A distal rate control device, which can be conveniently interposed between a fluid supply line and fluid delivery line for precisely controlling the rate of fluid flow toward the delivery line. The device includes a readily adjustable flow rate control device having a novel flow control plate that can be placed in fluid communication with the fluid supply line and with the fluid delivery line. The flow control plate is provided with a plurality of elongated fluidic flow control channels that are in communication with a rate selector member that is rotatably carried by the device housing. Rotation of the rate selector member places a selected one of the flow control channels in communication with the fluid delivery line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to fluid flow rate control devices for controlling the rate of fluid flow from a fluid source to a remote location. More particularly, the invention concerns a novel, readily adjustable flow rate control device having a novel flow control plate that is positioned intermediate a fluid supply line and a fluid delivery line. The flow control plate is provided with a plurality of elongated fluidic flow control channels that are in communication with a rate selector member that is rotatably carried by the device housing. Rotation of the rate selector member places a selected one of the flow control channels in communication with the fluid delivery line and precisely controls the rate of fluid flow from the fluid source toward the remote location.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A number of in-line fluid flow controllers for use in controlling the rate of fluid flow from a fluid supply line into a fluid delivery line have been suggested in the past. These types of devices are used in a wide variety of applications where it is necessary to control the rate at which fluid flows from a fluid source to a remote delivery point via fluid supply and delivery lines.
A frequently used application of prior art fluid flow devices is to control the rate of infusion of a fluid medicament from a source of fluid medicament into the body of a patient. Examples of such prior art devices are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,095,491 issued to one of the present inventors. This patent describes a readily adjustable flow rate control device having a movable flow control member which includes a plurality of spaced-apart flow restrictors which are adapted to be selectively positioned intermediate to a fluid flow path extending between a fluid supply line and a fluid delivery line. In one form of this prior art device the flow restrictors take the form of a plurality of porous rate control frits which can be selectively moved into index with the fluid flow path.
Another prior art fluid flow control device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,968 issued to Milijasevic, et al. This patent describes various constructions of in-line fluid flow controllers which are adapted primarily for use with a conventional fluid administration set of the type used for infusion of fluid into the body of a patient. In one embodiment, the Milijasevic, et al., fluid flow controllers comprise a housing, a chamber therein and an inlet to and an outlet from the chamber. The housing is adapted to receive therewithin at least one flow restrictor having an orifice configured to control the rate of fluid flow therethrough and into the body of the patient. In an alternate embodiment, the controller is adapted with a series of fluid passageways, which are linked with a series of orifice plates held in position by a wedge.
Another somewhat similar prior art fluid flow rate control device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,698 issued to Parren. The Parren device comprises a conventional roller clamp, which is connected to a drop chamber. The drop chamber controls the size of the droplets flowing toward the roller clamp and the roller clamp controls the rate of fluid flow through the delivery line. The Parren apparatus includes a disk having a discharge opening which is selectively alignable with one or more drop tubes and includes a flexible edge or wiper means formed around the discharge opening to provide a seal between the disk and the selected drop tube to prevent fluid from seeping between the disk and the mounting plate.
A common drawback of many of the prior art flow controllers is that the controllers are often complex in construction, are difficult and costly to manufacture, are often somewhat unreliable and lack ease of adjustability to quickly and easily vary the rate of fluid through the device. The thrust of the present invention is to overcome these drawbacks by providing a compact, readily adjustable, highly precise flow rate control device which is easy to install within a fluid system, is easy to use and is particularly well-suited for use in connection with medicament dispensers for precisely dispensing medicaments to a patient in a home care environment.


The invention provides a balanced drying system, comprising an air supply and exhaust main pipeline, and at least two groups of drying units; the drying units each comprises a unit air supply fan and a drying oven, the drying units each is provided with a unit air inlet and a unit air outlet, the drying oven is provided with a drying oven air inlet and a drying oven air outlet, and all of the groups of the drying units are disposed in pairs at intervals on the air supply and exhaust main pipeline via the unit air inlet and the unit air outlet, the unit air inlet is connected with the drying oven air inlet, and the unit air outlet is connected with the drying oven air outlet. The invention has the advantages of concise and stable system, simple adjustment, low exhaust air volume, low energy consumption and the like.

Drying system is the main energy consumption unit for printing, laminating, coating, spraying and paint spraying equipments. It is also the main emission source of exhaust air. The performance of the drying system is the core parameter of performance evaluation indicators of the production equipment.
At present, the drying system of most production equipments does not have a very good automatic control function. When operating, the operating status of the drying system needs to be manually adjusted by the operators based on their practical experience. The air supply and exhaust of the drying oven are roughly adjusted by manual air valves. The adjustment of the multiple air valves also requires highly for the skill of the operator and it is difficult to timely and effectively control the air volume according to actual drying requirements. If the air exhaust is insufficient, safety accidents or product quality accidents may easily occur. For insurance purpose, the amount of air that is regulated is often much greater than the reasonable demand. Excess hot exhaust air is discharged into the air, causing energy waste and air pollution that is difficult to control.
Domestic equipment manufacturers in this field have also made some improvements to the design of the drying oven structure and internal return air utilization, which has optimized the performance of the drying system to a certain extent. However, the results are still not satisfactory, and there is still great room for improvement of the drying system in terms of energy saving and emission reduction. In addition, when products that contain organic solvent are dried, the air volume of each unit is separately and variously adjusted, resulting in different organic solvent concentration in each unit. For the sake of safety, it is necessary for the multi-unit drying system with automatic control function to be provided in each unit with VOC gas concentration monitors, leading to complex systems, poor reliability and large investment.
Traditional Drying System:
On the one hand, most of air supply of the drying oven is provided so that air is directly sucked from the production site by the unit's independent air inlet. Dust and humidity increase due to weather changes or workshop hygiene and cleaning, which will affect the production process and the quality of finished products. In some cases, centralized air supply after dust removal and humidity control (i.e., multi-unit parallel air suction) is performed, which solves the problem of cleanness and humidity fluctuations of the supplied air, but the air supply of each unit depends on adjustment of the opening of the air valve to balance the air pressure difference between various suction inlets to adjust the air flow required by each unit. In addition, for the multi-unit parallel air exhaust, it is necessary to adjust the air exhaust valve to balance the air pressure at the air outlet of each unit, so as to achieve the air exhaust demand of several drying units. However, because the air exhaust is a multi-point regulation which would have mutual influence, the air pressure difference between each point of the system is relatively large, will easily cause leakage of exhaust air of drying oven. The smaller the circulating air volume of the drying unit is, the more difficult it is to adjust the balance. Therefore, it is necessary to increase exhaust air volume to ensure reduced leakage of the drying oven. In addition, this needs only repeated manual adjustments based on hand feeling, which is tedious and difficult to cope with. Lack of experience will lead to the dilemma of poorer situation by more adjustments. Therefore, in the actual production, fine adjustment usually is not performed by production operators via valves. In order to meet requirements of most of the processes, the air volume is generally adjusted to be relatively larger. Taking the gravure printing machine as an example, the actual running air volume is often nearly 10 times that of the conservatively calculated safe air volume, which greatly increases the heating energy consumption and the fan operating power. At the same time, the increase of the exhaust air volume also increases the input and operation costs of the subsequent exhaust air treatment.
On the other hand, taking the printing machine as an example, the drying system comprises multiple units each having its own inlet and outlet, and the system has many air exhaust points. In order to ensure safe production, it is necessary to set concentration monitor at the air outlet of each unit of the entire system. This imposes higher degree of difficulty for user's operation and achievement of target detection. Usually, the user increases the amount of drying air based on experience to ensure that the solvent concentration is a safe concentration. However, the consumption energy of the drying oven becomes larger. In order to reduce energy consumption, the system is equipped with an inner-circulation air compensation line to form a structure in which a fresh air inlet and an inner-circulation air inlet are connected in parallel. When the amount of solvent used in the unit printing is large or the return air ratio is large, even if the total exhaust air volume is great, the unit exhaust air volume may still be insufficient. There may be a case where the solvent concentration in the dry air exceeds the lower safety limit, and there is a safety risk of explosion.
To sum up, the traditional drying system has the following problems: difficulty in system matching and adjustment, excessive exhaust air volume, excessive heating energy consumption, potential safety hazards, and great environmental protection cost.

VERBOCA ENERGY-SAVING TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD


A secondary heat exchanger subassembly, such as a transmission oil cooler, is disposed in a metal tank of a radiator and has a pair of metal fluid fittings. Either a connector ring engages a fitting extending through the opening in the tank or a connector nut extends into the opening to threadedly engage the fitting whereby the metal fittings are held to the metal tank and inserted into a furnace for being brazed into sealed relationship with the metal tank.

