A packaging article for a tie-down assembly that includes a tension strap is described that has multiple uses. The packaging article can be used for retail display of the assembly and for later storage of the assembly. The article has further uses in the operation of a tie-down assembly by providing guide slots for receiving and retaining a tension strap or cord and by providing an edge protector to protect the edges of a load secured by a tension strap or cord. The packaging article comprises a generally planar frame with guide members or retaining members that define the guide slots extending upwards from the frame surface and edge protector members that extend downward from one side of the frame perpendicular to the frame plane.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a packaging and retail display article, and more particularly to a packaging and retail display article for displaying tie-down assemblies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typical tie-down assemblies consist of a rope, cord, line, or webbing strap with fasteners, such as hooks, at either end that attach to fixed points, and a tensioning mechanism, such as a ratchet assembly for imparting tension to the rope, cord, line or strap to secure a load in place. Other types of tie-down assemblies include ropes, cords, lines or straps that are themselves elastic and that can be pulled taut to secure a load under tension. These tie-down assemblies can vary in size and load-bearing capability and therefore can be used to secure both heavy and lighter weight loads. Tie-down assemblies are used, for example, in the hauling and transport of cargo and freight, as well as for securing gear for activities such as camping or boating or other marine applications. Tie-down assemblies are routinely packaged for shipment and display in disposable transparent plastic packages or containers. Common forms of packaging include a pre-formed transparent plastic piece configured to correspond to the shape of the packaged article adhered to a cardboard backing, or a pair of pre-formed transparent plastic pieces configured to correspond to the shape of the packaged article that snap-fit or are welded together along their periphery. These packaging materials have no utility other than for display purposes, and therefore, once a customer purchases the tie-down assembly, the packaging materials are discarded as refuse.
At the same time, users of tie-down assemblies have a need for accessories that aid the user in the use and storage of the tie-down assembly. For example, where more than one tensioning strap or cord is used to secure a load, as is frequently the case, there is a desire to maintain the tension straps or cords at a fixed spacing from one another to provide more uniform tension on the load itself and to prevent movement of the tension straps or cords. Articles that provide guide slots for orienting the tension straps or lines and maintaining the tension straps or lines in place are therefore useful when using a tie-down assembly to secure a load. Also, the tension imparted on the secured load by the tensioned straps or cords can sometimes cause damage to edges of the load. Articles that provide protection to edges of loads by distributing the force imparted by the tensioning strap or cord across a broader surface area of the secured load are useful in avoiding or minimizing damage to the load edge. Further, users of tie down assemblies are also in need of storage means for winding up and storing the tensioning straps or cords in a space-saving, efficient and organized manner when the assembly is not in use.
Therefore, there would be an environmental benefit to providing a packaging article for tie-down assemblies that was recyclable for secondary uses, and there would be a further benefit for a consumer to provide for a packaging material that had utility in the storage and use of the purchased tie-down assembly during the lifespan of the tie-down assembly.

Multi-use packaging article for tie-down assembly


An apparatus for installing a snap ring comprises an inner press assembly which is spring biased downwardly from an upper press assembly. The inner press assembly includes a plurality of arms having first ends having an abutment surface adjacent a notch. During installation of the snap ring, the upper press assembly and inner press assembly move toward a component which receives the snap ring, such that the first ends of the arms abut the snap ring. The snap ring is thus moved downwardly into the component. If the snap ring expands radially outwardly into the snap ring groove, the abutment moves past the snap ring and the notches receive the snap ring. If the snap ring does not expand sufficiently radially outwardly into the snap ring groove, the abutment surface of the arms contacts the snap ring, thereby resisting downward movement of the inner press assembly. There is then relative axial movement between the inner press assembly and the upper press assembly. When this movement occurs, thereby activating a switch is activated.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for installing a snap ring which detects whether the snap ring has expanded radially outwardly into a snap ring groove.
Many components, particularly vehicle components, include snap rings mounted within an annular groove on an inner surface of the component. The snap rings secure an inner subcomponent within an outer subcomponent. Typically, an outer subcomponents generally has a generally cylindrical inner surface. An annular snap ring groove is formed on the inner surface of the outer subcomponent. An inner subcomponent is inserted in the outer and the snap ring moves into the groove to secure the two. This process is often used to secure to clutch components.
Generally, a machine for installing the snap ring includes a press which moves the snap ring axially into the outer subcomponent. The press typically includes an inwardly tapered surface which compresses the snap ring radially inwardly as the snap ring is inserted into the component. The snap ring is moved to be aligned with the groove and is then released. The snap ring should expand radially outwardly into the snap ring groove.
Known machines have been provided with a sensor for determining whether the snap ring has been inserted sufficiently axially into the vehicle component such that the snap ring should be aligned with the annular groove. Although aligned with the snap ring groove, the snap ring will sometime fail to expand radially outwardly into the snap ring groove, resulting in a defective product. The known machine does not insure that the snap ring is properly expanded radially outwardly into the snap ring groove.

Method and apparatus for installing a snap-ring in a snap-ring groove and detecting proper radial expansion thereof


When used as a test data generator, CDR internal structures may be applied to generate drift conditions in the test data. For example, a finite state machine phase shifts a clock signal, over time, driving the test data generator thereby producing a drift condition on the test data. Once the test is completed, one of the other CDRs may be used as a tester to similarly generate test data for the first CDR. CDRs may be configured in pairs for this purpose so that one may be used to test the other.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to testing clock and data recovery devices.
2. Description of Related Art
A clock and data recovery device is normally used in transmission and reception of serial data stream that does not transmit a clock signal. Instead, the clock signal is derived from the serial data stream itself.

Devices and methods for testing clock and data recovery devices


A cable connection crimping machine for applying female sleeve ends of connectors over male ends of cables in repetitive one at a time manner includes a connector feeder mechanism operable to collect and feed connectors in a row to a transfer location, a connector transfer mechanism operable in a repetitive one at a time manner to receive connectors at the transfer location and arrange connectors with their sleeve ends projecting forwardly in alignment with ends of cables that are inserted in a repetitive one at a time manner to an insertion location, a cable transfer mechanism operable in a repetitive one at a time manner to grip and advance cable ends into the sleeve ends of the connectors, and a crimper die mechanism operable in a repetitive one at a time manner to crimp sleeve ends of the connectors onto the inserted cable ends to form substantially uniform round sealed connections with the cable ends. The crimper die mechanism and cable transfer mechanism are further operable in a repetitive one at a time manner to release and eject the cable ends with the connector attached thereon from the machine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cable connection crimping equipment and, more particularly, is concerned with a cable connection crimping machine operable in a repetitive one at a time manner to bring connectors into alignment with ends of cables, such as coaxial cables, apply and crimp connectors onto cable ends to form substantially uniformly sealed round connections with the cable ends, and eject cable ends with connectors thereon from the machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For many years it had been accepted practice in the television industry to employ a hand-held crimping tool to attach a standard fitting onto the end of a coaxial cable which could then be threadably connected into a mated fitting or terminal on a television set. The crimping tool was designed to crimp or reduce the size of a connector sleeve on the cable side of the fitting into a generally hexagonal configuration in attaching the fitting to the end of the cable. A major problem with the hexagonal crimp, however, was that it did not completely seal off the end of the cable and permitted air and moisture to enter by way of the cable end which may affect the quality of the television picture and gradually erode the cable itself.
One solution to the aforementioned problem was proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,138,864 to Tarpill wherein a crimping tool was disclosed that could compress a fitting into a generally circular configuration onto the cable end by applying a radially directed force to the fitting that uniformity and simultaneously reduced in diameter the axial length of the connector sleeve of the fitting. Other prior art patents of interest are U.S. Pat. No. 3,417,599 to Burns, U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,174 to Paolino, U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,219 to Grundfest, U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,833 to Lapp, U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,068 to Sato, U.S. Pat. No. 4,794,780 to Battenfeld, U.S. Pat. No. 4,885,928 to Davis et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,384 to Baillet et al.
More recently, another solution to the aforementioned problem has been proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,508 to Holliday et al wherein a crimping tool was disclosed that could compress the connector sleeve of the fitting into a generally circular configuration onto the cable end by applying an axially directed force, as opposed to direct radial compression, to the fitting that uniformly but progressively reduced in diameter the axial length of the connector sleeve. In that way, the die members used in the crimping operation having tapered die surfaces of circular configuration may remain stationary during the crimping operation and can be formed to extremely close tolerances while achieving the necessary crimping force to assure uniform sealed engagement of the with the cable end.
The approach of the Holliday et al crimping tool has experienced significant commercial acceptance in the industry as demonstrated by its growing share of the commercial market for such tools. However, the implementation of the Holliday et al approach is as a hand-held tool primarily used by field service workers making cable connections in the field as opposed to making such connections at cable manufacturing and/or assembling facilities. The inventor herein (who is a co-inventor of the Holliday et al crimping tool) has perceived that a different approach is needed to make cable connections that are still comparable in quality to those made by the Holliday et al tool but made on a high speed automated basis in cable manufacturing and/or assembling facilities. Prior art patents of interest are U.S. Pat. No. 3,056,445 to Wise, U.S. Pat. No. 3,754,323 to Pence et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,717 to Yuda, U.S. Pat. No. 4,398,337 to Yamaguti t al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,476 to Over et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,762 to Gobeil, U.S. Pat. No. 4,835,855 to Eaton et al, 4,890,384 to Shaffer, U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,191 to Schule, U.S. Pat. No. 5,402,566 to Long and U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,996 to Strong et al. None of these devices appear to provide a desired solution to the problem of how to automate cable connections.
Consequently, a need still exists for a machine for making crimped cable connections on a high speed automated basis adapted for use on cable assembly lines.

