one of a number of services provided by unused SVCIs of the host or a number of consecutive services provided by unused SVCIs of the host. The method further includes selecting a host from the heap based on the information. The method further includes generating a first service path for the service chain, the first service path identifying at least one SVCI of the selected host.

Software defined networking (SDN) comprises a plurality of hosts in communication over a physical network infrastructure, each host having one or more virtualized endpoints such as virtual machines (VMs), containers, or other virtual computing instances (VCIs) that are connected to logical overlay networks that may span multiple hosts and are decoupled from the underlying physical network infrastructure. Though certain aspects are discussed herein with respect to VMs, it should be noted that they may similarly be applicable to other suitable VCIs.
SDN involves the use of a management plane (MP) and a control plane (CP). The management plane is concerned with receiving network configuration input from an administrator or orchestration automation and generating desired state data that specifies how the logical network should be implemented in the physical infrastructure. The management plane may have access to a database application for storing the network configuration input. The control plane is concerned with determining the logical overlay network topology and maintaining information about network entities such as logical switches, logical routers, endpoints, etc. The logical topology information specifying the desired state of the network is translated by the control plane into network configuration data that is then communicated to network elements of each host. The network configuration data, for example, includes forwarding table entries to populate forwarding tables at virtual switch(es) provided by the hypervisor (i.e., virtualization software) deployed on each host. An example control plane logical network controller is described in U.S. Pat. No. 9,525,647 entitled "Network Control Apparatus and Method for Creating and Modifying Logical Switching Elements," which is fully incorporated herein by reference.
The control plane is served by an application that can run in a single computing device or on a cluster of devices that communicate with each other and maintain the same state. Typically the centralized control plane (CCP) runs as a cluster to allow for load balancing, fault tolerance, and high availably. The CCP may be considered a central entity, in that even though it may be implemented in a distributed manner, each instance of a control process operates independently to control a portion of the network, as opposed to working in conjunction with different control processes running on different computing devices. Sharding is a mechanism used to provide high scalability and availability of a CCP by identifying "master" nodes among a plurality of nodes within the CCP for handling data from particular sources or of particular types.
VMs may exchange traffic with other endpoints (e.g., physical endpoints, other VMs, etc.) within the data center, referred to as east-west traffic. VMs may further exchange traffic with other endpoints outside the data center, referred to as north-south traffic. Sometimes, the data center is configured to provide network services for the exchange of east-west and/or north-south traffic. The insertion of network services to the path of traffic in the data center is referred to as service insertion. Network services can include one or more of access control list (ACL) filters, firewalls, load balancers, etc.
Service insertion works by configuring traffic to be forwarded to service providers that provide the network services, prior to forwarding the traffic to its actual destination. The mechanisms for forwarding the traffic are discussed in more detail with respect to FIG. 1. For example, the logical overlay network, also referred to as a software defined network (SDN), can include a number of VMs that provide network services, referred to herein as service VMs (SVMs), running on multiple hosts. The term "service VM" is equivalent to the terms "virtual network appliance" and "virtual network function" (VNF), which are also used in the field. In addition, the implementation of network services using virtual machines is often referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). Each SVM may provide a service. For example, an SVM A may provide service A, an SVM B may provide service B, etc. A single SVM may be configured to provide multiple services. Further, there may be multiple SVMs that provide the same service on the same or different hosts, such as to provide load balancing for providing a given service.
In certain cases, multiple network services are applied to traffic, prior to forwarding the traffic to its actual destination. In particular, the traffic is configured to be forwarded to a first SVM to apply a first service, then to a second SVM to apply a second service, and so on, sequentially, until all the requisite services are applied, and the traffic is then forwarded to its actual destination. The linkage of multiple networks services in order to apply to traffic is referred to as service chaining. For example, application of service A, then service B, then service C, in sequence, may be referred to as a service chain.
Since there are multiple SVMs providing services in the data center, as discussed, there may be multiple possible paths that traffic can take for application of a given service chain. In other words, since there may be multiple instances of each of service A, service B, and service C, any one network flow can satisfy the requirements of a service chain including A, B, and C services by having packets forwarded first to any one of the "A" services, then any one of the "B" services, and then any one of the "C" services. The actual path that the traffic flows through as network services are applied to the traffic, including the actual SVMs in sequence used to apply the networks services of a service chain, is referred to as a service path. Accordingly, there may be multiple possible service paths corresponding to a service chain.
Service path computation refers to the process of computing service paths for a service chain. Service path computation algorithms are designed to construct service paths by selecting SVMs for services indicated in the service chain. Due to the large number of SVMs in a data center, service path computation can be a complex process, that may utilize significant memory and processing resources of a computing device.

Service path computation for service insertion


An adjustable handle assembly for a road surface cutting saw is provided that includes a back plate attached to the saw housing, an outer gear attached to the back plate, a bracket assembly including an inner gear, a tubular member slidably attached to the bracket assembly, and an adjustment lever having a threaded engagement end. The adjustment lever secures the bracket assembly to the saw such that the inner gear engages the outer gear. When the adjustment lever is loosened a bias spring biases the bracket assembly away from the saw such that the inner gear disengages from the outer gear to thereby allow rotation of the handle assembly to a desired operating position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a concrete saw and more specifically to an adjustable handle assembly for a concrete saw.
2. Description of Related Art
In the concrete industry, when building bridges, buildings, roads and the like, it is often necessary to pour large horizontal slabs of concrete. Once poured, it is usually necessary to machine the slab. Such machining may include cutting seams completely through the slab (to form expansion joints and to allow for foundation shifting), cutting notches partially into the slab (to create stress cracks along which the slab will split), cutting multiple grooves into the slab to create a high friction surface such as for bridges, grinding the surface of the slab and the like. Road surface cutting saws, also known as concrete saws, are typically used for this type of application. Concrete saws are also used in the demolition or removal of concrete, such as during the sawing and replacement of bridge decks. Various types of concrete saws may be utilized to carry out these machining and demolition tasks. In larger industrial applications, large self-propelled saws are used that are powered in a variety of manners, such as by gasoline, diesel, electric, propane and natural gas engines mounted on the saw. While performing a cut, the operator controls the direction, cutting speed, cutting depth and the like. One type of saw used to perform the functions described above is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,864 entitled "Mobile Road or Floor Saw," the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
During operation of the saw the operator walks behind the saw to control the direction, cutting speed, cutting depth, and other operating conditions of the saw. In addition, the operator typically has to maneuver the saw while the saw blade is raised above the concrete. Maneuvering the saw may include turning the saw from side to side to better position the blade, moving the saw from one cutting path to the next cutting path, etc. At least one handle extends from the rear of the saw to allow the operator to maneuver and operate the saw. In order to maneuver the saw the operator pushes the handles in a downward direction toward the concrete. This raises the saw blade above the concrete and allows the operator to pivot the saw about the rear wheels or transport the saw to the next cutting path. When the saw blade, however, is raised above the concrete the operator is typically in an uncomfortable-bent over position thereby making maneuvering the heavy saw more difficult.
It is well known in the industry to provide concrete cutting saws with adjustable handles to permit the operator to adjust the handles to a more desired and comfortable position while maneuvering the saw. Ease of adjustment, however, remains a problem. Thus, what is required is an adjustable handle for a concrete saw that is easy and fast to adjust.