1. Field of the Invention
A heat exchanger assembly of the type including an auxiliary or secondary heat exchanger sub-assembly in one of the tanks and a method of fabricating such an assembly.
2. Description of the Related Art
The present heat exchangers, particularly automotive radiators, often consist of a composite structure including tanks of a reinforced plastic attached to an aluminum core by crimping with gasket seals between the components. One or both of the tanks, typically the outlet tank, contains auxiliary or secondary heat exchanger sub-assemblies known as transmission oil coolers (TOC) or engine oil coolers (EOC). These heat exchanger sub-assemblies are usually fastened to the inside of the tank by a threaded fitting extending through an opening in the tank with a nut threaded onto the fitting to sandwich a gasket seal and the tank between the nut and the fitting.
Recently, more attention has been focused upon creating an all aluminum heat exchanger, e.g., an entire radiator including the tanks, to provide packaging advantages and recycling advantages with smaller tank width by eliminating the header crimp area between the core and the tanks. Whenever possible it is desirable to braze the components together rather than relying upon a mechanically held sealing connection between the components.

Method of attaching a transmission oil cooler to an aluminum tank


An integrated circuit die element comprises one or more field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) elements; a reconfigurable dual function memory array, the reconfigurable dual function memory array including a plurality of reconfigurable memory array blocks, each reconfigurable memory array block being capable of configuration and reconfiguration as a storage memory array block or as a control logic array block for controlling at least a portion of the one or more FPGA elements; and a control logic circuit functioning to configure each reconfigurable memory array block as the respective memory array block or as the respective logic array block for controlling the one or more FPGA elements.

One solution to address increasing processing demands involves moving memory closer to the processor. Another solution uses 3D stacked memories and logic for data-intensive architecture to improve bandwidth, power consumption and density. Leveraging heterogeneous 3D integration of memory and bottom logic layer (FPGA/PLD), which connects to the host's I/O ports, moves part of the computation to where the data resides, which can provide improved processing-in-memory (PIM) performance. PIM may reduce data movement, thereby resulting in reduced memory access time and energy consumption. See U.S. Pat. No. 7,126,214.
Conventional FPGAs/PLDs offer fixed memory size. Yet, specific applications may have different memory and/or logic requirements. For example, one application may require more memory than another. When an application requires more memory, conventional systems use external memory. Using external memory slows system performance and consumes excess energy. Other solutions would be helpful.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for reconfiguring dual function cell arrays


A silicon nitride film and a silicon oxide film are formed on a glass substrate. On the silicon oxide film is formed a thin film transistor T including a source region, a drain region, a channel region having a predetermined channel length, a first GOLD region having an impurity concentration lower than the impurity concentration of the source region, a second GOLD region having an impurity concentration lower than the impurity concentration of the drain region, a gate insulation film, and a gate electrode. The length of an overlapping portion in plane between the gate electrode and the second GOLD region in the direction of the channel length is set longer than the length in the direction of the channel region of an overlapping portion in plane between the gate electrode and the first GOLD region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device applied to display devices such as a liquid crystal display device and organic EL (Electro Luminescence) display device.
2. Description of the Background Art
A thin film transistor is used in a display device. As an example of such a thin film transistor, an n type thin film transistor of an LDD (Lightly Doped Drain) structure disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2001-345448 will be described hereinafter.
An n type thin film transistor of an LDD structure has a source region, a drain region, a channel region, an LDD region, a gate insulation film, a gate electrode, and the like formed on a glass substrate. In the n type thin film transistor, a voltage higher than that applied to the gate is applied to the drain to produce a relatively large electric field at the junction region of the drain side.
Electrons accelerated by the electric field induce impact ionization, whereby a pair of an electron and hole is generated. Impact ionization is repeated to induce more pairs of electrons and holes, whereby the drain current is increased to result in avalanche breakdown. The drain voltage thereof becomes the source-drain breakdown voltage.
In a thin film transistor of the LDD structure, an LDD region is formed at a region between the channel region and the source region, and at a region between the channel region and the drain region. The impurity concentration of the LDD region is set higher than that of the channel region and set lower than that of the source region and drain region. By alleviating the electric field in the proximity of the drain region through the LDD region, impact ionization is suppressed, whereby the source-drain breakdown voltage can be improved.
A thin film transistor of an LDD structure had the problem that the ON current of the thin film transistor is low since the resistance of the LDD region functions as parasitic resistance.
To solve this problem, a thin film transistor of a GOLD (Gate Overlapped Lightly Doped Drain) structure is proposed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-076351. An n type thin film transistor of a GOLD structure has a source region, a drain region, a channel region, a GOLD region, a gate insulation film, a gate electrode, and the like formed on a glass substrate.
The GOLD region is formed at a region between the channel region and the source region, and a region between the channel region and the drain region, particularly at a region located right under the gate electrode. The GOLD region is formed overlapping with the gate electrode in plane. Since the GOLD region is located right under the gate with a relatively low impurity concentration, a relatively high ON current can be obtained. Furthermore, relatively favorable source-drain breakdown voltage can be ensured.
However, the resistance of the GOLD region in a thin film transistor of a GOLD structure similarly becomes a factor of parasitic resistance.

Fabrication method of a semiconductor device


In an AC-driven gas discharge display device and especially a plasma tube array type, a return path is provided for alternate discharge current flowing between X and Y driver circuits. The AC-driven gas discharge display device comprises a front-side, transparent substrate and a rear-side substrate sandwiching therebetween a plurality of thin discharge tubes arranged side by side; a plurality of pairs of display electrodes on an inner surface of the front-side substrate; and a plurality of address electrodes, in a direction transverse to the plurality of display electrodes, the rear-side substrate on an inner surface. Striped light-blocking, electrically conductive films are disposed on an outer surface of the front-side substrate at locations between respective ones of the pairs of display electrodes and coupled at their opposite ends to respective points of a common reference potential in the X- and Y-electrode driver circuits, respectively, to provide a return path for alternate discharge current.

A plasma display panel (PDP) is well-known as an AC-driven gas discharge display device, which includes a discharge gas sealed between a pair of glass substrates, and uses a pulsating discharge between dielectric-layer coated electrodes to excite three-primary color phosphors, to thereby provide full-color display. With this panel structure, however, the size of a display screen is restricted by the size of the glass substrates used.
A plasma tube array type AC gas discharge display device has been proposed, which includes an array of a required number of thin discharge tubes having a diameter of 1 mm or less. The screen can have a size determined freely by adjusting the number of the thin discharge tubes used, and, in addition, can have flexibility as a Venetian blind. Accordingly, the display device of this type is expected to be useable to realize what is called a wall display.
An example of prior AC gas discharge display devices of such plasma tube array type is described in JP 2003-338245 A. This gas discharge display device includes a large number of thin discharge tubes arranged side by side and sandwiched between a pair of electrode supporting substrates. The electrode supporting substrate on a display screen side is provided with multifunctional filter means, which improve definition of the display tube.

AC-driven gas discharge display device having plural thin discharge tubes, plural pairs of display electrodes transverse to the thin display tubes and plural signal electrodes transverse to the display electrodes with light-blocking, electrically conductive films between respective pairs of display electrodes


An application specific field emission display includes one or more extended emitters. The emitters are patterned according to a selected image where the selected image depends upon the application. In one embodiment, an emitter is patterned in a serpentine pattern to provide a single block of illumination. In another application, emitters are grouped in threes and the emitters are driven respectively by the red, green, and blue components of an image signal to produce a multicolor display. In a display assembly according to the invention, application specific emitters are incorporated in subdisplays on a common substrate with a conventional matrix addressable array. The array provides video, graphical or textual information and the subdisplays provide textual, fixed-shaped graphical, numerical or colorized information.

