A method for levitation control of a linear motor includes supplying an alternating current or alternating voltage to at least one oscillating circuit including at least one sensing coil being or assumed to be arranged in a fixed spatial correlation to a mover part of the linear motor such that an opening plane of the sensing coil faces a sensor counter-surface of a stator part of the linear motor with a gap therebetween; receiving a response signal from the oscillating circuit; determining a gap length of the gap based on the response signal; and controlling the gap length by driving a magnetic levitation unit of the linear motor based on the determined gap length. An inductive sensing device and an elevator system, and a method for determining a position of the linear motor are also disclosed.

A linear motor is known to be used to move cars of conveyors, trains, elevators, or the like. A linear motor comprises a stator part and a mover part. A stator part may comprise a toothed stator rail, and the mover part may comprise a number of motor units each having an arrangement of poles, permanent magnets, and electric coils controlled to generate a magnetic flux cooperating with the teeth of the stator rail, for generating a desired linear movement of the mover part with respect to the stator part. An air gap of a certain length is needed between the mover part and the stator rail for the linear motor to work properly. It is known to have pairs of motor units on opposite sides of the stator part, forming so-called levitation pairs (levitation units) keeping an air gap of equal length on both sides of the stator part. For example, the mover part may comprise four linear motor units which form two opposite levitation pairs around the stator rail, and during a movement both levitation pairs are controlled so that the stator rail stays in the middle of the mover without making contact.
The permanent magnets of the linear motor units generate strong forces towards the stator rail. Here, when the stator rail is exactly in the middle of the mover, the system is labile, meaning that the sum force is zero and the stator rail stays in the middle without additional force. However, even a slight bias to the equilibrium of forces causes that the sum force deviates from zero, which may drive the system into imbalance which may exponentially increase as one permanent magnet generating attractive force approaches the rail and the other generating counterforce moves away. Without control or guidance, the gap length may reduce to zero in a fraction of a second. When the mover part is moving in such situation, the moved parts may grip to the rail which can cause severe damage to passengers, car, rails and/or motor units.
It has been known to use sliding guides or roller guides or magnetic guides for keeping the mover part in track. However, such guides call for considerable efforts in materials and tolerance control because the guides need to be exactly aligned with the stator rails.
A gap length control must detect and react to the imbalance as fast as possible. It has been attempted to control of levitation with optical laser. However, such a laser is very costly which is not desirable for the end product.
Additionally, drives controlling the linear motor units require position information about the position of the linear motors in relation to the stator rail to be able to determine the phase angle and to generate a smooth movement. To be able to control a linear motor system which does not have a fixed air gap between a mover (rotor) and a stator rail, very precise and fast information about the length of an air gap and the position of the mover in relation to the stator teeth (phase angle) is required.
It has also been known that the position information may be acquired with a linear magnetic encoder and/or an end/head laser. However, the laser does not easily suit for the multicar use as it requires stable reference point which could be blocked by other cars in the shaft. Also, the installation of a magnetic tape for the linear encoder may be difficult and time-consuming and therefore not preferable.

Method for levitation control of a linear motor, method for measuring a position of a linear motor, inductive sensing device, and elevator system


A microelectronic package is provided. The microelectronic package includes a substrate, a die coupled to a top surface of the substrate and a integrated heat spreader thermally coupled to the die, wherein the integrated heat spreader comprises integrated heat spreader walls. The microelectronic package also includes a thermal interface material disposed between the die and the integrated heat spreader and an underfill material disposed between the integrated heat spreader and the substrate, wherein the underfill material is disposed within gaps between the integrated heat spreader walls, the die and the thermal interface material.

With recent advancements in the semiconductor manufacturing technology components of microelectronic packages are becoming smaller and circuitry within such components is becoming increasingly dense. As the circuit density increases, heat generation from such components also increases.
Various techniques are employed to dissipate the heat generated from microelectronic packages. For example, a heat dissipating device such as an integrated heat spreader (IHS) may be employed to dissipate the generated heat to the surrounding environment. Typically, a thermally conductive material such as a thermal interface material (TIM) is employed to thermally couple the heat dissipating device to a semiconductor die. One challenge is thermal degradation of the thermal interface material due to delamination of the thermal interface material from the heat dissipating device. Further, stresses may be caused in the microelectronic package due to coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the components of the package.
Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments of the claimed subject matter, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, it is intended that the claimed subject matter be viewed broadly, and be defined only as set forth in the accompanying claims.

Microelectronic package with high temperature thermal interface material


Provided are a method, system, and program for managing path groups to an Input/Output (I/O) device. Indication is made of a connection path on which a processing system initially communicated an establish request to establish a connection with an I/O device, wherein attention that the processing system may own a lock for the I/O device is transmitted down the indicated connection path. A request is received from the processing system to add a path to a path group with respect to the I/O device, wherein the added path is capable of comprising the connection path the processing system used to establish the connection with the I/O device. The received path is added to the path group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method, system, and program for managing path groups to an I/O device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In certain computing environments, multiple host systems may communicate with multiple control units providing access to storage devices, such as interconnected hard disk drives, through one or more logical paths. The interconnected drives may be configured as a Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), Just a Bunch of Disks (JBOD), etc. For instance, the hosts may implement International Business Machines Corporation's (IBM®) Transaction Facility Processing (TPF) operating system in different processing systems in the hosts that issue Multi-Path Lock Facility (MPLF) locking requests to a control unit, such as an IBM Enterprise Storage Server (ESS)®, for data in a storage device managed by the ESS receiving the request. (IBM and ESS are registered trademarks of IBM). The ESS server microcode manages the locks for resources requested by the hosts using the TPF software.
A host granted a lock to a storage resource by the ESS lock manager may have exclusive or non-exclusive access to a track or data in the storage devices managed by the ESS. In this way, the ESS server manages locking for requests from many host systems.
In host systems implementing the IBM Enterprise Systems Architecture/390® (ESA/390), the processing systems executing in each host may comprise logical partitions of a processor, which divides a single processor into two or more logical independent processing systems. (IBM Enterprise Systems Architecture/390 is a registered trademark of IBM) Each logical partition communicates with one or more ESS servers, or other control units, over one or more logical paths.
Each TPF host connected to a logical partition in the ESS is a unique user of that partition. When a user connects to a logical partition, the path and device on which the host connects are retained as the connection path and connection device. This connection path and device may be associated with a particular path group comprising multiple logical paths to a control unit. However, the host TPF software may issue the disband path groups command for the intended connection path and device prior to connection. A user may connect on any logical path into the ESS.
In the current art, a user within a logical partition executing TPF software or other software capable of issuing the MPLF specific command set, may communicate a lock request to a control unit down a logical path. This path may or may not be the connection path and may or may not be in a path group. If the user cannot get the lock and the user has requested to be queued as a waiter, then once the lock becomes available for the user to hold, the ESS sends the user an attention interrupt and message to notify the user that the user is a holder of the lock. Until the user receives such attention, the user cannot process the user's I/O and the user's single threaded queues will increase while waiting to obtain the attention and the lock. The attention is required to go to the connection path/device. If this connection path/device is within a path group, then as per path group architecture, the attention may go to any path in the path group for the device. However, with the path group architecture, the attention may be sent on a path in the path group to a host/user other than the user host/user to which the attention is actually intended. In such case where the attention is sent to the wrong user, the user is unaware of holding the lock due to not receiving the attention and notification. As a result, the user will not process queued requests and the queue will increase. In addition, if the processing system requesting the lock does not get the attention, then the further waiters of the lock will not get processed because the current new holder did not respond to the attention message from the ESS locking facility.

Method, system, and program for managing path groups to an input/output (I/O) device


A signal processing device and signal processing method are described herein. By way of example, the signal processing method includes a selection unit configured to select, based on a first comparison of an analog signal with a determination voltage, a selected reference voltage to be compared with the analog signal, the selected reference voltage being selected from a plurality of reference voltages. The plurality of reference voltages include at least a first reference voltage and a second reference voltage.

In general image sensors of the related art, electric charge accumulated in light receiving portions (or photodiodes) is read as signal voltages, and is subjected to A/D conversion (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-41091 (hereinafter "PTL 1").
In an A/D conversion method described in PTL 1, in order to increase gradation precision and reduce conversion time, two A/D conversion circuits are connected to the same pixel output signal, and two reference voltages Vref1 and Vref2 having different slopes are individually input to the A/D conversion circuits from a reference voltage generation unit to execute A/D conversion at two different levels of gradation precision. In this method, however, the circuit area and power consumption may double. Thus, in another method described in PTL 1, one A/D conversion circuit is used and a determination unit is further provided. The determination unit determines the magnitude of the pixel output signal, and selects one of the two reference voltages having different slopes, namely, reference voltages Vref1 and Vref2, in accordance with the determined magnitude of the pixel output signal to apply different levels of conversion precision in accordance with the magnitude of the pixel output signal.

Signal processing device and method, imaging element, and imaging device


An automatic parking control is cancelled when a motor current has not yet reached a maximum current value Imax with a steering angle deviation exceeding a deviation threshold value. In addition, the automatic parking control is cancelled when a steering speed has not yet reached a maximum steering speed with a state where the motor current has reached and remains at the maximum steering speed continuing over a first time period. On the other hand, when a state where the steering speed has reached and remains at the maximum steering speed continues over a second time period, it is determined that there occurs an output shortage of a steering actuator, an automatic parking condition is recalculated, so as to allow the automatic parking continue to continue.