A multi-level shelf degas station relying on at least two heaters integrated within wafer holding shelves or slots, where the semiconductor wafers do not have direct contact with the heater shelves. The heaters provide conduction heating. In order to degas a wafer, the heater and wafer holder assembly is positioned in a sequential manner through each wafer slot to the next available slot. If a degassed wafer exists in the slot, a transfer chamber arm removes it. A loader arm then places a wafer in the available, empty slot and the stage is moved upwards to receive the wafer from the loader arm. The transfer chamber arm removes an individual wafer from the heater and wafer holder assembly allowing the removed wafer to be individually processed while the other wafers remain in the heater and wafer holder assembly. In some instances, a loader arm may also remove wafers. The remaining wafers in the heater and wafer holder assembly are subjected to further degas treatment while the wafer(s) removed by the transfer chamber arm are exposed to other process steps. Air-cooling chambers are employed to facilitate cooling the wafer slots for ease of removal and maintenance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for manufacturing integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method to enhance wafer throughput in semiconductor device processing.
2. Description of Related Art
Pre-processing is commonly performed on semiconductor wafers to remove surface and absorbed impurities such as water vapor and other gases from the silicon wafers. If left to reside on and within the wafer, these impurities may result in defects in the integrated circuit. It has been established that gases and water vapor may be removed from the wafers by heating or baking the wafer at some elevated, predetermined temperature in a vacuum for a specified period of time.
Current wafer processing tools have focused on batch processing of multiple wafers, utilizing a single robotic arm for insertion and removal of the wafers from their holder or cassette. The wafers undergo radiated heat treatment in batch quantities, typically by exposure to heat from quartz lamps radiated through a transparent partition in a vacuumed chamber. The wafers are heated in bulk as a single process step. Prior designs teach of using the wafer carrier together with a load lock and vacuum wafer transport mechanism at more than one process module to provide a complete low-particulate wafer transfer system. However, the inherent design of these systems requires the wafers to be processed and heated in batch.
For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,944 issued to Takanabe, et al., on Feb. 14, 1995, entitled xe2x80x9cVERTICAL HEAT-TREATING APPARATUS AND HEAT-TREATING PROCESS BY USING THE VERTICAL HEAT-TREATING APPARATUS,xe2x80x9d a wafer loading and unloading chamber is taught for introducing wafers to a heat treatment section of a process tool. A plurality of wafers are loaded in a target object assembly or wafer cassette and inserted into a vertical-type reaction tube within which batch wafer heat-treatment is performed. A conveying apparatus, specifically a single robotic arm provided in a first load lock chamber, transports the wafers into and out of the reaction tube. A second load lock chamber secures and removes the wafers.
Similarly, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,380,682 issued to Edwards, et al., on Jan. 10, 1995, entitled, xe2x80x9cWAFER PROCESSING CLUSTER TOOL BATCH PREHEATING AND DEGASSING METHOD,xe2x80x9d a wafer processing cluster tool having one or more load-locks is taught with batch pre-heating modules that receive wafers from a cluster tool transport module. A pair of modules are operated such that one module can be initially loaded with wafers from the transport module and then heated as a batch. While this heating is taking place, the second preheat module or degas chamber can be loaded in a similar fashion with a second batch of wafers. After the first batch of wafers has been heated, the wafers from it are transferred to other processing stations and then transferred to a load-lock for removal.
The prior art designs have increased throughput to the semiconductor process by adding an additional wafer degas chamber to the cluster tool. However, these designs promote batch processing, which requires a station to be completely unloaded before reloading. Moreover, by using a batch process, each wafer in a loaded cassette must be degassed concurrently, and in a single process step. Furthermore, by utilizing radiated heat in a batch process, typically by employing quartz lamps, the prior art designs are not well-suited for uniform wafer heating, as the stacked wafers will tend to shield radiated energy from adjacent wafers.
Bearing in mind the problems and deficiencies of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and process for degas of semiconductor wafers that does not rely on batch processing of the wafers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and process for degas of semiconductor wafers that promotes a sequential process, dividing the total degassing time over a number of cycles for each wafer.
A further object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and process for degas of semiconductor wafers utilizing a pass-through configuration that allows for the simultaneous exchange of wafers.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and process for degas of semiconductor wafers that uniformly heats wafers vertically aligned in their holders.
Still other advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.
The above and other objects, which will be apparent to those skilled in art, are achieved in the present invention which is directed to in a first aspect, a method of degassing semiconductor wafers in a multi-station degas apparatus, comprising: lowering a heater and wafer holder assembly stack having slots for individual semiconductor wafers into a transfer/load chamber; loading a wafer into the heater and wafer holder assembly slot; removing at least one wafer from the heater and wafer holder assembly slot, such that the removed wafer may be individually processed while other wafers remain in the heater and wafer holder assembly; and, positioning the heater and wafer holder assembly into a degas chamber for degas treatment while the at least one removed wafer is exposed to other process steps in other stations of the multi station degas apparatus.
This method further comprises monitoring the temperature inside the slots through thermocouple channels from the heater and wafer holder assembly stack, monitoring and displaying the temperature using a user interface electrical connection. Removing a wafer comprises removing a single wafer at a time using a transfer robotic arm and a load robotic arm.
In a second aspect, the present invention is directed to a method of degassing semiconductor wafers in a multi-station degas apparatus, comprising: positioning a heater and wafer holder assembly stage having a plurality of wafer slots in a sequential manner through each of the wafer slots to the next available wafer slot; removing a first of a plurality of wafers from one of the wafer slots using a transfer robotic arm after the wafer has been subjected to a degas treatment in a degas chamber; re-positioning the heater and wafer holder assembly stage to receive a second wafer from the loader robotic arm; loading the second wafer in an available wafer slot using the loader robotic arm after the first wafer has been removed; retracting the robotic arms; sealing the heater and wafer holder assembly stage into the degas chamber; and degassing the second wafer in the heater and wafer holder assembly while the first wafer is subjected to other process stations within the multi-station degas apparatus.
The degassing of the wafers further comprises: closing a vacuum pump isolation valve; introducing process gases; initiating a timer; controlling pressure in the degas chamber; and, opening a by-pass valve after the degas chamber reaches a predetermined internal pressure.
In a third aspect, the present invention is directed to a multi-station degas apparatus for semiconductor wafer processing, comprising: a process degas chamber; a load/transfer chamber; a heater and wafer holder assembly stack having a plurality of slots, the heater and wafer holder assembly stack positionable within the degas chamber and the load/transfer chamber; a conduction heater in each of the plurality of slots for individual conduction heating of the wafers, a vertical motion bar and platform capable of moving the heater and wafer holder assembly stack to and from the chambers; at least two robotic arms for placing and removing wafers from the heater and wafer holder assembly stack; gas inlets for introducing process gases to the degas chamber; an o-ring positioned to seal the heater and wafer holder assembly stack and the platform when the heater and wafer holder assembly stack is raised into the degas chamber; a turbo-pump to extract water vapor and other contaminants from the degas chamber; and, pressure, temperature and positioning control devices.

Apparatus and method for enhanced degassing of semiconductor wafers for increased throughput


A process is described for producing natural, heat stable flavorings suitable for bakery applications. The flavorings are produced by low-temperature extraction of at least one herb, spice, fruit, nut or other plant material or part thereof with a mixture or an emulsion of an edible oil, water and an emulsifier, followed by separation of the solids matter from the liquid. The liquid flavorings fraction which is itself heat stable is rendered more convenient to use by encapsulation and drying into powder.

