A method of manufacturing an SOI type substrate by forming a poly-Si layer on the surface of the one Si single crystal wafer (A), then forming a SiO.sub.2 film on the surface of the other Si single crystal wafer (B), bonding these wafers with each other, removing the end portion of the one Si single crystal wafer (A) by a polishing method leaving a part of this Si single crystal wafer as an element forming layer, providing a high concentration impurity region by selectively introducing impurity into the element forming layer and forming a high concentration impurity diffused region in the vicinity of interface with the poly-Si layer of the element forming layer by heat treatment; and a bipolar transistor formed on an SOI type substrate forming a high concentration impurity diffused region as a buried collector layer.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device formed on an SOI substrate and a semiconductor device formed by the same method, and particularly to a method of manufacturing semiconductor device including formation of high concentration impurity diffused region having a function which is the same as that of high concentration impurity buried region and a semiconductor device having the impurity diffused region.
As a semiconductor substrate on which an integrated circuit (IC) is formed, a substrate which is formed as a whole by a single crystal material is usually employed and moreover a substrate formed by providing a thin layer of a semiconductor single crystal (element forming layer) on an insulating layer is also used. In the case of latter substrate, a Si single crystal wafer is often used as a supporting substrate but such substrate is generally called an SOI (Silicon on Insulator) substrate irrespective of the substance of supporting substrate.
In case an IC is formed on an ordinary Si single crystal wafer, since an element and a substrate are separated by pn junction, this junction capacitance often impedes improvement of element characteristics. However, use of SOI substrate provides an advantage that since an element and a substrate are separated by an insulating layer, less influence of parasitic capacitance is generated and moreover adjacent elements are also separated and insulated easily.
But, formation of a high performance bipolar transistor on the SOI substrate results in the following problems. Namely, it is required for obtaining a high performance bipolar transistor to maintain a collector resistance within the required limit and therefore a buried layer having a low resistance is provided usually in the element forming layer in order to satisfy such requirement. However, in manufacturing of an SOI type IC, as will be explained later, since a substrate already forming a buried layer is used, arrangement of such buried layer cannot be set freely and thereby arrangement of elements is extensively restricted.
This problem becomes a large barrier particularly for manufacture of a bipolar type IC. Since, when free layout of transistor is attempted, a general purpose SOI substrate cannot be used, the manufacture must be started from fabrication of SOI substrate which requires extra time and cost. Therefore, it has strongly been requested to develop a method to intentionally form the buried layer in the SOI substrate having no buried layer.
(2) Description of the Related Art
As the most popular method to form a buried layer in a Si single crystal substrate, a high concentration region is formed to the predetermined position on the substrate surface by diffusing an impurity and an element forming layer is then grown thereon by the epitaxial growth method. This method has a merit that a buried layer can be formed in the desired position but allows increase of a couple of processes, namely the selective diffusion and epitaxial growth. Especially, in the SOI substrate, it is not an easy process to control the thickness of an epitaxial layer grown after the selective diffusion process to the required thickness, because the required element forming layer is frequently set to 1 .mu.m or less.
In the conventional method of manufacturing the SOI substrate, two sheets of Si single crystal wafers (hereinafter, called only Si wafer) are bonded with each other through an oxide film. The processes to form an SOI substrate having buried layers by this method are schematically shown in FIGS. 1(a) to 1(d). As shown in FIG. 1(a), the buried layers 16 are formed at the surface of the one Si wafer 10 and moreover the SiO.sub.2 film 12 is formed on the entire part of the surface thereof. (In this process, the buried layer 16 is yet impurity diffused region, but is so called for the convenience of explanation). Formation of such buried layer 16 is usually realized by the ion implantation method but moreover it can also be realized by gas diffusion or solid diffusion method. Thereafter, the SiO.sub.2 film 12 is formed in the thickness of about 1 .mu.m to the entire surface by the thermal oxidation process. The other Si single crystal wafer 11 to be bonded is also shown in FIG. 1(b).
As shown in FIG. 1(c), two sheets of Si wafers 10, 11 are stacked with the surface to which the buried layers 16 are formed provided inside and these wafers are bonded by the thermal process through the SiO.sub.2 film 12. Next, as shown in FIG. 1(d), an SOI substrate having the buried layers 16 at the bottom part of the element forming layer 14 can be obtained by polishing the Si wafer 10 in the side of forming the buried layer to the predetermined thickness.
As explained above, the conventional method to form a SOI substrate having the buried layers includes the Si wafer polishing process. This process is generally different from a processing step called a wafer process and shows bad matching property with the other process. Therefore, it has been considered inadequate that such process is comprised into the IC manufacturing process. Namely, in manufacture of an SOI type IC, it is desirable that manufacture of SOI type substrate including the wafer polishing process is isolated from formation of buried layers.

Method of manufacturing SOI semiconductor device


Disclosed is a reaction device for producing hydrocarbons from synthesis gas, in which hydrocarbons, olefins, oxygenates, etc., are produced over a Fischer-Tropsch catalyst by using synthesis gas, so that the catalyst particles can easily be from a slurry which is discharged to the outside. That is, the present invention provides a reaction device for producing hydrocarbons from synthesis gas, in which an internal filter system for separating particles enlarged due to agglomeration phenomenon of a catalyst is installed inside the reactor, and a separating device is separately disposed outside, such that it is possible to recirculate only particles having a size appropriate for performing F-T synthesis in the slurry phase, and additionally, it is possible to effectively discharge and process a catalyst aggregated due to a combination of fine catalyst particles, the catalyst chipped off during the operation, etc., liquid hydrocarbon, resulting water, etc., in the slurry phase reactor.

By the F-T synthesis method developed by Fischer and Tropsch, who are German chemists in 1923, it is possible to produce liquid hydrocarbon from coal, natural gas, biomass, and the like through synthesis gas. A process of producing liquid hydrocarbon from coal is referred to as a coal-to-liquids (CTL) process, a process of producing liquid hydrocarbon from natural gas is referred to as a gas-to-liquids (GTL) process, and a process of producing liquid hydrocarbon from biomass is referred to as a biomass-to-liquids (BTL) process, and similar processes are collectively referred to as an XTL process recently. The processes first change each source material (coal, natural gas, biomass, and the like) to synthesis gas by using a gasification method, a reforming method, and the like. For a composition of synthesis gas appropriate to the XTL process for producing liquid fuels, a ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide may be approximately 2 as represented in an equation below.CO+2H2+—[CH2]—n→—[CH2]—n+1+H2O
CO, H2, —[CH2]—n, H2O represent carbon monoxide, hydrogen, hydrocarbon having a chain length of n (n carbon atoms), and water, respectively. However, when a ratio of hydrogen is high, selectivity of methane is increased, so that selectivity of C5+ (hydrocarbon with 5 carbon atoms or more) is relatively decreased, the high ratio of the hydrogen is not appropriate. Olefin, oxygenate (molecule containing atomic oxygen, such as alcohol, aldehyde, and ketone), and the like, as well as hydrocarbon having a linear chain with the aforementioned form, are generated as a by-product.
Since one of the main purposes of the XTL process is to obtain liquid fuel, it is a recent trend to produce linear hydrocarbon, especially, linear hydrocarbon with C5+, with high selectivity by optimizing a cobalt-based catalyst, a ratio, temperature, pressure of synthesis gas, and the like. An iron-based catalyst is the most widely used catalyst, other than the cobalt-based catalyst. The iron-based catalyst is mainly used in the early days, and is cheaper than the cobalt-based catalyst, has low methane selectivity at a high temperature, and has high olefin selectivity among hydrocarbon, and many products based on olefin, other than liquid fuels, are generated. Compared to this, the cobalt catalyst mainly generates liquid fuels, generates less carbon dioxide, and has a long life span. However, the cobalt catalyst is very high in price than iron, methane selectivity thereof is increased, so that the cobalt catalyst needs to be reacted at a low temperature, and the cobalt catalyst is high in price, so that it is necessary to use the cobalt catalyst by distributing well a small amount of cobalt catalyst on a surface of a support. Refractory oxide materials such as alumina, silica, titania, and the like are used as the support, and performance thereof is improved by using noble metal, such as Ru, pt, and Re, as a cocatalyst.
A form of the reactor considered up to now is classified into a tubular fixed bed reactor, a fluidized bed reactor, and slurry phase reactor, and the representative fluidized bed reactors are a circulating fluidized bed reactor and a fixed fluidized bed reactor. Since a reaction characteristic and distribution of a product are influenced according to the form of the reactor, the form of the reactor needs to be appropriately selected considering a target final product.
As far as commercialization is concerned, the fluidized bed reactor among the reactors is mainly operated at a high temperature, and a main component of the final product is gasoline, and light olefin. The tubular fixed bed reactor and the slurry phase reactor are mainly appropriate for producing diesel, lube base oil, wax, and the like, and are commercially operated by a low-temperature F-T process. In the low-temperature F-T process, hydrocarbon of 60% or more having a higher boiling point than that of diesel is generated, so that diesel is additionally produced through a subsequent process, such as hydrocracking, and a wax component is changed to high-quality lube base oil through a dewaxing process to be used. In comparison between the fixed bed reactor and the slurry phase reactor representative in the low-temperature F-T reaction, the slurry phase reactor has advantages as follows.                An apparatus expense and a construction expense are low.        Heat and material transfer efficiencies are high.        Axis-directional pressure drop is small.        Productivity (productivity per volume of the reactor) is high.        It is easy to charge catalyst particles, and it is possible to additionally charge and discharge the catalyst during an operation.
In respect to the aforementioned advantages, the slurry phase reactor has been preferred, but the product is mixed with catalyst particles to be obtained as a slurry phase, so that a method of effectively separating the liquid hydrocarbon from the catalyst particles is demanded. In this respect, a filtration method, a centrifugation method, a magnetic separation method, a separation method using hydrocyclone are widely known as a representative method.
Reviewing the filtration method, a filtration apparatus may be divided into an internal filtration apparatus and an external filtration apparatus according to an installation position of the filtration apparatus. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,462,098 and 7,098,251 disclose an example in which a filtration apparatus is installed inside a slurry phase reactor, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,008,966 represents a conceived example in which a filtration apparatus installed inside may be removed, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,929,754 discloses an example in which filtering performance is improved by installing a filtration apparatus outside a reactor and adjusting a filter cake. Further, a magnetic separation method, which needs high-priced equipment but has excellent separation performance for an iron catalyst, has been attempted (Energy & Fuels, Vol. 10, No. 5, 1996). U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,919,792 and 6,974,842 describe that a centrifugal separator may be applied to separation of a catalyst from slurry, and above this, various catalyst separation methods have been reported in many patents and documents.
As described above, various catalyst particle separation methods have been disclosed, but there is a limit in that the catalyst is separated only by the filtration method because fine catalyst particles or fragmented catalyst particles during a slurry reaction block fine filter holes. Further, there is a disadvantage in that the centrifugal separator has a burden in operating a rotation device, and a sedimentation method takes a long time. The magnetic separation method is an effective method, but is very high in price and an applicable catalyst is limited to a few kinds of catalysts.
One of the most important issues which should not be overlooked in the catalyst particle separation method is a catalyst agglomeration phenomenon. The catalyst agglomeration phenomenon refers to a phenomenon in which fine catalyst particles or small fragmented particles during the reaction are tangled with each other together with liquid hydrocarbon, co-produced water, and the like to be agglomerated.
Various attempts and researches have been reported due to the catalyst agglomeration phenomenon, and according to Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2010-0034970, it is described that the agglomeration phenomenon may be considerably solved by adding alcohol having a high boiling point, which is greatly helpful to improve long-time operation stability of the catalyst and extend a life span of the catalyst. Further, according to the U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,192, a problem was found in that a agglomeration phenomenon is generated due to a contact with liquid hydrocarbon when fine catalyst particles with less than 20 μm are injected to the reactor so that the catalyst particles are not distributed well inside the reactor, and process performance was improved by adding alcohol, ketone, ester, ether, or a mixture thereof, which is liquid polar oxygenate, not acidic.
A method of suppressing agglomeration by adding an additional additive like the aforementioned methods is highly preventive to be helpful for a fundamental solution, but the fact is obvious that the catalyst is fragmented due to accumulation of catalyst fatigue caused by a long-time operation or it is impossible to completely prevent fine catalyst particles, which are inevitably inserted at a predetermined portion when an additional catalyst is injected, from being aggregated. In addition, it is necessary to consider increase in an expense and other additional problems generated by injecting an additional compound during the process, and the large amount of expense is caused by separating and refining a tiny amount of compound even though the alcohol with the high boiling point or the polar oxygenate is replaced with similar kinds of by-products co-produced during a producing process.
Accordingly, a new reactor and separation method capable of removing agglomerated or aggregated catalyst lumps is demanded.