Machine for repetitively applying connectors on cable ends to form round connections


A pretreatment conditioner comprising an aqueous system of from about 0.1 to about 20 weight percent of a cationic cellulose derivative quaternized with fatty C.sub.10 -C.sub.18 alkyl groups, from about 0.05 to about 20 weight percent of a quaternary polymer; and (3) from about 0.02 to about 10 weight percent of a quaternary ammonium salt, with each weight percentage reflecting the active weight percent of the ingredient, based on the total weight of the composition. The composition is useful in a method of pretreatment conditioning of hair comprising applying to hair the composition followed by shampooing with an anionic shampoo.

Compositions for the pretreatment conditioning of hair have become increasingly popular in recent years. Pretreatment conditioning is particularly useful for chemically treated hair, such as permed or color treated hair. The conditioning effect ideally accomplished by the pretreatment compositions is defined as an improvement of at least one of the following characteristics of the treated hair: softness and smoothness of feel, luster, body or weight, manageability, and combability. The conditioning compositions are generally cationic and therefore best removed by shampooing with an anionic shampoo after the conditioning treatment.
Although pretreatment conditioners offer many advantages, the existing conditioners could be improved both in terms of conditioning effect as well as longevity (defined as the duration of the conditioning effect). A problem in developing new formulations offering increased conditioning effect and longevity is that polymeric build-up on the treated hair often accompanies the extended conditioning effect. The polymeric build-up leaves the hair flattened and dirty looking after the treatment. Discovering a conditioner offering advantages such as an extended conditioning effect without leaving undesirable polymeric build-up is much desired by the hair care industry.

Cationic cellulose derivative containing fatty quaternum groups in a pre-shampoo conditioning composition


A setting system including a portable medium having recorded therein setting information generated by a management apparatus that manages a wireless network and necessary for a wireless device that joins the wireless network, and a setting apparatus that acquires the setting information from the portable medium and sets the acquired setting information in the wireless device.

In recent years, systems that collect and control various kinds of information using a wireless communication technique are being constructed. For example, in plants or factories or the like, distributed control systems (DCSs) are being constructed in which field devices (measuring instruments, operation devices) capable of wireless communication called "wireless field devices" and a control apparatus that controls these apparatuses are connected together via a wireless network. Furthermore, systems that collect measurement data of a wireless sensor to a server apparatus via LPWAN (low power wide area network) which enables low power consumption long distance wireless communication are also being constructed.
Causing wireless devices such as the above-described wireless field devices or wireless sensors to join a wireless network requires authentication by a management apparatus that manages the wireless network. For this purpose, it is necessary to perform a setting operation called "provisioning" prior to causing the wireless device to join the wireless network (e.g., see PTL 1). Note that in this setting operation, setting information is set which includes information necessary for authentication and cryptographic keys for carrying out cryptographic communication.
The above-described provisioning is often performed using a setting apparatus called a "provisioning device" and examples of the method performed using the setting apparatus include the following two methods.
First method: This is a method in which the setting apparatus generates setting information, the generated setting information is written (set) from the setting apparatus to a wireless device through short distance wireless communication such as NFC (near field communication) and the generated setting information is uploaded to a management apparatus.
Second method: This is a method in which the management apparatus generates setting information, the setting information generated by the management apparatus is downloaded from the management apparatus to the setting apparatus and the setting information downloaded to the setting apparatus is written (set) to the wireless device through short distance wireless communication such as NFC.

Setting system, setting apparatus, setting method and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium


Herbicidal injury that might otherwise be caused by 4-amino-3-chloro-6-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-3-methoxyphenyl)pyridine-2-carboxylic acid and agriculturally acceptable salt, ester, and amide derivatives thereof in cereal crops is reduced by concomitant application of florasulam.

When agrochemicals, such as plant protection agents and especially herbicides, are used, the cultivated plants may be damaged to a certain degree, depending on factors such as the dose of agrochemicals and their method of application, the species of cultivated plant, the nature of the soil and climatic conditions, for example, length of time of exposure to light, temperature and amounts of precipitation. Thus, it is known that cultivated plants which are to be protected from the adverse effect of undesirable plant growth may be damaged to a certain degree under certain circumstances when an effective dose of herbicide is used. Various substances which are capable of specifically preventing the adverse effect of a herbicide on the cultivated plants, i.e., of protecting the cultivated plants without at the same time noticeably influencing the herbicidal action on weeds to be combated, have been proposed to solve this problem. Safening means preventing the adverse effect of a herbicide on the cultivated plants, i.e., protecting the cultivated plants without, at the same time, noticeably influencing the herbicidal action on weeds to be combated.

Safening of 4-amino-3-chloro-6-(4-chloro-2-fluoro-3-methoxyphenyl)pyridine-2-carboxylic acid and derviatives thereof on cereal crops


