A catalytic reformer assembly comprising a mixing chamber wherein fuel and air are mixed. The wall of the mixing chamber tapers toward an outlet end. A catalyst bed formed in an annular shape surrounds the outlet end such that the walls of the mixing chamber shield the catalyst from direct exposure to fuel droplets injected into the mixing chamber. The fuel/air mixture flows out of the mixing chamber, then turns and counterflows through the catalyst bed outside the mixing chamber. Hot reformate from the catalyst bed flows in a reformate flow chamber extending along the outer surface of the walls of the mixing chamber, heating the wall surface within the mixing chamber for instantaneous evaporation of injected fuel. A plenum for incoming air surrounds the reformate flow chamber which is also heated thereby.

A catalytic hydrocarbon fuel reformer converts oxygen and a fuel comprising, for example, natural gas, light distillates, methanol, propane, naphtha, kerosene, gasoline, diesel fuel, bio-diesel or combinations thereof, into a hydrogen-rich reformate stream comprising a gaseous blend of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen, plus trace components. In a typical reforming process, the hydrocarbon fuel is percolated with oxygen in the form of air through a catalyst bed or beds contained within one or more reactor tubes mounted in a reformer vessel. The catalytic conversion process is typically carried out at elevated catalyst temperatures in the range of about 700° C. to about 1100° C.
The produced hydrogen-rich reformate stream may be used, for example, as the fuel gas stream feeding the anode of an electrochemical fuel cell. Reformate is particularly well suited to fueling a solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system because a purification step for removal of carbon monoxide is not required as in the case for a known proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems.
The reformate stream may also be used in spark-ignited (SI) or diesel engines. Reformate can be a desirable fuel or fuel-additive; the reformate stream also can be injected into the vehicle exhaust to provide benefits in reducing vehicle emissions. Hydrogen-fueled vehicles are of interest as low-emissions vehicles because hydrogen as a fuel or a fuel additive can significantly reduce air pollution and can be produced from a variety of fuels. Hydrogen permits a SI engine to run with very lean fuel-air mixtures that greatly reduce production of NOx. As a gasoline additive, small amounts of supplemental hydrogen-rich reformate may allow conventional gasoline-fueled internal combustion engines to reach nearly zero emissions levels. As a diesel fuel additive, supplemental reformate may enhance operation of premixed combustion in diesel engines. Reformate can be injected into the vehicle exhaust stream to improve NOx reduction and/or as a source of clean chemical energy for improved thermal management of exhaust components (for example, NOx traps, particulate filters and catalytic converters).
Fuel/air mixture preparation constitutes a key factor in the reforming quality of catalytic reformers, and also the performance of porous media combustors. A problem in the prior art has been how to vaporize fuel completely and uniformly, especially at start-up when the apparatus is cold. A related problem is that injected fuel droplets may follow a line-of-sight path directly to the entry surface of the catalyst, resulting in extreme, localized fuel/air inhomogeneities. Inhomogeneous fuel/air mixtures can lead to decreased reforming efficiency and reduced catalyst durability through coke or soot formation on the catalyst and thermal degradation from local hot spots. Poor fuel vaporization can lead to fuel puddling, resulting in uncertainty in the stoichiometry of fuel mixture. Complete and rapid fuel vaporization well ahead of the catalyst is a key step to achieving a homogeneous gaseous fuel-air mixture and consequent efficient reformate generation.
Fuel vaporization is especially challenging under cold start and warm-up conditions for a fuel reformer. In the prior art, it is known to vaporize injected fuel by preheating the incoming air stream to be mixed with the fuel, or by preheating a reformer surface for receiving a fuel spray. However, none of the prior art approaches is entirely successful in providing reliable, complete vaporization of injected liquid fuel under start-up conditions.
During start-up in a typical prior art fast light-off reformer, fuel and air are mixed stoichiometrically (or nearly-stoichiometrically) and burned in the fuel/air mixing chamber, and the hot combustion products are passed through the catalyst bed. This combustion phase provides the initial energy required to light-off the reforming catalyst and heats the fuel/air mixing zone to assist in fuel vaporization.
After a brief combustion period, typically about 2 to 20 seconds, combustion is quenched and a very rich fuel/air mixture is supplied to initiate reformate production. The atomized fuel mixes with the airflow within the volume defining the mixing zone prior to reacting within the catalyst. The energy generated during the reforming process (exothermic reaction) continues to heat the reformer, including a heat exchange section downstream of the reforming catalyst. Under warmed-up operation, the heat exchange section transfers heat from the hot reformate gas to the incoming airflow. This heat exchange provides energy to the mixing zone to assist fuel vaporization.
After the end of combustion but while the reformer is warming up, a transitional heat deficit develops in heat energy available in the mixing chamber for fuel vaporization. This deficit arises because the heat energy stored in the mixing section of the reformer during the combustion stage is depleted during early reforming before the heat exchange section is sufficiently warm to provide substantial heat from the reforming process back into the incoming airflow. The extent and duration of this deficit is dependent upon a number of factors, including heat generated and stored during combustion, the thermal mass of the catalyst and heat exchange section, and heat transfer rates within the reformer assembly. The maximum temperature that the catalyst face can sustain without thermal degradation of the catalyst, which typically is about 1100-1200° C., limits the duration of combustion, which thus limits the amount of energy that may be stored and available for fuel vaporization during early reforming.
What is needed in the art is a compact reformer arrangement that provides sufficient volume, residence time, and heat to accomplish good fuel/air mixing and heating following a combustion phase during warm up of a hydrocarbon catalytic reformer.
It is a primary object of the invention to reduce or eliminate the transitional heat deficit experienced by prior art reformers during start-up of the reformer.


A fuse that includes a tubular member made from insulative material, end block portions made from insulative material, a spanner joining together the end block portions, terminals extending through openings in the end block portions, and a fusible element having ends connected to both of the terminals. Each of the terminals has an internal portion inside the tubular member to which a fusible element is attached, an external portion outside of the tubular member, and a middle portion between the internal and external portions and located within one of the openings of the end block portions.

The invention relates to current limiting fuses.
Current limiting fuses typically have one or more fusible elements connecting two conducting terminals within an insulative housing.
One type of fuse construction employs a housing made of a tubular casing of melamine glass, cardboard, or thermoset polymer resins in a matrix with glass or papers. The ends of the tubes are typically closed with end caps, which go around the ends of the tube, or end blocks of brass or copper, which are inside of the tube at the ends. When end blocks are employed, there often are terminal blades that are located on the outer surfaces of the end blocks (being either integral with or attached such as by welding or brazing to the end blocks), and fusible elements are connected, e.g., by welding in grooves, to the inside surfaces of the end blocks.
Barricklow U.S. Pat. No. 973,250 describes a different type of fuse construction in which the insulative housing is made of two pieces that are bolted together.


Provided is a zoom lens, comprising, in order from an object side to an image side: a first lens unit having a positive refractive power; a second lens unit having a negative refractive power; a third lens unit having a negative refractive power; and a fourth lens unit having a positive refractive power. The second lens unit and the third lens unit are configured to move along loci different from each other during zooming. At least one lens unit of the first lens unit, the second lens unit, the third lens unit, or the fourth lens unit includes a positive lens and a negative lens that are arranged adjacent to each other, and materials for the positive lens and the negative lens are appropriately set, respectively.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens, and more particularly, to a zoom lens suitable as an image pickup optical system to be used in an image pickup apparatus, such as a monitoring camera, a digital camera, a video camera, and a broadcasting camera.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as an image pickup optical system to be used in an image pickup apparatus, a zoom lens is required to have a high zoom ratio and a small overall system size. For example, as an image pickup optical system for a monitoring camera, the zoom lens is required to have a small overall system size and a high zoom ratio, and is also required that favorable optical characteristics can be obtained in imaging during daytime and at night.
In general, in most cases, a monitoring camera uses visible light in imaging during daytime, and uses near-infrared light in imaging at night. The use of near infrared light provides an advantage in that imaging can be carried out with less influence of scattering than when visible light is used for example, in a dense fog with low visibility. Thus, it is demanded that the zoom lens to be used in a monitoring camera be corrected for an aberration in a broad wavelength range from at visible range to a near infrared range. In addition, it is demanded that the zoom lens to be used in border surveillance or the like be, due to its applications such as monitoring a broad range and determining distant ships, a bright zoom lens that has a high zoom ratio and is favorably corrected for various aberrations across the visible range to the near-infrared range.
Hitherto, there is known a zoom lens suitable for use in a monitoring camera, which has a high zoom ratio and is corrected for various aberrations across a visible range to a near-infrared range. In each of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H02-126213 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open to 2009-204655, there is disclosed zoom lens having a high zoom ratio. This zoom lens includes, in order from an object side to an image side, first to fourth Lens units having positive, negative, negative, and positive refractive powers, and an interval between adjacent lens units is changed during zooming.
In the zoom lens for a monitoring camera, near-infrared light is used in most cases in imaging at night. However, there are cases where a sufficient amount of light cannot be obtained from the near-infrared light, for example, when there is very little moonlight around the time of a new moon and when the moon is hidden by a cloud. Light called nightglow (peak wavelength of 1.6 μm) is emitted when hydroxide ions in an atmosphere are excited by the sunlight. With the use of this light, favorable imaging can be achieved with ease even when there is little moonlight.
In general, near-infrared light has a feature of being less affected by scattering than visible light. Accordingly, the use of nightglow facilitates the imaging of a subject even under poor environments such as poor weather and dusty atmosphere. The nightglow, however, has a wavelength width from wavelength of 1.0 μm to a wavelength of 1.7 μm. Accordingly, when the nightglow is used for imaging, various aberrations, in particular, an axial chromatic aberration needs to be favorably corrected in a wavelength range up to near-infrared light including nightglow. With use of a zoom lens not corrected for such aberrations, high optical characteristics are not obtained.
In the zoom lenses disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H02-126213 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-204655, the zoom ratio is high and the aberrations are favorably corrected across a visible range to a near-infrared range. However, the chromatic aberration is not necessarily corrected enough up to the near-infrared range of a wavelength of 1.7 μm. Accordingly, when imaging is performed with use of nightglow, it is difficult to obtain high optical characteristics. In the zoom lens for a monitoring camera, in order to obtain favorable optical characteristics over a broad wavelength range from the visible range to the near-infrared range of a wavelength of approximately 1.7 μm while achieving a higher zoom ratio, it is important to appropriately set the zoom type and the lens configuration of each lens unit.