Reaction device for producing hydrocarbons from synthesis gas

KOREA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY


An arc furnace comprising a furnace vessel having a transverse axis and a central axis, electrodes disposed on a graduated circle, the electrodes projecting into the furnace vessel parallel to the central vertical axis, the electrodes are mounted on an electrode holding device of three supporting columns and three supporting arms, the center is located on the transverse axis at a predetermined distance from the center, the transverse axis being collinear with the middle one of the supporting arms, an electrode is disposed closest to the supporting columns at the intersection of the transverse axis and the graduated circle, and the other electrodes are disposed on the graduated circle an angle .alpha.=<110.degree. with the electrode at the center of the circle.

In 3-phase arc furnaces, an arc furnace burns between the tips of the electrodes and the molten metal in the furnace. In so doing, the arcs do not burn precisely vertically, but deviate sideways. With this so-called "blowing," the inner walls of the furnace walls in the vicinity of the arc are exposed to high thermal stresses. These regions of overheating lead to high wear in a refractory lining of the vessels. However, even in refractory-free walls, such as water-cooled panels, impediments or disorders may arise. In this connection, the wear of the wall is proportional to the output or power of the arc and the arc length and inversely proportional to the distance of the electrode from the wall. In addition, the refractory quality of lined furnaces and the control of the coolant in metallic walls play a role. Finally, reference is made to the procedure changing the output level during the melting process. For example, a high output level and a long arc are used for initial melting down of the furnace charge material, which is still predominantly solid, and, subsequently, short, high-energy arcs of higher ampere power are employed during the latter part of the melting-down process.
In addition, a method and an apparatus are known from German patent No. 2,602,878 for averaging and reducing the wear of the lining of the furnace wall, for which one deflecting magnetic field is generated for all the electrodes together below the bottom, in order to affect the development and direction of the arc. This expensive method, which is cost intensive with respect to the investment as well as during the operation, has not been able to eliminate in a satisfactory manner under the rough conditions of metallurgical plant operations the so-called sharp phase, that is, the asymmetric burning of the arcs.
The construction of a furnace vessel with a triangular shape for the purpose of making it easy to mount the blow-out coils is known from German published application No. 1,758,726. However, the furnace, which is known from this publication, entails additional costs for the special construction of the vessel, including the internal lining.


An image forming apparatus includes a detector that detects a user near the image forming apparatus, an authentication device controller that controls an authentication device that the user owns, an authentication unit that authenticates the user, and a power supply controller that controls supplying electric power to component devices of the image forming apparatus, and the power supply controller supplies electric power to component devices of the image forming apparatus in stages upon detecting the user, determining the validity of the authentication device, and authenticating the user.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to energy saving technology for an image forming apparatus.
Background Art
Conventionally, an image forming apparatus that stops supplying electric power to its built-in devices to reduce electric power consumption in standby state in which a printing process or a scanning process is not executed is well known.
As an example of this kind of image forming apparatus, an image forming apparatus that wakes up from energy saving mode and transitions to normal mode only if a user is authenticated has been proposed (e.g., JP-2009-104207-A.)
In the technology disclosed in JP-2009-104207-A, an image forming apparatus has a built-in IC tag reader/writer and determines whether or not a user approaches the image forming apparatus by detecting an IC tag held by the user. The IC tag reader/writer reads user information from the IC tag to authenticate the user. Subsequently, if the user is authenticated, the image forming apparatus monitors user operation and transitions to normal mode from sleep mode if it detects user operation.
However, in the technology disclosed in JP-2009-104207-A, the IC tag reader/writer itself consumes considerable power. Also, it is difficult to reduce overall electric power consumption effectively since the image forming apparatus remains in normal mode once it wakes up from sleep mode and transitions to normal mode.
Furthermore, in the technology disclosed in JP-2009-104207-A, it is difficult to maintain adequate security since any user can use the image forming apparatus once an approaching user is authenticated.


A technique which, when transporting a substrate from one module to another, detects a displacement of the substrate on a holding member and transfers the substrate to another module with the displacement within an acceptable range. Displacement of a wafer on a fork of a transport arm from a reference position is determined when the fork has received the wafer from one module and, when the displacement is within an acceptable range, the wafer is transported by the transport arm to another module. When the displacement is out of the acceptable range, the wafer is transported by the transport arm to a wafer stage module, and then the transport arm receives the wafer from the wafer stage module so that the displacement comes to fall within the acceptable range. The wafer can therefore be transferred to another module with the displacement within the acceptable range.

In a process for manufacturing a semiconductor device or an LCD substrate, predetermined processing of a substrate is performed while the substrate is sequentially transported by a substrate transport device between a plurality of processing modules provided in a substrate processing apparatus. The substrate transport device includes, for example, a fork for holding a substrate and which is movable back and forth along a base. The base is configured to be rotatable on a vertical axis and vertically movable.
A substrate, held in a reference position on such a fork, is transferred to a reference position of the substrate holding area of a module. The "reference position" herein refers to e.g. a position where the center of a substrate coincides with the center of the holding area of a fork or a module. Thus, a substrate which has been transferred from a module to a reference position on a fork, is transferred to a reference position in the next module.
However, there are cases where a fork receives a substrate from a module at a position displaced from a reference position on the fork, for example, on the occurrence of an earthquake, or when the substrate bounces off the fork upon transfer of the substrate from the module and is caught by the fork at a position largely displaced from the reference position. The bouncing of a substrate is likely to occur when the substrate is lifted up from a substrate holding surface upon transfer of the substrate under tension between the substrate holding surface and a chemical solution which has intruded into the back surface side of the substrate.
If a substrate, held in a position displaced from a reference position on a fork, is transferred to a module, there is a fear of collision of the substrate with the module, or falling of the substrate from the fork during transport. It is therefore common practice to stop the transport of the substrate; and an operator enters the apparatus and performs a work to reset the substrate in the reference position on the fork, or remove the substrate from the fork.
The stopping of the apparatus, the resetting or removal of the substrate and a work to restore the apparatus must be performed by a worker. A heavy burden is thus imposed on the worker. In addition, it takes a certain amount of time to perform such a work and restore the apparatus, resulting in lowering of the operating rate of the apparatus.
Patent document 1 describes a technique which involves detecting a displacement of a substrate which has occurred during transport of the substrate from a first position to a second position, correcting the displacement, and subsequently performing fine alignment. This patent document, however, fails to address the problem of how to transfer a substrate to a normal position in a substrate transport device or in a module when the displacement of the substrate is large, and the technique disclosed cannot solve the problem.