A method and apparatus for a drilling with casing includes therewith a drill shoe configured for later drilling through thereof in situ, with cutters retainable thereon in response to the forces encountered during borehole drilling, yet moveable from the envelope through which the later drill shoe will pass when cutting through the in situ drill shoe. The drill shoe includes one or more profiles thereon, into which blades carrying the formation drilling cutters are disposed. The profiles include at least one projection thereon, which is received within a mating slot in the blades. The blades also may be configured to have opposed sections which are configured with respect to one another to have an included angle of less than ninety degrees.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field of well drilling, particularly to the field of well drilling for the extraction of hydrocarbons from sub-surface formations, wherein the drill string is used as the well casing.
2. Description of the Related Art
The drilling of wells to recover hydrocarbons from subsurface formations is typically accomplished by directing a rotatable drilling element, such as a drill bit, into the earth on the end of tubing known as a "drill string" through which drilling mud is directed to cool and clean the drilling face of the drill bit and remove drilled material or cuttings from the borehole as it is drilled. After the borehole has been drilled or bored to its desired depth and location, the borehole is typically cased, i.e., metal tubing is located along the length of the borehole and cemented in place to isolate the borehole from the surrounding earth, prevent the formation from caving into the borehole, and to isolate the earth formations from one another. The casing is then perforated at specific locations where hydrocarbons are expected to be found, to enable their recovery through the borehole.
It is known to use casing as the drill string, and, when drilling is completed to a desired depth, to cement the casing in place and thereby eliminate the need to remove the drill string from the borehole. However, when casing is used in place of the drill string, any equipment or tooling used in the drilling of the well must be removed from the interior of the casing to allow an additional, smaller diameter casing and drill bit to drill the borehole further into the earth. Thus, the drill bit or drill shoe located at the end of the drill string must be eliminated as an obstacle, without pulling the casing from the borehole. Removal of the drill shoe is typically accomplished by drilling through the drill shoe with a second drill shoe or drill bit extended into the previously cemented casing, and thence into the earth beyond the just drilled drill shoe. Thus the drill shoe needs to be configured of a drillable material, which limits the loading which can be placed on the drill shoe during drilling and thus limits the efficiency of drilling with the drillable drill shoe. Typically a "drillable" drill shoe is configured of a relatively soft metal, such as aluminum, with relatively hard inserts of materials such as synthetic diamond located thereon to serve as the cutting material. Additionally, although the main body of the drillable drill shoe is configured of a readily drilled material, the hard cutters of the drill shoe tend to cause rapid wear and physical damage to the drill shoe being used to drill through the previous drill shoe, thus reducing the life of the drill bit, and thus the depth of formation the drill shoe can penetrate before it too must be drilled through by an additional drill shoe directed through the casing.
It is also known to provide a drill shoe having a relatively soft metal body, within which a plurality of stronger metal blades are received, upon which blades are supplied the cutters for cutting into the earth as the borehole progresses and which blades may be moved out of the area through which the drill shoe is drilled and subsequent casing penetrates, as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,247, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. This drill shoe includes an integral piston assembly therein, which, upon actuation by a drilling operator, pushes through the drill shoe and physically presses the harder metal blades, with the cutters thereon, into the annular area and/or the adjacent formation and out of the area through which the next drill shoe will pass. Thereafter, an additional drill shoe is passed down the existing casing to remove the remaining, relatively soft, metal mass of the drill shoe, and into the formation beyond the just drilled through drill shoe. Although this drill shoe configuration solves the problem encountered when the drill shoe would otherwise need to engage and grind up hard metal parts, the drill shoes still suffer from limited lifetimes because the blades will extrude or otherwise become separated from the relatively soft metal body of the drill shoe if the loading thereon exceeds a certain threshold. Thus, although this style of drill shoe has gained a high degree of commercial acceptance, the capability of the drill shoe remains limited.


A wind energy installation includes a tower and a nacelle arranged at the top of the tower such that it can swivel in the azimuth direction. The installation also includes a plurality of cables which are guided via a loop from the tower into the nacelle, the cables being held at a distance from one another in the loop by means of rotationally fixed and loose holders. The holders each have receptacles for attachment of the cables with a predetermined circumferential separation. The holders include a lower rotationally fixed guide ring and an aligning upper loose guide ring. A loop guide is formed such that the loop is subdivided by means of the rotationally fixed lower guide ring into a curved untwisted area and an extended twisted area.

In the case of modern types of wind energy installations with a horizontal rotor axis, alignment with the wind is necessary. This is done by swiveling the nacelle with respect to the fixed tower in the azimuth direction, in order in this way to slave it to the main wind direction. In this case, during operation, various azimuth directions are moved to in a randomly distributed sequence, corresponding to the stochastic wind direction distribution. In the process, the nacelle frequently carries out more than one complete revolution relative to the tower. This places stringent demands on the electrical transmission devices between the tower and the nacelle.
Attempts have been made to use rotary transmitters based on the principle of sliprings (DE 20116756 U1). Although these offer the advantage of a theoretically unlimited rotation capability, this advantage is, however, in practice, cancelled out because the wear is not negligible. Furthermore, at high current levels, such as those which typically occur in the power cables, sliprings are sensitive to dirt and resistance increases produced by it. Overall, they have therefore not been proven suitable for reliable long-term operation.
In order to avoid these disadvantages, the cable itself is used as a transmitter by being guided in a hanging loop from the tower into the nacelle. The loop allows the cable to be twisted well, although without an unlimited rotation capability. In practice, it has been found that it is sufficient to design the nacelle to be able to rotate through two or three revolutions in each direction. If the cable does not become untwisted on its own given operation as the wind rotates back, then it must be specially untwisted, by swiveling the nacelle, when a maximum rotation angle is reached.
The second-mentioned variant with the loop has been widely implemented. However, it has been found that particularly in the case of high-performance wind energy installations having a multiplicity of cables, this results in the difficulty that the individual cables rub against one another as they twist, and are therefore subject to excessive wear. This results in the risk of damage to the cables, which can lead to damage to the wind energy installation, for example as a result of a short circuit.
In order to avoid such damage, it is known for star-shaped spacers to be provided for the cables (WO 00/36724 A2). The cables are clamped thereon and are therefore fixed in their relative position. In order to allow the cable run to twist, a loop is formed, whose upper end is held on the nacelle, and whose other end is held on the tower. Furthermore, intermediate spacers are provided which are each attached to the tower via a guide which can swivel, and guide the cable run such that it can move partially. The guides require a large amount of physical space, and are complex.

Wind energy plant having a twistable nacelle cable guide


The present invention has a good method of opening envelope and primarily having to provide a better ease of opening method. Its structure is distinctively different from the traditional envelopes or tears open envelopes with characteristics a line of perforation is set on one of the four folding lines of cover flaps. Furthermore, a 2 to 3 mm wide of tenacious tearing wire is adhered to the line of perforation having one end of it consists of an angled tearing line. To open, simply tear from the angled tearing line and lightly pull the tearing wire along the line of perforation towards the opposite end, which allows the tenacious self-adhesive tearing wire to break free from the line of perforation and effectively cutting the envelope open from the line of perforation. It has characteristics that consist of ease of manufacture, ease of use and high reliability of prevent from unintentional opening.

1. Field of the Invention
Although technology advancement has made real progress today, from past to present, mailing letters will not likely cease in the near future. The mail system is still the most widely and economical communication method. For a long time, envelopes have not been altered much, except for a small number of styling changes made such as a window, longer or curved cover flap, etc. Regarding envelope opening structure, only additions of a metal clasp or a cotton string closure or a self-adhesive cover flap have been introduced. But with regard to reopening envelope after it has been sealed, no effective improvement or progression has been made obvious.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, some other inventors have come up with envelopes having a cover flap folding line including a cotton string or glue fixture in addition to a cotton string, or a free end of the cotton string, which when pulled, opens the envelope. These inventions include:
A. 1985 Japan Patent numbers 60-27029 & 60-27030 PA1 B. 1911 England Patent number 25047 PA1 C. 1936 England Patent number 185157 PA1 D. 1937 England Patent number 187443 PA1 E: 1984 England Patent number 2160172 PA1 F. 1986 England Patent number 2190064 PA1 G. 1986 England Patent number 2190353 PA1 H. 1989 England Patent number 2217682 PA1 I. 1930 England Patent number 350700 PA1 1. Gluing and arranging the cotton string along a folding line of a cover flap of an envelope at the same time is difficult to do. PA1 2. Both the process of gluing and arranging the cotton string can not be accomplished by machinery in one step and, therefore, are not economical. PA1 3. It is easy to cause a separation between the cotton string and the cover flap when the cotton string is pulled, thereby disrupting the envelope opening procedure. PA1 4. The free end of the cotton string exposed outside of the envelope may cause mail to be opened by mistake during the delivering process. PA1 A. 1948 France Patent number 937010 PA1 B. 1975 Swiss Patent number 564919
But obvious shortcomings of these methods are:
Another line of envelope inventions having a cover flap folding line consists of a tear thread exposed at one corner of the envelope, which when pulled toward the opposite end, opens the envelope, for instance:
These designs appear to solve the problem of inadvertent opening of the envelope caused by a separation of the cover flap and cotton string. However, they are difficult to quickly manufacture because every cover flap folding line must be completely sewn with tearing thread. These designs, while useful, are not ideal, and as a result, the present invention was conceived.
The present invention relates to a type envelope which can be easily opened. The main feature of the invention is that it can be applied to either vertical or horizontal layout envelopes. For vertical layout envelopes (Oriental style), lines of perforations are set to overlap the folding lines on the top and bottom cover flaps. For horizontal layout envelopes (Western style), a line of perforations is set to overlap one of the four folding lines of cover flaps. Furthermore, a 2 to 3 mm wide tenacious self-adhesive tearing band is fastened to the line of perforations and intersects with an angled tearing line. To open the user simply tears the angled tearing line and lightly pulls the tearing band along the line of perforations towards the opposite end, thereby allowing the tenacious self-adhesive tearing band to break free from the line of perforations and effectively cut the envelope open along the line of perforations. The present invention has characteristics including ease of manufacture, ease of use and high reliability against preventing unintentional opening.


