A method of configuring a beam forming antenna in a communication network that comprises a first node where the beam forming antenna is located, second nodes and at least one destination node, communication links being established between said first node and said at least one destination node through at least some of said second nodes. The method comprises: emitting a signal by the beam forming antenna configured with a first set of antenna parameters; the same signal being sent from the first node to several second nodes; obtaining, for a plurality of communication links through which the signal has been sent, at least one physical magnitude representing the distortion caused by each communication link to the signal; aggregating said physical magnitudes of said plurality of communication links; and obtaining a second set of antenna parameters for configuring the beam forming antenna in accordance with said aggregated physical magnitudes.

The invention concerns a method and a system for configuring a beam forming antenna in a communication network transporting data.
In communication networks using high transmission frequencies, for example around 60 GHz, the signals require direct transmission, that is to say without reflection, from the source or transmitter. Such a direct transmission is also called Line of Sight (LOS).
Wireless personal area networks (W-PANs) use this kind of frequency. These networks are particularly well suited to A/V (Audio/Vidéo) applications requiring ever higher data bit rates on the order of a few Gigabits per second as well as an increasingly higher quality of services.
However, the power of the directly transmitted signals is attenuated rapidly as they are propagated.
So that the receiver has a sufficient signal to noise ratio, several methods are possible.
Thus recourse may be had to antenna techniques such as combining multiple receiving or transmitting antennas.
It is also possible to use techniques of cooperation between nodes in a network for relaying the signals transmitted.
In a communication network comprising one or more nodes serving as relays and which uses high transmission frequencies, the transmitting antenna must have high gain.
This is because high gain is necessary for being able to transmit a signal to a distant receiver (for example a receiver placed at 10 meters in a radio network where the carrier is 60 GHz) while complying with the constraints on the transmission power, which must remain compatible with the safety of persons.
Since the gain of an antenna is all the greater, the more the antenna is directive (that is to say the narrower the beam), it is necessary to perform a precise aiming of the antenna.
However, such a setting of the antenna requires the knowledge of the direction of arrival of the signal.
In a small network (the distance between the transmitter and the receiver is for example less than 10 meters), a small movement of the transmitter or receiver in a direction that does not correspond to the one to which the lobe or lobes of the antenna extend is liable to cause defective aiming.
In addition, as the useful rate required for transporting data over the network is very high, it is not appropriate to devote time to aiming.
Moreover, forming an antenna lobe at the transmitter from a return of information from a receiver is known from the prior art.
Thus, for example, the U.S. Pat. No. 7,151,951 is known, which discloses a method making provision for using information coming from the nodes of a network for calculating coefficients acting on the amplitude and phase of the signals applied to the elements of an antenna. These coefficients will make it possible to adjust a transmitting antenna capable of generating multiple beams in the context of the 3GPP network.
According to this method, each node in the network transmits a return channel that carries either antenna setting coefficients or information for calculating these coefficients.
However, this method is not entirely satisfactory.
This is because it is not particularly suited to the topology of the network.
Moreover, this method makes it possible to broadcast a message in the network in CDMA mode after having encoded it.
Thus, each receiving node receives a physical signal, each being different from one receiver to another since each signal is orthogonal to the other signals.
This method is therefore not applicable to the reception of the same physical signal at all the receivers.
Furthermore, such a method involves operations at the transmitting node which are costly in terms of resources.
In particular, the orthogonal signals have to be elaborated and encoded using relatively long codes before being transmitted.
Also, the transmission of these signals requires relatively high bandwidth resources.
Another method is known from WO 2006/088400.
According to this method a signal is divided at a transmitting node into substreams which are each transmitted to a different relay node.
The relay nodes provide feedback channel state information to the transmitting node so that the latter adjusts its antenna weighting matrix.
This latter method suffers from the same drawbacks as the former method briefly described above.

Method and a system for configuring a beam forming antenna in a communication network


An apparatus including an alternator that is drivable by an engine for producing a first AC electric current, a rectifier in electrical communication with the alternator for producing a DC electric current, an inverter in electrical communication with the rectifier for producing a second AC electric current where the second AC electric current having an acceptable frequency and/or voltage, and the inverter in electrical communication with one or more electric loads responsive to the second AC electric current, and an energy storage device that is able to electrically couple to the alternator, rectifier, and/or inverter.

Embodiments of the inventive subject matter may relate to a powered system, such as a marine vessel and/or off-highway vehicle and, more particularly, to an improved power generation apparatus or system for use with the powered system.
Marine propulsion systems may include one or more internal combustion engines for propelling the vessel by turning a shaft that rotates a propeller. The engines also may supply power to a generator to supply the vessel's electrical loads, for example, for auxiliary drives, which in turn convert electrical power to mechanical power, electrical devices for producing heat, cooling, and light, electrical devices for media technology, and electrical devices for other nautical systems.
Current marine propulsion systems (and off-highway vehicle propulsion systems) employ one or more constant-speed engines to produce turning-torque, or providing rotational forces, for an AC alternator. The alternator generates constant AC current, or frequency, and supplies it to an AC bus. The bus supplies power to motor loads on the marine vessel, including propeller motor drives, thrust motors drives, and other motor drives. The bus also supplies electricity to various hotel loads, i.e., other electrical loads (non-motor loads) that are operational on the marine vessel. Transformers for raising or lowering the AC voltage or for isolation, as required by the motor and non-motor loads, may be interposed between the alternator and the AC bus.
The marine propulsion system may include multiple parallel-connected alternators (driven independently by diesel-powered or other internal combustion engines) feeding a common AC electric bus. However, the alternator outputs must be in-phase, requiring the alternators to be synchronized. Also, reactive AC current (the out-of-phase portion of the AC wave) does little useful work. Such reactive power is pervasive in conventional marine power plants, resulting in reduced voltage levels, the undesirable heating of equipment and wires, and wasted energy. Maintaining stability of this AC system is complex; all alternators must remain in phase. Alternator stability issues include hunting, maximum power-pullout angle, effects of faults, out-of-phase transfers, and load transients. Also, the constant-speed engines may exhibit relatively poorer fuel efficiency due to the required constant speed operation.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art configuration showing first and second engines 12 and 14, each supplying rotational energy to a respective alternator 18 and 20. Two transformers 24 and 26 are fed electricity by the respective alternators 18 and 20 at a first voltage and supply electricity at a second voltage to an AC bus 30. Various motor load drives 32, 34 and 36 and a non-motor load 38 are connected to the AC bus 30 as illustrated. The configuration shows the alternator 18/transformer 24 and the alternator 20/transformer 26 in parallel; each the output signals from the transformer 24 and the transformer 26 must operate at the same voltage and at the same frequency. Alternately, the transformers 24 and 26 could be combined into one. Because of this need for synchronization of the alternators, creating this condition requires both the engines 12 and 14 to operate at the same speed.
Another system includes a DC bus and an active front end (a controlled rectifier) to convert the AC to DC for supplying electricity to the DC bus. This system is illustrated in FIG. 2 with active front ends (AFE's) 40 and 42 supplying current to a DC bus 46. The bus 46 supplies DC electricity to DC motors on the marine vessel, including propeller motors 50, thrust motors 52, and other motors 54. The bus 46 is connected to and supplies electricity to other loads and hotel loads 56.
The active front ends 40 and 42 comprise IGBTs used as a rectifier (such as in an IGBT bridge), rather than a diodes used in a diode bridge. The term "IGBT" refers to an insulated gate bipolar transistor. The complexity and, therefore, the cost, of the AFE's 40 and 42 are relatively high. The IGBTs rectify the AC supply to produce the current for the DC bus 46. The IGBT bridge is supplied via a three phase reactor and the IGBTs are controlled with a pulse width modulation waveform such that a sinusoidal current is drawn from the supply. When a drive is regenerating, the DC bus voltage is regulated by the active front end, and the power flows to other loads which are consuming electrical power. In both cases, the speed of the engines 12 and 14 cannot be varied to attain better fuel efficiency.
It may be desirable to have a propulsion system that has different characteristics than those of the currently available systems to improve fuel efficiency while also minimizing part count and overall complexity.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The invention relates to the vibration damper systems (here, method and apparatus) for active removal of beyond-normal internal vibrations from turbine-generator-sets [T-G-Ss]. The invention relies on dynamic forces generated by at least a pair (when symmetrically placed) of “wings” or by at least one “wing” (when centrally placed), or combination of that, and associated hardware mounted on the bearing housing, which operate to offset internally produced vibrations in an active or “real time” fashion. This is in contrast to the typical method of taking the turbine-generator off-line, shutting it down and then eliminating the source of vibration. The invention allows the generator to remain operational during adjustments. Thus, it remains on-line producing electricity and associated revenue. The system may be installed at presently operating T-G-Ss. It also foresees the simple developments to be done in future designed T-G-Ss for use of this method. The use of invention provides a real solution to internal vibrations that develop in turbine-generator-sets throughout their lifetime. This method can also be utilized by other or materially different processes in all kind of machinery, apparatuses and technologies for as long it successfully damps vibrations.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is a divisional one from the previous inventions of this author related to methods and apparatuses for active removal of internal vibrations from turbine-generator-sets (T-G-S). The previous invention of turbine generator vibration damper system relates to the vibration damper apparatuses themselves and covers all possible variations of horizontally placed T-G-Ss (in size, capacity, working velocity of rotor, diameter of working wheel, etc.), also all reasonable values of vibration (in amplitude and frequency, etc.), at presently existing all types power electro and other plants using rotary machines. Also, if the designs of future turbines and generators, first of all of high capacity, could originally include their bearings-fulcra improvements, based on this invention [use of the specified bodies, the B-F-L-Ws], that will make such machinery—with minimized shutdown period and minimized operating vibration—both more efficient and more safe for customers.
The present invention relates to the method of vibration damping by this specific vibration damper system. Beyond this, the application of this method is now presented wider than for rotary machinery only. The method itself covers not only rotary machinery, but can further be utilized by other or materially different processes and at other apparatuses and machinery (i.e. motor, re-heater, cooling device, etc.) for as long it successfully damps vibrations.
2. Description of the Related Art
From the beginning of time, mankind has relied on various sources of energy to survive. These sources have included wood, coal, oil, wind power, and nuclear energy to just name a few. However, just about all these sources rely on the fact that mechanical movement is transformed into electrical power by a turbine-generator-set. While the overall design of these turbine-generator-sets has been improved over the years, they still must deal with internal vibrations. Most of these vibrations are engineered or machined out during manufacture, but additional vibrations develop as the machine operates throughout the years. When these vibrations reach an unacceptable level, the turbine-generator-set must be shut down to allow adjustments to take place. These adjustments not only take time and money to perform, but the generator is not online, thus no electricity or associated revenue is produced. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which vibrations can be reduced in a turbine-generator-set in a continuous manner without the requirement of taking the generator off-line. The development of the Turbine Generator Vibration Damper System fulfills this need.
The Turbine Generator Vibration Damper System, as its name implies, is an apparatus that actively removes internal vibrations from turbine-generator-sets.
The invention relies on dynamic forces generated by at least a pair (when symmetrically placed) of "wings" or by at least one "wing" (when centrally placed), or combination of that, and associated hardware mounted on the bearing housing, which operate to offset internally produced vibrations in an active or "real time" fashion. This is in contrast to the typical method of taking the turbine-generator off-line, shutting it down and then eliminating the source of vibration. The invention allows the generator to remain operational during adjustments. Thus, it remains on-line producing electricity and associated revenue. Additionally, the workers, material and labor normally used in the static reduction of vibration are saved as well. As a net result, less redundancy or backup sources of electricity are needed. The use of the Turbine Generator Vibration Damper System provides a real solution to internal vibrations that develop in turbine-generator-sets throughout their lifetime.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention; however, the following references were considered related:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,704, issued in the name of Sasse, describes a torque converter with a torsional vibration damper.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,965, issued in the name of Krause et al., describes a force transmitting apparatus having an external damper.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,869, issued in the name of Krause et al, describes a force transmitting apparatus having an external damper.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,484, issued in the name of Crall, describes a method and apparatus for damping rotor assembly vibrations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,879, issued in the name of Sudau, discloses a torque converter with a torsional vibration damper arrangement.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,093, issued in the name of Hinkel, describes a torque converter with a turbine shell integrated with a torsional vibration damper.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,092, issued in the name of Hinkel, describes a torque converter with bridge coupling and vibration damper between bridge coupling and turbine hub.
And, U.S. Pat. No. 6,102,174, issued in the name of Sasse, describes ahydrodynamic torque converter with a torsional damper arranged in the inner torus.
Consequently, a need has been felt for providing an apparatus and method for removing turbine generator vibrations without necessitating the shutdown of such turbine generators.

