A friction stir spot joining apparatus for spot-joining a pair of plate members by friction stirring with a tool's pin portion includes an advancing and retracting driving device configured to advance and retract the tool to and from plate members, a rotationally driving device configured to rotate the tool, and control device configured to control advancing and retracting driving device and rotationally driving device. The control device executes joining control of pushing pin portion into plate members while the tool is rotated and causing pin portion to pressurize plate members, and executes heat dissipation control of reducing at least one of a rotation speed and a tool's pressurization force more than in the joining control while tool is rotated and pin portion is kept pushed into plate members after joining control and separating tool from plate members after the pin portion's surface temperature becomes less than an oxidation onset temperature.

Conventionally, as a method of joining a pair of plate members to each other, a friction stir spot joining method (Friction Spot Joining) is known. In the case of joining a pair of plate members by this method, for example, as disclosed in PTL 1, a tool of a friction stir spot joining apparatus is pushed into a pair of overlaid plate members while being rotated, and is retracted after the joining is completed. As a result, the pair of plate members are joined by friction stir spot joining.

Friction stir spot joining apparatus and friction stir spot joining method


A process for the production of a red phosphorus powder, which comprises heating a yellow phosphorus at the boiling point therof in the presence of a dispersant selected from the group of a surfactant, a sparingly in water, finely powdered inorganic compound, an inorganic ammonium salt or an organic compound containing an amino group, thereby to partly convert the yellow phosphorus to red phosphorus, removing most of the unconverted yellow phosphorus by distillation at the boiling point of yellow phosphorus, and further removing the slight amount of the still remaining yellow phosphorus by heating a temperature not lower than the boiling point of yellow phosphorus to obtain a red phosphorus fine powder which is less apt to undergo a disproportionation reaction.

Production of red phosphorus by the thermal conversion reaction of yellow phosphorus is known. For example, a process in which yellow phosphorus is converted to red phosphorus by heating in a closed vessel is described in Kirk-Othmer "Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology" (2nd Ed.) Vol. 15, p. 286. In this process, after the reaction, the red phosphorus is chipped out under water, wet-ground, and sieved to give a red phosphorus powder.
In Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Vol. 40, P. 357 ('48), a continuous process is described. In this process, a slurry comprising a mixture of yellow phosphorus and red phosphorus is prepared by a thermal conversion reaction and the yellow phosphorus is separated from red phosphorus by evaporation in a screw conveyor type distilling device while the red phosphorus is powdered. Techniques related to this process are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,476,335 and 2,397,951.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,273,752 is described a process in which yellow phosphorus is introduced into a ball mill preheated at from 280.degree. to 590.degree. C. to convert the yellow phosphorus to red phosphorus and, after cooling, water is introduced into the ball mill to wet-grind the red phosphorus, which is then taken out as an aqueous suspension.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,766 discloses a process in which yellow phosphorus is converted to red phosphorus by the conversion heat thereof.
Red phosphorus is known as a flame retardant for synthetic resins. As is well known, red phosphorus decomposes by a disproportionation reaction in the presence of water to yield a substance which contaminates the environment or denatures synthetic resins. The decomposition reaction is accelerated at higher temperatures. Therefore, more stable and less reaction is needed especially for the resins molded at high temperatures. On the other hand, red phosphorus powder composed of fine particles is demanded in order to enhance compatibility with resins and dispersibility in resins. The prior-art techniques described above necessitate pulverizing of the red phosphorus by pulverizing process. However, since pulverizing forms split-off surfaces which are chemically unstable, water and other substances are apt to be adsorbed onto the surface of red phosphorus particles and the adsorbed substances accelerate the disproportionation reaction. The more finely the particles are reduced by pulverizing, the more the stability of the particles is impaired. Therefore, in the processes including pulverizing process, stability is incompatible with reduction into fine powder and it is impossible to obtain a stable red phosphorus fine powder.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,067 (the same assignee of the present invention), red phosphorus in the form of spherical particles is described which has been obtained by a process including no pulverizing process. This red phosphorus composed of spherical particles is obtained by thermally converting yellow phosphorus at a temperature of from 250.degree. to 600.degree. C. in a conversion ratio not higher than 70%, and is highly stable because no pulverizing was used. However, in this process, the smaller the particles, the more the particle size control becomes difficult. The above process is hence unsuited for the production of fine powders of red phosphorus.

Process for production of red phosphorous powder


A venting device for insertion into a sealing part of a pouch of a secondary battery includes: a housing configured to be inserted between two surfaces of the sealing part so as to be sealed together with the sealing part; a sheet disposed in the housing and defining a passage through which an inside and an outside of the pouch are configured to communicate with each other; a plate spring configured to open and close the passage according to an internal pressure of the pouch and made of a metal having elasticity; and a ball disposed between the sheet and the plate spring so as to contact or be spaced apart from the sheet at an outlet-side of the passage, thereby opening and closing the passage, wherein the ball has a hemispherical shape to be attached to an inner surface of the plate spring.

In general, secondary batteries include nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, lithium ion batteries, and lithium ion polymer batteries. Such a secondary battery is being applied to and used in small-sized products such as digital cameras, P-DVDs, MP3Ps, mobile phones, PDAs, portable game devices, power tools, E-bikes, and the like as well as large-sized products requiring high power such as electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, power storage devices for storing surplus power or renewable energy, and backup power storage devices.
Such a secondary battery is classified into a pouch type secondary battery and a can type secondary battery according to a material of a case accommodating the electrode assembly. In the pouch type secondary battery, an electrode assembly is accommodated in a pouch made of a flexible polymer material. Also, in the can type secondary battery, an electrode assembly is accommodated in a case made of a metal or plastic material.
The secondary battery may be deteriorated in safety due to various problems such as internal short circuit due to an external impact, heat generation due to overcharging and overdischarging, electrolyte decomposition due to the generated heat, and a thermal runaway phenomenon. Particularly, when a gas is generated due to decomposition of an electrolyte to increase in pressure within the secondary battery, a problem occurs that the secondary battery is exploded.
Particularly, when the secondary battery is repeatedly charged and discharged, a gas is generated by electrochemical reaction between the electrolyte and an electrode active material. Here, the generated gas may allow the secondary battery to increase in internal pressure to cause problems such as weakening of bonding force between components, damage of a case of the secondary battery, an early operation of a protection circuit, deformation of an electrode, internal short circuit, explosion, and the like. Thus, in the case of the can type secondary battery, a protection member such as a CID filter and a safety vent is provided to physically interrupt an electrical connection when an internal pressure of a case increases. However, in the case of the pouch type secondary battery according to the related art, the protection member is not sufficiently provided.


A body coil includes a first end ring and a second end ring provided at two ends thereof. The first end ring and the second end ring are connected to each other with a plurality of legs. The first end ring or the second end ring has a structure with the current flow width in a direction parallel to the axis thereof being greater than that in a direction perpendicular to the axis thereof. Since the effective action width of the current is increased in the axial direction and the centralized flow of the current in the end ring is reduced, the local specific absorption rate of radio frequency induced by the magnetic field is therefore reduced.

In a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, specific absorption rate (SAR) is a safety indicator. Since specific absorption rate is in proportion to the square of the field intensity, specific absorption rate is a critical problem in a magnetic resonance imaging system with a high field intensity. A body coil is a critical component for transferring energy. Relatively high local specific absorption rate means that the average radio frequency power applied to the body coil is to be limited, but the limiting will increase the scanning time. Hence, it is very important to reduce the local specific absorption rate with respect to the design of body coils for magnetic resonance imaging systems with high field intensities.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a body coil with an end ring structure for magnetic resonance imaging equipment in the prior art. As shown in FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 indicates a cylinder for housing a patient in magnetic resonance imaging equipment. 102 indicates a bird-cage body coil, and there is an end ring 103 and 104 respectively at each of the two ends of the bird-cage body coil. 105 indicates a leg (e.g., metal strip) for connecting two end rings, and 106 indicates that there is a capacitor at a position on each end ring between two metal strips.
In a high-pass bird-cage body coil structure, the worst situation is where the local specific absorption rate of radio frequency is located near the end ring. The design of the end ring is a critical factor to reduce local specific absorption rate.
The reasons for relatively high local specific absorption rate may be divided into two aspects. One is electric field coupling, and the other is magnetic field coupling. Usually, a method for solving the problem of relatively high local specific absorption rate is to reduce the electric field coupling effect. A first method is to replace each capacitor on the end ring with two or more capacitors connected in series. Such a method may be used to lower the voltage across each capacitor that will reduce the electric field coupling effect. A second method is to add foam underneath the end ring that will change the dielectric constant of the material between the end ring and the patient. A third method is to increase the distance between the end ring and the patient. All the above-mentioned methods are on the basis of reducing electric field coupling, but these methods have problems such as high costs, loss of internal space of the cylinder, and so on. Moreover, if the local specific absorption rate is dominated by the magnetic field, the above-mentioned methods may not have the desired effects.