Zoom lens and image pickup apparatus including the same


A mattress device has an foam body formed of a closed cell foam material which has a torso support area defining a recess having a recess bottom. An inflatable mat is disposed in the recess and insulated from a ground surface by the recess bottom. The inflatable mat is inflatable to rise above the top surface of the foam body. The foam body is preferably formed of a top foam layer having an aperture defining the recess and a bottom foam layer which provides the recess bottom. The bottom foam layer is formed from material having a higher insulation to weight ratio than material of the top foam layer, and the material of the top foam layer has a higher volume to weight ratio than the material of the bottom foam layer. The inflatable mat is optionally self-inflatable.

The present invention relates to a mattress and, more particularly, to a mattress for outdoor use having a foam body and an inflatable mat strategically positioned in the mattress. The foam body may have a multilayer construction including first and second foam layers.
Camping, hiking, climbing and other outdoor enthusiasts often rely on sleeping bags which are placed upon the ground. Because of varying ground conditions, including surface roughness and temperature, various mattress devices for sleeping bags are used. One type employs closed cell foam mats which are placed under the sleeping bag. Depending on the closed cell foam density, significant insulating performance can be achieved with reduced weight. However, such mats sacrifice comfort for the r-value of the denser foam. Another type of mattress device is an inflatable mat which can provide comfort in the form of cushioning and insulation at the expense of weight, i.e., insulating capability, and also bulk. Some inflatable mats include a filling which allows the mat to self-inflate but also results in added bulk and weight.


The present invention provides a process for preparing the amorphous rabeprazole sodium. The process comprises the following steps: (a) Contacting rabeprazole sodium compound with a solvent system to thereby obtain a clear solution under a first temperature, wherein said solvent system is a mixture of at least two categories of organic solvents; (b) Stirring said clear solution of step (a) under a second temperature for a certain time period to obtain a solution containing resultant separated solid, wherein said second temperature is equal to or lower than said first temperature; (c) Filtering said solution containing resultant separated solid obtained from step (b) to obtain a wet solid; and (d) Drying said wet solid to obtain an amorphous rabeprazole sodium compound.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a process of preparation of a chemical compound; and more particularly, to a process of preparation and purification of a proton pump inhibitor.
2. Description of Related Art
Rabeprazole, as represent by Formula I, is one of the proton pump inhibitors of the benzimidazole-type, and is also the common name for 2({[4-(3-Methoxypropoxy)-3-methylpyridin-2-yl]methyl}sulfinyl)-1H-benzimidazole. The sodium salt of rabeprazole (i.e., rabeprazole sodium) is an inhibitor for the gastric proton pump, which can suppress the secretion of gastric acid via inhibiting the H+, K+ ATPase at the gastric secretory surface of partial cells without effect on cholinergic or histamine H2-receptors. Rabeprazole sodium is usually used in the prescription of the combinatory therapies for the eradication of Helicobacter pylori.

The conventional method for producing rabeprazole is as illustrated in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,552. After oxidation with m-chloroperbenzoic acid in dichloromethane at −45° C., quenched with triethylamine, followed by drying over magnesium sulfate, then 2-({[4-(3-Methoxypropoxy)-3-methylpyridin-2-yl]methyl}sulfinyl)-1H-benzimidazole, namely the rabeprazole acid, is obtained. This crude product is processed by adding to an aqueous sodium hydroxide solution and then distilling twice together with ethanol for the removal of H2O, and finally drying in vacuum. To this end, the final product of rabeprazole sodium is amorphous. Another conventional method disclosed in US2004/0180935A1 to obtain amorphous rabeprazole sodium is to dissolve rabeprazole acid in a mixture of sodium hydroxide in methanol at 25° C.-35° C. and the product is precipitated by adding petroleum ether. The precipitated solid is then filtered, washed and then dried at 50° C.-60° C. for 12 hours.
In order to purify the rabeprazole sodium from the impurities produced in the synthetic process, several methods are used, such as that U.S. Pat. No. 6,180,652 discloses a process for forming the acetone complex of the rabeprazole sodium. This acetone complex, however, is not suitable for the manufacture of medicinal compounds.
There is a need to provide an alternative process for purifying the amorphous rabeprazole sodium, especially in a more convenient and more efficient way than the conventional methods.

Process for preparing rabeprazole sodium


The present invention is directed to an LED lighting source comprising a housing adapted for coupling to an AC power source; a rectifier circuit for converting the AC power to a DC supply; a power control circuit disposed in the housing and electrically connected to the DC supply; a string of LED's electrically connected between a control node of the power control circuit and the DC supply, the LEDs in the string being connected in series and being of a number selected to produce a voltage difference across the power control circuit sufficient to power active components of said power control circuit when powered from the DC supply and the power control circuit for limiting a forward current through the string to a nominal forward current of a single LED.

It is recognised that LED light sources are theoretically more efficient than incandescent light bulbs and solutions have been proposed to construct LED luminaires as for example taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,609,804. A luminaire usually refers to a complete lighting unit which contains one or more electric lighting sources and associated reflectors, refractors, housing, and such support for those items as necessary with the parts designed to distribute the light, to position and protect the lighting sources and to connect the lighting sources to a power supply. LED's are usually operated with a nominal 20 mA forward direct current and 3.5V forward voltage. The voltage drop across a LED is substantially independent of the current through the diode. Typical LED luminaires are usually constructed from an array of discrete LED's which operate together to provide a desired lumen value and are incorporated within a light fixture having a low voltage DC converter within the fixture to convert the AC mains supply to a low voltage DC supply for powering the LED array. The AC to DC converters are bulky, making it a challenge to fabricate a LED lighting fixture to replace, for example, an existing Edison type incandescent light bulb fixture.
Furthermore, the optical performance of LED's are affected by a rise in temperature This thermal problem has reduced the feasibility of LEDs as viable lighting sources and has limited the wide spread adoption of LEDs as commercial and residential lighting sources.
Thus, there still remains a need for an LED light source that can easily replace standard residential and commercial light fixtures but which uses less bulky power control systems and runs cooler.

System and method for power control in a LED luminaire


A method of recovering timing information in a packet network is disclosed wherein a modulation scheme is used to transport additional information required for clock recovery between the sender and receiver across the network.