The present invention relates to a vehicle steering system which can perform an automatic steering control and cancel the control.
There are proposed techniques for performing an automatic steering of a vehicle using a steering actuator provided on the vehicle. For example, a power steering system installed on a vehicle includes an electric motor or a hydraulic actuator as a steering actuator for imparting a steering force (a steering assist force) to a steering mechanism. Then, steered road wheels of the vehicle can be turned by controlling the output of the steering actuator without involving the manipulation of a steering wheel by the driver.
More specifically, in an automatic parking assist control, a target traveling path from a current position to a parking position of the vehicle is calculated, and a relationship of a target turning angle with a traveling distance of the vehicle is obtained so that the vehicle is reversed along the target traveling path so calculated. Then, the steering actuator is controlled based on a steering angle command value which is determined so as to attain a target turning angle according to a traveling distance of the vehicle. At this time, the driver only has to perform the adjustment of stopping position as well as the adjustment of vehicle speed by controlling the brake and accelerator pedals and does not have to manipulate the steering wheel.
When the steered road wheel strikes an obstacle such as a curbstone during the automatic parking control, since the steering actuator cannot steer the steering mechanism, an actual steering angle cannot follow a steering angle command value. In addition to this, in the case of an electric motor being used as the steering actuator, such a state occurs in which a maximum current continues to be supplied to the electric motor, the electric motor being thereby put in an overheat state. Then, in a related art technique disclosed in JP-A-2004-249913, in response to the fact that a steering angle detection value does not reach the steering angle command value and an accumulated time period during which a motor current value is large has reached a predetermined determination time period, it is determined that a steering disablement state occurs and the automatic parking control is cancelled in the midst thereof.
In the case of the automatic parking control mentioned above, the changing speed of the target steering angle of the steering mechanism may become fast depending upon the adjustment of vehicle speed by the driver, the approaching angle to the parking position or the target traveling path. Consequently, although the steering actuator has to drive the steering mechanism at fast speeds, due to output shortage of the steering actuator, the actual steering angle cannot be caused to follow the target steering angle, and this may lead to a state in which a deviation therebetween remains large. In the related art technique mentioned above, even though such a state occurs, the automatic parking control is cancelled.
Thus, the conventional automatic steering function such as automatic parking has a tendency that the control is easily cancelled, and therefore, this function is not necessarily easy for the driver to use.


An applicator includes a reservoir charged with fluid. The reservoir has a discharge-controlling mechanism at one end for applying the fluid. The fluid contains at least one organic solvent, such as mythylcyclohexane, and is charged with a scarcely volatile liquid substance, such as an alkylene oxide adduct of diglycerin, having no compatibility with the applying fluid. The scarcely volatile liquid substance forms a movable plug for an end part of the applying fluid in a contact state and the rear of the plug in the reservoir is released to the atmosphere. The applicator can include writing instruments including a felt tip pen and a ballpoint pen, a corrector, an applicator for adhesive and a dressing instrument.

