A preprocessor used in conjunction with a network firewall is disclosed. The preprocessor creates a first index for identifying a plurality of filters installed in the firewall. The preprocessor maintains statistics including selected criteria and corresponding values for the installed filters. When the value for the selected criteria exceeds a threshold value, the preprocessor creates a second index and moves a subset of filters from the first index to the second index.

Network protocols, such as the Internet Protocol (IP), are designed to facilitate communication between network devices through an open exchange of data. However, standard IP and other similar protocols were not designed for, and do not provide, network security. As a result, network devices are susceptible to malicious attacks perpetrated through the network including theft of data, denial of service attacks, the proliferation of computer viruses, and the like.
A firewall is a tool used to protect individual users, network devices, and networks in general, from malicious attacks, while also adding the ability to control the exchange of data over the network through implementation of a policy. The firewall implements the policy by examining network packets and determining, based on the examination, whether the packets should be permitted, or conversely blocked, from further traversing the network. Other functions including intrusion detection, virus protection, and parental controls are also implemented through the firewall.
A component of the firewall is a set of filters. A filter is a data structure that includes filter conditions and actions. The filter conditions are used to identify packets that are subject to the actions specified in the filter. Examples of filter conditions include hardware addresses, e.g. media access control (MAC) addresses, network addresses, e.g. Internet protocol (IP) addresses, protocol type, e.g. transport control protocol (TCP), and port numbers. Examples of actions specified in a filter include permit, i.e. allow the packet to continue to traverse the network and block, i.e. preclude the packet from further network traversal.
The filters are organized in an index. When a packet is sent from, or received by, a network device, the firewall traverses the index to identify any "matching" filters. The firewall identifies matching filters by comparing information in the packets, e.g. IP addresses, ports, and/or protocol, to corresponding filters conditions in one or more of the filters. If the packet information satisfies all filter conditions in a filter, the filter matches the packet. After the firewall identifies any matching filters, the network device determines whether to take any actions specified in the matching filters.
When the types of filter conditions designated in the filters are static and predictable, the type of index used, and organization thereof, can be pre-selected for the filters. Some firewalls, however, permit generic filters to be used wherein the filter conditions are extensible and dynamically change depending on system need. Accordingly, it is not possible to pre-select an optimal index type and index organization. Moreover, a single type of index may not be suitable for indexing all filters.

Method for indexing a plurality of policy filters


A snowboard is disclosed which is comprised of two separable ski members, each having at least one non-linear longitudinal edge, and being adapted for conjoining together to selectively form the snowboard. The snowboard further comprises ski bindings associated with each ski member and a snowboard binding assembly which is comprised of elements associated with each ski member. Thus, boot bindings can be readily positioned between a skiing mode and a snowboarding mode. The ski bindings of the present invention are adapted for both fixed-heel and free-heel binding to accommodate conventional alpine and telemarking skiing. The snowboard bindings may, in one embodiment, be adjustable to position the feet at any desired angle to the board, and even allow the user to select which foot is oriented to the front of the board.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to recreational equipment, such as skis and snowboards. More particularly, the invention relates to a two-piece touring snowboard or skiboard and complementary binding system.
2. Background of the Invention
Mountaineering and back country skiing often involves ascending a mountain with specialized gear, and then descending on either skis or a snowboard. During the climbing phase, and depending on terrain and conditions, it is common to use either snow shoes or skis which are adapted for a climbing mode. If skis are used, it is common to place climbing skins on each ski to allow the mountaineer to walk or ski "up" the mountain. Climbing skins are elongated pieces of material attached to the bottom of the ski which help grip the snow for traction.
While skiing, the mountaineer may typically have free-heel bindings for attaching the boots to the skis. A pair of climbing posts may also be used with the ski binding to alter the angle of the boot to the ski to facilitate steep climbs. In preparation for the descent, the mountaineer may "lock down" the heels of the boots in the bindings and descend the mountain using conventional modern alpine technique. This is referred to as "fixed-heel" skiing. Alternatively the mountaineer may ski down a slope with the heel of each boot free, thus using classic telemarking techniques. This is referred to as "free-heel" skiing. This form of multi-mode skiing has heretofore been unavailable to ski and snowboard enthusiasts alike.


An announcement method and system is provided for a collection of devices located in proximity to each other. Upon a user generating an announcement prompt, such as a hand clap, the devices knowing their relative locations, and knowing or determining the position of the user, take respective turns to make sound announcements about themselves in an order that proceeds clockwise or anticlockwise with respect to the user. Preferably, the first-to-announce device is selected such that the angle subtended at the user between the first and last-to-announce devices is minimised. In this manner, the user can more easily locate each device as it announces. The output method can be applied to any form of human-discernible output.

When a person first enters an unfamiliar work space, it is useful for that person to know what devices are present in the space and often the person will spend the first few minutes looking around, effectively carrying out an inventory of the devices present.
Our co-pending UK patent application No. 0029293.8 describes a method by which an inventory of local devices can be effected by sound. More particularly, the devices are sound responsive devices that in response to a prompt, such as a hand clap, audibly announce themselves one after another. The order of announcement is determined by a process of collision detection with random back-off. Alternatively, announcement ordering is determined by comparison of device serial numbers, IP addresses, or numbers randomly generated by each device. However, the determined order of announcement may be inconvenient and illogical to the user triggering the announcement.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a user-friendly ordering of announcements and other human-discernible outputs from a collection of devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Controlling the order of output of multiple devices

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Impurities such as oxygen and moisture can be removed from sulfur hexafluoride by contacting the impure gas with the reaction product of sulfur hexafluoride and a lithium-substituted macroreticulate polymer.

Sulfur hexafluoride is a nonflammable gas of low toxicity that is considered to be inert in most applications. It is used for plasma etching in semiconductor processing and as a gaseous insulator in high voltage electrical devices such as cables, capacitors and transformers. Traces of oxygen and moisture are undesirable in these applications.
Prior methods for purification of sulfur hexafluoride include cryogenic separations, as described, for example, in United Kingdom Patent 1,107,363. The process is energy intensive and, unlike the process of the present invention, is not well suited to point-of-use applications. The separation is based on differences in boiling points and is not capable of removing trace impurities to the part per million level.
Molecular sieves can be used to adsorb impurities such as water and carbon dioxide from sulfur hexafluoride as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,675,392. In the present invention impurities are irreversibly bound by chemical reaction. Molecular sieves require activation at high temperatures and, unlike the reaction products of the present invention, give no visual indication of when they are saturated. Activated carbon is useful for adsorbing impurities, such as carbon fluorides, formed in the manufacture of sulfur hexafluoride (see Japanese examined patent application JP 75-008040). It is not capable of removing oxygen and moisture.
Calcium hydride has been reported to react with water and carbon dioxide impurities in sulfur hexafluoride (see Japanese unexamined patent application JP 60-054723). Calcium hydride has a lower capacity for impurity removal than the product used in the present invention and is not reactive toward oxygen.


The technique is disclosed for detecting active ports of an electronic device. The electronic device comprises a plurality of ports, including a first port. A determination is automatically performed as to whether an external component is connected to the first port. The first port is identified as an active port in response to a determination that an external component is connected to the first port. If there no external component is connected to the first port, then the first port is identified as an inactive port. The inactive and active ports may then be distinguished and treated differently during subsequent control and/or management of the plurality of ports. According different implementations the first port may be identified as an active port in response to detection of a capacitive, resistive, and/or inductive load connected to the first port. The first port as may also be identified an active port in response to a determination that a current is flowing through the first port.

The present invention is related generally to sequencing devices, and more particularly to the sequencing technique with automated active port detection and sequencing.
Conventionally, sequencing circuits typically include a relatively small number of ports (e.g. 1–5 ports) for sequencing attached wires according to a predefined sequence. If more wires are needed to be sequenced, then two or more conventional sequencing units may be serially combined to produce a system which is able sequence the desired number of wires. For this reason, conventional sequencers having a relatively large number of sequencing ports (e.g. more than 5) are uncommon, since is it cheaper to combine a few smaller sequencing units than to manufacture a large sequencing unit.
One problem with conventional sequencing units is that they are not able to perform automatic wire detection. Without wire-detection, the device controlling the wires would produce "blanks" in the patterns, or points in the sequence where no wires are connected, when the sequencer attempts to turn on those wires. Another problem with conventional sequencing devices relates to zero-crossing issues, as described in greater detail in the Detailed Description Section of this application.
Accordingly, it will be appreciated that there exists a present need to improve upon conventional sequencing device designs in order to provide improved features and advantages.