There is a current trend for telecommunications and data technologies are nowadays to merge into a single environment, largely due to cost aspects. The preferred technology seems employs asynchronous networks, probably mainly due to market penetration, rather than the fact that asynchronous networks offer a higher quality solution. One particular aspect of asynchronous networks which creates problems for telecommunication services is the lack of accurate clock transport.
There are a number of mathematical ways to solve the problem. Typical solutions used are based upon averaging, weighting, line fitting and combinations thereof. Still the final resolution remains limited due to a number of problems in the network. The nature of these problems is such that current models of networks and current implementations are not accurate enough to deal with the effect of time quantizers. Network models concentrate on probabilities and thus act as if the time base is continuous, which is not a correct assumption.
Various prior art solutions are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,978, Fleisher et al., Synchronous residual time stamp for timing recovery in a broadband network; UK Patent App #: 0205350.2, Gordon J. Reesor, Clock synchronization over a packet network using SRTS without a common network clock; Fine Grained Network Time Synchronization using reference broadcasts, Jeremy Elson, Lewis Girod and Deborah Estrin, internet publication, mail addresses {jelson,girod,email@example.com; Alignment of clock domains in packet networks, patent application, W. L. Repko et al.; Spectra of pulse rate frequency synthesizers, Venceslav F. Kroupa, app. In Direct Digital Frequency synthesis, IEEE, ISBN 0-7803-3438-8; and Oversampling Delta-Sigma Data Converters, Theory, Design and Simulation, James C. Candy, Gabor C. Temes, IEEE Press, ISBN 0-87942-285-8. The above documents are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Clock alignment in packet networks requires the transport of a real time clock signal over a network. The goal in data networks, which is the main source for the emergence of asynchronous networks, is of course primarily to transport data, not time. The techniques used in asynchronous networks introduce time problems that typically appear as variable time delays. A common model of these delays assumes that they are pseudorandom. In fact the nature of the delays is more complex, and is built up of a number of error types and magnitudes.
Asynchronous networks are built up with elements that run on their own clocks. The clocks are typically generated with the help of crystals in order to provide reasonable stability. Digital circuits require cycle-to-cycle stability to guarantee setup and hold times. External interface clocks are derived from a crystal clock. This implies that the time quantization is defined by the crystal, which makes it also relatively stable for longer periods. If two of these clocks sample in series the effective difference of sampling frequencies can be relatively large, but it can also be quite small. The latter case leads to low frequency errors in the overall behaviour of the system.
Switches and routers have elements that can handle the statistical properties of traffic, for example queues. Such elements introduce delays, depending on other traffic passing through the switch/router, or internally generated traffic (typically management traffic). This delay is typically pseudo random, for it depends on other traffic streams that operate in their own environments.
Modern switches or routers have internal systems that sometimes rearrange the precise operation of the switch. For instance the priority of queue handling can be changed. This becomes even more apparent when the switching configuration becomes complex. Rerouting of traffic for instance implies relative large jumps in delay. Depending on precise operation the delay variation can either be very structured, for instance as a result of repetitive timed updating, or pseudo random, if it largely depends on other streams.
In the switch there may be processes with low frequency aspects, such as regular internal maintenance. Such internal operations may have some impact on the effective delays. This becomes much more complex if these delays appear at slightly different frequencies in subsequent nodes.
The appearance of a network of switches and terminators is a mixture of all of the above effects. When coarsely observed the queueing delays are dominant, which explains the standard approach with pseudo random models. When a closer look is taken it will appear that some regularity is present. A first level could be the effect of internal operations, and a finer level could be the quantizer level caused by the physical clocks in the elements. At the smallest level of detail the thermal noise will become apparent.
Next to the size of the delays, the different effects introduce their own typical problems. The queueing delays may be pseudo random in time, but are likely dominated with a few sizes that relate to the typical packet sizes. Thus the queueing delays may also carry a few typical frequencies of delay variation. More interesting are the structured elements. Delay variation due to internal management will be seen on relatively low frequencies, clock offsets can be on either very low frequencies (if the clock difference is small) or on much higher frequencies (for larger clock differences).
In order to get the best possible performance a clock recovery method should be able to deal with all these effects. Existing solutions concentrate on the coarse level, not on the finer levels, and provide solutions for his coarser level. Typically such solutions rely on the relative stability of local oscillators, compared to the behaviour of the network in-between. The knowledge of the stable local oscillators is a minimum requirement for decent suppression of the pseudo random effects. But when such a solution for those levels is available, the first next level of problems becomes apparent and dominant. Thus the quantizing level as introduced by the clocks in the network become dominant, for which the pure stability of the local oscillators at the end nodes does not provide a sufficient solution

Method to improve the resolution of time measurements and alignment in packet networks by time modulation


A processor in accordance with the present invention includes memory that stores test data and control data. The processor also includes a test application that transmits the test data and the control data from the processor""s memory to a test access port of the processor. The test access port then utilizes the test data and the control data to capture state data that defines at least one state of the processor while the processor is executing. This test data may be analyzed via conventional techniques to detect and isolate errors in the execution of the processor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to processor testing and, in particular, to a system and method for interfacing data with a test access port of a processor that captures state data of the processor to test the processor for errors in execution.
2. Related Art
Computer processors can be tested in a variety of ways to ensure that the processors are operating properly. For example, to test a processor, the data output by the processor can be analyzed for errors. If an error is detected, then a user is aware that the processor contains either a manufacturing or a design defect.
Monitoring the output data of the processor can provide useful information as to whether a problem exists but often fails to isolate or identify the source of the problem. In this regard, an error during execution may occur several hundred or thousand clock cycles before the processor outputs incorrect data. By the time the output data indicates that an error has occurred, the state of the processor has changed, and it may be difficult to determine what the state of the processor was when the error in execution occurred. Accordingly, it is often difficult to determine the cause of an error by externally analyzing the data output by the processor.
To facilitate debugging of processors, testing devices have been developed that capture the internal state of processors during execution so that errors can be better identified. In this regard, an error in execution generally affects the state of the processor when the error occurs. Therefore, by analyzing the state of the processor, an error in execution can be detected long before the error produces unreliable results in output data, and the state of the processor at the occurrence of the error in execution can be determined. Accordingly, it is easier to isolate or identify the cause of the error. In other words, it is easier to debug the processor.
However, most testing devices for capturing the state of processors are expensive and, for proper operation, require an operator knowledgeable with the operation of the testing device and the processor being tested. Furthermore, many of the processors that need to be tested have already been implemented in a system that is oftentimes remotely located. Therefore, the operator must often inconveniently travel to the site of the system so that the processor associated with the system can be tested.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry for providing a low cost system and method of efficiently and conveniently interfacing data with a test access port of a processor for testing purposes.
The present invention overcomes the inadequacies and deficiencies of the prior art as discussed hereinbefore. Generally, the present invention provides a system and method for enabling a processor to interface data with the processor""s test access port.
A processor in accordance with the present invention includes memory that has test data and control data stored therein. The processor also includes a test application that transmits the test data and the control data from the processor""s memory to a test access port of the processor. The test access port then utilizes the test data and the control data to capture state data that defines at least one state of the processor while the processor is executing. This state data may be analyzed via conventional techniques to detect and isolate errors in the execution of the processor.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, the test access port is interfaced with a multiplexer. The multiplexer is also interfaced with the memory and an input interface capable of receiving external signals. Based on a control signal, the multiplexer selects signals defined by the test and control data transmitted from the memory or selects external signals transmitted from the input interface. The multiplexer then transmits the selected signals to the test access port, which captures state data based on the selected signals. As a result, the data used by the test access port to capture state data from the processor may be received from the memory or from an external device.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, the test data and the control data are transmitted from the memory in parallel. Before the test access port receives this data, a first register converts the test data into serial form, and a second register converts the control data into serial form.
In accordance with another feature of the present invention, a clock within the processor is used to generate a clock signal that controls the timing of the signals transmitted to the test access port. The frequency of the control signal may be modified to synchronize the clock signal with the test access port.
The present invention can also be viewed as providing a method for testing processors. The method can be broadly conceptualized by the following steps: providing a processor having memory, a test access port, and a multiplexer, the test access port interfaced with the multiplexer; storing test data and control data into the memory, the control data corresponding with the test data; transmitting the test data and the control data from the memory to the multiplexer; selecting the test data and the control data at the multiplexer; transmitting the test data and the control data from the multiplexer to the test access port; receiving the test data and the control data at the test access port; utilizing the test data and the control data received by the test access port to capture state data defining at least one state of the processor; and analyzing the state data to identify errors associated with the processor.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon examination of the following detailed description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is intended that all such features and advantages be included herein within the scope of the present invention and protected by the claims.

System and method for interfacing data with a test access port of a processor


Gate valve including a valve body having first and second parts, each having an interface surface for engagement with the interface surface of the other part, and an aperture for receiving a fluid flow conduit. The parts when secured together define a gate recess and a flow conduit between the apertures. A gate in the recess moves between closed and open positions to control fluid flow through the gate. A valve body insert lines interior surfaces of the gate recess and receives the valve gate. A body portion sits between apertures of the two parts, sealing against the gate in a closed position. A gate wiper seal forms a fluid seal against the gate and an outer open end of the sleeve portion. The two parts have a recess portion at a gate recess end. The sleeve portion has a collar portion sealingly seated within the recess portion.