Turbine generator vibration damper system


A method and composition is provided for a relative permeability modifier for use with aqueous well treatment fluids that comprises a hydrophobically modified water soluble polymer or a hydrophilically modified water soluble polymer.

The present embodiment relates generally to a relative permeability modifying polymer for use with spacer fluids for introduction into a subterranean zone penetrated by a well bore.
While drilling oil and gas wells, a drilling fluid is circulated through the string of drill pipe, through the drill bit and upwardly to the earth's surface through the annulus formed between the drill pipe and the surface of the well bore, thereby cooling the drill bit, lubricating the drill string and removing cuttings from the well bore.
When the desired drilling depth of the well is reached, another "performance" fluid, such as a slurry containing a cement composition, is pumped into the annularspace between the walls of the well bore and pipe string or casing. In this process, known as "primary cementing," the cement composition sets in the annulus, supporting and positioning the casing, and forming a substantially impermeable barrier, or cement sheath, which isolates the casing from subterranean zones.
A spacer fluid is a fluid used to displace one performance fluid, such as a drilling fluid, in a well bore before the introduction into the well bore of another performance fluid, such as a cement slurry. Spacer fluids are often used in oil and gas wells to facilitate improved displacement efficiency when pumping new fluids into the well bore. Spacer fluids are also used to enhance solids removal during drilling operations, to enhance displacement efficiency and to physically separate chemically incompatible fluids. For instance, in primary cementing, the cement slurry is separated from the drilling fluid and partially dehydrated gelled drilling fluid may be removed from the walls of the well bore by a spacer fluid pumped between the drilling fluid and the cement slurry. Spacer fluids may also be placed between different drilling fluids during drilling fluid change outs or between a drilling fluid and a completion brine.
It is understood that the well bore may pass through zones which produce water instead of hydrocarbons. Besides being highly undesirable during the production phase of a well, water producing zones can cause problems in the well bore with certain completion activities.
Recently, wells in the production phase have been successfully treated with compounds known as relative permeability modifiers, which decrease the co-production of water with hydrocarbons by reducing the flow of water through hydrocarbon producing formations, yet have little or no effect on the permeability of the formations with respect to hydrocarbons. However, it is desirable to curb water production as early as possible in the life of a well, and to produce more effective relative permeability modifying compositions.
Thus, what is needed is a method and composition for modifying the permeability of water producing zones by the use of a relative permeability modifying composition in a spacer fluid.

Hydrophobically modified polymers for a well completion spacer fluid


Water-dispersible plant growth regulating compositions in concentrated suspended particle form, and more particularly to growth regulating compositions comprising a cytokinin, a surfactant, an anti-foam agent, a buffering system, an anti-freeze agent, and an anti-settling system, dispersed in water.

Plant growth regulators such as cytokinins are useful for influencing a range of plant developmental processes including branch and floral initiation stem elongation, germination, dormancy, flowering, sex expression, enzyme induction, fruit size and quality, as well as leaf and fruit senescence. Cytokinins are a class of plant growth substances (phytohormones) that promote cell division, or cytokinesis, in plant roots and shoots.
Preparations based on cytokinins, such as 6-furfurylamino purine (kinetin) and 6-benzylaminopurine (6-BAP), are known to be growth stimulators. While the mechanism by which cytokinins affect the growth cycle of plants is far from being understood, it is apparent that they affect leaf growth and prevent aging in certain plants. Although the action of cytokinins on the growth of cultivated plants has been extensively studied, these plant hormones did not find wide application in plant raising since they must be applied at specific concentrations in parts per million. These critical rates of application render cytokinins-based preparations impractical in an agricultural environment. In addition, cytokinins have a low solubility in water or solvent.
6-BAP is a cytokinin used primarily as a chemical thinner in apple/pear production and also to increase branching/flowering in certain ornamental flower species. Current products on the market are formulated as soluble concentrate (SL) formulations. However, these formulations are limited in that they are either solvent-based with a limited active ingredient concentration (typically 2 wt. % 6-BAP) due to limited solubility of 6-BAP or they utilize strong bases such as KOH to get up to approximately 10 wt. % 6-BAP concentration, and the resulting solutions have corrosive properties, greater risk to the end user as well as potential environmental or ecotoxicological issues. In addition, on dilution into spray tanks, the products are prone to crystallization at high use rates due to the limited solubility of the 6-BAP active component. The crystal growth formation can occur due to Ostwald ripening (mediated by temperature fluctuations). This crystallization makes the active component in a form unavailable to the plant, thereby reducing performance, and increasing potential to block spray nozzles.
Some plant growth regulators may be prepared as water-dispersible granules. To prepare the water-dispersible granules for spray application, they are dispersed in water and form a suspension upon agitation. Different water-dispersible granular formulations are known for agricultural chemicals. For example, EP 0 252 897 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,901 disclose encapsulated plant growth regulators in water dispersible granular formulations; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,658 discloses an extrudable composition for preparing water-dispersible granules. U.S. Pat. No. 6,984,609 discloses a water-soluble granular composition including at least 40% of at least one gibberellin as plant growth regulator, at least one binder, at least one disaccharide and at least one surfactant.
Water-dispersible granules usually have no greater than 8% water content, and form suspensions when added to aqueous solutions. The resulting suspension must be agitated for a period of time in order to fully disperse the active phase particles. Agitation or by-pass recirculation of the tank-mix must also be maintained during application. The quality of water-dispersible granules is highly process- and active-ingredient-dependent and can result in low yield recoveries, poor attrition resistance leading to dust potential, high manufacturing cost and poor dispersability. Generally, sprays of dissolved water-dispersible granular formulations leave undesirable insoluble residues on the treated foliage and fruit.
For plant growth regulators such as gibberellins and cytokinins to be efficacious, the active ingredient must solubilize in the tank-mixes prior to application. Otherwise, product efficacy will be severely affected. When water-dispersible granules are used, the grower often may not be able to realize if he had achieved the total solubility of the active ingredient in the spray solutions. In addition, water-dispersible granules can become hardened over time resulting in poor dispersibility and solubility of the active ingredient. In addition, dust and caking may be problems with certain water-dispersible granules and powder formulations.
The need exists for a cytokinin formulation with high potency and concentrated levels of cytokinin without the use of strong, corrosive bases and without the tendency to crystallize to avoid the problems associated with conventional formulations.