Substrate processing apparatus and substrate processing method


A system and process for recovering copper from a copper-containing ore, concentrate, or other copper-bearing material to produce high quality cathode copper from a leach solution without the use of copper solvent/solution extraction techniques or apparatus. A process for recovering copper from a copper-containing ore generally includes the steps of providing a feed stream containing comminuted copper-containing ore, concentrate, or other copper-bearing material, leaching the feed stream to yield a copper-containing solution, conditioning the copper-containing solution through one or more physical or chemical conditioning steps, and electrowinning copper directly from the copper-containing solution in multiple electrowinning stages, without subjecting the copper-containing solution to solvent/solution extraction prior to electrowinning.

Hydrometallurgical treatment of copper-containing materials, such as copper ores, concentrates, and other copper-bearing materials, has been well established for many years. Currently, there exist many creative approaches to the hydrometallurgical treatment of these materials; however, common to almost all of the processes either now known or under development is the use of solvent/solution extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW) operations for solution purification and copper recovery.
The traditional hydrometallurgical process for copper recovery involves first leaching copper-containing material with sulfuric acid solution, either atmospherically or under conditions of elevated temperature and pressure. The resultant liquid stream—the so-called pregnant leach solution—is collected and processed in a solvent/solution extraction stage, in which the leach solution is mixed with an organic solvent (i.e., an extractant mixed with a suitable diluent, such as kerosene). The organic phase selectively removes the copper from the pregnant leach solution. The copper-loaded organic phase is then mixed with an aqueous acid solution, which strips the copper from the extractant, producing a solution stream suitable for electrowinning. This resultant solution is highly concentrated in copper, is relatively pure, and typically is processed in an electrowinning circuit to yield high quality copper cathode.
Purification of copper from the pregnant leach solution by solvent/solution extraction has proven to be a successful means of providing a concentrated copper solution suitable for electrowinning of highly pure copper metal. Direct electrowinning of copper—that is, plating of copper directly from the pregnant leach solution without the intervening step of purification by solvent/solution extraction—is known. However, the copper recovered by such so-called direct electrowinning processes often is too impure for sale or use as is, and thus, generally must be further refined at an additional cost, or may be sold at a discount. More specifically, prior art techniques have shown the ability for direct electrowinning of copper to produce a relatively low-quality copper product.
An effective and efficient method to recover copper from metal-bearing materials, such as, for example, chalcopyrite, chalcocite, bornite, covellite, digenite, and enargite, that enables high copper recovery to be achieved at a reduced cost over conventional processing techniques would be advantageous.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Process for multiple stage direct electrowinning of copper


A heating element of a printhead has a conductive layer deposited over a substrate, and a resistive layer deposited over and in electrical contact with the conductive layer.

Generally, thermal actuated printheads use resistive elements or the like to achieve ink expulsion. A representative thermal inkjet printhead has a plurality of thin film resistors provided on a semiconductor substrate. A top layer defines firing 20 chambers about each of the resistors. Propagation of a current or a "fire signal" through the resistor causes ink in the corresponding firing chamber to be heated and expelled through the corresponding nozzle.
To form the resistors, a resistive material is deposited over an insulated substrate, and a conductive material is deposited over the resistive material. The conductive material is photomasked and wet etched to form conductor traces and a beveled surface adjacent a resistor. However, due to the difficulty in controlling the wet etching process, substantially inconsistent resistor lengths (gap in the conductor line) and beveled angles result. A dry etch is generally not used to etch the conductor traces because dry etch selectivity of typical conductor to resistor materials is poor.
The resistive material is photomasked and etched to form resistors. A passivation layer is deposited over the conductor traces. The passivation layer is often susceptible to pinhole defects, and wet chemistry, including those used in subsequent wet processing and inks, may travel through the defects in the passivation layer to the conductor layer. The conductor layer thereby begins to corrode.

Method of manufacturing a fluid ejection device

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A plurality of transistors (22, 23, 27) are utilized to provide a low noise high-to-low transition (40) on an output (19) of a circuit (10). The transistors (22, 23, 27) are sequentially enabled to vary a rate of change of output current thereby minimizing noise created by the high-to-low transition (40). A first transistor (22) is enabled to provide a low rate of change. Subsequently, a second transistor (23) is enabled to provide a higher rate of change. Then, just prior to disabling the second transistor (23) a third transistor (27) is enabled to provide a d.c. level.

The present invention relates, in general, to electrical circuits, and more particularly, to a novel low noise BICMOS circuit.
The semiconductor industry previously has produced bipolar and complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices on a single integrated circuit. Such combinations typically are referred to as BICMOS. Some of these prior circuits employ an output stage which provides output voltage levels that are compatible with the voltage levels of transistor-transistor logic (TTL). The output stage generally provides a rapid change of current, often referred to as high di/dt, that creates noise thereby disturbing the circuit's operation. In addition, the output stage of such circuits generally consume power even when the circuit is in a static (nonswitching) condition. Such high static power dissipation is detrimental in many applications and especially in battery powered applications.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a circuit that provides an output voltage level that is compatible with TTL signal levels, that has low static power dissipation, that has a rapid high-to-low transition, and that minimizes noise.


An embodiment is an integrated System on Chip (SoC) including a communication interface configured to implement a communication protocol including functional blocks that are energized or de-energized individually so that a minimum power consumption is used to receive and detect a signal, and a receiver identification (ID) detection function configured to determine whether the signal is intended for the device in which the SoC resides. The SoC further includes a power management function configured to control which functions in the SoC and/or device in which the SoC resides are energized or de-energized depending on the results of the receiver ID detection function, and a power source capable of energizing a minimum number of the functional blocks required to receive and detect a signal, wherein the power source can be used in a low power state and switched over to a main power supply when the SoC is energized.

It is well known in the art that it is important to reduce the energy consumed by electrically powered devices, especially while they are not being used (e.g., in "standby", "idle", and/or "fast-wake" modes). In this mode, the electrically powered device is inactive as regards normal operation (e.g., display of images for a television set, sound reproduction for hi-fi equipment, etc.). As is generally known, an electrically powered device in standby mode is in any case supplied power through a main power-supply, such as domestic power, and consumes energy. Considerable efforts have been made in the last few years to limit current consumption in standby mode of electrically powered devices. However, it is evident that, if the consumption in standby mode of a plurality of electrically powered devices generally present in dwellings is considered, non-negligible daily consumption levels may be reached.

Zero standby power for powerline communication devices


A process for preparing extremely small RPET particles comprises proving a quantity of RPET flakes, increasing the crystallinity of the RPET flakes, separating a portion of the RPET flakes having the lowest particle density from the remainder of the RPET flakes, and comminuting the remaining RPET flakes, to prepare RPET particles having an average mean particle size less than 500 microns.

Post-consumer processing of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to manufacture a variety of useful consumer products such as flower pots and fence posts is well-known. Typically, the recycling process utilizes used PET containers, such as discarded carbonated beverage containers, which are collected, sorted, washed, and separated from contaminants to yield a relatively clean source of RPET. Additionally, the manufacture of imperfect and damaged molded PET products, particularly the blow molded bottles used for containing consumer goods, results in a considerable amount of PET waste which the manufacturers of such products would like to reuse. The RPET produced by conventional recycling processes is generally in ground or flake form, which is thereafter melt processed or further pelletized by-the end user.
RPET is generally subjected to a grinding operation in order to make the material easier to handle and process. Conventional grinding equipment reduces the RPET to about ⅜ inch particles or flakes. The grinding is conducted in a manner to insure that a consistent flake size will be produced, by employing a grate or screen through which the ground material must pass upon exiting the grinder. Although conventional RPET flakes melt processing and pelletizing equipment is designed to handle ⅜ inch flakes, some RPET materials having sizes as large as M inch and as small as ¼ inch are also commercially produced. The bulk density of ⅜ inch flake RPET generally ranges from about 22 to about 35 pounds per cubic foot.
Similarly, RPET and PET pellets are generally formed to a standard, uniform size of about 0.12 inch in diameter. The bulk density of such pellets generally ranges from about 50 to about 58 pounds per cubic foot. Typically, PET and RPET melt processing equipment is designed to accept pellets having the above-mentioned dimensions and physical characteristics.
Conventional methods for comminuting virgin materials to extremely small particle sizes, utilizing ball mills, impact grinding, cryogenic grinding, pulverizing, attrition mills, and the like, are well known. However, none of these methods is effective for reducing RPET derived from used bottles and other containers to extremely small particle sizes. RPET flakes resist communition by conventional methods to particle sizes much smaller than about 500 microns. The polyethylene terephthalate bottles and containers from which RPET flakes are typically derived are manufactured in a manner that imparts great strength and toughness, by incorporating high levels of biaxial orientation into the container sidewalls. This biaxially oriented structure inherently resists fracturing, cracking, splitting, and cutting, which are the conventional processes involved in comminuting operations.
It would be desirable to develop a process for preparing extremely small particles of RPET from standard RPET flakes.