Gate valves are a common type of fluid flow control device used in industrial plants throughout the world. In essence, gate valves are used in pipelines or other conduits for the interruption and/or control of fluid flow. A sliding gate arranged within a housing defining a flow conduit serves as a closing element by sliding across the flow path to stop fluid flow. To open the valve, the gate slides partially or fully out of the flow path to allow fluid flow. Their simple design allows the pressure drop across an open gate valve to be minimal which helps maintain fluid flow efficiencies throughout the plant.
One widely used type of gate valves are knife gate valves. These valves are often used where highly abrasive and/or corrosive slurry flows through pipelines are to be controlled, primarily as shut-off valves (as compared to other types of flow control such as throttling).
Generally, such knife gate valves comprise a valve housing of lower grade stainless, ductile iron or carbon steel, defining a flow-conduit, e.g. with circular cross-sections having a diameter of between 5 cm to in excess of 100 cm, extending between opposite housing openings which are surrounded by respective flanges by way of which the valve housing is sealingly connected in-line between two pipeline sections. A 'sheath' portion of the housing, usually termed a chest, serves to accommodate and allow displacement of a flat blade (ie the gate) of high grade stainless steel or exotic alloy (for the necessary corrosion resistance and strength) radially into and out of the flow conduit, to completely shut-off or fully clear passage of slurry (or other fluids) through the valve. The knife blades can have a thickness from about 10 mm to more than 50 mm, depending on the pressure and flow rating of the valve, and conduit diameter. The metals employed in particular for the knife are expensive but necessary to survive the corrosive environment within the pipeline. It is also known to line or coat the knife gates with corrosion and abrasion resistant materials.
Movement of the gate within the chest is effected using plunger rods coupled to hand wheels or bevel gears for manual displacement, or it can be fitted with all types of pneumatic, hydraulic and electro-mechanical actuators to effect on/off flow isolation through the valve. Noting that the invention is not concerned with the way the knife gate is operated, no further reference will be made here to such mechanisms, and reference should be had instead to specialist literature and manufacturer materials and/or to the prior art documents mentioned below for additional details.
It is customary for knife gate valves to have multi-piece or single corrosion resistant liners of polymer or composite material incorporated into the valve housing to cover the housing surfaces inside the chest portion which receives the knife blade, and the flow conduit. The liners are devised to protect the housing from corrosion and to form a seal against the knife gate. Integral liners will be referred herein also as valve inserts, given that these are received within the valve housing.
Knife gate valves can also be divided into unidirectional- and bidirectional knife gate valves, wherein a main difference resides in the sealing arrangement employed between gate and flow conduit, i.e. whether the sealing sleeve disposed about the flow conduit (or channel) defined within the valve body (or housing) is only in contact with one face of the gate or always in contact with both faces of the gate whilst it moves, see eg US patent document 2016/0076657
U.S. Pat. No. 8,727,316 B1 describes a knife gate valve with a two piece housing, wherein the housing halves are mirror symmetrical, and each have a recessed zone for securely frictionally seating one half of a two-piece elastomeric liner which defines, in the assembled state of the housing, a rectangular cavity in which the displaceable knife gate is seated as well as a flow channel through which fluid may pass through the valve. A one-piece wiper collar of elastomeric material defines a rectangular channel for passage of the gate (or knife plate) and is fully mounted within a rectangular recess to close an upper open end of the assembled liner halves; a slot formed in the upper wall of the two housing parts serves as a passage for the gate.
In contrast, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,026,517, 4,051,863 and 4,951,919 illustrate and describe what may be termed true one-piece (ie integral) chest and flow conduit liners in as much as these are of unitary construction and comprised of an annular portion which is seated in and covers the inner surfaces of the flow conduit defined within and by the valve housing, and a generally thin, box-like sheath or sleeve portion that covers the chest channel defined within the valve housing for seating the knife gate. These designs have the advantage over that of US '316 of avoiding potential leakage paths at the interface defined at the symmetry plane where the two housing halves are mated to each other. However, it is believed that the variously proposed complex sealing mechanisms at the upper edge of the sleeve portion of the one-piece liner (which are variations of a gland seal) are too complex and provide possible leakage paths/scenarios that may remain undetected for some time.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,863, the sleeve portion of the one piece liner terminates in a size-enlarged rectangular collar portion that sits outside on top an upper end surface of the housing/casing parts. The enlarged portion is seated within a cavity formed in the stuffing box which is tensioned against the upper face of the valve housing to secure the liner against being pulled-out when the gate plate is retracted against substantial friction to allow slurry passage through the valve. A plurality of horizontally oriented spaced apart seal beads integrally formed on the walls surrounding the gate passage channel of the sleeve's collar are provided to prevent flow of fluid intermediate the gate plate and collar.
In contrast, the sealing mechanisms proposed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,026,517 and 4,951,919 involve having an enlarged terminal collar portion seated within a correspondingly enlarged recessed zone of the valve housing parts, below the upper face of the valve housing. Various and differently shaped packing/sealing ring components which cooperate in providing a sealing arrangement are pressed against the upper end of the collar portion to assist in preventing fluid passage between the interfaces created along the opposite faces of the gate plate (knife) extending through these components.
All these various sealing arrangements/mechanisms still leave room for improvement as regards count/number of components required to achieve satisfactory leakage prevention and, equally relevant, early leakage detection.
Unfortunately, over time the compression seal between the sealing elements bearing against the knife gate may be compromised as these invariably wear from sliding against the knife gate, particularly when the fluid flow pressures within the flow conduit are high. Any fluid leakage will usually drain along concealed surfaces within the valve housing and drip to the floor. As the valve housing components are significantly less corrosion resistant, the concealed surfaces exposed to the fluid eventually corrode. As the concealed surfaces are hidden from view, the corrosion escapes any casual visual inspection of the valve. A proper evaluation of whether maintenance is necessary requires disassembly of the gate valve.
Removing and disassembling the gate valve is laborious and time consuming in itself but the main disadvantage is the cost associated with plant downtime. On the other hand, catastrophic failure of the valve can cause far more damage and the down time for repairs can be far more expensive.


A triangulation optical system and method for determining at least one coordinate of a surface of an object, along at least one coordinate axis which is substantially transverse to the surface. The method includes the steps of providing incident light of a substantially wide wavelength bandwidth propagating along the axis. Passing the light through an axially dispersing optics so that the light of different wavelengths is focussed at different locations relative to the axis. The different locations defining a multi-colored measuring area and a distance between extreme locations along the axis defining a depth of measuring range. Further, off-axis imaging of the measuring area, detecting intensity of the image and determining the coordinate of the intersection of the surface with the measuring area.

Non-contact electro-optical measuring systems are advantageous over those using mechanical sensing, because of their relatively high speed and non-destructive capabilities. The increasing need for non-contact surface displacement and profile measurements has already led to the development of such electro-optical systems as those incorporating interferometry methods, speckle detection, Moire deflectometry, stereo vision, focus error detection, time of flight, confocal microscopy and structured light triangulation.
Confocal microscopy and structured light triangulation are widely known methods for measuring surface profiles or displacements. Scanning confocal microscopes can measure surface profiles with high accuracy and in on-axis configuration which minimizes shadowing problems. However, the measurements are performed serially (point by point) and are therefore usually very slow.
The structured light triangulation methods are the most wide-spread. They are suitable for industrial applications, in that they offer a simple and robust 3-D measurement. Structured light triangulation systems determine distance to an object by projecting thereon light from a source and imaging the projected pattern on to a detector. With the position of the image on the detector, the lateral separation between the detector lens and the light source, and the projection angle of the source being known, the distance to the object is determined. Sequential measurements at different coordinates on the object lead to a full 3-D image of the object's surface profile.
The simplest structured light system projects a single point of light from the light source on to an object. The point is then imaged on a detector which is in the form of lateral effect photodiodes or a linear array. The imaging is performed point by point until the surface is scanned completely. The 3-D measurement according to this procedure can be inexpensive and has high resolution. The single point triangulation system, however, involves lengthy time-consuming scanning, which is often impractical.
A second class of triangulation systems operates by projecting a light stripe on to an object and using a two-dimensional detector array. Fewer frames are needed to scan over an object, and scanning need only be done in the direction perpendicular to the stripe.
However, the above light triangulation systems cannot simultaneously achieve a large depth measuring range and high lateral resolution. The reason for this is that usually, in optical elements, a long focal depth cannot be combined with a small spot size since the latter requires high numerical apertures, whereas the former requires low numerical apertures. Mathematically, the combination of Abbe's formula for lateral resolution ##EQU1## where .delta.x is the spot size, and Rayleigh's formula for the depth of focus .delta.F yields: ##EQU2## where .lambda..sub.0 is the wavelength of the light and .kappa. is a constant number between 1 and 4 which depends on the exact definitions of .delta.x and .delta.F.
A common trade-off approach is to use a relatively large spot, the center of which can be determined with much higher accuracy than the spot-size, by complicated numerical techniques. Such an approach suffers from the drawback that it is highly sensitive to local changes in the reflectivity or the shape of the object. Thus, for example, short radii of curvature cannot be adequately dealt with using this approach.

Method and apparatus for color-coded optical profilometer


The combination child vehicle seat and temporary stroller is provided with wheel assemblies having wheels aligned in tandem, which, when retracted, maintain a flush vehicle seat underside which can be used as a vehicle seat without damaging the seat covering. The combination is provided with a handle having a hand grip which extends and locks in to place for use as a stroller, and retracts and locks in to place for use as a vehicle seat.

