Systems and methods for determining vehicle rolling direction and road grade are disclosed. In one example, a vehicle rolling direction is determined from a correlation coefficient. The vehicle rolling direction is applied to a kinematic equation to determine road grade.

Vehicles may operate on a wide variety of road surfaces to take passengers to their desired destinations. The vehicles may also be stopped and restarted at a later time on these road surfaces. For example, a vehicle may be stopped and parked on a hill so that the vehicle is directed uphill or downhill. If the hill has a high grade, the vehicle may roll uphill or downhill assisted by the grade after the engine is started when the vehicle's transmission is disengaged from park. The vehicle's driver may prevent or reduce vehicle acceleration after the transmission is disengaged from park by applying vehicle brakes. However, if the vehicle is an automatically stopped and started vehicle, applying the vehicle brakes may cause the vehicle's engine to stop when the driver is preparing to drive away since engine starting may be dependent on vehicle brake application. On the other hand, if the driver releases the brake to restart the engine, the vehicle may accelerate in a downhill direction. In this way, stopping an automatic start/stop vehicle on a hill may allow a vehicle to move when the driver simply intends for the engine to start. Therefore, it may be desirable to determine whether or not a vehicle is stopped on a hill so that mitigating actions to limit vehicle movement may be taken.
The inventors herein have recognized the above-mentioned disadvantages and have developed a method for operating a vehicle, comprising: applying or adjusting an actuator in response to a rolling direction estimated from a correlation coefficient based on an unsigned wheel speed and a sign specific vehicle longitudinal acceleration.
By adjusting an actuator in response to a vehicle rolling direction and/or road grade, it may be possible to mitigate the possibility of vehicle motion during automatic engine starting. Further, system cost may be reduced when unsigned wheel speed sensors are a basis for determining vehicle rolling direction and road grade. For example, if there is observed a positive correlation between not sign specific wheel speed based vehicle acceleration and sign specific accelerometer (e.g., an accelerometer output that includes a sign) based vehicle acceleration, it may be determined that the vehicle is rolling in a forward direction. If a negative correlation between not sign specific wheel speed based vehicle acceleration and sign specific accelerometer based vehicle acceleration is established, it may be determined that the vehicle is rolling in a reverse or backward direction. The rolling direction may be input into a kinematic equation to establish road grade, and the road grade may allow actuators to adjust engine torque and vehicle brakes to compensate for gravitational forces.
The present description may provide several advantages. Specifically, the approach may allow an engine to be automatically started without causing the vehicle to move when the vehicle is stopped on a hill. Further, the approach may provide rolling direction and road grade without having to use signed wheel speed sensors, thereby reducing system cost. Further still, the approach may allow engine torque actuators to be adjusted to a level to oppose gravitational forces without producing unnecessary engine torque.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.

Method for estimating grade and rolling direction


A reservoir tank for a vehicle brake system has a tank body including upper and lower shells joined together along mating surfaces. A float and a fluid level sensor are mounted in a fluid level detecting chamber defined in the tank body. The float is fitted on a shaft of the fluid level sensor. A partition plate is fitted in the lower shell to restrict a flow of hydraulic fluid into and out of the fluid level detecting chamber. The partition plate is disposed near the top end of the shaft of the fluid level sensor to restrict the distance by which the float can move vertically. A filter, the fluid level sensor and the partition plate are all set in the lower shell. The filter and the partition plate having their top ends pressed against the bottom ends of partitioning walls of the upper shell. Thus, the filter and the partition wall are held in position in the tank body between the upper and lower shells. No separate retainer for the float is necessary because the partition plate serves also as a float retainer.

The present invention relates to a reservoir tank mounted to a master cylinder or a hydraulic booster of a vehicle brake system.
A typical conventional reservoir tank 10 is shown in FIG. 6B, which comprises a tank body 1 comprising a lower shell 1a and an upper shell 1b, which are joined together by melting their mating surfaces with a hot plate H (FIG. 6A), putting the top shell 1b onto the lower shell 1a so that their molten mating surfaces contact each other, and allowing the mating surfaces to harden so as to be fixed to each other.
The reservoir tank 10 includes partition walls 2 that divide the interior of the tank body 1 into a plurality of chambers, thereby minimizing pulsation of hydraulic fluid F in the tank body, a filter 4 provided in one of the chambers through which hydraulic fluid F flows into and out of the reservoir tank, and a float 5 and a fluid level sensor 6 provided in a fluid level detecting chamber 3. The flow of hydraulic fluid F into and out of the fluid level detecting chamber 3 is restricted by a partition plate 7. The upper shell 1b has a fluid supply port 8. (This particular type of reservoir tank 10 is disclosed in JP patent publication 11-20660.)
The fluid level sensor has a shaft 6a which carries at its top end a retainer 9 that restricts the movement of the float 5 and also prevents separation of the float 5 from the fluid level sensor 6. The retainer 9 is e.g. a snap ring fixed to the shaft of the sensor 6 by caulking or bonding.
In order to mount the retainer 9 to the shaft of the sensor 6, it is necessary to increase the length of the shaft of the sensor 6, and thus the entire reservoir tank, which is undesirable in view of the fact that today's vehicles have an increasing number of parts in the engine room, so that it is required that each part in the engine room be as small in size as possible.
Also, the retainer 9 adds to the number of parts, the number of assembling steps and thus the manufacturing cost of the reservoir tank.
An object of the present invention is to provide a reservoir tank that needs no retainer.


