Electrode assemblies easily impregnated with an electrolyte are provided. A sealing tape attached to the outer circumference of the electrode assembly comprises a material having an affinity for the electrolyte. Alternatively, the entire sealing tape or a portion of the tape is coated with the material. In another alternative, the surface of the sealing tape is rough, thereby improving wetting of the tape by the electrolyte and diffusion of the electrolyte into the tape. In another embodiment, first and second insulating plates comprise a material having an affinity for the electrolyte. In another alternative, the insulating plates comprise a mixture of a material having an affinity for the electrolyte and polypropylene or polyethylene. Alternatively, the surfaces of the insulating plates are coated with the material or with a surfactant that reduces the surface tension of the electrolyte.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lithium ion secondary batteries. More particularly, the present invention relates to lithium ion secondary batteries having a sealing tape attached to the outer circumference of the electrode assembly.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Recently, compact and light electrical and electronic apparatuses, such as mobile telephones, notebook computers, and camcorders, have been actively developed and produced. Battery packs are built in the portable electrical and electronic apparatuses so that the portable electrical and electronic apparatuses can operate without an additional power source. The built-in battery pack includes at least one battery for outputting a uniform voltage level to drive the portable electrical or electronic apparatus for a desired period of time.
Secondary batteries that can be charged and discharged have recently been used as the battery packs for economic reasons. Secondary batteries include Ni—Cd batteries, Ni-MH batteries, lithium metal batteries, and lithium ion batteries.
The operation voltage of lithium ion secondary batteries is commonly 3.6V, which is three times higher than the operation voltages of Ni—Cd batteries and Ni-MH batteries which are widely used as the power sources for portable electronic apparatuses. In addition, the energy density per unit weigh of lithium ion secondary batteries is high. Therefore, use of lithium ion secondary batteries has rapidly increased.
In lithium ion secondary batteries, lithium based oxides are used as the positive electrode active materials, and carbon materials are used as the negative electrode active materials. In general, lithium ion secondary batteries are classified into liquid electrolyte batteries and polymer electrolyte batteries depending on the kind of electrolyte. Batteries using liquid electrolytes are referred to as lithium ion batteries and batteries using polymer electrolytes are referred to as lithium polymer batteries. Also, lithium ion secondary batteries can take various shapes, such as cylinders, polygons, and pouches.
In general, a cylindrical lithium ion secondary battery includes an electrode assembly having a positive electrode plate coated with positive active materials, a negative electrode plate coated with negative active materials, and a separator positioned between the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate. The separator prevents the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate from short-circuiting and permits movement of only lithium ions. The electrode assembly is wound and placed in a case together with the electrolyte, and a cap assembly seals the case.
A sealing tape for supporting, protecting, and insulating the electrode assembly is wound around the outer circumference of the electrode assembly in the lithium ion secondary battery. The sealing tape is commonly formed of polyolefin based materials such as polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyimide (PI). However, these materials are barely wetted by the electrolyte and the electrolyte is barely diffused into the materials (the materials have a weak affinity for the electrolyte). As a result, the capillary phenomenon, which generates a minute gap between the case and the electrode assembly during impregnation of the electrolyte, is prevented. Furthermore, as the capacity of the battery increases, the density of the electrode assembly increases. Therefore, the external diameter of the electrode assembly increases and the space between the electrode assembly and the case decreases, making impregnation of the electrolyte more difficult.
In a cylindrical lithium ion secondary battery, before inserting the electrode assembly into the case, a lower insulating plate is inserted to insulate the electrode assembly and the case from each other. Also, after inserting the electrode assembly and before sealing the case with the cap assembly, an upper insulating plate is inserted to insulate the electrode assembly and the cap assembly from each other.
Since the upper and lower insulating plates are commonly formed of polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP), the upper and lower insulating plates are barely wetted by the electrolyte and the electrolyte is barely diffused into the upper and lower insulating plates (the upper and lower insulating plates have weak affinities for the electrolyte). Therefore, the electrode assembly is prevented from being sufficiently impregnated with the electrolyte. Furthermore, as the capacity of the battery increases, the density of the electrode assembly increases. As a result, the external diameter of the electrode assembly increases. When the external diameter of the electrode assembly increases, the space between the case and the electrode assembly decreases, making impregnation of the electrolyte more difficult.


A method and system for determining a mass and energy balance for a glass furnace proceeds through a furnace model and calculates a number of parameters for the flows within each segment of the furnace. The mass flow rate, enthalpy, and enthalpy flow rate of each mass flow entering a segment is found and then the enthalpy and temperature of the unreacted mixture is determined. Based on an assumption that the flows entering a segment combust completely and instantaneously, the enthalpy, enthalpy flow rate, mass flow, composition, and temperature of a reacted flow exiting the segment is determined. If the furnace implements reburning, then the mass flows for the furnace are adjusted. Also, the mass and energy for each flow can be determined if the furnace has a regenerator, a recuperator, or a reburning system. Further, the mass and energy for each flow can be determined for a wide range of furnace types.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method and system for modeling the behavior of a furnace and, more particularly, to a method and system for modeling a furnace to determine the mass and energy flow rate for each gas stream within the furnace.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the United States, glass manufacturing furnaces generally fall into three broad classes of furnaces: container glass furnaces, flat glass furnaces, and fiber glass furnaces. The container glass furnaces produce approximately 65 percent of all the glass manufactured in the United States and typically either have an end port design or a side port design. The flat glass furnaces produce about 20 percent of the glass in the United States and mainly employ either a float glass method or an energy and labor intensive flat glass method. The fiber glass and specialty glass furnaces are generally smaller than the other types of furnaces and produce approximately 20 percent of the glass in the United States.
The three types of glass furnaces operate under different conditions. For instance, the temperature profiles within the three types of furnaces are typically different whereby the combustion air and exhaust gases are at different temperatures. The furnaces also differ in the number and configuration of firing ports, the production capability of the furnaces, and the amount of electric boosting.
In view of the different furnace designs and the variations in operating conditions, it has generally been difficult in the industry to theoretically evaluate the performance of a glass furnace. While measurements in a furnace can indicate the performance of the furnace with a given set of operating parameters, a change in a parameter or set of parameters may have a significant impact on the furnace's overall behavior. Since a change in operating parameters may have adverse effects on the furnace and on the refractory, the operating parameters of the furnace should not be changed without a good estimation on how the changes will effect the furnace's behavior. A need therefore exists for a method or system for predicting the behavior of a furnace for a given set of operating parameters and also for a change in the parameters.
A glass furnace produces high concentrations of oxides of nitrogen (NO.sub.x) due to the high combustion temperatures required to melt the glass batch materials As with other industries, the glass industry is being forced by increasingly stringent air quality regulations to reduce the emissions of NO.sub.x. For glass furnaces, available options for NO.sub.x control are generally either very expensive or have the potential to negatively impact the process. For instance, two NO.sub.x control technologies for glass furnaces which result in only moderate reductions in emissions, such as 40 to 50 percent, are oxygen-enriched air staging (OEAS) and low NO.sub.x burners (LNB). While another common technology, namely oxy-fuel systems, can help glass furnaces achieve up to 90 percent reductions in NO.sub.x, oxy-fuel systems are rather expensive. A need therefore exists for a method of achieving high levels of NO.sub.x emissions control in a cost effective manner.
A technology that has not yet been applied to glass furnaces is gas reburning. Gas reburning, in general, is a NO.sub.x control technology which can be used to control emissions from virtually any continuous emission source. Gas reburning is not fuel specific but can be applied to equipment fired with coal, oil, gas, biomass, or waste fuels. Some of the principal applications where gas reburning can effectively be applied are utility boilers, industrial boilers, process heaters, incinerators, furnaces, and kilns. A significant amount of the work in the reburning industry has focused on coal-fired utility boilers where gas reburning has successfully been demonstrated to provide control levels between 60 to 70 percent. The emphasis in reducing emissions in coal-fired utility boilers has been due, in large part, to the need to control acid rain precursors, such as NO.sub.x and SO.sub.2.
The addition of a reburning system to a glass furnace, however, alters the temperature profile within the glass furnace and alters the overall thermal process. Before a glass furnace can be designed to have a reburning system, the effects of the reburning system on various aspects of the glass furnace and on the operation of the glass furnace should be determined. These effects include changes in mass flows within the furnace, the effect on the refractory, the effect on the furnace's life-time, the fuel efficiency of the furnace, the effect on the chemistry within the furnace, and the degree of NO.sub.x reduction. A need therefore exists for a method and system for determining the effects of a given reburning system design on the operation of a glass furnace and for determining the mass and energy for each flow within the furnace.
To improve the efficiency of the glass furnace and to maintain high temperatures in a melter, a heat recovery device will often be used to recover heat from the melter flue gases and to provide high air preheat temperatures. Two common recovery devices are a regenerator and a recuperator. A regenerator comprises a stack of refractory bricks or other packing material which receives the products of combustion and a complementary stack which preheats air for combustion. At regular intervals, such as every 15 to 20 minutes, firing ports in the furnace are reversed with exhaust ports. As a result, the air entering the regenerator is preheated to high temperatures by the heated stack of refractory bricks. A recuperator, in contrast, routes the combustion flue gases to the air-side portion of the furnace in order to transfer the heat from the combustion gases to the air entering the furnace. This heat transfer takes place through a solid separator, so the air and flue gas do not mix. Because a given glass furnace may have either a regenerator or a recuperator, a need exists for a system and method for determining the mass and energy of each flow within a furnace and the temperatures within a furnace having either a regenerator or a recuperator. Since a furnace may also have reburning, a need exists for a method and system for determining the mass and energy of each flow and the temperature profile within a furnace having reburning.