Flat panel displays are widely used in a variety of applications, including computer displays. One suitable flat panel display is a field emission display. Field emission displays typically include a generally planar emitter panel beneath a display screen. The emitter panel is a substrate having an array of surface discontinuities projecting from an upper surface. Conventionally, the surface discontinuities are conical projections, or "emitters" integral to the substrate. Contiguous groups of emitters are then grouped into emitter sets where the bases of the emitters in the emitter sets are commonly connected.
Typically, the emitter sets are arranged in an array of rows and columns, and a conductive extraction grid is positioned above the emitters. All, or a portion, of the extraction grid is driven with a voltage of about 30-120 V. The emitter sets are then selectively activated by applying a voltage to the emitter sets. The voltage difference between the emitter sets and the extraction grid produces an electric field extending from the extraction grid to the emitters. In response to the electric field, the emitter sets emit electrons.
The display screen is mounted directly above the extraction grid and is coated with a transparent conductive material to form an anode biased to about 1-2 kV. The anode attracts the emitted electrons, causing the electrons to pass through the extraction grid. A cathodoluminescent layer covers the anode and faces the extraction grid to intercept the electrons as they travel toward the 1-2 kV potential of the anode. The electrons strike the cathodoluminescent layer, causing the cathodoluminescent layer to emit light at the impact site. The emitted light then passes through the anode and display screen where it is visible to a viewer. The light emitted from each of the areas thus becomes all or part of a picture element or "pixel."
The brightness of the light produced in response to the emitted electrons depends, in part, upon the rate at which electrons strike the cathodoluminescent layer, which in turn depends upon the available current providing electrons to the emitter sets. The light intensity of each pixel is controlled by controlling the current available to the corresponding emitter set. To allow individual control of each of the pixels, each emitter set is selectively controlled by a row signal and column signal through corresponding drive circuitry. To create an image, the control circuitry separately establishes current to each of the emitter sets. Because a typical display includes several thousand pixels, the control circuitry must be able to separately address each of the emitter sets. Consequently, such field emission displays typically require relatively complex control circuitry and tightly controlled signal timing.
A further drawback of conventional field emission displays is that electrons are emitted from the points of the conical emitters which have very small cross-sectional areas. If electrons are extracted too quickly from the emitters, the resulting high current density within the emitters could damage the emitters. Thus, the rate at which electrons can be emitted must be limited, thereby limiting brightness of the pixels.
To try to overcome the problem of low current capability and to increase reproducibility, Kanemaru et al. demonstrated a segmented vertical-wedge emitter panel in Kanemaru, Ochiai, and Itoh, "Fabrication of a New Vertical Wedge Silicon Field Emitter Array," Revue: Le Vide, les Couches Minces, Suppl. No. 271, March-April 1994 (International Vacuum Manufacturing Conference 1994), which is incorporated herein by reference. Kanemaru et al. proposed an array of short, wedge-shaped emitters arranged in rows and columns. The wedge-shaped emitters act as substitutes for conical emitters and would presumably require similarly complex control circuitry.

Application specific field emission display including extended emitters


A processor uses a special instruction set to enhance exception handling, such as interrupt handling. The processor uses a pipeline comprising five separate stages of fetch, decode, execute, memory access and register write. For each operation executed by the processor, the operation has an operation initiation instruction and an operation result fetch instruction, each of which has multiple stages. The operation result fetch instruction awaits the completion of the operation initiation instruction. While waiting, the operation result fetch instruction is suspended, preferably before any hardware resource is changed, and if necessary canceled to accommodate an exception handling signal. Since the hardware resource is changed at the "execute" stage of the operation, the operation result fetch instruction is suspended at the "decode" stage. Upon receiving the exception handling signal, the operation result fetch instruction may be canceled and the processor is free to process the exception handling. After completion of the exception handling, the operation result fetch instruction is re-executed from the beginning.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an operation execution method and an apparatus employing the operation execution method. This invention has possible applications in pipelined microprocessors, for example.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A single-chip RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) is a device for simultaneously realizing high processing performance, low power consumption, and a small mounting area, primarily in specific applications. Recently, a dedicated arithmetic logic circuit has often been provided in this type of microprocessor to further enhance the arithmetic performance.
One example of this type of microprocessor is the V851 produced by NEC, Ltd. According to NEC Technology Report (Vol. 48, No. 3/1995, pages 42-47), the V851 adopts a pipelined RISC architecture that includes, in addition to an ordinary ALU, a hardware multiplier unit called an MULU for high speed execution of multiplication instructions. A multiplication operation is executed by this multiplier unit in one or two clock cycles.
FIG. 1 shows a state of the pipeline processing by the V851. The figure shows a state where instruction 1 is completed in one clock cycle using the MULU, and subsequent instruction 2 is pipeline processed one clock cycle later. A process corresponding to each clock cycle in the figure is called a stage, and the execution of one instruction is completed after passing through five stages. In the V851, the five stages are called IF, ID, EX, MEM, and WB, where each stage respectively signifies instruction fetch, instruction decode (and register read), operation execution (and memory address generation), memory access (multiplication result fetch), and write back of data for a register file.
In designing a pipelined microprocessor, several different design approaches are available regarding the acceptance of exception processing, such as interrupts. In particular, when providing a dedicated execution circuit such as an arithmetic logic circuit, a design suited for the circuit's characteristics becomes necessary. The major control methods when requests for operation execution and exception processing are generated simultaneously are given below.
(1) Have the exception processing wait
Once the operation has been initiated, the exception processing is made to wait until the execution of the operation completes, and the exception processing is performed after the completion of the operation.
(2) Suspend the operation
The operation is suspended so as to give priority to the exception processing, and the intermediate result of the operation is canceled. After completion of the exception processing, the operation is again performed from the beginning.
(3) Interrupt the operation
The operation is temporarily interrupted, and the intermediate result of the operation is saved. After completion of the exception processing, the saved data is read back and the operation is resumed from the point of interruption.
Among these methods, (1) is the simplest in terms of design and has light hardware requirements, although there is a risk of an urgent exception processing being made to wait for a long period of time, thereby creating a problem in the system. Although method (2) does not have this problem, operations are again executed from the beginning, thereby creating a problem in processing performance. Method (3) does not have these problems, although hardware requirements for implementation increase. For example, in the aforementioned V851, method (1) may be considered practical if an operation requires only a maximum of two clock cycles. However, method (2) or (3) would be the only choices if an execution circuit is provided for floating point arithmetic to handle multi-bit data, for example.

Processor using special instruction set to enhance exception handling


An apparatus for wirelessly charging a battery of an electric vehicle is provided with a point of load control. The apparatus includes a base unit for generating a direct current (DC) voltage. The base unit is regulated by a power level controller. One or more point of load converters can be connected to the base unit by a conductor, with each point of load converter comprising a control signal generator that transmits a signal to the power level controller. The output power level of the DC voltage provided by the base unit is controlled by power level controller such that the power level is sufficient to power all active load converters when commanded to do so by any of the active controllers, without generating excessive power that may be otherwise wasted.

Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEV) utilize a battery to store energy and power an electric motor to provide propulsion. When the battery becomes depleted, a PEV must be recharged for a period of time. Recharging may be performed by plugging the vehicle into an outlet or wirelessly with a primary and secondary coil. Wireless power transfer (WPT) charging has the benefit of being effortless and is the only option for in-motion vehicle charging. Vehicles may include commercial or personal passenger vehicles, unmanned vehicles, carts, and material moving vehicles such as fork lifts, mail delivery vehicles, etc.
FIG. 1A shows an exemplary wireless power transfer apparatus at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. FIG. 1B shows percentage WPT power as a function of percentage coil overlap between the primary coil and the secondary coil. FIG. 1C shows WPT reactive power flow as a function of coil position. At the primary pitch of 70%, the coupled power varies from 100% at complete alignment to 50% during overlap. This is for a fountain field pattern from the two primary coils. If the primary coil phase is reversed in one of the two a flat field results and the power dip goes to 0% for a long dwell of the secondary coil.
The Oak Ridge National Laboratory WPT test apparatus shown in FIG. 1A has demonstrated that this same sensitivity of throughput power, relative to position, applies to the secondary to primary coil alignment during stationary charging as well as to the in-motion case. The coupling coefficient k is strongly dependent on coil diameter and spacing. For example, a pair of 0.35 m radius coils having a separation distance z=150 mm, which is typical of passenger vehicle application, will have a coupling coefficient k=0.27. Note that a high value of k will lead to good power throughput of the WPT system.
Another aspect of the WPT efficiency challenge is coupling coil conductor type and design. In the present examples, the coils are fabricated out of Litz cable. This multi-strand configuration or Litz construction is designed to minimize the power losses exhibited in solid conductors due to skin-effect. Skin effect refers to the tendency of current flow in a conductor to be confined to a layer in the conductor close to its outer surface. At low frequencies, skin effect is negligible, and current is distributed uniformly across the conductor. However, as the frequency increases, the depth to which the flow can penetrate is reduced. Litz wires counteract this effect by increasing the amount of surface area without significantly increasing the size of the conductor.
The primary coil may have a larger gauge Litz cable with fewer turns than the secondary coil. The reason is that primary current is high due to the relatively low k values in WPT systems while the secondary coil current is lower and more turns are necessary to deliver the high voltages needed for Plug-in Electric Vehicles (PEV's). A typical PEV battery pack voltage may range from 288V to over 400V with a nominal of 325 V. For WPT secondary coils interfaced to commercially available on-board-chargers the secondary voltage will need to be in the range of 390 Vdc to 410 Vdc with good regulation.
Laboratory testing shows that the Litz cable wound coils have a significantly lower alternating current (AC) resistance than copper tube and flat copper ribbon coil designs. Winding design is 14 AWG Litz cable, 5-in hand, 7 turns, distributed coil having Rdc=18.7 mOhm. The new distributed wound coil resistance at 25 kHz is 1.8 times its direct current (DC) resistance versus the copper tubing and copper ribbon cables that exhibit 4.6 times their DC resistance at 25 kHz. Characterization results obtained for an exemplary Litz cable core are shown in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1Inductance and Resistance of an exemplary Litz coil as a function offrequency.Test frequency (kHz)202530Inductance (μH)35.4636.136.28Resistance (mOhm)31.534.636.1
The Litz cable ac resistance follows the square root of frequency that is characteristic of the skin depth for copper. The analytical curve fit to the laboratory test data over a frequency range of 15 kHz to 30 kHz in FIG. 2 is given by equation (1), where Rdc is the material resistance at 20° C., a0 and b0 are appropriate constants and f0 is a selected base frequency approximately 40% of the maximum frequency range of interest.
                              R                      a                                                                          c                          =                              R                          d                                                                                c                                                      (                          1              +                                                                    a                    0                                                                          (                                          f                                              f                        0                                                              )                                                                    b                  0                                                      )                                              (        1        )
For the graph in FIG. 2, the coefficient on the frequency term, a0=0.8 when f0=25 kHz. When non-ferrous or ferrous metal is near Litz cable the parameter a0 change is substantial leading to much higher AC resistance. This raises a concern that a cable connecting the Wireless Power Transfer Base Converter (WPTB) to a primary coil on a residential garage floor for example would have wire mesh or rebar in the concrete below, which may lead to high losses and lower performance than tolerable. This was but one motivation for the innovations provided in this disclosure.
A second motivating factor is the necessity for multiple space charging, for example the parking ramp scenario, where multiple vehicles can be charging, each at a separate power level from the others due to current state of charge, but all connected to the utility at a point of common connection.
Commercially available WPT chargers are being evaluated at various industrial sites, including by the automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEM's) and others. Some performance testing has started at Argonne National Laboratory using PEV's with a WPT. Results from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Level 2 charger (3.3 kW) show 85% efficiency from grid connection to vehicle battery. This efficiency lies in the need to drive several meters of Litz cable between the grid-tied high frequency power converter and the primary coil or pad.
Additionally, loss is incurred in the primary coil itself due to skin and proximity effects. For a single WPT charging station, such as single space residential garage, the benefits of this disclosure will mainly be in the realization of higher efficiency. However, the real benefits accrue when multiple charging spaces are demanded from a common grid-tied power stage and dc distribution to dedicated point of load HF power converters and compensating capacitors built integral to the primary coil.
The disclosed method of the present disclosure also solves the coil sequencing problem facing dynamic in-motion WPT charging. With the Point of Load (POL) concept, single or pair-wise excitation of embedded roadway coils can be energized only as the WPT equipped vehicle moves above them. The vehicle secondary coil (can also be pair of coils for better pick-up) then intercepts the energized coil(s) magnetic field producing non-contacting power transfer to the vehicle in the manner shown in FIGS. 1B and 1C. The details of both stationary and dynamic POL charging are discussed in the Detailed Description of the Invention section below.