Rationalization and competition in segmented markets have fuelled the increased use of flavours and flavoring substances in today's food, cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries. Natural flavours or flavorings are generally weaker in performance but offer a better flavour perception compared to synthetic ones and as such are generally preferred. Commercial methods for extracting flavours and flavorings include steam distillation, hydrodiffusion, infusion and enzyme assisted extractions. One drawback to presently produced natural flavorings is the high cost. The methods currently used for the manufacture of flavoring extracts and the solvents employed in extracting them control their desirable natural and sensory properties and also their cost.
Prior art knowledge in extractions of flavorings includes water-based methods such as decoction and infusion, a version of which is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,832,951 (Chang-Diaz). U.S. Pat. No. 3,732,111 (Berner et al) teaches the use of heated vegetable oil to extract the antioxidant principles of spices. The flavours are subsequently removed by sparging with steam at 175.degree. C. U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,769 (Bennett III et al) teaches the extraction of spice oleoresins at room temperature using edible oil to produce two products; oleoresin extract and fortified edible oil. Prior art knowledge in extractions of flavorings in oils have also been used in the extraction of essential oils. Some processes such as that disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 2,571,867 (Hall et al) teach the use of essential oil of spice for the extraction of a spice solid. Others such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,071,475 (Stohr) teach the preparation of a suspension of herb powders and flakes in a heated edible oil. Other methods currently available which promise cleaner recovery, such as carbon dioxide extraction, are more costly.
Extraction methods involving the use of chemicals or solvents have drawbacks including thermal degradation or modification of the extract (as occurs with steam distillation, solvent extraction), chemical degradation or modification of the extract (as occurs with hydrodiffusion, infusion and solvent extraction) and the presence of undesirable but inevitable residual solvents in the extracts (as occurs with solvent extraction). Low-temperature enzyme-assisted extractions in water remain characteristically inefficient because the flavours or flavorings produced are generally not completely soluble in water. The extracts produced by the prior methods are mostly the volatile compounds which may only partially represent the total flavoring system in the commodity. However, the non-volatile fractions could be of great importance in the aroma, taste and true fidelity of the plant material. One problem which this invention is intended to solve therefore is to seek to provide a flavoring extract containing both the volatile and non-volatile portions of the commodity flavoring system which does not contain any traces of solvent. In some particular applications, notably cooking and baking some of the flavorings are destabilized or destroyed. One problem therefore which this invention seeks to address is to provide a heat-stable extract.
The method of the present invention is cost efficient, no solvents are used, and the flavorings extracted are stable at the high temperatures normally employed in extrusion and bakery applications. Further stabilization of the flavorings produced by this invention and enhanced convenience in use are attained by encapsulation--encapsulation is an attractive approach to transform liquid flavorings into stable, free flowing powders which are easy to handle and use.

Natural heat stable flavorings for bakery applications


A direct current drive motor with a stator core, an end insulator, and a coil winding forming a stator, and a housing, a magnetic yoke shell, and multiple magnetic tiles, forming a rotor. The magnetic yoke shell and the magnetic tiles are disposed on the housing. Multiple teeth protrude from a side wall of the stator core. A slot is formed between two adjacent teeth. The coil winding is disposed in the slot and wraps around the tooth.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a direct current drive motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nowadays, direct current drive motors (DC motors) are widely used. Components of DC motors include a rotor with a housing, a magnetic yoke shell, and multiple magnetic tiles, along with a stator with a stator core, an end insulator, and coil windings. However, conventional designs of DC motors presents many problems, such as, e.g., (a) large disparity between the number of stator slots and magnets on the rotor results in high cogging torque, excessive vibrations, and reduced life span of the motor; (b) high rigidity and limited buffering capacity of the rotor housing, which is usually made of metal, does not allow for absorbing vibrations of the motor; (c) inadequate directionality of winding wires, which are usually wrapped in a clockwise or counterclockwise direction around each tooth and between two adjacent teeth, results in a high cogging torque and high vibrations; d) overlap between transition lines makes it difficult to produce wire windings; and (e) the magnetic induction device is difficult t to install, and the induction signal is poor.


A self-closing receiverless surgical fastener comprises a fastener body of biocompatible or bioabsorbable material including a bridge member and at least two tines extending from opposite ends of the bridge member. The tines are resiliently deformable from a normally closed position with the distal ends of the tines pointing toward each other to an open position with the distal ends of the tines extending substantially parallel to each other for penetrating into tissue. The tines are resiliently returnable to the closed position with the distal ends of the tines pointing toward each other to secure the fastener body to the tissue.

Surgical fasteners, or staples, are commonly used in surgical procedures to allow a surgeon to fasten body tissue together without the need for time consuming suturing procedures. The surgical fasteners can be applied to the body tissue by using surgical staplers which operate to install the fasteners one at a time or to apply a plurality of fasteners in succession or simultaneously. The staplers typically include fastener cartridges from which the fasteners are driven into the tissue.
Two-part surgical fastener devices are previously known. Such devices include a fastener member, or staple, which is generally U-shaped in configuration with a pair of prongs, and a receiver member provided with apertures in which the prongs are engaged and latched. The fastener prongs pierce the body tissue from one side and the receiver member latches the prongs on the other side of the tissue. The surgical fasteners, once engaged, are not separable so that, after being inserted into the body tissue, the fasteners cannot be easily removed. Accordingly, two-part surgical fasteners usually consist of bioabsorbable material which is absorbed into the body tissue.
In the past, hernia repair procedures have been performed by open surgery in which an elongated incision is made in the body wall for access to the internal body tissue to be repaired. Such open surgery is traumatic to the patient and a long recovery period is required for the incision to heal. Typically, the hernia repair is performed by conventional suturing techniques. A hernia repair patch, if used, is secured to the internal body tissue by sutures applied along the edges of the patch.
More recently, endoscopic instruments and techniques have been developed to perform surgery on internal body tissue, including hernia repairs. Such procedures are performed by installing an endoscopic tube in a small incision in the body wall and by inserting the surgical instruments into the endoscopic tube to perform the desired surgery. The endoscopic procedures are less traumatic to the patient and result in a shorter recovery period in comparison with open surgery.
In performing hernia repairs by endoscopic surgery, it is necessary to employ surgical fasteners or staples which are capable of securely holding the internal body tissue together. Also, if a hernia patch is installed, the surgical fasteners or staples must be capable of securely fastening the hernia patch to the internal body tissue. The endoscopic instruments previously used for hernia repair procedures have utilized surgical fasteners or staples made of metal, e.g., titanium or stainless steel. These instruments generally include a staple forming mechanism which forms the surgical fastener from an open position to a closed position penetrating the tissue at the surgical site.
The metal fasteners or staples previously used for hernia repairs remain permanently inside the patient and are not absorbed by the internal body tissue. Such metal fasteners or staples are opaque to x-rays and appear in x-ray photographs of the patient. Thus, it is desirable to employ surgical fasteners or staples of bioabsorbable material for hernia repairs because the fasteners or staples are eventually absorbed into the body tissue and do not interfere with x-ray photographs of the patient. The previous two-part surgical fasteners of bioabsorbable material tend not to be suitable for hernia repairs because of the difficulty of obtaining the access to both sides of the tissue to be repaired. Accordingly, a receiverless fastener of bioabsorbable material is highly desirable for hernia repairs and other surgical procedures on internal body tissue. Also, it is advantageous to provide a self-closing receiverless fastener which avoids the need for using a surgical instrument with a forming mechanism to secure the fastener to internal body tissue.