Body coil for magnetic resonance imaging


A two or three part sample holder for X-ray apparatus has a sample ring 2 and a counter ring 20. The sample ring 2 has two opposed surfaces and foils 8, 10 one on each surface holding a powder sample 6 within the central hole 4. The sample ring 2 is relatively thin, of thickness 0.2 to 4 mm. A counter ring 20 is provided to engage with the sample ring 2 to provide increased strength and/or stiffness.

In order to measure powder samples in X-ray fluorescence (XRF) apparatus, it is necessary that the sample be mounted in a sample holder which can in turn be placed in the apparatus.
However, conventional sample holders for powder usually have a significant contribution to the observed background intensity under the fluorescence peaks of interest caused by scattering in the sample holder wall material.
A number of different containers have been proposed for use in such X-ray fluorescence apparatus. In particular, examples are proposed in GB 2 194 636 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,109.
However, there remains a need for an improved method of X-ray fluorescence in which the effects of sample holders are minimised.
Further, there is a need for providing a sample holder that gives good results for X-ray fluorescence with a minimal volume of sample.
By way of example, during pharmaceutical research the amount of pharmaceutical prepared can often be very low and powder samples of only 0.1 g may need to be measured. The inventors tried using an existing sample cup for this powder but with such small quantities of sample the usable


A method for predicting inventory availability, involving receiving a delivery order including a plurality of items and a delivery location, and identifying a warehouse for picking the plurality of items. The method retrieves a machine-learned model that predicts a probability that an item is available at the warehouse. The machine-learned model is trained, using machine learning, based in part on a plurality of datasets. The plurality of datasets include data describing items included in previous delivery orders, whether each item in each previous delivery order was picked, a warehouse associated with each previous delivery order, and a plurality of characteristics associated with each of the items. The method predicts the probability that one of the plurality of items in the delivery order is available at the warehouse, and generates an instruction to a picker based on the probability. An instruction is transmitted to a mobile device of the picker.

This disclosure relates generally to a process for predicting inventory availability in a delivery system. In some embodiments, a shopper or "picker" is directed to warehouse location based on a predicted inventory availability.
In current delivery systems, shoppers, or "pickers," fulfill orders at a physical warehouse, such as a retailer, on behalf of customers as part of an online shopping concierge service. In current delivery systems, the pickers may be sent to various warehouse locations with instructions to fulfill orders for items, and the pickers then find the items included in the customer order in the warehouse. However, in conventional delivery systems, it is difficult to know before a picker arrives at the warehouse if the item in the customer's order is in stock at the location. Item inventory may fluctuate throughout a day or week, such that even if a picker previously found an item at a warehouse, the picker may be unable to find it at the same warehouse for a subsequent delivery order. The picker may then spend unnecessary time looking for an item that is not actually available. Furthermore, if the item is unavailable and the customer has already ordered it, the customer may become frustrated. If item inventory could be predicted, this could reduce the time spent by pickers looking for items that are not available, and customer satisfaction with the delivery system could be improved.


A wheel bearing assembly includes an outer race in which a plurality of rows of track portions are formed at an inner side thereof; a hub that is coaxially disposed with the outer race to be rotatably disposed in the outer race; an inner race that is engaged with a portion of an outside surface of the hub to rotate together with the hub; a first roller that is interposed between the hub and the outer race to be rolled; and a second roller that is interposed between the inner race and the outer race to be rolled.

A wheel bearing assembly rotatably connects a wheel with a vehicle body in such a way that a vehicle can move. The wheel bearing assembly is divided into a drive wheel bearing assembly that delivers torque of an engine and a driven wheel bearing that does not delivers torque.
The drive wheel bearing assembly includes a non-rotation element that is fixed to a vehicle body and a rotation element that is connected to a drive wheel that is rotated by torque that is generated by an engine and passes through a transmission.
Roller elements are interposed between the rotation element and the non-rotation element. A rotation element of the driven wheel bearing assembly is not connected to a drive wheel, but other structures thereof are equal to that of the drive wheel bearing assembly.
The wheel bearing assembly is manufactured in such a way that a pre-load is formed in the roller element for stability of operating performance, and the assemble structure between an outer race, an inner race, and a hub has to be stable and the assembly thereof has to be easy.
Generally, an inner race is forcibly inserted into a hub, an outer race is disposed to cover the hub and the inner race, a roller is interposed between them, and a sealing member is further added to prevent foreign materials from being permeated into them.
Meanwhile, as the hub and the inner race are forcibly inserted into each other, it is hard to adjust the amount of pre-load in the forcible insertion structure, and there is a problem that maintenance and assembly thereof are difficult by the forcible insertion.


Sealing device for a flanged bearing for a wheel hub in which the flanged ends (13) of the outer race (11) have the metallic rings (14) of a sealing device (15) pressed on to their internal surfaces; each metallic ring (14) incorporates a rubber element (16) which is suitable for forming a static seal on the outer race of the bearing; the rubber element (16) extends towards the inner race (10) of the bearing (12) to then bend back towards the outside of the bearing itself with an appendix (17), which forms two seals (18 and 19) on the internal surface of a second metallic ring (20); the latter is pressed on to the external surface of the inner race (10) of the bearing; a rubber element (21) is applied to the ring (20) in correspondence with its free end (22) which is axially turned towards the inside of the device; the rubber element (22) presents at least two lips (24 and 25), one of which creates a dynamic seal between the two races (10 and 11) of the bearing together with the above-mentioned lips (24 and 25) of the metallic ring (14), while the second lip (25) creates a static seal of the ring (20) against the surface (23) of the inner race (10) of the bearing which it faces.

The present invention refers to a sealing device for a flanged bearing.
The present invention may be advantageously, but not exclusively, applied in the field of flanged bearings for the hub-bearing groups of vehicle wheels, to which the description which follows will make explicit reference without, however, losing any of its general nature.
Older types of hub-bearing groups present a sealing device made up of a metallic insert, which is anchored to the flanged end of the outer race of the bearing and is provided with a vulcanised rubber body, which extends from the free end of the insert itself.
The rubber body comprises a number of lips (usually from two to five) which extend to form seals on the surface on the inner race of the bearing and on the flanged surface of the hub which faces the above-mentioned lips.
Although sealing devices of the above-mentioned type have performed their function adequately for a number of years, they present some inconveniences, such as difficulties relating to assembly due to the relevant quantity of lips and the brief working life of the lips themselves.
A more recent version of this kind of sealing device still presents a metallic ring which is anchored to the flanged end of the outer race of the bearing and which is provided with a vulcanised rubber body which extends from the insert itself, but in this case the lips of the rubber body create a dynamic seal on the internal surface of a second metallic ring which is anchored to the inner race of the bearing.
This alternative permits a better, safer assembly of the various components and results in a better and more reliable dynamic seal between the two metallic rings, but there is no seal on the flanged section of the inner race of the bearing; as a result, various external agents such as mud, water and dust can easily enter via the free space between the sealing device and the hub flange, a factor which causes problems of alignment and centering between the bearing and the hub flange.
The aim of the present invention is to produce a sealing device for flanged bearings which reduces the difficulties regarding assembly and which permits an improvement in the working life of the bearings themselves, thus increasing their reliability.
Another aim of the present invention is to produce a sealing device which further improves the sealing characteristics on the hub-bearing group.
In order to fulfil these aims, and other aims which will be better explained in the following description, the present invention proposes the realisation of a sealing device for a flanged bearing in particular for a wheel hub in which the flanged ends of the outer race of the bearing have shrunk on to their internal surface the metallic rings of a sealing device; each metallic ring incorporates a rubber element which is suitable for forming a static seal on the outer race of the bearing; the rubber element extends towards the inner race of the bearing to then bend back towards the outside of the bearing itself with an appendix, which forms two seals on the internal surface of a second metallic ring; the latter is shrunk on to the external surface of the inner race of the bearing; the device is characterised by the fact that a rubber element is applied to the ring in correspondence to its free end, which is axially turned towards the inside of the device; the rubber element presents at least two lips, one of which forms a dynamic seal between the two races of the bearing together with the above-mentioned lips of the metallic ring, while the second lip forms a static seal of the ring against the surface of the inner race of the bearing which it faces.


A refrigerant charging system and method for charging a refrigeration system with refrigerant includes a refrigerant source, one or more cartridges, an input line, an output line, and a scale preferably having an accuracy within about ±0.2 ounce. The cartridge is filled with refrigerant by transferring the refrigerant from the refrigerant source to the cartridge, after which, the filled cartridge is disconnected from the refrigerant source. An initial weight of the filled cartridge is obtained, and the cartridge is connected to the refrigeration system. Refrigerant is then transferred from the filled cartridge to the refrigeration system. A revised weight of the filled cartridge is obtained, and the revised weight is compared to the initial weight to determine if the refrigeration system has been completely charged. The cartridge is disconnected from the refrigeration system after the refrigeration system has been completely charged.