A method and system for operating a motor are provided. Power is provided to the motor through at least one switch operating at a first switching frequency. A pulse ratio of the motor is calculated based on the first switching frequency. The at least one switch is operated at a second switching frequency if the calculated pulse ratio is less than a first pulse ratio value and greater than a second pulse ratio value.

In recent years, advances in technology, as well as ever evolving tastes in style, have led to substantial changes in the design of automobiles. One of the changes involves the complexity, as well as the power usage, of the electrical systems within automobiles, particularly alternative fuel vehicles, such as hybrid, electric, and fuel cell vehicles. Such alternative fuel vehicles typically use an electric motor, perhaps in combination with another actuator, to drive the wheels.
For high speed applications, such as use in an alternative fuel vehicle, a sufficiently large "pulse ratio" is required to provide important information about the performance of the motor, such as motor terminal currents and rotor position. The pulse ratio may be defined as the ratio of the switching frequency of the inverter, which converts direct current (DC) power from a battery to alternating current (AC) power, to the fundamental frequency of the motor.
In recent years, the number of poles and the operating speeds of the motors used in such vehicles have been increased. As a result, the fundamental frequencies of the motors have also increased, which has consequently decreased the pulse ratios. One of the problems encountered during the operation of these motors is the occurrence of oscillations, known as "beat frequency oscillations," in the stator current due to Non-triplen Odd Harmonics (NTOHs) in the pulse ratio. These oscillations can hinder the performance of the motor, and, over long periods of time, damage the transistors within the inverters.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and system for operating a motor that prevents the oscillations due to the NTOHs. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Method and system for operating a motor to avoid selected pulse ratio values


A steering wheel heating apparatus includes a steering wheel that includes an annular member and a pair of supports that are attached to and extend inwardly from the annular member. Each of the supports is attached to a steering column of a vehicle. A covering is removably positioned on and is coextensive with the annular member. At least one elongated heating element extends along a length of the covering. The elongated heating element is positioned between a top side and a bottom side of the covering. A power supply is electrically coupled to the heating element. An actuator is electrically coupled to the power supply and is configured to selectively turn the heating element on or off.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to steering wheel covering devices and more particularly pertains to a new steering wheel covering device for selectively heating the steering wheel during cold weather.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of steering wheel covering devices is known in the prior art. While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a device that may be retrofitted to existing steering wheels and which includes a heating means for selectively heating the steering wheel.


In a process for separating methylcyclopentanone from a mixture comprising methylcyclopentanone and cyclohexanone, a feedstock comprising cyclohexanone, methylcyclopentanone, water at a concentration of at least 0.10 wt %, and optionally phenol is fed into a fractionation distillation column, where a lower effluent rich in cyclohexanone and an upper effluent rich in methylcyclopentanone are produced. Due to the inclusion of water at a relatively high concentration in the feedstock, efficient separation of methylcyclopentanone is achieved. In certain particularly desirable embodiments, the lower effluent is substantially free of methylcyclopentanone. The thus produced cyclohexanone may be used to make, e.g., high-purity caprolactam, which, in turn, may be used for fabricating, e.g., high-performance nylon-6 material.