Sequencer device with automated active port detection and sequencing


A multi-function hitch accessory retaining device and method which includes an assembly comprising a housing, receiver engagement pin, biasing mechanism, fastener, and coupling pin that is inserted into an accessory shank and configured to easily engage and disengage a conventional hitch receiver as well as a method of firmly securing the shank within the hitch receiver tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to trailer hitch accessories and, more particularly, to an improved accessory retaining device and method that provides a convenient and easy method of engaging and disengaging a hitch accessory's shank in a trailer hitch receiver tube as well as a method of firmly securing the shank within the hitch receiver tube.
2. Technical Considerations
Initially, vehicle trailer hitches were comprised of a tow ball fastened to a drawbar that was non-removably attached to the rear bumper or undercarriage of a vehicle. The drawbar and tow ball permanently protruded from the rear of the vehicle. A disadvantage of the hitch was that the drawbar could not be removed when the hitch was not in use. Oftentimes, individuals would injure their shins by bumping into the hitch when walking behind the vehicle. Owing to the hitch extending beyond the rear bumper, people would also oftentimes unintentionally back into objects causing property damage. In addition, the tow ball would often block the license plate on the rear of the vehicle and, thus, when not using the hitch for towing, the tow ball needed removed from the drawbar so as not to illegally obstruct the license plate. Removing the tow ball required the use of heavy tools not always readily available and was an inconvenient and time-consuming chore. As a result of these disadvantages, a much improved receiver-type hitch was developed that eliminated the described weaknesses and offered additional benefits as well. Consequently, the most common types of motor vehicle hitches in use today are receiver-type hitches.
Receiver-type hitch assemblies are well known and generally comprise a four-sided, hollow receiver tube connected to a support structure that is attached to a vehicle's frame rails. The hollow receiver tube is generally square in shape and rectangular in length. The receiver tube generally comprises at least two aligned apertures located in opposing sidewalls for receiving a hitch pin to secure a removable accessory within the receiver when the accessory's shank is inserted into the receiver and corresponding apertures in the accessory's shank are aligned with the apertures in the receiver. When a receiver-type hitch is attached to a vehicle's undercarriage, the receiver tube is generally located or positioned at the rear center of the vehicle underneath the rear bumper and generally does not extend beyond the most rearward portion of the vehicle. A benefit of a receiver-type hitch is that when a tow ball or other hitch accessory is not in use, the accessory can be removed from the receiver hitch.
Receiver-type hitch-mounted accessories comprise a four-sided shank with an external dimension slightly smaller than the internal dimension of the vehicle's hitch receiver tube, thus permitting the shank to be slidably inserted into the receiver tube. An accessory shank further comprises at least two aligned apertures located in opposing sidewalls for aligning with the apertures in the receiver's sidewalls to receive a hitch pin inserted through both the receiver and accessory shank, thereby securing the accessory in position within the vehicle's hitch receiver tube. Not only are receiver-type hitches useful for accommodating the connection of a drawbar and tow ball for towing, but receiver-type hitches have become a universal connection device or mechanism for attaching a variety of numerous automotive accessories to a vehicle, such as a bicycle carrier, ski rack, canoe rack, ladder rack, luggage rack, truck extension, spare tire carrier, gas can carrier, steps, carry all, ATV carrier, grill carrier, cargo basket, motorcycle carrier, wheelchair carrier, light bar, fishing rod carrier, tool carrier, salt spreader, and numerous other accessories.
While receiver-type hitches are extremely popular, there are two inherent shortcomings.
Firstly, with the hitch receiver tube located underneath the vehicle's rear bumper, the receiver tube is generally close to the ground and in an inconvenient location for detecting aperture alignment and pinning an accessory within the receiver. Based upon the inability to see the apertures for alignment, aligning the apertures in the accessory shank with the apertures in the receiver tube is generally a two-handed operation: one hand used to slowly insert the accessory shank into the receiver and the other hand used to feel with a finger or hold a pin in a receiver aperture to detect when the accessory apertures are aligned with the receiver apertures. Consequently, one must frequently kneel, or sometimes even lay, on the ground to align the apertures and pin the accessory to the hitch. This task becomes even more annoying and/or challenging in darkness, and/or in inclement weather.
Secondly, it is widely recognized that to permit ease of sliding ball mounts and other accessories into a hitch receiver, the outside dimension of the ball mount shank and accessory shank are slightly smaller than the inside dimension of the receiver tubes in which they are inserted. While this space is desirable for ease of attachment insertion and withdrawal, it is undesirable for achieving a snug connection. Too much space between a receiver tube and an accessory shank can cause the accessory to wobble beyond a tolerable amount, and the condition worsens the further an accessory extends from the receiver.
There have been several methods developed and patents issued addressing the two aforementioned shortcomings. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,598,897 B1 and 7,066,483 address methods of coupling a ball mount to a vehicle's hitch receiver. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,409,203 B1; 6,609,725 B1; 6,945,550 B2; 6,733,029 B2; and 7,338,065 B1 address methods of reducing accessory wobble or movement within a hitch receiver. While each of these referenced patents discloses assemblies addressing one of the two shortcomings noted in this application, none of these references resolves both shortcomings with a single assembly. Consequently, when choosing a product, consumers must decide between choosing a product that offers enhanced convenience in pinning the accessory to the receiver or one that reduces the wobble within the receiver.
The disclosure in this application is an advancement of the art and provides economic benefit by effectively resolving both shortcomings in a single assembly. This application teaches a hitch accessory coupling product and method that is a multi-function, self-aligning, self-engaging, and tightening hitch coupling assembly.
It is an aspect of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof for the purposes described which are inexpensive, dependable, and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.
These and other aspects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

Multi-function hitch accessory retaining device and method


A device for producing and processing food, in particular meat, includes at least one perforated plate (P) having holes through which the food can be pressed. The perforated plate, (P) is made of two parts, for example, a carrier and an insert, and a press element, for example, a blade which is guided along the insert, is associated with the insert. The insert deviates, in a minimal manner, with heat arising between the insert and the press element.

The invention relates to a device for the manufacture or processing of foodstuffs, in particular meat, having at least one perforated plate, through the holes of which the foodstuff is capable of being pressed, in conjunction with which a knife in a knife carrier with a cutting edge traveling along it is allocated to the perforated plate.
A device of this kind is already familiar under the designation of a grinder, for example. The perforated plate is present inside a housing, in conjunction with which, for example, a plurality of perforated plates can be connected one after the other, for example as depicted in DE 39 15 409 A1. Arranged ahead of each perforated plate is a rotating knife, which knives scrape across the perforated plate and/or an insert in the perforated plate with their blades and in so doing comminute the meat and press it through the holes in the perforated plate.
Perforated plates consisting of two parts have already existed for some time. For example, a perforated plate consisting of a carrier plate and a hardened steel plate inserted therein is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,695,898. In JP 3,217,255 A, a ceramic plate is applied to a carrier plate. A ceramic material is also used here for the knife blade.
The manufacture of the perforated disk and/or the knife completely from a ceramic material, or the manufacture of the knife and the perforated disk from a metal and the coating of the surfaces of the perforated disk and/or the knife with a ceramic material, is previously disclosed in DE 28 21 930 C1.
A knife which consists in its entirety of a ceramic material is disclosed, for example, in JP 3217255 A. A knife of this kind is exceptionally expensive and delicate, however. It is very hard, and as such it is also sensitive to shocks. The high hardness must be achieved at the expense of the stability of the cutting edge, because the greater hardness is also associated with greater brittleness of the material.
A device of the above-mentioned kind is previously disclosed in DE 44 37 144 A1. The knife in this case consists of a blade insert and a blade. The blade is held in the blade insert, which is itself made of plastic. The blade insert itself is guided in a readily movable and readily tiltable fashion within an axial opening of a wing, in order to permit complete contact by the blades on the perforated disk under the effect of the operating pressure of the product to be cut up.

Device for producing and processing food

Inotec GmbH & Co. Holding und Handels KG


A sewing machine controller comprises sewed cloth (107) moving in a plurality of sewing directions, a sewing machine motor 11 for moving a sewing machine needle (5) up and down for sewing the sewed cloth (107), direction change detection means for detecting a sewing direction of the sewed cloth (107) being changed, operation time detection means for detecting the operation time of the sewing machine motor (11), when the direction change detection means does not detect a change in the sewing direction, stop time detection means for detecting the stop time of the sewing machine motor, when the direction change detection means detects a constant sewing direction, stop time comparison means for comparing the stop time value with a first preset time value, when the sewing direction is constant, operation time comparison means for comparing the operation time value with a second preset time value, when the sewing direction is constant, and display means (35) for displaying the results of the stop time comparison means and the operation time comparison means.