A motor controller is provided with integrated metering and data logger functions to measure, store and report information suitable to verify the controller's energy saving performance. The integrated functions in the controller can be used to establish an AC motor's baseline electrical power and energy profile and to monitor continuously the power and energy reduction performance of the controller without requiring a separate meter and logger.

The application generally relates to a controller for an AC motor. The application relates more specifically to a controller for an AC motor with integrated metering functions to measure, store and communicate data suitable to verify the energy saving performance of the controller.
Alternating current (AC) motors are major consumers of electricity in the U.S. accounting for over 60% of the nation's electricity consumption. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that improved control systems for AC motors in pump, fan, and compressed air systems could save nearly 15,000 gigawatt-hours per year and potentially $900 million per year in energy savings. The potential to obtain such energy savings has resulted in the promotion of "high efficiency" and "premium efficiency" AC motors for use in many applications. "High efficiency" and "premium efficiency" are terms used by motor manufacturers to describe motors conforming to the minimum efficiency standards instituted by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and described in various Energy Policy Acts passed by the U.S. Congress. "High efficiency" and "premium efficiency" motors can typically cost 10-25% more than standard motors while providing, in general terms, several percentage points higher efficiency than standard motors under rated load. Alternatively, energy savings can be obtained by reducing the electricity consumption of existing AC motors. In facilities that use many AC motors, the potential energy savings to be obtained by reducing the electricity consumption of each motor at the facility can be substantial.
AC motor controllers and drives, such as a variable speed drive (VSD), a variable frequency drive (VFD), and variable load controller (VLC), can be designed to reduce the electrical power and energy consumption of AC motors. However, the cost for an AC motor controller or drive and the corresponding labor to install such a device could easily cost hundreds of dollars for a single-phase, fractional horsepower (HP), e.g., ½ or ¼ HP, motor, and thousands of dollars for a three-phase, large HP, e.g. 50 HP, motor. Therefore, an economic analysis should be performed to understand whether the potential savings to be obtained from an AC motor controller or drive can justify the cost associated with installing an AC motor controller or drive.
An effective economic analysis of an AC motor requires the collecting of electric power and energy consumption data for the AC motor prior to the installation of an AC motor controller or drive to establish a baseline condition for the AC motor. The effective economic analysis of the AC motor also requires the continuous monitoring of the electric power and energy consumption of the same AC motor after the installation of the AC controller or drive. In addition to being used in an economic analysis of the AC motor, data collection is also useful to support utility incentives and rebates associated with energy savings or reduced power consumptions of the AC motor.
While data collection is a significant part of an effective economic analysis of an AC motor, the data collection part of the analysis has historically been expensive and time consuming. The cost of the data collection function has to be included in the economic analysis of the motor in order to obtain meaningful results. Often, data collection is only performed on a representative sample of a particular type of AC motor and for a representative period. For AC motors used in applications with varying loading conditions, changes in the operation of the AC motor from the change in loading conditions may render the one-time collected data on the AC motor obsolete and inappropriate for analysis.
Therefore what is needed is a system and method that can collect, store and transmit data regarding the operation of the motor for energy savings analysis and can re-establish baseline conditions for the motor in response to changes in loading conditions or operating conditions for the motor.

Motor controller with integrated metering function


A hand-guided working tool has an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft and a fan wheel driven by the crankshaft. An air cleaning device is provided for cleaning the combustion air for the internal combustion engine. The air cleaning device has a dirt chamber and a vacuum channel extending away from the dirt chamber and opening in the area of the fan wheel. A section of the vacuum channel is formed by a vacuum hose. The vacuum hose is arranged in a mounting area of a fastening element and comprises a mounting channel through which the fastening element is accessible.

The invention relates to a hand-guided working tool, in particular, a cut-off machine or the like, that comprises an internal combustion engine that has a crankshaft that drives a fan wheel. The working tool further comprises a device for cleaning the combustion air for the internal combustion engine. The device comprises a dirt chamber. A vacuum channel extends away from the dirt chamber and opens in the area of the fan wheel. A section of the vacuum channel is formed in a vacuum hose.
U.S. 2004/0094114 A1 discloses a cut-off machine provided with several cyclone pipes for cleaning the combustion air. The cyclone pipes separate particles from the combustion air which particles are sucked away by a vacuum hose that opens at a fan wheel.
The mounting space available in hand-guided working tools, in particular, cut-off machines, is minimal. The vacuum hose opens between fan wheel and crankcase. This area must be accessible also for screwing the cylinder onto the crankcase.
The invention has the object to provide a hand-guided working tool of the aforementioned kind that has a compact size.


A production aid for positioning at least one component relative to a further component includes a monolithic positioning main body configured such that, given its prescriptively correct arrangement on the further component, it predefines a prescriptively correct positioning of the component relative to the further component. The positioning main body includes at least one opening, into which a spacer bushing is positively fitted. The spacer bushing has a through hole through which a positioning pin is guided, or a positioning pivot, which is configured monolithically with the spacer bushing. The positioning main body, via the positioning pin or the positioning pivot, makes contact with the further component, and a longitudinal center axis of the through hole is arranged parallelly offset from a longitudinal center axis of the positioning pin or pivot.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
The additive production of components constitutes a breakthrough manufacturing technology, which in the last decade has increasingly gained in importance. Plastics components can here be manufactured using various techniques, such as, for instance, by selective laser sintering (SLS). Since these components, in contrast to corresponding traditional components which are configured as a subassembly comprising a plurality of interconnected components, can be manufactured as monolithic or one-piece components, a considerable reduction in costs and a reduction in assembly time are associated with the additively produced components.
An example of an additively produced component of this kind is a production aid, with which a component in a production, for instance of vehicles, is positionable relative to a further component. Given its prescriptively correct arrangement on the further component, the production aid predefines a prescriptively correct positioning of the component relative to the further component, so that an attachment of corresponding components in a series production to further components can be ensured with constant quality.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,802,344 B2 relates to a plastics shim having a hole for the fastening of the shim to a variety of objects. The shim can also be breakable for smaller applications, while it is also usable for larger applications without breaking. In a preferred embodiment, each of the break-off sections has a hole for a screw or a nail, so that each of the break-off sections is separately affixable.
WO 2016/192919 A1 relates to a fastening pin for fittings of windows, doors or the like, comprising a bottom part for arranging the fastening pin on a displaceable operating rod of a respective fitting, and a top part for locking engagement in a closing part assigned to the fitting, in dependence on a respective position of the operating rod. The top part has an inner pin, which extends away from the bottom part along a top part axis, and a sleeve, which is mounted such that it can move axially in the direction of the top part axis, in order to enable an adaptation of the axial length of the top part for precisely fitting engagement in the closing part. On the top part, retaining means for holding the sleeve in a defined axial position are provided.
DE 8313564 U1 relates to a clamping plate for the clamping of workpieces. The clamping plate has, in a predefined grid pattern, holes which lie perpendicular to the surface and into which eccentric-clamping disks with fixed pin are insertable and rotatable.
DE 9107104 U1 relates to a modular clamping apparatus for workpieces to be machined, comprising a workpiece holder, comprising an apparatus for the manual and/or mechanical, releasable, non-positive fastening of a workpiece and comprising means for fixing and fastening the clamping apparatus on comparable clamping apparatuses and/or on mounting plates of metal-cutting machines, in particular of a machining center. The clamping apparatus is provided with a slide, in which, in particular perpendicular to the direction of displacement of the slide, a cross slide is displaceably mounted. An eccentric pin, which is mounted rotatably in positive-locking engagement in the cross slide, indirectly actuates the slide.
DE 10340052 A1 relates to a process for the manufacture of, in the finished state, one-piece or multipart three-dimensional clamping elements, in particular flexible complex functional clamping systems, by additive construction, in particular by laser sintering or laser welding.
The publication "RAPID MANUFACTURING WITH FDM IN JIG & FIXTURE CONSTRUCTION" discloses the at least partial manufacture of a production aid, using an additive production process.
However, additively produced production aids lack the dimensional flexibility that multi-piece production aids have which can make it more difficult to correct misalignments.
The present disclosure addresses these issues associated with traditional production aids.