Cyclohexanone is typically produced by the oxidation of cyclohexane, or the hydrogenation of phenol. These methods may also generate various contaminants that are difficult to separate from the desired products, and that can render the cyclohexanone product substandard or unusable to downstream processes, for example in the manufacture of caprolactam or adipic acid. Thus, certain treatment means have been described to remove those contaminants from cyclohexanone.
The production of phenol from cyclohexylbenzene is an emerging technology, interesting in that it co-produces cyclohexanone, rather than acetone. Cyclohexylbenzene may be produced, for example, by direct alkylation of benzene with cyclohexene, or as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,037,513, by contacting benzene with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst. The cyclohexylbenzene may then be oxidized to the corresponding hydroperoxide and the hydroperoxide cleaved to phenol and cyclohexanone using a catalyst.
The production of phenol and cyclohexanone from cyclohexylbenzene also produces various contaminants that are difficult to separate from the desired products. However, the nature of those contaminants and the separations thereof are significantly different from those in the conventional Hock process for the production of phenol and acetone, and/or the conventional cyclohexanone production from cyclohexane or phenol. For example, hydroalkylation of benzene produces significant amounts of, among others, cyclohexane and lesser amounts of methylcyclopentane, cyclohexene, phenylcyclohexene, and phenylcyclohexyldiene. Similarly, the oxidation of cyclohexylbenzene typically produces peroxide species alien to the Hock process, such as the desired cyclohexyl-1-phenyl-1-hydroperoxide (CHBHP), and undesired byproduct hydroperoxides such as cyclohexyl-1-phenyl-2-hydroperoxide, cyclohexyl-1-phenyl-3-hydroperoxide and cyclohexyl-1-phenyl-4-hydroperoxide. The cleavage of these various hydroperoxides produces a wide variety of contaminant species which are not produced by the chemistry and technology of either the Hock process, the cyclohexane oxidation process, or the phenol hydrogenation process.
Caprolactam is an important industrial material for making nylon-6, a widely used polymer material. The purity of caprolactam has significant impact on the quality such as strength of nylon-6 made therefrom. Caprolactam can be made from cyclohexanone via the following Route-1:

In the various industrial processes for making cyclohexanone, methylcyclopentanone may be produced as a contaminant. Even at a very small amount, such as on the level of several ppm, methylcyclopentanone, by undergoing similar reactions to those of cyclohexanone in reaction Route-1 above, may lead to the formation of highly undesirable contaminants, particularly methylvalerolactam having one or more of the following formulae:

Methylvalerolactam is very difficult to remove from caprolactam. During further reaction of caprolactam to produce nylon-6 via reaction Route-2 below:
the various isomers of methylvalerolactam, shown above, by polymerization with each other and/or with caprolactam, may significantly reduce the quality and performance of the nylon-6 product, even if at a low concentration.
As such, there is a strong need of producing a cyclohexanone product with very low methylcyclopentanone concentration. Due to the very close boiling points of cyclohexanone (156° C. at 101 kPa), 2-methylcyclopentanone (140° C. at 101 kPa) and 3-methylcyclopentanone (145° C. at 101 kPa), separation of a physical mixture of cyclohexanone and methylcyclopentanone using traditional fractionation to purify cyclohexanone is quite difficult, especially if the concentration of methylcyclopentanone in the final cyclohexanone product is desired to be as low as several ppm by weight. Usually, this would entail the use of complicated, costly, and high maintenance equipment and processes such as one of more of (i) high vacuum inside the column; (ii) fractionation column with high number of distillation trays and/or a high reflux ratio; and (iii) multiple fractionation columns in a series to achieve the desired level of separation.

Process for separating methylcyclopentanone from cyclohexanone


Disclosed is an automatic power regulator for controlling an induction type biogas generator via an electrically controlled governor. The biogas generator is directly coupled with a commercial AC power network. The regulator controls the power output of the generator to follow the power consumption of a load according to the difference between the power output and the power consumption. Positive and negative references are set to avoid oscillation of the system.

The excrement and urine from pigs are highly-contaminated wastes. As environmental preservation has become more and more important, waste treatment equipments are essential to pig raisers. By fermentation treatment, a great amount of flammable biogas is produced in the treatment process. After collecting and storing, the biogas can be brought into use as a fuel for furnaces or internal combustion engines by pig raisers for a long period of time. But, due to various inconveniences, biogas has not been broadly used in electric power generators in Taiwan. Since power resources are rare in Taiwan, especially in summer, electric power is in short supplying. On the other hand, in the summer, biogas is produced at a maximum rate (the higher the temperature, the more biogas produced). Nevertheless, biogas has not been put into full use. the more biogas produced). Nevertheless, biogas has not been put into full use.
The biogas generator commonly used in Taiwan is usually a synchronous AC generator driven by a gas engine. The generator directly supplies its load. The load is mostly inductive loads (e.g. motors). This kind of load demands 3 to 5 times the rated power, i.e. the inrush power, when it starts. For supplying such a power demand, the maximum power capacity of the biogas generator is designed to exceed the need. Consequently, the cost of capital equipments is greatly raised as the power capacity increases. Furthermore, the gas consumption and the operating cost are relatively high, due to the mismatch of the power capacity and the ordinary power demand. Besides the above mentioned shortcomings, some of the major parts are expensive including the governor and the synchronous AC generator. Summing up the above, the problems that arise in biogas power generation are briefly described as follows:
(1) There are few kinds of commercial power generators designed for biogas. The power modules now in use are normally assembled by parts of different machines. These parts are not easily available, and are difficult to operate and repair.
(2) The power capacity of the generator must be much larger than the load. But the yield of biogas is decided by the number of pigs. Therefore the capital cost is high, due to high power capacity, and operating time is short, due to high gas consumption.
(3) It is difficult to connect the generators in parallel. For a user having more than one generator, an optimized operating condition can not be achieved easily.
(4) Difficult to start and stop is another problem. The engine is started by a starting motor and batteries. Only experienced personnel can do the switching and control the AC frequency.