This invention relates to an improvement in a sewing machine controller and more particularly to a sewing machine controller for computing work efficiency to sew a piece of cloth and determining whether or not the work efficiency or sewing is good, thereby improving the productivity of sewing.
A conventional sewing machine controller will be discussed with reference to FIG. 6. In the figure, a sewing machine 1 comprises a sewing machine mechanism section 9 containing a mechanism for forming seams on cloth 7 with a sewing machine needle 5 on the top of a sewing machine table 3, a sewing machine motor 11 for driving the sewing machine mechanism section 9, a cloth press section 13 for pressing and holding the cloth 7, a thread cutting mechanism 15 for cutting thread with which the cloth 7 is sewed, a pedal 19 having a signal generation section 17 for generating a thread cutting command given to the thread cutting mechanism 15 and turning and speed commands of the sewing machine motor 11, a sewing machine needle detector 21 for detecting the position of the sewing machine needle 5, thereby counting the number of sewing times of the sewing machine needle 5, and a controller 23 being disposed in a wing of the sewing machine table 3 for controlling the operation of the components.
The controller 23 comprises an operation command section 25 for generating sewing machine operation commands based on a signal of the depressing amount of the pedal 19 input from the signal generation section 17, a sewing machine needle 5 position detection signal input from the sewing machine needle detector 21, etc., a motor drive section 27 for driving the sewing machine motor 11 in response to output of the operation command section 25, a thread cutting drive section 29 consisting of a solenoid, etc., for driving the thread cutting mechanism 15 in response to output of the operation command section 25, a motor operation time counter 31 for integrating the on time of output of the motor drive section 27, a sewing machine operation time counter 33 for integrating the on time of an operation switch 23a of the controller 23, namely, the operation time of the controller 23, and a display section 35 for displaying both the motor operation time counter 31 and the sewing machine operation time counter 33 on a liquid crystal display, etc., through the operation command section 25.
The operation for sewing cloth 7 with the sewing machine configured as described above will be discussed with reference to FIG. 6. First, a worker places cloth 7 on the table 3 and presses and holds the cloth 7 under the cloth press section 13. The worker turns on the operation switch 23a of the controller 23. When the off-to-on transition of the signal is made, the sewing machine operation time counter 33 counts the on time of the controller 23 and the time is displayed on the display section 35 through the operation command section 25. The controller 23 is turned on only when the sewing machine 1 is operated, and is turned off when the sewing machine 1 stops. Thus, the integral of the operation time of the controller 23 is assumed to be the operation time of the sewing machine 1.
Next, to start sewing, the worker depresses the pedal 19. A signal is input through the signal generation section 17 to the operation command section 25 in response to the depressing amount of the pedal 19. The operation command section 25 turns the sewing machine motor 11 through the motor drive section 27 at the rotation speed responsive to the depressing amount of the pedal 19. The sewing machine motor 9 operates the needle 5 through the sewing machine mechanism section 9 for sewing the cloth 7. On the other hand, the motor operation time counter 31 counts the time during which the motor drive section 27 generates a motor turning command, and the count is displayed on the display section 35 through the operation command section 25.
At the termination of sewing the cloth 7, the worker takes his or her foot off the pedal 19. A stop signal is input from the pedal 19 through the signal generation section 17 to the operation command section 25, which then stops generating the motor operation command given to the motor drive section 27. In response to the stop signal, the motor operation time counter 31 stops counting and the count Ta is displayed on the display section 35.
Next, the worker kicks the pedal 19. A kick signal from the pedal 19 is input through the signal generation section 17 to the operation command section 25, which then gives a thread cutting signal to the thread cutting drive section 29 for operating the thread cutting mechanism 15 for cutting the thread.
Upon completion of a predetermined number of pieces of cloth 7 by repeating the operation of the sewing machine as described above, the worker turns off the power switch 23a. The sewing machine operation time counter 33 stops counting and the count To is displayed on the display section 35 through the operation command section 25.
Next, the work efficiency of the cloth 7 is determined by the actual work time and the stop time per piece of the cloth 7. First, the actual work time is found by dividing the integral value Ta of the motor operation time displayed on the display section 35 by the number of sewed pieces of cloth with a calculator, etc.
The stop time is assumed to be the stop time of the sewing machine 11. From the count To of the sewing machine operation time counter 33, the integral value Ta of the motor operation time, and the number of sewed pieces of cloth, n, the stop time per piece of cloth, tr=(To-Ta)/(n-1) is found. The finished cloth 7 is visually checked as quality inspection before shipment.
However, the conventional sewing machine controller involves a problem of improper grasping of work efficiency. First, the actual work time per piece is found from the operation time of the sewing machine 1 and the number of sewed pieces, but accurately the time to finishing of cloth 7 is not only the operation time of the sewing machine motor 11. That is, to finish cloth 7, the sewing direction is changed and the thread is cut after the sewing machine motor 11 is stopped; the time is also contained in the above-mentioned actual work time.
Second, since the total actual work time to finishing of one sewing product is found, the found time is not related to the form, sewing pattern, etc., of cloth 7. Thus, if the work time is determined to be long, which sewing part is the cause of prolonging the actual work time is not made clear; it is difficult to remove the cause for shortening the work time.
Third, since quality inspection is executed for weeding out defective items after cloth 7 is finished, the quality inspection step is also contained in the time to finishing of cloth 7; resultantly, the inspection step lowers the total work efficiency.
Fourth, for the worker to adjust the depressing amount of the pedal 19 of the sewing machine with his or her foot, it is empirically known that the worker needs also take care of his or her foot, lowering the work efficiency; the countermeasure is insufficient.


An occupant sensing apparatus for detecting a seated person on a seat includes a pressure switch disposed in the seat. The pressure switch has a pair of films and a pair of electrodes disposed between the films. The pair of electrodes are spaced in the films so as to define an OFF condition of the pressure switch. The pressure switch is in an ON condition when the electrodes contact each other. The occupant sensing apparatus further includes a controller connected to the electrodes of the pressure switch and determining whether the seat is occupied in accordance with the ON or OFF condition of the pressure switch.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an occupant sensing apparatus for detecting a seated person on a seat.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of an occupant sensing apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,243.
The occupant sensing apparatus includes a piezoelectric film sensor and a controller. The piezoelectric film sensor is disposed in a seat and is oscillated by a driving circuit. The controller is connected to the piezoelectric film sensor and monitors an oscillation value of the piezoelectric film sensor. When a person is seated on the seat, the piezoelectric film sensor contacts a contacting arm of the seat. Therefore, the oscillation value of the piezoelectric film sensor is attenuated. As a result, the controller determines a seated condition of the seat in accordance with the oscillation value of the piezoelectric film sensor.
However, the occupant sensing apparatus needs the driving circuit for oscillating the piezoelectric film sensor. Also, the piezoelectric film sensor is expensive. Therefore, the detecting apparatus becomes complicated and expensive.


A gas insulated switchgear has: circuit breakers, circuit breaker vessels, first disconnector and maintenance earthning switches connected to first bus bars connected to circuit breaker vessels and also to main bus bars, second disconnector and maintenance earthning switches connected to second bus bars connected to the circuit breaker vessels, circuit breaker operating mechanisms, first and second disconnector and maintenance earthning switch operating mechanisms, and first and second disconnector and maintenance earthning switch operation links for linking the disconnector and maintenance earthning switches and the operating mechanisms for three phases. The second disconnector and maintenance earthning switch operation links are arranged so as to pass through inter-phases of the first bus bars and the operating panels of the circuit breaker operating mechanism and the first and second disconnector and maintenance earthning switch operating mechanisms of each phase are arranged on a common flat plane.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a phase isolated type gas insulated switchgear containing components of each of three phases in separate vessels.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, gas insulated switchgears comprise devices containing a charging unit in a hermitically sealed metal vessel along with a highly insulating and arc-extinction insulation medium such as SF6 gas. If compared with air insulated switchgears, gas insulated switchgears can be remarkably downsized and hence can reduce the area of the installation site to a large extent by three-dimensionally arranging the circuit breakers, disconnectors and other required devices in order to reduce the gaps separating the devices. Additionally, since a gas insulated switchgear has a hermetically sealed structure, it provides an advantage of being scarcely influenced by external factors. For those reasons, gas insulated switchgears are being employed in substations and switching stations in and near large cities and also in costal regions from the viewpoint of poor availability of land and prevention of damages due to briny air.
Gas insulated switchgears of the categories of 72 kV to 300 kV containing the components of the three phases in a common vessel are being employed. However, in the voltage category of 240 kV and above, switchgears where the components of each of the three phases are separated from the components of the other phases are being popularly used in order to prevent problems of short-circuiting from taking place among the phases if a fault has occurred, because of the significance of such switchgears.
Such a phase isolated type gas insulated switchgear is typically connected to an operating mechanism comprising a power source and a control circuit of the power source for driving the internal electrodes of the circuit breakers. Similarly, the disconnector and maintenance earthning switch for the bus bar, the disconnector for the bus bar and the disconnector and maintenance earthning switch for the feeder line are connected to an operating mechanism for the disconnector and maintenance earthning switch, or an operating mechanism for the disconnector, whereas the fast earthning switch for the feeder line is connected to an operating mechanism for the fast earthning switch.
The inside of a gas insulated switchgear is filled with a gaseous insulating medium. The switchgear is equipped with a gas gauge for monitoring the pressure or the density of the internal gaseous insulating medium, because the insulation performance of the switchgear relies on the pressure or the density of the gaseous insulating medium. When a fast earthning switch is contained in a same gas division with a disconnector and maintenance earthning switch for a feeder line, a common gas gauge is used for monitoring the pressure or the density.
The operating mechanism needs to be driven or serviced by an operator and the reading of the gas gauge needs to be visually checked by the operator when driving or servicing, whichever appropriate, the gas insulated switchgear so that the gas gauge should be accessible to men.
As gas insulated switchgears are downsized in pursuit of economy, it becomes difficult to secure a space for monitoring and servicing operations where the operator can access and service the gas insulated switchgear. The net result is a degraded serviceability/operability. Differently speaking, the efforts for downsizing gas insulated switchgears confront limitations because a space needs to be secured for servicing operations. Thus, the need of such a space makes it difficult to realize an economic gas insulated switchgear.
A local control panel of a conventional gas insulated switchgear is normally separated from the switchgear itself. The local control panel contains the operation handles, or the switches, of the circuit breaker, the disconnector and the earthning switch of the feeder line and the circuits that electrically realize the interlocking requirements of the feeder line. The local control panel also contains a circuit for receiving and displaying electric signals from the detector for electrically detecting a defective condition of the gas insulated switchgear that may be a gas pressure decrease or a gas density decrease. The local control panel additionally contains an electric/electronic circuit for electrically transmitting information to the host system, a circuit for transmitting signals for driving the switches of the feeder line in response to a switch operation command from the host system, a power supply distributing circuit to be used to control/operate the feeder line.
Then, the operating mechanisms of all the circuit breakers, the disconnector and maintenance earthning switches and other devices and the gas gauge of the feeder line are electrically connected to the local control panel for controlling/monitoring the feeder line by way of a low voltage control cable. Ducts, trays, wire tubes and other incidental equipment for supporting and/or protecting the low voltage control cable are arranged between the gas insulated switchgear main body and the local control panel. A space is secured to install and operate the local control panel itself.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2-23008 (the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference) discloses a gas insulated switchgear that is devised to save space and show improved operability/serviceability. In the gas insulated switchgear disclosed in the above-cited Japanese Patent document, the disconnector and maintenance earthning switches are contained in the circuit breaker vessel and the tube table for leading out the drive shaft is extended so as to arrange the operating mechanisms to the front surface of the switchgear in a concentrated manner. However, the disclosed switchgear is of the three-phase common type and cannot be applied straightly to a switchgear where the disconnectors and the circuit breakers of each phase are separated from those of the other phases by gas compartments. Additionally, it is not possible to arrange the operating mechanisms in parallel in a horizontal direction with disclosed technique. Therefore, if the operating mechanisms of a phase isolated type gas insulated switchgear are arranged in a concentrated manner, the height of the operating mechanism side of the switchgear cannot be reduced and hence the efficiency of operation of the switchgear is not improved satisfactorily because the phase isolated type gas insulated switchgear has a height significantly greater than the three-phase common type switchgear (See FIG. 1 of the above-cited Japanese Patent document).


