A novel canola protein isolate having predominantly of 2S canola protein and having improved solubility properties, has an increased proportion of 2S canola protein and a decreased proportion of 7S canola protein. The novel canola protein isolate is formed by heat treatment of aqueous supernatant from canola protein micelle formation and precipitation, to effect precipitation of 7S protein which is sedimented and removed. Alternatively, the novel canola protein isolate may be derived from a selective membrane procedure in which an aqueous canola protein solution containing 12S, 7S and 2S canola proteins is subjected to a first selective membrane technique to retain 12S and 7S canola proteins in a retentate, which is dried to provide a canola protein isolate consisting predominantly of 7S canola protein, and to permit 2S canola protein to pass through the membrane, the permeate is subjected to a second selective membrane technique to retain 2S canola protein and to permit low molecular weight contaminants to pass through the membrane, and the retentate from the latter membrane technique is dried.

Canola oil seed protein isolates having protein contents of at least 100 wt % (N×6.25) can be formed from oil seed meal by a process as described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/137,391 filed May 3, 2002 (WO 02/089597), assigned to the assignee hereof and the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The procedure involves a multiple step process comprising extracting canola oil seed meal using a salt solution, separating the resulting aqueous protein solution from residual oil seed meal, increasing the protein concentration of the aqueous solution to at least about 200 g/L while maintaining the ionic strength substantially constant by using a selective membrane technique, diluting the resulting concentrated protein solution into chilled water to cause the formation of protein micelles, settling the protein micelles to form an amorphous, sticky, gelatinous, gluten-like protein micellar mass (PMM), and recovering the protein micellar mass from supernatant having a protein content of at least about 100 wt % (N×6.25). As used herein, protein content is determined on a dry weight basis. The recovered PMM may be dried.
In one embodiment of the process, the supernatant from the PMM settling step is processed to recover canola protein isolate from the supernatant. This procedure may be effected by initially concentrating the supernatant using an ultrafiltration membrane and drying the concentrate. The resulting canola protein isolate has a protein content of at least about 90 wt %, preferably at least about 100 wt % (N×6.25).
The procedures described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/137,391 are essentially batch procedures. In copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/298,678 filed Nov. 19, 2002 (WO 03/043439), assigned to the assignee hereof and the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, there is described a continuous process for making canola protein isolates. In accordance therewith, canola oil seed meal is continuously mixed with a salt solution, the mixture is conveyed through a pipe while extracting protein from the canola oil seed meal to form an aqueous protein solution, the aqueous protein solution is continuously conveyed through a selective membrane operation to increase the protein content of the aqueous protein solution to at least about 50 g/L, while maintaining the ionic strength substantially constant, the resulting concentrated protein solution is continuously mixed with chilled water to cause the formation of protein micelles, and the protein micelles are continuously permitted to settle while the supernatant is continuously overflowed until the desired amount of PMM has accumulated in the settling vessel. The PMM is recovered from the settling vessel and may be dried. The PMM has a protein content of at least about 90 wt % (N×6.25), preferably at least about 100 wt %. The overflowed supernatant may be processed to recover canola protein isolate therefrom, as described above.
Canola seed is known to contain about 10 to about 30 wt % proteins and several different protein components have been identified. These proteins include a 12S globulin, known as cruciferin, a 7S protein and a 2S storage protein, known as napin. As described in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/413,371 filed Apr. 15, 2003 (WO 03/088760), assigned to the assignee hereof and the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, the procedures described above, involving dilution of concentrated aqueous protein solution to form PMM and processing of supernatant to recover additional protein, lead to the recovery of isolates of different protein profiles.
In this regard, the PMM-derived canola protein isolate has a protein component content of about 60 to about 98 wt % of 7S protein, about 1 to about 15 wt % of 12S protein and 0 to about 25 wt % of 2S protein. The supematant-derived canola protein isolate has a protein component content of about 60 to about 95 wt % of 2S protein, about 5 to about 40 wt % of 7S protein and 0 to about 5 wt % of 12S protein. Thus, the PMM-derived canola protein isolate is predominantly 7S protein and the supematant-derived canola protein isolate is predominantly 2S protein. As described in the aforementioned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/413,371, the 2S protein has a molecular size of about 14,000 daltons, the 7S protein has a molecular mass of about 145,000 daltons and the 12S protein has a molecular size of about 290,000 daltons.
Canola is also known as rapeseed or oil seed rape.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Process for preparation of canola protein isolates


A planar balun including first and second spaced parallel elongated conductors on one surface of a ceramic, plastic, polymer, synthetic fiber or a composite substrate and a third elongated conductor on a second surface of the substrate opposite from the first and second conductors. The spacing from an outer edge of each of the first and second conductors to an outer edge of the third conductor being greater than the thickness of the ceramic substrate, and the spacing between the two parallel elongated conductors being greater than ##EQU1## The substrate is mounted on a metallic support plate which provides a ground plane spaced from the third conductor by a distance t2 in an atmosphere comprising air with the distance t2 being greater than ##EQU2## An input of the balun is at one end of the first and second conductors and an output of the balun is at the other end of the first and second conductors. One end of the third elongated conductor on the second surface is grounded to force a balance at the two outputs.