Method for preparing extremely small particles of recycled polyethylene terephthalate


A method and apparatus for use with a controller that supplies voltages to an induction machine via supply lines, the voltages including a fundamental voltage component and an injected voltage component, the line voltages also including harmonic voltage components where the harmonic voltage components include at least a high frequency first harmonic component having a frequency substantially equal to the sum of the fundamental component frequency and the injected component frequencies, the method for identifying the high frequency first harmonic component and comprising the steps of sensing the line voltages, identifying a zero sequence voltage component of the line voltages, rectifying the zero sequence voltage component to generate a rectified signal and using the rectified signal to identify the high frequency first harmonic component.

The field of the invention is AC induction motor drives and more specifically the area of injecting high frequency voltage signals into an AC induction motor and using high frequency feedback signals to identify stator flux position.
Induction motors have broad application in industry, particularly when large horsepower is needed. In a three-phase induction motor, three phase alternating voltages are impressed across three separate motor stator windings and cause three phase currents therein. Because of inductances, the three currents typically lag the voltages by some phase angle. The three currents produce a rotating magnetic stator field. A rotor contained within the stator field experiences an induced current (hence the term "induction") which generates a rotor field. The rotor field typically lags the stator field by some phase angle. The rotor field is attracted to the rotating stator field and the interaction between the two fields causes the rotor to rotate.
A common rotor design includes a "squirrel cage winding" in which axial conductive bars are connected at either end by shorting rings to form a generally cylindrical structure. The flux of the stator field cutting across the conductive bars induces cyclic current flows through the bars and across the shorting rings. The cyclic current flows in turn produce the rotor field. The use of this induced current to generate the rotor field eliminates the need for slip rings or brushes to provide power to the rotor, making the design relatively maintenance free.
To a first approximation, the torque and speed of an induction motor may be controlled by changing the frequency of the driving voltage and thus the angular rate of the rotating stator field. Generally, for a given torque, increasing the stator field rate will increase the speed of the rotor (which follows the stator field). Alternatively, for a given rotor speed, increasing the frequency of the stator field will increase the torque by increasing the slip, that is the difference in speed between the rotor and the stator fields. An increase in slip increases the rate at which flux lines are cut by the rotor, increasing the rotor generated field and thus the force or torque between the rotor and stator fields.
Referring to FIG. 1, a rotating phasor 1 corresponding to a stator magneto motive force ("mmf") will generally have some angle a with respect to the phasor of rotor flux 2. The torque generated by the motor will be proportional to the magnitudes of these phasors 1 and 2 but also will be a function of their angle α. Maximum torque is produced when phasors 1 and 2 are at right angles to each other whereas zero torque is produced if the phasors are aligned. The stator mmf phasor 1 may therefore be usefully decomposed into a torque producing component 3 perpendicular to rotor flux phasor 2 and a flux component 4 parallel to rotor flux phasor 2.
These two components 3 and 4 of the stator mmf are proportional, respectively, to two stator current components: iq, a torque producing current, and id, a flux producing current, which may be represented by quadrature or orthogonal vectors in a rotating or synchronous frame of reference (i.e., a reference frame that rotates along with the stator flux vector) and each vector iq and id is characterized by slowly varying DC magnitude.
Accordingly, in controlling an induction motor, it is generally desired to control not only the frequency of the applied voltage (hence the speed of the rotation of the stator flux phasor 1), but also the phase of the applied voltage relative to the current flow and hence the division of the currents through the stator windings into the iq and id components. Control strategies that attempt to independently control current components iq and id are generally referred to as field oriented control strategies ("FOC").
Generally, it is desirable to design FOC strategies that are capable of driving motors of many different designs and varying sizes. Such versatility cuts down on research, development, and manufacturing costs and also results in easily serviceable controllers. Unfortunately, while versatile controllers are cost-effective, FOC controllers cannot control motor operation precisely unless they can adjust the division of d and q-axis currents through the stator windings to account for motor-specific operating parameters. For this reason, in order to increase motor operating precision, various feedback loops are typically employed to monitor stator winding currents and voltages and/or motor speed. A controller uses feedback information to determine how the inverter supplied voltage must be altered to compensate for system disturbances due to system specific and often dynamic operating parameters and then adjusts control signals to supply the desired inverter voltages.
To this end, in an exemplary FOC system, two phase d and q-axis command currents are provided that are calculated to control a motor in a desired fashion. The command currents are compared to d and q-axis motor feedback currents to generate error signals (i.e., the differences between the command and feedback currents). The error signals are then used to generate d and q-axis command voltage signals which are in turn transformed into three phase command voltage signals, one voltage signal for each of the three motor phases. The command voltage signals are used to drive a pulse width modulated (PWM) inverter that generates voltages on three motor supply lines. To provide the d and q-axis current feedback signals the system typically includes current sensors to sense the three phase line currents and a coordinate transformation block is used to transform the three phase currents to two phase synchronous dq frame of reference feedback currents.
In addition to requiring two phase signals and three phase signals to perform 2-to-3 and 3-to-2 phase transformations, respectively, a precise flux position angle estimate θ′m is also required. One common way to generate a flux angle feedback estimate is to integrate a stator frequency. A stator frequency can be determined by adding a measured rotor frequency (rotor speed) and a calculated slip frequency. In the case of drives that do not include a rotor speed sensor, it is necessary to estimate both the rotor frequency and the slip frequency to determine the flux angle. Thus, these drives require precise knowledge of motor parameter values.
In an effort to reduce system costs and increase reliability, the controls industry has recently developed various types of sensorless or self-sensing induction machine systems that, as the labels imply, do not include dedicated speed sensing hardware and corresponding cabling but that, nevertheless, can generate accurate position, flux and velocity estimates. Techniques used for operating parameter estimation can be divided into two groups including techniques that track speed dependent phenomenon and techniques that track spatial saliencies in system signals. These techniques generally use disturbances in d and q-axis feedback currents to identify the operating parameters of interest and hence provide additional functionality which, in effect, "piggy-backs" on feedback signals that are obtained for another purpose (i.e., dq current components are already required for FOC).
Because speed dependent techniques depend on speed in order to generate an identifiable feedback signal, these techniques ultimately fail at zero or low (e.g., below 5 Hz) excitation frequency due to lack of signal. In addition, because these methods estimate operating parameters from voltage and current, these techniques are sensitive to temperature varying system parameters such as stator resistance, etc.
One type of saliency tracking technique includes injecting or applying a known high frequency "injection" voltage signal in addition to each of the command voltage signals used to drive the PWM inverter and using feedback current (or voltage) signals to identify saliencies associated with the flux angle. To this end, an exemplary system converts a high frequency command signal into a high frequency phase angle and generates a first injection signal that is the product of a scalar and the sine of the high frequency phase angle. Second and third injection signals are also generated, each of the second and third signals phase shifted from the first signal by 120 degrees. A separate one of the first, second and third signals is then added to a separate one of the three voltage command signals that are used to drive the PWM inverter.
One injection type saliency tracking algorithm to generate a flux position angle estimate without a rotor speed sensor employs a negative sequence of the high frequency current component and is described in an article that issued in the IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications publication, vol. 34, No. 5, September/October 1998 by Robert Lorenz which is entitled "Using Multiple Saliencies For The Estimation Of Flux Position, And Velocity In AC Machines" (hereinafter "the Lorenz article"). The algorithm in the Lorenz article is based on the fact that when a high frequency voltage signal (referred to in the Lorenz article as a "carrier signal") is injected into a rotating system, a resulting high frequency field interacts with system saliency to produce a "carrier" signal current that contains information relating to the position of the saliency. The carrier current consists of both positive and negative-sequence components relative to the carrier signal voltage excitation. While the positive sequence component rotates in the same direction as the carrier signal voltage excitation and therefore contains no spatial information, the negative-sequence component contains spatial information in its phase. The Lorenz article teaches that the positive sequence component can be filtered off leaving only the negative-sequence component which can be fed to an observer used to extract flux angle position information.
Unfortunately, algorithms like the algorithm described in the Lorenz article only works well if an induction machine is characterized by a single sinusoidally distributed spatial saliency. As known in the art, in reality, motor currents exhibit more than a single spatial saliency in part due to the fact that PWM inverters produce a plethora of harmonics. As a result, the phase current negative sequence comprises a complicated spectrum that renders the method described in the Lorenz article relatively inaccurate.
Injection type saliency tracking algorithms employ a zero sequence high frequency current or voltage component instead of the negative sequence current component. One such technique is described in an article that issued in the IEEE IAS publication, pp. 2290–2297, Oct. 3–7, 1999, Phoenix Ariz., which is entitled "A New Zero Frequency Flux Position Detection Approach For Direct Field Orientation Control Drives" (hereinafter "the Consoli article"). The Consoli article teaches that the main field of an induction machine saturates during system operation which causes the spatial distribution of the air gap flux to assume a flattened sinusoidal waveform including all odd harmonics and dominated by the third harmonic of the fundamental. The third harmonic flux component linking the stator windings induces a third harmonic voltage component (i.e., a voltage zero sequence) that is always orthogonal to the flux component and that can therefore be used to determine the flux position. Unfortunately, the third harmonic frequency is low band width and therefore not particularly suitable for instantaneous position determination needed for low speed control.
The Consoli article further teaches that where high frequency signals are injected into a rotating system, the injected signals produce a variation in the saturation level that depends on the relative positions of the main rotating field Fm and high frequency rotating field Fh. Due to the fundamental component of the main field Fm, the impedance presented to the high frequency injected signal varies in space and an unbalanced impedance system results. The Consoli article teaches that the unbalanced system produces a zero sequence voltage component that, in addition to including an injected frequency component and a fundamental zero sequence component, includes an additional component (hereinafter "the high frequency first harmonic component") having an angular frequency represented by the following equation:ωh1zs=ωh±ω1  Eq. 1where:
ωh1zs=high frequency first harmonic component frequency;
ωh=high frequency injected signal frequency;
ω1=fundamental (i.e., first harmonic) stator frequency; and
where the sign "±" is negative if the high frequency "injected" signal has a direction that is the same as the fundamental field direction and is positive if the injected signal has a direction opposite the fundamental field direction.
In this case, referring to FIGS. 2a and 2b, an air gap flux component λhfzs associated with the high frequency first harmonic component and that results from complex interaction of the fundamental stator frequency component and the injected high frequency signal induces a high frequency first harmonic voltage component Vhfzs on the stator windings that always leads flux component λhfzs by 90°. Hereinafter additional voltage component Vhfzs will be referred to as the high frequency first harmonic voltage component and the additional flux component λhfzs will be referred to as the high frequency first harmonic flux component unless indicated otherwise. The maximum high frequency first harmonic flux component λhfzs always occurs when the main field Fm and high frequency rotating field Fh are aligned and in phase and the minimum high frequency first harmonic flux component λhfzs always occurs when the main field Fm and high frequency rotating field Fh are aligned but in opposite phase. Thus, in theory, by tracking the zero crossing points of the high frequency first harmonic voltage component Vhfzs and the instances when minimum and maximum values of the high frequency first harmonic voltage component Vhfzs occur, the angular position θh of the high frequency rotating field Fh can be used to determine the position θm of the main air gap flux.
For instance, referring to FIGS. 2a and 2b, and also to FIGS. 14 and 15, at time t1 (see FIG. 14) when voltage component Vhfzs is transitioning from positive to negative and crosses zero, main field Fm is in phase and aligned with the high frequency flux λhfzs (i.e., field Fh) which lags voltage Vhfzs by 90° and therefore main field angle θm can be determined by solving the equation θh−π/2 (where θh is the high frequency injected signal angle). As indicated in FIG. 2b, at time t1 high frequency first harmonic voltage component Vhfzs has a zero value. Nevertheless, in FIG. 14 voltage Vhfzs is illustrated as having a magnitude so that angle θh is illustrated as having a magnitude and angle θh can be illustrated. Similar comments are applicable to FIG. 15 and time t3.
At time t2 where voltage Vhfzs reaches a minimum value, main field Fm and flux λhfzs are in quadrature and therefore main field angle θm can be expressed as θh−π (i.e., 90° between signal Vhfzs and flux λhfzs and another 90° between flux λhfzs and main field Fm for a total of π). At time t3 (see FIG. 15) where voltage Vhfzs is transitioning from negative to positive through zero, the main field is out of phase with flux component λhfzs and therefore main field angle θm can be expressed as θh−3π/2. Similarly, at time t4 voltage Vhfzs reaches a maximum value with the main field Fm and flux component λhfzs (i.e., field Fh) again in quadrature and main field Fm leading flux component λhfzs and therefore main field angle θm is equal to high frequency angel θh. Thus, where the high frequency first harmonic voltage component (i.e., the component having a frequency equal to the sum of the injected signal frequency and the fundamental stator frequency) can be extracted, Consoli teaches that the main field angle θm is determinable.
To extract the high frequency first harmonic voltage component Consoli teaches that a band pass filter may be employed. Here, the filter would be tuned to have a bandwidth substantially centered on the injected signal frequency so that high frequency signals within a few Hz (e.g., within 10 Hz) of the injected signal frequency could be identified. Thus, for instance, where the injected signal frequency is 200 Hz, the band pass filter may have cutoff frequencies of 190 Hz and 210 Hz.
While the Consoli type system operates well in theory, in reality, the high frequency first harmonic signal required by Consoli is difficult to extract in a practical manner. Extraction of the high frequency first harmonic is complicated by a number of factors. First, the amplitude of any particular signal within the frequency pass band of interest (e.g., a frequency range centered on the injected signal frequency) is typically 10 to 100 times smaller than the carrier frequency in the zero sequence voltage feedback signal. A relatively high order (e.g., 4th, 8th, etc.) band pass filter has typically been required to sufficiently attenuate the carrier frequency, the fundamental frequency and its harmonics, line harmonics, and other spurious noise within the zero sequence feedback signal.
As the order of the bandpass filter is increased, the phase shift associated with the filter bandwidth frequencies increases appreciably and may de-stabilize a control system. To this end, FIG. 3 illustrates amplitude and phase waveforms 510 and 512 of a typical high order (e.g., 4th order or greater) IIR bandpass filter. As illustrated, approximately 30% of the filter bandwidth centered on the injected signal frequency is utilized by an encoderless AC drive system. Hereinafter, the utilized 30% of the pass band or the pass band of interest (PBI) will be referenced by numeral 514. Referring specifically to the section of phase waveform 512 within PBI 514, there is significant phase variation 518 at different PBI frequencies. Thus, for instance, where the injected signal frequency is 200 Hz and the high frequency first harmonic component is at 201 Hz, the phase shift may be 20 degrees. Here, if the high frequency first harmonic is used to identify the main field flux position, the estimated main field flux position may be off by 20 degrees. Complicating matters further, as the fundamental stator frequency is altered (e.g., form 1 Hz to 2 Hz), the altered fundamental will cause a different phase shift. For instance, where the injected signal frequency is 200 Hz and the high frequency first harmonic component is at 202 Hz (i.e., the fundamental stator frequency is changed form 1 Hz to 2 Hz), the phase shift may be 50 degrees instead of 20 degrees.
Second, even if a filter were designed that had acceptable phase shift within the PBI, as in the case of the negative current component employed by Lorenz, high frequency zero sequence feedback signals within the PBI are typically characterized by a complicated harmonic spectrum. In this regard, see FIG. 9 which illustrates an exemplary zero sequence voltage feedback signal Vzs. In FIG. 9 the ratio of carrier frequency to high injected signal frequency is approximately 14 to 1. Thus, if the carrier frequency was 2800 Hz, the injected frequency would be approximately 200 Hz. Hereinafter an injected frequency of 200 Hz will be assumed unless indicated otherwise.
FIG. 4 includes a graph illustrating an exemplary frequency spectrum that was generated for a zero sequence voltage feedback signal like signal Vzs illustrated in FIG. 9. The portion of the frequency spectrum illustrated only includes the frequencies within a PBI centered on a 200 Hz injected frequency (e.g., from approximately 196 to 204 Hz) where the fundamental stator frequency was 0.5781 Hz. In FIG. 4, spike 500 corresponds to the injected frequency component (e.g., 200 Hz), spike 502 corresponds to the high frequency first harmonic component (e.g., 199.4219 Hz), spike 504 corresponds to the high frequency second harmonic component and spike 506 corresponds to the high frequency fourth harmonic. Clearly, within PBI 514, high frequency first harmonic component 502 is dominated by the injected frequency component 500, the high frequency second harmonic component 504 and the high frequency fourth harmonic component 506. In fact, the dominant second harmonic component 504 has an amplitude that is more than 20 times the amplitude of the high frequency first harmonic component 502.
Referring again to FIG. 4, relative amplitudes of the high frequency harmonic components within the PBI complicate the task of extracting the high frequency first harmonic. In addition, the close spatial proximities of the high frequency components, particularly at low frequencies, render it impractical to isolate the high frequency first harmonic component using a single high order band pass filter.