An Osteospermum cultivar particularly distinguished by its purple-terracotta-copper flower color, large flower size with flowers that remain open under low light conditions and its compact plant growth habit.

'Sakcadnucop' originated from a hybridization of proprietary hybrid Osteospermum breeding line '203005' (unpatented) and commercial hybrid Osteospermum line 'Sunny Amanda' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 16,522) in Aabyhoej, Denmark. The male parent, 'Sunny Amanda', has a pale yellow flower color with terracotta-brown at the flower petal apices, medium flower size and brown disc florets. The female parent, '203005' has a bright yellow flower color, medium flower size and a compact and less branching plant growth habit.
In spring 2003, the two Osteospermum lines were crossed and 552 seeds were obtained. The seeds were sown and 442 plants were grown in pots for evaluation. Out of 42 F1 lines, plant number 196 was selected for its unique copper-purple flower color, large flowers which remain open even under low light conditions and dark green plant foliage.
In February 2004, plant number 196 was vegetatively propagated with cuttings and re-evaluated in an open field and a greenhouse. Plant number 196 was given the code number '204056'.
In spring 2004, plants were evaluated again in pots and in an open field. The selection was named 'Sakcadnucop' and found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations.


A method for regulating a generator in a motor vehicle, in which the generator feeds a vehicle power supply system having loads and having at least one battery, with a regulator regulating the generator output voltage at the value of a nominal value voltage. In a recuperation readiness mode, the nominal value voltage is preset as a function of the driving state variables such that, during braking or when the vehicle is overrunning, electrical power is fed into the vehicle power supply system. Switching takes place between the recuperation readiness mode and a recovery mode as a function of predetermined switching conditions, with the nominal value voltage in the recovery mode being preset such that the battery is regenerated.

This application claims the priority of International Application No. PCT/EP01/09947, filed Aug. 29, 2001, and German Patent Document No. 100 46 631.1, filed Sep. 20, 2000, the disclosures of which are both incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a method for regulating the generator voltage in a motor vehicle and to a generator controller for carrying out the method.
In modern vehicles with an internal combustion engine, a generator is driven by an internal combustion engine and produces electrical power for the vehicle power supply system. In order to buffer the amount of electrical power available, the vehicle power supply system has a battery which acts as an energy store and, after being partially discharged, is recharged by means of the generator. The generator voltage governs the direction and magnitude of the charge flow at the battery, that is to say the charging and discharging cycles. The generator is normally regulated such that the voltage which is produced corresponds as closely as possible to the final charge voltage on the battery, so that the battery is always completely charged if the charge balance is positive.
A method for regulating the generator voltage in a motor vehicle as a function of operating states is known from German Patent DE 43 07 907 A1. This proposes that the generator voltage be reduced during acceleration, in order to reduce the load on the vehicle engine, and that the generator voltage be increased during braking, in order that the generator can absorb more power in order to charge the battery by recuperation of braking energy. The power flow between the battery, the generator and the loads is controlled by presetting the nominal value of the generator voltage such that it is matched to the driving state. A similar method is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,977.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,237 discloses a hybrid propulsion system with battery management. This battery management provides input and output power for a battery when the battery temperature is low. On detecting a low battery temperature, the state of charge of the battery is determined, and is compared with a predetermined value. This comparison result is used in order to determine whether the battery can be discharged further or whether the battery must be charged. If the state of charge is greater than or equal to the predetermined value, a control device discharges the battery to a greater extent, in order to drive an electric motor of a hybrid propulsion system in the power mode. This increased discharging causes an increase in the battery temperature, thus resulting in the input power and output power of the battery being produced once again. If, on the other hand, the state of charge is less than or equal to the predetermined value and the battery temperature of the battery is less than or equal to the predetermined temperature value, the battery is charged to an increased extent by supplying electrical power from the electric motor.
The object of the invention is to lengthen the life of the battery in motor vehicles with a recuperation mode.
The method according to the invention extends the known methods for regulating a generator by introducing an operating mode which partially reverses the consequences of stress on the battery resulting from recuperation. During recuperation of braking energy, increased stress is placed on the motor vehicle battery by the frequency changes between battery discharging and charging processes. In order to carry out regeneration of the battery regularly, a generator controller regularly switches from a recuperation readiness mode to a recovery mode, and regularly back again to the recuperation readiness mode. In the recuperation readiness mode, recuperation operation can be selected when required by presetting a suitable nominal value voltage. In the recovery mode, the nominal value voltage is preset by the generator controller such that the battery is regenerated from the increased stress on the basis of the recuperation charged changes. This method has the advantage that it prevents premature ageing of the battery.
In one advantageous development of the invention, a recuperation characteristic variable, which is a characteristic measure of the battery stress resulting from the recuperation operation, is continuously assessed as a criterion for switching to the recovery mode. This development of the method has the advantage that the battery is regenerated as required, so that a greater time is thus available for recuperation, without the life of the battery being adversely affected.
In one advantageous refinement, the charge throughput of the battery, which takes place after a specific start time, is used as a recuperation characteristic variable. One advantageous choice for the start time is, for example, the time when switching last took place from the recovery mode to the recuperation readiness mode.
A further advantageous development of the method for regulating the generator voltage proposes that, in the recuperation readiness mode, an intermediate stage, in which the loads are supplied in a mixed manner from the battery and from the generator, is provided during a change from a charging process for the battery to charge being drawn from the battery. This extension to the method has the advantage that the power losses which occur in the battery, when changing from a charging process, to a discharging process are reduced. In another advantageous development, the battery is kept in a partial state of charge in the recuperation readiness mode. In the partial state of the charge, the battery can absorb a particularly large amount of the charge which is produced by recuperation, thus receiving a particularly large proportion of the energy obtained from recuperation. This method has the advantage that it reduces the fuel consumption since the electrical power, which is required in the motor vehicle, is produced to a greater extent than before by recuperation. The disadvantage of increased stress on the battery is kept in check by controlled switching to the recovery mode.

Method for regulating the generator voltage in a motor vehicle


When attempting to establish a peer-to-peer connection, a computing device can quickly discover compatible devices, which are capable of exchanging content, and remember them. When a neighboring device is discovered during a scan, the computing device can determine whether the neighboring device is capable of sharing content. Once it is determine that the neighboring device can share content, the computing device can determine a history of previous connections with the neighboring device. The computing device can determine a priority for sharing content with neighboring device relative to other devices. The computing device can determine the priority based on the history of the neighboring device and the history of other devices so that the devices with a likelihood of new content receive a higher priority.

Presently, many people utilize their mobile devices to view and manage content such as videos, music, and pictures. Often, people share content between the mobile devices by establishing a peer-to-peer connection using various types of wireless protocols. For example, one user may transfer a video file to another user over a BLUETOOTH connection and request similar content from the other user. This process, however, can be inefficient. Typically, when the user transfers the video file to the other user, the user must specify the files to share with the other user. This process does not account for the situation where the other user may already have obtained the files or is not interested in the files. As such, the communication of the redundant or unwanted files can drain the batteries of the mobile devices and tie-up network bandwidth of the users. Further, this procedure utilizes many requests and replies between the mobile devices, which can drain the batteries of the mobile devices and over-utilize the network connections of the users. Additionally, current peer-to-peer technology does not allow for easy discovery of devices that are capable of sharing content. Accordingly, there is need a more efficient method for discovering devices with which to share content over peer-to-peer network connection.

Methods and systems for efficient discovery of devices in a peer-to-peer network


An apparatus and method to implement a hybrid contention and polling protocol for a communications or computer network is disclosed. Various apparatus and method embodiments of the invention employ specific polls from a primary station for polling identified secondary stations of the network which may be in an active state, general polls to any of a plurality of secondary stations of the network which may be in an unresponsive state to initiate contention access to the network, and general polls for collision resolution in the event that a plurality of secondary stations may simultaneously contend for network access. Various embodiments may also include frequency channel allocation for transmission and reception of data and other information within the network. The various procedures and apparatus disclosed may also be used to apply various polling parameters to optimize network performance.