This invention relates generally to strip line and microstrip electronic circuits, and more particularly the invention relates to a balun for use in such circuits.
The balun is a device for matching an unbalanced coaxial transmission line with a balanced two wire system. In its simplest form, the device provides a low reflection coefficient transition between the balanced transmission line and the unbalanced line. In an unbalanced line, one of the two transmission line conductors is at ground or zero potential. A balanced line is defined as one in which the voltage to ground of the two transmission lines are equal and in opposite phase.
FIG. 1 is an illustration of a typical coaxial balun in which an unbalanced input is connected to a center conductor 10 of a coaxial transmission line with the outer conductor 12 grounded at the input. A balanced output is taken at an opposite end of the coaxial transmission line from the center conductor and the outer conductor as illustrated. While such a coaxial balun produces good results over a wide frequency bandwidth, the geometry does not lend itself well to modern surface mount technology.
Radio frequency circuits are typically embodied in hybrid circuits in which active and passive circuit components are mounted on a surface of an insulative substrate such as a ceramic substrate with the components interconnected by printed metallic conductors of copper, gold, or tantalum, for example. In the microwave range, the conductors become transmission lines. Stripline and microstrip transmission lines embody a conductor in one or more spaced ground planes.
Heretofore, discrete coaxial baluns have been mounted on a hybrid circuit substrate and interconnected with other circuit components by leads. This increases assembly cost in cutting and installing the coaxial balun.
Attempts have been made to replace coaxial baluns in hybrid circuits by using microstrip conductors. The present invention is directed to an improved microstrip balun especially suitable for surface mount technology.


A coin door assembly is provided comprising a service door panel having a front surface, an inner surface and a coin selector assembly associated with the inner surface. The coin selector assembly is comprised of a pair of spaced chutes attached to the inner surface of the door panel which includes a coin selector secured to the inner surface of the door panel disposed between the chutes, the coin selector having a front surface and a rear surface, with the front surface facing the inner surface of the door panel. The coin door assembly is provided with means for holding the coin selector in place. A lock lever is provided pivoted to the inner surface of the door panel for correctly positioning the coin selector, the lock lever having a clamp piece cooperatively associated therewith.

This invention relates to a coin door assembly applied to a pinball machine (pin table) or an upright-type coin operated gaming machine.
Conventionally, such a coin door assembly is fixed in an opening of a front surface of the pinball machine of the upright-type coin operated gaming machine. As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional coin door assembly comprises a coin slot 2 and a coin return opening 3 formed on a service door panel 1. The service door panel 1 has a cancel button (not shown), a coin thrown or discharge chute 4, a coin acceptance chute 5 and a micro-switch for acceptance signals (not shown). A service door frame 6 is fixed to the periphery of the opening of the front surface. The service door flame 6 holds the service door panel 1 hinged thereto. In addition, a drop-type coin selector 7 is disposed between the coin thrown chute 1 and the coin acceptance chute 5.
In the coin door assembly as described above, the coin selector 7 is removably attached to the service door panel 1 in order to make it possible to replace and repair the coin selector 7. As shown in the figure, selector holding pieces 8 are typically disposed on the coin thrown chute 4 and the coin acceptance chute 5 for holding the coin selector 7. These holding pieces 8 are forced to an inner flange 9 of the coin selector 7. The selector holding pieces 8 are secured to the coin selector 7 through fixing screws 10. By means of tightening the fixing screws 10, the coin selector 7 is forced to the panel surface of the service door panel 1. Thus, the coin selector 7 is fixedly interposed between the coin thrown chute 4 and the coin acceptance chute 5.
The coin door assembly may have holding ribs and/or holding groove to position the coin selector 7 or to hold it from the outside on the panel surface or the like. Such drop-type coin selector is manufactured in some different manufacturers. The outer dimension of each coin selector is not exactly equal though approximately equal depending on the manufacturer, or even made by the same manufacturer. Thus, it is difficult to correctly dispose the coin selector 7 onto the coin door assembly 1. Such differences in dimension may result in the stress to the coin selector when it is disposed onto the coin door assembly 1. The coin selector 7 may be deformed due to the stress causing an inadequate operation thereof. Even the problem may be due to the fact that the coin selector 7 cannot be disposed. It is much more true in an electronic selector which has frequently been used in recent years. Such electronic selector is relatively large in dimension, i.e., the thickness and the width. Thus, another problem has occurred that it is impossible to correctly fix the coin selector depending only on the outer configuration thereof.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a coin door assembly wherein the coin selector can be disposed without affected by the dimension thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a coin door assembly wherein the coin selector can be readily disposed and removed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a coin door assembly having a coin selector held thereon substantially free of problem.
It is further object of the present invention to provide a service door panel of a coin door assembly wherein a conventional coin selector can be fixed by using a plurality of fixing pin projected from a surface thereof.


Described herein is a transport tank trailer having a tank that can be used to more completely and effectively transport, store, load and unload a viscous product, such as a viscous liquid product, or liquid with solid(s) in suspension. Materials for transport, storing, loading and unloading include both food-grade and non-food grade products. Exemplary products include chocolate, paint, wastes, and asphalt. The tank system involves: a) agitation means (e.g., vibration devices) to force viscous product to flow during unloading; b) a heat-traced closed loop venting and unloading system resulting in the elimination of opening of the manhole on the tanker, which results in the release of heat; c) use of enhanced insulating materials to reduce product solidification during product discharge; and d) reduction of thermal bridges to increase product heat retention. The invention also involves an inventive cargo tank shape that promotes viscous product discharge during unloading of the tank. The viscous product trailer can further comprise a heated make-up air system operably associated with the tank housing. The system can provide heat vented air and heated air into the tank interior containing viscous product so as to maintain tank, and consequently product, temperature.