Filter with increased first harmonic response and reduced phase shift in a wide frequency band for encoderless drive applications


A weather strip is mounted at the peripheral part of a door opening of a door for an automobile. The weather strip includes a sectionally nearly U-shaped trim part and a hollow seal part. A design lip is extended out from the trim part. A decoration layer of a non-woven fabric is formed on the design surface of the weather strip such as the outer surface of the design lip through a resin bonding layer of polyethylene (PE). The non-woven fabric constituting the decoration layer contains fibers subjected to “crimping processing” and has predetermined elasticity (stretch of 5 mm or more when load of 20 N is applied).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a weather strip used at the peripheral part of a door opening of a vehicle such as an automobile and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, by putting a non-woven fabric in place of a woven cloth on an interior member of a vehicle such as an automobile, it has been proposed to improve quality of exterior appearance and reduce the cost as compared with putting the woven cloth. An example of the interior member is a ceiling board within a vehicle compartment.
Further, a weather strip is put on the peripheral part of a door opening of the vehicle. The weather strip includes a sectionally nearly U-shaped trim part fit in the flange of the peripheral part of the door opening and a hollow seal part having a hollow shape provided so as to project from the trim part. When a door is closed, the seal part is brought into pressure-contact with the peripheral part of the door so that the space between the door and the body is sealed.
In recent years, it is proposed to put the non-woven fabric in place of the woven cloth on the design surface of the above weather strip as well as the interior member such as the ceiling board (for example, see JP-A-2004-155237).
However, setting aside the case where as in the ceiling board, the non-woven fabric is put on the board member previously fixed and the board member is mounted as it is, as in the weather strip, after the non-woven fabric is put and it is flexed or bent at the corner, it is attached in the flexed or bent state, the following inconveniences may occur. Specifically, in such a case, if the same non-woven fabric as when it is put on the ceiling board is put, a large number of bent creases S1 (for example, see FIG. 10) are produced at the area flexed or bent so that the quality of the exterior appearance may be deteriorated.