Wireless power charging using point of load controlled high frequency power converters


This disclosure relates to the field of electrochemistry, and in particular, to a positive electrode material. The positive electrode material of this disclosure includes a substrate, with a formula of the substrate being LixNiyCozMkMepOrAm, where 0.95≤x≤1.05, 0.50≤y≤0.95, 0≤z≤0.2, 0≤k≤0.4, 0≤p≤0.05, 1≤r≤2, 0≤m≤2, m+r≤2; a coating layer is disposed on the subs hate, where the coating layer includes a coating element; and absorbance of nickel leachate per unit mass of the positive electrode material w≤0.7.

With escalation of energy crisis and environmental issues, development of new-type green energy sources becomes extremely urgent. Lithium-ion batteries have been applied to various fields due to their advantages of a high specific energy, application at a wide range of temperatures, a low self-discharge rate, a long cycle life, good safety performance, and no pollution. Lithium-ion batteries acting as a vehicle energy system to replace conventional diesel locomotives have been gradually put into trial around the world. However, lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) and low nickel ternary (LiNi1/3Co1/3Mn1/3O2) commonly used at present are limited by the material nature itself and cannot fully meet energy density requirements of traction batteries on the positive electrode material of lithium-ion batteries. Increasing nickel content of a high nickel ternary positive electrode material can improve the energy density of batteries. Therefore, high-nickel ternary positive electrode materials are one of main objects of research on traction batteries. However, the increased nickel content obviously aggravates direct side reactions between the positive electrode active material and an electrolytic solution, and greatly deteriorates high temperature gas generation performance, which is one of bottlenecks for commercial mass production of batteries.
Currently in terms of material, main methods for improving high temperature gas generation performance all cause different degrees of damage to performance of battery cells, for example, reversible capacity per gram of the active material decreases, and cycle performance deteriorates.

Ternary positive electrode material with low gas generation and high capacity

CONTEMPORARY AMPEREX TECHNOLOGY CO., LIMITED


A two-filter based method of detecting and tracking a target that can track an unknown and time-varying number of targets, while keeping continuous track, even in scenarios with large number of false contacts or missing measurements, is provided. More specifically, a first filter provides target detection, a second filter provides target tracking of the detected targets, and a clustering technique that operates after the first filter. The first filter starts with a uniform distribution over the surveillance area and resets periodically after the clustering technique is run. When the clustering technique runs, it detects the clusters corresponding to the different targets and passes them to the second filter that tracks these targets.

Current systems for tracking moving targets are advancing from being totally dependent on a human operator to identify and follow the targets, to being automated aids that can identify and track the targets, with a final goal of being fully automated. These target tracking systems may rely, for example, on the use of sonar or radar.
In general, current target tracking systems can be categorized as either: passive systems or active systems. Passive systems may utilize passive receivers to acquire signals emitted from possible targets. Active systems may utilize one or more transmitters to produce a signal (described as a "ping") and one or multiple receivers to listen for reflections of the signal/ping from possible targets. If the transmitter and receiver are co-located the system is described as monostatic. If the transmitter and receiver are not co-located, the system is described as bistatic. When multiple transmitters or receivers are used, the system is described as multistatic.
Some examples of known techniques used for multi-target tracking are: (i) Maximum Likelihood (ML) probabilistic Data Association (PDA) (MLPDA); (ii) Multiple Hypothesis Tracking (MHT) and its variants such as, for example, Probabilistic MHT (PMHT), Maximum Likelihood PMHT, Distributed MHT; (iii) Probability Hypothesis Density (PHD) tracking and its variants such as, for example, Gaussian Mixture Cardinalized PHD; (iv) Particle Filtering (PF) and its variants.
Excluding the PF-based techniques, each of the foregoing techniques rely upon a linear Gaussian assumption and are thus not optimal for multiple target tracking applications or circumstances that do not follow these assumptions. PF-based techniques, on the other hand, are capable of dealing with nonlinear/non-Gaussian assumptions, making them more suitable for dealing with arbitrary sensor characteristics, motion dynamics and noise distributions. However, the known PF-based techniques also suffer from certain shortcomings regarding the problem of multiple target tracking. For instance, in some currently available systems, PF-based techniques are limited to only being capable of tracking a single target at a time (i.e. not multiple targets). The technique may be augmented to other techniques to allow for multiple-target tracking, such as, for example, by utilizing hierarchical data fusion systems, in which the sensor-level tracking may be performed using PF, and the central-level track fusion may be performed using a technique relying on a Gaussian model. Despite having improved performance at the sensor level, however, such adapted systems can still suffer from loss of performance if the sensor level tracks are fused using a Gaussian model. In order to avoid this, the overall technique should not need to rely, in any way, upon linear or Gaussian assumptions. Thus, the technique should rely on PF-based methods only.
As mentioned earlier the basic PF-based techniques can track only one target. One result of the foregoing limitations is that, where the PF-based technique is utilized to track multiple targets, the sample set of particles will tend to only track or follow one target over time, which will likely be the target that has the most persistent and/or consecutive measurements. Several attempts to overcome this have been made, including, for example, modifying the PF-based system.
For instance, some PF-based techniques have been modified to track a constant, previously-determined number of targets by augmenting the state vector used by the PF to include all the states for the known number of targets, while other techniques account for a previously unknown number of targets by estimating the number of targets and making the overall state vector size variable. Notwithstanding that the former approach is highly impractical in real life scenarios, neither approach has the capacity to tackle the initialization of new targets entering the surveillance area later in the scenario based on the observation sets.
Another approach of modifying known PF-based techniques has been to adapt the PF-based techniques to choose a large number of targets to constitute the state vector and to provide indicators of the targets that are considered to be "alive" (i.e. actual tracked targets). This approach is computationally expensive, however, because of the very large state vector.
Other approaches have modified the PF-based techniques to render them capable of tracking a random number of actual targets having a very small upper bound for the number targets tracked, however this approach is limited in its ability to cope with applications having a number of targets larger than the upper bound.
Finally, another approach of modifying known PF-based techniques is to render the technique capable of tracking an unknown number of targets by applying a separate filter (i.e. an additional PF) for each detected target. This solution is computationally expensive, and may not be feasible for performing online tracking.
There is therefore a need for a method of dealing with nonlinear/non-Gaussian systems (i.e. can deal with arbitrary sensor characteristics, motion dynamics, and noise distributions) that can be used for tracking an unknown and time-varying number of targets, without constraint on the number of targets tracked nor on the time of their appearance in the surveillance area. Such a method may be utilized in circumstances, such as for example:                having a high number of false contacts (i.e. high number of false measurements that are not related to a reflection from an actual target but rather to, for example, noise reaching the receiver);        having multiple reflections reaching the receivers, among which the true target reflections might be buried (such scenarios can arise, for example, in active multistatic systems); or        having high possibilities of temporarily missing the true target contacts while still being able to keep continuous target tracks (such scenarios can arise, for example, in passive systems).