Water-dispersible plant growth regulating concentrate and processes for making and using same


A lamp includes a lamp tube, a carrier, a light bar circuit board, a driver circuit board, a plurality of first luminous elements and a parallel-connected type luminous unit. The carrier is accommodated in the lamp tube. The light bar circuit board is disposed on the carrier. The driver circuit board is disposed on the carrier and adjoins the light bar circuit board. The first luminous elements are disposed on the light bar circuit board. The parallel-connected type luminous unit is disposed on the driver circuit board, and includes a plurality of luminous element groups connected in parallel.

Technical Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a luminous device. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a lamp.
Description of Related Art
Because the light emitting diode (LED) is of low power-consumption and high efficient, it has been widely used in the backlight module and the illumination device. In recent years, the LED lamp has been quickly replacing the conventional incandescent light bulbs and fluorescent lamps.
A typical LED lamp includes a light transmissive tube, a light bar, a carrier and a driver. The light bar is placed on the carrier. The carrier is inserted into the chamber in the light transmissive tube through the lateral opening of the tube. The driver is accommodated in the carrier. Because the size of the LED is made smaller and smaller, the small-sized LEDs disposed on the light bar exhibit as spot-like light rather than uniform light.
To address this issue, the light bar was arranged closer to the bottom surface of the light transmissive tube to increase the distance between the top surface of the light transmissive tube and the LED on the light bar, such that the emitted light of the tube became more uniform.
However, arranging the light bar closer to the bottom surface of the light transmissive tube should significantly reduce the thickness of the carrier. As such, the driver can no longer be accommodated in the carrier. Instead, the driver is disposed at the end of the light transmissive tube, which makes the end of the tube dark and visually deteriorates the value of the LED lamp.


Systems and/or methods that facilitate the segmentation of layer 3 (L3) data to more than one virtual private network (VPN) or virtual network (vNET) are presented. An application classifier component can be used to facilitate the classification of L2 to and from hosts and/or other networking components that are attached to a network based on the type of application with which the network traffic is associated. The innovation associates multiple Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) with the same L2 forwarding table ahead of bridging into shadow VLANs (SVLANs) which can be associated with different L3 vNETs. The application classifier component can classify data traffic at the switch port through Switching Virtual Interfaces (SVIs) into SVLANs which can be associated with different L3 vNETs. Each vNET can be optimized and provide services specific to which type of application in which the vNET is associated.

Today, virtually all networks are based on the Open Systems Interconnections (OSI) standard that is typically abstractly described in seven layers (e.g., the OSI Reference Model) wherein the seven layers define the different states that data passes through to travel from one host (personal computer (PC), laptop, server etc.) to another host over a network. The top three layers (e.g., application layer, presentation layer, and session layer) comprise the "application set" layers, while the bottom four layers (e.g., transport layer, network layer, data layer, and physical layer) comprise the "transport set." Control of the data that is sent from a first host to a second host is passed from one OSI layer to the next. For example, the data is passed from a first host starting at the top OSI layer (e.g., application layer) to the bottom layer (e.g., the physical layer), passes through the networking channel, where control is passed from the bottom layer to the top layer to a second host.
The first two layers (e.g., physical layer and data layer) are required for every type of communications. Layer 2 (L2) (e.g., data layer) is responsible for ensuring the validity and integrity of data transmissions and for dividing the data into frames (e.g., Ethernet frame, Token Ring frame) in local area networks (LANs). If all the hosts associated with an L2 network are within a single network segment, then routing capability in the L2 is not required.
The third layer (e.g., networking layer) can route data between hosts and can extend the node-to-node function of L2 networking, because layer 3 (L3) utilizes routable protocols (e.g., transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), etc.) that utilize a network address (e.g., an internet protocol (IP) address) to facilitate routing data from one host to another host. When receiving packets (e.g., TPC packets, UDP packets etc.), the L3 protocol can prepare the packets for the L2 protocol by turning the IP addresses into the media access control (MAC) physical host addresses (e.g., the physical address) and can fragment the packets, if necessary, into a required frame size for the L2 network.
Virtual networks (vNETs) enable concurrent sharing of physical resources among multiple applications and can provide isolation among virtual entities. For example, vNETs can be constructed by linking nodes within a network with tunnels that can encapsulate packets within the vNETs with the addition of headers. The vNETs also provide the ability to bypass nodes that are not part of a particular vNET.
Traditionally, all of the L2 traffic from a particular host is associated with one L3 router. For example, if an ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) packet from a host to an L2 switch is associated with a particular VLAN (virtual local area network), the L2 switch can bridge the ARP packet if the packet is to stay within that particular VLAN. However, if the packet is classified as a routable packet, the L2 switch can route the packet to a particular L3 network or vNET that can be associated with the host.
The segmentation of data traffic is provided at the L2 level while aggregation of data traffic is typically performed at the L3 level. Conventionally, L3 virtual networks, such as virtual private networks (VPNs), integrate with regular bridging. VLANs or bridging domains are usually represented as a subnet to the L3 layer. However, when integrating bridging domains with L3 vNETs where classification into L3 vNETs is required, it is not clear how to extend that L3 vNET segmentation down to the L2 VLANs.

Shared L2 bridging domains for L3 virtual networks


A connector structure for a fluid tube is provided. The connector structure comprises: a first connector body connected to a fluid tube; a second connector body, the first connector body and the second connector body being connectable to each other and comprising mating surfaces to create a fluid tight seal between the first connector body and the second connector body, wherein the mating surfaces comprise only vertical and/or oblique parts and are configured to press tightly against each other and form a fluid tight seal with the locking mechanism; and a locking mechanism, wherein the first and the second connector body are configured to detach from each other when the locking mechanism is not used.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to a connector structure for a fluid tube the connector structure comprising a first connector body connected to a fluid tube, and a second connector body, the first connector body and the second connector body being adapted to be connected to each other and provided with mating surfaces to create a fluid tight seal between the first connector body and the second connector body. The disclosure relates further to a connector structure of a patient respiratory tubing.
As described above the disclosure relates to the connector structure for a fluid tube. More specifically the disclosure relates generally to a fluid connection for reducing the risk of incomplete connections resulting in leakages of fluid said connection. The disclosure relates also to sample tubing connections used in analyzing equipment such as gas analyzing equipment for patient respiratory gas.
2. Description of Related Art
In anesthesia or in intensive care, the condition of a patient is often monitored e.g. by analyzing the air exhaled by the patient for its carbon dioxide content. For this reason a small portion of the respiratory gas is delivered to a gas analyzer. The sample is carried along a sampling tube connected in one end often to a respiratory tube adapter and the other end to the gas analyzer. This sampling tube is typically disposable and must have some kind of reliable and tight connectors. Almost all pneumatic connectors in the respiratory system have tapered conical contact surfaces. Such connectors are simple, relatively easy to connect and cheap to make. The connection such as a well-known fitting called Luer-Lok, a registered trademark of Becton Dickinson of Franklin Lakes, N.J. USA, has been in general use for gas sampling but also other similar connectors with differing dimensions can be used. When used with carefully following the instructions for use they provide an airtight and reliable connection.
A gas analyzer designed to measure respiratory gas in real time provides critical data that care givers use to assess the clinical status of the patient as well as the proper functioning of the devices and the clinical set up in use. The technology used in clinical gas measurement is developing in a direction where the monitoring system is equipped with algorithms that provide caregivers proposals to readjust the clinical parameters based on the gas data. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that the data provided by the gas analyzer is correct and gives accurate and true information about the gas concentrations and their changes in the clinical set up.
Unfortunately, the connector designs used in gas sampling applications, including the widely used Luer connector, leave room for erroneous situations that can degrade the gas sample and lead to wrong clinical assessments. Specifically, it is possible to make a connection where the interfacing parts are mounted deep enough into each other so that they would not fall off from each other even though still not being secured together. Often times such an incomplete and unsecured connection is not airtight even though the gas sampling line hanging in gas detector gives a care giver the false visual impression that a proper connection has been established.
Since the analyzer creates an under pressure into the gas sample line a leak in the connection will result in ambient air diluting the gas sample going into the analyzer meaning that the air analyzed in the gas sensor no longer represents the real clinical conditions. This can lead to wrong diagnoses about the patient's clinical condition as well as wrong conclusions about the functioning of the equipment and their accessories. Specifically, patient safety may be worsened because incorrect gas data may lead to hypoxia or over dosage of anesthetic agent.