Weather strip and method for manufacturing the same


A roller brake for a roller vehicle such as an in-line roller skate is mounted at an end of a substantially horizontal platform. The roller brake includes a non-rotatable brake hub connected to the chassis, the hub having a horizontal axis perpendicular to a direction of forward travel. The brake hub has a circumferential periphery defining a V-shaped groove, for receiving a brake tire rotatably mounted annularly on the brake hub. The outer periphery of the brake tire is normally disposed above the ground surface but is selectively engageable with the ground surface, preferably simply by tilting the horizontal platform on an endmost ground-engaging wheel adjacent the roller brake. Contact with the ground surface engages the tire with the ground and produces rotation of the tire on the brake hub. Kinetic energy of motion is dissipated as frictional heating between the rotating brake tire and the fixed brake hub. The V-shaped groove is 120.degree. to 150.degree. and the tire is thermoset polyurethane and oversized relative to the hub by 0.5 to 1.3 mm, whereby the tire is not readily stopped on the hub (caused to skid on the ground). The roller brake produces friction in a predictable manner which does not vary as a function of the smoothness of the ground surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a brake mechanism comprising a rotatable annular element mounted on a non-rotatable hub along facing surfaces shaped to increase friction when the annular element is pressed toward a support surface, thereby imparting steady and controllable braking force. The invention is particularly applicable to slowing small moving platforms such as roller skates, skate boards, scooters and similar vehicles which can be tilted to apply the brake to a bearing surface. The brake mechanism also can be arranged on a vertically movable mount for applying the brake, making it applicable to heavier vehicles such as service carts or even large vehicles such as trucks. In addition to providing dynamic braking, the invention is advantageous for rendering supporting platforms immovable when loaded, and movable when unloaded, due to the difference in frictional engagement of the annular element and the hub caused by the change in loading weight.
2. Prior Art
Various forms of wheeled devices that permit a person to traverse a ground surface are known. One class of such devices includes roller skates, skateboards, scooters and similar small vehicles, which have a relatively small platform supported by wheels. The platform can be manipulated by the user in operating the device. Braking stops are often included in vehicles of this type, typically comprising a rubber block or ball that protrudes downwardly at the front or rear of the device at an elevation higher than the lower periphery of the wheels, but which can be pressed against the floor, pavement or other ground surface over which the device moves. Friction between the stop and the ground surface helps to slow the device.
The stop is normally caused to press against the ground surface by tilting the platform around an axis transverse to the direction of motion, until the elevation of the stop is equal to that of the wheels, i.e., bringing the stop into engagement with the ground. By varying the extent of tilting, the user varies the proportion of his or her weight which is borne by the stop, as opposed to being borne by the wheels, and thus varies the frictional force exerted for stopping.
Figure skates (both ice skates and roller skates) generally have a stop at the front or toe end, whereby the user can push off from the toe or fix the toe in position in order to execute a turn or spin. It is also known to place a stop in at the rear, by which the user simply exerts friction in order to slow down or stop. U.S. Pat. No. 2,191,018--Ickenroth, for example, discloses a four wheel roller skate having a soft rubber stop which is pivotally attached to extend rearwardly behind the rear wheel of the skate, at a slightly higher elevation than the wheel. A skater tilts the skate (i.e., raises the toe of the skate higher than the heel) to engage the stop with the skating surface. Braking action is produced by abrasion of the stop on the skating surface. Another example of a rear stop is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,021,316--Marx, wherein a stop similar to a wheel disposed perpendicular to the direction of movement protrudes to the rear and can be engaged against the ground by tilting the skate. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,227--Balstad, a cylindrical toe mounted stop is provided. The stop is fixed against rotation by a through-bolt arranged to enable the position of the stop to be varied as desired.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,028,058 and 5,052,701, both to Olson, similarly disclose roller skates having a rear mounted stops. In this case the skates are in-line roller skates having two or more wheels mounted one behind the other, the front and rear wheels being mounted slightly higher than the intermediate wheels so as to define a curve similar to an ice skate blade. The wheels are mounted on a channel-like frame extending along the longitudinal axis of the skate, the wheels being mounted via individual axle pins extending through the channel. In-line skates of this type are popular for outdoor use, typically on concrete or asphalt pavement and the like.
A further possibility is to place a stop at both the front and rear. The front stop permits the user to fix the toe, and the rear stop allows braking while in motion by abrading the rear stop against the skating surface. An example of dual stops is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,345--Ben-Dor.
Abradable stop devices depend for their stopping ability on the extent of frictional engagement with the skating surface. Of course the skating surface may vary from smooth to irregular and could include any of a multitude of materials having different coefficients of friction. Even on a given stretch of pavement, the user may encounter relatively smoother or rougher sections, affecting the extent to which the abradable stop grabs to the pavement. The skating surface may have a light coating of dirt, gravel or sand which reduces braking action by providing a buffer between the stop and the surface, and provide unpredictable braking results. For very different types of surfaces, e.g., a wood floor vs. an asphalt pavement, the abrading stop will produce quite different braking characteristics.
Abrading stops also have the drawback that as the stop is worn away through abrasion over time, the working surface of the stop becomes higher above the skating surface. The skater will be required to raise the toe of the skate higher in order to engage the stop with the skating surface or to achieve the same force. Therefore, the skater must have the ability to raise the toe of the skate through a range of angles, and cannot become accustomed to a single toe angle for achieving a particular stop engagement. At some point, the stop must be replaced.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,224,785 to Stevenson discloses a form of roller skate supported substantially by a single wheel. A brake arrangement comprises a brake roller mounted on a crank arm and normally disposed above the skating surface and at a space behind the main wheel. When the skate is tilted such that the brake roller engages with the skating surface, the crank arm pivots to move the brake roller into engagement with the main wheel of the skate. Due to contact with the skating surface, both the brake roller and the main wheel seek to rotate in the same direction. However they are forced into contact. Braking action is achieved by either or both of the frictional contact between a surface of the brake roller and a surface of the main wheel, moving in opposite directions, or assuming the brake roller and the main wheel lock, by friction between the brake roller and the skating surface. This skate brake has the drawback that the brake wheel is an abradable element which is subject to wear against both the skating surface and the main wheel. The action also abrades the main wheel. Periodically, the worn elements must be replaced. Further, the braking action is affected by variations in the skating surface as well as by dirt and grit picked up by the brake roller and/or by the main wheel and carried into the nip between them to disrupt smooth application of braking force.
There is a need for a brake mechanism which does not rely either on the bearing surface or on a main bearing wheel of the vehicle, which necessarily picks up dirt from the bearing surface. Such a brake can be protected against dirt and would be unaffected by variable characteristics of the surface. The brake would be particularly useful for applications such as roller skates, skateboards and the like, and also useful for other forms of vehicles. It would be advantageous if such a braking apparatus could be arranged to operate in as convenient a manner as a simple skate brake stop, which is operated by tilting the skate.
The brake according to the invention has friction surfaces which are physically separate from the bearing wheels and the ground engaging portions of the brake. These surfaces thus are protected from dirt and debris. The invention provides a braking roller which does not achieve its primary braking force by abrasion against either the bearing surface or a ground engaging wheel. Instead, the braking roller is designed to engage with the ground surface on an outer surface of the braking wheel, and the frictional contact (i.e., relative motion while in contact) is substantially limited to the engagement between the braking roller and its hub. A particular contour of the friction surface, preferably characterized by opposed conical frustum shapes of the hub and roller, a concave circumferential channel or a convex circumferential shape, allows the user to vary the friction by exerting pressure on the roller in the same manner as with a stop. However, the roller is arranged so as not to slide on the bearing surface and instead to slide substantially exclusively on the hub. Friction is thus provided by the very repeatable interaction of surfaces which are unaffected by dirt or by the character of the surface over which the skate is moving. The friction is thus predictable and constant for a given pressure, with every application of the roller brake.


A method and apparatus for nondestructively testing sealed containers to proof test for seal leaks present in one or more container seals formed between mating parts of a container. The apparatus preferably includes a container rest or support assembly which holds a container being tested. The container support can advantageously include two corresponding testing head members which are movably mounted on a frame to clamp peripheral portions of the container to form a secondary seal outward of the primary seal which is being tested for leakage. The secondary seal creates a test chamber defined within marginal edge portions of the container which is adjacent the primary seal for applying a testing pressure thereto. Some of the preferred embodiments include a passage forming device for forming a testing fluid supply passage into the test chamber. The passage forming device can be an injection probe which forms an opening and injects a pressurized testing fluid into the test chamber. Also shown is a testing device adapted for supplying a test pressure to preformed testing fluid supply openings located along the marginal portions of the sealed containers to communicate the desired testing pressure to the enclosed test chamber. The invention further includes a container adapted for use in the novel apparatus and using the novel method for nondestructive testing and pressurization. Preferred embodiments of the container include a preformed recess or channel provided outward of the primary seal to at least partially form the testing chamber. Preformed openings and preformed secondary seals are also included in some preferred forms of the inventive container.