Most refrigeration systems are not 100% free of leaks. Thus, the amount (or mass) of refrigerant within the refrigeration system decreases over time. Refrigeration systems, however, are designed to operate with a specific amount of refrigerant. Therefore, loss of refrigerant in a refrigeration system over time typically reduces the efficiency of the refrigeration system. Also, if the amount of refrigerant in the refrigeration system drops to a certain level, the refrigeration system may cease to operate and/or be damaged. For these reasons, a common maintenance operation for a refrigeration system is to recharge the refrigerant.
The recharging operation typically involves flushing the refrigeration system of any remaining refrigerant and, if present, other materials within the refrigeration system. Once the refrigeration system is flushed, a predetermined amount of new refrigerant is introduced into the refrigeration system. An important component of conventional refrigeration charging systems is the device that measures the amount of refrigerant introduced into the refrigeration system. Since the refrigeration system is designed to operate with a specific amount of refrigerant, too little or too much refrigerant can reduce the effectiveness of the recharging operation.
One conventional device used to measure the amount of refrigerant introduced into the refrigeration system is a load cell (or scale). Essentially, the scale measures the weight of a tank containing the refrigerant before the refrigerant is introduced into the refrigeration system and then afterwards. The difference between the two readings is the amount of refrigerant introduced into the refrigeration system. However, problems exist with the use of a scale in conventional recharging systems.
For example, scale accuracy is dependent upon the weight being measured, and a larger weight to be measured results in less accuracy. Since the scale also measures the weight of the entire tank, sensitivity of the scale is reduced. Furthermore, recent advances in refrigeration technology employ carbon dioxide as the refrigerant, which is stored at a pressure as much as ten times higher than the pressure at which conventional refrigerants are stored, and the resulting increase in storage pressure necessitates thicker walls for the tank. These thicker walls add additional weight to the tank, which further decreases the sensitivity of the scale.
Another conventional device used to measure the amount of refrigerant introduced into the refrigeration system employs mass flow technology. As recognized by those skilled in the art, mass flow technology implements a sensor that measures the flow rate of fluid (i.e., the refrigerant) flowing past a certain point. However, use of mass flow technology is very expensive, and the expense is even greater when an increased sensitivity for calculating the amount of refrigerant delivered is desired. The accuracy of mass flow technology is dependent on the fluid state since the mass flow sensors do not measure gas as well as liquid. Although most refrigerants are in a liquid form during the recharging operation, carbon dioxide is in a gaseous state during a recharging operation. Also, mass flow technology does not work well with two-phase fluids. There is, therefore, a need for a refrigerant charging system and method that is more accurate and less expensive than conventional refrigeration charging systems, particularly when the refrigerant is carbon dioxide.

Refrigerant charging system and method using cartridges and scale


A power tool includes a housing having a motor provided therein and a switch provided within the housing for activating the motor. The power tool also includes a member configured for movement between a first position in which the motor is operating and a second position in which the motor is not operating. The member includes a first end retained in the housing at a first location, a second end retained in the housing at a second location, a body portion extending between the first end and the second end, and a beam extending from the body into the housing for selectively actuating the switch.

The present invention relates generally to the field of power tools. More specifically, the present invention relates to hand-held power tools that include handles that may be selectively attached to and detached from the tools.
Hand-held power tools generally include a housing and a motor contained within the housing. The motor is configured to move a tool bit or other cutting accessory at high speeds to form cuts in a workpiece (e.g., a piece of wood, drywall, tile, etc.). For example, a hand-held rotary cutting tool such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,813,805 and 6,443,675 to Kopras et al. (the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety) is configured to rotate a helical or spiral cutting tool bit that includes a sharp cutting edge wrapped in a helix around the longitudinal axis of the bit. According to this example, the tool is configured to allow the formation of cuts in a workpiece by moving the tool in a direction perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the bit (i.e., the tool is arranged normal to the workpiece surface and moved parallel to the surface of the workpiece to allow the edges of the bit to remove material from the workpiece).
Power tools such as rotary cutting tools generally include mechanisms such as switches and the like for turning the motor of the power tool on and off. Such switches may be provided in various locations on the power tool. However, such known mechanisms do not realize certain advantageous features or combinations of features as may be desirable for a user of the power tool and/or for a manufacturer of such tools. For example, certain tools may include switches which do not provide feedback to a user of the tool as to the proper position of the switch (e.g., there is no positive feedback to the user to let the user know that the switch is in the "on" position, etc.).
It would be advantageous to provide an improved mechanism for turning on and switching off power for a power tool. It would also be advantageous to provide such a mechanism that is relatively easy to assemble and that may be utilized in a battery-powered tool. It would be desirable to provide a power tool having any one or more of these or other advantageous features as may be apparent to those reviewing this disclosure.


An electric switching device according to the invention comprises two fixed contacts and one movable contact, referred to jointly as the main contact system. The main contact system is located in an oil-insulated cavity enclosed in a housing. In its direction of movement, the movable contact has an extension in the form of a shaft. The shaft is formed with a hydraulic piston by which the movable contact is operated. The hydraulic piston is surrounded by a cavity in which a piston cavity is formed on each side of the hydraulic piston. The piston cavities are oil-filled. The movement of the shaft is determined by an electrically controlled directional valve. The directional valve receives signals as to whether the electric switching device is to be opened or closed. At a given signal, the directional valve distributes a high pressure to the piston cavity that is to be enlarged. The electric switching device can be provided with an auxiliary contact mechanism which can be placed either in the fixed contacts and/or in the movable contact. The electric switching device is provided with a bistable mechanism comprising wedge-shaped pistons biased by means of springs. The wedge-shaped pistons, in case of drop-out of pressure, lock the movable contact in the existing position via the shaft.

One problem is that conventional electric switching devices with electrical contacts in oil have a low contact opening speed. This is due, inter alia, to the fact that in connection with contact opening, hydraulic counter forces arise in the oil, which together with the other forces of inertia provide a relatively low initial contact opening speed.
Problems with welding arcs and other arcs in connection with contact opening also arise. In connection with reactive power compensation with the aid of thyristors, it is desirable that a sufficiently high voltage is built up across the contact point for the thyristors to be able to fire. To make possible a considerable operating endurance, it is important that moderate welding arcs or other arcs arise since otherwise these will rapidly erode the contact surfaces.
Modern circuit breakers, because of the current and voltage range in which they are operating, of necessity have large dimensions, which requires a relatively high operating energy which, in turn, limits the speed of action.
For use in applications mentioned under the heading "technical field" above, the available circuit breakers are overdimensioned primarily from the point of view of voltage. The SF.sub.6 circuit breaker is the breaker which most closely corresponds to the present invention. The SF.sub.6 circuit breaker is designed to manage voltages approximately 10 times higher than what is necessary for these applications. Characteristic data for the SF.sub.6 circuit breaker show that it can be operated up to 150 times at 10 kA and if the current increases to 60 kA, it manages about 15 operations. The problems with welding and other arcs are here overcome by the SF.sub.6 gas blowing out the arc arising upon contact opening. As will be clear from the stated data, the operating endurance is not very high, nor is the operating speed.
Other circuits breakers available are vacuum circuit breakers and oil-minimum circuit breakers. However, for the intended applications of the electric switching device, neither the operating endurance, nor the operating speed of these breakers is sufficient, while at the same time their required operating energies are too large.


An on-line neural network based software application that enables manufacturing facilities to meaningfully determine their energy performance, no matter how complex, with respect to the production rates and ambient conditions. This is achieved by the generation of three levels of targets; facility overall performance, departmental key performance indicators, and key operating parameters that impact the facility's energy consumption and over which, the operators have control. A unit and cost gap analysis of actual versus target is executed for overall and departmental energy performance. Causes of statistically significant deviations are diagnosed and corrective actions highlighted. The software application is designed to be updated dynamically so that users can effectively manage performance on the basis of current information.

Most manufacturing industry facilities measure energy performance against specific energy usage goals, e.g., the steam usage per unit of production. These goals fail to account for the complex inter-dependence of varying departmental production rates and the prevailing ambient conditions. Traditionally the goals are set by the facility's best performance on an ideal day or last year's average with a fixed percent target reduction. Therefore, whenever some parts of the facility are shut down or the production is slowed back or ambient conditions change, the specific performance measurement does not yield a meaningful comparison. If a process change is introduced, it is difficult to detect the facility wide impact of that change.
Creep in energy consumption is only detected long after the event, typically the first indication is in the month end accounting reports that are normally issued 1 to 4 weeks after the month closing. Most often the costs and usages in these accounting reports are assigned somewhat arbitrarily on per unit values that are many years old and subsequently adjusted to compensate for unaccounted consumption, biases for allocations, etc. Tedious analysis of the accounting reports and operating logs are required to identify the cause of the deviation. Often with these long time lags the causes cannot be identified with a reasonable level of confidence.
Accordingly a need exists for a convenient method of providing easily accessible, automatically updating, energy targeting and monitoring system of actual values versus targets derived from current department production rates and ambient conditions, with real-time indication of which control settings to change to improve energy performance.