This invention relates generally to equipment for transporting children, and more particularly to an apparatus which can serve as a vehicle seat for a child, and alternatively as a stroller.
Lawmakers and safety conscious groups want to educate motorists of the need for transporting children safely in a vehicle. This requires the parents to have, not only a vehicle seat for transportation while in the vehicle, but also a stroller for use at their destination.
This problem is being addressed by providing a device which operates as both. This device focuses mainly on infants, zero to one year old. Many parents find it inconvenient to transfer the infant from the car seat to the stroller and vice versa. This device is equipped to give the parents an option of carrying the car seat or adjusting the car seat to enable it to be rolled to their destination.
Many accident claims and reports have been filed with car seat companies because the handle detached from the seat, and the seat fell causing injury to the child. This device, being able to be placed low to the ground and rolled, would prevent such falling accidents from happening.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a simple and inexpensive vehicle car seat and temporary stroller combination.
In accordance with such object, this invention is intended to allow the parent with a choice of "carry" or "roll".
This invention is further intended to provide constructions that satisfy standards for standard regulation car seats, as we know them, and also provide such seats with a convenient, adjustable handle and with retractable wheels, for a safe and easy fit into a vehicle.
Additionally this invention is intended to allow a sleeping child to remain in the seat, without having to be disturbed, when the seat is removed from the vehicle and rolled to a destination.
This invention, in some embodiments, is also intended to provide a full length "Peek-a-boo" canopy in inclement weather, and also to keep child safe from any flying debris while being rolled.
This invention, in some embodiments, is further intended to provide spring action wheels for the seat to absorb shocks while the seat is being rolled on rough terrain.
Further, this invention, in some embodiments, is intended to keep an adjustable handle from accidentally being extended while carrying a child by using "Butterfly bolts" to lock the handle into place while it is extended or retracted.
Another intent of this invention, in some embodiments, is to allow the handle to be conveniently and desirably positioned at the foot or head of stroller.
This invention, in some embodiments, is also intended to supply a brake at the base of the wheels, to allow the car seat to remain secure and in place while the car seat is not mobile.
Still other objects, advantages, distinctions and alternative constructions and/or combinations of the invention will become more apparent from the following description with respect to the appended drawings. Similar components and assemblies are referred to in the various drawings with similar alphanumeric reference characters. This description should not be literally construed in limitation of the invention. Rather, the invention should be interpreted within the broad scope of the further appended claims.

Combination child vehicle seat and temporary stroller


The invention relates to a carrier that holds a component in a defined position on a circuit board in a housing or housing part. In particular, the invention relates to a carrier for a sensor board on which a light-sensitive sensor is mounted. According to the invention, it is proposed that the carrier have at least one mechanical keying that interacts with a corresponding mechanical keying on the circuit board.

The invention relates to a carrier that holds a component on a circuit board in a housing or a housing part in a defined position. In particular, the invention relates to a carrier for a sensor board on which a light-sensitive sensor is mounted. The sensor board is held by means of the carrier in the housing or a housing part of an electronic camera. Therefore, the following discussion predominantly focuses on a light-sensitive sensor and an electronic camera, but this should not be associated with a restriction. Finally, the invention also relates to a housing or a housing part for an electronic camera.
Electronic light-sensitive sensors must be aligned with precision relative to the optical axis of the objective in an electronic camera. Here, the electronic sensors can feature an essentially linear structure for so-called line cameras or an area structure for so-called matrix cameras. In both cases, it is necessary that the distance between the objective or an objective carrier and the light-sensitive surface of the sensor, the so-called rest measure, be maintained exactly. Particularly for the light-sensitive area of an area sensor to be used to the most complete extent possible, it is also necessary to align the sensor in a plane perpendicular to the optical axis through rotation and/or displacement. Finally, the sensor should also run exactly perpendicular to the optical axis. Consequently, for precise alignment, the sensor must be displaceable relative to the optical axis or to the corresponding reference edges of the housing or housing part of the camera holding it, not only in the direction of the three spatial axes, but it must also be held so that it can tilt about the three spatial axes.
For such movement of the sensor, complicated mechanical adjustment means must be integrated into the camera in order to be able to align the sensor exactly. Such an arrangement with mechanical adjustment means is described, for example, in JP-A-60115904. An exact positioning with the help of these mechanical aids requires some skill and an increased expense in time, which is not always possible in the scope of mass production.
Bonding represents a different possibility for precise positioning of the sensor in the housing or housing part of the camera. From EP 1 432 240 A1, it is known to bond a sensor in its exact position to a mounting body. The mounting body is held in the housing or housing part of the camera by known mechanical fixing means. Final alignment of the sensor in the position installed in the housing is not provided. Instead, it is assumed that the desired accuracy is achieved through the precise positioning of the sensor on the mounting body and its manufacturing accuracy.
From US 2001/0010562 A1 it is known to bond the light-sensitive sensor to a metal plate. The alignment of the sensor relative to the objective is realized by means of mechanical adjustment means that attach to the metallic plate.
Another problem is that frequently different sensors are to be mounted in one housing type or housing part type. Through such a modular construction, a plurality of different electronic cameras can be prepared in an economically favorable way. However, there is the problem that the different sensors usually have different dimensions, especially different overall heights, and also different shapes, which differ especially in the type of attachment. Therefore, direct mounting of the sensor or sensor board in the housing or housing part in the predetermined defined position is not possible without further means for various sensors.

Carrier for a circuit board on which a sensor component is held in a defined position


The present invention is directed to a system and method for administering Peer to Peer (P2P) query messages within a P2P network. The present invention collects a plurality of metrics for each host that it is aware of in a P2P network, most often by a host information or query hit message. The metrics collected aid in determining a set of P2P hosts best able to fulfill a query message, without having knowledge of specific content. The metrics collected also aid in managing query messages in that they determine when to drop query messages or when to resend query messages.

Peer to peer (P2P) network protocols are used to exchange content among peers on a network. Generally one peer will be connected to a number of other peers. When a peer wants to find content, the peer transmits a query message to some of the peers it is connected to. This query message travels through the P2P network and elicits query responses from peers that have content that satisfies the query.
In a broadcasting model of P2P networks, a query is sent through the network by assigning it a Time-to-live (TTL) and broadcasting it to all connected peers. The connected peers decrement the TTL and broadcast it to all of their connected peers, and the query continues through the network in this fashion until the TTL reaches zero. This method works well when each peer is connected to a small number of other peers, and when there are few cycles in the network. However, the number of times the query is forwarded grows exponentially with the number of connected peers. For a peer that connects to thousands of other peers, broadcasting queries is not feasible, since the network would become congested with messaging traffic.
One method of resolving the possibility of network congestion is to maintain an index of the content available through each connection. Queries may then be forwarded to connections that have the content being searched for. However, keeping such an index may not be feasible. For example, due to the size of the index or the dynamic nature of the content.
Thus there is a need for a system and method to intelligently route queries to connected peers, without knowing the specific content available at each peer. The present invention addresses this need.

Heuristics-based peer to peer message routing


An MPEG processor is provided. According to one aspect of the processor, multiple MPEG data streams for corresponding channels are individually stored in an off-chip memory. Corresponding data for a channel is then retrieved from the off-chip memory for processing. The retrieved data is then decoded. The decoded results and associated information are stored on the off-chip memory. Some or all of the associated information that can be used for decoding subsequent data is stored in an on-chip memory. When video images need to be displayed, the corresponding data that is needed for that purpose is then retrieved from the off-chip memory and provided to an analog encoder for encoding in a format that is compatible with an analog display device.

The present invention generally relates to a chip architecture for a multi-stream video processor and more specifically to a high speed multi-stream MPEG decoder.
A video stream is traditionally compressed into certain types of MPEG streams to facilitate transmission. The name MPEG is an acronym for Moving Picture Experts Group. The MPEG standards cover the coding of video data, such as moving pictures or images, and the associated audio data and their synchronization, including multiple and interleaved video sequences. For example, most of the set top boxes today utilize the MPEG-2 video format. MPEG video is highly compressed compared with analog video format, such as NTSC or PAL.
MPEG-2 video sequences are made up of three different types of picture frames, namely, I-frame, P-frame and B-frame. FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram showing a typical MPEG-2 code frame sequence. I-frames are intra-coded frames which are coded independently without reference to other frames. I-frames provide access points to the coded video sequence at which decoding can begin. I-frames, however, are only moderately compressed. The other two frame types, P-frame and B-frame, are inter- or non-intra coded. P-frames are predictively coded frames, meaning that such frames are coded using motion compensation with reference to previous I- or P-frames. P-frames are coded more efficiently than I-frames. B-frames are bi-directional predictively coded frames. B-frames are coded using motion compensation with reference to past and future I-or P-frames in the video sequence and are highly compressed.
Traditionally, an MPEG decoder is used to decode the MPEG-2 video frame sequences. The decoded sequences are then forwarded directly to an analog encoder. The analog encoder then provides the compatible signals to allow an analog display device, such as, a television to display the corresponding video and audio data. An analog display device typically generates video images by reproducing scanned lines within a field in an alternate manner. In other words, the even numbered lines are reproduced first and the odd numbered lines second, or vice versa. The results are then interlaced to produce the video images.
If the MPEG-2 video frame sequences are processed in a sequential manner and there is a relatively limited number of incoming data streams, memory requirements do not present too much of a problem in the foregoing arrangement. However, as the number of incoming data streams increases, the amount of memory that is needed to facilitate processing of the MPEG-2 video frame sequences becomes a serious bottleneck thereby adversely affecting the efficiency of a system.
Hence, it would be desirable to provide an improved MPEG decoder that is capable of handling video processing in a more efficient manner.

Method and system for providing a high speed multi-stream MPEG processor


Methods of synthesizing and isolating facial-tris-homoleptic phenylpyridinato iridium (III) photocatalysts are disclosed. Also disclosed are methods of recovering excess 2-phenylpyridine ligands from said syntheses.