Method and system for calculating mass and energy balance for glass furnace reburn


A terminal having an orientation feature that presents a cut edge in an insertion direction.

The disclosure relates to an electrical terminal or contact for use with a mating pin or blade contact to join electrical wires or other electrical conductors together.
It is well known in the art of electrical connectors to provide a receptacle contact or terminal for the receipt of a pin or blade contact where the receptacle terminal has contact beams which extend from a receptacle body and are profiled to electrically engage a pin or blade contact upon insertion thereof. This contact between the receptacle contacts and its corresponding pin or blade contact interconnects the pin and receptacle contacts and results in an electrical connection between the two and their associated terminated conductors.
Multiple different requirements are involved in such an electrical device, particularly when used in a multi-position connector and/or when used in application with specific environmental concerns, for example when used in an automotive connector.
One requirement that may be necessary for multi-position connectors, is that the contact must be capable of sealing. In some cases, a discreet wire seal is crimped to individual contacts around individual wires, and the contact and its associated seal are inserted into an aperture in a connector housing. In other cases a rear seal is provided having a multitude of apertures through which individual contacts are inserted where the contacts are larger than the hole through which they extend, as the holes are nominally provided to sealingly engage the discreet wire to which they are connected.
One electrical receptacle is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,945 (incorporated herein by reference) where dual beam contacts are provided in a reversely bent sense such that their free ends overlap. The present disclosure provides an orientation feature that may be used on a terminal used with the receptacle of U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,945 and other receptacles. A described embodiment of the orientation feature presents a metal edge that has been cut such that abutment of the cut edge to a seal during introduction of the terminal into a housing does not result in the seal being cut or damaged.

Sealed orientation feature for a terminal


An occupant protection system includes a seatbelt device mountable on a vehicle seat and an airbag device mountable in a vicinity of a fastening area of the seatbelt device where a buckle section of the seatbelt device buckles a tongue. The airbag device includes an airbag inflatable between a lap belt, a shoulder belt and an occupant seated in the seat. The airbag includes a front inflatable section extending forward and a rear inflatable section extending rear- and upwardly. The rear inflatable section is so configured as to ride over a vicinity of the fastening area and contact the front inflatable section when an occupant of the vehicle moves forward and pushes the rear inflatable section at an impact on a vehicle from the front of the buckle section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an occupant protection system that includes a seatbelt device mountable on a seat of a vehicle and an airbag device mountable in a vicinity of a fastening area of the seatbelt device on the seat where a buckle section of the seat belt device buckles a tongue.
2. Description of Related Art
JP2008-143273 discloses a known occupant protection system including a seatbelt device and an airbag device located in a vicinity of a fastening area of the seatbelt device. In this occupant protection system, the airbag device is so actuated as to deploy an airbag over a body part of an occupant in a vicinity of the fastening area in a generally triangular shape as viewed from a side.
In the conventional occupant protection system, the airbag is designed to protect the pelvic area of an occupant seated in a vehicle seat mainly from a buckle section of the seatbelt device. However, the airbag at deployment does not extend over to the front and rear of the buckle section as viewed from a side, and therefore, still has a room for improvement in order to arrest the pelvic area and protect the occupant in the event of a partial overlap frontal collision in which an impact force acts from the front of the buckle section.


A flexible, reusable quick sifter for use with a litter box which employs litter of the clumping type. The sifter has an expandable or stretchable netting secured to a hydrophobic surface across an opening such as a slit in a central area of the box. On lifting, clumping litter disposed in the central area spreads the netting and the slit open to allow unclumped litter to sift through the netting. The clumped litter is retained in the quick sifter and netting material for convenient disposal. The quick sifter is made from a rubberized fabric for reusability.

The use of a clumping type of litter in animal litter boxes, such as, for example, cat litter boxes, has desirable features. The clumping of the litter upon contact by liquid waste material such as urine allows the waste material to be easily separated from the uncontaminated litter. Commonly, the clumps of litter and the fecal material in the litter box after use by an animal are removed by scooping the litter with a slotted or perforated spoon to sift the unclumped litter from the waste material. In this manner, the uncontaminated litter can be, at least in theory, kept clean for continued use by the animal. Litter removed with the waste material is generally periodically replaced to maintain a sufficient quantity of litter in the box for use by the animal.
Sifting the litter with the scooping spoon is undesirable. The chore can be time-consuming and often not as effective as desired. For example, if the slots in the spoon are too large, smaller pieces of soiled litter and waste material cannot be separated. Or, if the sifting action is too vigorous, the clumps of litter can be disturbed and broken so that they are not removed from the litter.
Various forms of quick sifters for litter boxes using clumping litter have been proposed. One type of quick sifter in the prior art is made of rigid materials, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,217,857 to Geddie. Not originally designed for use with clumping litter, this rigid box quick sifter uses a rigid screen pan and two receiving pans that nest or stack together. The litter is cleaned by lifting out the screen pan to sift the litter from the fecal material, placing the screen pan in the unused receiving pan, and pouring in the screened litter to cover the screen. The emptied pan is then nested under the filled receiving pan until the next litter cleaning. However, when the rigid box quick sifter is used with clumping litter, the clumps adhere to the sides and bottom of the screen pan, and in some cases form directly in the grid of the screen. These clumps stuck on or in the screen pan complicate the sifting operation and necessitate cleaning of the screen pan.
Another rigid box quick sifter uses three nested pans with longitudinal spaced-apart slats in the bottom of each pan which are offset from each other by rotating 180 degrees, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,325,815. These quick sifters have the same problems noted with the Geddie device, but also suffer from urine leakage through the spaces between the slats if the pans are aligned improperly, as when one inadvertently forgets to rotate the bottom pans, or if litter accumulates between the pans and prevents the pans from nesting properly.
Disposable liners having holes formed therethrough in a spaced-apart manner have also been proposed, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,712. These liners still have a number of drawbacks. For example, the holes are usually sized and spaced in a manner which does not allow the unsoiled litter to flow rapidly or completely freely from the sifting liner, with the result that these sifters are not quick enough for the convenience of some consumers. The relatively large perforations through the liner can allow smaller pieces of soiled litter to pass through the liner and contaminate the relatively clean litter. Moreover, these types of sifters are disposable and designed for a single use. Usually made of plastic film, these sifters are not durable.
There remains a need in the art for a reusable quick sifter for use with clumping litter which is economical for everyday use, inhibits passage of urine from the litter box, keeps the side walls of the box clean, is easy to clean and keep aligned for sifting, and quickly and easily effects the sifting operation.


A plasma generator is described which employs a partial PBN liner not only to minimise the loss of energetic gas species during film formation but also to reduce boron impurity levels introduced into the growing film relative to the use of a complete PBN liner. The use of such a plasma generator in a film forming apparatus and method of forming a film is also described.

Any reference to background art herein is not to be construed as an admission that such art constitutes common general knowledge in Australia or elsewhere.
Metal containing films, such as gallium nitride (GaN) films, have applications in a range of devices from light emitting diodes (LEDs) to ultraviolet detectors to transistor devices.
These films have commonly been produced by techniques including molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) and remote plasma enhanced chemical vapour deposition (RPECVD or RPCVD). RPCVD has been employed to produce films of high quality at lower temperatures than MOCVD, which often involves growth temperatures of about 1000° C. to 1200° C., to thereby reduce equipment costs and allow the use of temperature sensitive preferred substrates for film deposition.
RPCVD uses the generation of plasma from a feed gas, such as nitrogen, to react with a metal organic reagent and deposit the desired material on the substrate. In this technique it is important to maintain a consistent level of suitably energetic active gas species which are supplied to the reaction or growth chamber from the plasma generation region being a plasma tube.
One pathway by which energetic active gas species can be diminished is through surface recombination on the walls of the plasma tube within which the plasma is generated and potentially also on the walls of the vessels transporting the active gas species to the growth chamber. This surface recombination is the recombination of atoms or molecules of, for example, nitrogen which reduces the number of active atomic or molecular nitrogen species available for reaction with the metal organic reagent.
For this reason it may be useful to construct the plasma tube from a material which has low inherent surface recombination properties for the particular active gas species being generated. Pyrolytic boron nitride (PBN) is a useful material for this purpose when generating a nitrogen plasma. However, PBN is a relatively expensive material and is difficult to machine to the desired specifications and so the cost of manufacture of the plasma generator is raised significantly by the inclusion of a PBN plasma tube. Further, the present inventors have noted that sputtering of the PBN tube walls introduces significant levels of boron as an impurity into the growing film. This reduces the quality of the film and its suitability for certain device purposes and is a significant drawback of this approach.
It would be useful to provide a plasma generator which allows for a reduction in the loss of active species due to surface recombinations but which does not contribute to impurity incorporation into the growing film beyond acceptable commercial levels.