Apparatus and method for performing an equitable routing of calls within an automatic call distributor where calls are transferred to agent terminals from two sources, one controlled by switching equipment and the other controlled by a server. The server detects receipt of a call by a queue within the switching equipment and it determines whether other calls are waiting to be routed in the switching equipment. If other calls are waiting, the server withholds ready status of the agent terminals from the queue until the waiting calls are processed so that the switching equipment does not attempt to transfer calls from the source it controls, potentially conflicting with the waiting calls.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for delivery of calls from two different mechanisms (one of which is an automatic call distributor) in order to route calls robustly from customers to agents.
Automatic call distributors (ACDs), also referred to as automatic call distribution systems, are computerized queues which are an adjunct to a private branch exchange (PBX) and route calls from customers waiting in the queue to agents who are members of the queue. Such systems are used, for example, in a company""s customer service department receiving a high volume of calls. In order to efficiently process the incoming calls, the ACD selects an appropriate agent for a particular call and routes the call to a terminal for the agent. The agent terminal typically includes an associated computer so that the agent may access information from a database relevant to processing customer calls, such as relevant customer service information.
In some systems, incoming calls may be routed both by the ACDs within a PBX and other external processes. These external processes can achieve call control functionality at external control points within the PBX. However, if both the ACD and some external routing process attempt to simultaneously transfer calls to the same agent terminal, a situation referred to as a call collision may occur. In this situation, a call transferred from the ACD arrives first at the agent terminal and a time delay occurs in the external process being notified via a computer telephony integration (CTI) link that the agent terminal is busy. Before receiving the busy notification, the external routing process directs the PBX to route its call to the agent terminal as well, and that call will receive a busy signal, since the agent is processing the call from the ACD. Having received a busy signal, the call is unrecoverable from the PBX and hence lost, meaning that the caller must retry the call in order to obtain a connection with an agent. Lost calls reduce the effectiveness of an ACD in processing customer calls and result in poor customer service.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved method of routing calls in a telephone system and for routing of calls from multiple sources to agents.
A method consistent with the present invention includes detecting particular status changes of agent terminals and determining whether there are calls waiting to be routed by an external router process to the agent terminals. Based upon the determining, a particular status of agent terminals is selectively transmitted to switching equipment for use by the switching equipment in routing a call to one of the agent terminals.
An apparatus consistent with the present invention detects particular status changes of agent terminals and determines whether there are calls waiting to be routed by an external router process to the agent terminals. Based upon the determining, the apparatus selectively transmits a particular status of agent terminals to switching equipment for use by the switching equipment in routing the call to one of the agent terminals.

Method and apparatus for equitable call delivery


An apparatus is configured with a set of operating instructions and a sensor for monitoring an environment of the apparatus. The environment of the apparatus is monitored for compliance with the set of operating instructions.

The following description of background art may include insights, discoveries, understandings or disclosures, or associations together with disclosures not known to the relevant art prior to the present invention but provided by the invention. Some such contributions of the invention may be specifically pointed out below, whereas other such contributions of the invention will be apparent from their context.
A good condition of hoisting devices, such as bridge cranes and gantry cranes, is desirable in terms of both economic and security aspects. A fault of a hoisting device e.g. a fault in its brake, may lead to dropping of the load, which may cause damage to the hoisting device and/or danger to personnel working near the hoisting device. During maintenance, the hoisting device is not in productive use. From an economic point of view, the downtime of expensive machinery like the hoisting device should be kept as short and few as possible.
Maintenance of hoisting devices requires highly trained personnel, who may be servicing hoisting devices on a wide geographical area. Since there is only a limited number of capable maintenance personnel, there may be some delay involved between a detection of a maintenance need of a hoisting device, e.g. in case of a fault, and arrival of the maintenance personnel to servicing the hoisting device.
A maintenance plan of a hoisting device includes pre-scheduled maintenances specifying operations to be performed during maintenance. The maintenance plan tries to minimize faults of the hoisting device between the scheduled maintenances and thereby minimizing the downtime.
However, there may still be faults that occur between the scheduled maintenances, therefore requiring more visits by the maintenance personnel and decreasing the uptime of the hoisting device. These faults may be by nature such that they are difficult to detect by the maintenance personnel during the scheduled maintenances. The difficulty may follow from detection of the possible faults requiring a disproportional amount of time to be found, if there is any to be found. Accordingly, the extra time spent during maintenance for detecting faults may have a poor efficiency compared to the cost of the downtime of the hoisting device. The difficulty of detection of the faults may also follow from the faults being impossible to be detected by human eye or by conventional maintenance equipment carried by the maintenance personnel visiting the hoisting device.