For more than 30 years, transition metal complexes have been known to mediate single-electron transfers (SET) and have led to SET-initiated polymerization reactions (Lalevee et al., 2011), dye-sensitized solar cells (Kalyanasundaram et al., 1998), and light emitting diodes (Lowry et al., 2006). Despite the substantial use of transition metal mediated-SET in these applications and processes, application towards synthetic organic chemistry has been sporadic and relatively infrequent (Pac et al., 1981; Cano-Yelo et al., 1984; and Narayanam et al., 2011) until more recently. Early reports of transition metal-based photocatalytic mediated organic transformations utilized Ru-based photocatalysts such as tris-(2,2′-bipyridine) ruthenium (II) or Ru(bpy)32+, which when excited by visible light undergoes a metal to ligand charge transfer (MLCT) and facilitates one-electron oxidation or reduction of the complex (McCusker, 2003). King et al. (1985) reported the synthesis and characterization of the neutral fac-tris-phenylpyridinato iridium (III), (Ir(ppy)3) photocatalyst. In general, the neutral Ir-photocatalysts tend to be substantially more reducing photocatalysts than their cationic counterparts from both the excited state and the reduced ground state, and thus are a complimentary class of photocatalysts, but it was not until 2012 that they were used (Nguyen et al., 2012).
Pac et al. (1981) utilized Ru(bpy)3Cl2 in one of the first reports of small organic molecule activation by this complex, in which they reported the reduction of electron deficient alkenes using a stoichiometric reductant. Fukuzumi et al. (1990) also described reductive dehalogenation of phenacyl bromide utilizing this complex. More recently, Nicewicz et al. (2008) reported direct asymmetric alkylation of aldehydes, and lschay et al. (2008) reported [2+2] cycloadditions of enones, both utilizing Ru(bpy)3Cl2, thereby modernizing transition metal photochemistry. Over the last few years, the number of reported organic transformations that utilize transition metal photocatalyst has increased steadily.
During the last eight years, the neutral tris-homoleptic Ir-complexes have also grown in importance (Prier et al., 2013). Accordingly, Nguyen et al. (2012) reported an efficient hydrodeiodination of alkyl, alkenyl, and aryl iodides using Ir(ppy)3. Zuo et al. (2014) investigated several neutral complexes—Ir(p-F-ppy)3, Ir(dFppy)3, Ir[p-F(t-Bu)-ppy]3, and Ir[dF(t-Bu)-ppy]3—which all out performed Ir(ppy)3 in the decarboxylative arylation of alpha amino acids. Recently the inventors (Weaver et al., 2014; Singh et al., 2013; Singh et al., 2014; Senaweera et al., 2014; and Singh et al., 2015) as well as other groups (Prier et al., 2013) have utilized the fac-tris-homoleptic iridium (III) complexes, which have proven to perform a series of other powerful transformations with high catalytic efficiencies. An exemplary (but non-limiting) list of transformations and reactions performed by the neutral fac-tris homoleptic complexes is shown below:                decarboxylative alkylation of amino acids (Zuo et al., 2014);        decarboxylative alkylation (addition to Michael acceptors) (Chu et al., 2014);        alpha alkylation of aldehydes (Terrett et al., 2014);        coupling of tertiary amines and 2-chloroazoles (Singh et al., 2013);        alkylation of 2-bromoazoles (Arora et al., 2015);        hydrodefluorination (Senaweera et al., 2014);        E-Z isomerization of alkenes (Singh et al., 2014);        photocatalytic C-F alkylation (Singh et al., 2015);        functionalization of ligands (Devery et al., 2015);        alkyl iodide free radical reactions (Nguyen et al., 2012); and        visible light-mediated atom transfer radical additions (Wallentin et al., 2012).
Despite the rapidly increasing utility of the homoleptic iridium (III) complexes in organic syntheses, only a few are commercially available. There are a number of reported synthetic methods that use Ir(acac)3 (see, for example, Dedeian et al., 1991; Tamayo et al., 2003; Lee et al., 2007; and Tsuboyarna et al., 2003), which is a more expensive Ir (III) source, or methods that alternatively require two steps. The first step results in the formation of a chloro-bridging dimer via coordination of two phenylpyridine ligands. Then, in a subsequent step, the halogen is extracted, often aided by silver, and a third phenylpyridine is added via cyclometalation (McDonald et al., 2008; and Tamayo et al., 2003). Even in the case of the tris-homoleptic cyclometalated complexes, this two-step sequence is commonly employed. Ideally, one could hope to place all three bidentate ligands in the same reaction to generate the thermodynamically favored facial-homoleptic iridium (III) complex. It has been known that the meridional homoleptic iridium (III) complex is the kinetically favored product, but the facial complex can be obtained at temperatures greater than 200° C. and is the thermodynamically favored product (Tamayo et al., 2003).
Konno et al. (2003) reported microwave synthesis of tris-cyclometalated iridium complexes, but this synthesis required a large excess of ligand (50 to 100 equivalents), which limits the scope of the reaction to readily available ligands. Perhaps more importantly, the scale of the reaction is limited by the microwave equipment used.
In Singh et al. (2015), the inventors disclosed a simple, reliable, and straightforward preparation method that would allow for the acquisition of the facial-homoleptic iridium complexes in high yields via a selective one step process starting with the least expensive source of Ir(III), IrCl3*nH2O and that used water as the only solvent (FIG. 1). However, while the methods of Singh et al. can be used to make gram scale quantities of these complexes, there are some notable shortcomings. Namely, purification of the complexes via the method of Singh et al. require at least one column chromatography step, and this step is time intensive and requires copious amounts of organic solvents; this step is particularly challenging, because of the low solubility of these complexes. Indeed, the isolation of the complex is often more challenging than its synthesis. In addition, the methods of Singh et al. do not allow for the recovery of excess ligand.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for new and improved methods of synthesis and isolation of facial-homoleptic iridium complexes that yield a high purity of complex on a gram scale and that allow for recovery of excess ligand. It is to such new and improved methods that the present disclosure is directed.

Method for the synthesis and isolation of facial-tris-homoleptic phenylpyridinato iridium (III) photocatalysts

The Board of Regents for Oklahoma State University


An improved closure for a pressure gauge includes a stem or a sleeve which selectively provides a vent path when set by the end user. The closure device provides an automatic venting if in the normally closed condition by means of an overpressure valve arrangement in the sleeve. Therefore the two functions are incorporated in the single closure device.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,241 issued to Harland shows a pressure gauge in which the vent plug in accordance with the invention may be utilized. In the Harland gauge there is provided a pressure relief valve and a filling plug which is capable of being sealed and resealed by pushing in the plug to seal the gauge and pulling it out in order to vent the gauge. One of the problems found to be associated with the Harland type closures is that the separate venting and relieving assemblies may create problems for maintaining integrity against leaks in the gauge. Additionally, in many cases these assemblies may interfere with panel mounting applications due to the close fit required for the outer diameter of the gauge case.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,730 to Andrew et al discloses a pressure gauge having a blow out back assembly which includes a diaphragm and a resiliently firm back cover plate. The cover plate is bolted to the back side of the pressure gauge and apparently serves to hold the diaphragm in sealed contact with the inside of the pressure gauge.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,449,412 to Fallon et al. discloses a pressure relief valve means which includes a diaphragm biased by a coil spring. When the pressure exceeds the force exerted by the spring, the inlet is exposed to first and second relief passageways.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,678 to Buchanan discloses an overpressure relief safety plug for use with pressure gauges that includes a plug held in place by a strap and anchoring means fixing the plug to the exterior of the housing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,890 to Collins et al. discloses a pressure regulator and safety relief valve where an elastomeric element is biased by a spring against an inlet port.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,522,007 to Willach discloses a pressure indicating and relieving device having an adjustable pressure relief means comprising a valve and longitudinal slot provided in the inner surface of a plug. Rotation of the valve adjusts fluid communication between a passageway and the longitudinal slot.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,701,284 to DeMeyer discloses a pressure gauge having a vented filler element provided in the upper portion of the gauge case. A rear closure plate is biased in place by a resilient element and provides a means for pressure relief when undue pressure builds up in the gauge housing.

Dual mode vent plug for a pressure gauge


A valley shaping means for bidirectionally reinforced convoluted hoses comprising high strength fibers and/or cords which is designed for bonding and/or integration into the valley portion of the bidirectionally reinforced convoluted hose. The high-strength fibers and/or cords can be pre-coated prior to integration with the bidirectionally reinforced convoluted hose, or be coated and bonded after placed in position at the bottom of the valley portion of the bidirectionally reinforced convoluted hose.