The present invention relates to transportation trailers having cargo tanks, and more specifically to a viscous product transportation trailer cargo tank.
Transportation trailers are used to carry a variety of products, including viscous products, of both the food-grade and non-food-grade types. However, such products are often difficult to store and transport, and they are often even more problematic to unload. Due to the nature and properties of the product itself, unloading often results in an undesirable amount (often as much as 1% of the total load transported, or even more, of wasted product (i.e., heel) that remains in the tank following unloading.
The interior of trailers must be cleaned thoroughly between loads of excess heel (product left over following unloading of the tank). Current solutions require drivers or other service personnel to manually clean heel from the trailer tank. Such cleaning is time-consuming, and thus costly, and moreover, it can be dangerous since such cleaning requires the service personnel to climb on top of the trailer and enter the tank via a service manhole. This is a process that can result in injuries. Moreover, if the material being transported is a non-food-grade material, and in particular a hazardous material, the product itself can be very dangerous (e.g., fumes, flammability, etc.) to the cleaning person(s).
Thus, it would be desirable to provide for the unloading of viscous materials from cargo tank trailers in a manner that reduces or minimizes product waste, safely (e.g., with the service personnel accomplishing unloading at ground level) and in an economical fashion.


Preferential etching techniques are used to form a mold which can then be used to mold a microlens array. A mask (4.sub.i) made of a material which is resistant to a chemical composition for etching the plate is formed on a substrate, so that the mask is in the form of a grid with generally polygonal meshes each centered over one of the desired cells. The sides of each cell of the mask has outgrowths (5.sub.j) extending towards the center of desired cells. The substrate is subjected to the etching composition.

French Patent Application No. 9408420, filed Jul. 7, 1994, which corresponds to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/497,380, filed Jun. 29, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,368 describes a process for manufacturing a network of microlenses using a mold. In this process the cells of the mold have a depth greater than the depth of the convex part of the microlenses which are formed. Under the effect of the pressure exerted on the plate, the deformable optical material projects into the cells, taking on the convex shape of convex microlenses, without the convex surfaces of these microlenses coming into contact with the bottom of the cells, thereby preserving the optical finish of these convex surfaces.
The networks of microlenses thus obtained have various applications, particularly in image sensors or reproducers and in particular in video image projectors operating by projecting light through a two-dimensional matrix of cells with liquid crystals displaying the image to be projected. The luminous efficiency of such projectors is improved by focusing the light from a source on the useful areas of the cells, which is obtained by a network of microlenses. It is therefore appropriate for the opening of these lenses to be as large as possible, in order to allow the maximum amount of light to pass through. For this purpose, the cells hollowed in the mold, on the surface of the mold, have polygonal forms which are closely imbricated with respect to one another and not less compact circular forms of imbrication.
Mechanical machining and reactive ion etching methods have been used heretofore to form molds having circular mold cavities for making microlens arrays.
The present invention, on the other hand, deals with the forming of molds having generally polygonal mold cell shapes, preferably using chemical etching techniques. In the manufacture of such a mold by chemical etching through a mask which conforms to the network of cells to be formed, one observes that the smaller the dimensions of the cells, the more difficult it is to obtain cells which open on the surface of the mold with the anticipated polygonal contour: square, rectangular, pentagonal, hexagonal, etc. In particular, one typically observes a rounding of what would otherwise be rectilinear sides of the polygonal cell, resulting in a more circular, rather than polygonal, shape of the opening of the cell on the plate, thereby reducing the opening of the microlenses which are formed. This phenomenon is particularly perceptible in the case of microlenses which are less than 100 .mu.m in diameter.
The present invention therefore aims to provide a process for manufacturing a mold consisting of a periodic network of mold cells on the surface of a plate, the cells having generally polygonal shapes defined by generally rectilinear cell side boundary contours.
Another problem which occurs in pressing lenses from polygonal mold cells is that the convex surfaces of the microlenses formed can deviate from the desired sphericity because the optical material is being pressed into a mold having other than a circular shape. The present invention therefore also aims to improve the sphericity of the optical surfaces of microlenses obtained by pressing a deformable optical material against a network of cells having generally polygonal edges.

Process for making a mold for the manufacture of microlenses


High performance space efficient distributed storage is disclosed. For example, a distributed storage volume (DSV) is deployed on a plurality of hosts, with a first host storing a local cache, and a storage controller executing on a processor of the first host receives a request to store a first file. The first file is stored to the local cache. The DSV is queried to determine whether a second file that is a copy of the first file is stored in the DSV. In response to determining that the DSV lacks the second file, the first file is transferred from the local cache to the DSV and then replicated to a second host of the plurality of hosts. In response to determining that the second file resides in the DSV, a reference to the second file is stored in the DSV and then replicated to the second host.

The present disclosure generally relates to shared computing environments such as multi-tenant cloud environments. Specifically, shared computing environments, whether public or privately implemented within an organization, typically employ orchestration of the deployment of isolated guests that perform the computing tasks in the networked computer systems, allowing computing power to be flexibly deployed in response to current processing needs. Isolated guests enable applications to be quickly deployed to scale to the volume of traffic requesting the applications, and allow these applications to be deployed in a variety of hardware environments. Multiple guests may also be clustered together to perform a more complex function than the respective containers are capable of performing individually. Many applications require persistent storage to store a current execution state and therefore persistent storage may be provisioned and allocated to the guests executing in a computing environment. Storage deployed in close physical proximity to processing tasks may provide higher performance than remotely located storage, and therefore deploying storage in conjunction to computing power may be advantageous.