Connector structure and a connector structure of a sampling tube of a patient respiratory tubing


A multi-pan for an air conditioning system which has a coil positionable in one of three orientations has been invented, the multi-pan includes, in certain aspects, a bottom pan having walls defining an inner space the bottom pan disposed for receiving water from the coil when the coil is positioned above the bottom pan, a first side pan connected at one end to the bottom pan, the first side pan disposed for receiving water from the coil when the coil is positioned above the first side pan, and a second side pan connected at one end to the bottom pan and spaced apart from the first side pan by the bottom pan, the second side pan disposed for receiving water from the coil when the coil is positioned above the second side pan. the bottom pan can be configured for an A (or V) coil with an air flow space therethrough, or for an M-coil with two air flow spaces therethrough and a middle pan part.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to drain pans for air conditioning systems and in one aspect, to such systems including a coil.
2. Description of Related Art
In many prior art air conditioning systems a coil in a housing is oriented in a particular direction depending on the coil design, housing design, and available drain pans. In certain systems, a V-shaped coil (sometimes called an "A" coil) or M-shaped coil (when coils are viewed from one end) is used with the V or M pointing up. Alternatively these coils are positioned with the coil on a side.
Often it is desirable to re-orient a coil which is already positioned in a housing with the V (or A) pointing up or with the V (or A) or M pointing horizontally. After re-positioning there must be a pan beneath the coil.
There has long been a need for a drain pan suitable for triple coil positions. There has long been a need for such an apparatus which is simple, easily made, easily installed, and easily accessed.


A method for concentrating coal tailings which comprises steps of: feeding the coal tailings to a thickener; treating the coal tailings with a hydrophobic polyelectrolyte copolymer coagulant which comprises diallyldimethylammonium chloride and a more hydrophobic monomer, the coagulant is added to the coal tailings in an amount between about 0.05 to about 0.25 lb/ton; treating the coal tailings with a flocculant in an amount between about 0.05 to about 0.25 lb/ton; discharging substantially concentrated tailing; and withdrawing substantially clarified liquid from the thickener.

Coal is the most abundant natural energy source in the world. A significant portion of the U.S. domestic energy requirements are met by burning coal as a fossil fuel. There are various types of coal found within the U.S., i.e., anthracite, semi-anthracite, low-volatile bituminous coal, medium and high volatile bituminous coal, sub-bituminous coal, and lignite. Coals such as anthracite and semi-anthracite typically have high ash and sulfur contents and therefore require beneficiation prior to use.
The primary purpose of coal beneficiation is to reduce the incombustible ash content thus enhancing the heat content. Reduction in the ash content results in savings in transportation and ash disposal costs. Sulfur, mainly in the form of purite, is also reduced.
Another important economic factor to be considered in coal processing is the recovery and reuse of process water. Water is typically very expensive and there are often limits on total usage. Also, strict environmental controls prohibit or severely limit discharge of process water. Thus, it is imperative that solids be efficiently removed from the process water and water recycled to the process stream.
Beneficiation of coal is effected using two primary properties of coal, i.e., (1) differences in specific gravity between coal and its impurities, and (2) differences in surface characteristics between coal and its impurities. Since the higher ash content fractions are usually found in the finer coal sizes, some plants only screen out these sizes to beneficiate the coal. However, since the quantity of such fine coal is on the rise, even this is treated.
A coal beneficiation plant may be broadly categorized into specific gravity separation and fine coal treatment. In gravity separation, cleaning units make use of the differences in specific gravity between coal and its impurities to effect separation. Normally, the specific gravity of the clean coal is less than its impurities. Some commonly used equipment for gravity separation are: jigs, heavy medium baths and cyclones, washing tables, water only cyclones and spirals.
Fine coal treatment incorporates a flotation cell(s), clean coal filter and thickener. In the flotation cell, a collector and frother are added to the flotation feed. The collector (e.g., diesel oil #2) selectively imparts hydrophobicity to the coal particles. This increased hydrophobicity makes the air bubbles more likely to attach to the coal particles. The frother (e.g., an alcohol based product) reduces the surface tension of the air/water interface, thus making a stable froth.
The concentrate (i.e., clean coal) from the flotation cells goes to the clean coal filter and is dewatered. The tailings from the flotation cell go to the thickener where they are thickened and discharged.
The thickener is treated with coagulants and flocculants to enhance settling. Typically, the coagulants and flocculants are added at several points along the feed line to the thickener and in different sequences. Coagulation is the destabilization by surface charge neutralization of stable negatively charged particles that are in suspension (i.e., settleable or dispersed) through the utilization of inorganic salts or cationic polyelectrolytes. Flocculation is the aggregation of finely divided particles which are suspended in a liquid through the utilization of an entrapping agent (i.e., an inorganic flocculant) or a bonding agent (i.e., an organic flocculant) that brings the particles together.
Although some inorganics, principally alum and iron salts, are still used as coagulants, water soluble organic polymers are more commonly used as coagulants. Both naturally occurring and synthetic polyphers find use as coagulants and flocculants in the mining industry. The principal natural polymers used are starch and guar, both of which are high-molecular weight polymers of simple sugars (i.e., polysaccharides). Starch is a polymer of glucose consisting of a mixture of linear (amylose) and branched segments (amylopectin).
Synthetic polymers have the advantage that they can be tailored to a specific application. This has resulted in a wide range of commercially available coagulants and flocculants of varying charge, composition, and molecular weight. The most widely used synthetic coagulants are polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (poly-DADMAC or DADMAC) and condensation polymers of dimethylamine and epichlorohydrin (Epi/DMA). These structures vary greatly in molecular weight and are in the range of 20,000 to 100,000.
The present inventors have developed various novel hydrophobic polyelectrolyte copolymers which may be used as coagulants in the thickening process during coal beneficiation. These hydrophobic monomers exhibit improved performance or activity in coal tailings thickening than do conventional inorganic and organic coagulants. In addition to the hydrophobicity, the hydrophobic monomer used to synthesize the polyelectrolyte copolymers according to the present invention produce copolymers with substantially higher molecular weights than conventional synthetic DADMAC homopolymers prepared under the same conditions. Furthermore, the incorporation of a quaternary group, such as benzyl, into the copolymer of the present invention reduces the bulk viscosity of the resultant copolymer relative homopolymers of DADMAC with comparable molecular weights. As such, the hydrophobic polyelectrolyte copolymers of the present invention exhibit higher polymer concentrations than conventional organic coagulants. These hydrophobically associating copolymers also demonstrate enhanced performance with replacement ratios on the order of 0.45-0.50.
The present invention also provides many additional advantages which shall become apparent as described below.

Hydrophobic polyelectrolyte coagulants for concentrating coal tailings


An integrated heatsink and antenna structure that is suitable for inclusion in small and midsized computing devices. The integrated heatsink and antenna structure may include heatsink portions and radio frequency antenna portions. The heatsink portions may provide a path for dissipating thermal energy or heat generated by the components in the device (e.g., printed circuit boards, processors, voltage amplifiers, etc.), and the radio frequency (RF) antenna portions may allow the device to send and receive wireless communications. The integrated heatsink and antenna structure may be formed so that radio frequency antenna portions operate to improve the thermal performance of the heatsink portions and/or so that the heatsink portions operate to improve the antenna properties (e.g., radiation patterns, radiation efficiency, bandwidth, input impedance, polarization, directivity, gain, beam-width, voltage standing wave ratio, etc.) of the radio frequency antenna portions.

Wireless communication technologies have been growing in popularity and use over the past several years. This growth has been fueled by better communications hardware, larger networks, and more reliable protocols. Wireless and Internet service providers are now able to offer their customers with an ever-expanding array of features and services, such as robust cloud-based services. To better support these enhancements, more powerful consumer facing edge devices (e.g., routers, switches, etc.) are beginning to emerge. These devices include more powerful processors, system-on-chips (SoCs), memories, antennas, power amplifiers, and other resources (e.g., power rails, etc.) that better support high-speed wireless communications and execute complex and power intensive applications facilitating edge computing.
As more functions and capabilities are added to edge devices, the amount of power consumed and dissipated by the devices increases. Power dissipation becomes more acute when the device is reduced in physical size, which reduces the horizontal and vertical surface area that is available for dissipating thermal energy or heat. Further, many edge devices are deployed or used in environments that prevent the use of (or reduce the effectiveness of) thermal management solutions that require forced airflow (e.g., via a fan, etc.) or cold intake air.
As a result, high performance edge devices, which generate a significant amount of heat, are often shaped to dissipate heat (e.g., are shaped as a quadrilateral cuboid having two elongated faces/sides, etc.) and/or include large casings that house large heat sinks. Yet, purchasers and users of consumer facing edge devices increasingly demand that their device comply with certain size and/or physical design requirements. That is, in addition to high performance and functionality, consumers increasingly demand that their devices have an attractive form factor and a small size that allows the device to be readily placed throughout a home or small office.