Method and system for targeting and monitoring the energy performance of manufacturing facilities


A method of producing a composition for coating fibrous sheet products includes adding a surface treatment agent in an aqueous emulsion or solution form to an aqueous suspension of a dispersed inorganic particulate material comprising kaolin to improve the coating composition, e.g., rheology, and the rotogravure printing process, e.g. runnability. The dispersing agent is polycarboxylate. The surface treatment agent is in a substantially free state, has a hydrophobic group, and is selected from the group consisting of: (i) a long chain fatty acid; (ii) a long chain fatty alcohol; or (iii) an anionic surfactant having a long chain hydrophobic group and a polar group. A hydrophilic adhesive is added to the dispersed aqueous suspension during or while the surface treatment agent is added to the dispersed aqueous suspension. This method is used to produce a coated and a printed coated cellulosic sheet member.

1. Field of the Invention
This, invention concerns an improved coating composition for use in preparing a coated cellulosic sheet material, for example paper or cardboard, which has special advantages when the coated sheet material is printed by the rotogravure process.
2. Description of the Background Art
Coating compositions for cellulosic sheet materials generally comprise an aqueous suspension of one or more pigments and one or more adhesive materials, together with small amounts of other additives such as rheology modifiers, lubricants etc, The most commonly used pigments are generally natural or synthetic inorganic materials of white colour and of relatively fine particle size distribution such that at least 45% by weight of the particles have an equivalent spherical diameter (esd) smaller than 2 .mu.m, when measured by a sedimentation method. Examples of pigments which are commonly used in coating compositions for cellulosic sheet materials are kaolin clay, calcined kaolin clay, natural or precipitated calcium carbonate, satin white, calcium sulphate and talc.
The rotogravure printing process is generally most suited to those applications in which a very large number of copies is required to be printed, because the process by which a rotogravure printing cylinder is prepared is expensive relative to the cost of preparing printing plates for use in other methods of printing. A rotogravure printing cylinder has on its surface a matrix of cells or depressions which vary in depth according to the amount of ink which is required to be transferred to the paper from each individual cell. The surface of the cylinder is initially smooth and highly polished, arid the matrix of cells on the surface is prepared by an expensive photographic etching process. Because of the large number of copies to be printed, it is generally desirable to run the printing press at high speed, and this necessitates the use of a printing ink which dries quickly on the paper to avoid "offset", or the transfer of undried printing ink from one sheet of paper to the next. It is therefore desirable to use a printing ink which has a solvent which is more volatile than water. In addition a solvent-based ink generally gives better print quality than a water-based ink. Such volatile solvents are almost always organic and oleophilic.
It has been discovered in the paper coating industry that, when large reels of paper are wound or unwound at high speed, frequent breakages can occur in the web of coated paper. One cause of this is believed to be the relatively high coefficient of friction of the coated surface of certain types of coated paper, which limits the freedom of movement of one turn of a reel of coated paper relative to an adjacent turn.
In order to reduce or eliminate this problem, some operators include in the coating composition from 10% to 45% by weight of talc in the total dry weight of the pigment in the composition. This reduces the coefficient of friction of the surface of the coated paper prepared using the composition and gives it a "slippery" feel. Talc of the required quality is, however, expensive, and in some cases, the slippery surface of the coated paper can cause problems in printing processes in which the paper is used.
It is also known (see for example TAPPI Monograph Series No. 25 "Paper Coating Additives", Chapter 2, "Lubricants" by R. B. Porter, Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry, New York, 1963) to include in a paper coating composition as a lubricant or "levelling agent" a small quantity of a water-soluble soap, such as sodium or ammonium stearate, or of a soap which is insoluble, but dispersible, in water such as calcium or aluminium stearate.
Talc as used in the prior art to assist smoothness arid runnability is expensive.
Providing a paper having a surface which is compatible with the rotogravure printing process required to be operated has been difficult in the prior art. In many cases, there has been an incompatibility which has resulted in a loss of dots making up the required print image.
The present invention concerns the use of a surface treatment agent having hydrophilic and hydrophobic groups in the production of a coating composition for paper and like fibrous sheet materials. Use of such an agent in such compositions for different reasons is known from various prior art references, eg. GB 1,056,824; U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,240; U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,110; U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,015; U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,836; U.S. Pat. No. 3,928,707 and GB 674,876.
However, such references do not teach the production of compositions which solve both the `runnability` and `missing dot` problems described above by use of a surface treatment agent (without other measures).
EP-A-0565691 discloses a method whereby a pigment material is treated with a chemical surface treatment agent, e.g. a saturated or unsaturated fatty acid or an amine, prior to the preparation of the paper coating composition. However, in use of such a method, the treated pigment material has to be subsequently dispersed with dispersing agent in an aqueous suspension. Such a process is difficult to carry out satisfactorily because the coated pigment material is not easily dispersed with conventional dispersing agents.


The thin panel conveyance unit used for piling up and conveying a plurality of rectangular thin panels includes: resin cushion spacers inserted between the rectangular thin panels, each resin cushion spacer having a load-receiving upper surface for receiving load of the rectangular thin panel disposed above and a placement lower surface placed on an upper surface of the rectangular thin panel disposed below, and having an end part provided with a positioning body for the resin cushion spacer; a pallet having an upper surface configured to allow the rectangular thin panels to be piled up thereon; and a protection sleeve surrounding the piled rectangular thin pallets. The upper surface of the pallet is provided with a peripheral groove in which the protection sleeve can be fitted.

A module has conventionally been used for storing and conveying fragile, heavy, rectangular thin panels, such as solar panels, in a manner that the panels are piled up vertically without contact.
Patent Document 1 discloses an example thereof.
This module includes: a supporting surface for supporting a rectangular thin panel from below; and a mold-product member connected to the supporting surface in a manner of extending outward from the supporting surface and vertically transmitting the weight of the rectangular thin panel. This module has a recess and a protrusion, which can be engaged with each other, on upper and lower parts of this mold-product member.
With such modules, it is possible to pile up the rectangular thin panels vertically without contact as follows: The modules are put on four corners of a rectangular thin panel with its periphery supported by a rectangular annular outer frame. Then, the rectangular thin panel is disposed on the supporting surface via the outer frame. Next, at each corner, the recess at the lower part of the mold-product member of another module is fitted to the protrusion at the upper part of the mold-product member of the module already disposed. Similarly, the next rectangular thin panel is supported by four modules. Without the outer frame, however, the modules cause the following program when the four corners of the rectangular thin panel are disposed on the supporting surface of each module. That is, the rectangular thin panel can be scratched or damaged during the conveyance.
More specifically, for example, the rectangular thin panel vibrates when: the piled rectangular thin panels are transported in a truck or the pallet runs on an uneven road. In the occurrence of such vibration, the substantially central part of the rectangular thin panel has the maximum amplitude vertically. Here, each corner part of the rectangular thin panel disposed on the supporting surface of the module is a free end. Therefore, as compared with the case where each corner part becomes a fixed end due to the use of an outer frame, the vibration at the central part of the rectangular thin panel tends to be amplified. As a result, due to the vibration of each corner part of the rectangular thin panel or due to the contact between each corner part of the rectangular thin panel and the upper and lower supporting parts, the rectangular thin panel may be scratched or, in some cases, damaged. In view of this, the insertion of a cushion spacer having a cushioning function with a predetermined size between a lower surface of the upper rectangular thin panel and an upper surface of the lower rectangular thin panel is suggested. This cushion spacer serves as an alternative to the modules disposed at the four corners of the rectangular thin panel when the rectangular thin panels are piled up. There are various configurations of the rectangular thin panel. For example, the upper surface of the solar panel is generally provided with a power distribution box and/or cord. On this occasion, a clearance is needed between the solar panels to be piled up on each other or the size of the cushion spacer needs to be restricted. The restriction of the size of the cushion spacer is to reduce the load receiving area of the rectangular thin panel. As this load receiving area is smaller (especially as the size of the cushion spacer located lower is restricted more), the rectangular thin panel is more easily crushed due to the increasing weight of the rectangular thin panel located above. Meanwhile, when the cushion spacers are vertically adjacent to each other via the piled rectangular thin panel, the upper cushion spacer can be moved relative to the lower cushion spacer in a long-side or short-side direction of the rectangular thin panel. In this case, it is difficult to stably position the rectangular thin panel supported by the cushion spacer. Therefore, for example, the load may be shifted due to the vibration during the conveyance, resulting in that the rectangular thin panel may be damaged. For this reason, it is necessary to restrict the relative movement between the cushion spacers adjacent to each other vertically. However, there is no choice but to provide such a positioning portion outside the rectangular thin panel, i.e., at a portion that does not receive the load of the rectangular thin panel. In this case, a shear force is generated vertically in the cushion spacer, specifically between the portion that receives the load of the rectangular thin panel and the portion that does not receive the load of the rectangular thin panel. This may result in that the structural integrity of the cushion spacer made of resin is degraded over time.
In this regard, Patent Document 2 discloses a housing unit for the rectangular thin panel utilizing such cushion spacers. More specifically, this conveyance unit forms one unit by alternately piling up a cushion member and a glass plate when housing the glass plates in a pallet. Here, the glass plate is a glass plate having a plurality of resin frames, which is a window glass for an automobile. The cushion member includes a self-adhesive member on a surface thereof that abuts on the glass plate. The unit is disposed on a bottom-receiving member formed on a bottom of the pallet via the cushion member having the self-adhesive member. Next, the cushion member including the self-adhesive member is disposed on an upper surface of the unit. After that, an upper pressing member is disposed on this cushion member. Then, the bottom-receiving member and the upper pressing member are fastened with a predetermined binding unit.
In such a housing unit, the glass plates piled up between the bottom-receiving member and the upper pressing member are fastened with the predetermined binding unit. Thus, the glass plates can be housed without the load shift. However, if the target to be housed is not the transparent glass plate having the resin frame but an opaque or semi-transparent rectangular thin panel without a frame, the technical problems as follows are found when the panel is housed.
First, the positioning of the cushion spacer on the thin panel is difficult.
More specifically, the cushion spacer is disposed on the upper surface of the glass plate at each of the four corners of the rectangle with a predetermined space from each other via the self-adhesive member. However, at each of the four corners of the rectangle, the cushion spacers are necessarily piped up in a columnar shape, while the glass plate is interposed between the cushion spacers. If the glass plate is transparent, the position of the cushion spacer positioned below the glass plate can be observed through the glass plate. Therefore, it is easy to pile up the cushion spacers in the columnar shape. In the case of an opaque or semi-transparent rectangular thin panel, however, it is difficult to position the next cushion spacer via the rectangular thin panel right above the cushion spacer below the rectangular thin panel. In this case, therefore, as the number of rectangular thin panels to be piled up increases, the cushion spacer to be adjacent thereto vertically is displaced. As a result, the risk of the load shift is increased. In particular, the load shift is more likely to be caused if the displacement occurs in a direction where the size of the rectangle formed by four cushion spacers becomes smaller.
Second, it is difficult to pile up or unload the thin panels efficiently. More specifically, four cushion spacers are needed to pile up one glass plate. The cushion spacers need to be positioned at predetermined positions of the glass substrate. In the case of piling up the rectangular thin panels without frames, the sides of the rectangular thin panels piled up are exposed. Therefore, the piling up requires extra attention. Thus, efficient piling up is difficult. This similarly applies when the piled thin panels are unloaded.    Patent Document 1: JP-A-2006-32978    Patent Document 2: JP-A-2003-200962