Between the net termination and the subscriber's data terminals forming the boundary to the subscriber area, procedures peculiar to the interface take place in the form of a two-way transmission and reception of data sequences. The order of the data sequence and the transmit duration of each data sequence is stipulated, which adversely affects the measuring tasks in the subscriber area.. To avoid these adverse effects, a test pattern generator is used that is able to transmit all data sequences required for the procedures in an order and a duration that is desired from a metrological standpoint. Freely definable data sequences can be transmitted by the test pattern generator for measuring purposes. Furthermore, the test pattern generator is able to transmit control and/or identification data synchronously to the data sequences.

The present invention relates generally to a method for measuring the subscriber area of an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) system, and more particularly to such a method for measuring how a component of a subscriber area of a standard ISDN system reacts to selected data sequences by disconnecting the subscriber data terminal and/or the net termination from the data bus and connecting a test pattern generator and a measuring device to the data bus.
An ISDN system can be subdivided into a so-called subscriber area and the ISDN user area. The boundary between these two areas is formed by a net termination. A data bus line leads from this net termination through the subscriber's space. The net termination or the data bus is provided with a standardized interface, the so-called S.sub.o -interface, to which different types of terminal equipment can be connected. This S.sub.o -interface is a four-wire interface for bidirectional data exchange between the net termination and one or several of the subscriber's data terminals. A so-called AMI-NRZ code is used as a transmission code. This is a quasi ternary code, in which the "0" bits are represented with +0.75 V or -0.75 V and the "1" bits are represented as zero volts; consecutive "0" bit pulses have fundamentally alternating polarity. The data to be transmitted, as well as synchronization and control data, are compressed into transmission frames that are 250 .mu.s long. The beginning of such a transmission frame is characterized by a code violation. The code violation occurs when two consecutive "0" bit pulses have the same polarity. This violation is positively recognized by the data terminal, so that the data terminal is easily and quickly synchronized with the net termination.
Before a data terminal can receive or transmit data, it is necessary to set up an appropriate connection by means of a defined procedure. Thus, besides the already mentioned synchronization of the transmission frames, the transmission channels must be made transparent, in other words they must be prepared for transferring data. This procedure, also designated as activation, consists of the two-way transmission and reception of specific, defined data sequences--in the following also denoted as infos--between the data terminal and the net termination. To this end, these components are provided with special control modules, S.sub.o bus controllers (SBC) and ISDN communication controllers (ICC). The SBC modules control the activation and also the deactivation procedures respectively. This control system is monitored by the internal rate setting of timers; this means that the corresponding infos are always only output for a specific period of time; within this time, a specific info must be transmitted by the corresponding component as a response to a received info. The info to be transmitted as a response from the corresponding component is specifically meant for the info that the component had just received before, so that each procedure is characterized by a defined hierarchy of infos. If the connection set-up (activation), as mentioned above is supposed to start from a data terminal, then this data terminal initially transmits a first data sequence, designated as info 1, to the net termination. In the normal case, this net termination reacts to the reception of the data sequence, info 1, by transmitting a data sequence designated as info 2; this response must take place within a specific time and the transmission of info 2 ensues only for a limited time. During this time, on the other hand, the terminal must react to the reception of info 2 by transmitting a data sequence, info 3, whose reception, in turn, is acknowledged by the net termination by the transmission of a data sequence, info 4. If the info transmitted as a response by the corresponding component does not correspond to the info to be expected in accordance with the hierarchy (for example transmission of info 4 and response to info 1), the expected info is not received within a defined time, or if the procedure is not begun from the subscriber data terminal with info 1, if then the procedure is discontinued and the S.sub.o data bus once again finds itself in its initial state, that is in an inactive state.
This performance characteristic that is necessitated by the SBC or ICC modules (for example according to the West German post office guideline 1 TR3, that includes instructions for measuring on the S.sub.o interface) makes it more difficult to measure on the communication paths and on the S.sub.o interfaces. An info is available for a limited time only--namely for a defined, maximum transmit duration or until the info expected as a response is received, so that only a limited time is available as well to measure the reaction of the corresponding component. Furthermore, in the case of the measurements, one is bound to the hierarchical sequence of the infos, as they occur in a specific procedure. Moreover, these modules only provide specific, defined infos that are used in the operational procedures of a system.
These difficulties also result when a Siemens Protocol Tester K 1195 is used in place of a net termination or a subscriber data terminal, as described in the Siemens Telcom Report 11 (1988) March-April, No. 2, pp 61 to 64, particularly from page 62, right column, last two paragraphs to page 64, first three paragraphs. In the case of the measurement described there, one does indeed measure at the S.sub.o interface, after the subscriber data terminal or the net termination has been disconnected from the data bus found in this area, and the Protocol Tester K1195 has been connected, and the area has also been activated by the infos. However, in doing this, only protocol measuring tasks are solved; there is no measurement in the physical plane.

Method for measuring in the subscriber area of an integrated services digital network system


There is provided a combination for use in a shell and tube heat exchanger which comprises: a shell having a substantially horizontally extending longitudinal axis and an open end; an annular distributor adjacent to the shell end and having an annular chamber defined therein in fluid communication with the shell interior through the shell end; a tubesheet longitudinally spaced from the shell end; a baffle cage having an interior portion in the shell interior and an exterior portion outside the shell between the tubesheet and shell end, wherein the baffle cage is longitudinally spaced from and unconnected to the tubesheet; a bundle of tubes extending from the tubesheet and through the baffle cage and shell interior; and a support member having a lower end fixedly connected to the interior surface of the annular distributor and an upper end contacting but not connected to the exterior portion of the baffle cage at a lowermost location thereof.