The field of this invention relates to reinforcement for convoluted stretch hoses or conduit, and more specifically to reinforcements that assists in producing a helical valley in the hose or conduit during manufacturing and later use.
Prior art convoluted helical shaped stretch hoses and conduits, are well known. Adding reinforcement to the stretch hose is less well known because of the difficulty of reinforcing a convoluted shaped hose. Even less well known is the use of bidirectional reinforcement on a stretch hose which appears to have only been taught by the Applicant in U.S. Pat. No. 6,948,527, issued on Sep. 27, 2005, titled: "Pressure-Actuated Linearly Retractable and Extendible Hose", and U.S. Pat. No. 7,549,448, issued on Jun. 23, 2009, titled: "Linearly Retractable Pressure Hose". Also, patent application Ser. No. 10/303,941 filed Nov. 25, 2002 and its resulting Divisional patent application Ser. No. 11/234,944 filed Sep. 26, 2005 by the Applicant, do not teach forming neither a u-shaped valley nor a v-shaped valley with cord reinforcements that is parallel to the helical valley of the convoluted hose.
The thin wall construction of a stretch hose does not easily allow reinforcement to be applied. The convoluted helical shape is what allows these hoses to extend to many times their retracted length and consistently retract under their own spring power. For these hoses to self-retract easily, they can be designed with a thin walled body that is indented between coils, or expanded between the coils, to allow the hose body to extend and retract without binding against itself. Because of these physical limitations on the thickness and flexibility of the hose body, most prior art stretch hoses can only withstand pressures of about 5 Pounds per Square Inch (psi) for extended periods of time at room temperature and less at higher temperatures. Thus, some type of reinforcement is required to prevent rupture of this type of stretch hose when used with typical compressed air and household water pressures. Further, the shape of the valley portion of the convoluted hose is a factor in determining the hose's retracting ability and strength. The disclosed fiber reinforcement is applied in the valley of a convoluted stretch hose to provide one or more of the following functions: 1) to provide radial pressure strength for the hose, 2) to provide a means for shaping the hose valley into a predetermined shape, and 3) to substantially maintain the position of the valley during use and to insure the proper shape for retracting after extended use.
While many prior art stretch hoses discuss "reinforcement" for their hoses, the Examiner should understand that they are generally talking about the helical wire as the "support" or "reinforcement" against crushing, not a flexible fiber reinforcement in the helical valley of the hose to resist internal pressure. The "wire reinforcement" in prior art designs keep the hose bore from collapsing and from crushing and kinking during use, but provide little internal pressure support for resisting internal hydraulic or pneumatic pressure. The disclosed valley reinforcement provides significant pressure support for the disclosed stretch hoses, which helps stabilize the shape of the hose to insure proper extending and retracting operation.
The convoluted helical shape of a stretch hose does not led itself easily to the addition of reinforcement because of the uneven shape of the surface with its helical peak and valley. Some reinforced conduits have been built, but are made with flat sheet material that is thin enough that the sheet material can crumple under force to allow the conduit be retracted. Such conduits are generally used with a compression spring which is used to keep the hose extended for use, and user must apply force to retract the hose. Most self-retracting stretch hoses, are made from a single extruded strip of elastomer material that can be stretched over the helical wire support and rolled to form the convoluted shaped stretch hose. As soon as bidirectional reinforcement is added, problems arise because the reinforcement material can not deform with the elastomer hose material. Thus, the reinforcement strongly resists any reshaping that might be required to form the convoluted shape. Thus, prior art methods of reinforcement for cylindrically shaped hoses do not work when applied to a convoluted helical stretch hose shape. Wrapping, weaving, and knitting methods of reinforcing a convoluted hose have difficulty forming and holding the proper shape for the valley of the hose, though some methods for forming a u-shaped valley are disclosed in Divisional application Ser. No. 11/234,944. Preferably the valley can be v-shaped to allow easy extending and retracting of the hose, while also reducing stresses in longitudinal reinforcement. In other configurations, more rounded u-shaped hose valleys can be used for specific hose designs.
The use of the disclosed helical valley reinforcement solves many of the problems with maintaining the shape of the valley by providing a continuous coated yarn reinforcement placed near the center of a convoluted hose valley and/or on the walls of the valley. The yarn reinforcement can be wound in the valley of the hose and over other longitudinal and radial reinforcements. The tension on the valley reinforcement yarn prevents tension in the longitudinal yarn reinforcement from significantly deforming the valley from the desired v-shape. The yarn or cord reinforcement in other configurations can also be placed along the entire valley wall to maintain the v-shape. Thus, knitted or wrapped fiber reinforcement is forced to form a v-shaped valley by properly tensioning one or more yarns of high-strength fibers near the center of the hose valley to define the radius of the hose at the center of the valley. This process of wrapping reinforcement yarn or cord in the valley of the convoluted hose can be done by simply feeding the reinforcement yarn into the hose valley as the hose rotates pass. Such a method of valley reinforcement can produce finished hose or conduit at a rate of about one foot per second.


A method for manufacturing large-area organic solar cells utilizes a hot solvent vapor annealing manufacturing process while manufacturing the organic solar cells via a large-area proceeding method, such as spraying. Namely, a heated solvent vapor is utilized to modify an active layer after the active layer of the organic solar cells is formed, which ensures a flatness and an uniformity thereof and increases a crystallinity of the active layer and an element charge transport rate so that a power conversion efficiency of the large area organic solar cells is increased, a proceeding time is quite short, and the performance thereof is quite obvious. Therefore, the method not only reduces the cost by a large area production but obtains organic solar cells with higher conversion efficiency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing organic solar cells, in particular to a method for manufacturing organic solar cells via a large-area manufacturing method, such as spraying, roll-to-roll web-coating, printing or similar methods, and a method for modifying morphology of an active layer by hot solvent vapor annealing manufacturing process.
2. Description of the Related Art
A research in solar cells is an expectant direction of the renewable energy sources. Although most of the commercialized products utilize the silicon as their main material, the organic solar cells still attract the attention of the industrial and academic fields due to the simple manufacturing procedure, the low manufacturing cost, the light material, and the flexibility.
While manufacturing the organic solar cell, an active layer of the solar cell is manufactured by spin coating which renders the layer provide a better flatness and uniformity. However, the spin coating is restricted by being unable to be applied in the manufacture of the solar cell with a large area but a small area, so that an innate choke point is existed in the consideration of reducing the cost in the future commercialization. Therefore, other large-area proceeding methods, such as spray coating or roll-to-roll coating, are considered in the large-area manufacture of the organic solar cells.
However, while manufacturing an active layer of the organic solar cell by spraying, knife coating, roll-to-roll web-coating, dip coating, or printing method, such as ink-jet printing, screen printing, and lithographing, the flatness and uniformity of the layer hardly attain a quality of film manufactured by the present spin coating process, and the thickness of the layer is thicker. Further, a morphology of the active layer, which includes the flatness and uniformity of the layer, and the thickness of the active layer have an important effect on a power conversion efficiency of the entire elements. Therefore, in the organic solar cell manufactured by a large-area production, it is necessary to modify the active layer.
Referring to Taiwan patent number TW 1369011, by "tandem organic solar cell", is disclosed. The prior patent discloses an active layer manufactured by spin coating, bar coating, dip coating, roll coating, spray coating, gravure coating, ink-jet printing, slot coating, or knife coating. However, the prior patent does not disclose a technological method of utilizing the above-mentioned methods to improve the morphology of active layer with a large area, which may reduce the efficiency if adopting this process.
Referring to Taiwan publication number TW 201302839, by "organic semiconductor compositions", is disclosed. This prior patent discloses manufacturing methods of the active layer including spin coating, knife coating, roll-to-roll web-coating, dip coating, and many kinds of printing methods, such as ink jet printing, screen printing, and lithographing. Wherein, after removing a required quantity of a solvent to forma semiconductor layer, the semiconductor layer can be annealed by being exposed to heat or solvent vapor. However, the conventional solvent annealing disclosed in this prior patent is annealed under a room temperature, so the proceeding time usually takes more than 60 minutes, and the efficiency of improving the elements is also not obvious.
Referring to the United States of America patent number US 20110008926, this prior patent also discloses an active layer which adopts the conventional solvent annealing process while spraying and has the same defect as the above-mentioned patent.
Referring to Taiwan patent number TW 201139503, by "copolymer semiconductors comprising thiazolothiazole or benzobisthiazole, or benzobisoxazole electron acceptor subunits, and electron donor subunits, and their uses in transistors and solar cells", is disclosed. While an active layer is manufactured, a solvent is freely heated so as to enlarge dissolution of the copolymer and/or the electron acceptor for assisting a formation of the layer. The above-mentioned process is processed before forming the active layer, and the structure and morphology of the layer are not modified after the active layer is formed, which will meet an unevenness of the active layer while applying to a large-area production of the organic solar cells, thereby causing a decrease of the element efficiency.