Two-stage filtering based method for multiple target tracking


Novel thiazole aniline compounds, pharmaceutical compositions, methods of making them and uses thereof in treating M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor mediated diseases are disclosed.

Acetylcholine released from cholinergic neurons in the peripheral and central nervous systems affects many different biological processes through interaction with two major classes of acetylcholine receptors—the nicotinic and the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) belong to the superfamily of G-protein coupled receptors that have seven transmembrane domains. There are five subtypes of mAChRs, termed M1–M5, and each is the product of a distinct gene. Each of these five subtypes displays unique pharmacological properties. Muscarinic acetylcholine receptors are widely distributed in vertebrate organs, and these receptors can mediate both inhibitory and excitatory actions. For example, in smooth muscle found in the airways, bladder and gastrointestinal tract, M3 mAChRs mediate contractile responses. (1) 1989. The Muscarinic Receptors. The Humana Press, Inc., Clifton, N.J.
Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor dysfunction has been noted in a variety of different pathophysiological states. For instance, in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), inflammatory conditions lead to loss of inhibitory M2 muscarinic acetylcholine autoreceptor function on parasympathetic nerves supplying the pulmonary smooth muscle, causing increased acetylcholine release following vagal nerve stimulation. This mAChR dysfunction results in airway hyperreactivity mediated by increased stimulation of M3 mAChRs. Similarly, inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) results in M3 mAChR-mediated hypermotility (3) Oprins, J. C. J., H P. Meijer, and J. A. Groot. 2000. Tumor Necrosis Factor-{alpha} Potentiates Ion Secretion Induced by Muscarinic Receptor Activation in the Human Intestinal Epithelial Cell Line HT29cl.19A. Ann NY Acad Sci 915:102–106. Incontinence due to bladder hypercontractility has also been demonstrated to be mediated through increased stimulation of M3 mAChRs. Thus the identification of subtytpe-selective mAChR antagonists may be useful as therapeutics in these mAChR-mediated diseases.
Despite the large body of evidence supporting the use of anti-muscarinic receptor therapy for treatment of a variety of disease states, relatively few anti-muscarinic compounds are in use in the clinic. Thus, there remains a need for novel compounds that are capable of causing blockade at M3 mAChRs. Conditions associated with an increase in stimulation of M3 mAChRs, such as asthma, COPD, IBD and urinary incontinence would benefit by compounds that are inhibitors of mAChR binding.


A backlight module includes a light source, a light guide disposed on one side of the light source, a reflector disposed under the light guide, a lower diffuser disposed on the light guide, and a brightness enhancement film, which is disposed on the lower diffuser and includes a main part and several prism structures disposed side by side on a main part plane of the main part. Each prism structure includes first to third triangular prisms. The second triangular prism is adjacent to one side of the first triangular prism, and an adjacent angle adjacent to a base angle of the first triangular prism is a right angle. The third triangular prism is adjacent to another side of the first triangular prism, and an adjacent angle adjacent to another base angle of the first triangular prism is a right angle.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a backlight module and a brightness enhancement film thereof, and more particularly to a brightness enhancement film of a prism structure capable of avoiding the light-leakage to be generated at a large viewing angle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A brightness enhancement film is disposed on a backlight module of a liquid crystal display (LCD) to enhance the light-emitting efficiency. FIG. 1A is a pictorial view showing a conventional brightness enhancement film. Referring to FIG. 1A, a brightness enhancement film 110 includes a main part 120 and several prism structures 130. The prism structures 130 are isosceles right triangular pillars and are repeatedly formed on the main part 120 and arranged in a straight line. FIG. 1B is a graph showing the relationship between the viewing angle and the brightness of the brightness enhancement film of FIG. 1A, wherein the transverse coordinate represents the light outputting angle after the light passes through the conventional brightness enhancement film, and the longitudinal coordinate represents the brightness of light. The thick line in the drawing represents the relationship curve of the viewing angle verse the brightness of the conventional brightness enhancement film in the vertical direction, while the thin line represents the relationship curve of the viewing angle verse the brightness of the conventional brightness enhancement film in the horizontal direction. As shown in FIG. 1B, the light passing through the conventional brightness enhancement film is mostly outputted at the small viewing angle (0° to 45°), so the film has a light gathering effect.
However, a small part of the light encounters the light-leakage phenomenon at a large viewing angle. That is, in FIG. 1B, a part of the light along the horizontal direction is outputted within the range of the viewing angle from 60° to 75°, such that the curve has a local peak value within the range. Because the light emitting region of the large viewing angle (60° to 90°) is a non-effective region, the conventional brightness enhancement film causes the light-leakage in this region, thereby wasting the energy.
There are many technologies relating to the prism structure of the brightness enhancement film being developed. For example, the following methods can achieve the object of enhancing the light-emitting efficiency according to specific technological features.
A brightness enhancement film having several pairs of prism structures is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,917,664. In each pair of prism structures, two prism angles or two valley angles are the same. This prism structure makes the relationship curve between view angle and brightness partly distribute at a viewing angle smaller than 40°. In addition, when the angle increases, the decreasing trend of the curve is gentler. However, this patent cannot solve the problem of light-leakage at a viewing angle greater than 60° after the light passes through the brightness enhancement film.
An optical film having repeated prism structures is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,707,611 B2. The optical film can eliminate the problem of luminance non-uniformity. However, this patent also cannot solve the problem of light-leakage at a large viewing angle after the light passes through the optical film.
A brightness enhancement film is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,063 B1. The brightness enhance film includes an upper surface having a specific ratio of an arced prism angle and a lower surface having protrusions for scattering the light. This brightness enhancement film can provide a wider viewing angle in each of the horizontal and vertical directions, and can enhance the light brightness.
Although the above-mentioned prior arts can enhance the light-emitting efficiency, the problem of light-leakage at the viewing angle from 60° to 90° after the light passes through the brightness enhancement film still cannot be solved, and the energy is wasted accordingly.

Backlight module and brightness enhancement film thereof


An assembly including inner and outer overlapping annular elements with interengaging threads. An axial abutment between the two elements is spaced from the threaded section to permit a structural and fluid seal at the joint. Pilot joints are provided to stabilize the joint and provide additional sealing.

The present application relates generally to disconnectable threaded joints for interconnecting two components. More particularly, one form of the present application relates to a threaded joint for coupling together gas turbine engine casings. Although the present application was developed for application in gas turbine engines, certain applications may exist in other fields.
Gas turbine engines usually include a number of cylindrical components joined together to define a housing. Within the housing, there is generally a flow of working fluid. Gas turbine engine designers have strived to secure the components of the housing in a way that maintains structural and pressure integrity while at the same time facilitating assembly and disassembly for inspection and/or repair of components.
A conventional system for connecting cylindrical gas turbine engine housing components has been to incorporate circumferential and abutting flanges which are secured to one another by clamps or fasteners extending through aligned openings in the abutting flanges. One limitation of this approach has been that the prior system complexity adds to the cost and potential unreliability of the joint. Further, the flanged, bolted joint and/or clamped joint may lead to an increase in the overall envelope for the engine.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for an effective disconnectable joint for gas turbine engine components.