A distillation apparatus includes a rectifying column, a stripping column, a first pipe that communicates a column top of the stripping column with a column bottom of the rectifying column, and a compressor configured to compress vapor from the stripping column and then to feed the compressed vapor to the rectifying column. The distillation apparatus further includes a heat exchanger located at a predetermined stage of the rectifying column, a liquid withdrawal unit located at a predetermined stage of the stripping column and configured to withdraw a part of liquid from the predetermined stage to an outside of the column, a second pipe that introduces the liquid from the liquid withdrawal unit to the heat exchanger, and a third pipe that introduces fluids introduced through the second pipe to the heat exchanger and then discharged out of the heat exchanger to a stage directly below the liquid withdrawal unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distillation apparatus that carries out a distillation operation widely applied to many industrial processes, and more particularly to a heat integrated distillation apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Distillation separation is a unit operation widely applied to industrial processes in general, but consumes a large amount of energy. In the industrial field, therefore, studies have been conducted on an energy saving distillation systems. Such studies have brought about development of a heat integrated distillation column (hereinafter, HIDiC) as a distillation apparatus that save much energy.
As shown in FIG. 1, a basic system of the HIDiC has a structure where a rectifying section (high-pressure unit) and a stripping section (low-pressure unit) are provided such that they are separate from each other. Operation pressure of the rectifying section is set higher than that of the stripping section so that the operation temperature of the rectifying section can be higher than that of the stripping section. This enables a reduction in the amount of heat that is supplied to a reboiler because heat transfer occurs from the rectifying section to the stripping section when there is a heat-exchange surface therebetween. Heat of the rectifying section moves to the stripping section, and hence the amount of heat that is supplied at a reboiler can be reduced. As a result, high energy saving distillation apparatus can be achieved.
In order to put the concept of HIDiC to practical use, a number of distillation apparatuses having double-pipe structures, that is, double-pipe structures constituted of inner pipes forming rectifying sections and outer pipes forming stripping sections (refer to JP2004-16928A) have been proposed. These configurations are described as being capable of reducing the amounts of heat that are supplied to the reboilers and the amounts of heat that are removed at the condensers, since heat transfer occurs from the rectifying sections (inner pipes) to the stripping sections (outer pipes).
However, the heat integrated distillation apparatus having the rectifying section and the stripping section formed into the double-pipe structures as discussed in Patent Literature 1 had the following problems 1) to 6).
1) The product cannot be obtained with side-cut stream. The side-cutting means that a product is withdrawn as an intermediate distillate product, during a distillation process until an end distillate is acquired from top of column.
In the distillation apparatus described in JP2004-16928A, the tube units of the double-pipe structures are arranged to come into contact with each other. Moreover, the outer pipes and the inner pipes are equipped with the structured packing. As a result, no pipe arrangement can be formed to withdraw any intermediate distillate product from the inner pipe of each tube unit. Consequently, the structure disables side-cutting.
2) The feed stage where feed stream is provided cannot be optimized. This is because in the rectifying section and the stripping section formed into the double-pipe structures, packing heights thereof are equal, disabling free setting of the number of stages of the rectifying section and the stripping section.
3) The feed stage cannot be changed so as to meet the feed stream composition. This is because of the structure where free setting of the feeding stage position is disabled as described in 2).
4) Multi-feed stream (reception of a plurality of feed streams) cannot be dealt with. This is because of the structure where no feed stream can be supplied in the midway of the double-pipes as described in 1).
5) Maintenance of the apparatus is difficult. The tube units that use the structured packing are densely arranged to be adjacent to each other as described in 1). This disables complete access to the desired tube unit, and maintenance thereof cannot be carried out.
6) The heat exchanged rate between the rectifying section and the stripping section that uses double-pipes and in which there is no a degree of freedom in design for designing the heat transfer area, depends only on the temperature profile of the distillation column. Hence, in apparatus design, a degree of freedom in design of heat exchanged rate is small.
Q, the heat exchanged rate between the rectifying section and the stripping section, is represented by Q=U×A×ΔT, where U is an overall heat-transfer coefficient, A is a heat transfer area, and ΔT is a temperature difference between the rectifying section and the stripping section. In the HIDiC using the double-pipe structure, an inner pipe wall surface becomes a heat transfer area. This heat transfer area has a fixed value determined by a structure of the double-pipes. The overall heat-transfer coefficient also has a fixed value determined by the heat transfer structure and fluid physical properties involved in heat exchange. Thus, as can be understood from the heat exchanged rate formula, a heat exchanged rate on design specification can be changed based only on the temperature difference between the rectifying section and the stripping section, which is changed by the operating pressure of the rectifying section and the stripping section.
As the heat integrated distillation apparatus that can solve the problem as described above, the present applicant has proposed the apparatus of JP4803470B.
FIG. 2 shows an example of the distillation apparatus disclosed in JP4803470B. The distillation apparatus includes rectifying column 1, stripping column 2 located higher than rectifying column 1, first pipe 23 for communicating column top 2c of the stripping column with column bottom 1a of the rectifying column, and compressor 4 configured to compress vapor from column top 2c of the stripping column to feed the compressed vapor to column bottom 1a of the rectifying column. The distillation apparatus further includes tube-bundle-type heat exchanger 8 located at a predetermined stage of rectifying column 1, liquid withdrawal unit 2d located at a predetermined stage of stripping column 2 and configured to withdraw a part of liquid from the predetermined stage to the outside of the column, second pipe 24 for introducing the liquid from liquid withdrawal unit 2d to heat exchanger 8, and third pipe 25 for introducing fluids introduced through second pipe 24 to heat exchanger 8 and then discharged out of heat exchanger 8 to a stage directly below liquid withdrawal unit 2d.
In the heat integrated distillation apparatus according to the constitution of the present invention, the fluids flow from stripping column 2 to heat exchanger 8 of rectifying column 1 through second pipe 24. Heat is removed from the vapor of rectifying column 1 in heat exchanger 8. Then, the heat can be transferred from rectifying column 1 to stripping column 2 through third pipe 25. The fluids flow from stripping column 2 to rectifying column 1 by gravity. The fluids in heat exchanger 8 are accordingly pushed to flow from rectifying column 1 to stripping column 2. In other words, this heat integrated distillation apparatus employs a thermo-siphon system, and hence no pressure-feeding means such as a pump is necessary for supplying the liquid from rectifying column 1 to stripping column 2 located above in a vertical direction.
With the above described apparatus configuration, which transfers heat from rectifying column 1 to stripping column 2 by using second pipe 24, third pipe 25 and heat exchanger 8, as compared with a distillation apparatus including no such heat transfer configuration, the heat exchanged rate removed from condenser 7 attached to the column top of rectifying column 1 can be reduced more, and the heat exchanged rate that is supplied to reboiler 3 attached to the column bottom of stripping column 2 can be reduced more. As a result, a distillation apparatus that is very high in energy efficiency can be provided.
Rectifying column 1 and stripping column 2 can be configured by using trayed sections or packed bed sections similar to those of a general distillation apparatus. Hence, the apparatus can deal with side cutting or multi-feed stream without the need for any improvement, and it is possible to easily perform maintenance of the apparatus. For the same reason, the number of stages of the rectifying column or the stripping column can be freely set, and a feed stage can be optimized.
A heat transfer area can be freely set, and hence the heat exchanged rate can be determined without any dependence on the temperature difference between the columns.
As described above, according to the apparatus example described in JP4803470B (FIG. 2), energy efficiency is high, side-cutting and setting of a feed stage position can be easily dealt with, and maintenance of the apparatus is easy. Further, the apparatus of the present invention has a structure in which a degree of freedom in design is high, and hence can be easily accepted by the user side.
Concerning the distillation apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the present inventors aim at further enhancement in energy efficiency, and consider that the distillation apparatus still has a room to be improved.
In other words, in the distillation apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the following method is adopted. Part or whole of the liquid in an arbitrary stage of stripping column 2 is withdrawn through pipe 24 outside the column, and is supplied to tube-bundle-type heat exchanger 8 located at an arbitrary stage of rectifying column 1, where heat exchange is performed. Thereafter, the liquid and vapor in heat exchanger 8 of rectifying column 1 pass through pipe 25 outside the column to return to directly below the above described liquid withdrawal position of stripping column 2 by the thermo-siphon effect, without being given energy from the outside by a pump or the like. Such circulation of the fluids is performed.
In such a method, a liquid head is needed at the supply side of tube-bundle-type heat exchanger 8 (pipe 24 outside the column) in order to perform circulation of the fluids by the thermo-siphon effect. In other words, as the portions extending in the vertical direction, of pipes 24 and 25 become long correspondingly to the distance (height) between liquid withdrawal position X from stripping column 2 and heat exchanger installation position Y of rectifying column 1, pressure loss through pipe 25 increases. Hence, in order to circulate the fluids by surpassing this, the liquid head based on the inlet position of heat exchanger 8 (end portion of pipe 24 connected with heat exchanger 8) also becomes large. In the tube of heat exchanger 8, however, the pressure becomes high and the boiling point increases due to the increase in the liquid head. Therefore, the temperature difference between the inside of the tube and the outside (shell) of the tube in heat exchanger 8 becomes small correspondingly to the increase of the boiling point. In order to compensate this, a necessity arises to increase the pressure of rectifying column 1, that is, to increase the temperature in rectifying column 1 by increasing the compression ratio of compressor 4. Thus, there is a room to be improved from the viewpoint of energy saving performance.
In addition, in the distillation apparatus shown in FIG. 2, such a state is brought about that the vapor rate and the liquid rate are small in the vicinity of column top 1c of rectifying column 1. In the vicinity of column bottom 1a of rectifying column 1, the vapor rate and the liquid rate are large. Thus, if the column diameter of rectifying column 1 is designed based on the vapor rate and the liquid rate in column bottom 1a of rectifying column 1, the column diameter becomes excessive in the vicinity of column top 1c. Meanwhile, such a state is brought about that in the vicinity of column top 2c of stripping column 2, the vapor rate and the liquid rate are large, and in the vicinity of column bottom 2a of stripping column 2, the vapor rate and the liquid rate are small. Therefore, as in the case of rectifying column 1, if the column diameter of stripping column 2 is designed based on the vapor rate and the liquid rate at column top 2c of stripping column 2, the column diameter becomes excessive in the vicinity of column bottom 2a. Therefore, there is also a room to be improved from the viewpoint of the structure and manufacturing cost.