Apparatus and method for the reduction of impurities in films


Projector and camera arrangements are provided for use in electronic whiteboard systems. Specifically, the present invention provides projector and camera arrangements wherein the projector and camera share the same imaging optics. By sharing the same projection and camera optics, the distortions that affect the projection system are the same as those of the camera system. Thus, the calibration step required in conventional whiteboard systems where the projector and camera are separate, i.e., each having their own distinct optics and settings, is no longer needed. Further, the arrangements provided in accordance with the invention are self-aligning, even when lens distortions are large and even in the presence of strong perspective effects. The shared optics projector and camera arrangements of the invention also provide for dynamic zooming. In addition, various active and passive optical marker or lightpen designs are provided for use in electronic whiteboard systems.

An electronic whiteboard system is a processor-based computing system used to input and output information associated with a software application running on the system. Typically, in accordance with such a system, one or more users "write" on the whiteboard using an electronic writing instrument, such as a lightpen. The lightpen permits the user to write with "electronic ink." Electronic ink is the term given to writing that is electronically captured from and/or electronically projected on the whiteboard without using physical ink. However, in some whiteboard systems, the "writing" may be done with actual physical ink on the whiteboard. In any case, a user's writing, as well as any other desired information, is displayed on the whiteboard which is viewable by the one or more users. The data entered on the whiteboard may then be stored for subsequent use by the application being run on the system. Examples of such whiteboard systems are: Ideaboard by 3M Inc. (http://www.3m.com/vsd/ams/11_whtbd.html); e-Beam by Electronics for Imaging, Inc. (http://www.e-beam.com/ihdex_flash.html); SoftBoard by Microfield Graphics, Inc. (http://www.softboard.com/); SMART Board (htttp://www.smartboard.co.uk/product/index.html); Mimio by Virtual Ink Inc. (http://www.virtual-ink.com/ns.shtml); and Liveboard, The Office of the Future: Xerox PARC, Wendy Taylor, PC Computing, pp. 192, January 1995.
A collaborative whiteboard system is a distributed computing system which includes two or more individual electronic whiteboard systems, as mentioned above, in communication with each other while running a collaborative application. While the individual systems, and thus their respective users, are remote from one another, a user at a first location is able to view information written by a user at a second location. This way, the remote users may interact as if they are in the same location. Examples of such whiteboard systems are: Netmeeting by Microsoft, Inc.; and Sametime by Lotus, Inc.
In existing whiteboard collaborations, data contributed to the overall system is only associated with the individual whiteboard system at which the contribution is made. That is, any data entered at a given location by multiple users may only be identified as data contributed at the system of the given location. Thus, unfortunately, there is no way to distinguish the individual contributors of data at a particular location. Stated another way, there currently is no way to impart identity or ownership to whiteboard data, such as pen strokes.
One existing solution is to run multiple client collaboration application programs on one computer so as to accommodate the multiple users for the one computer at one site. One major drawback is the lack of computing resources on one computer. Another disadvantage is that such a setup does not seamlessly convey that these multiple users are actually at one physical site.
Thus, in accordance with applications running on such a collaborative whiteboard system, it would be desirable to be able to separate contributions made by individual users in the collaborative system. That is, it would be desirable to be able to identify which user in the distributed system entered which whiteboard data.

Methods and apparatus for associating a user with content in a collaborative whiteboard system

International Business Machines Corporation


An electronic apparatus having an input unit and a network card and a wake-up method thereof are provided. In the method, an input event triggered by the input unit is received. Next, whether the electronic apparatus is in a partial wake-up mode entered after being woken up by the network card is determined. Then, the electronic apparatus is woken up to a normal operation mode if the electronic apparatus is in the partial wake-up mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electronic apparatus and a wake-up method thereof, and more particularly, relates to an electronic device woken up by a network card and a wake-up method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, along with evolving computer technology, remote control technology becomes increasingly common. A user may operate a computer remotely through the Internet at any time. For example, a typical user may operate a computer system at an office from home by using remote control, so as to obtain required data or perform remote operations. A system administrator may further use remote control to obtain hardware status, system event log records and the like information of a remote computer to understand the status of a computer system at any time.
Computer systems nowadays typically have a network card supporting a Wake on LAN (WOL) function, and may execute a wake-up event after receiving a wake-up request from another remote computer by using the network card. Since a partial wake-up mode is entered after being woken up by a network card, under such a mode the computer system is allowed for remote data access only, and a part of the equipments (for example, a screen, a speaker, a CD-ROM and the like) is still in a sleep state or a shutdown state for saving power and preventing noise.
For example, referring to TABLE 1, the states of a computer include a partial wake-up state corresponding to aforesaid partial wake-up mode, a display off state, a sleep state, a hibernate state, and a shutdown state. The outcomes of executing the wake-up events triggered by input units corresponding to different states are different. For example, in the above partial wake-up state, since a part of the components are still in a sleep or shutdown state, a user may mistakenly determine that the computer is still in a sleep state and perform a wake-up behavior such as pressing the power button, keying on the keyboard or clicking on the mouse. That is to say, when the computer is under the partial wake-up mode, if a user presses the power button, the computer will execute the event corresponding to the power button (for example, hibernate, sleep or shutdown and the like). Accordingly, this will cause a result unexpected by the user.
TABLE 1Input DeviceStatePower ButtonKeyboardMousePartial Wake-UpEvent correspondingDisplay OnNotStateto power buttonApplicableDisplay Off StateEvent correspondingDisplay OnNotto power buttonApplicableSleep StateWake up to normalWake up toWake up tomodenormal modenormal modeHibernate StateWake up to normalNotNotmodeApplicableApplicableShutdown StateWake up to normalNotNotmodeApplicableApplicable
In summary, how to solve the problem of being unable to wake up the electronic apparatus that is in a partial wake-up mode to a normal operating state through the wake-up events, such as pressing the power button, keying on the keyboard or clicking on the mouse, is a goal dedicated by those skilled in the art in the technical field.