A method is provided for forming a short and sharp gate bird's beak in order to increase the erase speed of a split-gate flash memory cell. This is accomplished by implanting nitrogen ions in the first polysilicon layer of the cell and removing them from the area where the floating gate is to be formed. Then, when the polysilicon layer is oxidized to form polyoxide, the floating gate region without the nitrogen ions oxidizes faster than the surrounding area still having the nitrogen ions. Consequently, the bird's beak that is formed at the edges of the polyoxide assumes a sharper shape with smaller size than that is found in prior art. This results in an increase in the erase speed of the memory cell.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to split-gate memory cells used in flash EEPROMs (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memories), and in particular, to a method of forming a sharp beak adjacent to the floating polygate of the same by implanting nitrogen ions at the underlying interface in order to improve the erase speed of the split-gate flash memory.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Ion implantation can be used to advantage in, among other things, controlling the growth of oxides in different materials. Thus, nitrogen ions implanted within a semiconductor substrate will retard the oxidation rate of the substrate while fluorine ions will advance the oxidation rate of the substrate. In this invention, a new method of implanting impurity ions is disclosed where the shape and size of the well-known gate bird's beak can be controlled. This, in turn, will improve the performance of memory cells.
The size and shape of the areas comprising a memory cell determine to a large extent its functional properties-erase speed being one of the important ones. Thus, the dimensions and shape of the so-called "bird's beak", which is described below more in detail in relation to nonvolatile memories, play an important role in transferring current to and fro between the substrate and the floating gate, and hence the charging speed of the memory cell, and the amount of surface current leakage that takes place around and near the bird's beak.
Among the nonvolatile read only memories, such as masked-ROMs, Electrically Programmable (EP-ROMs), EEPROMs have been known as one type of nonvolatile memory semiconductor devices capable of electrically writing and erasing information. However, EEPROMs require two transistors to operate. In Flash EEPROM, the memory cell includes one transistor, and the contents of all the memory's cells can be erased simultaneously through the use of an electrical erase signal. Hence, with Flash memory, in addition to gaining speed in having the cells erased much more rapidly, higher levels of integration can be achieved with fewer devices.
The unit cell of an EEPROM memory device is usually comprised of a silicon substrate provided with a source and a drain, and two polysilicon gates; that is, a MOS transistor having a channel defined by the source and drain regions, a floating gate to which there is no direct electrical connection and a control gate with a direct electrical connection. The floating gate is separated from the substrate by an insulating layer of, for example, silicon oxide. The control gate is generally positioned over the floating gate with a layer of insulating material separating the two gates. To program a transistor, charge is transferred from the substrate through the insulator and is stored on the floating gate of the transistor. The amount of charge is set to one of two levels to indicate whether the cell has been programmed "on" or "off." "Reading" of the cell's state is accomplished by applying appropriate voltages to the cell source and drain, and to the control gate, and then sensing the amount of charge on the floating gate. To erase the contents of a cell, the programming process is reversed, namely, charges are removed from the floating gate by transferring them back to the substrate through the insulator. A fairly recent technology is "flash" memories in which the entire array of memory cells, or a significant subset thereof, is erased simultaneously. Flash EEPROMs combine the advantages of UV-erasable EPROMS and floating-gate EEPROMs. They offer high density, small cell size, the well-known hot-electron writability of EPROMs, together with the easy reusability, on-board reprogrammability, and electron-tunneling erasure feature of EEPROMs (See S. Wolf, "Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era," vol. 2, Lattice Press, Sunset Beach, Calif., 1990, pp. 632-634.)
Programming and erasing of an EEPROM is accomplished electrically and in-circuit by using Fowler-Nordheim tunneling as is well known in prior art. Basically, a sufficiently high voltage is applied to the control gate and drain while the source is grounded to create a flow of electrons in the channel region in the substrate. Some of these electrons gain enough energy to transfer from the substrate to the floating gate through the thin oxide layer by means of Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. The tunneling is achieved by raising the voltage level on the control gate to a sufficiently high value of about 12 volts. As the electronic charge builds up on the floating gate, the electric field is reduced, which reduces the electron flow. When, finally, the high voltage is removed, the floating gate remains charged to a value larger than the threshold voltage of a logic high that would turn it on. Thus, even when a logic high is applied to the control gate, the EEPROM remains off. Since tunneling process is reversible, the floating gate can be erased by grounding the control gate and raising the drain voltage, thereby causing the stored charge on the floating gate to flow back to the substrate. Of critical importance in the tunneling region is the quality and the thinness of the tunneling oxide separating the floating gate from the substrate. Usually a thickness of between about 80 to 120 Angstroms is required to facilitate Fowler-Nordheim tunneling.
A cross section of a conventional Flash EEPROM is shown in FIG. 1. Drain impurity diffusion layer (16) and a source impurity diffusion layer (17) are formed on a main surface of the semiconductor substrate (10) and are spaced from each other by a predetermined distance with a channel region therebetween. The conventional Flash EEPROM further includes a floating gate electrode (13) formed on the channel region with a first gate oxide film (12) therebetween, a control gate electrode (15) formed on the floating gate electrode (13) with an insulating film (14) therebetween, an interlayer thermal oxide film (18) covering the semiconductor substrate (10), floating gate electrode (13) and control gate electrode (15), and an interlayer insulating film (19) covering the interlayer thermal oxide film (18). Gate bird's beak oxide films (20) are formed at opposite ends of the first gate oxide film (12) and opposite end of the insulating film (14). The interlayer insulating film (19) contains impurity such as boron or phosphorous. The purpose of the interlayer thermal oxide film (18) is to prevent the movement of impurity such as boron of phosphorous of the interlayer insulating film (19) into the semiconductor substrate (10), control gate electrode (15) or floating gate electrode (13) and thus to prevent change of the electrical characteristics thereof.
After the final step of forming the interlayer insulating film (19) to cover the interlayer thermal oxide film (18) shown in FIG. 1, usually heat treatment by a reflow method is carried out to flatten the interlayer insulating film (19). During this process as well as during thermally growing the thermal oxide layer (18) by means of wet oxidation, oxidizer (H.sub.2 O) penetrates the interlayer insulating film (19) and interlayer thermal oxide film (18). This causes further oxidization between the semiconductor substrate (10) and the ends of the floating gate electrode (13), and between the control gate electrode (15) and the floating gate electrode (13). As a result, the gate bird's beak oxide films (20) are formed. Consequently, the lower end of the floating gate electrode (13) contacts the gate bird's beak oxide films (20) so that the lower end of the floating gate electrode (13) is oxidized to a large extent as compared with the other portions.
The gate bird's beak oxide film (20) can form either at the lower end of the floating gate (13) and the source impurity diffusion layer (17), or at the lower end of the floating gate near the drain impurity diffusion layer (16), or at both locations. In these cases, the conventional "beak" of the bird's beak is usually long and elongated, thus increasing the size of the cell and at the same time providing paths for current leakage and, therefore, low memory speed.
The formation of a conventional bird's beak in a polysilicon gate is better shown in FIGS. 1b and 1c. In FIG. 1b, layers of gate oxide (210), polysilicon (220) and nitride (230) are successively formed on substrate (200) and then patterned with a photomask layer (240) to define the floating polygate region (260). Subsequently, polysilicon layer (220) is oxidized whereby gate bird's beaks (221) and (221') are formed as well known in the art. It is proposed in this invention a method of implanting the polysilicon so as to decrease the growth of the protrusion of gate bird's beak as shown by reference numerals (221) and (221') in FIG. 1c to a smaller size and sharper shape shown by reference numerals (225) and (225'). It will be known by those skilled in the art that the smaller the birds' beak, the smaller is the encroachment under the polysilicon edge, and hence the smaller is the impact on the electric-field intensity between the corner edge of the floating gate (229) and the control gate (280) of the completed cell structure shown in FIG. 1d, and thus faster is the memory speed. (See S. Wolf and R.N. Tauber, "Silicon Processing for the VLSI Era," vol. 2, Lattice Press, Sunset Beach, Calif., 1990, p. 438). It will also be appreciated that the smaller the bird's beak, the smaller is the overall size of the memory cell contributing to the increased speed of the memory.
Related art teaches methods of employing ion implantation in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, but not in the important area of controlling the forming of bird's beak. Thus, Zaldivar, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 5,610,084 show a method of forming an antifuse utilizing nitrogen implant. Kobushi, et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,368) show a method of forming polycide gate using nitrogen/oxygen implant process. Hsu, et al., on the other hand, teach a process of growing varying gate oxide thicknesses by changing the oxide growth rate using an implant (U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,828). A method of forming sharp beak of poly by nitrogen implant to improve erase speed for split-gate flash memories is disclosed in the embodiments of this invention.