This invention relates to shell and tube heat exchangers.
All shell and tube heat exchangers include a shell and a bundle of tubes extending between opposing tubesheets. Heat is exchanged between a shellside fluid flowing through the shell and tubeside fluid flowing through the tubes.
A very desirable feature frequently employed in shell and tube heat exchangers is the annular distributor. Annular distributors can reduce shellside inlet and outlet pressure losses, reduce impingement velocities, and improve shellside fluid distribution. An annular chamber defined in the annular distributor is most conventionally in fluid communication with the shell interior through circumferentially spaced apertures in the shell wall.
Another feature common in shell and tube heat exchangers is a baffle cage. A baffle cage, as positioned in the shell, assists in support of the tubes within the shell and minimizes vibration and movement of the tubes. The baffle cage typically comprises longitudinally spaced baffles and longitudinally extending tie bars that interconnect the baffles. Preferably, the tie bars are connected at one end to one tubesheet, but are spaced from and left unconnected to the other tubesheet to allow for thermal expansion and contraction. If the tie bars were connected to both tubesheets, thermal expansion or contraction of the tie bars could cause longitudinal pressure upon the tubesheets and consequent loosening of the connection between the tubes and tubesheets. This effect exists even if one of the tubesheets is a "floating" tubesheet, since the tubes and tie bars expand and contract differently because of different temperatures and typically different materials.


Disclosed are a composite separation membrane structure for a gas sensor for real-time monitoring of degradation of insulating oil of a power transformer, a gas sensor apparatus including the same, and a method and an apparatus for measuring gas concentration using the same. It is possible to locally diagnose whether there is a fault in the power transformer and what kind of fault occurs where in the power transformer by quantitatively measuring the concentration of several gases dissolved in the insulating oil in real time. As a result, breakdown of the power transformer may be prevented and remaining service life of the insulating oil in the power transformer may be predicted.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a composite separation membrane structure for a gas sensor, a gas sensor apparatus including the same, and a method and an apparatus for measuring gas concentration using the same. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a composite separation membrane structure for a gas sensor, a gas sensor apparatus including the same, and a method and an apparatus for measuring gas concentration using the same, which allow for real-time monitoring of degradation of insulating oil used in power equipments such as a power transformer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power transformer is a very important power supplying equipment. In order to prevent any abrupt malfunction of power equipments and resulting blackout and economically operate the power equipments and predict their service life, a condition monitoring technology allowing for monitoring of the internal faults of the power transformer so as to prevent dangerous accidents is necessary.
The condition monitoring technologies currently used for diagnosis of internal faults that may occur in the power transformer insulating oil may include gas-in-oil analysis, measurement of power factor and water content of insulating oil, measurement of partial discharge, low-pressure surge test, and so forth.
Among the methods, the gas-in-oil analysis method may allow for detection of the degradation of insulating oil inside the power transformer as the degradation proceeds. Further, since the gas-in-oil method is technically reliable and easy for real-time application, it is employed most frequently.
The gas-in-oil analysis method will be described in more detail.
A power transformer is subject to a constant heat as an electrical coil is used in the power transformer. A local electrical breakdown inside the power transformer may result in a partial arc discharge of high temperature.
Accompanied by the situation, the hydrocarbon-based insulating oil may be thermally decomposed to generate gases such as hydrogen (H2), methane (CH4), acetylene (C2H2), ethylene (C2H4), etc. In particular, when there is an insulating material such as insulating paper, pressboard, Bakelite etc. around the heated portion, gases such as carbon monoxide (CO) or carbon dioxide (CO2) may also be generated.
For reference, among the gases, those such as hydrogen, methane, acetylene, ethylene, ethane, propane, etc. are highly combustible, and thus are very important components in terms of diagnosis and safety management of the power transformer.
Since most of these gases are soluble in the insulating oil, it is possible to diagnose whether there is a fault in the power transformer and what kind of fault occurs where in the power transformer by extracting the gases and analyzing them quantitatively/qualitatively.
For analysis of the gases included in the insulating oil, a method of extracting an insulating oil sample from an operating power transformer, bringing the insulating oil in a laboratory, extracting gases from the insulating oil and analyzing them with a gas chromatography is generally employed.
However, this laboratory based analysis has a low reliability resulting from the human error factors that may occur during the sampling, and the analysis of results requires a lot of time as well.
Thus, attempts have been made recently to install a direct real-time measurement apparatus inside or outside of the power transformer to allow for continuous measurement and monitoring.
For example, a microfiltration filter or an ultrafiltration filter device that can filter gases in the insulating oil from the insulating oil medium may be used in order to sample gases dissolved in the insulating oil from the inside of the power transformer.
According to the study of the inventors, however, such gas sampling is made possible by applying a negative pressure using a vacuum pump at the rear side of the filter. This is because the gases dissolved in the insulating oil are extracted through the filter device across which a pressure difference is heavily applied.
However, considering the relatively short service life of the vacuum pump, this method does not seem so practical for the real-time condition monitoring technology of the power transformer whose service life should be as long as about 10-30 years.
As for another method for analysis of the gases dissolved in the insulating oil, the patent document 1 discloses an apparatus and a method for monitoring faults inside a power transformer where the faults are diagnosed by extracting and separating the gases dissolved in the insulating oil using an oil/gas separation membrane and detecting the total concentration of the gases in the insulating oil using an electrochemical gas sensor.
However, according to the study of the inventors, the patent document 1 does not specifically describe how to make the separation membrane and effects resulting from the separation membrane.
Meanwhile, a semiconductor gas sensor including a metal oxide such as tin oxide, tungsten oxide, zirconium oxide, etc. is generally known to be capable of quantitatively measuring the concentration of gas components since their electrical properties may change in response to the gas presented. The semiconductor gas sensors are frequently used for measuring pollutant gases in the air.
However, when the semiconductor gas sensor comes into direct contact with the insulating oil or comes into direct or indirect contact with oil fume produced from the insulating oil in order that the degradation of the insulating oil in the power transformer is measured, the pollutants are highly likely to contaminate the surface of the semiconductor gas sensor and to that end lead to wrong measurements.
The patent documents 2, 3 and 4 disclose an apparatus and a method for analyzing gases in insulating oil by detecting the concentration of the gases in the oil using a commercially available semiconductor gas sensor, and further disclose that a separation membrane may be selectively used for extraction and separation of the gases dissolved in the insulating oil.
However, according to the study of the inventors, the patent documents do not specifically describe how to make the separation membrane and effects resulting from the separation membrane either.
In addition, according to the study of the inventors, in the patent document 2, concentrations of a plurality of individual gases are determined sequentially, for example in a manner that the concentration of hydrogen is determined first, and then the concentration of carbon monoxide is determined. However, since this method requires special sensors capable of sensing specific gas, for example hydrogen, it is not appropriate for the generally-used semiconductor gas sensor to be used in the method.
Meanwhile, the patent document 5 presents the use of a porous PTFE polymer material having a thickness of about 1-1,000 μm and a porosity of about 5-99% for separation of gases dissolved in a fluid, and describes specific examples of stretching of the surface of the polymer material, solvent extracting or casting to obtain a porous surface.
Further, the patent document 6 presents porous polymer materials (poly(tetrafluoroethylene) and poly(tetrafluoroethylene-cohexafluoropropylene)) having a thickness of about 1-5 mm and a pore size of about 0.001-0.1 mm for extraction and separation of gases dissolved in oil medium, and describes specific examples of forming pores on the surface of an oil/gas separation membrane by bombarding the polymer material with 13.56 MHz radio frequency (RF)-type argon gas or nitrogen gas laser having an output power of about 100-500 W and a pressure of about 0.5-50 Pa for about 10-30 minutes.
However, according to the study of the inventors, even in the methods disclosed in those patent documents, it is highly likely that pressure difference across the separation membrane is inevitable. Furthermore, the processing of the separation membrane is complicated and requires a special technique.