Electronic apparatus and wake-up method thereof


A fuel cell includes a membrane electrode assembly, and a first and second separators for sandwiching the membrane electrode assembly. The first separator has an oxygen-containing gas flow passage for allowing an oxygen-containing gas in a serpentine pattern to flow horizontally back and forth, and flow downwardly. Partition areas are provided along the oxygen-containing gas flow passage in the serpentine pattern. The partition areas are formed by partially cutting out a gas diffusion layer. Insulating seals for preventing leakage of the oxygen-containing gas are provided in the partition areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fuel cell including an electrolyte electrode assembly and a pair of separators for sandwiching the electrolyte electrode assembly. Each of the electrolyte electrode assemblies includes a pair of electrodes and an electrolyte interposed between the electrodes. The separator has a serpentine reactant gas flow passage on its surface facing the electrolyte electrode assembly. Further, the present invention relates to a fuel cell stack formed by stacking a plurality of the fuel cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, a solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell employs a membrane electrode assembly (MEA) which comprises two electrodes (anode and cathode) and an electrolyte membrane interposed between the electrodes. The electrolyte membrane is a polymer ion exchange membrane (proton exchange membrane). Each of the electrodes comprises a catalyst and a porous carbon paper. The membrane electrode assembly is interposed between separators. The membrane electrode assembly and the separators make up a unit of the fuel cell for generating electricity. A predetermined number of fuel cells are stacked together to form a fuel cell stack.
In the fuel cell, a fuel gas such as a hydrogen-containing gas is supplied to the anode. The catalyst of the anode induces a chemical reaction of the fuel gas to split the hydrogen molecule into hydrogen ions (protons) and electrons. The hydrogen ions move toward the cathode through the electrolyte, and the electrons flow through an external circuit to the cathode, creating a DC electric current. An oxygen-containing gas or air is supplied to the cathode. At the cathode, the hydrogen ions from the anode combine with the electrons and oxygen to produce water.
In the fuel cell, the fuel gas and the oxygen-containing gas need to be supplied to the entire power generation surfaces of the anode and the cathode between the separators for maintaining the desired power generation performance. Therefore, for example, long reactant gas flow passages (fuel gas flow passage and oxygen-containing gas flow passage) in serpentine patterns are provided on the separators.
In the serpentine reactant gas flow passages, relatively large pressure losses occur for supplying the reactant gases uniformly. Since the reactant gases tend to flow into portions at relatively low pressure, the reactant gases may short-circuit (shortcut) or bypass the intended routes in the serpentine reactant gas flow passages, and the reactant gases may not be supplied to the power generation surfaces sufficiently for the fuel cell reaction.
In an attempt to address the problem, a fuel cell disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,984 has serpentine flow channels in a mirror-image fashion as a passage of the reactant gas. Each of the flow channels is the mirror image of the next adjacent flow channel. Therefore, no pressure difference exists between the adjacent flow channels, and the short-circuit of the reactant gas is prevented.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of supply manifolds 2 are formed at an end of a separator 1. The supply manifolds 2 are connected to pairs of first-and second serpentine flow channels 4a, 4b through inlet legs 3a, 3b, respectively. In FIG. 8, one pair of the first and second serpentine flow channels 4a, 4b are shown. The first and second serpentine flow channels 4a, 4b are connected to exhaust manifolds through outlet legs (not shown).
The first serpentine flow channel 4a is symmetrical with the second serpentine flow channel 4b. The first serpentine flow channel 4a allows the reactant gas to flow back and forth in a direction indicated by an arrow H, and flow in a direction indicated by an arrow V1. The second serpentine flow channel 4b allows the reactant gas to flow back and forth in the direction H, and flow in a direction indicated by an arrow V2 which is opposite to the direction V1. Therefore, the reactant gas is supplied to the inlet legs 3a, 3b at substantially the same pressure, and the short-circuit of the reactant gas is prevented.
In the first and second serpentine flow channels 4a, 4b, for example, after the reactant gas flows along a flow groove 5a in the direction H1, and the reactant gas turns back to flow along a flow groove 5b in the opposite direction H2. A pressure difference may exist between the flow groove 5a and the flow groove 5b. Therefore, the reactant gas may short-circuit the flow channel from the flow groove 5a to the flow groove 5b. Stated otherwise, the reactant gas may flow through a gas diffusion layer of the anode or the cathode undesirably. In particular, when the operating pressure is high, or the amount of the reactant gas supplied to the fuel cell is large, the shortcut of the reactant gas frequently happens.
Therefore, in the fuel cell, the reactant gases are not supplied to the entire power generation surfaces uniformly, and the power generation performance is lowered. The mirror image structure of the flow channels is complicated, and the production cost of the separator 1 is high.


A system is provided for scheduling data from a network element (101), such as an RNC (101), of a cellular communication system to at least one base station (103) across a shared communication link (105) shared between a plurality of cell sectors (107-111). The apparatus comprises resource allocators (113, 115, 117) each of which schedules data for a single cell sector (107-111). A resource determination processor (119) dynamically determines a resource requirement parameter for at least one of the cell sectors (107-111). The resource determination processor (119) is coupled to a resource assignment processor (121) which dynamically assigns a resource availability of the shared communication link (105) to each of the resource allocators (113, 115, 117) in response to the resource requirement parameter. The resource allocators (113, 115, 117) then schedule data for communication over the shared communication link in response to the resource availability. The invention provides improved utilisation of a shared communication link (105) while allowing independent scheduling by resource allocators associated with a single cell.

In a cellular communication system, a geographical region is divided into a number of cells each which are served by base stations. The base stations are interconnected by a fixed network which can communicate data between the base stations. A mobile station is served via a radio communication link from the base station of the cell within which the mobile station is situated.
A typical cellular communication system extends coverage over an entire country and comprises hundreds or even thousands of cells supporting thousands or even millions of mobile stations. Communication from a mobile station to a base station is known as the uplink, and communication from a base station to a mobile station is known as the downlink.
The fixed network interconnecting the base stations is operable to route data between any two base stations, thereby enabling a mobile station in a cell to communicate with a mobile station in any other cell. In addition, the fixed network comprises gateway functions for interconnecting to external networks such as the Internet or the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), thereby allowing mobile stations to communicate with landline telephones and other communication terminals connected by a landline. Furthermore, the fixed network comprises much of the functionality required for managing a conventional cellular communication network including functionality for routing data, admission control, resource allocation, subscriber billing, mobile station authentication etc.
Currently, the most ubiquitous cellular communication system is the 2nd generation communication system known as the Global System for Mobile communication (GSM). GSM uses a technology known as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) wherein user separation is achieved by dividing frequency carriers into 8 discrete time slots, which individually can be allocated to a user. A base station may be allocated a single carrier or a multiple of carriers. Further description of the GSM TDMA communication system can be found in 'The GSM System for Mobile Communications' by Michel Mouly and Marie Bernadette Pautet, Bay Foreign Language Books, 1992, ISBN 2950719007.
Currently, 3rd generation systems are being rolled out to further enhance the communication services provided to mobile users. The most widely adopted 3rd generation communication systems are based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) or Time Division Duplex (TDD). In CDMA systems, user separation is obtained by allocating different spreading and scrambling codes to different users on the same carrier frequency and in the same time intervals. An example of a communication system using this principle is the Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). Further description of CDMA and specifically of the Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) mode of UMTS can be found in 'WCDMA for UMTS', Harri Holma (editor), Antti Toskala (Editor), Wiley & Sons, 2001, ISBN 0471486876.
In a 3rd generation cellular communication system, the communication network comprises a core network and a Radio Access Network (RAN). The core network is operable to route data from one part of the RAN to another, as well as interfacing with other communication systems. In addition, it performs many of the operation and management functions of a cellular communication system, such as billing. The RAN is operable to support wireless user equipment over a radio link of the air interface. The RAN comprises the base stations, which in UMTS are known as Node Bs, as well as Radio Network Controllers (RNC) which control the Node Bs and the communication over the air interface.
The RNC performs many of the control functions related to the air interface including radio resource management and routing of data to and from appropriate Node Bs. It further provides the interface between the RAN and the core network. An RNC and associated Node Bs is known as a Radio Network Subsystem (RNS).
The interface between the RNC and the Node B is known as the Iub interface. As much of the functionality associated with communicating over the air interface is implemented in the RNC, and as the air interface traffic data is routed to the RNC, a significant amount of data is transferred across the Iub interface. Accordingly, high capacity communication links between RNCs and Node Bs are required.
Specifically for the 3GPP UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network), packet data for downlink transmission is buffered at the RNC and transmissions are also scheduled at the RNC. The scheduler is part of the RRC (RRC—Radio Resource Control) protocol. Typically, scheduling for each cell is performed autonomously and without direct communication between the different schedulers. Scheduled data is passed from the RNC to the Node B over the Iub interface. Uplink packet data is also scheduled by the RNC and traverses the Iub in the opposite direction.
In most cellular communication systems, the cost of the communication links between the RNCs and the Node Bs is one of the most significant operating and roll out costs associated with a cellular communication system. Therefore, it is desirable to use any communication capacity of the Iub communication links as efficiently as possible to reduce back-haul costs. One approach for reducing back-haul costs is to share an Iub communication link between different cells, cell sectors or base stations. For example, two or more cells may share a single E1 leased line offering 2 Mb/s in each direction.
In some deployments where the Iub communication links are shared these may be dimensioned to support less than the aggregate air interface capacity of the subtended cells. For example, three cells could share a single E1 leased line offering 2 Mb/s in each direction (a typical 3GPP cell has a capacity of the order of 1 Mb/s in each direction). In this case, in a simple equal sharing of the Iub, each cell is allocated a third of the capacity of the E1 link resulting in each cell having a capacity of ⅔ Mb/s in each direction.
Although such an approach may provide cost savings, it may also result in reduced performance of the cellular communication system. For example, a highly loaded cell may require 1 Mb/s in each direction to support the current traffic load. As this is not available due to the restriction of the shared Iub connection, the effective capacity of the cell is reduced thereby resulting in a reduction of the capacity of the cellular communication system as a whole.
As another example, the sharing of the communication link is very inflexible and may result in the loading of one cell being restricted by the allocated capacity of the shared link while another cell is not fully using the capacity available to it. Thus, a situation may result where the loading of a cell is limited by an Iub communication link having spare capacity.
An improved system for scheduling data from a network element, such as an RNC, to base station(s) serving a plurality of cell sectors would be advantageous and in particular a scheduling approach allowing for increased flexibility, increased performance, low complexity and/or an improved utilisation of a shared communication link would be advantageous.