Method of forming sharp beak of poly by nitrogen implant to improve erase speed for split-gate flash

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A method and architecture are provided for SOC (System on a Chip) devices for RAID processing, which is commonly referred as RAID-on-a-Chip (ROC). The architecture utilizes a shared memory structure as interconnect mechanism among hardware components, CPUs and software entities. The shared memory structure provides a common scratchpad buffer space for holding data that is processed by the various entities, provides interconnection for process/engine communications, and provides a queue for message passing using a common communication method that is agnostic to whether the engines are implemented in hardware or software. A plurality of hardware engines are supported as masters of the shared memory. The architectures provide superior throughput performance, flexibility in software/hardware co-design, scalability of both functionality and performance, and support a very simple abstracted parallel programming model for parallel processing.

In computing, specifically computer storage, a redundant array of independent (or inexpensive) drives (or disks) (RAID) is an umbrella term for data storage schemes that divide and/or replicate data among multiple hard drives. They offer, depending on the scheme, increased data reliability and/or throughput.
Fundamentally, RAID combines multiple hard disks into a single logical unit. There are two ways this can be done: in hardware and in software. Hardware combines the drives into a logical unit in dedicated hardware which then presents the drives as a single drive to the operating system. Software does this within the operating system and presents the drives as a single drive to the users of the system. RAID is typically used on servers but can be used on workstations. This is especially true in storage-intensive computers such as those used for video and audio editing.
Three of the concepts used in RAID are mirroring, striping and error correction. Using mirroring, data is copied to more than one disk. Using striping, data is split across more than one disk. For error correction, redundancy coding, such as XOR parity and/or Reed-Solomon code, methods are used to protect data in case of device failure. Different RAID levels use one or more of these techniques, depending on the system requirements.
A hardware implementation of RAID requires at a minimum a special-purpose RAID controller. On a desktop system, this may be a PCI (peripheral communications interface) expansion card, or might be a capability built in to the motherboard. In industrial applications the controller and drives are provided as a stand alone enclosure. The drives may be IDE/ATA, SATA, SCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface), SSA, Fiber Channel (FC), or any combination thereof. The using system can be directly attached to the controller or, more commonly, connected via a storage area network (SAN). The controller hardware handles the management of the drives, and performs any parity calculations required by the chosen RAID level.
The RAID controller is best described as a device in which servers and storage intersect. The controller can be internal to the server, in which case it is a card or chip. Alternatively, it can be external to the server, in which case it is an independent enclosure, such as a NAS (network-attached storage). In either case, the RAID controller manages the physical storage units in a RAID system and delivers them to the server in logical units (e.g., six physical disks may be used to ensure that one drive stays correctly backed up, but the server sees only one drive).
When the primary functional blocks of a RAID controller are integrated in a System On a Chip (SOC) VLSI device, they are often called RAID controller chip, or RAID-on-a-Chip (ROC).
FIG. 1 illustrates the conceptual diagram of a typical architecture of a ROC 10. Many of the current RAID controller SOCs implement variants or a subset of this basic architecture, including but not limited to the following devices: LSI 1078; Intel IOP333, Intel Sunrise Lake IO processor; AMCC PPC440.
The key components of this class of architecture include: a single CPU 12, typically a RISC based embedded processor core; Host bus interface 14, typically PCI, PCI-x, or PCIe interfaces; Memory interface or memory controller 16, typically DDR, or DDR-II interfaces; Storage Interface or Storage Protocol controller 18, typically SCSI, ATA, SATA, SAS, or Fibre Channel Interfaces; XOR or RAID6 engine 20; direct memory access (DMA) logic 22; Peripheral interfaces or buses 24 including UART, I2C, GPIO, SGPIO; and Message Unit 26 for communication between host CPU and the ROC CPU.
Within the ROC memory space there are two basic data types. The first type of data (Low Latency) is used for the control of data movement and includes ROC CPU instructions & data, DMA Engine status & control structures, Messaging Unit messages, and Storage Interface Controller status & control structures. The second data type (High Bandwidth) is Host Application Data. The second data type is never accessed by the ROC CPU. For disk drive status, drive control, and drive metadata, either a Low Latency or High Bandwidth path may be used, but both the producer and consumer of the data must use the same path.
An interconnect mechanism is required to handle the data movement/access of the two types of data structures, or data types, to satisfy the performance requirements for both types of data structures. Known architectures are all based on a system bus interconnect mechanism 28 to provide inter-block communication and to provide access the common memory spaces, including local (DDR) and host (PCI) memory space. Because many of the data structures and control structures are quite complex and significant in size, typically they are stored in DDR or PCI memory space.
The system bus interconnect mechanism 28 provides a method of arbitration to allow multiple blocks (including various hardware engines and the CPU) to access shared data and control structures. Typically, the system bus provides a peer-to-peer communication mechanism, wherein a number of system blocks perform an exclusive master function that generates a transaction request to an address space (e.g. ROC CPU). Some blocks perform an exclusive slave function (DDR memory controller) that receives and responds to transaction requests. Other blocks perform primarily a master functions (e.g. SAS controller, XOR engine) for data movement and access control structures, but also have an associated slave function for control and configuration purposes (e.g. control registers for DMA engine).
Some approaches employ a common internal fabric, in which the same fabric is used to support Low Latency traffic and High Bandwidth traffic, without treating these two types of access differently. This approach is typically used in earlier ROC implementation or systems with lower performance requirements. There are a number of ways to segregate Low Latency traffic from High Bandwidth traffic. Three such approaches are described briefly below.
1) Multiple internal fabrics—a portion is dedicated for Low Latency traffic and a portion is dedicated for High Bandwidth traffic. Masters of one fabric type would not be allowed to talk to slaves of the other type.
2) A more hybrid method is to have multiple fabrics, wherein portions are dedicated for Low Latency and other portions are dedicated for High Bandwidth. The determination of the particular fabric targeted is typically based on address or attributes.
3) The last is to have an internal bus structure where multiple virtual channels are created—one for High Bandwidth and the other for Low Latency traffic. For this architecture to work, the following features should be present: data packet size must be small (less than 256 bytes); support deep pipelining (due to small packet size); support out of order reads; support high priority Low Latency traffic arbitration, and reserved pipelining depth to always allow Low Latency requests to be made (reservation depth should be programmable). Virtual channel or fabric targeted selection is based on address or attributes.
Regardless of how the Low Latency and High Bandwidth requirements are met, targets or slaves that handle both types of traffic (PCI Modules & Memory Controller) must understand the different traffic types providing priority to Low Latency requests. Additionally, it should reserve resources for Low Latency requests. Both of these techniques ensure that a Low Latency request does not get delayed due to a large number of queued High Bandwidth requests.
The architecture of FIG. 1 has difficulties scaling towards higher RAID system performance requirements, as the speed of interfaces increases according to new protocol standards such as SAS-2 and PCIe Gen2. The main limitations include:
1. Lack of multi-processor support, which limits the RAID stack firmware performance as CPU cycles become saturated.
2. Even when multiple processors are added to the ROC architecture, the CPU performance is still hampered by fabric contention as they compete for access for DDR or other common resources.
3. Bus contention also occurs between the CPUs and the hardware engine DMA operations. This sequentializes many operations that can otherwise be executed in parallel.
4. Bus fabric typically causes Head of Line (HOL) blocking issues on concurrent transfers over different physical interfaces. For example, suppose a DMA master handles a top of the queue request to transfer data from DDR. If the DMA master faces a temporary contention on DDR, this causes subsequent transfers, which request data from PCI, to be blocked even though the PCI interface is completely idle in the mean time.
5. The fabric interconnected ROC architecture lacks a shared buffer resource that is accessible by all subsystems. This often leads to distributed small local buffer memory that is required by each subsystem. For example each Phy of the SAS controller requires a staging buffer for receiving and transmitting frames. The distributed buffer results in low memory utilization, low memory density (due to the small size of each buffer RAM), and large overhead for logic that handles the DFT (Design For Testability), ECC, and lack of flexibility for sharing of buffer resources across the local function block boundaries.