In an optical transmission device, when wavelength division multiplexed light formed from signals of a plurality of wavelengths are received, an optical signal of one wavelength comprised in this wavelength division multiplexed light is planarized and non-signal light of the same wavelength is reproduced. The reproduced light is modulated with a transmission data string, an optical signal is generated, and a wavelength division multiplexed light comprising the generated optical signal is transmitted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for transmitting optical signals through wavelength division multiplexing using multi-wavelength light provided by a multi-wavelength light source.
2. Description of the Related Art
Presently, Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) communication technology is being put to practical use and the transmission capacity of optical communication is growing significantly (for example, refer to Patent References 1 to 5, below). In the future, it will become necessary to further increase communication capacity due to the progression of the trend towards making all of the transmission paths of subscriber systems fiber-optic.
Patent Reference 1 Japanese Patent Publication No. 2001-197006
Patent Reference 2 Japanese Patent Publication No. 11-261532
Patent Reference 3 Japanese Patent Publication No. 04-336829
Patent Reference 4 Japanese Patent Publication No. 07-177556
Patent Reference 5 PCT International Patent Application Translation Publication No. 2003-50194
FIG. 1A is a block diagram of a WDM transmission system such as this. The WDM transmission system in FIG. 1A is constructed of a terminal station A, a relay station B, and a terminal station C. Station A comprises transmitting units 11-1 to 11-5, receiving units 12-1 to 12-5, and a wavelength multiplexing/separation device 13-1. Station C comprises transmitting units 11-16 to 11-20, receiving units 12-16 to 12-20, and a wavelength multiplexing/separation device 13-4. Station B comprises transmitting units 11-6 to 11-15, receiving units 12-6 to 12-15, wavelength multiplexing/separation devices 13-2 and 13-3, and an electrical ADD/DROP device 14.
The transmitting units 11-1 to 11-20, as shown in FIG. 1B, each comprise a light source 21 of a predetermined wavelength and a modulator 22, and generate optical signals by modulating light from the light source 21 with a transmission data string. The wavelength multiplexing/separation device 13-1 to 13-4 comprises a wavelength multiplexing unit 15, a wavelength separation unit 16, a light transmitting amplification unit 17, and a light receiving amplification unit 18.
The optical signals of each wavelength output from the transmitting units 11-1 to 11-5 of station A are multiplexed by the wavelength multiplexing/separation device 13-1 and transmitted to station B as WDM light. At station B, the received WDM light is separated into optical signals of each wavelength by the wavelength multiplexing/separation device 13-1 and converted into electrical signals by the receiving unit 12-1 to 12-5. The electrical ADD/DROP device 14 divides (DROP) a portion of the received signals and inserts (ADD) other transmission data string.
Next, the WDM light is transmitted from station B to station C in the same way as transmission from station A to station B, and the optical signals of each wavelength are received by the receiving units 12-16 to 12-20 of station C. The transmission procedure from station C to station A is the same as the transmission procedure from station A to station C.
In a WDM transmission system such as this, in order to increase the communication capacity of the entire system, the number of wavelengths can be increased relatively easily. However, if the wavelength band is widened relentlessly, transmission becomes impossible due to limitations of the optical amplification band, the optical fiber transmission band, the optical device band and the like. Therefore, because the wavelength band per se is limited to the most efficient width, the number of wavelengths must be increased by narrowing the distance between wavelengths instead.
In the optical transmitting amplification unit 17 and the optical receiving amplification unit 18, the gain bandwidth of a general multi-wavelength EDFA (Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier) assigned for each band of L-band, C-band, S-band, and the like is approximately 28 to 32 nm. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 1C, the number of multiplexed wavelengths multiplex varies depending on how many wavelengths are fitted into the range of this gain wavelength band.
At this time, as a factor interfering with the increase in the number of wavelengths, the accuracy of each light sources wavelength becomes an issue. As shown in FIG. 1A and 1B, if optical signals are generated by installing the light source of each wavelength independently into each transmitting unit, an error of Δλ cont occurs in the self-sustaining oscillation accuracy of each wavelength, as shown in FIG. 1D.
In addition, unsurprisingly production tolerance issues occur in the transmission characteristics of the optical device (wavelength filter) implemented as the wavelength multiplexing unit 15 or the wavelength separation unit 16, such as an Arrayed Wavelength Grating (AWG), for example.
For example, the transmission characteristics when WDM light is incident on port P3 of a wavelength filter as in FIG. 1E and optical signals with a wavelength of λ1 and λ2 are respectively output from port P1 and port P2 are as shown in FIG. 1F. In FIG. 1F, the curved line 31 indicates light attenuation from port P3 to port P1, and the curved line 32 indicates light attenuation from port P3 to port P2. In order to separate these optical signals using the wavelength filter, λ1 and λ2 must be Δλ filter apart, after taking production tolerance into consideration.
Furthermore, under the presumption that the optical spectrum widens by Δλ mod due to modulation, the following condition applies to the wavelength separation Δλ of λ1 and λ2.Δλ>Δλcont+Δλfilter+Δλ mod  (1)
In this way, if the factors production tolerance in the wavelength accuracy and wavelength filter of the light source are taken into consideration, it becomes clear that there are limits to the method of narrowing the distance between wavelengths. On the other hand, a method for increasing the number of wavelengths without narrowing the distance between wavelengths by widening the optical amplification band using Raman amplification technology is also being considered.
In addition, if the number of wavelengths increases, it becomes necessary to prepare the same number of laser oscillators which emit light of accurately differing wavelengths as the number of wavelengths with adequate intervals between wavelengths, and the cost for this section will make up the majority of the cost of the entire system.
Therefore, in order to support the significant increase in communication capacity, it is effective to reconsider the construction of the light source and reduce costs. One method for this can be providing multi-wavelength light to a plurality of stations from multi-wavelength light sources.
FIG. 1G is a block diagram of a WDM transmission system using a multi-wavelength light source such as this. The WDM transmission system in FIG. 1G has a construction wherein the transmitting units 11-1 to 11-20 in the construction in FIG. 1A are replaced with transmitting units 42-1 to 42-20, wavelength separator 41-1 to 41-4 are added to station A to station C, an optical coupler 43 is added to station B, and furthermore, a station D is added.
Transmitting units 42-1 to 42-20 have, as shown in FIG. 1H, a construction wherein the light source 21 is eliminated from the construction of FIG. 1B, and optical signals are generated by modulating light input externally with transmission data string. Station D comprises a multi-wavelength light source providing device 44, and multi-wavelength light which is continuous wave (CW) light comprising light of multiple-wavelengths is provided to station A to station C. The optical coupler 43 of station B divides the provided multi-wavelength light into two and outputs the lights to wavelength separators 41-2 and 41-3, respectively.
At station A, the wavelength separator 41-1 separates the provided multi-wavelength light into light of each wavelength, and outputs it to transmitting units 42-1 to 42-5. In the same way, the wavelength separators 41-2 to 41-4 of station B and station C also fulfill the role of separating the multi-wavelength light provided by the multi-wavelength light source providing device 43 in to light of each wavelength.
Multi-wavelength light generated by one multi-wavelength light source can maintain a separation between wavelengths even after passing through wavelength separators 41-1 to 41-4. Therefore, there is no need to take into consideration the oscillation accuracy error of Δλ cont, described above. In addition, because it is not necessary to have a laser oscillator for each transmitting unit, the cost of the light source section of the system as a whole can be reduced.
Furthermore, in recent years, multi-wavelength batch conversion technologies, such as those represented by the commercialization of Photonic Crystal Fiber (PCF) and Periodically Poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN) as multi-wavelength conversion element, are being developed. The usage of these new technologies is undeveloped territory, and future market expansion is expected.
However, in the WDM transmission system utilizing the fore-going multi-wavelength light source, the following issues exist.
In the WDM transmission system utilizing the multi-wavelength light source in FIG. 1G, it is necessary to provide a separate optical fiber for multi-wavelength light provision, in comparison to the conventional WDM transmission system in FIG. 1A.
However, if in fact there is no suitable optical fiber, in order to use the wavelength already used in station A in station B, the only method would be to assign the light source of this wavelength to the transmitting unit of station B and modulate, separately, as with station B in the construction in FIG. 1A.
For example, as shown in FIG. 1I, if four stations, station A to station D, are positioned in a ring configuration, station A can separate and modulate the multi-wavelength light provided from the multi-wavelength light source providing device 51 into light of each wavelength and transmit each wavelength to the adjacent lower station B or station C. However, if the lower station which received the modulated light uses the same wavelength, the light source for this wavelength must be provided within this station.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 1J, if three stations, station A to station C, are positioned in a back to back configuration, station A and station C on both ends can separate and modulate the multi-wavelength light provided from the multi-wavelength light source providing devices 61 and 62 into light of each wavelength and transmit them to the adjacent lower station B. However, if the lower station B which received the modulated light uses the same wavelength, the light source for this wavelength must be provided within this station.
However, if the light source is provided independently of the multi-wavelength light source providing device, it becomes necessary to design taking into consideration the production tolerance of this light source, as stated above, and in comparison to a system such as that in FIG. 1G, measures such as further narrowing the separation between wavelengths become difficult.