Scheduling data across a shared communication link in a cellular communication system


A washing system comprising a wafer washing section having plural chemical washing vessels, plural water washing vessels and a drier, a cassette washing section having a water washing device and a drier, a loader section for taking out the wafers from the cassettes and loading the wafers into the wafer washing section, an unloader section for returning the washed wafers in the washed cassette and unloading the wafers from the wafer washing section, a wafer transfer device the wafers in the wafer washing section, a cassette lifter for carrying the cassettes from the loader section to the cassette washing section, and a wire drive unit for carrying the cassettes in the cassette washing section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a washing system for washing semiconductor wafers and wafer cassettes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor devices such as super LSIs have been more and more highly integrated and their circuit patterns have been micro-structured to an order of submicrons. In addition, the diameter of semiconductor wafers has been made large to 8 inches and even 12 inches. When such a small amount of particles that could be hitherto neglected adhere to semiconductor wafers, therefore, the productivity of wafers is remarkably lowered. In order to overcome this, the semiconductor wafers are immersed into acid and alkali solutions in process vessels so that their surfaces can be made clean.
The automatic washing system can be cited as a system for washing the surface of each wafer. It has plural process vessels in which the semiconductor wafers are washed by chemical solutions and water and then dried. Namely, an ammonium solution vessel, a water-washing vessel, a rinsing vessel, a hydrofluoric acid vessel and a drying chamber are arranged in it to enable a series of processes to be sequentially applied to the semiconductor wafers.
In the case of this automatic washing system, twenty five sheets of semiconductor wafers are housed in a cassette and they are immersed together with the cassette in the chemical solution in each process vessel. After they are immersed in this manner, the cassette is picked up out of the process vessels and washed by water and then dried.
However, the wafer cassette has a plurality of grooves in which wafers are seated, and the whole of the cassette is thus made complicated in shape. This makes it difficult to remove acid and alkali solutions from the cassette. When the cassette is repeatedly immersed in acid and alkali solutions, material (e.g. an ethylene fluoride system resin) of which the cassette is made solves little by little into the chemical solutions to degrade them in the process vessels.
According to the automatic washing system now used, therefore, the wafers are taken out of the cassette and are immersed and washed in the chemical solutions. The wafers which have been thus made clean are then returned into their original cassette.
In the case of the automatic washing system, however, there is fear that particles and dust which have stuck to the original cassette move to the wafers which have been made clean to contaminate them. The reason why particles and dust adhere to the cassettes is that they are contacted directly with and come near to various carrier units in the clean room and that particles and dust are caused at drive sections of these carrier units. The amount of particles and dust thus stuck to the cassettes reaches to such a value that cannot be neglected. In addition, oils and fats, chemical solutions and other matters sometimes adhere to the cassettes.
Further, when the wafers themselves come near to the carrier units, the particles and dust caused will adhere to them.


A method for determining the resistance of a shunt for use with a current limiting device that exhibits PTC characteristics to protect an electrical circuit. The method comprises steps for determining maximum and minimum resistance values based on operating criteria and component characteristics and selecting resistance values that fall within selected ranges.

The use of PTC materials in circuit protection devices for low power applications is well known. These materials find utility as resettable fuses in low power electronic circuits to protect electronic devices. In such use, these PTC materials protect sensitive and expensive electronic components from exposure to harmful, electrical faults. When a fault is experienced by a PTC material, the PTC material heats up and the electrical resistance of the device increases thereby quenching the fault and preventing the fault from continuing in the circuit.
A PTC material may be used on its own as a current limiting device in low-voltage systems where there is very little circuit inductance. In these applications, as the PTC material transitions to its high-electrical-resistance state, the electrical current is almost instantaneously reduced thereby limiting the voltage across the PTC material. In addition, the power absorbed by the PTC material is also drastically reduced. This further limits the heat to which the PTC material itself is exposed.
In higher power systems, however, the electrical current does not drop off quickly because of the presence of inductive reactance. In higher power applications, as the PTC material is exposed to a fault and begins to transition to a highly, electrically resistive state, the PTC material would be exposed to enormous voltages and to enormous internal power dissipations. Energies absorbed could swell up to tens of kilo-joules. At these levels, the host of the PTC material would most likely thermally destruct and possibly even ignite.
The present invention overcomes this and other problems and provides a shunt device for use with a PTC material for high power applications to absorb and dissipate energy resulting from an impressed fault.


A RFID label suitable for use on a metal support surface. In one embodiment, the RFID label includes a substrate having a downwardly extending integral leg. RFID circuitry is disposed on the substrate adjacent to the leg which spaces the RFID circuitry from the support surface to reduce interference from the support surface.

RFID devices are known in the art, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,263. These devices are used in systems for access control, animal feeding and health programs, inventory control, process control, and security applications.
A typical RFID system has a passive RFID label including RFID circuitry therein and a separate RFID reader/writer. The RFID reader/writer energizes the RFID circuitry by transmitting a power signal. The power signal may convey data which is stored in memory incorporated in the RFID circuitry. In response to the power signal the RFID circuitry may transmit a response signal containing data stored in its memory. The RFID reader/writer receives the response signal and interprets the data contained therein. The data is then transmitted to a host computer for processing.
RFID labels do not function properly when they are in very close proximity to metal. The metal attenuates the response signal from the RFID circuitry and reduces the read range, i.e. the distance from which the RFID reader/writer can receive the response signal, of the RFID label. In order to minimize the interference caused by a metal supporting surface, a spacer layer forming part of the RFID label is often used. The spacer layer is typically a piece of die cut foam adhesively fixed to a substrate on which the RFID circuitry is disposed. The spacer layer spaces the RFID circuitry from the metal supporting surface to increase the read range of the RFID label. Unfortunately, the thickness of the spacer layer often causes the RFID label to jam when used in a printer. As a result, RFID labels for use on metal support surfaces are often fed through a printer prior to affixing a spacer layer. This added step of affixing the spacer layer after printing reduces the usefulness of the RFID label and increases the cost of use.


A process for forming a double-layer crown capacitor is provided for increasing the surface area of the capacitor and is applied to a memory unit. The process includes: a) forming a contact window, b) forming a first conducting layer, c) forming a second insulator over the first conducting layer, d) forming a second conducting layer, e) forming a third insulator, f) removing portions of the third insulator and the second conducting layer for exposing a part of the second conducting layer to form a masking layer, g) removing another portion of the third insulator and portions of the second insulator and the first conducting layer, h) removing another portion of the second conducting layer and a portion of the second insulator not covered by the masking layer, i) forming spacers alongside the masking layer and another portion of the second insulator, and removing the masking layer and the another portion of the second insulator for defining a first capacitor by the spacers and another portion of the first conducting layer, j) forming a dielectrical layer, and k) forming a third conducting layer to serve as a second capacitor.

The capacity of a capacitor is related to the quality of dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The conventional simple plannar-typed capacitor is not good enough to meet the requirement of high density of DRAM. Therefore, a process for manufacturing a single-layer crown capacitor through the formation of a single insulator and a spacer is adopted in order to increase the capacity of capacitor. For example, H. Watanabe, et al. has proposed a process for forming a single-layer crown capacitor (A new cylindrical capacitor using hemispherical grained Si (HSG-Si) for 256 Mb DRAMs. (1992) IEEE). Please refer to FIG. 1 showing this process. It is briefly described as follows:
In FIG. 1 (a), a silicon dioxide layer 2 is formed over an insulator 1 (e.g. borophosphosilicate glass (BPSG) layer) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and then a contact window is formed in the insulator 1 and the silicon dioxide layer 2 by photolithography and etching techique. Thereafter, a polysilicon layer is formed over the contact window and the silicon dioxide layer 2 by CVD and then the polysilicon layer is partially removed by etch back to form a contact plug 31 in the contact window.
The steps shown in FIG. 1 (b) include: (1) a p-doped amorphous-Si layer is formed over the silicon dioxide layer 2 and the contact plug 31 by CVD; (2) another insulator (e.g. phosphosilicate glass (PSG) layer or a borophosphosilicate glass layer) is formed over the p-doped amorphous-Si layer by CVD; (3) portions of the p-doped amorphous-Si layer and the another insulator are removed by photolithography and etching techique while retaining the defined p-doped amorphous-Si layer 41 and another insulator 51 for forming a lower capacitor plate of the single-layer crown capacitor.
In FIG. 1 (c), another p-doped amorphous-Si layer is formed on a portion of the silicon dioxide layer 2 and the another insulator 51 as well as alongside the p-doped amorphous-Si layer 41 and the another insulator 51 by CVD. Thereafter, the another p-doped amorphous-Si layer is partially removed by dry etching while retaining a portion of the p-doped amorphous-Si layer 42 alongside the amorphous-Si layer 41 and the another insulator 51.
FIG. 1 (d) shows a step to remove the another insulator 51 by wet etching.
The steps shown in FIG. 1 (e) include: (1) a polysilicon layer is formed on a portion of the silicon dioxide layer 2 and the amorphous-Si layers 41, 42 by CVD at 560.about.580.degree. C.; (2) the polysilicon layer is processed through an anealing procedure for forming a hemispherical grained Si (HSG) to increase the surface area of the capacitor; and (3) the hemispherical grained Si is partially removed while retaining the defined hemispherical grained Si 61. Thus, the amorphous-Si layers 41, 42, the contact plug 31, and the hemispherical grained Si 61 serve as a lower capacitor plate of the single-layer crown capacitor.
In FIG. 1 (f), a dielectric layer 7 (e.g. oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) layer) is formed over a portion of the silicon dioxide layer 2 and the hemispherical grained Si 61 by chemical vapor deposition and then a polysilicon layer 8 is formed over the dielectric layer 7 by chemical vapor deposition, wherein the polysilicon layer 8 serves as an upper capacitor plate of the single-layer crown capacitor.
However, this kind of the single-layer crown capacitor is still not good enough to solve the problem of insufficient capacitance of DRAM in the future.