Method for manufacturing large-area organic solar cells

Atomic Energy Council—Institute of Nuclear Energy Research


The present invention discloses a positioning control apparatus which receives a moving command and a feedback signal outputted from a controlled device, and controls the controlled device for moving and positioning. The positioning control apparatus includes a first control loop, a second control loop and an arbitration module with a dead point default value, wherein the first control loop is used to control the controlled device moving in response to the error of the moving command and the feedback signal, on the other hand, the second control loop is used to control the controlled device positioning. Furthermore, the arbitration module compares the default value of dead point with the moving command so as to enable either the first control loop or the second control loop.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus and method for positioning control; in particular, to an apparatus and method for positioning control which is used to control the moving and positioning of a controlled device in accordance with the comparison of a moving command and a dead point default value.
2. Description of Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a prior art control system is shown. In such a conventional control system, there comprise a man-machine interaction or a commander 10 (MMI-C 10), a control driving circuit 12 and a controlled device 14. The control driving circuit 12 receives the command SD sent from the MMI-C 10 and further outputs a control signal SC to the controlled device 14 according to the command SD. The controlled device 14 is controlled by the control signal SC and acts accordingly, and sends a feedback signal SF back to the control driving circuit 12, in order to provide control for the driving circuit 12 to perform closed-loop control. In addition, the control driving circuit 12 may also send the control status back to the MMI-C 10, so as to allow the user to check the status of the control system.
In conjunction with FIG. 1, now refer to FIG. 2, in which a diagram of prior art slider moving control is shown. The moving control of the slider 20 uses the above-mentioned prior art control system. The MMI-C 10 issues a forward command SD to the control driving circuit 12, enabling the control driving circuit 12 to drive the controlled device 14 installed in the slider 20 for driving the slider 20 to move forward. At the same time, the controlled device 14 sends a feedback signal SF to the control driving circuit 12. In this way, the control driving circuit 12 may controls the forward moving of the slider 20 via the classic closed-loop controller method.
As the slider 20 moves to a dead point, the top pin 202 on the slider 20 will trigger a feedback device 24. It should be noted, the term dead points from structure engineering are notches used to lock the position, when used in terms of mechanical control system, it serves similar meaning, and refers to a defined geometric point. At this time, the feedback device 24 sends a dead point feedback signal ST to the control driving circuit 12, so as to inform the control driving circuit 12 to perform braking action or reset, which would prevent the slider 20 from impacting the critical plane 22 and allowing for the general positioning of the slider 20. The approach of control may compensate for the positioning of the slider 20 from the influences caused by factors such as wearing, dusts, airflow, vibrations, thus allowing normal operation.
However, as the machining technologies advance, more and more designs of part/component or combination thereof needs to meet the requirements of high precision, low error and small size; meanwhile, the moving and positioning of the aforementioned slider 20 are required to satisfy the said requirements as well.
Hence, when the moving condition of the controlled device 14 being driven enters into the micro cosmic or near-field scope, the volume of the feedback device 24 is often too big, thus implementation becomes impossible. Besides, the feedback device 24 may generate error in responsiveness due to factors of wearing, dusts or machining and so on, resulting in the existence of a spacing gap between the braking position of the slider 20 and the critical plane 22, wherein the gap would not effectively approach zero.
Meanwhile, if the feedback device 24 is removed, the spacing gap between the braking position of the slider 20 and the critical plane 22 may still be impossible to approach zero due to the factor of variation in the surface of the critical plane 22; more seriously, after the integration on the spacing gap by the integration processor (not shown) in the control driving circuit 12, it will generate huge driving force to drive forward the slider 20, causing the controlled device 14 to be subject to tremendous invalid power, and thus can even be damaged.

Apparatus and method for positioning control


A sailing yacht, in addition to its ballast keel (2), has at least one winged keel ( ) which optionally also carries ballast. Both ballast keel (2) and winged keel (1) are mounted to swivel on the hull of the sail ship around an axis aligned essentially in the longitudinal direction of the sail ship. Thus, by swivelling ballast keel (2) the righting moment is changed, for example, increased. By swivelling winged keel (1) its lateral plane part can be changed and thus can be kept large even when the sailing yacht is heeling.

A keel of this type is known from GB 2 232 126 A.
The primary function of a keel in sail ships, especially in single-hull sailing yachts, is on the one hand to generate the transverse force in the water necessary for sailing by enlarging the lateral plane in order to create a reaction to the transverse wind force on the sail. On the other hand, keels are used in sail ships for holding ballast to increase the stability of the ship, since the transverse wind force applied to the sail generates a moment which heels the sail ship to leeward and which therefore must be partially balanced by a corresponding countermoment of the ballast migrating windward.
When the sail ship heels, the propulsive center of gravity in the sail acts alee, the center of gravity of resistance to propulsion of the entire wetted area of the underwater hull including the keel however lies windward. The interval between the resulting propulsive force in the sail and the resulting resistance force in the water generates a moment which makes the ship carry weather helm. In counter-steering, the rudder blade is oblique to the direction of travel and generates an additional flow resistance. Balancing by shifting the aerodynamic center of the sail to in front of the lateral center of gravity in the longitudinal axis of the ship does produce a countermoment in the direction of leeward-liness, but this moment due to its fixed lever length represents a given value, conversely the moment causing the windwardness has a different lever length depending on the heel. Therefore compensation of the two moments is not possible in all positions.
Another disadvantage of conventional keel designs is that the lateral plane, when the ship heels, is reduced by the sloped position of the keel fin so that the drift of the sail ship increases.
To avoid running aground in shallow water, especially in the vicinity of land or in harbor basins, either a long keel with shallow draft and large ballast is used, which greatly increases the total weight of the sail ship and thus also the wetted area of the hull, and thus causes increased resistance in the water. Bilge keels, keels swivelling to the rear or lifting keels are also known, the first two not having acceptable hydrodynamic properties. A lifting keel requires an extremely disruptive keel box which lies within the yacht.
Hydrodynamically most favorable are deep draft keels which are short in the longitudinal direction of the ship, therefore keels with a large extension and ideal profile cross sections. In addition to less ballast, because it is lower, and thus smaller wetted area with the same hydrostatic stability, these keels also have the lowest "induced resistance" as the largest resistance portion of known keel shapes. This resistance is caused by the pressure equalization around the lower edge of the keel from the pressurized lee side of the keel to the negative pressurized windward side of the keel, since the flow eddy which forms is extremely unfavorable. A reduction of induced resistance is only possible by partially suppressing the flow around the lower edge of the keel by wings. But they increase the wetted area and thus the frictional resistance of the underwater hull.
As the ship size increases however an appropriate draft becomes a problem, as already mentioned, due to channels. If the intention is to achieve the same efficiency of a keel of a 12 meter yacht with a draft of for example 2.35 meters in a yacht 30 meters long, it would have to have a keel depth of 6.35 meters.
As the size of the ship increases therefore at limited draft, to approach less deep harbors the conditions become more and more unfavorable. The extension becomes smaller and the ballast center of gravity is higher in relative terms. Stability decreases if balance is not created by a high ballast weight.


A method for the computer-aided learning of a recurrent neural network for modeling a dynamic system which is characterized at respective times by an observable vector with one or more observables as entries is provided. The neural network includes both a causal network with a flow of information that is directed forwards in time and a retro-causal network with a flow of information which is directed backwards in time. The states of the dynamic system are characterized by first state vectors in the causal network and by second state vectors in the retro-causal network, wherein the state vectors each contain observables for the dynamic system and also hidden states of the dynamic system. Both networks are linked to one another by a combination of the observables from the relevant first and second state vectors and are learned on the basis of training date including known observables vectors.

Recurrent neural networks are used nowadays in various fields of application as an appropriate way of modeling the changes over time of a dynamic system such that a recurrent neural network learned using training data of the dynamic system can accurately predict the observables (observable states) of the system in question. Said recurrent neural network is also used to model, as states of the dynamic system, not only the observables but also unknown hidden states of the dynamic system, wherein generally only a causal information flow, i.e. proceeding forward in time, between consecutive states is considered. However, dynamic systems are often based on the principle that future predictions concerning observables also play a role in the changes over time of the states of the system. Such dynamic systems are often only inadequately described by known recurrent neural networks.

Method for the computer-aided learning of a recurrent neural network for modeling a dynamic system


An elevating shelf system having a shelf assembly with a three-sided frame, a top panel and a bottom panel that fits inside an open-top enclosure. Also included is a lifting assembly. The shelf assembly can be raised or lowered within the enclosure while the lifting assembly imparts an upward vertical force on the shelf assembly to make lifting easier. Attached in the frame are channel shaped brackets which hold extendable shelves. The lifting assembly includes friction adjustable struts which are protected by side walls of the enclosure. The top panel includes a lifting handle as well as a transparent inventory holder for retaining an inventory of items in the elevating shelf system. The elevating shelf system also includes a locking mechanism to look the shelf assembly at a desired height.

One (1) of the best and easiest ways to preserve food is by freezing. Many homes and businesses rely on chest-style freezers to preserve and store food in a safe manner that protects the taste and texture of the food. Such freezers are simple in concept, cost efficient to produce, are relatively inexpensive to operate and can be large enough to store a significant amount of food.
While chest freezers have proven their worth they are not without faults. Perhaps the biggest fault with chest freezers is the difficulty encountered in locating and removing a certain food item from within the large confines of the freezer. Over time smaller food items tend to gravitate towards the bottom of the freezer compartment. Thus a user may have to remove many large, heavy items just to locate one (1) particular smaller item. While this may be a rather minor task to some to the elderly, disabled, short, or those suffering from an injury such a task can be a major task or even something impossible to perform. Additionally, smaller food items can become lost within the freezer and not be found until past their expiration date. This causes waste and inconvenience.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a way that food items contained within a chest style freezer can be located quickly and easily. Preferably such a way would enable easy access to food within a chest style freezer even for the elderly, disabled, short, or those suffering from an injury. It would be beneficial if the way to enable access is quick, easy, and effective.