Wavelength division multiplexing transmission device


A notebook-type personal organizer comprises a multi-ring binder to which a plurality of leaves is connected. Plastic bags are connected to the binder, and each bag contains a pad of adhesive-backed paper sheets. The bags are adhered to a stiff posting sheet by means of a releasable adhesive to keep the bags from sagging and tearing. The user removes the pads from the bags and inserts them into pockets formed in a front panel of the organizer. Once a note is written on a paper sheet, the paper sheet can be removed from the pad and then adhered to the posting sheet for future reference. The posting sheet can be removed from, and inserted onto, the binder rings without opening those rings, and can be used as a straight edge or a distance-measuring ruler, and also to mark the proper day among the calendar pages of the organizer.

The present invention relates to a notebook-type personal organizer.
One convenient way of keeping track of important names, addresses, telephone numbers, special events, etc., is by recording them in a notebook. Notebooks specifically designed for that task, often called personal organizers, contain alphabetically arranged pages having printed indicia thereon for directing a user where to inscribe names, addresses, telephone numbers, as well as chronologically arranged pages having printed calendar indicia where the user can inscribe the dates of special events such as meetings, appointments, birthdays, etc.
It would be desirable to enhance the versatility of such personal organizers, especially to enable a user to inscribe messages or reminders which can be placed in a particular location in the organizer and discarded, and also to more easily locate a particular calendar page.


A digital/analog amplifier includes the following coupled in series: a pulse-width modulator, a control circuit, a power inverter and a filter. The power inverter comprises two transistors series-connected between a power supply terminal and a ground of the amplifier. The control circuit drives the transistors of the power inverter. One output of the filter forms an output of the amplifier to which a load is connected. The amplifier also comprises a capacitive circuit parallel-connected to the output of the power inverter.

A digital/analog amplifier of this kind, for example, is commonly used as a D-class amplifier for audio applications, especially embedded applications. This is due to the fact that they have very high rates of efficiency.
The signal to be amplified is pulse-width modulated. The control circuit produces drive signals for the transistors of the inverter as a function of the modulated signal. The output of the inverter is applied to the input of the filter, and a sine signal is recovered at the output of the filter. The output of the amplifier, formed by the output of the filter, is connected to the terminals of a load that is a resistor formed by the impedance of an audio loudspeaker, for example.
Preferably, to obtain optimum efficiency, a differential amplifier is provided. This differential amplifier comprises two arms like the one described above. The output of each arm is connected to a terminal of the load.
To prevent short-circuiting of the power supply of the amplifier, the transistors of the power inverter should not be on simultaneously. For this reason, a lag is introduced between the power-off command for one of the transistors of the inverter and the power-on command for the other transistor. This lag is commonly called a dead time.
While this lag has the advantage of preventing short-circuiting of the power supply, it has the drawback of introducing a distortion into the output signal at the terminals of the load of the amplifier in the form of odd-parity harmonics. The distortion increases with the dead time and with the frequency of the switch-over of the transistors of the power inverters of the amplifier. Reducing the dead time reduces the distortion that it causes at the output of the amplifier. However, the dead time cannot be eliminated, and the distortion that it introduces cannot be eliminated either.
This phenomenon of distortion has been studied, for example, in the documents titled "Compensating For Dead Time Degradation Of PWM Inverter Waveforms", R.C. Dodson et al., IEEE Proceedings B, Vol. 137, Issue 2, March 1990, and "The Analysis And Compensation Of Dead-Time Effects In PWM Inverters", Seung-Gi Jeong et al., Industrial Electronics, IEEE Transactions, Vol. 38, Issue 2, April 1991, pages 108-114. To reduce the distortion due to the dead time, the above two documents introduce a delay in the input signal in the control part of the power amplifier. However, this approach is difficult to implement because it is difficult to apply a delay equal to the dead time, especially when the dead time is small.
It has also been proposed to insert a negative feedback loop into the modulated signal to re-inject a corrective signal as a function of the distortion detected at the output. This approach is very efficient but providing a negative feedback loop is difficult and costly.

Power amplifier with low power distortion at output


Organic composite coated steel strips having improved corrosion resistance, weldability and coating adherence are obtained when an organic composite layer is applied to a chromate layer on a zinc or zinc base alloy plated steel substrate. The chromate layer containing up to 70% of Cr.sup.6+ based on the total chromium weight is coated in a weight of 5 to 500 mg/m.sup.2 of Cr. The organic composite layer is formed to a dry weight of 0.2 to 3.0 g/m.sup.2 from a coating composition comprising (A) a silica sol having silica dispersed in an organic solvent with a water content of up to 3.0%, the silica having an organic deposit on its surface in an amount of up to 5.0% of C based on the total silica weight, the silica having an average particle size of 0.05 to 3.0 .mu.m and a specific surface area of 50 to 800 m.sup.2 /g, and (B) an organic resin binder having a number average molecular weight of at least 2,000. The coated strips are suitable for use as automobile bodies by press forming.

In recent years, to meet increasingly severe corrosion resistance requirements for automobile bodies, surface treated steel strips in the form of conventional cold rolled steel strips plated with zinc or zinc base alloy are often used. Particularly in the area where corrosion is a serious problem, high bare corrosion resistance is needed in internal strip configurations including internal cavity-defining structures and bends where protective coatings after pressing and body assembly cannot fully cover. Organic composite coated steel strips having chromate and organic coatings on a zinc plated steel substrate were developed to meet such needs as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Kokai Nos. 108292/1982 and 224174/1983.
These proposals are intended to provide high corrosion resistance by coating a zinc plated steel substrate with a coating composition containing a resin and a water dispersed silica sol. However, the use of water dispersed silica sol gives rise to several problems including (1) limitation of the available type of organic resin binder which has to be compatible with the silica sol, (2) the presence of residual water-soluble components in the coating which allow water to penetrate into the coating during subsequent chemical conversion treatment so that chromium in the underlying chromate layer can dissolve out to contaminate the environment, (3) potential separation of the coating during alkali degreasing which can lead to a loss of corrosion resistance, and (4) poor adherence of the coating in that water can penetrate underneath the coating upon exposure to a corrosive environment, allowing the water soluble components to dissolve therein and exhibit high alkalinity cleaving the interfacial bond between the coating and the chromate. These problems are essentially derived from the use of water as the solvent for the coating compositions.
One solution is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Kokai No. 22637/1988 which uses a coating composition comprising a hydrophobic silica obtained by subjecting silica on its surface to organic substitution in an organic solvent and an epoxy resin having a primary hydroxyl group and a basic nitrogen atom added thereto. Although compatibility is maintained between silica sol and the organic resin and improved adherence after coating is achieved, this coating has no ability to hold corrosion products stably because of the absence of a free silanol group on the silica surface. Therefore, corrosion resistance is materially low. The use of existing silica sol of either a water or organic solvent system adversely affects weldability.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Kokai Nos. 35798/1988 and 65179/1989 discloses addition of dry fumed silica to organic solvents Although corrosion resistance and weldability are improved, the use of fumed silica not only leads to a substantial increase in viscosity of the coating composition which can interfere with control of the coating weight upon its application, but frequently causes aggregation during blending of the coating composition so that the composition cannot be applied.