Process for forming double-layer crown capacitor


Various systems and methods are disclosed for carrying out combustion in a fuel-cut operation in some or all of the engine cylinders of a vehicle. Further, various subsystems are considered, such as fuel vapor purging, air-fuel ratio control, engine torque control, catalyst design, and exhaust system design.

Engines are usually designed with the ability to deliver a peak output, although most engine operation is performed well below this peak value. As such, it can be beneficial to operate with some cylinders inducting air without fuel injection, and other combusting air and injected fuel, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,568,177. In one example, the system uses lean combustion, and a NOx trap to avoid NOx emissions.
However, the inventors here have recognized that, in some cases, it is desirable to obtain fuel economy improvement without requiring a NOx trap. However, in these cases, there is the disadvantage that NOx emissions can be generated if exhaust gasses from cylinders combusting is mixed with cylinders pumping air, where the mixed gasses are treated in a three way catalyst. As such, different exhaust paths are provided for different cylinder groups.
The inventors herein have recognized, however, that in the case of a V-8 engine, disabling a bank of cylinders that have a common exhaust pathway can result in increase noise and engine vibration, since a V-8 may not be balanced in a bank cut-out condition.

System and method for controlling valve timing of an engine with cylinder deactivation


The invention provides a translucent, water-insoluble hydrogel composition and methods of making it. The hydrogel composition comprises a polyvinyl alcohol polymer and a complexing agent which are physically crosslinked to form a semi-crystalline polyvinyl alcohol-complexing agent polymer complex. This is achieved by:. (i) combining a polyvinyl alcohol polymer with a suitable aprotic solvent; PA1 (ii) Adding a complexing agent to (i) to form a water soluble complex with the polyvinyl alcohol polymer; and PA1 (iii) Allowing the polyvinyl alcohol polymer and the complexing agent to form a water-insoluble, semi-crystalline structure.. The formation of the semi-crystalline structure is assisted by freezing the polyvinyl alcohol/complexing agent/polar aprotic solvent mixture.

THIS invention relates to a hydrogel composition and to methods for making it.
Hydrogels, which are water-insoluble, three dimensional, non-flowable, crosslinked structures, are widely used in medical applications, for example as films, membranes and dressings, for example to protect skin that has been damaged due to burning or other injury. The hydrogel can form a protective layer over for example the injured skin.
A problem with hydrogels currently used in this application is that because they have a high water content, the water (which acts as a plasticizer) tends to weaken the structure, they are delicate and break easily, i.e. they have a low inherent strength, making them difficult to package, transport and ultimately to apply to the injured area.

Polyvinyl alcohol compositions prepared by crosslinking in a freezing step


A retractable curtain system including a first curtain region, a motor assembly and a mounting arm assembly. The first curtain region is capable of substantially covering the at least one opening when in an unrolled configuration. The motor assembly operably is attached to the first curtain region for moving the first curtain region between the unrolled configuration and a rolled configuration. The mounting arm assembly includes at least one mounting arm for pivotally mounting the motor assembly with respect to the building.

In modern agricultural operations such as used in conjunction with livestock, it is typically desirable for the livestock to be housed in a building for at least a portion of the time because the building shields the livestock from weather such as cold temperatures, sun and rain.
These agricultural buildings are typically fabricated with a roof that extends over and substantially covers the agricultural building. Curtain systems are typically placed on the sides of the agricultural buildings. These curtain systems are movable between a closed configuration and an open configuration.
The curtain systems thereby enable ventilation in the agricultural buildings to be controlled. During warm weather, the curtain systems may be positioned in the open configuration so that there is free flow of air into the building. During cold weather, the curtain systems may be positioned in the closed configuration to limit air flow into the agricultural buildings.
As livestock herds grow larger, the size of the agricultural buildings must increase. In view of the length of the side walls and the height of the side walls, there have been challenges in developing a curtain system that is easy to install and operates in a highly reliable manner.


A method for manufacturing a through substrate via (TSV) structure, a TSV structure, and a control method of a TSV capacitance are provided. The method for manufacturing the TSV structure includes: providing a substrate having a first surface and a second surface; forming a trench in the first surface of the substrate; filling a low resistance material into the trench; forming an insulating layer on the first surface of the substrate; forming at least one opening in the first surface of the substrate, wherein the opening is located differently the trench; forming an oxide liner layer, a barrier layer and a conductive seed layer on a sidewall and a bottom of the opening and on the insulating layer of the first surface; and filling a conductive material into the opening, wherein the opening is used to form at least one via.

Along with the progress in semiconductor technology, to increase the integrity of semiconductor devices and to satisfy the demand of high device performance, the chip stacking technology has been developed rapidly. Particularly, the through-silicon-via (TSV) technology is deemed as a new-generation interconnect applied in the three-dimensional (3D) integrated circuit (IC) technology.
The TSV technology applied in the 3D stacking of ICs is, for example, forming a hole with a high aspect ratio in a first surface (front side) of a substrate of chip first, and then filling a conductive material into the hole. Then, a chemical/mechanical polishing process is performed to remove the conductive material outside the hole. Then, a portion of a second surface (back side) of the substrate is removed to thin the substrate and expose the conductive material in the hole. Next, a plurality of chips are bonded together by stacking, and the chips are electrically connected through the conductive material in the hole.
Since in the TSV technology, the substrate of the chips is penetrated, the stacked chips are able to transmit signals to one another. Such approach is different from the traditional circuit layout technology in which circuit devices are manufactured on a substrate surface. Therefore, the TSV technology also produces many new problems to be solved, such as how to control a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitance device that appears together with a conductive via precisely, how to reduce the signal coupling between two adjacent conductive vias, and how to eliminate the noise in the substrate.

Method for manufacturing through substrate via (TSV), structure and control method of TSV capacitance

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A drain assembly for a tank or containment vessel of the type having a flexible and removable interior liner. The drain assembly comprises a drain intake in fluid communication with a wall traversing portion. The drain intake is operatively deployable in proximity to the bottom of the tank and the wall traversing portion is operatively deployable through a wall of the tank. The wall traversing portion includes a conduit portion in fluid communication with the drain intake and with a location exterior to the tank. The conduit portion includes an interior stopper plate and a threaded portion. The drain assembly includes a hammer nut threadably receivable over the threaded portion when the conduit portion is received through the wall of the tank such that tightening the hammer nut upon the threaded portion causes the hammer nut to engage the exterior of the tank wall causing the stopper plate to compress the tank liner against the interior surface of the tank wall thereby securing the drain assembly to the tank wall and helping to prevent the unintentional leakage of the contents of the tank through the tank wall.

Portable, semi-permanent or permanent containment tanks, enclosures or vessels are commonly used in the oil and gas industry, in the mining and mineral processing industries, and for a wide variety of other industries and industrial applications. Such tanks or enclosures are often used to store liquids, slurries or other fluids until such time as they can be further processed or otherwise disposed of or collected and shipped to other locations. An example of a temporary containment vessel is one used in association with oil and gas drilling. When drilling an oil or gas well, drilling mud is typically pumped down the well in order to serve as the source of energy to turn the drill bit. Drilling mud typically contains toxic and/or expensive additives that cannot be released into the environment, or that for economic reasons need to be recovered. In such instances as the mud leaves the casing it is directed to a tank or containment vessel, after which it can be recycled back into the drilling circuit or gathered and shipped for processing, disposal or reuse. A further example of the use of such tanks in the oil and gas industry is to contain large volumes of fluids during fracking operations.
Since in many instances containment tanks or vessels are required on a temporary or semi-permanent basis, they are often formed in a manner that allows them to be transported to the desired location, assembled, used for the desired purpose, disassembled, and then shipped for subsequent use in a different location. To assist in quick assembly and disassembly, the tanks may be formed from a series of individual panels that create the tank's bottom and walls. After the panels have been erected, a liner is typically inserted in order to provide a fluid-tight containment.
In order to drain the contents of the tank, a suction line from a pump can be lowered over one of the tank walls. However, in cold weather applications where the top of the tank is covered in order to prevent freezing of the fluids, deployment of a suction line over a tank wall becomes somewhat more difficult. Further, the pumping equipment used to drain large tanks can be of considerable size and weight, making it sometimes necessary to utilize cranes or other lifting apparatuses in order to lower the suction line into the tank. For that reason, others have proposed installing a drain port within the side wall of the tank. Such ports require the use of a series of bolts, that extend through the tank wall and that secure the drain port within the wall to permit the tank to be drained when desired, while at the same time allowing the drain to be sealed to prevent unintentional leakage of the tank contents. Unfortunately, in the case of large tanks that are lined with a flexible liner, it has been found that the pumping of material into and out of the tank often causes small shifts in the liner. In such cases shifting of the liner puts considerable stress upon the liner material at the locations where the bolts that extend through the tank wall to maintain the drain in place pass through the liner material. The stress upon a liner can cause tearing and shifting of the liner, which in some instances can result in a leakage of the tank contents. Further, the assembly of the drain within the tank is laborious as it typically requires an individual both inside and outside the tank in order to assemble the bolts. Where the tank is to be disassembled, removal of the drain will often require an individual to enter the tank, which may present health hazards depending upon the materials that have been stored therein.