Modern computer or other communications networks, typically involve a primary station or device, such as a file server, a personal computer, a computer workstation, a mainframe computer, a supercomputer, or any other type of computer, coupled or connected through a communications channel to a larger number of secondary stations or devices, such as data terminals, personal computers, workstations, or other computers. The communications channel may be any type or kind of transmission media, such as fiber optic cable, television cable or other coaxial cable, digital T1 or ISDN lines, twisted pair telephone lines, etc. The communication between the primary and secondary devices is typically bi-directional, with the primary station capable of transmitting information to and receiving information from each secondary station, and with each secondary station capable of transmitting information to and receiving information from the primary station. Secondary stations usually do not communicate directly with each other, but may communicate indirectly with each other through the primary station.
In many network environments, however, the network typically shares the transmission medium among several, many or all of the secondary stations or devices, rather than having a specific and dedicated transmission medium to each such individual secondary station or device. In such network environments in which such multiple secondary stations or devices share access to a transmission medium, a problem may be created in the event that more than one secondary station attempts to transmit information to the primary station during the same period of time. Accordingly, given the possibility that more than one device (primary or secondary) may be transmitting information on the medium simultaneously, there may then be the problem that such transmitted data collides or interferes with the other simultaneously transmitted data. Such "data collisions" typically result in the data of all of the transmitting stations becoming corrupted and useless.
Currently, in the prior art, there are two main types or categories of solutions to this potential data collision problem (and corresponding data corruption problem). The first, referred to as round robin access, involves a set of procedures wherein devices are allowed access to the medium in a sequential fashion, with no more than one device being permitted access to the medium at any one time. Round robin access, such as token ring access, may involve the passing of a token between peer stations. Only the station that has the token is permitted to transmit on the medium, thereby avoiding data collisions.
Another approach, referred to as polling, involves a single master or primary station controlling the access of slave, or secondary stations, to the transmission medium. The primary station controls the access of the secondary stations to the network medium by transmitting polls addressed to individual secondary stations in a sequential fashion. A secondary station, such as the first secondary station, is permitted to transmit on the shared medium only upon receiving a poll containing its specific, unique address or other means of identification. Upon completion of transmission, the primary station then transmits another poll to the second or next secondary station, and repeats the process until all secondary stations have been polled. The polling process then iterates or begins again with a poll to the first secondary station. By limiting transmission access to only the specific secondary station polled, data collisions may be avoided.
A second prior art solution, referred to as contention access, involves multiple secondary stations contending for the shared medium, often in an unordered and possibly random fashion. This contention access approach, however, assumes that data collisions may occur. Accordingly, protocols which provide shared access to a transmission medium using contention access also usually provide means for detecting that a collision has occurred, and means for resolving the transmission order among the contending secondary stations. These contention access protocols also include procedures and algorithms for retransmitting data subsequent to a collision, usually in such a manner as to reduce the likelihood of additional collisions.
A variety of such round robin and contention protocols, with applications to various network configurations or topographies, are discussed in A. Tanenbaum, Computer Networks (Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 2d Ed. 1989).
A comparision of the performance of these two solutions indicates that contention access protocols generally perform well only under "lightly loaded" conditions, i.e., the devices sharing the medium have data available for transmission only infrequently, so that an excessive number of devices are not simultaneously contending for data transmission. As loading increases, however, the performance of these protocols may degrade due to the increased number of collisions. The time required for data transmission may increase significantly, as each collision further requires data retransmission, which may also result in additional collisions. As the data transmission load may continue to increase, networks employing contention access may simply cease to function, as the increased contention creates collisions indefinitely.
Round robin protocols, on the other hand, comparatively do not perform as well as contention protocols under lightly loaded conditions. Under conditions of a light data transmission load, these round robin protocols effectiviely waste significant transmission time due to the amount of time spent polling or passing tokens to stations which do not have any data available for transmission or which are unresponsive altogether. Protocols employing a polling discipline, by transmitting polls addressed to individual secondary stations in a sequential fashion, suffer performance degradation when a significant number of the secondary stations are unresponsive. The performance degradation comes about due to the time spent polling and waiting for responses from secondary stations which are not able to respond. Typically unresponsive secondary stations continue to be polled because the primary station has no knowledge of when an unresponsive secondary station may become able to respond. These protocols, however, may provide superior performance, compared to contention access protocols, under heavily loaded conditions, providing a sequential opportunity for each station to transmit without interfering and disabling collisions.
A need remains, therefore, for a single network communications protocol to have increased information transmission efficiency, such as reducing the time for and any time delays associated with information transmission, under both lightly loaded and heavily loaded conditions. In addition, needs continue to exist for such a single protocol to dynamically respond to potentially changing load conditions, from light to heavy and vice-versa, and to accomodate various user demand levels, from few to many users at any given time. A protocol should also meet these needs efficiently, by increasing transmission channel availability and decreasing the time required for effective information transmission.

System for determining the frequency of repetitions of polling active stations relative to the polling of inactive stations


Systems and techniques for measuring process characteristics including electrolyte distribution in a battery cell. A non-destructive method for analyzing a battery cell includes determining acoustic features at two or more locations of the battery cell, the acoustic features based on one or more of acoustic signals travelling through at least one or more portions of the battery cell during one or more points in time or responses to the acoustic signals obtained during one or more points in time, wherein the one or more points in time correspond to one or more stages of electrolyte distribution in the battery cell. One or more characteristics of the battery cell are determined based on the acoustic features at the two or more locations of the battery cell.