The invention provides a compact spray nozzle having an improved tip for reproducibly forming droplets from small amounts of liquid with improved operational stability and spray pattern quality compared to prior art atomizing devices. The invention further provides a method for manufacturing the nozzle tip by machining comprising the step of machining the orifice and the inner section and/or the centering section in one setup.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a spray nozzle having an improved tip and its method of manufacture for providing a repeatable performance in terms of droplet size and spatial droplet distribution. The invention is particularly suitable for the fine atomization of small amounts of liquids.
2. Background of the Invention
Spray nozzles are used to spray small amounts of liquids in various applications, such as medical nebulizers, chemical analysis of liquid samples, spray drying and coating medical devices.
Such spray nozzles generally comprise a body with a liquid line and a removable tip having a central orifice provided at the atomizing end, which extends to an inner section. The spray nozzle may also include one or more passages for an atomizing fluid, which may be expelled through an annular gap or gas annulus provided between the body orifice and the tip orifice to disintegrate the liquid. Spray nozzles using compressed gas to disintegrate a liquid are also referred to as twin-fluid nozzles.
Optimum atomization and particle transport efficiencies generally depends on the spatial characteristics of the spray plume and on the droplet size which, in turn, depends on the roundness of tip orifice and concentricity between the tip orifice and inner section. This is particularly true, when an atomizing gas is provided through a comparatively small annular gap, which often has a width on the order of only 20 to 250 micrometers.
However, the lack of concentricity between the inner section and orifice of the tip is a common problem of prior art spray nozzles having comparatively small orifices. FIG. 1 depicts an enlarged view of a tip of an exemplary spray nozzle having a conical inner section extending to an orifice. It can be seen that the orifice 16 of the tip 3 is not concentric with respect to the inner surface 72 of the tip. In this example there is an eccentricity of 0.04 mm between axis of inner section 71 and axis of tip orifice 70.
Inner section-orifice eccentricity may result from machining the orifice and inner section of the tip in different setups. A further problem associated with conventional atomizing devices are imperfections of the orifices in terms of roundness and surface quality. The orifices are generally manufactured using conventional manufacturing procedures such as drilling. For instance, drilling of small holes can lead to spiral marks and burrs and may require secondary procedures such as electropolishing which, in turn, may result in manufacturing tolerance variations and/or out-of-roundness of the orifice. When manufacturing a series of spray nozzles comprising comparatively small orifices using current machining procedures the reproducibility within a badge may therefore not be assured. In addition, with current spray nozzles there is a risk of misalignment during disassembling and reassembling of the nozzle resulting in poor concentricity of the body in relation to the tip orifice. Thus, devices, even of the same type, often will have different spray characteristics resulting from very minor variations in terms of concentricity of tip orifice and inner section, orifice roundness and surface quality. To visualize the effect of an eccentricity between inner section of tip and tip orifice on the spray characteristics of a twin-fluid nozzle, the velocity distribution of the fluid exiting the tip orifice has been simulated using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software. FIG. 2A is a scalar representation and FIG. 2B is a vector representation of the fluid exiting the annular gap. Despite the optimum roundness and equal width of the tip orifice, there is an inhomogeneous velocity distribution at the annular gap, which is caused by a small eccentricity between the inner section of the tip and the tip orifice.
The spray performance in terms of symmetric spatial droplet distribution and tight droplet size distribution of spray nozzles is closely related to the roundness and concentricity of tip orifice and inner section of tip. In case of twin-fluid atomizers, any imperfection and eccentricity between the axes of the liquid orifice and the tip can cause the flow of the atomizing gas to be cylindrically asymmetric with respect to the axis of the liquid exiting from the liquid orifice. Hence, inhomogeneous gas velocities within the annular gap, as illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, will lead to nebulization by the atomizing gas that is different on different sides of the spray plume. Consequently, poor spray stability and droplets that are too large and polydisperse in size may result in poor reproducibility and often poor stability during operation which, in turn, may lead to coating defects or reduced sample analysis efficiency.

Spray nozzle with improved tip and method of manufacture


In prior art face guard mounting technology, the guard is attached to the helmet by four attachment straps. This invention pertains to improving the way that the guard is mounted to only the sides of the helmet. Each prior art side attachment strap is in the form of a single loop that encircles the rear most bar of the guard. The prior art design holds the guard to the helmet restricting the guard from moving only in the direction that the side attachment strap points in. However, the prior art side attachment has no means of restricting the guard from moving down through the loop in the side attachment strap, nor does it keep the guard from rattling, tilting or moving up and down on the helmet. The present invention side attachment strap provides a means of restricting the guard from getting moved around on the helmet. The improved side attachment strap eliminates the problems encountered by the prior art design by containing two loops, with a 90 degree angle between the loops. The first loop encircles the rear most vertical bar of the guard, restricting the guard from moving in the fore and aft directions, while the second loop encircles the lowest horizontal bar, of the rear section of the guard, restricting the guard from moving in the vertical direction. The invention when mounted on the helmet, takes the form of the letter "L" rotated about the X axis 180 degrees and rotated about the Y axis 90 degrees.

The present invention pertains to securing a face guard to a football helmet so that the guard is restricted from moving in all directions.
A football helmet is a plastic shell that protects ones head while playing the game of football. This shell, however, leaves the face unprotected. Thus, a grid-like series of plastic coated metal bars is attached to the helmet on the top and on the sides to protect the face. However, the face guard can also be constructed of just plastic segments. Football is a collision sport and this system of the helmet, face guard and attachments must withstand all blows encountered by the player and distribute and redirect these forces away from the player's face and head.
Two prior art patents which disclose mounting systems for mounting a face guard to a football helmet are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,086,664 and 4,633,531, herein incorporated by reference. In both of these face guard mounting systems are disclosed wherein the side attachment straps provide no means of restricting the face guard from moving through the loops of the prior art side attachment straps upon contact. The direction of this movement is perpendicular to the direction that the prior art side attachment straps are pointing in. U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,664 has its side attachments mounted in compression and U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,531 has its side attachment straps mounted in tension; however, it turns out that this problem of movement through the loops is not restricted to one attachment method, tension or compression, but rather a problem in that neither method restricts the movement in all directions.
In prior art face guard mounting assemblies, the face guard is considered to be hinged, about a horizontal axis, by the two front attachments. This allows, if the side attachments were not in place, for the guard to be swung in an arc pattern on the helmet in the fore and aft directions. Thus, if the side attachments were not in place and the face guard was pushed back from its designated position on the helmet, it would swing angularly upward toward the rear of the helmet in an arc pattern. The face guard is attached to the helmet by two front attachments and by a single attachment on each side of the helmet.
Background information is also needed on where the prior art side attachment strap is placed and in what direction it restricts the face guard from moving. The face guard has a rear portion that extends over the ear flaps of the helmet shell. This rear portion is comprised of a lower and an upper bar, that bend angularly upward towards the rear of the helmet, these bars project from the main frame of the face guard. The lower of these two horizontal bars has a bar stemming from it, at approximately a 90 degree angle, forming an "L" shape, that is upwardly inclined toward the top of the face guard. This upwardly inclined bar connects to the upper horizontal bar and then connects to the top of the face guard; thus, completing the rear portion of the face guard. These two horizontal bars and the upwardly inclined bar, that connects the two, form the rear portion of the face guard that gets secured to the helmet. The 90 degree angle, although it could conceivably vary between approximately 65 and 115 degrees, referred to above, is a constant on all of the face guards that the leading manufacturer, Schutt, produces. The improved side attachment strap utilizes the consistency of this angle, enabling it to be used on all of these face guards. However, the lower angle that is formed between the top-most horizontal bar and the upwardly inclined bar, of the rear section of the guard, does not remain constant on each of the fifty-one different face guards that Schutt manufactures.
The designed placement of the prior art side attachment strap is as close as possible to the lowest of the two horizontal bars that comprise the rear portion of the guard. The horizontal bars are slightly angularly inclined upwardly toward the rear of the helmet, and the prior art side attachment straps should follow this inclined path toward the rear of the helmet. The prior art side attachment straps were designed to Sit as close as possible to the lower of the two horizontal bars of the rear section of the guard; this is because the top front two attachments act as a hinge for the face guard. Thus, it is better when the prior art side attachment strap is lower because there is a longer moment arm to absorb the impact.
The two prior art side attachment straps secure each rear portion of the guard to the helmet. Each prior art side attachment strap consists of a single loop that encircles the vertically inclined bar of the rear portion of the guard. Therefore, each prior art side attachment strap restricts the guard from moving only along the arc pattern that is set up as a result of the guard being hinged at the top of the helmet by the front two attachments.
However, the prior art side attachment strap has no means of restricting the upwardly inclined bar of the rear portion of the guard from being moved down, upon contact, through the single loop of the prior art side attachment strap. The bar moving down through the side attachment loop could be looked at on some helmet systems, as a tilting phenomenon. Since the guard is attached by the two front attachments at the top of the helmet, both sides of the face guard cannot get moved down; however, one side of the guard can slide down through the loop upon contact approximately one inch. Thus, the guard appears to be slightly tilted on the helmet. This movement is both a safety problem and an enormous inconvenience to the player. A major safety problem is that unexpected stresses could be set up in the helmet, face guard or in the prior art side attachment straps that could cause any or all of them to fail. When one rear portion of the guard moves down approximately one inch, the chin strap buckle gets covered over, which does not allow the chin strap buckle to be disengaged from the chin strap snap until the equipment manager loosens the prior art side attachment straps and readjusts the face guard on the helmet. This is very inconvenient to the player and the equipment manager; because, when one's chin strap moves from the original place that it was adjusted to, which often occurs, the player cannot readjust the chin strap himself. A safety problem hazard is if the chin strap had to be removed from the player in an emergency, the process would be delayed because of this movement. Also, the prior art side attachment strap allows the guard to shake and rattle around during the course of play, which is very distracting to a player during game situations.