Drain assembly for a tank or containment vessel

RHINOKORE COMPOSITES MANUFACTURING PARTNERSHIP


A method for protecting an intermediate circuit capacitor in a power converter circuit is disclosed. The power converter circuit includes at least two submodules in a series circuit, which draws electrical power from a power source outputting a DC voltage via an inductance, wherein each submodule has, on the input side, a single-phase half bridge and, on the load side, a single-phase full bridge, and wherein the half bridge, the full bridge and an intermediate circuit capacitor are connected in parallel with one another on the DC voltage side. When a fault in one of the submodules is detected, transmission of electrical power from the load-side output of the full bridge of the submodule with the detected fault into the submodule with the detected fault is blocked.

The invention relates to a method for protecting an intermediate circuit capacitor in a power converter circuit having at least two submodules connected in a series circuit and receiving via an inductance electrical power from a DC voltage side of a power source, a control device for executing the method, a power converter circuit having the control device, and an electric motor having the power converter circuit.
A power converter circuit for supplying electrical power to the motor windings of an electric motor in a vehicle drive system is known for example from the publication Lukas Lamberts et al, "Modularer Hochfrequenz Umrichter für Fahrzeugantriebe" (modular high-frequency converter for vehicle drive systems), EMA 2010, 8 to 9 Sep. 2010, Aschaffenburg.
The circuit in question is one which is intended for converting a DC voltage from an electrical power source into a plurality of AC voltages. The individual AC voltages are generated by submodules connected in series, at the input side of each of which a part of the DC voltage drops. Within the submodules the corresponding part of the DC voltage is in each case converted by way of a single-phase full bridge operating as an inverter into an AC voltage which can be delivered to one of the motor windings. The single-phase full bridge comprises two single-phase half bridges, each of which is provided for generating an AC voltage phase, which means that the two AC voltage phases in total yield a single-phase AC voltage.
The partial voltages dropping at the inputs of the individual submodules are increased prior to the inversion by the full bridge by means of a boost converter. The boost converter comprises an inductance, which is connected in series between the electrical power source and the series circuit of the full bridges, and also an input half bridge in each submodule. The full bridge and the half bridge are connected on the DC voltage side within the submodule.
Connected in parallel with the full bridge and with the input half bridge in each submodule is an intermediate circuit capacitor which can store electrical energy, for example from a reactive power flow from the motor windings.
EP 2 369 725 A1 discloses a bridging unit having a bistable relay for converter cells connected in series. By means of the relay, in the case of an excess current and/or an excess voltage, but also if an external closure signal is present, the inputs of the respective converter cell are short-circuited and a low-impedance conduction path for bridging the converter cell is thereby made available. In this case an electric current present at the inputs flows by way of the bridging unit and not through other structural components of the converter cell. A semiconductor switch can be switched in parallel with the relay in order to shorten the response time of the bridging unit.

Method and apparatus for protecting an intermediate circuit capacitor in a power converter


In a hydrogen storing tank (solid filling tank) in which a hydrogen absorbing alloy (solid) is filled, a heat exchanger for executing heat exchange with the hydrogen absorbing alloy is constructed by laminating alternately first heat-transferring fins formed in corrugated plate shape and second heat-transferring fins formed in flat plate shape. Partitioned portions that are partitioned by the first heat-transferring fins and the second heat-transferring fins restrict movement of hydrogen absorbing alloy powders (MH powders) in a subsiding direction. Therefore, movement of the MH powders can surely be prevented by not using members that has no concern with the heat exchange and reduces an amount of filled MH powders and a volume in which the heat exchanger is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid filling tank in which solid particles capable of absorbing or adsorbing a gas such as a hydrogen gas, are filled.
2. Description of the Related Art
As well as heat of solar light, there is given a great attention to hydrogen as clean energy source. Especially in developing a fuel system for a hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, attention is focused on a technology to effectively store and discharge hydrogen by utilizing a hydrogen absorbing alloy that absorbs hydrogen. As for a particular example of such technology, there is known a technology to fill hydrogen absorbing alloy powders in a storage tank (hydrogen storage tank), and to cause the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders in the storage tank to absorb and store the hydrogen and to discharge for utilizing the hydrogen. The hydrogen absorbing alloy has the characteristic that generates heat when absorbing hydrogen and absorbs heat when discharging the hydrogen. Therefore, a heat exchanger is normally disposed in the hydrogen storing tank as a mechanism for absorbing or discharging the hydrogen. For example, a heat exchanger is employed having such a structure that a plurality of heat-transferring fins are arranged in a manner like the teeth of a comb on an outer periphery of the cooling/heating medium tube through which the refrigerant or the heating medium is circulated. There is disclosed in JP-2000-111193 (particularly in paragraphs [0011] and [0012]) another type of heat exchanger having the structure that circulation paths through which the refrigerant or the heating medium is circulated are configured by using combination of corrugated plates and flat plates in place of the cooling/heating medium tube in the aforementioned heat exchanger.
The hydrogen absorbing alloy has a property that expands when absorbing hydrogen. Therefore, when the filled hydrogen absorbing alloy powders absorb hydrogen in a state subsided and consolidated in the storage tank, in some cases, an excessive stress is locally generated against a tank main body due to the expansion of the hydrogen absorbing alloy and the stress influences on a tank main body of the storage tank or on a lining member disposed in the storage tank. For this reason, as the measure against such problem, there has been proposed a technology to provide a structure to prevent the subsidence of the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders. There also has been proposed a structure to absorb the stress caused by the hydrogen absorbing tank when absorbing the hydrogen. As for such technology, a first technology and a second technology described in the following have been conventionally proposed.
In the first technology, as described in JP-11-043301 (particularly in paragraph [0009] and in FIG. 2), a sheet member is provided between a plurality of fin-shaped tubes constituting a heat exchanger, whereby the subsidence of the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders is prevented. In the second technology, as described in JP-2001-010801 (particularly in paragraph [0024]), the subsidence of the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders is prevented by a cooling/heating medium tube having a hollow pipe structure and having a sectional shape configured to be an ellipse.
According to the first technology to provide the sheet member between a plurality of the fin tubes, the subsidence of the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders can be prevented. However, extra space to provide an extra member such as the sheet member is needed in the tank main body of the storage tank. Thus, a filled volume of the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders (gas absorbing solids) and a space for the heat exchanger need to be reduced correspondingly. Also, in the first technology, since a plurality of the fin tubes and a plurality of the heat-transferring fins are arranged in cross-sectional direction of the tank main body of the storage tank, the heat-transferring fins, in between the fin tubes, do not come into contact with the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders in many areas. Therefore, in the first technology, the subsidence of the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders in the tank can be prevented, whereas reduction in the heat exchanging performance between the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders and the heat exchanger becomes a problem. In the second technology, the problem in the first technology can be overcome by preventing the subsidence of the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders by use of the cooling/heating medium tube. Nevertheless, there is the limit to prevent the subsidence of the hydrogen absorbing alloy powders since the cooling/heating medium tube has the R portion (curved portion). Therefore, it is hard to say that the second technology is the exact approach.