6. In a conventional ROC architecture, the off-chip DRAM (or host memory on PCI) is the only memory that is commonly accessible by all hardware engines and CPUs that provides sufficient capacity as data buffer or control structures. Consequently, the off chip memory is typically used as the operational space for CPUs and the hardware subsystems. In other words, the majority of control functions (such as exchange of descriptor and hardware context), and data functions (such as receiving frame, performing XOR computation, or encryption computation) is defined to be off-chip memory oriented (use off-chip memory as the storage space descriptor, source data, and result data). In order for any of those types of operations to be performed, the CPU or the hardware subsystems involved need to access memory. This intensive reliance on off-chip memory puts a heavy load on the memory bus, and consequently the system performance is bounded by how much memory bandwidth can be provided by the specific implementation. The contention for the off-chip memory bandwidth often leads to greater latency, and consequently idle waiting time in the CPU and the hardware engines. Through performance profiling, it was concluded that DRAM bandwidth is the typical system bottleneck in most conventional ROC architecture. Given that the DRAM bandwidth available to a ROC device is limited by the current state of the art of the DRAM technology, i.e. the width of the memory bus that is dictated by the cost point of the ROC solution, it is impractical to increase DRAM bandwidth beyond a certain established threshold at given design constraints. Hence the memory bottleneck becomes the ultimate limiter of scaling ROC system performance.
7. A further limitation of the off-chip memory oriented processing by the hardware engines is the lack of support of multi-pass processing of data. In a storage application, it is a common requirement for a block of data to be processed by multiple engines in a pipeline fashion. An example of such multi-pass processing is that data is fetched from DRAM buffer, a T10 DIF checksum and tag are computed and the AES encryption is applied to the data before the device writes the data into a target disk. To perform such a multi-pass operation, the conventional ROC architecture requires the data to be fetched from off-chip memory, processed, and then the intermediate results are written back to off-chip memory for each of the intermediate steps of the processing sequence. This results in data movement on and off-chip multiple times, consuming the critical memory bandwidth resource. The net result is lower system performance and higher power consumption for a given processor/memory speed.
8. A further common characteristic of the conventional ROC architecture is the lack of centralized DMA service that provides the data movement, address translation (such as handling of scatter-gather), and management of context switching (on transfers that involves part of a partial scatter gather buffer). Yet since most of the hardware processing subsystems perform operations on data blocks from external memory buffers, and write back results to external memory buffers, having a DMA function in each hardware processing subsystem (for directly accessing external memory interface) is a common design approach. This distributed DMA approach has the following shortcomings:
a. Repeated logic leads to greater gatecount and higher cost of the ROC system. In particular, the complexity of handling address-translation (scatter-gather) and the context saving/switching for partial scatter-gather buffer handling is repeated in each hardware subsystem that requires DMA function. The logic for handling of mis-aligned addresses, paging of data in and out of memory, endianness conversion etc is repeated. Any bug fixes in one subsystem may or may not be propagated to other subsystem's DMAs that have a similar design.
b. Distributed DMAs compete for access to external memory interfaces autonomously, leading to inefficient usage and sometimes unfair sharing of external memory bandwidth.
c. The distributed DMA approach often leads to divergences in the DMA features mentioned in a) over time of evolution of the design, resulting in inconsistency in programming interfaces for the various hardware engines, and results in difficulty in maintaining the hardware and software source code.
d. Distributed DMAs often require arbitration in the internal fabric, which leads to higher latency, and larger overhead for accessing external interfaces. This often leads to lower performance, and higher cost of buffering.
e. Conventional DMA operations are based on a physical address or the physical addressing of scatter-gather list without the notion of virtual address to physical address translation. The lack of virtual address DMA seriously complicates the design of the DMA master, particularly in the handling of context saving/switching among partial transfers.
To meet the increasing requirement of RAID on a Chip applications, the ROC architecture needs to evolve to address the following needs:
1. To scale up the raw CPU processing speed as represented by the number of instructions the ROC device can execute per second. Since the speeds of storage interfaces and PCI bus interfaces are accelerating at a faster rate than the increase in CPU processing speed offered by Moore's Law in recent years, a single embedded processor can no longer keep pace with the requirement of RAID processing. Consequently, the ROC architecture should support multiple processors on-chip.
2. To support new emerging application feature requirements for data security, data integrity, and more advanced RAID processing such as RAID6, the ROC architecture should support advanced hardware acceleration functions for data encryption, DIF (Data Integrity Field) as specified by T10 SBC standards, compression, hashing etc at very high data throughput.
3. To provide efficient & uniform DMA structure that presents a consistent representation of DMA operation and scatter/gather buffer definition that is capable of handling a large number of concurrent buffers and fast context switching among partial buffer transfers. Ideally the DMA operation should be consistent no matter which type of hardware and software acceleration/operation functions are applied to the data. The DMA also should be able to be non-blocking in order to fully utilize the bus bandwidth on system buses, storage interfaces, and on-chip and off-chip memory interfaces.
4. The ROC architecture should minimize the data traffic moving across external interfaces, specifically the off-chip memory interfaces, to resolve system performance bottleneck on memory bandwidth.
5. To have efficient on-chip system interconnect for the CPUs and the hardware engines, the DMAs should allow all processing engines and firmware programs to execute concurrently without blocking each other while competing for access for the system interconnect.
6. To support RAID processing without using an external DRAM interface. Ideally this can be done without significantly changing the software architecture of the RAID stack. This should be achieved either with on-chip memory resources or host memory resource in the PCI space.
7. To support multi-pass processing, wherein the data is processed by multiple hardware and/or firmware entities with flexibility on the type of operations applied without transferring the intermediate results off-chip and on-chip again between the processing steps, the sequence of the operation, and the capability of context switch amongst partial data processing that are associated with independent processing threads or I/O processes.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an improved system on a chip architecture.

On-chip shared memory based device architecture


The present subject matter is directed to systems and methods for controlling variable speed generators, particularly converters associated with doubly-fed induction generators (DFIG) to permit use of harmonic attenuating filters that are generally smaller and less costly than previous similar filters. The subject matter provides for controlling line-side and rotor-side converters in such a manner that the frequencies generated by the converters are interleaved in a manner that the filters see a higher switching frequency and thus may be designed based on those higher frequencies, thereby requiring smaller and less expensive components.

Power generation systems generate electrical power from various sources including hydropower, wind power, and from the combustion of fuels such as coal, oil and gas. These sources are harnessed to rotate prime movers, typically engines or turbines, that are coupled to power generators, which are in turn coupled to various loads via, for example, a power distribution grid ("grid").
Such power generation systems employ generators that generally produce electrical power that is proportional in frequency to the rotational speed of a generator, for example, a turbine. Thus, changes in turbine speed may result in changes to the frequency of power generated. Accordingly, the rotational speed of the turbine should be regulated to produce a frequency that matches the requirements of the grid. In situations where the turbine speed has been changed relative to the required grid frequency, or is not sufficient to produce the required frequency, measures must be taken to modulate the generator output frequency to match the grid frequency.
A number of the prior art techniques have been proposed to compensate for changing turbine speeds. These techniques include controlling mechanical variables such as fuel flow rate to regulate turbine rotational speed and using multi-shaft configurations. In addition, various power conversion schemes have been used where power converters are coupled to the output of the generation system.
With present reference to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a block diagram of an exemplary conventional power converter system 100 utilizing a Doubly-Fed Induction Generator (DFIG) converter 102 including a line side converter 104 and a rotor side converter 106 both operating under control of controller 120. Existing DFIG converters generate harmonics from both the line-side converter 104 and rotor-side converter 106. Harmonics generated from the rotor-side converter 106 are feed through DFIG generator 108 and are added together with harmonics of the line-side converter 104, with these combined harmonics feed into the grid 110. Since regulators place limitations on harmonics coupled to the grid, an LRC filter 112 is generally required to be built into the line-side converter 104 to attenuate these harmonics to meet the grid codes. The physical size and cost of producing such filters is significant.
With reference to FIG. 2, there is illustrated a block diagram of an exemplary conventional power converter system 200 utilizing a DFIG converter 202 in association with a three-winding main transformer 216. Inclusion of three-winding main transformer 216 allows operation of the stator of DFIG 208 at a different voltage from the converter 202. As previously noted with respect to FIG. 1, existing DFIG converters generate harmonics from both the rotor and the line side converters. In the instance illustrated in FIG. 2, the three-winding transformer 216 separates the converter line-side filter 212 from the stator by so much impedance that a very large filter 214 must also be added to the stator side. The size and cost of this filter is also significant.
In view of these known issues, it would be advantageous, therefore, to develop systems and methods that would permit reducing component size and related costs for such filters.