An engine control system includes a starting module, a position module, and a deactivation module. The starting module determines when a crankshaft starts to rotate and activates a control valve of a fuel pump when the crankshaft starts to rotate. The position module determines a position of the crankshaft and determines a position of a camshaft based on the position of the crankshaft. The camshaft drives the fuel pump. The deactivation module deactivates the control valve when the position module determines the position of the camshaft.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A fuel system delivers fuel to a direct injection engine at an injection pressure. For example, the injection pressure may include a range of 5-12 Megapascals (MPa). The fuel system may include a fuel tank, a low-pressure pump, a high-pressure pump, a fuel rail, and fuel injectors. The low-pressure pump delivers fuel from the fuel tank to the high-pressure pump. A camshaft may drive the high-pressure pump to pressurize fuel to the injection pressure. The high-pressure pump delivers fuel at the injection pressure to the fuel injectors via the fuel rail. The high-pressure pump may include a fuel supply control valve (hereinafter "control valve"). The control valve regulates an amount of fuel flowing from the low-pressure pump into the high-pressure pump. An engine control module actuates the control valve to regulate the injection pressure in the fuel rail. The engine control module may actuate the control valve based on a position of the camshaft relative to a position of a crankshaft.

Asynchronous control of high-pressure pump for direct injection engines


A control valve (12) for applying a spring-loaded brake pressure (p3b) to spring-loaded parts of a rear-axle wheel brake is provided. The control valve (12) is activatable pneumatically via a second control input (12b) with a parking-brake control pressure (p5). The parking-brake control pressure (p5) can act in such a manner on a control mechanism (14b, 15b, 17c, 22, 23, 24) arranged in a valve housing (12f) of the control valve (12) that a spring-loaded brake pressure (p3b) arises at a control output (12c) of the control valve (12) as a function of the parking-brake control pressure (p5) for bringing about a parking-brake braking specification with the spring-loaded parts of the rear-axle wheel brakes. The control valve (12) has a first control connection (12a) connectable to an adjustable first control chamber (14a), which is operatively connected to the control mechanism (14b, 15b, 17c, 22, 23, 24).

Conventional electronically controllable brake systems have pressure modulators which are assigned to the individual vehicle axles and are activated electrically during normal operation in order to implement a certain service-brake braking specification at the respective wheels in a service-brake circuit. The electric control takes place from a central module which activates the respective pressure modulators via a control signal corresponding to the service-brake braking specification.
In the event of an electric failure or defect of said electric activation, the pressure modulators are conventionally provided with pneumatic redundancy. For this purpose, a pneumatic control pressure can be transmitted to pneumatic redundancy connections of the respective pressure modulators by a service-brake valve which receives the service-brake braking specification from the driver. In the event of a failure or a defect in the electrically controlled implementation of the braking operation, said pressure modulators ensure air quantity boosting of the control pressure and application of a brake pressure to the respective service brakes. Pneumatic redundancy can thereby be formed.
Furthermore, in addition to the service-brake circuit, such brake systems have a parking-brake circuit in which a parking-brake brake specification from the driver can be received via a parking-brake valve. As a result, a parking-brake control pressure is output by the parking-brake valve to a control valve and, via the latter is output as a spring-loaded brake pressure with air quantity boosting to spring-loaded parts of the wheel brakes, preferably the rear-axle wheel brakes. The spring-loaded parts are, as is known, constructed in such a manner that they are applied by means of spring pretensioning when the spring-loaded brake pressure is low and, when the spring-loaded brake pressure is higher, are opened counter to the spring pretensioning. Therefore, at least at the rear wheels, a braking action can be achieved via a membrane part as a function of the membrane braking pressure output—electrically or pneumatically redundantly by the rear-axle pressure modulator, and via the spring-loaded part as a function of the spring-loaded brake pressure.
A disadvantage in this connection is that, in order to form the pneumatic redundancy at the rear axle, pressure modulators which can be activated pneumatically are required. Said pressure modulators, firstly, are constructed in a technically complicated manner and, secondly, a high outlay has to be expended on laying pressure lines to the rear axle, said pressure lines being required only for the redundancy.

Control valve, electronically controllable braking system, and method for controlling the electronically controllable braking system


Apparatus and methods for the automated non-destructive inspection of wind turbine blades. In one embodiment, the automated apparatus includes: a cart comprising a cart frame, a multiplicity of wheels, and a cart motor for driving rotation of at least one wheel; a multiplicity of cables depending from the cart; a multiplicity of crawler vehicles respectively attached to the multiplicity of cables, each crawler vehicle comprising a crawler vehicle frame and a set of wheels; and a multiplicity of maintenance tools respectively coupled to the crawler vehicle frames of the multiplicity of crawler vehicles. The crawler vehicles are equipped with suction devices to enable adherence to the surface and may be configured for holonomic motion during such adherence.

This disclosure generally relates to automated systems for carrying maintenance tools across surfaces, such maintenance tools including (but not limited to) sensors used in non-destructive inspection (NDI). In particular, this disclosure relates to tool-carrying crawler vehicles that are capable of operating on a non-level surface.
A typical wind turbine has a multiplicity of blades extending radially outward from a central hub, to which the roots of the blades are attached. Wind turbine blades are typically made of laminated fiber-reinforced plastic material and designed so that wind energy is converted into rotational motion efficiently. Blade efficiency is generally dependent upon blade shape and surface smoothness. However, during operation the wind turbine blades may be exposed to debris that has the potential to reduce wind turbine efficiency or may be subjected to damage that has the potential to adversely affect structural integrity. Thus, it is common practice to visually inspect the exterior of each blade to identify potential structural anomalies or perform some other maintenance operation on the exterior, such as cleaning.
It is known to manually inspect and clean wind turbine blades by hoisting a person to a position adjacent to each blade via suspension from the tower, the hub, or a proximately located crane. However, manual blade inspection and cleaning can be time-consuming and difficult operations. To mitigate the drawbacks of manual inspection and cleaning, various solutions involving an apparatus configured to travel in a spanwise direction along the length of a wind turbine blade have been proposed. However, there is ample scope for improvements in the state of this art.

Apparatus and methods for maintenance of wind turbine blades


An X-ray mask, which is used in transferring an image formed on a patterned mask to a wafer by exposing the mask with an X-ray, comprises a supplementary substrate attached to the back side of a support ring for preventing a thermal distortion of the X-ray mask due to the difference of thermal coefficient of expansion between a mask substrate and the support ring and for improving the resistance to the external mechanical stress, the supplementary substrate being made of the same material as the mask substrate and obtained through the same processing steps as the mask substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an X-ray mask used in transferring an image to a wafer by exposing the mask with an X-ray through the mask having a pattern of the image. The present invention is also applied to masks for an electron-beam cell projection lithography and for an ionbeam lithography as well as to the x-ray mask.
2. Description of the Related Arts
FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of a conventional X-ray mask. The X-ray mask comprises a main substrate 1A which is formed by forming X-ray transparent thin films 2A and 2B on the top and bottom surfaces of a mask substrate 1, a thin membrane 4 having a thickness of about 2 micron which can be obtained by eliminating the bottom of the mask substrate 1 in order to improve the optical transparentness, an absorber 3 for effectively interrupting the transmission of the X-ray by absorbing the X-ray, and a support ring 5 attached to the bottom of the main substrate 1A for mechanical stability and convenient handling. The membrane 4, which is a chip site region where designed device patterns are located, has a micropatterned absorber of 0.15 micron line width. Accordingly, it is required to make minimum the stress distortion and the thermal distortion of the membrane, and to improve the flatness of the membrane. In the measurement of the flatness and the distortion, parameters of OPD (Out-of-Plane Distortion) and IPD (In-Plane Distortion) are typically used. These parameters are greatly influenced by each processing step such as: the formation of the membrane through the deposition of the Xray transparent thin film and back-etching of the mask substrate; the attachment of the support ring; the micropatterning of the absorber onto the membrane; and a mounting of the final mask to an X-ray stepper.
FIG. 2 is a back plan view of the conventional X-ray mask. The X-ray mask can be obtained by depositing an Xray transparent thin film on the mask substrate-1 and by attaching the support ring 5 to the back side of the main substrate 1A. However, because the thermal coefficient of expansions TCES of the support ring 5 and of the main substrate are different, if the mask experiences any temperature variation after being attached to the support ring, the main substrate may be distorted in a convex manner as shown in FIG. 3A or in a concave manner as shown in FIG. 3B. The distortion of the main substrate significantly degrades a pattern position accuracy and an overlay accuracy. Therefore, it is very important to properly select the material and the structure of the mask substrate, the X-ray transparent thin film and the support ring.
As an instance, the thermal coefficient of expansion of a silicon wafer typically used as the mask substrate is 2.6.times.10.sup.-6 /.degree.C., and a pyrex used as the support ring has a TCE of 3.6 10.sup.-6 /.degree.C. greater than the mask substrate. Accordingly, when the support ring is attached to the back surface of the main substrate by using an anodic boding carried out in a temperature of approximately 300.degree. C., and the assembly is cooled in room temperature, thermal from the difference of the TCEs is very great.
As exclaimed before, the distortion from the difference of the TCE is inevitable as long as the interfaces between physically different materials such as the mask substrate and the support ring exist. If the silicon wafer typically used as the mask substrate is used as the support ring, the thermal distortion can be enhanced but its mechanical strength is not enough to support the substrate.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A hair sculpting device that creates a wave-like pattern of hair by utilizing a plurality of long and short bristles in a repeating pattern, while penetrating the user's scalp to release oils that cultivate hair follicles in a wave like pattern.