A light emitting diode (LED) device is disclosed. The LED device includes a light emitting module, a metal barrier, an isolation structure, a metal housing and a plurality of lenses. The light emitting module has a plurality of light emitting diodes serving as light sources. The metal barrier is disposed above the light emitting module, and the light emitting diodes are exposed from the metal barrier. The isolation structure and the metal housing are disposed above the metal barrier. The lenses are disposed corresponding to the light emitting diodes. The lenses are directly fixed on the metal housing or located between the isolation structure and the metal housing.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an illumination device and, in particular, to a light emitting diode (LED) device.
2. Related Art
Typically, the conventional LED lamp includes an LED module and a power supply. In order to achieve better conversion efficiency, the series voltage of the LED module is usually adjusted to fit the voltage provided from the power supply so as to minimize the loss in the voltage-dropout conversion. For example, if the power supply is connected to the city electricity, the series voltage of the LED module is preferably adjusted to 220V. However, when the output voltage of the DC terminal of the power supply is larger than 60V (safety voltage), it will be determined as a high-voltage terminal. In order to protect the user from the electric shock caused by the high-voltage terminal, the Standard UL 1598 (UL Lighting Standard) requests the lamp with high voltage higher than the safety voltage to configure an additional safety barrier for isolating and protecting the high-voltage wires. This configuration can prevent the user from directly connecting the high-voltage wires. A conventional LED device configured with the safety barrier will be described hereinafter.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/774,422 discloses an LED apparatus including a mounting board, a plurality of LED packages thereon, a lens member over each LED package, a safety barrier positioned over the mounting board, a resilient member having apertures for each of the lens members, and a cover.
To satisfy the Standard UL 1598, the conventional LED apparatus is configured with the safety barrier on the mounting board for covering the exposed circuits (metal wires) on the mounting board. Accordingly, the safety barrier may contain: (1) iron-contained or iron-free metal with a thickness of at least 0.016 inches; (2) glass or ceramics with a thickness of at least 0.118 inches; (3) glass fiber tube with a thickness of at least 0.010 inches; (4) vulcanized fiber with a thickness of at least 0.028 inches; or (5) polymers with a flame class of HB.
The light emitted from the LED packages is properly distributed through a light-transmission portion of the lens member. The resilient member covering the lens member is made of rubber, so that it can provide the functions of water-proof and dustproof and absorb the heat generated by the LED, which may cause the shift of the lens member.
However, the thickness of the resilient member can directly affect the distance between the lens member and the cover. In face, the thicker the resilient member is, the larger the distance between the lens member and the cover is. When the distance between the lens member and the cover becomes larger, more light beams will be trapped and blocked inside the LED apparatus. Accordingly, the thickness of the resilient member must be properly decreased to increase the light output.
Besides, if the cover is made of metal material, the minimization of the thickness of the resilient member has a critical limitation due to the arcing issue of the cover and the safety barrier.
Therefore, it is an important subject to provide an LED device that is thinner and has lower light loss and higher safety.


A vacuum drilling system and methods is provided that may utilize both a through tool coolant supply as well as a central vacuum extraction system. The system may include a cutting head provided on a hollow tube and a vacuum source to apply vacuum pressure to the area of the cutting head via one or more chip inlets arranged proximate to the cutting head. Sealed coolant containment channels supply coolant to the area of the cutting head.

In various industries and applications, drilling of materials may be performed using solid twist drill designs. In the aerospace industry for example, to successfully drill the various metals used in the industry, solid twist drills provide desired capabilities, such as being precise. This style of tooling may have through coolant capability and the coolant outlets typically exit on the clearance angle of the cutting geometry at the nose of the tool. As chips are created during the drilling cycle, the flute helix and coolant pressure work to evacuate chips through the flutes. Once the chips and coolant exit the hole, they are released into the environment.
In some applications and environments, the components may require the use of portable drilling machines to allow drilling of multiple holes at different locations. For example, in the aerospace industry, the components may be very large and require portable drilling machines that can be moved to the different hole locations on the component. The portable drilling machines are compact and do not provide any enclosure to isolate the drilling process from the outside environment. This results in the release of chips and coolant into the environment when utilizing solid twist drills. Because the chips evacuated from the hole are not contained, additional process time is required in order to remove the chips and coolant from the component and drilling environment. Additionally, failure to contain the chips and coolant flow may cause health and safety hazards for drill operators.
Additionally, the generation of chips during the drilling of various materials requires the chips to be conveyed away from the cutting features of the drill, or the chips can impede the drilling process and/or cause damage to the drill. For certain materials, such as composite materials including carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP), for example, there have been developed drilling systems which use a vacuum to remove the large quantities of fine chips created when drilled. Without effective removal of the chips thus generated, chip compaction often occurs, reducing the drill's ability to cut, increasing the generation of heat, and reducing the life of the drill. The cooling effect and force originating from a vacuum applied to the drill is sufficient for providing the needed heat dissipation and chip extraction in CFRP material. This results in a reliable drilling process for CFRP that utilizes an applied vacuum.
A need still exists for a reliable vacuum drilling system that can perform in metal drilling applications. The properties of various metals can be considerably different from one another, and are different than the properties of CFRP. For example, in materials such as titanium and aluminum, it would be desirable to facilitate removal of chips using an applied vacuum, but with metallic materials, the prior vacuum systems for CFRP materials are not designed to be used on such materials. It would be worthwhile to provide a vacuum drilling system which may be used for metallic or other materials, to effectively remove chips during the drilling process.
In addition to requiring effective chip removal, it is also desirable that the drilling operation be precise, to provide repeatable machining to close tolerances and desired specifications.
In the machining operation to drill metallic, composite or other materials, it would be desirable to provide a drilling system and methods to effectively remove chips formed during the drilling operation. There is also a need to provide a drilling system and methods to effectively provide coolant to the cutting surfaces while allowing for the effective removal of chips formed during the drilling operation.


Techniques are provided for predicting MHC-peptide binding affinity. A plurality of training peptide sequences is obtained, and a neural network model is trained to predict MHC-peptide binding affinity using the training peptide sequences. An encoder of the neural network model comprising an RNN is configured to process an input training peptide sequence to generate a fixed-dimension encoding output by applying a final hidden state of the RNN at intermediate state outputs of the RNN to generate attention weighted outputs, and linearly combining the attention weighted outputs. A fully connected layer following the encoder is configured to process the fixed-dimension encoding output to generate an MHC-peptide binding affinity prediction output. A computing device is configured to use the trained neural network to predict MHC-peptide binding affinity for a test peptide sequence.

T-cells, or T-lymphocytes, are a type of lymphocyte (a subtype of white blood cell) that plays a central role in cell-mediated immunity. A unique feature of T-cells is their ability to discriminate between healthy and abnormal (e.g. infected or cancerous) cells in the body. Healthy cells typically express a large number of self-derived peptide-major histocompatibility complexes (pMHC) on their cell surface and, although the T-cell antigen receptor can interact with at least a subset of these self-derived pMHC, the T-cell generally ignores these healthy cells. However, when the same cells contain even minute quantities of pathogen-derived pMHC, T-cells can become activated and initiate immune responses. Positively selected T-cells will have an affinity with pMHC and serve useful functions in the body, including the interaction with MHC and peptide complexes to effect immune responses, while negatively selected T-cells that bind too strongly to self-antigens expressed on MHC molecules are obliterated to allow for tolerance of self by the immune system.
Cytotoxic T-cells (a.k.a. TC cells, CTLs, T-killer cells, killer T-cells), destroy virus-infected cells and tumor cells. These cells, also known as CD8 T-cells since they express the CD8 glycoprotein at their surfaces, recognize virus-infected or tumor cell targets by binding to fragments of non-self proteins (peptide antigens) that are generally between 8-15 amino acids in length and presented by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. Peptides of a specific length are often called 'N-mers' for short. For example, peptide sequences that are 9 amino acids in length may be referred to as 9-mers.
MHC class I molecules are one of two primary classes of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules (the other being MHC class II) and are present on the surface of all nucleated cells in humans. Their function is to display intracellular peptide antigens to cytotoxic T-cells, thereby triggering an immediate response from the immune system against the particular non-self antigen displayed.
A current challenge in immunology is understanding what kinds of peptides bind well with what kinds of MHC class I molecules, i.e., which peptides are best for activating a cytotoxic T-cell response, particularly since each allele (variant form) of an MHC compound has different properties. If such MHC-peptide binding affinities could be accurately predicted for protein fragments of various lengths, new immunotherapies could be developed, e.g., based on determining which tumor antigens would be most likely to trigger an immune system response.
Neural networks have been employed to predict MHC-peptide binding affinity. While MHC Class I molecules can bind peptides 6-20 amino acids in length (though generally they are 8-15 amino acids in length) and MHC Class II molecules can bind peptides 10-30 amino acids in length (though generally they are 12-25 amino acids in length), one current drawback is that the inputs to these neural network models are generally fixed in length and do not accommodate variable peptide sequence lengths without padding (i.e., adding one or more '0' or null values to encoded peptide sequences to match the fixed input length of the neural network). While such padding has been shown to have no predictive performance impact when neural networks are trained using single-length peptide sequences (e.g., datasets containing only 9-mer peptide sequences, only 10-mer peptide sequences, etc.), current neural network models using such padding are unable to reach their full predictive performance potential when trained with variable length peptide sequences. As such, there remains a need for techniques that improve MHC-peptide binding affinity prediction performance when neural networks are trained using variable length peptide sequences. Further, it would improve MHC-peptide binding affinity prediction performance to be able to determine the peptide positions of a test input sequence that are most important for predicting MHC-peptide binding affinity.

Methods and systems for improved major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-peptide binding prediction of neoepitopes using a recurrent neural network encoder and attention weighting