Composite separation membrane structure for gas sensor, gas sensor apparatus comprising the same, and method and apparatus for measuring gas concentration using the same

KOREA INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


A seed treating apparatus includes a housing having at least three, vertically spaced alternating converging and diverging conical members therein and a plurality of sprayer units arranged to coat the seed flowing through the housing with liquid seed treating agent. A first, converging upper conical member guides the seed into an upper, open end of the housing. A second diverging conical member is located below the first conical member and can be vertically moved to adjust the rate at which the seed leaves the first conical member. A first set of spraying units is arranged about the inner periphery of the housing and is preferably aimed toward the second conical member for spraying the seed as it flows towards and over the second conical member. The seed then is caused to flow toward a third converging conical member which guides the seed to a lower open end of the housing. A second set of spraying units is provided between the second and third conical members for additional spraying of the seed. The seed is directed to flow out an open bottom end of the housing and into a container for direct transfer to a seed distribution vehicle. A fourth diverging conical member may be located below the outlet end of the third conical member in the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally directed to an apparatus for use in treating germinated seed prior to planting the seed, as well as a method of treating such seed.
2. Discussion of Related Art
It is known to spread seed, particularly agricultural seed, through the use of both land and aerial seed spreaders. Regardless of the particular manner of spreading the seed, it has heretofore been proposed to treat the seed with insecticides, fungicides and the like prior to spreading thereof to enhance the effectiveness of the seeding. Such treating can be performed upon dry or pre-soaked seed and is generally accomplished by spraying a treating liquid directly on the seed. Previous seed treating apparatus and methods have only been used to treat dry seed, prior to soaking, which encourages pre-germination and seed sprout or radicle emergence from the seed coat.
When treating seed, it is important to treat all the seed uniformly. In other words, it is important that substantially all of the seeds be treated as equally as possible. Therefore, any apparatus for treating seed must be adjustable to accommodate varying types and flow rates of seeds to assure correct treatment of the seed.
Known seed treating apparatus fail to provide a way of treating pre-soaked, pre-germinated seeds without causing damage to the seed germ and/or radicle that emerges from the seed coat. Therefore, there exists a need in the art for a seed treating apparatus, as well as a method of treating seed, which overcomes these and other drawbacks associated with the prior art.

Toepfer's Manufacturing and Distributing Co., Inc.


A system is provided for measuring biometric signals, including at least two electrodes, wherein at least one is a capacitive electrode with a flexible structure, the system having a circuit for measuring the voltage between the two electrodes, where in some embodiments both electrodes are capacitive electrodes, and can be arranged as flexible belts, the system being suitable for measuring ECG signals and can be configured to measure also respiratory effort with Respiratory Inductive Plethysmography (RIP) technology, using the same electrodes which are used for measuring capacitively the ECG signals, a method being further provided for measuring biosignals with the system of the invention, the method further including generating an added current signal with a signal generator connected to the circuit, where the added signal has a frequency substantially removed from the frequency of the biosignal of interest, and by measuring the voltage signal of the frequency component corresponding to the added current signal one can determine fluctuations in the overall impedance and fluctuations in the capacitance of the circuit, and correct for fluctuations in the capacitance to obtain a corrected voltage signal representing the measured biosignal.