The present invention relates to an applicator for fluid, specifically to an applicator for fluid used for writing instruments including a felt tip pen and a ballpoint pen, a corrector, an applicator for adhesive and a dressing instrument.
An applicator such as a ballpoint pen which is equipped with a liquid movable plug at an end part of a fluid contained in a pipe-shaped reservoir in order to prevent the applying fluid from splashing and vaporizing has so far widely been known. Used as such a conventional liquid movable plug are those comprising non-volatile oils as a principal component such as mineral oil, silicone oil, ester oil and polybutene. However, while they have a volatilization-preventing effect for inks in which volatile liquids having a high polarity such as water are blended, there are problems in that inks in which blended are volatile solvents having a low polarity such as xylene, cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane and ethyl acetate dissolve the liquid movable plugs or pass through the movable plugs to volatilize. Accordingly, they have not yet been put to practical use. The volatile solvents having a low polarity are preferred since the drawn lines are liable to be quickly dried when blended in inks and they have a strong sticking property onto a non-absorbing face and are less liable to cause a water-based ink to bleed when they are used for correction liquids.
Further, a solid movable plug using silicone rubber is available, but a volatilization-preventing effect is unsatisfactory for fluids in which the foregoing volatile solvents having a low polarity are blended, and there used to be a problem that the rubber swells and can not move. In applicators such as a corrector charged with inks in which the foregoing volatile solvents having a low polarity are blended, proposed are those of a type in which a container is closed without providing a movable plug. In this case, however, a variation of an ambient temperature changes the internal pressure, so that there used to be inconveniences that the internal pressure is elevated at a high temperature and the ink flows out too much in using and that the internal pressure is lowered at a low temperature and the ink does not flow out smoothly. In addition thereto, in ink fluids in which pigments such as carbon black and titanium dioxide are used for a colorant, there used to be an inconvenience that these pigments settle down as time passes, so that the applicator has to be shaken violently in using to stir the fluids again.
An object of the present invention is to provide an applicator for fluid in which an applying fluid containing a colorant and using a volatile solvent having a low polarity such as xylene, cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane and ethylcyclohexane which are supposed to be suited to blending in inks in terms of a drying property of the drawn lines, a sticking property and are less liability to cause bleeding is excellently prevented from backleaking and discharges smoothly without being influenced by a variation of an ambient temperature and which is easy to use. Another object of the present invention is to provide an applicator for fluid which can inhibit a colorant from settling down and control xe2x80x9cfeatheringxe2x80x9d on a member to be applied and which is excellent in an effect to prevent degradation in the. quality of the applying fluid over a long period of time.
In order to achieve the objects described above, the present inventors have investigated various combinations of liquid movable plugs with applying fluids charged into a reservoir of an applicator equipped with a discharge-controlling mechanism for an applying liquid such as a ballpoint pen type tip and a needle valve at an end thereof. As a result thereof, it has been have found that the objects can be achieved by providing a movable plug of a liquid substance which is not compatible with an applying fluid and which has a high polarity and is scarcely volatile and releasing the rear part of the movable plug to the atmosphere. Thus, the present invention has come to be completed.
That is, the applicator for fluid of the present invention is characterized by that a reservoir of an applicator equipped with a discharge-controlling mechanism for an applying fluid at an end thereof is charged with the applying fluid containing at least one organic solvent selected from the following A group: n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, isooctane, cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane, ethylcyclohexane, toluene and xylene and that at least one scarcely volatile liquid substance selected from the following B group having no compatibility with the above applying fluid: glycerin, diglycerin, polyglycerin, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, alkylene glycol alkyl ethers, polyglycerin fatty acid esters, alkylene oxide adducts of glycerin, alkylene oxide adducts of diglycerin and alkylene oxide adducts of polyglycerin is charged thereinto as a movable plug for an end part of the applying fluid in a contact state and the rear of the above movable plug in the reservoir is released to the atmosphere.
The applying fluid of the present invention described above is preferably a gelatinous matter to which a structural viscosity-providing material is added and which has a viscosity of 200 mPaxc2x7S or less at a shearing rate of 400 Sxe2x88x921 and a viscosity of 300 mPaxc2x7S or more at a shearing rate of 5 Sxe2x88x921 at a temperature of 25xc2x0 C.
This makes it easy to inhibit settling of the pigment when a heavy pigment (titanium oxide and the like) is blended as a colorant in an applying fluid and provides the effect that xe2x80x9cfeatheringxe2x80x9d on the member to be applied can be inhibited by having a structural viscosity when an ink (fluid) is applied on a member to be applied such as paper.
Further, the movable plug for an end part of the applying fluid described above in the present invention is preferably a gelatinous structural viscous matter obtained by adding a structural viscosity-providing material to a scarcely volatile liquid substance.
This makes it less liable to allow the movable plug of the gelatinous structural viscous matter to transfer to the applying fluid, makes it possible to maintain the quality as a backleaking-preventing body and provides an effect to prevent degradation in the quality of the applying fluid over a long period of time.
Further, the movable plug described above in the present invention is preferably a matter obtained by impregnating a cylindrical spongy continuous porous body with a scarcely volatile liquid.
This elevates an impact resistance of the movable plug, inhibits the scarcely volatile liquid from flowing in the continuous porous body such as sponge, makes it further less liable to physically mix with the applying fluid, makes it possible to maintain the quality as a backleaking-preventing body and provides an effect to prevent degradation in the quality of the applying fluid over a long period of time.
The embodiment of the present invention shall be explained below in details.
The applicator for fluid which is intended in the present invention is a writing instrument including a felt tip pen and a ballpoint pen, a corrector, an applicator for adhesive and a dressing instrument. Usually, such applicator for fluid is equipped at an end with a discharge-controlling mechanism which prevents the fluid from being discharged too much or scarcely discharged in using. For example, when the fluid (ink or the like) is gelatinous, preferred is an applicator equipped with a ballpoint pen type tip having a structural viscosity-breaking means or a valve which is protruded and forced against a front seat with a resilient body to close a tip hole or an applicator equipped with a discharge-controlling mechanism such as a needle valve.
A reservoir comprising a pipe-shaped container in such applicator is charged with an applying fluid. The applying fluid is prepared by dissolving or dispersing a colorant including a pigment such as carbon black and titanium dioxide and a dye and others in at least one organic solvent selected from the following A group: n-hexane, n-heptane, n-octane, isooctane, cyclohexane, methylcyclohexane, ethylcyclohexane, toluene and xylene. A characteristic common to the A group used in this case is an organic solvent having a relatively high volatility and a low polarity which has a vapor pressure of 1 mm Hg or more at 20xc2x0 C. and a solubility parameter xcex4 of 10 or more.
In the present invention, capable of being used are those prepared by blending such volatile organic solvents having a low polarity with a colorant, a structural viscosity-providing agent, a resin as a thickener and a binder which is soluble in the solvents, surfactants, a perfume and other optional additives according to uses. With respect to blending amounts thereof, preferred is a blending composition comprising, for example, 20 to 85 parts of the organic solvent, 10 to 60 parts of the colorant such as a pigment and 5 to 30 parts of the resins and the others.
In the present invention, the foregoing applying fluid may be used as it is but is preferably used particularly in the form of a gelatinous viscous matter. A structural viscosity-providing agent is blended with the fluid described above in order to prepare the gelatinous viscous matter. The fluid described above is blended with a structural viscosity-providing agent to prepare the gelatinous viscous matter. Usually, various substances are used as the viscosity-providing agent. The results of investigations made by the present inventors show that it was effective to the organic solvents comprising the A group described above to use at least one selected from fine powder silica, organic-treated bentonite, 12-hydroxystearic acid and derivatives thereof, hardened castor oil and derivatives thereof, N-lauroyl-xcex1,xcex3-di-n-butyramide, paraffin wax and polyethylene wax.
The viscosity-providing agent is preferably blended so that a gelatinous viscous fluid to which such viscosity-providing agent is added has a viscosity of 200 mPaxc2x7S or less at a shearing rate of 400 Sxe2x88x921 and a viscosity of 300 mPaxc2x7S or more at a shearing rate of 5 Sxe2x88x921 at a temperature of 25xc2x0 C.
This makes it easy to inhibit settling of the pigment when a colorant such as a heavy pigment (titanium oxide and the like) is blended with the applying fluid and provides the effect that xe2x80x9cfeatheringxe2x80x9d on the member to be applied can be inhibited by having a structural viscosity when the ink (fluid) is applied on a member to be applied such as paper. The apparent viscosity grows large in a low shearing rate area to inhibit settling of the pigment, and the shearing rate is elevated by virtue of rotation of a ball at the tip in writing to lower the apparent viscosity, whereby the ink is smoothly discharged. This gel strength is suitably controlled by a particle diameter and a specific gravity of the colorant (pigment or the like) used.
The present invention is characterized by that the reservoir of the applicator is charged with the applying fluid (particularly gelatinous viscous fluid) described above and that a scarcely volatile liquid substance having no compatibility with the above applying fluid is charged thereinto as a movable plug for an end part of the applying fluid in a contact state and the rear of the above movable plug in the reservoir is released to the atmosphere. This allows the movable plug to move following the applying fluid as the applying fluid is consumed to act as the movable plug. The scarcely volatile liquid substance forming such movable plug used in the present invention is requested to have two performances of xe2x80x9chaving no compatibility with the applying fluidxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cless liable to be volatilizedxe2x80x9d.
It has been found that at least one scarcely volatile liquid substance having a high polarity selected from the following B group: glycerin, diglycerin, polyglycerin, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, alkylene glycol alkyl ethers, polyglycerin fatty acid esters, alkylene oxide adducts of glycerin, alkylene oxide adducts of diglycerin and alkylene oxide adducts of polyglycerin is most preferred as the scarcely volatile liquid substance which is suitable as the movable plug satisfying the above two performances.
In the present invention, the scarcely volatile liquid substance described above may be charged into the end part of the applying fluid in a contact state in the form of a liquid layer as it is and used as a movable plug. In this case, a height of the liquid layer is preferably controlled to 20 to 30 mm. However, when the reservoir has a too large inner diameter, there is the possibility that the liquid substance of the movable plug transfers to the applying fluid.
In addition thereto, the preferred movable plug of the present invention is one in which the structural viscosity-providing material described above is added to a scarcely volatile liquid substance to prepare a gelatinous structural viscous matter that is charged in a contact state with the end part of the applying fluid. In this case, the liquid layer may have a height of 10 to 15 mm, and the movable plug of the gelatinous structural viscous matter is less liable to transfer to the applying fluid, so that provided are the effects to make it possible to maintain the quality as a backleaking-preventing body and prevent degradation in the quality of the applying fluid over a long period of time.
In the present invention, the scarcely volatile liquid substance described above may be charged into a pipe-shaped container in a contact state with the end part of the applying fluid in the form of a liquid layer as it is and used as a movable plug. In this case, if the pipe-shaped container has a small inner diameter (usually 2 mm or less in the case of uses for a writing instrument and a correction liquid container), both the applying fluid and the movable plug each are stably charged in the pipe-shaped container by virtue of surface tensions possessed by the applying fluid and the movable plug without providing them with a structural viscosity. However, when the inner diameter of the pipe-shaped container is large (usually 3 mm or more in the case of uses for a writing instrument and a correction liquid container) so as to charge a large amount of the applying fluid into the pipe-shaped container, caused is the problem that the movable plug comprising a scarcely volatile liquid itself moves sideward or downward to make a space between the plug and the container wall when the pipe-shaped container is positioned sideward or upward. Accordingly, the movable plug is provided with a structural viscosity or prepared by impregnating a spongy continuous porous body with a scarcely volatile liquid substance, whereby both the applying fluid and the movable plug can stably be charged into the pipe-shaped container, and provided are the effects to maintain the quality as a backleaking-preventing structure according to the present invention and prevent degradation in the quality of the applying fluid over a long period of time.
More preferred movable plug is one in which a scarcely volatile liquid substance is used in a state that it is impregnated into a foamed body having continuous pores such as polyurethane foam. For example, a matter prepared by impregnating the liquid substance into a spongy continuous porous body which is a cylinder having an inner diameter close to that of the reservoir and a height of 10 to 15 mm is charged in a contact state with the end part of the applying fluid. In this case, the movable plug is increased in an impact resistance regardless of a size of an inner diameter of the reservoir, and the scarcely volatile liquid substance is inhibited from flowing in a continuous porous body such as sponge. In particular, the movable plug does not transfer to the applying fluid and is further less liable to physically mix with the applying fluid, and provided are the effects to make it possible to further elevate and maintain the quality as a backleaking-preventing body and prevent degradation in the quality of the applying fluid over a long period of time.


A method of continuously producing a carbide from a moisture-containing organic substance allows for the recycling of the organic substance, which is conventionally thrown away waste. The method includes a dewatering process for removing water from the moisture containing material. A moisture adjustment process removes more water from a dewatered cake. A carbonization process continuously carbonizes the moisture adjusted material. During the moisture adjustment process, a carbide produced during the carbonization process is mixed in the dewatered cake to remove the moisture therefrom.

The present invention relates to a method of continuously producing a carbide from an organic substance containing water.
Water-containing organic substances, such as sludge cakes or the lees of wine, spirits, and beer, are sometimes recycled as compost, or burned and subsequently buried in the ground. However, these methods of disposal have several disadvantages. For example, compost is costly to produce, because it requires an expensive deodorizing device for removing the obnoxious smell generated during the fermentation process. Furthermore, recycling this substance as compost is inefficient, because the compost only decreases the volume by about 10% to about 20%. On the other hand, burning the organic substances is costly and often not practical, because a great amount of heat is needed to burn these substances, which may contain more than 90% water. Thus, the above-mentioned substances are typically disposed of in the sea or ground without being processed at all.
It is also known to carbonize these organic substances. The conventional method carbonizes the organic substances using an incomplete combustion, or using a continuous combustion performed under 500.degree. C. However, this conventional method produces a large quantity of air-polluting and malodorous smoke, and therefore requires a device for processing the smoke. Further, the carbide thus produced by the conventional method is very volatile, and is therefore limited in its application.

Method of producing a carbide from an organic substance containing water


An illumination device includes a light-emitting element, a wire connected to the light-emitting element to supply electric power to the light-emitting element, and a light-transmitting resin configured to hold the light-emitting element and the wire in one piece. The light-transmitting resin defines an appearance of the illumination device. Light emitted from the light-emitting element is transmitted through the light-transmitting resin to be radiated from an outer surface of the light-transmitting resin.