Organic composite coated steel strip having improved corrosion resistance and weldability


A method of preparation and use of high-strength gypsum wallboard, as well as a core composition suitable for use therein, are disclosed. The core composition includes a slurry of calcium sulfate hemihydrate (stucco), water, and a strengthening agent. The strengthening agent includes an acrylic polymer composition having a glass transition temperature of about 15.degree. C. or greater, and preferably has good divalent ion stability. The method provides wallboard having increased core strength, paper-to-core bonding, and strength-to-weight ratio.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the production of gypsum board materials, and is more particularly directed to the production and use of high strength gypsum wallboard.
2. Description of Related Technology
One of the most common manners today of constructing walls and barriers includes the use of inorganic wallboard panels or sheets, such as gypsum wallboard, often referred to simply as "wallboard" or "drywall." Wallboard can be formulated for interior, exterior, and wet applications. The use of wallboard, as opposed to conventional wet plaster methods, is often desirable because the installation of wallboard is ordinarily less costly than installation of conventional plaster walls.
Generally, wallboard is conventionally produced by enclosing a core of an aqueous slurry of calcined gypsum and other materials between two large sheets of board cover paper. Various types of cover paper are known in the art. After the gypsum slurry has set (i.e., reacted with the water from the aqueous slurry) and dried, the sheet is cut into standard sizes. Methods for the production of gypsum wallboard are described, for example, in the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Second Edition, 1970, Vol. 21, pages 621-24, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Walls and ceilings made with gypsum wallboard panels are conventionally constructed by securing, e.g. with nails or screws, the wallboard panels to structural members, for example vertically and horizontally oriented pieces of steel or wood such as "studs." Because wallboard is typically supplied in standard-sized sheets or panels, when forming a wall from the sheets, there will generally be a number of joints between adjacent sheets. In most wallboard construction, these joints are filled and coated with an adhesive material called a joint compound so that the wall will have a smooth finish similar to that obtained with conventional wet plaster methods.
Gypsum wallboard is typically manufactured commercially by processes that are capable of operation under continuous high speed conditions. The aqueous slurry of calcined gypsum and other ingredients are continuously deposited to form a core between two continuously-supplied moving sheets of cover paper. The calcined gypsum forming the core between the two cover sheets is then allowed to set. The continuously-produced board is cut into panels of a desired length (for example, eight feet) and then passed through a drying kiln in which excess water is removed and the gypsum is brought to a final dry state. After the core has set and is dried, the sandwich becomes a strong, rigid, fire-resistant building material.
A major ingredient of the gypsum wallboard core is calcium sulfate hemihydrate, commonly referred to as "stucco" or "Plaster of Paris." Stucco is commonly manufactured by drying, grinding, and calcining natural gypsum rock. The drying step of stucco manufacture includes passing crude gypsum rock through a rotary kiln to remove any free moisture accumulated in the rock from rain or snow, for example. The dried rock is then passed through a roller mill (a type of pulverizer), wherein the rock is ground to a desired fineness. The dried, ground gypsum can be referred to as "land plaster."
The calcination step is performed by heating the ground gypsum rock, and is described by the following chemical equation: EQU CaSO.sub.4.2H.sub.2 O+heat.fwdarw.CaSO.sub.4.1/2H.sub.2 O+11/2H.sub.2 O.
This chemical equation shows that calcium sulfate dihydrate plus heat yields calcium sulfate hemihydrate (stucco) plus water vapor. This process is conducted in a "calciner," of which there are several types known in the art.
Uncalcined calcium sulfate (the land plaster) is the "stable" form of gypsum. However, calcined gypsum, or stucco, has the valuable property of being chemically reactive with water, and will "set" rather quickly when the two are mixed together. This setting reaction is actually a reversal of the above-described chemical reaction performed during the calcination step. The reaction proceeds according to the following equation: EQU CaSO.sub.4.1/2H.sub.2 O+11/2H.sub.2 O.fwdarw.CaSO.sub.4.2H.sub.2 O+heat.
In this reaction, the calcium sulfate hemihydrate is rehydrated to its dihydrate state over a fairly short period of time. The actual time required for this setting reaction is generally dependent upon the type of calciner employed and the type of gypsum rock that is used, and can be controlled within certain limits by the use of additives such as accelerators and retarders.
Because high-weight gypsum wallboard per se is generally not necessary or desirable, various attempts have been made to reduce board weight and density without sacrificing board strength. Heavy gypsum wallboards are more costly and difficult to manufacture than lighter boards. Moreover, in comparison to light boards, heavy boards are more costly and difficult to transport, store, and manually install at job sites.
In order to provide satisfactory strength, commercially-available gypsum wallboard generally requires a density of approximately 1700 pounds (approximately 772 kilograms) per thousand square feet of one-half inch board. It is possible to formulate wallboard having reduced densities through the inclusion of lightweight fillers and foams, for example. Typically, however, where wallboard is formulated to have a density reduced from 1700 pounds per thousand square feet of one-half inch board, the resulting strength is unacceptable for commercial sale.
It would therefore be advantageous to produce high-strength gypsum wallboard having weights and densities reduced from those produced by known methods. Reduced weight and density boards should meet industry standards and have strengths similar to, or greater than, heavier wallboard. Such wallboard also should be able to be manufactured through the use of conventional high-speed manufacturing apparatus and not suffer from other negative side-effects. For example, such high-strength wallboard should be able to set and dry within a reasonable period of time.

Gypsum wallboard and method of making same


An obstacle distribution simulation method, device and terminal based on multiple models. The method can include: acquiring a point cloud, the point cloud including a plurality of obstacles labeled with real labeling data; extracting the real labeling data of the obstacles, and training a plurality of neural network models based on the real labeling data of the obstacles; extracting unlabeled data in the point cloud, inputting the unlabeled data into the neural network models, and outputting a plurality of prediction results. The plurality of prediction results can include a plurality of simulated obstacles with attribute data; selecting at least one simulated obstacle based on the plurality of prediction results; and inputting the attribute data of the selected simulated obstacle into the neural network models to obtain position coordinates of the simulated obstacle, and further obtain a position distribution of the simulated obstacle.

High-precision three-dimensional (3D) maps can be annotated with data labeling obstacles in the map. This data can be collected in an offline state of the high-precision map. This labeling, or annotation, data can include a position indicating where an obstacle is currently located, an orientation, an identifier (ID) a type of the obstacle, and the like. The obstacle types can include dynamic obstacles such as a vehicles, pedestrians or bicycle riders, and static obstacles such as traffic cones or pylons. The question of how to simulate or model the number of obstacles and the position distribution of the obstacles so as to resemble the real conditions as much as possible is drawing more and more attention from those skilled in the art.
In existing technical solutions, simulation is typically performed by using a regular (or rule-based) arrangement of obstacles with the aid of a high-precision map. Examples of regular arrangement of obstacles might include arrangements of vehicles in a generally parallel to a lane, and random arrangements of pedestrians. However, very limited scenarios can be presented based on regular arrangement of obstacles. Since the high-precision maps often include only main roads, without side roads or branch roads, a simulated result of the position distribution of the same types of obstacles and a simulated result of the number distribution of different types of obstacles can greatly differ from real conditions. In addition, the regular arrangement of obstacles cannot present all the possible cases in a real scenario in an exhaustive manner, resulting in low coverage.