In the packaging industry, particularly in food processing, it is common to package perishables in sealed containers formed of, for example, foil, paper, metal, plastic, ceramic or combinations thereof. The contents may be deposited in an internal material receiving compartment formed in a body or receptacle portion of the container and then covered with a flexible cover that is glued or heat sealed about the compartment. With bags or packet type containers, the contents are often inserted through an open end of the container which is subsequently sealed. In order to prevent contamination and subsequent spoiling of perishables packed in such containers, it is essential that the seal be airtight.
During packaging some of the containers develop leaks or otherwise are not sealed with an airtight seal. It is particularly important in the food packaging industry to detect such defectively sealed containers before the containers are shipped to retail outlets and subsequently purchased by a consumer. It is also important to detect defective container seals early in the processing or packaging cycle to minimize the cost associated with further processing and handling of such containers and their contents. This is an especially difficult problem with bags or packaging where portions of the lid or cover and the container body such as a bowl, tray or other surface opposite the cover, extend outwardly beyond the seal. The outward projections obstruct the seal which would otherwise be available for test procedures as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,298. Product quality control considerations often require testing of every container after it has been sealed. Because of this, it is not reasonable to destructively test the containers, so a reliable non-destructive testing system must be used.
Container leak testing apparatus used to test each container should be capable of fast operation in order to handle the high throughput of many high speed packaging and container sealing processes. It is further desirable to have a container testing system which can be integrated into such high speed processing lines and used to provide reliable proof testing of the containers for leaks.
There have been numerous prior art attempts to develop reliable high speed, non-destructive container seal testing equipment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,818 to Wyslotsky discloses a seal testing device and method for testing the integrity of a seal in a sealed package. The package is required to include a continuous seal adjacent the sealed material holding compartment. The seal is formed between two films that form the package and that extend outward of the seal to define a marginal edge portion of the package. A clamp arrangement of the device is used to bind the marginal edge portion outward of the seal. An air supply is used to blow relatively low pressure air between the two films. The air is supplied through a centrally located preformed hole in the upper cover film. A detector is used to detect deflection of the package responsive to a leak if present in the seal. The device requires that a hole be present in the film for such testing purposes and, further requires use of a combination vacuum-pressure head which engages outer surfaces of the lid to blow air down through the hole in the lid. The vacuum arrangement is used to draw one film away from the other to permit supply of air through the hole. The fluid supply includes a tube that is centered within the vacuum arrangement and which must be aligned with the hole in order to deliver fluid pressure to the area between the films separated by the vacuum arrangement. The vacuum force required to separate the films could have the effect of separating the seal and thereby producing a leak where none previously existed. Furthermore, the alignment of the vacuum head, the supply head, with the hole in the adjacent film must be precise because of the dual pressure-vacuum functions else the desired separation of the films will not take place or the fluid injection will not properly occur, such as where the vacuum head overlaps the hole.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,830 to Hulsman discloses a device which was intended to overcome problems perceived in the Wyslotsky device described above. The Hulsman apparatus makes use of an externally applied pressure chamber for isolating the external edge of a flange seal and applying a test pressure thereto. Containment of the pressure chamber includes sealing pressure applied directly to the seal which is being tested for leaks. A self compensating biasing mechanism is provided in an attempt to minimize the clamping force which necessarily occurs against the seal. The clamping device of the Hulsman apparatus may defeat the purpose of proof testing by temporarily sealing small leaks which exist in the container seal. Such leaks occur in seals that have small entrapped air or moisture pockets or other defects. Such defects may be flattened and sealed by the clamping pressure applied to the container seal which is required to maintain the external pressure chamber in the Hulsman device. Such defective containers will pass the Hulsman proof test but may later re-open. Such testing thus suffers a serious reliability problem which is addressed by the current invention.
Other conventional apparatus utilized for placing contents of a package under "external" vacuum to determine leaks represent earnest attempts at solutions to the problem of testing closed containers yet most are relatively slow and dependent upon unpredictable variables such as packaging material variances and compressibility of package contents and the tendency for the package contents to block leaks.
The advantage of vacuum test systems using internal vacuum forces within the packaging is that leaks, if present, will occur from the atmosphere inwardly toward the package contents. There is no opportunity for the package contents to block the leak and thereby provide false indication that a leak is not present. To the contrary, inward motion of air or other gas through a leak will have a tendency to unplug a leak and thus provide a relatively reliable indication of the leak, if accurate detection mechanisms are utilized. However, such procedures and apparatus have not been sufficiently reliable for use in packaging where portions of the cover "flap" and the container substrate "lip" extend outwardly beyond the seal being tested because of the tendency for the vacuum pressure to pull the cover flap tightly against the substrate lip. This action could result in a dangerous situation in which leaks would be temporarily closed during the testing procedure, but that would reopen at a later time.
Container seal testing problems are amplified in areas where multiple containers are formed and covered with a single cover. Such multiple container construction often occurs just prior to filling of the containers with a food or other product. Then, immediately following the filling procedure, the single continuous cover is applied over the open container ends. Testing of these "form and fill" type containers is a difficult and time consuming undertaking. Procedures involving destructive testing may be utilized on the individual containers. However, destructive type testing results in loss of product. Further, it is typically not feasible to recycle product from a destructively tested container if the container is interconnected integrally with a number of other assumed satisfactory containers or filled containers. Thus, adequate containers and testing apparatus, especially in compound container and cover systems has remained a difficult problem in the container forming and food packaging industries.
From the above, it is readily seen that attempts have been made to test for leaks in sealed containers. While the solutions offered and suggested by the above references in many cases function adequately for specialized applications, there remains a need for testable containers and for a fast and more reliable testing method and apparatus by which container seals, such as those that are overlapped outwardly by container members, may be tested for leaks. There also remains a strong need to proof test without applying any clamping forces to the seal being tested.

Container seal testing and pressurization


Overvoltage protection circuitry configured to protect internal integrated circuits within an implantable device in the presence of a high voltage event such as defibrillation or electrocautery. The circuitry allows for an internal node to rise above the voltage level of the high voltage event to insure that an overvoltage protection element is triggered, even if the voltage level of the high voltage event is below the voltage trigger level of the overvoltage protection element.

A variety of medical devices for delivering a therapy and/or monitoring a physiological condition have been used clinically or proposed for clinical use in patients. Examples include medical device that delivery therapy and/or monitor conditions associated with the heart, muscle, nerve, brain, stomach, or other organs or issues. Some therapies include the delivery of electrical signals, e.g., stimulation, to such organs or tissues. Some medical devices may employ one or more elongated electrical leads carrying electrodes for delivery of therapeutic electrical stimulation to such organs or tissues. In some examples, a lead may include electrodes that sense intrinsic electrical signals within the patient and/or other sensors for sensing physiological parameters of a patient. Other medical devices do not include leads, and instead include electrodes and/or sensors formed on or located within a housing of the device. In some examples, the medical device may be an implantable medical device (IMD).
Patients requiring delivery of electrical stimulation may also require other therapeutic or diagnostic devices or procedures. In some examples, such as the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the application of a defibrillation pulse, or the use of cauterizing equipment during surgical procedures, there is a risk of damage to circuitry within an IMD due to the additional therapeutic or diagnostic devices or procedures. In particular, the additional therapeutic or diagnostic procedure may generate large amount of electrical current that can cause damage to circuitry within the IMD.


A semiconductor device comprises a plurality of solder bumps each formed on a pad of a semiconductor device. The top of each of the solder bumps is covered with a masking film, and the bases of the solder bumps are buried with a reinforcement film. The oxidation of the solder bumps is prevented by the masking film and the reinforcement film, the latter also undertaking the thermal stress generated between the semiconductor chip and the circuit board. The mounting is conducted with the masking film remaining on the top of the solder ball, which breaks the masking film and connected to the pad on the circuit board.