In an electroluminescence (EL) element, a light-emitting unit, including a light-emitting layer sandwiched by a positive electrode and a negative electrode, is formed on a transparent substrate. Upon applying a voltage between the electrodes, the EL element emits light as excitons are generated by the recombination of positive holes and electrons injected into the light-emitting layer as carriers.
EL elements are largely divided into an organic EL element, in which an organic material is used as a fluorescent material of a light-emitting layer, and an inorganic EL element, in which an inorganic material is used as a fluorescent material of a light-emitting layer. In particular, the organic EL element is capable of emitting high-brightness light at a low voltage. The organic EL element has characteristics that can obtain different emission colors depending on the kind of fluorescent materials and can be easily manufactured as a surface light-emitting body.
As an example of illumination devices using the characteristics of the EL element as a surface light-emitting body, there is known an illumination device in which sub-panels are rotatably connected to the respective sides of a rectangular organic EL panel having the same shape as the sub-panels (see, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-186599). By rotating the sub-panels, the illumination device can be transformed into a desired shape, e.g., a flat shape or a box shape. This makes it possible to improve the design merit of the illumination device.
The illumination device disclosed in JP2008-186599A includes an EL panel in which a light-emitting element (organic EL element) is accommodated within a case with the light-emitting surface thereof exposed to the outside and a connecting portion for supporting the EL panel. For this reason, the appearance of the illumination device is defined by the case and the connecting portion. Thus, the shape of the light-emitting element does not contribute to the design merit of the illumination device as a whole.

Illumination device having light-transmitting resin defining appearance of illumination device

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


Automated techniques for comparing contents of images. For a given image (referred to as an “input image”), a set of images (referred to as “a set of candidate images”) are processed to determine if the set of candidate images comprises an image whose contents or portions thereof match contents included in a region of interest in the input image.

The present invention relates to generally to the content matching techniques and more particularly to techniques for comparing contents of images to identify images that contain matching content.
Advancements in the technology and popularity of information capture devices such as digital cameras, scanners, video cameras, etc. has led to an increased amount of information being stored in the form of digital images. There is accordingly an ever increasing need for automated techniques and tools that can compare contents of digital images and find matching images. Several techniques have conventionally been developed for comparing contents of images to find matching images. However, each of these conventional techniques is tailored for images possessing specific characteristics such as image quality, resolution, blur, image segmentation characteristics, occlusions, image color, etc. Accordingly, selection of which technique to use depends heavily on characteristics of the images being compared. A specific conventional technique can be used to compare images possessing a particular characteristic but is ineffective for comparing other types of images. For example, certain conventional techniques can be used for comparing black and white images but cannot be used for comparing colored images.
In light of the above, there is a need for automated techniques that can be used to compare various different types of images possessing various different characteristics.


The invention is directed to improved coated metal fluoride single crystal optical elements suitable for use in below 250 nm optical lithography, and particularly below 200 nm lithography. The coated elements of the invention can be lenses, windows, prisms and other elements used in lithographic methods, including the laser sources used therein. The invention is also directed to a method of removing the quasi-Bielby layer formed when a shaped optical element is polished. Removal of the quasi-Bielby layer prior to coating results in improved durability and optical transmission characteristics of the coated lenses. The coating material can be any material that does not impede the transmission of below 250 nm electromagnetic radiation. Fluorine doped silicon dioxide is the preferred coating material.

The use of high power lasers, for example, those with pulse energy densities (fluence) above 20 mJ/cm2, with pulse lengths in the low nanosecond range, can degrade the optics used in laser lithography systems. T. M. Stephen et al., in their article "Degradation of Vacuum Exposed SiO2 Laser Windows" SPIE Vol. 1848, pp. 106–109 (1992), report on the surface degradation of fused silica in Ar-ion laser. More recently, it has been noticed that there is optical window surface degradation in high peak and average power 193 nm excimer lasers using window materials made from substances other than silica. It is a concern that such degradation will be more severe when existing optical materials are used in 157 nm laser systems. While some solutions, for example, such as using MgF2 as the window or lens material for existing 193 nm laser systems have been proposed, it is believed that such materials will also experience surface degradation with time, leading to the requirement that the expensive windows be periodically replaced. It is further believed that the problem with window degradation will be exacerbated with the advent of laser systems operating at wavelengths below 193 nm. In addition, the use of MgF2 as a window material, while it might be successful from a mechanical viewpoint, presents a problem of color center formation that is detrimental to transmission performance of the laser beam.
Excimer lasers are the illumination sources of choice for the microlithographic industry. While ionic materials as such as crystals MgF2, BaF2 and CaF2 are the materials of choice for excimer optical components due to their ultraviolet transparencies and to their large band gap energies, the preferred material is CaF2. However, crystals of CaF2 and the optical elements made from CaF2, are difficult to optically polish. Furthermore, polished but uncoated surfaces of CaF2 are susceptible to degradation when exposed to powerful excimer lasers operating in the deep ultraviolet ("DUV") range, for example at 248 and 193 nm and the vacuum ultraviolet ("VUV") range, for example at 157 nm. For lasers operating at 193 nm, 2 KHz or 4 KHz, with pulse energy densities of 20–40 mJ/cm2, the surfaces or the optical elements made from these ionic materials are known to fail after only a few million laser pulses. The cause of the damage is thought to be fluorine depletion in the top surface layers of the polished surface. U.S. Pat. No. 6,466,365 (the '365 patent) describes a method of protecting metal fluoride surfaces, such as CaF2, from degradation by use of a vacuum deposition, of a silicon oxyfluoride coating/material. While for the moment this is a reasonable solution, the microlithographic industry constantly demands more performance from excimer sources, and consequently from optical components used in connection with Excimer laser based systems. Therefore, in view of the expected increased industry demands for improved laser performance, it is desirable to find a solution to the optical element degradation problem that will either eliminate the problem or will greatly extend the durability, and consequently the length of time, that existing and future optical components can be used.

Surfacing of metal fluoride excimer optics


The saddle pads have a lower covering layer of a comfort fabric formed from a passive performance fiber. In use this layer lies against the back and sides of a horse and acts to wick perspiration from the horse. The perspiration is then absorbed by the cushioning layer which consists of a polymeric foam backing. The foam backing is, in turn, covered by another hydrophilic layer, which in one embodiment is synthetic sheepskin and in the other is a cloth cover. The saddle pads are constructed with a withers relief gusset.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to equine saddle pads, and more particularly to saddle pads having superior moisture-wicking capacity. The moisture-wicking capacity removes perspiration from the saddle area and enhances localized cooling of the horse.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A saddle pad is placed between the horse and the saddle and is traditionally structured from felt, cotton, wool, and sheepskin. More recently cushioning materials such as artificial sheepskin, polyurethane foams and other plastic foams of both open- and closed-cell configurations have been used.
Typically, in constructing saddle pads, extra care is taken to protect the withers and back of the horse from irritation from the weight and movement of the saddle and rider. The saddle pad also needs to enhance the stability of the saddle mounting so that slippage from the proper location on the horse's back is avoided.
In the disclosure which follows, significant attention is paid to the materials of construction and the teachings of prior art fibers have been considered. From 1970 to date E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Wilmington, Del. through the DuPont Dacron Research Laboratory in North Carolina and the Central Research and Development in Delaware developed a family of passive performance fibers utilizing microfiber filaments. These materials are described briefly in the article entitled Viewpoint: 21st Century Fibers, International Fiber Journal (August, 1999-Vol. 14, Issue 4). The DuPont development of sculpted fibers variously described as oblong, four-channel and scalloped-oval, longitudinally grooved fibers are the subject, among others, of U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,488 to Gorrafa and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,591,523, 5,626,961, 5,736,243 and, 6,013,368 to Aneja. The sculpted fibers (not round) led to the introduction of the COOLMAX® product group of fibers. Further background of this art is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,961, which background is incorporated herein by reference.
In the past, several saddle pad patents and published patent applications have come to the attention of the inventor hereof. These are:
Published Patent ApplicationsAppl. No.InventorU.S. Cl.Pub. Date2003/0177742Brownlie54/66Sep. 25, 20032002/0162307Arnold54/66Nov. 7, 20022002/0104295Rauch54/66Aug. 8, 2002
U.S. PatentsPatent No.InventorU.S. Cl.Issue Date6,459,015Lyon604/368Oct. 1, 20026,421,989Leson 54/66Jul. 23, 20025,575,139Green 54/66Nov. 19, 19965,353,577Thurston 54/66Oct. 11, 1994
Brownlie, U.S. patent application 2003/0177742, teaches a two-chambered inflatable interface pad with each chamber having a foam core within a valved, thin-skinned envelope.
Arnold, U.S. patent application No. 2002/0162307, teaches a numnah having a foam polymer base layer and a planar polymer foam scrim layer attached thereto. The foam polymer layer in the first embodiment is of closed-cell, cross-linked polyolefin foam; and in the other embodiment, of open-cell PVC foam.
Rauch, U.S. patent application No. 2002/0104295, teaches a multi-layer saddle pad of non-woven polypropylene foam. The layers are maintained free of any permanent attachments along the periphery.
Lyon, U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,015, teaches a disposable saddle blanket of non-woven polypropylene for absorbing and dispersing therewithin the perspiration from the horse or pony.
Leson, U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,989, teaches a two-panel saddle pad constructed of a thermoformed polymeric material with longitudinal channels in the panels and a connector strip therebetween.
Green, U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,139, teaches a non-slip saddle pad that, when in use, has an innermost layer of open-celled plastic foam (with the cellular structure exposed) in direct contact with the horse. The open cells act like suction cups to reduce slippage of the saddle.
Thurston, U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,577, teaches a reversible saddle pad in which billet keepers can, upon reversing the pad, be moved through an aperture to the opposite side of the saddle pad and avoid the billet keepers irritating the horse. Both sides of the pad have a fleece-like covering.
While the above patented saddle pads use synthetic materials, there still remains a wicking-absorption-evaporation problem which remains unresolved by the combinations shown.
The patents referred to herein are representative of the present state-of-the-art, but do no singly or in combination exhibit the characteristics of the moisture-wicking saddle pad presented, infra. The citing of the patents is not intended as an admission that any such patent constitutes prior art against the claims of the present application. Applicant does not waive any right to take any action that would be appropriate to antidate or otherwise remove any listed document as a competent reference against the claims of this application.
Other technical problems are overcome or resolved by the invention disclosed herein. The innovative approach in the design and construction of the saddle pad hereof is contained in the description which follows.