Obstacle distribution simulation method and device based on multiple models, and storage medium

Baidu Online Network Technology (Beijing) Co., Ltd


A method of controlling gear selection in a vehicle transmission comprises detecting a change in a direction control signal (DCS) from a neutral signal state. If the current TOS is less than or equal to a predetermined neutral shift threshold TOS, the transmission selects one of a plurality of first direction gears if the DCS was changed to a first direction signal state or one of a plurality of second direction gears if the DCS was changed to a second direction signal state. If the current TOS is greater than the predetermined neutral shift threshold TOS, the transmission selects one of the plurality of first direction gears if a machine motion direction parameter indicates that the vehicle is moving in the first direction or one of the plurality of second direction gears if the machine motion direction parameter indicates that the vehicle is moving in the second direction.

Many vehicles, such as work machines, mining equipment and other work vehicles may include a powershift transmission coupled to a power source, such as an internal combustion engine or an electric motor, in order to provide more flexible use of the power output of the power source. The transmission for such a vehicle typically comprises a plurality of speed and direction changing clutches, and a plurality of transmission gears, wherein combinations of pairs of direction and speed changing clutches effectively recruit transmission gears to provide a plurality of transmission gear ratios. The transmission may provide not only a number of gears having gear ratios that enable the work machine to travel at a relatively wide range of speeds or conditions that might be impractical without a transmission, but also for a change of vehicle direction between forward and reverse. Some transmissions are configured to change gears automatically in order to improve ease of operation of the vehicle through its speed range.
The direction of vehicle travel may be selectable by an operator via a suitable control device, such as a joystick. Operator selected direction shifts, to change the direction of travel while the vehicle is moving, are common especially with vehicles such as backhoe loaders and forklifts. Operators may also select a control setting for putting the transmission in neutral during operation of the vehicle. This may occur, for example, during transition of the control device from a forward position to a reverse position of the control device through a neutral position of the control device. Alternatively, an additional neutralizer control may be provided which overrides the position of the control device to put the transmission in neutral. With the transmission in neutral, the vehicle may speed up or slow down, for example when coasting downhill.
When requesting a shift out of neutral, the Operator may request a direction matching or opposite to the current direction of motion of the machine. During a transmission shift, energy is transmitted to the clutch plates and the amount of energy is proportional to the speed differential of the clutch plates. In a high speed direction shift, the clutch plates are rotating in opposite directions with a high speed differential before engagement. Therefore, in the time it takes for the clutch to fully lock up, a large amount of energy may be transmitted to the clutch plates, being converted from kinetic energy to heat energy due to friction. The increased energy requirement may cause increases in the heat generated at the transmission clutches during the velocity change, and can result in premature clutch failure when the clutch temperature repeatedly exceeds the material durability limits of the clutch components. Similar issues can arise when the vehicle accelerates or decelerates while in neutral and then a forward or reverse gear is engaged. Similar issues can also arise when the vehicle accelerates and clutches cause the vehicle to upshift and when the vehicle decelerates and clutches maintain the current gear or downshift for engine braking. In some powershift transmissions, the incoming direction changing clutch is often most prone to damage as much of the energy of the vehicle is effectively absorbed by the direction changing clutch.
There may also be a risk of over speeding of a power unit of the vehicle when engaging a gear on shifting out of neutral if the vehicle speed has increased while in neutral.
One option to mitigate this behaviour is to raise a warning, but this may still allow the potential damage to occur. Another option when a high speed direction shift is requested is to inhibit a direction shift. Inhibiting a shift includes holding the original gear but limiting engine speed to slow the machine or selecting neutral to slow the vehicle. Inhibiting a shift may be problematic as the vehicle's behaviour may not be as the operator expects. Where the operator expects a rapid deceleration, if only a moderate or no deceleration is realised, this may lead to degradation of control or the need to employ inconvenient stopping mechanisms, such as dropping work tools or employing the parking brake. Inhibiting a shift out of neutral may be disadvantageous as it could lead to coasting, and unwanted increases in speed. Inhibiting a shift may include holding the original gear or selecting neutral.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,689,490B2 describes a method for velocity change gear selection and shift execution for a motor grader, including a method for controlling directional shift gear selection. When the rotational speed of the transmission output shaft is greater than a predetermined limit, the transmission is prevented from shifting directly to a reverse gear. Instead, the transmission initially downshifts to a lower forward gear (e.g. from 4F to 3F) and a retarding force is applied to slow the work machine until the rotational speed of the transmission output shaft is less than the predetermined maximum velocity limit. When the speed is less than the predetermined limit, the directional shift is completed by shifting the transmission to a lower reverse gear (e.g. from 3F to 1R). This is a combinational direction shift, i.e. there is a direction and gear number change. In some cases the direction shift is prohibited until the operator slows the machine to below the predetermined speed.
There is a need for a control strategy to select an appropriate gear when shifting out of neutral and hence prevent the transmission damage whilst maintaining vehicle control.

Method system for control of gear selection in vehicles


Provided is an acceptor sheet useful for receiving marking material in imagewise fashion by means of mass transfer printing. The acceptor sheet comprises a substrate which has a microrough surface, wherein the coating is comprised of polymer particles which have not coalesced to form a uniform, continuous film. Such acceptor sheets exhibit superior mass transfer printing properties, and in particular superior wax thermal transfer printing properties, as compared to acceptor sheets having smooth coatings comprised of film-forming polymers.