Electrophysiological signals from human or animal bodies are some of the most fundamental signals used in medical diagnostics. Such signals originate from the muscular, cardiac or neurological electronic activity of a living body.
For recording of heart, muscular or neurological electric activities (including the methods of Electrocardiography (ECG), Electromyography (EMG), Electroencephalography (EEG) and Electrooculography (EOG)) skin-electrodes are normally glued to the skin of the patient. The measured signal is based on the potential between the electrodes, which is dependent on the sum of the neural and muscular electronic activity between the electrodes. The quality of the signal is greatly affected by the accuracy of the position of the electrode and the conductance of the skin. For this reason the surface-skin must be scrubbed off and various fluids or gels are used, to get the electrode in direct galvanic contact with the internal body fluids. This makes the use of electrodes semi-invasive and makes it difficult for other than health-professionals to perform the setup. This can often be a problem, e.g. for sleep research and diagnosis, where overnight measurements are needed.
Sleep Studies
To get accurate results from a sleep study, the patient must feel comfortable and sleep normally. Studies have shown that there is a significant difference between the results from the first night measured and the following nights, when the patient is more comfortable with the studies. Optimally the patient should therefore be measured for two or more nights.
When a full sleep diagnostic study (polysomnography, PSG) is performed, a combination of parameters are measured, including the above mentioned electrophysiological parameters along with large number of other sensor signals. The complication of the setup is therefore high and the setup is fragile and uncomfortable for the patient. The result is that this kind of study is mostly done at a hospital or specialized sleep clinics and for one night only. PSG ambulatory sleep studies performed at people's homes are less common due to these complications; even with the obvious benefits of measuring the patient in his conventional environment and resulting reduction of cost.
Electrocardiography (ECG) is an important tool for sleep diagnostics and gives valuable indicators due to its connection with sleep-related parameters, blood pressure and arousals. Heart-rate-variability (HRV) and pulse-transit-time (PTT) are examples of useful parameters that provide significant indications on the sleep/wake pattern of a subject.
If setup of more complicated sensors, like ECG electrodes, could be performed by a patient or assistant at home, this would increase the quality of the studies, save work and make multiple-night sleep recordings possible.
Capacitive Electrodes
The general idea of capacitive electrodes is to use a different way of measuring up the electrophysiological signals, such as for example ECG signals. When using conventional electrodes, the aim is to provide a good signal connection by minimizing the electronic resistance between the electrode lead and the patient body fluids. The idea behind electro-capacitive electrodes is however instead of basing the signal conductivity on resistance, to form a maximum capacitance connection for the same purpose. As the conductivity of capacitance is variable with frequency this does however require that the amplifier input resistance must be extremely high, for the signal in the band-width of interest to be detected.
The simplest form of a capacitor between the body and the electrode lead would be a metallic plate, where the surface has been coated with a thin layer of isolating material. By pressing the plate towards the body a parallel plate capacitor has been formed. Any electronic activity in the body will cause electronic field to be formed over the isolating material of the plate. By measuring the field or the voltage caused by the field, the electronic body signals can be measured the same way as when conventional electrodes are being used, but without being in direct galvanic contact with the body.
Such capacitive electrode can be generally described by equation (1):C=ε*A/d  (1)where ε is a constant, A is the area of the surface of the electrode, d is the effective insulating distance (the distance between the electrode surface and the bodily fluids constituting the inherent "circuit" of the body).
This kind of electrode was first described in the late 60s and patented in 1970. (P. Richardson and A. Lopez, Jr., "Electrocardiographic and Bioelectric Capacitive Electrode," U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,823, granted 17 Mar. 1970). The capacitive electrode disclosed by Richardson and Lopez comprises a round disk, 1.5 in diameter, and 0.125 in thick, with an insulating coating on the surface facing the skin of a subject. Typical characteristics of such electrode include a resistance of greater than 4 GΩ (Gigaohms) at 50 V and a capacitance of 5000 pF (picofarad) at 30 Hz.
The general problems of such capacitive electrode include that the signal amplifier used must have an impedance value on par with the high impedance of the electrode and preferably substantially higher, so as not to lose too much of the signal potential, before the signal is measured. A second more complicated problem is that the impedance of the electrode is variable, depending on the distance 'd', between the electrode surface and the bodily fluids, which distance will change as a result of bodily movements (e.g. breathing). This second problem has been generally addressed by having a very thin insulating layer on the electrode to increase the capacitance, and by strapping the electrode rigidly to the body so as to minimize the fluctuations in the distance d and thus fluctuations in C.

Systems and methods using flexible capacitive electrodes for measuring biosignals


A therapeutic particle comprises a particle comprising one or more therapeutic agents and one or more fibrin-avid peptide variants attached to the surface of the particle. A method for magnetically targeting a therapeutic agent toward a device in a subject, such as a temporarily introduced magnetizable catheter or an implanted stent, comprises administering the therapeutic particles to the subject and generating a magnetic field, which targets the magnetic particles toward the device. The affinity peptide-modified therapeutic particles may comprise an effective amount of an anti-proliferative agent, such as paclitaxel, to inhibit or prevent in-stent restenosis.