A bucket position indication mechanism is provided for a material handling machine. The material handling machine includes a bucket and an operator's control station. The bucket position indication mechanism includes at least one position indicating element attached to the bucket at a position that is viewable by an operator at the operator's control station when a bottom plate of the bucket is aligned with a ground surface and at least a portion of the position indicating element extending in a direction parallel to the bottom plate of the bucket.

A loading machine, for example an industrial loader, typically has a loader bucket and linkages for providing the bucket with loading positions, transporting positions, and dumping positions, etc. An operator of the loading machine, typically located at a cabin that is on the top of the loading machine, may have difficulty in properly positioning the bucket when the bucket is at a "low level." Particularly, when the bucket is at a loading, stripping or cleaning up position, which requires the bottom surface of the bucket being aligned with a ground surface, the bottom of the bucket is invisible to the operator. As a result, the operator may improperly position the bucket, such as in an oblique position with respect to the ground surface. Correcting for a better angle of the bucket wastes time and reduces the overall efficiency of the loading machine. Therefore, a bucket design which improves the operator's feel for the position of the bottom surface of the bucket may be desired for improving the overall efficiency of the loading machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,604,025 (the '025 patent) issued to Hammoud describes a position indicator for a material handling element (e.g., a bucket) of a machine. The position indicator in the '025 patent includes a plate pivotally attached to the material handling element in line with an operator's line of sight from the cab towards the material handling element. The plate has first indicia on an edge facing the operator, second indicia on a top surface of the plate, and third indicia on a bottom surface of the plate. When the material handling element is disposed at the predetermined angle during operation of the machine, the operator will only view the first indicia. Thus, during operation, if the operator only sees the first indicia, he may know that the material handling element is at the predetermined angle. If, on the other hand, he sees either the second or third indicia, he knows that the bucket is inclined relative to the predetermined angle, and he may adjust the bucket until he only sees the first indicia.
Although the position indicator of the '025 patent may provide the operator a sense of the level position of the bucket, because the line of sight from eyes of an operator to the position indicator varies for different operators, depending on the height of the operator, the position indicator needs to be adjusted each time a different operator drives the loading machine. Even for the same operator, he may change sitting positions from time to time, and his line of sigh may change, and that may often result in misalignment of the bucket with the predetermined angle if the operator keeps relying on the position indicator he set in his initial sitting position.
The present disclosure is directed to solving one or more of the deficiencies discussed above.

Position indication mechanism for a loader bucket


A multiexciter digitally swept-sinewave vibration test controller employing an adaptive control method which compensates for nonlinear and time variant physical characteristics of a system under test and for instrumentation errors. A system under test (12) is stimulated using an exciter array (26) and response is measured using a sensor array (28). The exciter array (26) is driven by signals produced by a digital vector swept oscillator (18). A control loop (14) is used to modify signals to the exciter array (26) based upon input from the sensor array (28). A digital processing system (24) processes signals in the control loop (14). Within the digital processing system (24), a system impedance matrix (44) containing values representing the inverse of response characteristics of the system under test (12) is updated to approximate an "actual" system impedance matrix. A drive signal matrix (52) is modified to cause the digital vector swept oscillator (18) to produce updated drive signals. An amount by which the updated system impedance matrix (44) is allowed to modify each iteration of the drive signal matrix (52) is controlled by a variable adjustment gain scalar (48). Value of the adjustment gain scalar (48) is determined using values obtained in a preceding iteration of the control cycle.

Numerous factors have combined to create a need for increasingly accurate and repeatable stress and vibration testing of structures and devices. Among these are the trend to build things lighter and stronger, the increasing usage of new and untested materials, and an increasing awareness of the need for predictability and safety in the design and manufacture of products. Therefore, the field of vibration testing is rapidly advancing. Vibration testing is performed on actual items of manufacture where size and economy permit. Where this is not feasible, vibration testing may be performed on scale models or mock ups of items thought to have the same relative resistance to vibration as the actual items of interest.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,710,082, and 3,848,115, both issued to Sloane et al., are concerned with the process of controlling essentially random signals with the objective of maintaining an overall spectral density of a vibration pattern within acceptable limits. Such an approach recognizes the random nature of many naturally occurring vibration sources. While this conceptual approach is perfectly valid and correct, it has been recognized that a more precisely defined stimulus might lead to a higher degree of repeatability in testing. One approach that has been tried is to use motive stimulus defined by sine waves. Any complex wave can be synthesized using a combination of sine waves. Therefore, a multiexciter system with each exciter being driven by precisely controlled sums of sine waves could, theoretically, produce any desired complex vibration pattern in a structure. In a multiexciter system, stimulus, and response are best described by vectors of dimension N and impedance factors are best described by a matrix of N by N dimensions, with N being the number of stimulus/response points involved.
The objective of a multiexciter swept-sinewave test is to impart a controlled stimulus to a structure at specified points via a series of actuators. A desired stimulus can be represented as a complex vector spectrum. A multiexciter controller, through feedback, continuously excites the structure, measures the response spectral vector at the control points, and modifies the drive signal spectral vector until the response vector agrees with the desired stimulus vector to within some acceptable error tolerance.
In the past, these tests have been performed using purely analog means. In the analog systems, phase relationships between response points were controlled by inducing phase shifts between the drive signal components as a function of the phase difference between the response points. However, the analog approach proved to be largely unsuccessful at frequencies near structural resonance frequencies, since cross coupling effects between the drive signal components and the structure's frequency response characteristics were not accounted for.
More recently, digital approaches have been tried with greater success. The most important reason for the success of digital control systems in these applications is that digital systems can employ a feedback control algorithm that accounts for structural cross coupling effects by using a structural frequency response matrix measured before the test. U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,324, issued to the present inventor, teaches a method and apparatus for converting a digital signal into an analog signal useful for vibration exciter stimulation.
However, even the currently available digital control systems will not provide the desired degree of control when applied to nonlinear and/or time varying systems because the frequency response matrix estimate used by the control system may differ from the actual frequency response matrix existing during the test. For instance, nonlinear stiffness effects will generally cause a shift in the resonant frequency that will cause a large deviation in the phase of the measured frequency response matrix as compared to the response matrix which the control system actually encounters as it is conducting the swept sine test. These potentially large phase discrepancies can cause control system instabilities. Further, imperfections in controller drive and response circuits can lead to undetected inaccuracies in conventional systems. Clearly, there is a need to be able to dynamically compensate for nonlinear and time variant deviations in a structure response matrix during vibration testing, and to detect and correct for other system inaccuracies.
All of the prior art systems for digitally controlling multiexciter swept-sinewave vibration testing within the inventor's knowledge have employed a predetermined and set structural frequency response matrix.
No prior art controller to the inventor's knowledge has successfully compensated for non linear or time variant factors in a system frequency response matrix. All multiexciter swept-sinewave vibration test controllers to date have suffered a high degree of inaccuracy or instability when encountering such variable factors, especially near structural resonance frequencies.