Integrated heatsink and antenna structure


A multi-phase electric circuit including an electric machine and an inverter, wherein machine encompasses a rotor connected to the inverter via at least two brushes for each phase, wherein each of the brushes of each phase is connected to the inverter via a separate brush line.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a multi-phase electric circuit comprising an electric machine, as well as comprising an inverter, wherein the machine encompasses a rotor, which is connected to the inverter via at least two brushes per phase.
Such an electric circuit is known, for example, from DE 10 2008 009 276 A1 or from DE 10 2008 064 079 A1. The stator of the asynchronous machine is connected therein to an electric energy supply grid and the rotor is connected to the energy supply grid via an inverter. The inverter can be constructed, for example, of two inverters, which are realized by means of power semiconductor devices, and a DC link, which is connected there between and which encompasses at least one capacitor.
The rotor can be set into rotation, for example with the help of wind power or water power or the like. If the rotor then carries out a rotation, electric energy is fed into the energy supply grid by means of the voltage, which is induced into the stator.
Due to its rotation, the rotor must be electrically connected to the inverter via brushes. In the case of asynchronous machines with higher performance, it can thereby be necessary to provide for a plurality of brushes for each phase. This can have the result that an undesired asymmetrical current flow is created via the brushes due to production-related differences between the brushes, which belong to a phase, for example.
A short-circuiting device, a so-called crowbar, is often connected to the connecting line between the rotor and the inverter. If a malfunction is determined during the operation of the electric circuit, the short-circuiting device is activated. This has the result that the three phases, which are supplied to the short-circuiting device, are short-circuited.

GE ENERGY POWER CONVERSION TECHNOLOGY LIMITED


A method of sharing audio/visual content is presented. In the method, the audio/visual content is received from an audio/visual content source at an audio/visual content receiver by way of a content channel selection resource of the receiver, and stored therein. A message is transmitted from the receiver to a communication node, wherein the message indicates that the audio/visual content is available for viewing by a selected user. The communication node notifies the selected user of the message by way of a communication device associated with the selected user. In response to receiving a request for the audio/visual content from the communication device, the communication node facilitates a communication connection between the receiver and the communication device. The audio/visual content is transmitted from the receiver to the communication device over the communication connection. At the communication device, the audio/visual content is then presented to the selected user.

A popular and effective way of accessing television programming is via a satellite or cable television broadcast receiver or "set-top box" designed to receive television video and audio data from an orbiting satellite or a cable television headend. By employing such a set-top box, a subscriber to a satellite or cable television service provider may receive any of several hundred programming channels providing news, sports, entertainment, and the like for live program viewing. In addition, the set-top box may include a digital video recorder (DVR) for recording programs for subsequent playback at a time more convenient for the subscriber. A DVR often incorporates a magnetic disk drive or similar data storage technology for storing the recorded programs.
To provide the subscriber more remote access to live or recorded programming received by the subscriber's set-top box, Sling Media, Inc. has developed a number of products, such as the Slingbox™, which allow the subscriber to stream programming from the set-top box over an Internet connection to a remote communication/display device, such as a computer, mobile phone, or the like, in the possession of the subscriber. To further enhance this capability, some set-top boxes are being developed which include the functionality of a Slingbox™ to allow the subscriber to retrieve programming directly from the subscriber's set-top box over the Internet.

Sharing of audio/visual content with a selected user


A method and an apparatus for generating a terahertz wave, wherein one end face 12a of a non-linear optical crystal 12 is positioned approximately orthogonally to a direction of generation of a terahertz wave 4, pump light 2 and idler light 3 are totally reflected at an approximately same point 13 on the end face, and the generated terahertz wave 4 is emitted roughly vertically to the end face.

An electromagnetic wave having a frequency around 1 THz, that is, a far infrared ray and a submillimeter wave in this region is referred to as a "terahertz wave". The terahertz wave is positioned at a boundary between a light wave and a radio wave, and has characteristics of both of the light wave and the radio wave.
One of characteristics of the terahertz wave is that the wave is the shortest wavelength band having a substance transmitting property of the radio wave and the longest wavelength including a rectilinear property of the light wave. That is, the terahertz wave can be transmitted through various substances as in the radio wave, and has a short wavelength (around 1 mm to around 30 μm). Therefore, the highest space resolution is obtained in a radio wave band. Moreover, like the light wave, the terahertz wave can be drawn by a lens and a mirror.
FIG. 1A is a generation principle diagram of this terahertz wave. In this drawing, reference numeral 1 is a non-linear optical crystal (e.g., LiNbO3), 2 is pump light (or referred to as excitation light), 3 is idler light, and 4 is the terahertz wave. It is to be noted that the pump light 2 and the idler light 3 are infrared light having a wavelength of around 1 μm.
When the pump light 2 is incident into the non-linear optical crystal 1 having the Raman activity and a far infrared activity in a constant direction, the idler light 3 and the terahertz wave 4 are generated via a raw excitation wave (a polariton) of the substance by stimulated Raman scattering (or a parametric interaction). In this case, among the pump light 2 (ωp), the terahertz wave 4 (ωT) and the idler light 3 (ωi), a law of conservation of energy represented by Equation (1) and a law of conservation of momentum (a requirement for phase matching) represented by Equation (2) are established. It is to be noted that Equation (2) is a vector, and a requirement for non-colinear phase matching can be satisfied as shown in FIG. 1B.ωp=ωT+ωi  (1); andκp=κT+κi  (2).
The idler light 3 and the terahertz wave 4 generated at this time have a spatial distribution, and the wavelengths of these waves continuously change in accordance with emission angles of the waves. The generation of the idler and terahertz waves in this single path arrangement is referred to as THz-wave parametric generation (TPG).
It is to be noted that a basic optical parametric process is defined by disappearance of one pump photon, and simultaneous generation of one idler photon and one signal photon. In a case where the idler light or signal light resonates, when pump light intensity exceeds a certain threshold value, parametric oscillation occurs. The disappearance of one pump photon and the simultaneous generation of one idler photon and one polariton are the stimulated Raman scattering, and are included in the parametric interaction in a broad sense.
However, there have been problems that the terahertz wave generated in a terahertz wave generation device having the above single path arrangement is very weak and that a large part of the wave is absorbed while the wave travels several hundreds of micrometers through the non-linear optical crystal. For example, owing to the absorption of the LiNbO3 crystal, the terahertz wave indicates a small value of about 0.1% while the wave travels along a length of 3 mm.
To solve the problems, Patent Documents 1, 2 are disclosed. Moreover, Patent Document (non laid-open) 3, Non-Patent Documents 1, 2 and the like are related to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a submillimeter wave generation device disclosed in Patent Document 1. As shown in this drawing, when idler reflection mirrors M1, M2 are constituted in a specific direction (an angle θ) with respect to broad idler light 3 described above, the intensity of the idler light 3 of the specific direction can be increased. It is to be noted that in this drawing, 5 is a laser unit which emits laser light as pump light 2, and 6 is a prism which guides terahertz wave 4 to the outside. The prism 6 is formed of a material having a small absorption coefficient with respect to the terahertz wave.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a terahertz wave generation device disclosed in Patent Document 2. As shown in this drawing, first laser light 7 having a single frequency is used as pump light 2, and another second laser light 8 having a single frequency is optically injected in a generation direction of idler light 3. In consequence, an output of the generated terahertz wave can largely be increased. In this drawing, reference numeral 9 is a prism array constituted by arranging a plurality of prisms 6 described above.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 09-146131, "Submillimiter Wave Generation Device"
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-072269, "Terahertz Wave Generation Method and Device"
[Patent Document 3]
Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-107885, non laid open
[Non-Patent Document 1]
K. Kawase et. al., "Arrayed silicon prism coupler for a THz-wave parametric oscillator", Applied Optics, vol. 40, No. 9, pp. 1423 to 1426, 2001
[Non-Patent Document 2]
K. Kawase et. al., "Terahertz wave parametric source", Journal of Physics D; Applied Physics, vol. 35, No. 3, pp. R1 to R14, 2002
As described above, when the pump light 2 (the excitation light) is struck on a non-linear optical crystal 1 having the Raman activity and the far infrared activity in a constant direction, idler light 3 and terahertz wave 4 are generated. The idler light 3 and the terahertz wave 4 generated at this time have a spatial distribution in a direction which satisfies a requirement for phase matching, and wavelengths of these waves continuously change in accordance with an emission angle.
Moreover, when the mirrors M1, M2 are constituted in a specific direction with respect to the idler light 3 as shown in FIG. 2, intensities of the idler light 3 and the terahertz wave 4 in the specific direction can be increased.
However, to take out the terahertz wave 4 generated in the crystal, total reflection conditions need to be avoided on a crystal end surface. Therefore, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3, the prism 6 and the prism array 9 have heretofore been formed of a material having a refractive index smaller than that of the non-linear optical crystal 1, and attached to the non-linear optical crystal 1 to take the terahertz wave 4 out of the crystal.
However, such conventional means have the following problems.
(1) Since a generation point of the terahertz wave is present in the non-linear optical crystal, there is a large absorption amount in the crystal. For example, as described above, owing to the absorption of the LiNbO3 crystal, the terahertz wave decreases to about 0.1% while the wave travels along a length of 3 mm.
(2) Since the terahertz wave is obliquely incident into an interface between the non-linear optical crystal and the prism, transmittance decreases, and output efficiency of the terahertz wave is decreased.
(3) An excessively weak output of the terahertz wave is taken out of the single prism. When the prism array is used, the output increases. However, the terahertz wave 4 is scattered and, due to the prism array including a plurality of prisms, a wave front of the terahertz wave is distorted, an emitted beam does not diametrically have a circular shape (or an elliptic shape), and there has been a trouble in application and development.
That is, if the terahertz wave 4 has a rotationally symmetric or ellipsoidic output distribution around an optical axis of the wave, it is possible to adapt a ray trace calculation for the terahertz waves. However, in the conventional means, the generated terahertz wave largely deviates from rotation symmetry. Therefore, it has been difficult to apply a gaussian optical system.
The present invention has been developed to solve such problems. That is, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for generating the terahertz wave in which absorption in a crystal can largely be reduced, output efficiency from an interface to the outside can be increased, and it is possible to obtain a terahertz wave output distribution close to rotation symmetry to which a gausssian optical system is easily applied.