There is a significant and growing pressure on manufacturers of batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), to decrease production costs. This pressure is seen to originate from rapidly-expanding production capacities worldwide, as well as increased demands on battery-driven systems (e.g., electric vehicles) to reduce prices. For instance, electric vehicles are expected to drop prices by over 20% to be competent with mass-market non-battery-driven vehicles such as internal combustion engine vehicles. Additionally, the electric vehicle industry is trending towards larger-size batteries and thicker, denser electrodes. However, these trends also lead to the increasing demands on higher quality, safety, and reliability of batteries, while continuing to reduce production costs.
Looking at production costs in more detail, the final series of processes steps in the production of a battery cell, or "cell finishing" as known in the art, can contribute to about 40% of the total production costs for the battery cells (excluding raw material costs) in a typical manufacturing setup. The following steps are generally involved in battery cell finishing: electrolyte filling and soaking, pre-charging, formation, aging, and final end-of-line quality testing. In particular, the electrolyte filling and soaking steps are critical to the overall quality, performance, and safety of the battery cells being produced, as the electrolyte is the primary medium through which positive charges flow through the battery cell during operation.
In the electrolyte filling and soaking steps, ensuring a uniform distribution of electrolyte is important to battery quality, expected future performance, and safety, collectively referred to as battery health. If a battery cell has any areas where the electrolyte has not fully saturated or soaked through, i.e., if there is unevenness in the distribution of electrolyte, "dry spots" may result in such areas with insufficient electrolyte. These dry spots may lead to non-uniform current distribution across the electrode area during battery cell formation and operation. In turn, the non-uniform current distribution can result in performance degradation of the battery cell (e.g., due to local mechanical separation or lithium metal plating). In extreme cases, lithium metal plating in the form of dendrites can short-circuit the electrodes internally, and sometimes results in catastrophic failure in the form of thermal runaway of the battery cell.
Under ambient conditions, and even at elevated temperatures, the time taken for the electrolyte to be fully distributed throughout a battery cell may be relatively long, typically requiring hours of soaking of the electrolyte to achieve a substantially full distribution. Electrolyte wetting is mainly driven by capillary forces, which are typically not strong enough for liquid electrolytes to completely saturate all the pores within the battery cell or a stack of battery cell components. Moreover, saturating the pores faces further challenges when the sizes of the pores decrease. Electrolyte composition and viscosity can also have a significant influence on electrolyte distribution. For example, an electrolyte with lower viscosity may achieve better distribution than an electrolyte with higher viscosity. Additionally, if the connectivity of the pore structures in some regions is so poor that the electrolyte is faced with restrictions in pathways to flow through, these regions may never be wetted. In electrodes, pore size distribution and pore accessibility (and thus wetting behavior) are affected by upstream process parameters, such as the particle size of constituent electrode materials, thickness of the electrode layer, carrier solvent used when casting electrode slurries, speed and temperature during drying, compression pressure during calendaring, vacuum drying of electrodes, etc. Another reason for long wetting times can be poor wettability of some of the battery cell components, based, for example, on poor compatibility between the surface energies of the electrolyte and the battery cell components. Poor wettability of this nature may be influenced by electrode surface coatings; separator materials, porosity, coatings, and treatment; and electrolyte composition, and additives.
Some electrolyte filling and soaking processes that are currently used in battery cell production (as well as during prototyping and process development) to accelerate the flow or infiltration of electrolyte into the battery cell include: filling the battery cells under low pressure conditions in a vacuum chamber, having multiple fill and vacuum steps, soaking under elevated temperatures, press rolling or vibrating during and after electrolyte filling, and soaking with additional stack pressure (e.g. where a pouch type cell is sandwiched and compressed between flat plates). These conventional methods may demonstrate a positive effect on reducing filling and wetting time, but their efficacy has not been quantified systematically. There remains a need for non-destructive, scalable methods for monitoring, visualizing, and analyzing the dynamic filling and soaking process of electrolytes, e.g., in real time, during the course of the dynamic filling and soaking process. Such techniques can be useful in ensuring battery health, as well as in providing quantitative data for process improvements.
Currently, assessing the time taken for the electrolyte to be fully distributed throughout the battery cell, also referred to as "wetting time," is an empirical, expensive, and time-consuming effort. Such assessments typically involve producing a batch of battery cells, injecting the batch of battery cells with a known amount of electrolyte, and sequentially disassembling subsets of cells of the batch of battery cells after varying lengths of time have elapsed since the end of the electrolyte injection. By taking apart the battery cells, which is a destructive process, the electrode surfaces can be visually inspected to determine the extent of electrolyte wetting. Based on a series of such destructive tests, an average wetting time can be estimated, where in some cases a safety factor can be added to the average wetting time. The average wetting time (with a safety factor optionally added) can be used as the estimated wetting time for battery cells during large-volume production of the battery cells.
Given the dearth of alternative, non-invasive methods for characterizing the electrolyte wetting quality in a time-efficient manner, the current techniques (e.g., during process development) involve repeatedly executing the above-described expensive and time-consuming processes for determining wetting time for evaluating the influence of different material or battery cell components (e.g., a new separator) or upstream process parameters (e.g., coating thicker electrode layers) used in the battery cell production.
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and neutron radiography are known analytical methods that have been used to assess electrolyte wetting quality in lithium ion battery cells in laboratory settings. In production environments, electrical AC impedance tests can be used to characterize the electrolyte distribution, where low impedance values over time are assumed to indicate uniform wetting of the electrodes. However, as with other known electrical methods of analysis, AC impedance measurements are electrode-averaged measurements and are likely to be dominated by measurements from normal/properly-filled areas of the battery cell and potentially insensitive to small dry spots that nevertheless have a major influence on long-term battery performance Thus, information about small dry spots or void spaces, e.g., between electrode layers or within porous electrode or separator layers, may be overlooked due to being overshadowed by the AC impedance measurements obtained from the normal areas. Neutron radiography can help visualize the electrolyte flow within the cell in-situ non-invasively by potentially introducing radio isotopes in the electrolyte. However, the use of neutron radiography in cell manufacturing is limited by the availability of neutron sources at scale. Contamination of the electrolyte can also hinder neutron radiography techniques.
Electrolyte fill and soaking are also recognized as critical process steps in battery cell production because the evenness of electrolyte distribution is seen to directly influence the yield rate of expensive downstream processes like formation and aging. The quality of electrolyte wetting of the pores of the electrodes and separators of battery cells has a high impact on structures such as a solid electrolyte interphase (SEI), which is a passivation layer formed on electrode surfaces from decomposition products of electrolytes Similar to electrolyte distribution, the evenness and quality of SEI formation has a strong influence on the overall quality, performance, and safety of the battery cells being produced. The electrolyte wetting quality also affects the aging behavior of the battery cell (e.g., where aging of the battery cell can be measured as a rate of voltage fade while the battery cell is electrically isolated from external circuits). Poorly wetted areas influence battery cell performance by increasing the internal ionic resistance and decreasing the discharge capacity, cycle life, and safety of the battery cell. The amount and distribution of electrolyte within the battery cell is important for the overall performance of the battery cell. Flooding or depletion of the battery cell electrolyte may severely impair battery cell performance and may cause failures. Conventional techniques, which rely on analyzing electrolyte wetting over lengthy formation cycles, do not sufficiently address the numerous challenges outlined above.

Systems and methods for evaluating electrolyte wetting and distribution


A thin film forming method which forms a seed film and an impurity-containing silicon film on a surface of an object to be processed in a processing container configured to be vacuum exhaustible includes: performing a first step which forms the seed film by supplying a seed film raw material gas including at least any one of an aminosilane-based gas and a higher silane into the processing container; and performing a second step which forms the impurity-containing silicon film in an amorphous state by supplying a silane-based gas and an impurity-containing gas into the processing container.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a film forming method and film forming apparatus, which form a seed film and a thin film on a surface of an object to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in order to manufacture a semiconductor integrated circuit, various processes, such as a film forming process, an etching process, an oxidation process, a diffusion process, a modification process, and a natural oxide film removing process, are performed on a semiconductor wafer including a silicon substrate, etc. The film forming process is described as an example from among the various processes. For example, while manufacturing a semiconductor integrated circuit, such as a dynamic random access memory (DRAM), the film forming process may be performed by providing a recessed portion, such as contact hole, a through hole, a wire groove, or a cylinder groove of a capacitor having a cylindrical structure, on an insulation film formed on a surface of a semiconductor wafer, and embedding the recessed portion with a conductive thin film.
For example, a silicon film containing impurities has been conventionally used as a thin film for embedding the recessed portion, as the silicon film has relatively satisfactory step coverage and furthermore, is relatively inexpensive. The embedding of the recessed portion will now be described with reference to FIGS. 19A and 19B. FIGS. 19A and 19B are views showing an example embedding the recessed portion provided on the surface of the semiconductor wafer.
As shown in FIG. 19A, an insulation film 2 as a base formed of, for example, SiO2, is thinly formed on a surface of a semiconductor wafer W (hereinafter, also referred to as a wafer W) including, for example, a silicon substrate as an object to be processed, and a recessed portion 4 is provided on the insulation film 2. The recessed portion 4 is equivalent to a contact hole promoting contact with a bottom layer or a substrate itself, a through hole, a wire groove, a cylinder groove of a capacitor having a cylindrical structure, or the like. In FIG. 19A, a contact hole promoting contact with a substrate itself is shown as an example. Also, as shown in FIG. 19B, a conductive thin film 6 is formed on the surface of the semiconductor wafer W to embed the recessed portion 4. The silicon film containing impurities as described above is widely used as the thin film 6.
As a film forming method for forming the thin film 6, a film forming method (Patent Reference 1) where a single crystal thin film including impurities is formed at a range of low pressure from about 1 to about 10−6 Pa by supplying, for example, a gas including a component element of semiconductor silicon, such as SiCl4, and a gas including an impurity element, such as BCl3, alternately into a processing container, a film forming method (Patent Reference 2) where, for example, forming of a polysilicon layer by supplying a monosilane (SiH4) gas and forming of a phosphorous adsorption layer by supplying a phosphine gas are alternately performed, and a method (Patent Reference 3) of forming a film via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) by simultaneously supplying monosilane and boron trichloride (BCl3) are known.
In the above-described film forming methods, step coverage is satisfactory and an embedding characteristic is excellent since the recessed portion described above is satisfactorily embedded when a design rule is relatively loose since a request for minuteness is not so strict. However, when the design rule is strict due to a recent increased request for further minuteness, a sufficient embedding characteristic may not be obtained. Also, for example, the existence of a void 8 generated in the film as shown in FIG. 19B cannot be ignored. The void 8 is a cause for increasing contact resistance.
Specifically, recently, a strict design rule where the recessed portion 4 described above has a hole diameter less than or equal to 40 nm and an aspect ratio is equal to or higher than 10 has been requested, and thus the above problems need to be solved early. Also, aside from the generation of the void 8, a precision of surface roughness may also decrease.
3. Prior Art Reference
(Patent Reference 1) Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. sho 61-034928
(Patent Reference 2) Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. hei 05-251357
(Patent Reference 3) Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. hei 08-153688

Thin film forming method and film forming apparatus


A golf bag travel system which can be used in both a vehicle-mounted mode and a travel mode. The system includes a vehicle base adapted to be mounted to a vehicle, a travel base having wheels, and a cover which mates with both the vehicle base and the travel base. A multi-point lock releasably secures the cover to either the vehicle base or the travel base.