Automatic power regulator for induction type biogas generator

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Disclosed are various embodiments for using relevance indications provided by a user in performing a search. Search results corresponding to a search query are provided to a user of a client computing device. The user provides a relevance indication corresponding to relevance of at least one of the search results. A subsequent search is performed which takes the relevance indication into account.

Online shoppers interact with product search engines to find products of interest and obtain information about those products. The product search engine returns summary information for products that most closely match a user's search query. The user then selects a link associated with one of the search results to get more information about a product. Some electronic commerce sites also include a product catalog, or taxonomy. In addition to using the product search engine, a user can navigate through this hierarchical catalog to obtain information about products.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Determining search relevance from user feedback


An LED socket string with multiple LED sockets and corresponding LED lamps that are spaced on the string unevenly or according to a user specification. Each of the LED sockets includes a socket base with grooves for coupling wires, and a socket cover for mating with the socket base. A lamp holder is integrally mounted onto the socket base for detachably retaining the LED lamp. A lamp spacer can be added to the lamp holder to accommodate the LED lamp.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a socket string with light emitting diode (LED) lamps for use in decorative lighting or illumination, one or more LED sockets which can be field installed or sold as parts, and a method for assembling the LED socket string.
2. Description of Related Art
LED light strings are known in the art. An LED light string has a number of discrete LED lamps strung together in series or parallel, and may cover full color spectrum (RGB). Each LED lamp can be controlled individually or collectively to emit light. Generally, the LED lamps in a conventional one string, one circuit model of the LED light string are not RGB.
The LED light strings can be attached to a cloth, or other media such as thin walls, plastic sheets via Velcro, or combined with a drop curtain to present textile backdrops. The LED light strings can have high brightness that is suitable in both dark environments and well-lit spaces.
However, conventional LED light strings are pre-made and do not allow easy replacement of failed LEDs due to normal wear and tear. Additionally, spacing among the LED sockets cannot be adjusted, and the sockets are not designed to allow the mounting of LED light strings onto fabric or hard surfaces.


A laminated diffraction optical element includes a substrate, and a resin layer provided on the substrate and including an optically effective portion and an optically non-effective outer portion adjacent to the optically effective portion. The optically non-effective outer portion in the resin layer has a continuous shape such that a layer thickness decreases when extending toward an outer periphery of the substrate. An angle formed between a straight line connecting both ends of the continuous shape and a tangent to a surface of the substrate at a point opposite to an end closer to the surface of the substrate is within a range of 20 to 60 degrees.