Method and apparatus for generating terahertz wave


A method of joining a plurality of coils of strip material into a continuous strip and stacking the coils in a multi-coil arrangement is provided. A first coil is conveyed from a carry-in table by a transfer means to an exit side turn table and is designated as a forward coil. A first strip of material is pulled from the forward coil and supplied to a welding machine through an auxiliary guide roll and an exit side guide roll. A second coil is conveyed to an entry side turn table by the transfer means and designated as the rear coil. A second strip of material is pulled from the rear coil and supplied to the welding machine through an entry side guide roll. The first and second strips of material are welded together into a continuous strip of material. The rear coil is then moved to a stand-by position and sag is removed from the continuous strip of material by synchronously rotating the entry side guide roll, the exit side guide roll, the auxiliary guide roll and the exit side turn table. The rear coil is conveyed toward the exit side turn table while simultaneously taking up and recoiling sag in the continuous strip of material between the rear coil and the forward coil into the forward coil during said conveying, to allow the rear coil to be stacked over forward coil.

The present invention pertains to a processing of a plurality of coils each formed by winding a belt-like metallic strip, and particularly relates to a method of transferring coils, in which the coils are placed at both the exit side and the entry side of a welding machine through a coil transfer line made by combining transfer means with various equipment including the welding machine, resulting in positioning the forward coil and the rear coil, and after placing both coils in a continuous state by welding them with the welding machine, the rear coil is transferred while the forward coil is being taken up and the sag in the strip is absorbed, and then the rear coil is stacked on the forward coil. The present invention also relates to equipment which has coils each made by winding a belt-like metallic strip welded together thus forming them into a continuous coil, then to transfer the rear position coil as viewed in the coil transfer direction while taking up the coil at the forward position, then the rear coil is stacked on the forward coil.
The metallic strip is in general processed into a form having desired properties and thickness by repeated rolling and heat treatment on an ingot and finally it is slit into a desired width by a slitter, wherein the width direction of the strip is made parallel with the central axis of the coil, and at the same time formed into a coil of the strips being taken up with slit edges being put in line. And such a coil is to have various fabrication processes made thereon as it is used as a metallic raw material. For example, a process of welding the strips of a plurality of coils together is to make coils into a continuous form.
Now, this type of coil is of a large size, that is, for example the minimum diameter of 600 mm and the maximum diameter of 1,000 mm, and further, they have an appreciable weight, such as 100 to 300 kg for a coil of copper alloy. Therefore, considerable difficulties are encountered in handling and processing coils, for example when the coils are formed into a continuous form as mentioned.
There will be a number of problems that must be solved, for example, when any desired length of each strip is taken out of two coils for welding each end of the strip, how should it be fed into a welding machine? Also, When a strip having some length is taken out respectively of the two coils for welding, what action is taken to correct the twisting or sag, etc. in the strip into a proper form before and after the welding? How the strip connected into a continuous form after the welding is taken up? And how the load of taking up derived from the weight of the strip and the twisting and sag of the strip are taken care of? Further, what should be done for properly taking care of the consecutive processing of connecting a plurality of coils into a continuous form one by one and then stacking the same?
But, as far as the applicants could detect, to their regret, there is no method of stacking a plurality of coils, nor equipment for taking up and stacking the coils which are known to have solved such various problems.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a consolidated transferring method with a premise of welding a plurality of coils into a continuous form.
Another object of the present invention relates to a plurality of coils each formed by winding a metallic strip and lies in providing such a coil transfer method that coils are transferred by a coil transfer line in which a transfer means is combined with various kinds of equipment including a welding machine, and after the process of forming the coils into a continuous shape with the welding machine, the coil at the rear position as viewed in the coil transfer direction is transferred while the coil at the forward position is taken up, absorbing the sag in the strip, and the coil from the rear position is stacked on the coil in the forward position.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a coil transfer method that a plurality of large and heavy coils are conveyed by a transfer equipment, and strips supplied to a welding machine are welded one by one, then the strip and the sag in the strip is taken up and absorbed by a rotation of the coil at the forward position without scratching the strip, and the coil in the rear position is stacked over the coil in the forward position on an exit side turn table thus forming a plurality of coils which have been made into a continuous shape, then the coils can be taken out finally from the transfer line as one consolidated product, thus such a continuous transfer process as suited to the properties of the coil and the strip can be achieved.
Further, another object of the present invention is to provide such coil taking up and stacking equipment so that coils of metallic strips which have been welded and formed into a continuous shape are so processed as taking up one of the coils while transferring the other coil, with due care being paid to the properties of the coil and the strip, and one of the coil is stacked on the other coil.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such coil taking up and stacking equipment so that the coil at the forward position, out of two coils which are in forward and rear positions respectively in a coil transfer direction and at the same time are connected to each other by welding, is rotated in a horizontal state on a turn table device, also the coil in the rear position is held and transferred in a horizontal state by a transfer equipment, then the strip is taken up by the coil at the forward position and the coil in the rear position is stacked on the coil at the forward position.
Further, another object of the present invention is to provide such coil taking up and stacking equipment that when coils are welded one by one to form them into a continuous coil and are taken up and stacked, two coils in the front and rear positions are dividedly supported by a transfer equipment and a turn table device, where the turn table device can take up the strip with edges of the strip aligned well and even when the coil has a tilt or warp, etc. generated therein, a position being safe relative to the coil can be taken by a follow-up function, thus avoiding a damage on a guide roll device for guiding the take up.

Transfer method of coils and coil taking-up and stacking equipment


A database system comprises a processing module, and a storage device communicatively coupled with the processing module and allocated thereto. The storage device stores a base table allocated to the processing module. The processing module receives a database query from a client computer system, and generates a spool based upon a number of columns of a table, and partitions at least one column of the spool based upon the database query received from the client computer system.

A database is a collection of stored data that is logically related and that is accessible by one or more users or applications. A popular type of database is the relational database management system (RDBMS), which includes relational tables, also referred to as relations, made up of rows and columns (also referred to as tuples and attributes). Each row represents an occurrence of an entity defined by a table, with an entity being a person, place, thing, or other object about which the table contains information.
One of the goals of a database management system is to optimize the performance of queries for access and manipulation of data stored in the database. Given a target environment, an optimal query plan is selected, with the optimal query plan being the one with the lowest cost (e.g., response time) as determined by an optimizer. The response time is the amount of time it takes to complete the execution of a query on a given system.
In some cases, tables in a relational database system may contain a very large amount of data. For example, large retail chains may operate relational databases that contain daily sales figures. The tables of daily sales figures may include millions or billions of rows and a large number of columns. There are a number of different ways to store tables. As examples, tables may be row-stored or column-partitioned. As other examples, tables may be row-partitioned or multi-level partitioned.
There are a number of known advantages for column-partitioned tables versus rows-stored tables. One advantage is less input/output due to the fact that only the columns that need to be accessed in a query are loaded from disk. Another advantage is that compression can work very well for certain columns, particularly for pre-sorted columns. However, there are also a number of known disadvantages of column-partitioned tables. One disadvantage is that the table is mostly well-suited for append operations, not for insert, delete, and update operations. Another disadvantage is that queries involving a lot of columns can actually cause performance degradation. A better access path is important because scanning all rows and/or columns in a large table is time-consuming and may impose an unacceptable load on computing resources.

System, method, and computer-readable medium for optimizing database queries which use spools during query execution


A laser system based on nonlinear pulse compression and a LMA optical fiber therefor are provided. The LMA optical fiber is configured to amplify seed light pulses and promote the onset of nonlinear spectral broadening. The LMA optical fiber includes a first section having constant core and cladding diameters and receiving and supporting propagation of the light pulses in multiple transversal modes. The first section is configured to suppress high order modes propagating therealong. The LMA optical fiber further includes a tapered second section receiving the fundamental mode from the first section, the core and cladding diameters increasing gradually along said second section so as to provide an adiabatic transition of the fundamental mode. The LMA optical fiber further includes an optional third section having constant core and cladding diameters. Dispersive compression of the light pulses outputted by the LMA optical fiber provides excellent beam quality and high peak powers.