Adaptive control method for multiexciter sine tests


When the margin between a write frequency-divided clock signal and a read frequency-divided clock signal becomes remarkably decreased, a clock phase difference detecting circuit outputs a reset execution command. While a reset execution command is being output in a blanking interval, a reset signal generating circuit supplies a reset signal to an input side counter corresponding to a reset execution command so as to reset the phase of the write frequency-divided clock signal to an initial state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a phase synchronizing circuit for use with a scanning converter for converting a scanning speed, a data transmission speed converter for exchanging data of a serial digital picture signal of a television signal, and a scanning circuit for securely scanning a picture signal without fluctuation.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a phase synchronizing circuit for use with a communication system that can transmit serial data at high speed.
In FIG. 8, the phase synchronizing circuit is composed of a data input terminal 51, an input clock input terminal 52, a data output terminal 53, an output clock input terminal 54, a register 55, an input side counter 56, an output side counter 57, a selection output circuit 58, and a clock phase comparing circuit 59.
A serial data signal is supplied to the data input terminal 51. Next, the serial data signal is supplied to the register 55. The register 55 is composed of a plurality of flip-flop circuits (hereinafter, referred to as F/F) that are connected in parallel. The F/Fs successively store the serial data of the input data. The period of which one F/F updates data depends on the stage number of F/Fs. For example, when the register 55 is composed of 10 stages of F/Fs, the data update period of each F/F becomes 1/10 period. Thus, the input data is chronologically expanded 10 times. The selection output circuit 58 selects one F/F output data from the F/Fs composing the register 55 corresponding to a selection signal 62 received from the output side counter 57 and supplies the data to the data output terminal 53.
A clock signal in synchronization with the input data is supplied to the clock input terminal 52. The input side counter 56 generates frequency-divided clock signals with phases that differ by one clock period and supplies the frequency-divided clock signals as write clock signals to the register 55. In addition, the input side counter 56 supplies a write phase signal 61 to the clock phase comparing circuit 59.
The output side counter 57 generates 10 frequency-divided clock signals with phases that differ by one clock period with an output clock signal received from the output clock input terminal 54 and outputs the frequency-divided clock signals as selection signals to the selection output circuit 58. In addition, the output side counter 57 supplies a phase reference signal 63 to the clock phase comparing circuit 59. The clock phase comparing circuit 59 detects the phase difference between the write phase signal 61 and the phase reference signal 63. When the clock phase comparing circuit 59 cannot detect a predetermined phase difference, it supplies a reset signal 64 to the input side counter 56 so as to change the phases of the write frequency-divided clock signals 60 of the input side counter 56 to the initial state.
When the phase synchronizing circuit is used for a serial digital picture signal (hereinafter, referred to as picture signal), the input side counter 56 is reset while a picture is being displayed. Thus, a noise takes place in the output picture due to the fact that the conventional phase synchronizing circuit is mainly used for high speed communication systems and the phase of the input clock signal does not chronologically vary. Further, it is generally not necessary to reset the unit once the unit is in operation after the initial reset. Even if the reset operation is required, the number of times thereof is small. Thus, such a high speed communication system does not have a function for controlling the timing of the reset operation.
However, in the case where the input signal is a picture signal, the reset operation may be frequently required. For example, it is necessary for a picture signal in a broadcasting station to synchronize with a reference signal called a black burst signal. An operation clock signal is made from the black burst signal. The clock signal is generated by a PLL circuit. However, the phase of the clock signal inevitably fluctuates (this fluctuation is known as jitter) at any time for the principal of the PLL circuit.
In addition, the black burst signal that is the reference signal is an analog signal. Thus, when the black burst signal is supplied to each unit, noise enters the black burst signal and distortion thereof takes place. Consequently, since the jitter takes place, it is estimated that the phase difference between the write clock signal and the read clock signal of the phase synchronizing circuit fluctuates for several clock periods. Thus, when the conventional phase synchronizing circuit is used for a picture signal, the reset operation is frequently performed. When the reset operation is performed while a picture is being displayed, noise takes place in the picture signal.


A process for producing a polyphenylene ether by oxidative polymerization of a phenol compound using a catalyst and an oxygen-containing gas, wherein the catalyst comprises a copper compound, a bromine compound, a diamine compound represented by the following formula (1):