Threaded joint for gas turbine components


A method and apparatus for utilizing the sound and pattern recognition capabilities of the human auditory system, which takes information contained in typical instrumentation signals in the form of amplitude, frequency, and time characteristics, and converts this information into sound qualities and characteristics which are recognizable by the human listener. The method and apparatus digitizes the analog amplitude, frequency, and time information, and selects appropriate sound characteristics into which it may encode this information in standardized form that is recognizable to the human listener. The method allows for the testing or inspection of materials using nondestructive evaluation techniques in a manner that allows the tester to interpret the information provided by the testing system, either exclusively through his auditory senses, or through his auditory senses in conjunction with visual indicators.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices and methods for perceiving quantitative and qualitative information. This invention relates more specifically to audible methods and techniques for perceiving information provided by instrumentation used in the nondestructive evaluation of materials.
2. Description of Related Art
Nondestructive evaluation (NDE) technologies such as ultrasonics, acoustic emission, electromagnetics, radiography, and others, all generally rely on some form of visual presentation of the inspection information to allow for the human interpretation of the data. It is usually up to the test operator to rapidly view and translate the graphic information presented to him in order to acquire an understanding of the physical characteristics of the material under test and to properly control the progression of the analysis.
One of the most common NDE technologies is the utilization of ultrasonic signals for the detection of cracks and other irregularities in materials. The information provided by ultrasonic NDE methods is typically in the form of a visual display on a cathode ray tube or on a computer video display screen. The operator of such a system must interpret the visual displays of frequencies, amplitudes, and time in a manner that allows him to locate, and to some extent describe, the characteristics of the cracks or other irregularities found within the material under test.
In ultrasonic NDE, the material being tested may be scanned by a test operator with transducers that receive and/or transmit an ultrasonic signal. The receivers may be coincidentally located with the transmitter or may be separate elements on the same or an adjacent surface. The operator, therefore, must correlate what he sees on a display with the location of the transducers at any particular instant, and with the expected propagation paths of the signal in the material. Subtle variations in the display and the rapidity with which the display changes often prevent the operator/technician from visually interpreting all of the information being provided.
Ultrasonic evaluation is one of the more frequently utilized NDE technologies, and is representative of the NDE technologies to which the present invention may apply. Ultrasonic methods are widely used to detect and determine the depth or size of cracks and other flaws within otherwise homogenous materials. One ultrasonic crack sizing method, called the Tip Diffraction method, relies on the detection of two time separated signals. A schematic diagram of a typical application of the Tip Diffraction method is seen in FIG. 2. A visual display of the reflected and diffracted signals received from such a crack is shown in FIG. 3. Normally a strong reflected signal is received from the base of the crack and a smaller diffracted signal is created by the tip of the crack. The time difference between the occurrences of these two signals is directly related to the depth of the crack by common physical and trigonometric relations. An inspector can visually use this nondestructive inspection information to detect and size a crack by observing the signal information received and presented in a traditional NDE manner.
Another common use of ultrasonic technology is the determination of material wall thicknesses where an inspector does not have access to both sides of the wall, as in pipelines, aircraft structures, or power plant components. An ultrasonic pulse may be directed through the thickness dimension of the material, and be reflected back by the opposite wall to be received by the transducer. A typical signal representation which shows signals for three different thicknesses is depicted in FIG. 5. FIG. 4 schematically shows the configuration of an apparatus suitable for this method of determining wall thicknesses. The thickness of the material directly related to the ultrasonic signal's transit time through the material, and the velocity of sound in the material. This technique is also useful for (but is not limited to) detecting internal flaws such as material inclusions, delaminations, cracks, porosity, etc.
Whereas much emphasis in the NDE field has been placed on creating various means for extracting information from materials, very little emphasis has been placed on creating suitable methods for test operators to rapidly and easily interpret the information provided by these high tech means. Most of the existing ultrasonic and other NDE technologies rely almost exclusively on the presentation of the information in graphic form. The greatest extent to which the utilization of the human auditory system is involved has been to incorporate audible alarm systems that may be triggered when some material characteristic is detected that is out of a predetermined set of bounds. Beyond utilizing alarms for detection purposes, there is very little, if any, application of the human auditory system to the analysis of the characteristics presented in the information gathered using NDE technologies.
In general, NDE technologies rely on the utilization of non-destructive acoustic and electromagnetic waves and fields to remotely sense and describe physical properties of materials without altering their functional or structural integrity. Though disparate in nature, both acoustic and electromagnetic waves and fields have common describable parameters that can be easily translated into corresponding parameters for an electrical signal. The process of converting the sound waves and electromagnetic waves and fields into electrical signals whose amplitudes, frequencies, and time characteristics are directly related to the amplitudes, frequencies and time characteristics associated with the sound waves and electromagnetic waves is quite common. This is the aspect of NDE technology that has received the most attention since its development. Very little progress has been made, however, in taking these electrical signals generated by NDE transducers and/or sensors, and converting them into a form, other than visual, that can be readily interpreted by a human test operator.
It is not uncommon to view a human individual's most valuable sensory device as the human optical system. This is perhaps why most NDE information is provided to a test operator in graphic form, because of the assumption that the human optical system will be the best means for assessing and interpreting the NDE information. overlooked in the NDE field, and perhaps lesser understood, is the ability of the human auditory system to receive and interpret information. While much progress has been made in the NDE field to gather evermore detailed information about the characteristics of a material, not enough attention has been focused on the development of a systematic approach to allow the NDE test operator to interpret that information with his additional physical senses. It is this latter focus that forms the basis of the present invention.

Audible techniques for the perception of nondestructive evaluation information


A laser-engravable composition comprises one or more EPDM elastomeric rubbers, at least one of which comprises at least 8 weight % polyene recurring units. This laser-engravable composition of elastomeric rubbers can be quickly crosslinked using sulfur-containing vulcanizing compositions to provide laser-engravable compositions and layers in flexographic printing plate precursors. These precursors can be laser-engraved to provide relief images for flexographic printing.