Therapeutic agents delivered in a conventional or non-specific manner, such as by oral dosing or intravenous administration, are often distributed to non-designated areas of the body. As a consequence, the agent may be metabolized, for example, through first pass metabolism of the liver, thereby resulting in diminished bioavailability and the possibility for increased dosing at a higher cost and with the risk of adverse side effects. In addition, non-specific distribution of therapeutic agents may result in adverse effects and unwanted pharmacological responses in the subject to which they are administered. As a result, certain agents may be contraindicated in certain subjects or under certain conditions.
Nanoparticles and microparticles have shown potential as vehicles for the targeted delivery of therapeutic agents, including enzymes for enzyme replacement therapy, hormones, cell modifying agents and genetic material. Attempts to use nanoparticles and microparticles for site-specific delivery have shown potential to lower adverse effects in patients, attributed in part to lower doses of therapeutic agents being required. However, there is a significant unmet medical need for site-specific drug delivery, for example in injured arteries after angioplasty and stenting, that inhibits redistribution of the drug and allows for greater retention of the drug at the injured site.

Affinity peptide-modified particles and targeted drug delivery methods


The application relates to a medical instrument with a hollow shaft, at the proximal end a handle is arranged, and at the distal end a tool with two jaw parts is arranged, of which at least one jaw part is pivotable, wherein the distal end is configured as a tool tip that can be deflected, and the tool tip is rotatable, wherein the rotation of the tool tip is effected via a first actuation element which is operatively connected at the proximal end to the handle, and wherein the deflection of the tool tip is effected via a second actuation element which is operatively connected to the handle, and wherein the at least one pivotable jaw part is adjustable between a closed position and an open position via a pull/push element. The pull/push element is mounted eccentrically in the tool tip and parallel to the longitudinal axis.

Medical instruments for endoscopic surgery generally have a hollow shaft, at the proximal end of which a handle is arranged, and at the distal end of which a tool is arranged that consists of two jaw parts movable relative to each other. The tool, configured as a gripping, holding and/or cutting instrument, can be actuated via the handle. To be able to provide the greatest possible range of action within the often confined working conditions in which the tool is used, many endoscopic instruments are configured such that the tool can be deflected with respect to the longitudinal axis of the shaft and also such that the tool is rotatable about the longitudinal axis of the shaft.
Medical instruments of this kind are known from practice in various designs. To be able to provide the tool tip with the various degrees of freedom relative to the shaft, the various joints and force-transmitting elements often need to be of an extremely complicated structure that also takes up much space.
A medical instrument of the type in question is known from DE 103 14 828 B3, for example.
For the user and patient, however, it would be desirable, on the one hand, for the instrument shaft to have the smallest possible diameter and, on the other hand, for the tool tip to be as short as possible, so as to ensure maximum dexterity in the handling of the instrument.


A device and method for converting a golf bag to a golf cart. The device has a hardside rectangular shaped main portion. The bottom is canted with a plate having a connector for a removable axle. The axle is locked but can be attached or removed as desired. The top has tubing for receiving the clubs, accessories, and the axle when detached from the connector. Wheels can be joined to the axle or else stored in internal storage compartments within the device. A cover having zippered access to the clubs extends above the device. When opened, the cover falls to the side, out of the way.

The field of the invention pertains to the sport of golfing. In particular, the invention pertains to a device for carrying golf clubs and accessories that can be converted to a combination golf bag and cart, and to the method of converting of the device into a golf cart.
Typically, a golf bag is either carried by the player, mounted on a pull cart or placed on a power riding cart. Pull carts are usually foldable. However, when a bag with a folded pull cart is mounted onto a power cart, undesirable effects can be realized. For example, the bag is tipped at an awkward angle although strapped to the power cart.
A disadvantage of mounting a golf bag with an attached pull cart to a power cart is that easy access to the golf bag is limited. If a ball or tee is needed, the pull cart often blocks access to the appropriate location on the golf bag.
Moreover, when traveling, it is convenient to have a golf cart accessible for immediate use, such as when the clubs arrive on a luggage carousel at an airport. The search for a porter to load the golf bag, or carrying the golf bag while carrying other luggage is an annoyance.
Most known golf carts that attach to a bag are useful but bulky. Although the need for a device to carry a golf bag, yet which can be readily stowed existed, I am unaware of any such device.
Examples of the known art are shown in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,400,006 to Larkin for a golf bag provided with a retractable rolling assembly; 4,550,930 to Proffit for a golf caddy; Des. 302,886 to Padilla for a caddy for golf clubs and beverage containers; 4,911,465 to Hauer for golf club container with extensible wheels; 4,822,071 to Widegren for a golf bag unit having extendible and retractable traveling wheels; and 4,832,362 to Chen for a golf bag cart.
The Larkin patent discloses a device that extends from the side of a golf bag and is locked in position. The Proffit patent shows a device that attaches to an existing golf bag. The Padilla patent teaches a design for a golf bag having a seat and a holder for a beverage. The Hauer patent shows a device having foldable wheels stored internally in the device but with the wheels remaining on the folding structure. The Widegren patent shows extendible and retractable traveling wheels which remain attached to the support legs. The Chen patent discloses wheels attached to arms having shock absorbers. The wheels remain attached to the arms as the arms are folded up against the outside of the bag. Although these patents show storage of wheels on a golf bag, most of the wheels remain attached to the structure. None of these patents show detachable wheels and the mounting structure which can be stored within the device itself.

Convertible golf cart and bag device and method of converting same