The invention relates to a process for actualizing efficient production of a polyphenylene ether.
When a polyphenylene ether is obtained by reacting a phenol compound with oxygen in the presence of a catalyst, water which is the final reductant of oxygen is generated by polymerization. This water often induces hydrolysis of the catalyst and reduces its activity, which disturbs an increase in the molecular weight of the polyphenylene ether. Several proposals have been made for keeping the activity of the catalyst. The first proposal for maintaining activity while retaining water in the system is to use a quaternary ammonium salt as described in JP-B-59-22736 (The term xe2x80x9cJP-Bxe2x80x9d as used herein means an xe2x80x9cexamined Japanese patent publicationxe2x80x9d) or U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,564. Use of such an additive increases a cost, though its amount is not so large. The second proposal is to solubilize water by using a solvent which has compatibility therewith. This process is well known in the art. As the solvent, methanol is often employed. The polyphenylene ether obtained using a solvent system composed solely of methanol has however too low molecular weight to draw attentions as an industrial product. Since the solvent, such as methanol, having compatibility with water is often a poor solvent for a polyphenylene ether, precipitation of it occurs while its molecular weight is still low. Thus, the molecular weight cannot be increased as is expected. A polyphenylene ether is therefore often produced in a mixed solvent system containing a solvent having compatibility with the polyphenylene ether. This however requires complex solvent-collecting equipment. The third proposal is to impart the catalyst itself with water resistance. A process slightly improved in water resistance of the catalyst can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,028,341, 4,092,294 or 4,788,277, but in such a process, the catalyst has not yet acquired complete water resistance. For discharging water out of the system, conventionally employed are (most of them are well known in the art) addition of a dehydrating agent such as magnesium sulfate to a polymer mixture, use of molecular sieves, and the like (JP-B-44-27831). By removing water, the activity of the catalyst can be maintained. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,477,649, described is removal of water by centrifugal separation or decantation after a desired conversion ratio is attained by continuous polymerization of a polyphenylene ether and in Example 1 of this publication, supplementation of a catalyst component after centrifugal separation of reaction water is described. Although such a process is effective for raising the molecular weight of a polyphenylene ether, it is accompanied with such a drawback that a loss of the catalyst component caused by discarding of it upon centrifugation of reaction water must be made up for and this increases the cost. Particularly in the polymerization using a solvent having no compatibility with water, induction of phase separation of water is most important, but it has not yet been fully attained.
An object of the present invention is to provide an effective removing method of water generated upon production of a polyphenylene ether by reacting oxygen with a phenol compound in the presence of a catalyst, thereby providing a highly efficient production process of the polyphenylene ether.
Other objects and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.
The present inventors carried out an extensive investigation with a view to overcoming the above-described problems. As a result, to their surprise, it was found that in the production process of a polyphenylene ether by using a specific catalyst, marked advantages are brought about by controlling the absolute pressure of the reaction system, oxygen partial pressure of the feed gas and oxygen concentration of the feed gas, thus leading to the completion of the invention.
That is, the above-described objects of the present invention have been achieved by providing the following production processes.
1) A process for producing a polyphenylene ether by oxidative polymerization of a phenol compound using a catalyst and an oxygen-containing gas,
wherein the catalyst comprises a copper compound, a bromine compound, a diamine compound represented by the following formula (1):
(wherein, R1, R2, R3 and R4 each independently represents hydrogen or a C1-6 linear or branched alkyl group with the proviso that all of them do not represent hydrogen simultaneously, and R5 represents a linear or methyl-branched C2-5 alkylene group), a tertiary monoamine compound and a secondary monoamine compound,
wherein the process comprises the steps of:
controlling an absolute pressure at a gaseous phase of a reaction vessel to a range of from 0.098 MPa to less than 0.392 MPa; and
feeding the oxygen-containing gas to the reaction vessel, the oxygen-containing gas having an oxygen partial pressure, in terms of an absolute pressure, of from 0.0147 MPa to 0.0883 MPa.
2) The process according to item 1) above, wherein the oxygen-containing gas has an oxygen concentration of not greater than 21 vol. %.
3) The process according to item 1) above, wherein the oxygen-containing gas has an oxygen concentration of not greater than 11.6 vol. %.
4) The process according to any one of items 1) to 3) above, wherein the phenol compound is charged, at such a rate that charging of the whole amount thereof is completed within a period of from 10 minutes to less than 110 minutes, into the reaction vessel containing the catalyst components and being fed with the oxygen-containing gas.
5) The process according to item 4) above, wherein the oxygen-containing gas is fed at a rate ranging from 0.5 Nl/min to 15 Nl/min with respect to 1 kg of the reaction mixture at which the whole amount of the phenol compound is charged completely.
With the features as described in items 2) to 4) above, further desirable results can be obtained in the present invention.
The invention is described in more detail below.
The phenol compound to be used in the invention is a compound having a structure represented by the following formula (2):
(wherein, R6 represents an alkyl, substituted alkyl, aralkyl, substituted aralkyl, aryl, substituted aryl, alkoxy or substituted alkoxy group, R7 represents, in addition to those described for R6, a halogen atom, and R8 represent, in addition to those described for R7, hydrogen). Examples of such a compound include 2,6-dimethylphenol, 2,3,6-trimethylphenol, 2-methyl-6-ethylphenol, 2,6-diethylphenol, 2-ethyl-6-n-propylphenol, 2-methyl-6-chlorophenol, 2-methyl-6-bromophenol, 2-methyl-6-isopropylphenol, 2-methyl-6-n-propylphenol, 2-ethyl-6-bromophenol, 2-methyl-6-n-butylphenol, 2,6-di-n-propylphenol, 2-ethyl-6-chlorophenol, 2-methyl-6-phenylphenol, 2,6-diphenylphenol, 2,6-bis-(4-fluorophenyl)phenol, 2-methyl-6-tolylphenol and 2,6-ditolylphenol. They may be used either singly or in combination. Incorporation thereto of a small amount of phenol, o-cresol, m-cresol, p-cresol, 2,4-dimethylphenol or 2-ethylphenol does not cause any substantial problem. Above all of these phenol compounds, 2,6-dimethylphenol is industrially important.
As a catalyst to be used upon production of a polyphenylene ether by oxidative polymerization of a phenol compound by using a catalyst and an oxygen-containing gas, a catalyst system comprising a copper compound, a bromine compound, a diamine compound represented by the following formula (1):
(wherein, R1, R2, R3 and R4 each independently represents hydrogen or a C1-6 linear or branched alkyl group with the proviso that they do not represent hydrogen simultaneously, and R5 represents a linear or methyl-branched C2-5 alkylene group), a tertiary monoamine compound and a secondary monoamine compound must be used. It was found that in the production process using this catalyst, remarkable activity improving effects are brought about within a pressure range and oxygen partial pressure range as specified by the present invention. This phenomenon is so surprising as to exceed usual expectation.
Examples of the copper compound and of the bromine compound for use in the present invention are enumerated below.
As the copper compound, a cuprous compound and a cupric compound and a mixture thereof can be used.
Examples of the cuprous compound include cuprous oxide, cuprous chloride, cuprous bromide, cuprous sulfate and cuprous nitrate, while those of the cupric compound include cupric chloride, cupric bromide, cupric sulfate and cupric nitrate. Among them, cuprous oxide, cuprous chloride, cupric chloride, cuprous bromide and cupric bromide are preferred. These copper salts may be obtained upon use by the synthesis of an oxide, carbonate or hydroxide of copper and a corresponding halogen or acid. For example, such a copper salt is available by mixing cuprous oxide and hydrogen bromide (aqueous solution thereof). As the copper compound, cuprous compounds are particularly preferred. These copper compounds may be used either singly or in combination.
Examples of the bromine compound include hydrogen bromide, sodium bromide, potassium bromide, tetramethylammonium bromide and tetraethylammonium bromide. These compounds may be used as an aqueous solution or a solution in a suitable solvent. These bromine compounds may be used singly or in combination.
The most preferred combination of the copper compound and the bromine compound is that of cuprous oxide and an aqueous solution of hydrogen bromide. Although no particular limitation is imposed on the amount of them, they are used so that bromine atom is at least 2 times the mole but not greater than 10 times the mole of copper atom and copper atom falls within a range of 0.02 to 0.6 mole based on 100 moles of the phenol compound.
Examples of the secondary monoamine compound include dimethylamine, diethylamine, di-n-propylamine, di-i-propylamine, di-n-butylamine, di-i-butylamine, di-t-butylamine, dipentylamines, dihexylamines, dioctylamines, didecylamines, dibenzylamines, methylethylamine, methylpropylamine, methylbutylamine and cyclohexylamine. Examples of the N-(substituted or unsubstituted phenyl)alkanolamine include N-phenylmethanolamine, N-phenylethanolamine, N-phenylpropanolamine, N-(m-methylphenyl)ethanolamine, N-(p-methylphenyl)ethanolamine, N-(2xe2x80x2,6xe2x80x2-dimethylphenyl)ethanolamine and N-(p-chlorophenyl)ethanolamine. Examples of the N-(hydrocarbon-substituted)aniline include N-ethylaniline, N-butylaniline, N-methyl-2-methylaniline, N-methyl-2,6-dimethylaniline and diphenylamine. These secondary monoamine compounds are however not limited to these examples. They may be used either singly or in combination. Although no particular limitation is imposed on the amount, it is usually added in an amount ranging from 0.05 to 15 moles based on 100 moles of the phenol compound.
The diamine compound to be used in the invention has a structure represented by the following formula (1):
wherein R1, R2, R3 and R4 each independently represents hydrogen or a C1-6 linear or branched alkyl group, with the proviso that they do not represent a hydrogen atom at the same time, and R5 represents a C2-5 linear or methyl-branched alkylene group).
Among the diamine compounds having the above-described structure, N,Nxe2x80x2-di-t-butylethylenediamine is preferred. Although no particular limitation is imposed on the amount of the diamine compound, it is preferably added in an amount of at least 0.5 time the mole of the copper atom to be ordinarily used. The upper limit is not critical.
As the tertiary monoamine compound, aliphatic tertiary amines including alicyclic tertiary amines can be used. Examples include trimethylamine, triethylamine, tripropylamine, tributylamine, triisobutylamine, dimethylethylamine, dimethylpropylamine, allyldiethylamine, dimethyl-n-butylamine, diethylisopropylamine and N-methylcyclohexylamine. These tertiary monoamines may be used either singly or in combination. Although no particular limitation is imposed on the amount of it, an amount ranging from 0.1 to 15 moles relative to 100 moles of the phenol compound is preferred.
Although there is no particular limitation imposed on the nature of the solvent to be used in the invention insofar as it is not easily oxidized compared with the monomer to be oxidized and at the same time, has almost no reactivity with various radicals which are presumed to be formed during reaction, those permitting dissolution therein a low-molecular-weight phenol compound and also a portion or whole of the catalyst mixture. Examples of such a solvent include aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, xylene and ethylbenzene, hydrocarbon halides such as chloroform, methylene chloride, 1,2-dichloroethane, trichloroethane, chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene and trichlorobenzene; and nitro compounds such as nitrobenzene. They may be used as a good solvent for the polymer. Examples of the poor solvent for the polymer include aliphatic hydrocarbons such as pentane, hexane, heptane, cyclohexane and cycloheptane and ethers such as tetrahydrofuran and diethyl ether.
A solvent having compatibility with water can be mixed in an amount not disturbing the advantages of the present invention. Examples of such a solvent include alcohols such as methanol, ethanol and propanol, ketones such as acetone and methyl ethyl ketone, esters such as ethyl acetate and ethyl formate, amides such as dimethylformamide and sulfoxides such as dimethylsulfoxide. These solvents may be used singly or if necessary, as a mixture.
The solvent to be used in the present invention exhibits particularly desirable activity under the conditions substantially free of compatibility with water. Aromatic hydrocarbon solvents such as toluene and xylene are frequently employed as a solvent.
The polymerization method becomes solution polymerization at a specific ratio of good solvent to poor solvent for a polyphenylene ether which is a polymer available by oxidative polymerization of a phenol compound. At an increased ratio of a poor solvent, on the other hand, the method becomes precipitation polymerization wherein the polymer is precipitated as particles in the reaction solvent with the progress of the reaction.
The invention is attained by using the above-described catalyst, controlling the absolute pressure at the gaseous phase portion of the reaction vessel to a range of from 0.098 MPa (mega pascal) to less than 0.392 MPa, and feeding a reaction vessel with an oxygen-containing gas having an oxygen partial pressure, in terms of an absolute pressure, of from 0.0147 MPa to 0.0883 MPa.
The oxygen concentration range of the oxygen-containing gas to be used in the invention is defined by the absolute pressure at the gaseous phase portion of the reaction vessel and oxygen absolute partial pressure of the oxygen-containing gas. In the present invention, when the absolute pressure at the gaseous phase portion of the reaction vessel is controlled to a range of from 0.098 MPa (mega pascal) to less than 0.392 MPa, the partial pressure of oxygen contained in the oxygen-containing gas fed to the reaction vessel must be from 0.0147 MPa to 0.0883 MPa in terms of an absolute pressure. The calculation formula for attaining such a state will next be described. Supposing that the absolute pressure at the gaseous phase portion of the reaction vessel is A(MPa), A falls within a range of 0.098xe2x89xa6A less than 0.392. The lower limit of the oxygen concentration in the oxygen-containing gas is represented by [(0.0147/A)xc3x97100] (%), while the upper limit of it is represented by [(0.0883/A)xc3x97100] (%). When the oxygen concentration is high, an inert gas must be introduced to the gaseous phase portion of the reaction vessel for safety. At this time, the higher the oxygen concentration of the oxygen-containing gas, the greater the amount of the inert gas to be introduced. It is therefore necessary to determine the upper limit of the oxygen concentration in consideration of an economical aspect. An oxygen concentration of 21 vol. % or less is preferred. Oxygen concentrations not greater than this value can improve the cost because the amount of an inert gas to be introduced into the gaseous phase portion of the reaction vessel can be decreased largely. Oxygen concentrations of 11.6 vol. % or less being more preferred and within this, safety is essentially ensured. Absolute pressures of 0.392 MPa or greater at the gaseous phase portion of the reaction vessel are not preferred, because they need inappropriately large equipment.
As the oxygen-containing gas in the invention, usable is that prepared by mixing oxygen and an inert gas to give its oxygen concentration within the range of the invention, air or a mixture of air and an inert gas. As the inert gas, any inert gas can be used insofar as it has not a large influence on the polymerization reaction. Nitrogen is the typical example of it.
The polymerization, feeding of the oxygen-containing gas and treatment of an unreacted gas can usually be carried out as follows: The absolute pressure at the gaseous phase portion in the reaction vessel having therein a catalyst mixture is adjusted to a range of from 0.098 MPa (mega pascal) to less than 0.392 MPa by introducing a gas (ex. inert gas or air-oxygen-containing gas, or mixture thereof). Gas-liquid mixing is then conducted by introducing an oxygen-containing gas having an oxygen partial pressure, in terms of an absolute pressure, of from 0.0147 MPa to 0.0883 MPa from a sparger attached at the bottom of the reaction vessel and stirring the mixture in the reaction vessel by an agitating element. When the oxygen concentration is 11.6% or greater, the gaseous phase portion is purged with nitrogen for safety. Polymerization reaction is then initiated by adding the phenol compound (or a solution having the phenol compound dissolved therein) to the reaction vessel through a pump. The gas-flow mixture discharged from the reaction vessel is cooled and condensed by a cooler disposed on the upper part of the reaction vessel. The condensate is introduced into a decanter, where it is separated into a water phase and an organic phase. The organic phase thus separated is returned back to the reaction vessel. The pressure of the reaction vessel is controlled by a control valve disposed downstream of the cooler. It is also possible to measure the oxygen concentration in the gas discharged from the cooler, mix the gas with oxygen, air or an inert gas, thereby controlling the oxygen concentration and absolute pressure to fall within the range of the invention, and then circulate the mixture to the sparger at the bottom of the reaction vessel. This makes it possible to decrease the amount of the mixture to be discharged to the environment and is therefore preferred. In the above-described operation, although no particular limitation is imposed on the addition rate of the phenol compound, a rate permitting completion of the charging of the whole amount within a period of from 10 minutes to less than 100 minutes is preferred. It is also possible to charge a portion of the phenol compound in the reaction vessel before introduction and feeding of the oxygen-containing gas and add the remaining portion at any time later or to charge in the reaction vessel the whole amount of the phenol compound in advance. In this case, the time when the oxygen-containing gas is introduced is regarded as the reaction starting point.
Although there is no particular limitation imposed on the introduction rate of the oxygen-containing gas, the feeding rate with respect to 1 kg of the reaction mixture at which charging of the whole amount of the phenol compound is completed preferably ranges from 0.5 Nl/min to 15 Nl/min. This amount is not critical, but at an excessively small amount, it takes long time to attain a desired molecular weight, thereby deteriorating productivity. Excessively large amounts, on the other hand, induce enlargement of equipment or increase of an exhaust gas amount so they are economically disadvantageous. During polymerization, the introduction rate can be changed. Favorable results are sometimes available by suppressing the introduction rate in the former stage of polymerization and by increasing it in the latter stage.
In the present invention, incorporation of a tetraalkylammonium salt compound, polyethylene-glycol-containing alkylamine or polyethylene-glycol-containing alkyl ammonium salt compound in the whole mixture charged in the reaction vessel in an amount not exceeding 0.1 wt. % is preferred for further improving the action of the invention, but it is not always necessary. Such a compound has a structure represented by the following formula (3), (4) or (5):
(wherein R9, R10, R11 and R12 each independently represents a C1-22 linear or branched alkyl group and X represents a counter anion);
(wherein R13 represents a C1-22 linear or branched alkyl group, R14 represents, in addition to those described for R13, a group represented by xe2x80x94(CH2CH2O)nxe2x80x94H (n stands for an integer of 1 to 40), and R15 is a group represented by xe2x80x94(CH2CH2O)nxe2x80x94H (n stands for an integer of 1 to 40));
(wherein R16 and R17 each independently represents a C1-22 linear or branched alkyl group, R18 represents, in addition to those described for R16, a group represented by xe2x80x94(CH2CH2O)nxe2x80x94H (n stands for an integer of 1 to 40), R19 is a group represented by xe2x80x94(CH2CH2O)nxe2x80x94H (n stands for an integer of 1 to 40)), and X is a counter anion).
The typical examples of such a compound include trioctylmethylammonium chloride known as a trade name of Aliquat 336 (product of Henkel KGaA) or Capriquat (product of Dojindo Laboratories). They are preferred in the present invention.
Polymerization is preferably effected at a temperature ranging from 0 to 80xc2x0 C., more preferably 10 to 60xc2x0 C., because reaction does not proceed smoothly at an excessively low temperature, while the catalyst happens to be deactivated at an excessively high temperature. Favorable results tend to be available by setting the temperature a little lower in the former stage of polymerization and a little higher in the latter stage of polymerization.
Reaction is terminated when the molecular weight reaches a desired value, because the molecular weight of the polymer is apparent from the viscosity of the polymer solution measured during polymerization or by the analysis of the sampled polymer.
No particular limitation is imposed on the treatment after completion of the polymerization reaction. A polyphenylene ether can usually be collected simply by adding an acid such as hydrochloric acid or acetic acid, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) or salt thereof, or nitrilotriacetic acid or salt thereof to the reaction mixture to deactivate the catalyst, separating the resulting polymer from the reaction mixture, washing it with a solvent such as methanol which does not dissolve therein the polymer and then drying.