Femtosecond lasers are expensive and are sometimes difficult to work with, given the complex technology involved and know-how required. Nonlinear pulse compression is a technique known in the literature for achieving ultrashort pulses. The latter proceeds first from a nonlinear interaction, typically self-phase modulation (SPM), which yields a larger optical bandwidth and resultant frequency upchirp along a seed pulse waveform. This may be accomplished, for instance, through nonlinear pulse amplification along an optical fiber amplifier. Thereafter, the amplified pulse can be compressed to shorter durations using a suitable dispersive optical element. The pulse compression factor then depends on the extent of the broadened spectrum and the ability of the dispersive element to compensate for its chirp.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,948,219 (Nodop et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 9,300,105 (Clowes et al.) teach similar schemes using optical fibers as the nonlinear amplification medium, where self-phase modulation takes place. The optical fiber typically includes rare-earth dopants (such as ytterbium) so as to provide optical amplification, along with spectral broadening by self-phase modulation. Nodop discloses the use of a single-mode fiber to achieve efficient spectral broadening. While the small-core diameter of single-mode fibers effectively makes operative the spectral broadening due to the high peak intensities reached, limitations arise which make it unlikely in practice to scale peak powers beyond 10's of kW with this technique. Beyond these power levels, the onset of other nonlinear effects (such as stimulated Raman scattering) becomes detrimental to the laser operation. While Clowes mentions the benefits of active optical fibers with larger core diameters, he is silent as to which favorable conditions would be conducive to achieving ultrashort-pulse durations after compression. Clowes instead aims to improve pulse compression by splitting the pulses in two distinct portions (base and surge pulse portions) and further provides details about external means for governing each portion in accordance with heuristic criteria.
There remains a need for active optical fibers with large core diameters configuration providing favorable conditions for nonlinear pulse amplification and subsequent pulse compression.

Active LMA optical fiber and laser system using the same


A curable ink for jet-ink recording comprising a white pigment and a polymerizable compound, wherein the polymerizable compound is a compound selected from the group consisting of: (a) oxetane compounds; (b) pyrrole or substituted pyrroles; (c) aniline or substituted anilines; and (d) thiophene or an substituted thiophenes, provided that when the polymerizable compound is the oxetane compound, the curable ink further comprises an epoxy compound or a vinyl ether compound.

The present invention relates to a curable white ink composition employed in an ink-jet recording system.
By employing the ink-jet recording system, it is possible to easily and conveniently produce images at low cost. Further, along with recent improvement in image quality, it has received attention as a technique which enables high image quality recording which is sufficiently applicable to various printing fields.
Due to its printing mechanism, generally employed as ink-jet ink compositions are low viscosity ink compositions comprising aqueous solvents or non-aqueous solvents as a main component. Due to that, recording media are preferably ink-adsorptive so that ink droplets which form image dots result in no two-dimensional spread. Specifically, in order to achieve high image quality, special paper is needed.
Contrary to this, proposed as ink compositions capable of being printed onto non-ink absorptive recording media such as film and metal through adhesion are, for example, an ink composition comprised of a component which undergoes polymerization by UV irradiation, described in Japanese Patent Application Open to Public Inspection No. 3-216379, and a UV curable type ink composition comprised of colorants, UV curable agents, and photopolymerization initiators, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,001. Conventionally, however, multifunctional acrylate based compounds employed in UV curable type inks tend to be subjected to curing inhibition in the presence of oxygen during curing. Further, safety concerns exist in that most of them are toxic to skin and result in a rash, and in fact there are few safe compounds. Still further, problems occur in which recording media, when employed as a thin layer substrate for soft packaging or an adhesive label, suffer from shrinkage due to high contraction ratios during curing. As a result, their application has been limited.
Still further, most of the common ink-jet inks are highly transparent inks which are employed for printing onto white recording media. For example, when printing is carried out employing recording media such as a transparent substrate employed in soft packaging or a low lightness substrate, occasionally it is difficult to achieve the desired contrast, as well as bright color formation, and markings with desired visibility.
In the case of poor visibility, a method is known in which desired visibility is achieved employing a high covering white ink. For example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2-45663 describes a white ink composition which is comprised of inorganic white pigments, organic solvents and binding resins at a viscosity of 1–5 mPa·S at 5–40° C., and Japanese Patent Application Open to Public Inspection No. 2000-336295 proposes a light curable type ink-jet recording ink composition which is comprised of polymerizable compounds, photopolymerization initiators, and aqueous solvents.
However, since the viscosity of these ink compositions is relatively low at room temperature, ejected ink dots spread onto non-ink absorptive media. In addition, since the aforesaid ink compositions comprise solvents, thermal drying is needed to remove residues. As a result, the aforesaid ink compositions are not suitable for printing onto recording media such as thermally shrinkable substrates.


A rotational motor includes a stator formed by a core member including: a magnetic core portion extending in a radial direction of the rotational motor and formed into a fixed shape in every cross section thereof extending orthogonally relative to the radial direction, a coil wound around the magnetic core portion to form a plurality of layers and an engagement member engaging with the coil. A gap is generated between windings of the coil at a predetermined position when an uppermost layer winding portion of the coil is wound in series with a second layer winding portion from an outer side to an inner side of the uppermost layer winding portion in the radial direction. The coil is wound to fill the gap when a winding position of the coil is returned from an innermost side to the outer side of the uppermost layer winding portion in the radial direction.

A rotational motor is known having a stator, which configures a plurality of poles by assembling a plurality of core members so as to form a substantially circular shape.
In the above-described rotational motor, a width of the core member in a circumferential direction of the rotational motor is determined to be shorter at an outer side of the core member than at an inner side thereof in a radial direction of the rotational motor (in a radial direction of the circular-shaped stator) when seen from a rotational-shaft-extending direction. In other words, the core member is formed to be accommodated, with a minimum clearance, into a substantially trapezoid shape, whose width at an outer side thereof in the radial direction forms a longer side and whose width at an inner side thereof in the radial direction forms a shorter side being shorter than the longer side thereof. Consequently, the rotational motor is configured to be downsized and to output a high torque by minimizing a clearance generated between the adjacent core members.
A method for accommodating core members into a substantially trapezoid-shape with a minimum clearance is disclosed in JP2007-215364A (which will be referred to as reference 1 herein below). According to reference 1, a magnetic core portion itself is formed into the substantially trapezoid-shape and a coil is wound around a circumference of the magnetic core portion so as to achieve a substantially uniform thickness. A dimension of a cross section of the magnetic core portion is fixed in a magnetic-core-portion-extending direction. Further, a three dimensional shape is adapted in which a thickness thereof is larger at an inner side of the magnetic core portion than an outer side thereof in the radial direction in contrast with a difference in width between the outer side of the magnetic core portion and the inner side thereof in the radial direction, in order to maintain a uniformity of a magnetic flux density (see FIGS. 1 to 3 in reference 1, for example).
Further, a method for having a minimum clearance relative to a predetermined substantially trapezoid-shape is disclosed in reference 1. According to reference 1, a magnetic core portion, extending in the radial direction of the motor, is formed into a substantially fixed shape in every cross section thereof extending orthogonally relative to the magnetic-core-extending direction, so as to maintain a magnetic flux density. A coil is wound to a greater extent around an outer portion of the magnetic core portion than around an inner portion thereof in the radial direction (see FIG. 7 in reference 1, for example).
A method is disclosed in reference 1 by which the three-dimensional magnetic core portion, shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 of reference 1 and having variation in width and thickness thereof, is formed from a pressed powder material. However, the magnetic core portion made of the pressed powder material does not have a sufficient strength. Further, a method for forming the three-dimensional shape is disclosed in reference 1. An additional component is provided to the magnetic core portion, which is formed into the fixed shape in every cross section thereof and which is configured by stacking a plurality of magnetic steel plates conventionally adapted to a usual motor in layers. However, in such case, a manufacturing cost increases because the additional component is required.
On the other hand, the method for having the minimum clearance relative to the predetermined substantially trapezoid-shape is known in which the coil is wound around the magnetic core portion, which is formed into the fixed shape in every cross section thereof in the magnetic-core-portion-extending direction, so as to form a substantially trapezoid-shape. However, in such case, the wound coil is easily unwound. Specifically when a difference between a longer side and a shorter side of a trapezoid-shape is smaller relative to the core member disclosed in FIG. 7 in reference 1, in other words, in an electric rotational motor having a stator of a more number of poles, a wound coil is easily unwound.
An example of a case where a difference in width between a longer side A and a shorter side B of a trapezoid-shape is small is shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. In the example, a core member 105 is manufactured by a conventional winding method. The core member 105 is configured by winding a coil 108 around a magnetic core portion 150, which extends to be a fixed shape in every cross section thereof. The coil 108 is wound around the magnetic core portion 150 to form a plurality of layers. A winding number of an uppermost layer winding portion 181 is smaller than that of a second layer winding portion 182, which is provided at a lower side of the uppermost layer winding portion 181. ("Upper" and "lower" hereinbelow corresponds to a left side and a right side in FIG. 8, respectively.) Consequently, the core member 105 is accommodated in the trapezoid-shape shown by a double-dashed line in FIG. 7 with a minimum clearance.
A winding number of the uppermost layer winding portion 181 of the core member 105 increases when the difference in width between the longer side A and the shorter side B is small compared to when the difference in width between the longer side A and the shorter side B is large. Therefore, a length between a final winding portion 181a of the uppermost layer winding portion 181 of the coil 108 and an engagement portion 106 increases. Further, a cross angle α between a bridge portion 187, connecting the final winding portion 181a and the engagement portion 106, and a winding portion 181b, wound before the final winding portion 181a, increases.
When the cross angle α is equal to or larger than a predetermined value, the final winding portion 181a crosses over the winding portion 181b to be displaced from a predetermined position during a coil-winding process or a motor-assembling process. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 7, the bridge portion 187 is connected to the engagement portion 106, engaging with an end portion 189 of the coil 108, so as to extend obliquely. Therefore, operators and tools easily contact the bridge portion 187 during the motor-assembly process and the coil is easily unwound.
A need thus exits for an electric rotational motor which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.