Flexography is a method of printing that is commonly used for high-volume printing runs. It is usually employed for printing on a variety of soft, coarse, or easily deformed materials including but not limited to, paper, paperboard stock, corrugated board, polymeric films, fabrics, metal foils, and laminates.
Flexographic printing members are sometimes known as "relief" printing members and are provided with raised relief images onto which ink is applied for application to a printable material and the relief "floor" should remain free of ink. The flexographic printing precursors are generally supplied with one or more imagable (or engravable) layers that can be disposed over a backing layer or substrate. Flexographic printing also can be carried out using a flexographic printing cylinder or seamless sleeve having the desired relief image. These flexographic printing members can be provided from flexographic printing precursors that can be imaged through a photomask or laser-ablatable mask (LAM) over a photosensitive layer, or they can be imaged by direct laser engraving of a laser-engravable layer that is not necessarily photosensitive.
Flexographic printing precursors having laser-ablatable mask layers over photosensitive layers are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,009 (Fan). A developer is used to remove non-polymerized material from the photosensitive layer and the non-ablated portions of the mask layer.
There has been a desire in the industry for a way to prepare flexographic printing members without the use of UV-cured photosensitive layers that require liquid processing to remove non-imaged composition and mask layers. Direct laser engraving of precursors to produce relief printing plates and stamps is known, but the need for relief image depths greater than 500 μm creates a considerable challenge when imaging speed is also an important commercial requirement. In contrast to laser ablation of mask layers that require low to moderate energy lasers and fluence, direct engraving of a relief-forming layer requires much higher energy and fluence. A laser-engravable layer must also exhibit appropriate physical and chemical properties to achieve "clean" and rapid laser engraving (high sensitivity) so that the resulting printed images have excellent resolution and durability.
Flexographic printing plate precursors used for infrared radiation (IR) laser-engraving can comprise an elastomeric or polymeric composition that includes one or more infrared radiation absorbing compounds. When the term "imaging" is used in this application in connection with "laser engraving", it refers to ablation of the background areas while leaving intact the areas of the element that will be inked and printed in a flexographic printing station or press.
Commercial laser engraving has been typically carried out using carbon dioxide lasers. While they are generally slow and expensive to use and have poor beam resolution, they are used because of the advantages of direct thermal engraving. Infrared (IR) fiber lasers can also be used because these lasers provide better beam resolution, but are very expensive. Direct laser engraving is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,798,202 and 5,804,353 (both Cushner et al.) in which various means are used to reinforce the elastomeric layers.
Flexographic printing plate precursors for near-IR laser-engraving generally comprise an elastomeric or polymeric system that is thermoset by a polymerization reaction and includes inorganic fillers and infrared absorbing compounds. During recent years, infrared laser diodes are becoming increasingly inexpensive and more powerful and consequently are becoming more useful for laser-engraving of thick layers such as are found in flexographic printing precursors. Such lasers require the presence of radiation absorbing dyes or pigments in the flexographic printing precursors as they generally operate around wavelengths of 800 nm to 1200 nm. They have the potential to enable faster engraving, higher print quality, and more reliable engraving than obtained with carbon dioxide lasers. It is advantageous to optimize engraving speed by formulating printing plates with higher sensitivity to give higher productivity in printing plate production. Engraving systems can be made by using arrays of laser diodes as throughput also depends on the number of laser diodes being used but there is a balance between the cost of engraving heads that depends on the number of diodes and their combined output power. Laser engraving using infrared diodes instead of carbon dioxide provides an opportunity for higher quality because the wavelength of the diode radiation at 800-1200 nm is so much smaller than that of carbon dioxide at 10.7 μm.
In the approach to formulation of laser-engravable flexographic printing precursors by crosslinking to form thermoset materials, ablation of thermoplastic materials results in melted portions around the ablated areas and sometimes re-deposition of ablated material onto the ablated areas. This is because it is inevitable that during engraving there is heat flowing to non-engraved areas that is insufficient for ablation but sufficient for melting, as described in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2004/0231540 (Hiller et al.).
A number of elastomeric systems have been described for construction of laser-engravable flexographic printing precursors including a mixture of epoxidized natural rubber and natural rubber in a laser-engravable composition. Engraving of a rubber is also described by S. E. Nielsen in Polymer Testing 3 (1983) pp. 303-310. U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,267 (Hashimito) describes the use of a natural or synthetic rubber, or mixtures of both, such as acrylonitrile-butadiene, styrene-butadiene and chloroprene rubbers, on a textile support. "Laser Engraving of Rubbers —The Influence of Fillers" by W. Kern et al., October 1997, pp. 710-715 (Rohstoffe Und Anwendendunghen) describes the use of natural rubber, nitrile rubber (NBR), ethylene-propylene-diene terpolymer (EPDM), and styrene-butadiene copolymer (SBR) for laser engraving.
EP 1,228,864A1 (Houstra) describes liquid photopolymer mixtures that are designed for UV imaging and curing, and the resulting flexographic printing plate precursors are laser-engraved using carbon dioxide lasers operating at about 10 μm wavelength. Such printing plate precursors are unsuitable for engraving using more desirable near-IR absorbing laser diode systems. U.S. Pat. No. 5,798,202 (noted above) describes the use of reinforced block copolymers incorporating carbon black in a layer that is UV cured and remains thermoplastic. Such block copolymers are used in many commercial UV-sensitive flexographic printing plate precursors. As pointed out in U.S. Pat. No. 6,935,236 (Hiller et al.), such curing would be defective due to the high absorption of UV as it traverses through the thick imagable layer. Although many polymers are suggested for this use in the literature, only extremely flexible elastomers have been used commercially because flexographic layers that are many millimeters thick must be designed to be bent around a printing cylinder and secured with temporary bonding tape and both must be removable after printing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,776,095 (Telser et al.) describes elastomers including an EPDM elastomeric rubber and U.S. Pat. No. 6,913,869 (Leinenbach et al.) describes the use of an EPDM elastomeric rubber for the production of flexographic printing plates having a flexible metal support. U.S. Pat. No. 7,223,524 (Hiller et al.) describes the use of a natural rubber with highly conductive carbon blacks. U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,487 (Hiller et al.) lists suitable hydrophobic elastomers with inert plasticizers. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2002/0018958 (Nishioki et al.) describes a peelable layer and the use of rubbers such as EPDM and NBR together with inert plasticizers such as mineral oils.
EPDM elastomeric rubbers were commercially developed in the 1960's and provide certain advantages for use in flexographic printing plate precursors. Unlike SBR (styrene-butadiene rubber), which was developed as an inexpensive replacement for natural rubber in tires, EPDM elastomeric rubbers provide higher performance, making them more useful for non-tire uses. EPDM elastomeric rubbers have a fully saturated molecular backbone that provides excellent ozone resistance, weatherability, and flexibility at low temperatures.
In EPDM elastomeric rubbers, the compression set and aging depend largely on the crosslinking agent (vulcanizing agent) used in formulating a composition. Carbon-carbon bonds that are provided by peroxide vulcanizing agents are more expensive to provide than carbon-carbon bonds provided by sulfur vulcanizing agents. Polysulfide vulcanizing compositions provide higher strength while monosulfide links provide better aging properties and stability. However, EPDM elastomeric rubber vulcanization using sulfur vulcanizing agents tends to be less efficient than peroxide vulcanization.
An increased need for higher quality flexographic printing precursors for laser engraving has highlighted the need to solve performance problems that were of less importance when quality demands were less stringent. However, it has been especially difficult to simultaneously improve the flexographic printing precursor in various properties because a change that can solve one problem can cause or worsen another problem.
For example, the rate of engraving is an important consideration in laser engraving of flexographic printing precursors. Throughput (rate of imaging multiple precursors) depends upon printing plate precursor width because each precursor is engraved point by point. Engraving, multi-step processing, and drying of UV-sensitive precursors is time consuming but this process is independent of printing plate size, and for the production of multiple flexographic printing plates, it can be relatively fast because many flexographic printing plates can be passed through the multiple stages at the same time.
In contrast, throughput using laser-engraving is somewhat determined by the equipment that is used, but if this is the means for improving engraving speed, the cost becomes the main concern. Improved engraving speed is thus related to equipment cost. There is a limit to what the market will bear in equipment cost in order to have faster engraving. Therefore, much work has been done to try to improve the sensitivity of the flexographic printing plate precursors by various means.
U.S. Patent Application Publication 2009/0214983 (Figov et al.) describes the use of additives that thermally degrade during engraving to produce gaseous products. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0194762 (Sugasaki) suggests that good engraving sensitivity can be achieved using a polymer with a nitrogen atom-containing hetero ring. U.S. Patent Application Publication 2008/0258344 (Regan et al.) describes laser-ablatable flexographic printing precursors that can be degraded to simple molecules that are easily removed.
Copending and commonly assigned U.S. Ser. No. 12/748,475 (filed Mar. 29, 2010 by Melamed, Gal, and Dahan) describes flexographic printing precursors having laser-engravable layers that include mixtures of high and low molecular weight EPDM rubbers, which mixtures provide improvements in performance and manufacturability.
As flexographic engraving (sensitivity) is improved, the need for print quality and consistency increases. In addition, there is a need to make manufacturing as consistent as possible. Laser-engravable compositions to be compounded tend to have relatively high viscosity, presenting challenges in ensuring excellent mixing of the essential components. This problem is addressed with the invention described in U.S. Ser. No. 12/748,475 noted above by incorporating a low viscosity EPDM rubber into the composition. Compression recovery can then be a challenge because a good compression rate and printability are generally associated with high molecular weight elastomers in relatively high viscosity compositions.
Copending and commonly assigned U.S. Ser. No. 12/173,430 (filed Jun. 30, 2011 by Melamed, Gal, and Dalian) describe the use of laser-engravable compositions comprising CLCB EPDM elastomeric rubbers and vulcanizing compositions that can include mixtures of peroxides or sulfur-containing compounds. The EPDM elastomeric rubbers used in these compositions generally comprise less than 8 weight % of polyene recurring units.
The cost of manufacturing flexographic printing precursors is an important consideration during development. Another important consideration is engraving throughput, which is dependent upon the speed of curing and the speed of engraving. As noted above, peroxides provide faster curing than sulfur vulcanizing agents, but the use of these sulfur vulcanizing agents provides other advantages such as faster engraving speed. There is a need to increase curing speed with the use of sulfur vulcanizing agents without the loss of other desirable properties such as increased engraving throughput.

Laser-imageable flexographic printing precursors and methods of relief imaging


The invention provides a method of enhancing the amount of a pharmaceutical composition delivered to a target tissue site in a mammal, by creating a transient differential between tile hydrostatic pressure in the target site and a region near the target tissue site whereby the composition is transported toward the site. An apparatus for performing the method is provided. In one form that apparatus includes a pharmaceutical reservoir, pump, and an agent reservoir and pump.

A major factor in determining the efficacy of an intravenously-administered diagnostic or therapeutic agent is the efficiency with which the agent will be delivered to its target tissue site. For a variety of reasons, the amount of a therapeutic agent which actually penetrates the target tissue site is likely to be less than the amount of agent which was injected. Inefficient penetration of an agent into the target tissue results in the need for higher dosages of the therapeutic agent to obtain maximum therapeutic benefit at the target site, creating an increased risk of agent-induced toxicity in non-target tissues.
This problem is particularly pronounced in relation to delivery of therapeutic or diagnostic agents to malignant growths such as solid tumors. The cancerous cells of solid tumors often occupy less than half the volume of the tumor. A highly disorganized system of blood vessels weaves through the tumor mass, contributing from one to ten percent of the total tumor volume. A collagen-rich matrix known as the interstitium surrounds the cancer cells, filling the remaining space between the cells and the tumor vasculature. Plasmatic fluid can extravasate in the interstitium driven by an hydrostatic and oncotic pressure gradient. The absence of a well-defined lymphatic system in the tumor mass leads to an accumulation of these fluids in the interstitium. This accumulation leads to an increase in interstitial fluid pressure (Boucher, Y. Baxter, L. T., and Jain, R. K. (1990) Cancer Res. 50, 4478-4484). The interstitial pressure in a tumor is uniformly elevated and is approximately equal to the microvascular pressure (Boucher, Y. and Jain, R. K. (1992) Cancer Res. 52, 5110-5114). This lack of pressure differential impedes movement of a therapeutic agent into the tumor interstitium from the tumor vasculature.
One way to overcome the barrier created by the elevated pressure is to increase the difference between the microvascular pressure and interstitial pressure, either by increasing microvascular pressure or by lowering interstitial pressure. An increase of tumor microvascular pressure can be pursued by systemic infusion of vasoactive agents (Zlotecki R. A., Boucher Y., Lee I., Baxter, L. T., and Jain R. K. (1993) Cancer Res. 53, 2466-2468, and Ziotecki R. A., Baxter, L. T., Boucher Y., and Jain R. K. (1995) Microvascular Res., in press). Unfortunately, the increase in microvascular pressure is rapidly followed by a corresponding increase in interstitial pressure. The time required for the new equilibration between microvascular pressure and interstitial pressure is too short to induce any appreciable increase of macromolecular uptake, following a single or continuous injection of vasoactive agents.
A number of other efforts have been made to increase the efficiency of therapeutic agent delivery to tumors. For example, angiotensin II, a hypertension-inducing agent, has been administered at a constant dosage in combination with therapeutic agents. Other agents such as dexamethasone, indomethasin, and ketanserin have been co-administered at constant dosages with chemotherapeutic agents. In spite of these efforts, delivery of therapeutic agents to tumors remains inefficient, and further improvements are needed to optimize dosages and consequently to minimize toxicities of these agents.