Production process of polyphenylene ether


A system and method for characterizing runtime behavior of a computer program executing in an execution environment, the method comprising: identifying one or more instances of yield points in a program to be executed, each yield point indicating a potential sampling operation during program execution; during program execution, in response to an identified yield point instance, ascertaining a state of the execution environment for indicating whether a sampling operation is to be performed; and, when the state of the execution environment indicates a sampling operation, recording relevant information for characterizing behavior of the execution environment. Relevant information for characterizing program behavior includes frequencies of methods executed in the program, and calling context associated with methods called by the program. Different mechanisms are provided for determining the sampling condition including the setting of a trigger bit by a runtime system, or, determining a sampling operations based on a fixed percentage of all executed yield points taken.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer program execution systems, e.g., optimizing compilers, and more specifically, to a system and method for sampling executing programs at selected program yield points to enable the characterization of runtime program behavior.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Many modern programming language runtime environments and tools can benefit from runtime feedback from a program. For example, Java virtual machines may use runtime feedback to guide optimization of the running program. As another example, program understanding tools may gather runtime information and report summaries to the user.
Since running programs may potentially generate vast quantities of runtime data, many systems use statistical sampling to reduce the volume of information. With this well-known technique, the system collects only a subset, or sample, of the total relevant runtime information, and infers properties of the program by extrapolating from the sample.
Although sampling is a well-known principle, a system that implements sampling faces potentially difficult engineering tradeoffs. The system must implement a sampling mechanism that gathers an interesting subset of the data, while minimizing runtime overhead. For some applications, the system must implement a mechanism that collects multiple independent samples. The system must extrapolate from the sampled data to recover the information it desires, a non-trivial task in some cases. Also, for some applications, the system must rely on compiler support to provide information about the program, and integrate this support with the runtime system.
Many compilers and programming tools collect runtime information to characterize the behavior of a running program. In order to collect runtime information, the system must periodically interrupt the running program and record information regarding the current state of execution.
There are two previous approaches to interrupting programs to collect runtime information. In the first approach, the system interrupts the program at any arbitrary instruction. For example, the DCPI profiling tool described in the reference to J. M. Andersen, L. M. Berc, J. Dean, et al. entitled "Continuous profiling: Where have all the cycles gone?", Technical Note 1997-016a, Digital Systems Research Center, September 1997, interrupts the program after executing a fixed number of instructions. An advantage of this approach is that the mechanism works for any binary program, and requires no participation by the compiler.
In the second approach, the system identifies distinguished program points at which it collects information. For example, the IBM family MMI Development Kits for Java supports invocation counters at method entries. With this approach, the compiler or interpreter conspires with the profiling system to interrupt the program at particular points. The advantage of this approach is that the compiler or interpreter can record detailed information specific to these distinguished program points. So, for example, the MMI systems record the identity of the interrupted method at each invocation counter point.
It would be highly desirable to provide improved methods and mechanisms for collecting executing program runtime information. In particular it would be highly desirable to provide improved methods and mechanisms for collecting executing program runtime information at a subset of distinguished program points in a manner so as to reduce runtime overhead.

System and method for characterizing program behavior by sampling at selected program points


A machine tool has a mechatronic assembly which has a machine spindle and has a tool head which is held on the machine spindle and which has a basic body and also at least one working slide, which is adjustable relative to the basic body, for holding a tool. The mechatronic assembly contains an electric adjusting motor which acts on the working slide. The machine tool has a support device which holds the mechatronic assembly and which has an articulated joint arrangement at which the mechatronic assembly can be pivoted at least about a first axis and about a second axis which differs from the first axis.

Such a machine tool is known from FR 2 832 658 A1. This machine tool comprises a mechatronic assembly. The mechatronic assembly of the machine tool is accommodated on a carrier device. The mechatronic assembly includes a tool head. The tool head is connected to a machine spindle with a rotational axis. The tool head is designed with a guide pin. The tool head has an adjustable holder unit on which a cutting tool is fastened. For adjusting the holder unit, the mechatronic assembly includes an adjusting motor. With regard to the rotational axis of the machine spindle, the adjusting motor is arranged in the mechatronic assembly in a manner in which it is offset to the side on the tool head-side end of the machine spindle. The adjusting motor and the holder unit for the cutting tool are coupled by means of a planetary gearing. For the machining of valve seats, the guide pin of the tool head is inserted into a valve bore. After that, the tool head is set in rotational motion by driving the machine spindle. The cutting tool then rotates around the rotational axis of the machine spindle. The arrangement of the adjusting motor has the result that in the machine tool the mass center of gravity of the mechatronic assembly lies close to the tool head of the arrangement. For adjusting the mechatronic assembly in the machine tool, high force moments are therefore necessary. Furthermore, the side arrangement of the adjusting motor with regard to the rotational axis of the machine spindle results in an asymmetrical heat transfer into the tool head. This leads to inaccuracies in the tool adjustment.