The present invention relates to a transparent coating on a film support. Such coated supports of the invention are useful as transfer imaging receiver sheets for many different types of transfer imaging techniques, e.g., phase change ink jet printing, laser printing, applications in color copiers, wax thermal transfer printing, and others. The present invention, in a preferred embodiment, relates to an acceptor sheet for wax thermal transfer printing having improved wax receptivity for wider printing latitude, and a reduced tendency to jam the printing mechanism.
Thermal transfer printing employs a donor sheet-acceptor sheet system, whereby a thermal printhead applies heat to the backside of a donor sheet in selective imagewise fashion. The images are transferred to the acceptor sheet either by chemical reaction with, or mass transfer from, the donor sheet. Mass transfer systems provide for the transfer of colored material directly from the donor to the acceptor sheet, with no color-forming chemical reaction occurring.
In wax thermal (mass) transfer printing, an ink or other record-forming material in admixture with a wax compound is transferred from a donor such as a carrier ribbon to an acceptor sheet by applying heat to localized areas of the carrier. The wax/ink mixture on the carrier ribbon melts or softens, preferentially adhering to the acceptor sheet, which may be either paper or transparent film. In the case of paper, the acceptor sheet has more surface roughness than does the carrier, so ink transfer is largely achieved by a physical interlocking of the softened wax and ink with the paper fibers.
The transfer of a marking material to an acceptor sheet film such as transparent polyester, differs in that the surface of the film is very smooth. Here, wetting of the film surface by the softened wax/ink mixture must be adequate in order to provide preferential adhesion of the wax/ink mixture to the acceptor rather than to the donor sheet. The transfer of single pixel dots is particularly sensitive to differences in adhesion because some of the heat input at the individual dot is dissipated into the surrounding ink mass, decreasing the temperature of the dot and lessening its ability to transfer.
One solution to this problem has been to incorporate wax in a coating layer placed over an acceptor sheet film substrate. U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,549 relates to a receptor (i.e., acceptor) sheet having a wax-compatible image receptive layer which can be inter alia an ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer blended with a paraffin wax, a microcrystalline wax or a mixture of both. The image receptive layer has a critical surface tension higher than that of the donor sheet, which aids in wetting of the image receptive layer. Furthermore, this patent teaches that the Vicat softening temperature (as measured by ASTM D1525 (1982)) of the polymers forming the image receptive layer should be at least 30.degree. C. up to 90.degree. C. to prevent tackiness of the acceptor sheet at room temperature. At softening temperatures below 30.degree. C., according to this patent, problems arise such as fingerprinting and blocking of stacked film.
Polymeric coatings with a 30.degree. C. to 90.degree. C. softening point generally do have the advantage of minimal handling problems, as suggested by the above patent. The disadvantage is that such coatings are suitable for use only with selected combinations of printers and donor sheets. If, for example, the melting point of the wax on the donor sheet is above a specified maximum for a given printer, an insufficient amount of wax may be transferred to the acceptor sheet. Likewise, if the particular printer does not provide sufficient heat energy, the heat transfer from the donor sheet to the acceptor sheet, via the wax, may not increase the tackiness of the image receptive layer sufficiently for adhering the wax to the acceptor sheet, even if the wax does melt sufficiently for transfer. The result is inter alia poor fine line reproduction.
A number of polymeric coatings placed on the acceptor sheet have been claimed to improve ink transfer, including polyester, polycarbonate, polyamide, urea, and polyacrylonitrile resins, saturated polyester resins, stearamide, and poly(alkylvinylethers), poly(meth)acrylic esters, polymethylvinylketone, polyvinylacetate, and polyvinylbutyral. In general, these polymeric coatings have a somewhat higher degree of adhesiveness than the transparent film substrate. This accounts for an increased receptivity of the coating as compared to the substrate. Heat transfer from the printing head to the coating increases adhesiveness even further.
Examples of this type of coating are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,687 which relates to thermal transfer printing sheets useful as transparencies wherein a polymeric coating is applied to a receptor substrate. The coating can be a poly(vinylether), poly(acrylic acid ester), poly(methacrylic acid ester), poly(vinylmethylketone), poly(vinylacetate) or poly(vinylbutyral). The coating allegedly provides increased resolution as compared to an uncoated substrate by increasing the adhesion of the transferred ink or dye to the receptor printing sheet. The coating composition is approximately 100% of the recited polymers.
A problem arises with these compositions when the tackiness of the coating is high enough to cause feeding problems and jamming of the printer due to adhesion either between acceptor sheets, or between the acceptor sheets and the printer rollers. High tackiness can also result in excessive wax transfer from the donor which, in the case of transfer of single pixels, results in unacceptable half tone images due to bridging of individual half tone dots. Excess tackiness also results in fingerprinting and blocking.
Problems also can arise due to electrical charge build-up on the sheets. This build-up can occur during converting, jogging of film stacks and during film transport in the printer during the printing process. Such build up can cause misfeeds, printer jams, and multiple sheet feeding due to static cling.
An accepter sheet, particularly one applicable for wax thermal transfer printing, which can avoid the foregoing problems often encountered with the use of polymerics in acceptor/receptor sheets would be of great value to the industry.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an acceptor sheet for wax thermal transfer printing having improved wax receptivity.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an acceptor sheet for wax thermal transfer printing which is particularly adapted to faithful reproduction of pixel dot image formation.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an acceptor sheet for wax thermal transfer printing which provides wider printing latitude.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an acceptor sheet for thermal imaging which has a reduced tendency to jam the printing mechanism.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel acceptor sheet for mass transfer imaging.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide an acceptor sheet, as above, which maintains the above characteristics yet which can be used with a wide variety of printers.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon a review of the following specification and the claims appended thereto.

Acceptor sheet useful for mass transfer imaging


The present invention relates to a method of generating oxygen. The method addresses the objects of reducing the servicing work and improving the purity of the generated oxygen. According to the invention, the method comprises the steps of: providing an oxygen comprising gas at a primary side of a dense voltage drivable membrane (12); applying a voltage between a conductive element at the primary side of the membrane (12) and a conductive element at a secondary side of the membrane (12), the conductive elements being electrically connected to the membrane (12), wherein a plasma (18, 20) is generated at at least one of the primary side and the secondary side of the membrane (12), the plasma (18, 20) being used as conductive element.

Oxygen therapy is the administration of oxygen as a therapeutic modality. It is widely used for a variety of purposes in both chronic and acute patient care as it is essential for cell metabolism, and in turn, tissue oxygenation is essential for all physiological functions. Oxygen therapy should be used to benefit the patient by increasing the supply of oxygen to the lungs and thereby increasing the availability of oxygen to the body tissues, especially when the patient is suffering from hypoxia and/or hypoxemia. Oxygen therapy may be used both in applications in hospital or in home care. The main home care application of oxygen therapy is for patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Oxygen may be administered in a number of ways. A preferable way of oxygen administration is by using a so called on demand generation of oxygen. Referring to this, commercial solutions, so-called oxygen concentrators or separators, respectively, are widely known. These oxygen concentrators mostly separate oxygen from an oxygen comprising gas, so that the oxygen is provided on demand, i.e. directly before use. Most known oxygen concentrators require a compressor to compress the oxygen comprising gas. Furthermore, oxygen, preferably pure oxygen, has to be generated. Most known oxygen concentrators thus comprise an organic membrane to separate oxygen from the oxygen comprising gas.
The major drawbacks of the known oxygen concentrators are high costs and a limited convenience with respect to noise. Furthermore, undesired constituents of the oxygen comprising gas, mostly nitrogen, are adsorbed on the membrane thereby causing the requirement of a so-called swing process by which the adsorbed gas is desorbed from the membrane. During that desorption step, a separation of oxygen is not possible, because of which two membranes are desired which further increases the costs. Apart from that, the compressors are mostly noisy leading to a decreased convenience especially when the oxygen concentrator is used overnight. Furthermore, the generated oxygen is non-sterile, because of which a further measure of disinfection is often desired or necessary.
Known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,544,404 B1 is an oxygen separation process for the separation of oxygen from an oxygen containing fluid. This process uses mixed ionic and electronic membranes having a chemically active porous coating selected from the group consisting of metals, metal oxides and combinations thereof. This prior art wants to address the object of providing superior flux without sacrificing mechanical and physical compatibility of the composite membrane. However, these kinds of membranes require a certain amount of partial pressure difference between the primary side and the secondary side of the membrane, which in some cases is preferred to be avoided.
Additionally, there are known methods for separating oxygen which use pure voltage driven membranes, or pure ionic conductive membranes, respectively, having electrodes as outer conductive layers in order to generate an oxygen flux through the membrane. One major drawback of these membranes, or the use of the latter, respectively, may be seen in the fact that these membranes may require elevated temperatures in order to work properly. Under these conditions, however, there is the risk of components of the electrodes to be released from the electrodes which consequently are present in the stream of generated oxygen. In some applications, for example in the field of therapeutic applications, however, the presence of these compounds has to be avoided or at least significantly reduced. Additionally, arrangements being used for performing this method in some cases require an intense servicing work. Apart from that, electrodes being present on the surface of the membrane have to be permeable for gas or at least for oxygen, which might require a rather complex manufacturing process.

Method and arrangement for generating oxygen