The present invention is a carrier for golf bags and other articles.
Vehicle-mounted golf bag carriers are generally known and disclosed, for example, in the Murray U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,933 and the D""Angelo U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,738. Hard shell cases for golf bags are also known and often used when the bags are transported by plane.
There remains, however, a continuing need for improved golf bag travel systems. Vehicle-mounted and travel case golf bag carriers which are efficient to manufacture and convenient to use would be especially desirable. To be commercially viable, the carriers should also be attractive in appearance.
The present invention is a golf bag travel system which provides a high degree of protection for golf bags and is very convenient to use. The system is also efficient to manufacture.
One embodiment of the invention is a multi-mode golf bag travel system. The system includes a vehicle base adapted to be mounted to a vehicle, a travel base having wheels, and a hard shell cover for enclosing a golf bag. The cover has an opening at a first end which mates with both the vehicle base and the travel base, and a handle adjacent to a second end. A locking mechanism secures the hard shell cover to the vehicle base when the system is used in a vehicle mode, and secures the cover to the travel base when used in a travel mode.


A direct current (DC) link capacitor module includes a printed circuit board (PCB) formed by sequentially disposing a first electrode substrate, an insulation substrate, a second electrode substrate, a third electrode substrate; a plurality of DC link capacitors connected in parallel to each of the first electrode substrate and the second electrode substrate; a plurality of first Y-capacitors connected in series to each of the first electrode substrate and the third electrode substrate, and connected in parallel to the DC link capacitors; and a plurality of second Y-capacitors connected in series to each of the first electrode substrate and the third electrode substrate, and connected in parallel to the first Y-capacitors, thereby achieving a miniaturization and facilitating a fabrication by connecting the plurality of DC link capacitors using the PCB.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a direct current (DC) link capacitor module, and more particularly, to a DC link capacitor module that may achieve a miniaturization and facilitate a fabrication by connecting a plurality of DC link capacitors using a printed circuit board (PCB).
2. Description of the Related Art
An electric power transmission device of an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, for example, a vehicle using an electrical driving source, includes a battery, a direct current (DC) link capacitor module, an inverter, and a motor.
The battery is used as a power source and the motor is used as a driving source. The inverter receives a pulse width modulation (PWM) duty signal output from a micro process unit (MCU) in order to control a driving velocity and a torque of the motor. The inverter is switched based on the received PWM duty signal, converts DC power output from the battery to alternating current (AC) power, applies the converted power to the motor, and thereby drives the vehicle. The DC link capacitor module smoothens and stabilizes the DC power supplied to the inverter, decreases current ripple, and thereby enables the DC power to be stably supplied to the inverter.
Korean Registration Patent No. 925952 (Patent Document 1), registered on Nov. 2, 2009, discloses a film capacitor module of an inverter having an enhanced cooling performance. Here, a film capacitor module is used for a DC link capacitor module. The film capacitor module configures a single film capacitor cell module by using, as a single group, the respective two film capacitor unit cells disposed in an upper portion and a lower portion. In this instance, the film capacitor module configures a single film capacitor cell module by connecting and thereby installing anode and cathode bus bars at both ends of up and down two film capacitor unit cells, and configures a required capacity of the film capacitor module by combining the configured film capacitor cell module into a plurality of units.
As disclosed in Patent Document 1, in the case of configuring the film capacitor module by connecting a film capacitor that is a DC link capacitor module using a bus bar, the DC link capacitor module may not be miniaturized and a fabrication may become complex. Further, high frequency ripple current may occur due to an increase in equivalent serial resistance (ESR) by the bus bar. Due to the high frequency ripple current, reliability of the DC link capacitor module may be degraded.


The invention is directed multipurpose support device for supporting an item such as a laptop computer or a book. The support device has a base that is adapted to be coupled to a structural support, such as a mobile cart, a desk, a sofa or a wall.

Many people spend a lot of time using a laptop computer. Most people use a laptop computer by leaving it on the top of a desk and read information on a laptop computer screen with their neck straight or bent downward depending on the position of the computer screen. This posture causes a lot of stress and strain on the user's neck. In addition, people tend to lean forward and keep their back away from the back of the chair. This posture causes a lot of stress and strain on the back and shoulder. People place their forearms, hands and wrists on top of the desk when they type on the keyboard of the laptop or use the mouse panel of the laptop. This type of posture causes a lot of stress on all joints of upper extremities. Working with a laptop computer for several hours a day with this unhealthy posture could make a person feel tired easily with pain at their neck, shoulder, back and wrists. This could lead to an injury of the spine, back, shoulder, neck, and wrists.
To avoid the aforementioned kind of pain or injury, a person should use a laptop computer in a relaxed posture with the least amount of stress and strain to the neck, back, shoulder and wrists. The most relaxed posture for using a laptop computer is sitting on a chair at a reclined angle. The laptop computer is placed in a proper holder with comfortable forearm and wrist supports, so that the user can see the laptop computer screen easily while sitting at a reclined angle with the neck and back rested on the chair back and user's elbows, wrists and hands rested on proper supports. This relaxed posture causes the least amount of stress to the spine, neck, shoulder, hands and wrists.
Similarly, it is important to adopt a proper posture when reading a book. Users often position a book on their laps or on top of a desk and bend over the book in order to read it. Oftentimes, a user will hold the spine of the book with one hand, while turning the pages with the other. In addition to creating fatigue and stress for the neck and shoulders, reading a book can also cause fatigue of the hands and fingers because of the need to grip the book and turn the pages.
Devices that are currently available in the marketplace provide a support for a laptop computer or book, but however do not allow the device to be adjusted in order to promote good posture of the user. In other words, the presently available commercial devices do not address the bad posture problems of users of laptop computers and readers of books. Hence, it is desirable to have a support device that is capable of holding a laptop computer or a book, while also promoting good posture.


Embodiments of the invention include an apparatus including an enclosure configured to receive an endoscope having an electromagnetic radiation sensor. The apparatus also includes an electromagnetic radiation source having at least a portion disposed within the enclosure. The electromagnetic radiation source is configured to emit electromagnetic radiation based on a calibration instruction. The electromagnetic radiation sensor is configured to receive at least a portion of the electromagnetic radiation when at least a portion of the endoscope is coupled to the enclosure.

An image detector in one endoscope can have a responsiveness that is different than the responsiveness of an image detector in another endoscope, even if the image detectors are similarly configured and were produced using the same process. Even a single image detector of an endoscope can have individual pixels that respond differently to incident light relative to other pixels of that image detector. Often, the variations in responsiveness can be caused by, for example, different operating conditions and/or manufacturing variations (e.g., semiconductor processing variation). Furthermore, the responsiveness of an image detector of an endoscope can change as the image detector and/or endoscope ages. Variations in the responsiveness of image detectors can be undesirable in many endoscopic applications (e.g., clinical applications).
Known calibration procedures can be used to equalize and normalize the responsiveness of image detectors of endoscopes (e.g., pixel-to-pixel, endoscope-to-endoscope). These calibration procedures, however, can be performed using a disposable endoscope cover that cannot be used more than once. In addition, these disposable endoscope covers can be limited to a single target pattern. Alternatively, the calibration procedures can be performed using a reusable calibration cup (or cover) that can degrade with age and when not cleaned properly. In addition, the cup can be limited to use with a uniform white field with no target pattern. Thus, a need exists for a multi-use endoscopic calibration unit that can have multiple targets and related methods.

Methods and apparatus for calibration of a sensor associated with an endoscope