The following description is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the present invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art. Any publications cited in this description are incorporated by reference herein. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
A hairbrush is a stick brush with rigid or soft bristles used in hair care for smoothing, styling, and detangling human hair, or for grooming an animal's fur. It can also be used for styling in combination with a curling iron or a hair dryer. Proper hair brushing and scalp massaging are two of the most important elements in the maintenance and rejuvenation of healthy hair. Most hair sculpting devices such as hairbrushes can be quite damaging to one's hair. Furthermore, brushing with synthetic bristles causes friction on hair, leading to cuticle damage and breakage. In addition, many individuals prefer to use hair sculpting devices that are healthy to their hair while producing some waves in hair. However, too much brushing can cause the hair to become thinner. Furthermore, excessive brushing of one's hair does not create a wave like pattern. One goal is to produce waves in the hair, yielding thick and healthy-looking hair. Currently, hair sculpting devices use bristles that are manufactured for purposes of causing hair follicles to lay flat after brushing. These are conventional brushes that accomplish the task of detangling hair, but typically these brushes do not provide all the benefits that one may desire in a brush, such as penetrating the scalp, promoting the distribution of oils in the hair for even growth, and creating wave-like pattern styling.
Therefore, there exists a need for a hair sculpting device, that without adding additional products can allow consumers to brush hair to create a wave-like pattern while also penetrating the scalp to release and promote oil distribution from the brush without incorporating secondary materials.


A method and apparatus for analyzing a bit stream having an unknown format that is conveyed through a communications network. The method includes the steps of: (a) storing a plurality of sequentially occurring bits received from a communications network; (b) analyzing a plurality of the stored bits to detect periodicities in the bits; and (c) determining if the detected periodicities exhibit characteristics associated with a known type of data communications format, particularly a synchronous time-division-multiplexed (TDM) data communications format or a packetized data communications format. The step of analyzing includes a step of performing a statistical analysis of the stored bits.

Known types of computer/communications network monitors are available to provide on-line analysis of bit-error-rates (BERs). Also, protocol analyzers are available for Wide Areas Networks (WANs) and Local Area Networks (LANs) that provide simulated network components, perform BER tests, and perform link level performance analysis. However, these conventional types of monitors and analyzers work only with known communications protocols.
Examples of conventional systems include the following. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,537 there is described a method for in-service measurement of the BER of a data stream in a digital communications circuit. This method is said to allow bit error rates to be measured without the need to insert a known test signal onto the communications channel. This is accomplished through the use of two, synchronized test sets to recover and compare block-check codes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,916,694 there is described a method for measuring the statistics of traffic loading on a packet network without actually decoding the data. This is accomplished by detecting the presence of a signal carrier on a packet network, and recording the time of the detected event. This approach assumes the presence of an ON/OFF carrier where the carrier in ON only when a packet is being sent. That is, this patent does not consider the case of a synchronous circuits where there is a continuous carrier. The method described by this patent does not attempt to identify the protocol or its characteristics.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,792,753 there is described a system for accomplishing an automatic, real-time analysis of traffic loading on a local area network by recovering individual packets, and measuring a time between packets and packet length. However, this approach requires specific, a priori knowledge of the packet structure.
What is not provided by known types of network and protocol analyzers, and what is thus a first object of the invention to provide, is a method and apparatus to recover data format and network protocol information from a data stream for a case where the specific protocols on the network under examination are unknown, and in fact, may never have been previously encountered by an operator analyst.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus whereby an operator analyst is enabled to detect and observe various elements that are common to many time-division-multiplex (TDM) and packet protocol formats.


A nonvolatile memory has pairs of cells in which each cell includes a control gate, a floating gate and a source/drain diffusion. A first cell in each of the pairs is producible to have one value of floating-gate to diffusion capacitance. A second cell in each of the pairs is producible to have a second value of floating-gate to diffusion capacitance different from the first value. The memory includes a first circuit for applying a first erasing pulse to the control gates and the diffusions of the first cells of the pairs and includes a second circuit for applying a second erasing pulse to the control gates and the diffusions of the second cells of the pairs. The first erasing pulse is adjustable to have a different magnitude than the second erasing pulse in order to narrow the margin of erased threshold voltages and thereby compensate for misalignment.

The present invention relates to a nonvolatile, integrated-circuit memory array such as an electrically-erasable, electrically-programmable read-only-memory (EEPROM) array, and more particularly to an EEPROM array in which the memory cells are erased by Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling.
EEPROMs employing single transistor memory cells, using hot-carrier injection for programming and Fowler-Nordheim tunnelling for erasure have been described in: (a) "A Single Transistor EEPROM cell and its implementation in a 512K CMOS EEPROM", S. Mukherjee et al., IEDM 1985 (p. 616-619); and (b) "A 90ns 100K Erase/Program Cycle Megabit Flash Memory", V. Kynett et al., ISSCC 1989 (p. 140-141). Reference (a) is also discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,787.
During cell erasing, appropriate erasing voltages applied to the control-gates/wordlines and the source lines allow removal of a selected charge from the floating gate. Normally, all control gates are grounded during erase operation of a flash EEPROM or, in the alternative, all control gates have the same negative voltage applied.
The erase voltage threshold Vt window of a flash EEPROM is affected by the amount of source/drain diffusion that underlaps the floating gate on, for example, the source side. Field-oxide rounding results in different amounts of underlap depending on how much of the gate resides over the rounded edge of the field oxide. Because of misalignment, the amount of underlap differs between alternate rows of cells, where the cells are constructed in the manner described above-listed references. If the identical erasing pulses are used to erase all of the rows of cells, a bimodal, with possibly wide-margin, distribution of voltage thresholds Vt results. The bimodal distribution adversely affects the reading and programming operations of the nonvolatile memory.
Accordingly, a need exists for a circuit to correct, or narrow the margin of, the bimodal distribution of voltage threshold characteristics caused by different underlap in misaligned alternating rows of cells.

EEPROM array with narrow margin of voltage thresholds after erase


An apparatus for testing a semiconductor package including a shuttle, a socket and a pressing unit may be provided. The shuttle may include a pocket, which is configured to receive the semiconductor package and a printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB may be configured to make electrical contact with the semiconductor package. The socket may be arranged under the shuttle and include socket pins configured to make electrical contact with the PCB. The pressing unit may be arranged on the shuttle and may be movable in a vertical direction. The pressing unit may press on the shuttle toward the socket such that the semiconductor package may be electrically connected to the socket pins. Because the semiconductor package received in the shuttle may make contact with the socket at the testing region to test the semiconductor package, the semiconductor package may not fall off or may not be slanted.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to apparatuses for testing a semiconductor package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, after manufacturing a semiconductor package, an electrical test of the semiconductor package may be performed. The electrical test may include making the semiconductor package contact a socket, and supplying a test current to the semiconductor package through the socket.
According to related arts, a robot may load the semiconductor package into a shuttle in a loading region. The shuttle may be transferred to a testing region where the socket may be positioned. A pressing unit may press the semiconductor package toward the socket in the testing region so that contact the semiconductor package electrically contacts the socket. The test current may be supplied to the semiconductor package through the socket. The shuttle may be transferred back to an unloading region. The robot may unload the tested semiconductor package from the shuttle. In order to transfer the semiconductor package between the loading region and the testing region, and the testing region and the unloading region, the robot may transfer the semiconductor package using vacuum.
However, when a vacuum line malfunctions, the semiconductor package may fall off. Further, when the pressing unit is slanted, the semiconductor package may not make accurate contact with the socket. Furthermore, the pressing unit may be replaced with another pressing unit in accordance with types of the semiconductor package.

Apparatus for testing a semiconductor package