Method and system for controlling switching frequency of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG)


A mooring apparatus (50) comprising a guide portion (55) for guiding a portion of a first mooring line (60), an arrangement (65) for connecting or coupling the apparatus (50) to a second mooring line (70), and a lock (75) or lock means. The guide portion (55) is moveably connected to the arrangement, and the lock is connected to, attached to or provided on the arrangement. A system (250) for tensioning a mooring line, the system comprising the mooring apparatus (50) and the first mooring line (60) and/or the second mooring line (70). A method of tensioning a mooring line, wherein the method comprises providing the system for tensioning a mooring line, and the method further comprises applying a pulling force to a first portion of a first mooring line (60) in a direction away from the apparatus (50).

Offshore structures, such as floating structures or platforms, can be moored by mooring lines, such as mooring chains. This may include attaching at least one mooring line to the structure to be moored and directly, or indirectly, coupling each mooring line to another structure, such as an anchor or pile located on the seabed.
A tension may be applied to each of the mooring lines. A necessary tension can be applied to each mooring line by, for example, the use of a tensioning apparatus. The tensioning apparatus may be adapted for use by a winch, or the like. The application of tension may serve to moor the floating structure or platform in a desired position.
When an appropriate tension has been applied to a mooring line, a locking mechanism may be locked to maintain the mooring line in tension. Similarly, when a tension has to be removed from the mooring line, for example, when movement of the floating structure or platform is desired, the locking mechanism may be unlocked.
The tensioning apparatus may be located on, or coupled to, the floating structure or platform. In such an arrangement, the mooring chain and/or tensioning apparatus may be prone to wear and/or failure due to out-of-plane stresses caused by movement of the floating structures or platforms relative to the mooring chain.
The tensioning apparatus may be located on, or coupled to, the mooring chain and may direct a free end or the mooring chain towards the surface to enable adjustment of the tension in the mooring line(s) e.g. by a winch located on a vessel.
During tensioning of the mooring line, bending strain can act on the mooring line due to the mooring line being pulled and/or bent around the tensioning apparatus. This can lead to increased wear and/or damage to the mooring chain and/or to the apparatus. In order to minimise the strain on the mooring line, the size of the tensioning apparatus may be increased to accommodate larger angles for guiding the mooring line towards the surface. However, this can lead to an increased cost and weight of the tensioning apparatus. Further, the increased weight of the tensioning apparatus also increases a loading upon the mooring chain, subsequently requiring an even greater tension to maintain a desired angle of inclination of the mooring chain.
It is an object of at least one embodiment of at least one aspect of the present invention to obviate or at least mitigate at least one problem in the prior art.
It is an object of at least one embodiment of at least one aspect of the present invention to provide a technically simple and/or commercially more cost effective apparatus and method for mooring than in the prior art.


A method, apparatus, and computer instructions for a configurable JAVASERVER pages processing framework to process JAVASERVER pages (JSP). A JSP document or page is translated into a document object model (DOM) object that encapsulates elements of the JSP. The syntax of the JSP is validated by a JSP translator with built-in classes and errors are returned if necessary. A JSP visitor configuration file, which defines user configured classes and sequence of execution, is used by the JSP translator to invoke methods of user-defined classes in the order specified by the user to process or visit elements of the DOM object. Result of user-defined class processing may be passed from one class to another within the set.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and system for processing JAVASERVER pages. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and computer instructions for a configurable JAVASERVER pages processing framework to process JAVASERVER pages.
2. Description of Related Art
With increasing use of the Internet, customer demands on information provided by Web pages have become more dynamic. Web developers are not only required to generate presentation of Web pages, but also business logic required to generate dynamic contents, such as, for example, a name and an email address of a user from a server. The demand for a flexible method to build dynamic Web pages contributes to the development of JAVASERVER pages, a technology available from Sun Microsystems, Inc.
JAVASERVER pages (JSP) provide Web developers an open, freely available specification that provides the advantages, such as, platform-independence, use of the JAVA programming language, and compatibility with a variety of technologies, such as Web servers, Web browsers, and application servers. A JSP page is a Web page with containing a markup language and additional JAVA code. Examples of markup languages are hypertext markup language (HTML), extensible markup language (XML) and wireless markup language (WML). The JAVA code is embedded within tags. When the JSP page is called, this page is compiled by the JSP engine into a JAVA servlet, which is handled by a servlet engine. The servlet engine loads the servlet class using a class loader and executes the class to create dynamic HTML to be sent to the browser. The next time the same JSP page is called, the JSP engine executes the already-loaded servlet.
JSP allows Web developers to separate user interface from content generation through the use of tags. Tags may be in the form of extensible markup language (XML), which encapsulates the logic that generates the content of the page. These tags allow reusable components to be encapsulated, to make building of Web pages easier.
However, due to increasing complexity of the JSP source file and evolving JSP specification, the use of JSP technology described above has become more costly. The maintenance cost of JSP processors, such as a JSP engine inside an Application server or an integrated development environment (IDE) that authors and tests JSP pages, has also increased. In addition, all JSP pages are required to be validated syntactically for correctness before further processing can be done. With different JSP processors, different requirements are present. For example, an IDE tool may need to present a graphical view of JSP page for editing and a JSP engine may need to generate a JAVA source file from the JSP page.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have an improved method, apparatus, and computer instructions for a configurable JSP processing framework that supports new and different requirements for JSP processing, has detailed knowledge of the JSP specification, performs syntax validation, and customarily executes JSP processing tasks.

Method and apparatus for a configurable Java Server pages processing framework

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of and an apparatus for generating an assembly view from design drawing data by a CAD system are provided which can generate an assembly view of a three-dimensional body viewed from an arbitrary direction in a short time at a low cost with a pinpoint accuracy, the three-dimensional body being particularly composed of a plurality of parts representing a product. First, the three-dimensional product is displayed to a three-dimensional coordinate system set on a two-dimensional plane. Next, a direction of point of view from which the product of the three-dimensional body is desired to be viewed as an assembly view is entered by a value of a degree of axis rotation, and then parts desired to be disassembled and removed from the plurality of the parts constituting the product are instructed and moving directions and moving distances of the parts are entered with respect to all the parts desired to be disassembled and moved. Then, the three-dimensional body is disassembled by moving all the parts instructed to be disassembled in the instructed moving directions by the entered moving distances. The disassembled three-dimensional body is projected onto a two dimensional plane from the previously entered direction of point of view to thereby generate a figure of the three-dimensional body on the two-dimensional plane. Finally, the generated figure of the three-dimensional body is output by a printer or the like.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for generating an assembly view from design drawing data by a CAD (computer-aided design) system, and more specifically, to a method of and an apparatus for generating an assembly view of a three-dimensional body composed of a plurality of parts.
(2) Description of the Related Art
A CAD system has become indispensable in a design job to cope with complicated design specifications as well as to effectively carry out a design and drafting job, shorten a design period and simplify jobs accompanying with design. As industries are sophisticated, the function of the CAD system and the field to which the CAD system is applied are enlarged and the CAD system will be hereinafter more and more required to strongly associate with other departments such as, for example, a manufacturing department in addition to a design department.
A product is specifically represented by means of three kinds of views, i.e., a front view, a side view and a plan view at the step of design and the three kinds of views serve as a base in design job. The three kinds of views are generated using various function of a CAD system such as, for example, a drafting function, or diverting and editing existing drawings stored in a data base and then output as drawings. Although the three kinds of views are two-dimensional design drawings, a figure of an image near to the configurational characteristics of an actual body can be generated by three-dimensionally representing the three kinds of views using a three-dimension converting function.
A product designed by a designer is mainly represented by three kinds of views, the three kinds of views cannot be easily understood by staffs of other departments such as, for example, a product planning department which is not related to a design job and a service department which carries out maintenance of products. As described above, it is difficult to cause persons who are not accustomed to the three kinds of views to intuitively understand the image of a product from the three kinds of views.
To cope with this problem, conventionally, there is provided an assembly view of a designed product which is viewed from an optional direction of the product to permit the product to be intuitively understood, in addition to three kinds of views. Since the generation of the assembly view is usually ordered to a technical illustrator or the like, however, it is very expensive and the preparation of it needs a long period of time. Further, since the assembly view is drawn by the technical illustrator by hand based on three kinds of views, it is not of high precision.

Method of and apparatus for generating assembly view