Method of enhancing delivery of a pharmaceutical formulation


An article support adapted for adhering to a substrate is described. The article support preferably includes a base member, a stretch release adhesive tape adhered to that base member, and some mechanism for gripping the stretch release adhesive tape. These items are arranged so that when the base member is adhered to the substrate by the stretch release adhesive tape, the base member can be removed by pulling on the gripping means at an acute angle from the surface of the substrate. Gripping means which resist disassociation from the stretch release adhesive tape during the removal of the base from the substrate are disclosed, including handle types. The base member can be generic, suitable for attaching various types of support members via, for example, complimentary dovetail slides. In such cases, provision such as a latch can be made to temporarily lock the support member to the base member. The article support can be provided so that when the support member is removed from the base member, the gripping mechanism engages the support member to automatically stretch the tape and remove the base member from the substrate.

This invention relates to article supports, and more particularly to article supports adapted to be rapidly adhered and removed from a surface.
Hooks and other article supports are commonly used in both households, institutions, and industry for a variety of purposes such as hanging pictures, towels, garments, tools, calendars, posters and other articles. Conventional hooks often require forming holes in cabinets, walls, or the like as fasteners such as screws or nails are used for attaching them. Alternatively, hooks may be adhered by adhesive tapes, but tapes that have strong holding power are typically difficult to remove cleanly from the wall without scraping or otherwise damaging the surface of the wall.
Coassigned and copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/802,061 entitled, xe2x80x9cRemovable Adhesive Tapexe2x80x9d, and PCT Internation Application No. PCT/US91/09472, to Kreckel et al., disclose a stretch releasing adhesive tape. Those documents are herein expressly incorporated by reference.
Those documents disclose an easily removable, pressure-sensitive adhesive tape comprising a highly extensible, substantially non-recovering backing. The tape is capable of being firmly bonded to a substrate and removed therefrom by being stretched at an angle of no greater than about 35 degrees from the surface of the substrate. A problem associated with this type of tape is that some persons find it difficult to grasp for removal. An uncomfortable amount of finger pressure may be required to grip the tape firmly enough to allow removal.
The present invention advances the field by providing a very convenient way to adhere, and later cleanly remove, article supports to substrates such as walls, windows and cabinetry. Stated generally, the invention can be described as an article support adapted to adhere to a substrate. The article support includes a base member, a stretch release adhesive tape adhered to that base member, and some means for gripping the stretch release adhesive tape. These items are arranged so that when the base member is adhered to the substrate by the stretch release adhesive tape, the base member is capable of being removed from the substrate by gripping the gripping means and stretching the stretch release adhesive tape at an angle no greater than about 35 degrees from the surface of the substrate. The gripping means preferably resists disassociation from the stretch release adhesive tape during the act of removal. In many practical embodiments, the stretch release adhesive tape will be provided with a layer of release liner to protect the adhesive (e.g. from dirt, dust and other matter which will deliteriously affect the adhesive) until the article support is to be used.
The stretch release adhesive tape will have a backing, and at least one layer of adhesive; most commonly it will have two layers of adhesive. The backing may be a singular layer, or it may be two or more layers laminated together as long as the base member is capable of being removed from the substrate by gripping the gripping means and stretching the stretch release adhesive tape at an angle no greater than about 35 degrees from the surface of the substrate.
In one group of embodiments, the above discussed gripping means is a handle, and the stretch release adhesive tape is adhered to the handle around a surface conformed so as to compress at least a portion of the tape during the removal. While many physical arrangements which achieve this are possible, good results are achieved when the stretch release adhesive tape is wrapped around a portion of said handle in such a manner that the stretch release adhesive tape makes a substantially 180 degree bend. A suitable handle may also have features which make it comfortable to grasp with the fingers; for example, a xe2x80x9cD-shapedxe2x80x9d ring with the stretch release adhesive tape wrapped around the flat of the xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d shape.
In many of the most convenient embodiments, the base member will be rather generic, suitable for attaching various classes of support member such as hooks, towel racks, picture frame supports, or the like. In these embodiments, the base member will comprise a means for attaching such a support member. Conveniently, such an attaching means may be a pair of complimentary dovetail slides on each of the base member and the support member. Other expedients will suggest themselves to the skilled artisan.
In embodiments which have a means for attaching a support member, it may be convenient to have a means for locking the support member to the base member, either releasably or permanently. Conveniently, a releasable latch may serve as the locking means.
Sometimes it will be convenient to provide an article support such that when the support member is removed from the base member, the gripping means need not be pulled by the fingers, but instead engages the support member as it, for example, slides along a dovetail slide. Then the stretch release adhesive tape is automatically stretched as the support member is pulled so as to remove the base member from the substrate.
As an aid in removal of the stretch release adhesive tape from the substrate, the base member may conveniently have indicia explaining the action involved in removing said base member from the substrate. In those embodiments where the base member has a means for attaching a support member, it may be particularly preferred that such indicia are placed where they are hidden from view when the support member is attached to the base member, but visible when the support member is removed.
In some embodiments of the invention, it may be desirable to have the support member support a substantial amount of weightxe2x80x94more than can be supported by the holding strength of a single base member. This can be accommodated within the definition of the invention by providing a support member that is adapted to engage a plurality of base members that are generally oriented in a single plane simultaneously.
In other embodiments a specialized support member can be provided that is adapted to engage a plurality of base members simultaneously in a way that has the stretch release adhesive tape on the base members oriented in more than one plane. In particular, such a support member can hold two inexpensive, generic base members back-to-back so that e.g. a clock can be adhered to a wall. When desired the stretch release adhesive tape makes it possible to remove the base members cleanly from each substrate, and the object adhered can be taken down temporarily for use or maintenance.
Although for many of the applications which are contemplated for the present invention the base member will be rigid, article supports where the base member is a bendable, but not significantly stretchable film, are also considered within the definition of the invention. Such a construction will be useful for e.g. removable labels.

Article support using stretch releasing adhesives


A method of manufacturing a magnet segment of a field pole magnet body includes cleaving a magnet material at a plurality of cleavage target regions arranged with an interval in a longitudinal direction of the magnet material. The cleavage process includes cleaving the magnet material sequentially from the cleavage target region closer to one side edge of the longitudinal direction of the magnet material, wherein a notch is formed in each of the plurality of cleavage target regions of the magnet material such that a depth of the notch closer to the one side edge becomes deeper.

In JP2009-33958A, there is disclosed a technique of manufacturing a field pole magnet body housed in a rotor core of a permanent magnet embedded rotary electric machine by cleaving a plate-shaped magnet material into a plurality of magnet segments and bonding the plurality of magnet segments.
In the field pole magnet body manufactured in this manner, an individual magnet segment has a reduced volume. Accordingly, an eddy current generated from the magnet segment due to a change of the magnetic field caused by rotation of the rotor is reduced. As a result, it is possible to suppress heating of the field pole magnet body caused by generation of the eddy current and prevent irreversible thermal demagnetization.

Method of manufacturing magnet segment of field pole magnet body


Systems and methods for perceptual image preview are described. In one aspect, a naïve preview image is generated by downsampling a larger image. Perceptual features of the larger image are then detected. Information associated with the detected perceptual features is then incorporated into the naïve preview image to create a perceptual preview image. Since the perceptual preview image incorporates information associated with the detected perceptual features, a viewer of the perceptual preview image will be more likely to detect the presence or absence of such perceptual features in the larger image.

A preview image typically represents a reduced or downsampled version of a larger image. Imaging applications typically present an image preview on a display device for a viewer to approximate image composition, quality, and/or other aspects of the larger image from which the preview image was derived. However, because preview images are the results of downsampling operations, preview images are created with only a subset of the information present in the corresponding larger images. As a result, a user may not be able to ascertain significant perceptual features that are present in the larger image (e.g., noise, blur, depth of field, white balance, bloom effects, etc.) merely by viewing the preview image. In such scenarios, preview images may not adequately address a user's image previewing and browsing needs.

Method, device and program for detecting perceptual features of a larger image and incorporating information of the detected perceptual features into a smaller preview image