1. (a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a projecting electrode and, more particularly, to a technique for fabricating projecting electrodes on a semiconductor device.
2. (b) Description of the Related Art
Examples of mounting techniques for a semiconductor device using projecting electrodes include a flip-chip bonding and a ball grid array (BGA) bonding. To mount a semiconductor chip on a printed circuit board by using a flip-chip bonding technique, for example, an array of ball electrodes made of gold or solder are first formed on the electrodes of the semiconductor chip, then thermally melted by using a thermal-pressing technique or reflow technique after the ball electrodes are disposed on the lands of the mounting board, followed by hardening by cooling.
FIG. 1 shows a flip-chip bonding technique, wherein a semiconductor chip 31 is mounted on a printed circuit board 33 by using a plurality of ball electrodes 32. The ball electrodes 32 are bonded to respective solder lands of interconnects in the printed circuit board 33.
Ball electrodes are also used for mounting onto a mounting board a so-called BGA semiconductor device fabricated by mounting a semiconductor chip on a printed circuit board, ceramic circuit board or polyimide film having an interconnect pattern, followed by sealing the semiconductor chip with a sealing resin. The BGA semiconductor device generally comprises a plurality of ball electrodes, called solder bumps, made of solder balls and arranged in a two-dimensional matrix on the bottom surface of the semiconductor chip. In this text, a semiconductor chip having ball electrodes used for a flip-chip mounting technique, as mentioned above, is also called a BGA semiconductor device or chip.
A BGA semiconductor device 31 mounted on a circuit board 33 using ball electrodes 32 sometimes suffers from cracks 35 such as shown in FIG. 1 in the bases of the ball electrodes 32 after a long time operation. The cracks 35 are considered to be caused by a large difference in the thermal expansion coefficient between the BGA semiconductor chip 31 and the mounting board 33 mounting the same.
Specifically, a semiconductor chip 31 formed on a silicon substrate has a thermal expansion coefficient considerably lower than that of the mounting board 33 made of a resin. The heat generated in the semiconductor chip 31 during operation thereof and by other electric components generates a difference in the thermal expansion (shown by the lengths of arrows in FIG. 1) between the semiconductor chip 31 and the mounting board 33. The difference in the thermal expansion causes a shear force in the ball electrodes 32 to generate cracks 35 therein.
The problem cracks can be solved to some extent by filling the space between the semiconductor chip 31 and the mounting board 33 with a resin as shown in FIG. 2. Patent Publication JP-A-4-219944 describes the structure of FIG. 2, wherein a thermosetting resin 36 is used for the filling. To obtain the structure of FIG. 2, it is proposed in the publication that the semiconductor chip 31 mounted on the circuit board 33 be slanted and the space therebetween be filled with a thermosetting resin 36 having a low viscosity by using a nozzle 37 and a capillary function of the space, as shown in FIG. 3. However, this process has a disadvantage in that a semiconductor chip 31 or board 33 having a defect therein found after the filling cannot be replaced by another equivalent semiconductor chip or board.
Patent Publication JP-A-8-236654 proposes that the bases of the solder bumps be coated with a resin to improve the reliability irrespective of the thermally sever condition such as a thermal impact test after the mounting. The proposed structure may be obtained by the steps of coating the entire surface of the solder bumps formed on a semiconductor chip with a resin and subsequent removing the resin at the tops of the solder bumps, or by the steps of masking the tops of the solder bumps with a resin film, filling the space between the bases of the solder bumps with a resin, curing the filled resin and removing the masking film from the tops of the solder bumps. This technique, however, also involves other problems in that the removal of the masking film effected as by surface treatment raises the costs of the resultant semiconductor device, and in that the solder bumps are often peeled off due to the moisture absorbed after the removal of the masking film and a rapid heating during the mounting.
If only the space between the bases of the solder bumps are filled with resin and the resin is cured, which is also possible, the tops of the solder bumps are often oxidized due to the high temperature ambient, which causes defects after the mounting. The problem oxidation of the solder bumps may be also involved in the process using the removal of the masking film from the tops of the solder bumps, as mentioned above, or during the storage of the semiconductor device having the solder bumps. In any case, the solder bumps generally suffer from the oxidation in the thermal process and should be carefully treated as such.

Semiconductor device having a projecting electrode


The present disclosure discloses a multifunctional balance chair comprising a support portion, a seat portion, and a kneeling cushion portion. The seat portion is movably connected to the support portion, and an angle between the seat portion and the horizontal plane is controlled by relative movement between the seat portion and the support portion. The kneeling cushion portion is movably connected to the seat portion and connected to the support portion by a connecting mechanism. The kneeling cushion portion is movable between a first position aligned with the seat portion and a second position in which the kneeling cushion portion constitutes a balance chair cushion. The movement of the seat portion is linked to movement of the kneeling cushion portion.

The conventional balance chair comprises a leg frame, a backrest disposed on the leg frame, a seat portion disposed on the leg frame, and a kneeling cushion portion disposed on the leg frame. The conventional balance chair has only a single function. Therefore, there is room for improvement.
In view of the aforementioned deficiencies, a solution has been proposed. A variable balance chair, disclosed in Chinese Patent Publication CN2390484Y, comprises a seat plate, a bracket, and a backrest. A rear seat plate adjustment sleeve of the bracket is connected to a rear support bar of the bracket in a lifting and lowing manner. The seat plate and the bracket are connected in a positioning and embedding method, and a knee and leg cushion is disposed on a position of the bracket near knees and legs of a user when the user is sitting. Although the variable balance chair can be switched between a seat state and a balance chair state, when used in a seat state, the presence of the knee and leg cushion interferes with the placement of the seat for the user, resulting in discomfort to the user. Moreover, if the sitting area is too small, the user will be uncomfortable.


Apparatus, methods and systems having first and second imaging stations for processing a specimen collection slide having a specimen adsorbed there-through. The first imaging station having a first camera adjacent a first surface of the sample slide and a first lighting assembly directed at an opposite surface of the slide to capture the first surface image, while the second imaging station has a second camera adjacent the second surface and a second lighting assembly directed at the first slide surface to capture a second surface image. A computing device having sets of instructions receives and analyzes the imaging data from the first and second imaging stations, and identifies a location of the absorbed specimen for removal. A punch removes this identified location of the absorbed specimen on the sample slide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to dried blood spots, and in particular, to systems and methods of obtaining and sampling dried blood spots for the analysis thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
In 1963 Guthrie developed a method for collecting blood samples on absorbent filtration media. The blood samples were dried and transported to the laboratory for analysis. Today, dried blood spots (DBS) are used for mandatory newborn screening programs in the U.S. and in many other nations worldwide. DBS methods have also become common in other medical and forensic applications.
With the advancement of analyte detection methods, primarily liquid chromatography combined with mass spectroscopy (LC-MS or LC-MS/MS), interest has been expanded for the use of DBS for preclinical and clinical applications in lieu of plasma. The small blood volumes required, and the lower transportation and storage costs, are the driving factors. For preclinical applications, there is a significant reduction in the number of animals that are sacrificed, contributing to the ethics of DBS. Dried blood spots are also stable for an extended period of time, often measured in years if the DBS is kept dry. This eliminates the cold storage and shipping requirement needs of plasma, which will drastically reduce costs.
A change from plasma to DBS creates many new challenges to meet the requirements of public health. For the last two years, extensive method development for DBS has occurred in the Bioanalytical market to meet the requirements that are being defined by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (hereinafter "FDA") for meeting public health safety standards. The FDA, as the guardian of public health, will accept DBS studies only after they have met or exceeded predefined health standards that have been established for plasma. The present invention addresses such needs.

Automated dried blood spot system and method


An active, independent suspension system has dual piston, compressible fluid struts (22). Each of the dual piston struts (22) has an outer cylinder (24) and an outer piston rod (30), which each respectively define exterior peripheries for an outer pressure chamber (32) and an inner pressure chamber (54). Pressures applied to a compressible fluid (56) in respective ones of the outer and inner pressure chambers (32, 54) urge the outer piston to extend from within the outer cylinder (24). A control system (240) is provided for actively controlling an amount of compressible fluid (56) disposed within each of the outer and inner chambers (32, 54).

Prior art suspension systems for vehicles have used conventional coil springs and shock absorbers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,547, entitled "Dual Piston Strut," and issued to Leo W. Davis on Oct. 6, 1992, discloses dual piston strut for use in vehicle suspensions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,389,341, entitled "Control System For A Vehicle Suspension," and issued to Leo W. Davis on May 14, 2002, discloses an active control system for vehicle suspension.
Prior art suspension systems have been provided for motor vehicles to isolate the vehicle frame, or chassis, from impacts and vibrations resulting from vehicle wheels traversing uneven terrain. Vehicle ride characteristics have complex dynamics characterized by nonlinearities, vehicle roll and pitch, vehicle flexibility effects, varying parameters, unknown friction, deadzones and high amplitude disturbances. Excess vibration results in artificial vehicle speed limitations, reduced vehicle-frame life, biological effects on passengers and detrimental consequences to cargo. Present automobile suspension systems traditionally use passive suspension systems which can only offer a compromise between the two conflicting criteria of comfort and performance by providing spring and dampening coefficients of fixed rates. Passive suspension systems have been provided by separate coil springs and shock absorbing dampers, in which power is not input by a controlled power source to counteract impacts and vibrations resulting from traversing the rough terrain. The traditional engineering practice of designing spring and dampening functions as two separate functions has been a compromise from its inception in the late 1800s. As a result, vehicles have always been designed, styled and built around the space-weight requirements and performance limitations of traditional suspension configurations. Due to the demands of increased fuel mileage and decreased emissions, passenger and commercial vehicles are becoming lighter, which results in the differences between laden and unladen weights of the vehicles becoming so broad that traditional suspension systems are unable to span the load range effectively, causing serious degradation in performance of the vehicle ride quality, load handling and control.
To provide increased mobility and stability, independent passive suspensions have been developed which have proven their worth in improved mobility over rough courses, but high wheel travel has sacrificed improved stability. Active suspension systems provide a solution for improved stability, as well has providing improved mobility.
Active suspension systems reduce these undesirable ride characteristics by providing active, powered components which isolate the car body from tire vibrations induced by uneven terrain, to provide improved comfort, road handling performance and safety for a variety of terrains and vehicle maneuvers. In active vehicle suspension systems, actuators are provided to actively apply forces which counteract and balance forces applied to the chassis of the motor vehicle.

Compressible fluid independent active suspension