In an information apparatus including a plurality of processing circuits connected to a ring bus, when processing speeds (throughput) of processing circuits are different or an amount of data in the processing circuit is increased or decreased, deadlock can occur or the throughput can be decreased in the ring bus. In order to solve this problem, a stall state of other processing unit is detected from a packet acquired from the ring bus and a packet is restricted from being newly generated by the processing circuit nor transmitted therefrom when other processing unit is in the stall state.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to information processing, and more particularly to an information processing apparatus in which a plurality of information processing units are connected to a ring-pattern bus, an information processing method for the information processing apparatus, and a storage medium storing a program thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional method for efficiently processing information by performing in parallel processing circuits realized by a hardware uses pipe-line connection of a bus type as discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2734246.
According to this method, data, which is input from an external memory via an interface (I/F) at an input end, is sequentially processed according to an order in which a plurality of processing circuits are arranged and is output at an output end to an external memory. Therefore, a processing order is restricted by an order in which the processing circuits are connected when being mounted in the hardware, and cannot be changed.
There is a method for connecting the processing circuits with a ring-pattern bus (hereinafter, referred to as a ring bus) as discussed in Japanese Application Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2522952 and 2834210. Since the processing circuit is connected to the ring bus as a part of the hardware and thus has a fixed processing function, it has been difficult to freely realize a processing order different from a physical connection order of the processing circuit.
For example, a method is discussed for performing the processing while data is being received and transmitted between the plurality of processing circuits by using a communication system of a token passing method.
However, when the processing order different from the connection order is to be realized using such a data path, in the communication path configured in a ring pattern, the data circulating in the ring bus is increased due to a change of the order. As a result, data traffic in the ring bus is increased, thereby decreasing a processing performance and generating deadlocks.

Ring-pattern bus connected information processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium


An image recognizing apparatus and method is provided for recognizing behavior of a mobile unit accurately with an image of external environment acquired during the mobile unit is moving.

A method for detecting optical flow is well-known in the art for recognizing behavior of mobile unit using images of external environment by calculating, for example, gradient change of image density from sequence of input images.
In Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-171250, a method for detecting current position of a mobile unit by means of optical flow is disclosed. According to the method, optical flow of scenes of certain course are acquired every predetermined distance when the mobile unit moves along with the course beforehand. Then relationship between the optical flow and taking point is stored. After that, optical flow of the course is newly detected and undergoes matching with all of stored optical flows. The one showing maximum matching result is selected and a point associated with the selected one is recognized as current point where the mobile unit moves.
In Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication (Kokai) No. H11-134504, another method is disclosed. The method comprises calculating optical flow from moving images and processing the optical flow with neural network layer to recognize the behavior of the mobile unit. The method further comprises judging necessary processing based on the recognition. According to the method, detecting the approach to the obstacle is enabled with simple neural network based on moving images.
However, in order to implement the former method, many relationships between optical flow and point in a course need to be stored by moving the mobile unit in the predetermined course beforehand.
Generally, there are some problems to recognize position and behavior of the mobile unit by feature extracting based only on moving images like the latter method. For example, since relative distance between light source and a camera on the mobile unit changes continuously as the mobile unit moves, image intensity such as lightness changes so great that accurate feature extracting is difficult. In addition, since vibration of the moving mobile unit is transmitted to the camera, accuracy of feature extraction is degraded. If a recognizing system is configured to execute smoothing process over multiple frame of images to remove bad effects due to the variation of image intensity or the vibration, computing load becomes too heavy or feature extraction becomes difficult when the image moves fast due to large time variation.
It is objective of the present invention is to provide an image recognizing apparatus and method that can recognize the behavior of a mobile unit rapidly and accurately using images of external environment taken on the mobile unit in the real application.

Abstract: Behavior command output block 12 outputs behavior commands to cause the mobile unit 32 move. Local feature extraction block 16 extracts features of local areas of the image from the image of external environment acquired on the mobile unit 32 when the behavior command is output. Global feature extraction block 18 extracts feature of global area of the image using the features of local areas. Learning block 20 calculates probability models for recognizing behavior given to the mobile unit 32 based on the feature of global area of the image. After learning is finished, behavior of the mobile unit 32 may be recognized rapidly and accurately by applying the probability models to an image of external environment acquired in mobile unit 32 afresh.


A portable digital device having at least two control devices for controlling at least two operating functions of the portable digital device; a digital display for displaying information; and a processor. The processor is for rotating the information from a right-handed orientation to a left-handed orientation and vice versa, and remapping the at least two control devices to reverse their operating functions to allow for use of the portable digital device in both the first orientation and the second orientation. Upon remapping skip forward and skip back operating functions are interchanged, increase volume and decrease volume operating functions are interchanged; and menu move to the left and right operating functions are interchanged.

There have been many proposals for orientation of displays of digital devices. These are normally for larger devices having many functional input controls such as, for example, notebook computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants, and mobile telephones.
For portable digital devices, particularly small or hand-held portable digital devices such as, for example, CD players, MP3 players, and the like, digital displays have been able to be physically removed and rotated through 180° to allow for right-handed or left-handed use. However, this is a difficult and time-consuming process. It also does not change the controls to allow for easier use. Therefore, those who use such devices with their left hand may find it awkward due to the controls being set-up for right-handed use.


A multiple stage drag and dynamic pump is provided for pumping fluid. The pump comprises a housing and a shaft positioned in the housing, the shaft rotating about the longitudinal axis of the housing. A rotor assembly has a plurality of pump stages mounted on the shaft for rotation therewith, each pump stage including a plurality of blades fixed to the shaft. The pump also includes a stator assembly having a plurality of flow directing stator elements, each of the stator elements being positioned between adjacent pump stages. Each of the stator elements has a wall and a diverter, wherein the wall is perpendicular to the axis of the shaft and the diverter is at an angle of less than 90.degree. with respect to the axis of the shaft. At least one of the blades and the diverter form a seal for preventing fluid from passing therebetween such that flow through the pump stage is perpendicular to the axis of the shaft in the space adjacent the wall and wherein the diverters are positioned with respect to the wall for diverting flow from the pump stage to an adjacent pump stage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a multiple stage turbine for use as a downhole motor on a drilling string, and more particularly, to a multiple stage turbine downhole motor which is driven by the drag or shear stress force alone or in combination with the dynamic or impulse force of the fluid flowing through the turbine. The principles of the present invention can also be applied to a pump, blower or compressor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art downhole motors for use on drilling strings convert the kinetic energy of a mass of a fluid against the face surface of turbine blades into power for turning a drill string and thereby a drill bit attached to the bottom of the drill string. The turbines rely solely on the dynamic or impulse force. Prior art downhole motors of this type are generally required to be relatively long in order to have sufficient turbine blade surface area for generating enough power to turn the bit at the proper speed with sufficient torque. However, because the downhole motor itself is quite long, it is difficult for the drill string to move through curves and thus it is much more difficult to control the direction of drilling.
Another disadvantage of the dynamic force type downhole motors, is that maximum power and efficiency occur at rather high rotational speeds; higher than the range of operational speed for most mechanical drill bits, like tricone bits. The reason for this characteristic is that the functions of power and efficiency, in terms of the velocity of the flow is proportional to the square of the velocity. The function is a parabola in which the apex is approximately midway between zero and runaway or no load speed.
Still another disadvantage of prior art downhole turbine motors is that the turbine blades are internal with respect to the drilling shaft. In order to drive the turbine, fluid must flow through the internal structure of the drill string and can cause damage to the bearings, seals and other internal parts of the downhole motor.

Rio Grijalva, No. 11, Col. Vista Hermosa