Field of the Invention
The present application relates to a laminated diffraction optical element and a production method therefor, and more particularly, to a method for producing a laminated diffraction optical element for use in an optical apparatus, such as a camera or a video camera, by replica molding using photo-setting resin or thermosetting resin.
Description of the Related Art
Examples of laminated diffraction optical elements molded from photo-setting resin or thermosetting resin are a diffraction optical element, an aspherical lens, and a pickup lens. Replica molding is a typical molding method for these laminated diffraction optical elements. Replica molding includes a step of dropping and supplying resin onto a substrate or a mold having a fine shape, a step of setting the resin by application of energy, and a step of releasing the resin and the substrate together from the mold.
To sufficiently fill the mold with resin in replica molding, for example, a protrusion portion to be filled with squeezing resin is provided on the outer periphery of an optically effective portion of the mold, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-119202. In the optically effective portion, non-filling is caused, for example, by unevenness in amount of resin dropped on the mold or the substrate and initial misalignment of a lens and the mold. Accordingly, to avoid such non-filling, a generous amount of resin is dropped beforehand to prevent non-filling in the optically effective portion, and a surplus of the resin is supplied in the protrusion portion provided on the outer periphery of the optically effective portion. This allows the optically effective portion to be sufficiently filled with resin so that the resin does not squeeze out of the mold.
However, when resin having low transmittance, for example, resin in which microparticles are dispersed is used in replica molding, a resin layer needs to be uniformly and thinly molded to meet the optical requirement. To be thinly and uniformly molded, the resin needs to be supplied while pressurizing a substrate. When the resin is supplied under pressure, since there is a limit on adjustment of parallelism of axes of the pressed surface, the substrate surface, and the mold surface, the resin is biased according to tilts of the axes. This deteriorates fillability of the resin.
When the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-119202 is used to avoid such deterioration of fillability of the resin, the optically effective portion can be sufficiently filled with the resin, but the resin protrusion portion in an optically non-effective outer portion adjacent to the optically effective portion is not uniformly filled with the resin. Further, the roundness of spread resin is seriously decreased by pressurization. As a result, parts filled with resin and parts that are not filled with resin are randomly arranged in the circumferential direction in the protrusion portion of the optically non-effective outer portion. When such a laminated diffraction optical element is mounted in an optical apparatus such as a camera or a video camera, a random filling state in the protrusion portion causes a problem of appearance. Particularly when resin having low transmittance is used, the portions filled with the resin and the portions that are not filled with the resin are easily distinguished because of a great difference in transmittance therebetween. This causes a serious problem from viewpoint of appearance of a product.

Laminated diffraction optical element and production method therefor


An IC carrier includes a carrier base, a carrier cover and a wiring sheet, through which an IC and a socket contact each other, interposed between the carrier cover and the wiring sheet. The IC is retained by the carrier base such that the IC and the wiring sheet face each other. The IC carrier further includes a plurality of connecting pins projecting from an opposing surface of one of the carrier base and the carrier cover. The connecting pins are inserted into through-holes formed in the wiring sheet and then press fitted into connecting holes formed in the other of the carrier base and the cover, so that an area in the vicinity of a peripheral edge of the wiring sheet is sandwiched between the carrier base and the carrier cover.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an IC carrier for retaining a wiring sheet and an IC in their opposed relation.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,794, U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,617, U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,108 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,980, a carrier base carrying an IC thereon is provided with positioning pins for correctly positioning a flexible wiring sheet. The flexible wiring sheet is provided with positioning holes. By correctly inserting the positioning pins into corresponding positioning holes of the flexible wiring sheet, relative positions of the carrier base and the flexible wiring sheet are established. The flexible wiring sheet is sandwiched between the base and a clip-type beam, a carrier cover or the like, so that a correct position of the flexible wiring sheet is maintained.
However, the above-mentioned conventional IC carriers have the following problem. When the positioning pins are inserted into corresponding positioning holes, the pins are caused to press the inner walls of the positioning holes due to manufacturing tolerances of the positioning pins of the carrier body and the positioning holes of the flexible wiring sheet. Consequently, the flexible wiring sheet tends to move slightly. As a consequence, the contact position of the flexible wiring sheet is displaced with respect to the IC held by the carrier base.
Since the flexible wiring sheet in its displaced position is sandwiched between the base and the clip or the carrier cover, the flexible wiring sheet remains in its displaced state. Accordingly, the positioning pins cannot fully exhibit their intrinsic positioning functions.
In order to maintain a correct relative position between the IC and the flexible wiring sheet, it is required that the flexible wiring sheet is firmly sandwiched between the carrier base and the carrier cover so that the flexible wiring sheet will not move even slightly. It is demanded that this problem be solved without the provision of a complicated construction (namely by maintaining a simple construction).
The present invention has been accomplished in view of the above problem.


Optical switches are described herein. In one embodiment, an exemplary optical switch includes, but is not limited to, a first waveguide, a second waveguide across with the first waveguide in an angle to form an intersection, and a pair of electrodes placed within a proximity of the intersection to switch a light traveling from the first waveguide to the second waveguide, where at least one of the electrodes includes a non-uniform edge to deflect a light remained after switching from the first waveguide to the second waveguide to a direction other than a direction associated with the first waveguide. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Integrated optical switches have been widely used recently. To divert light from one waveguide to another, the waveguides are coupled by specific geometric arrangements of the two waveguides in relation to each other, where the coupling is modified by local electro-optical manipulation of their indices of refraction. Typical examples of electro-optical switches include the Mach-Zehnder interferometer 2×2 switch, the directional coupler 2×2 switch, the modal-interference 2×2 switch (e.g., two-mode interference switch, bifurcation optical active switch), the mode-evolution 2×2 switch, the imbalanced y-branch 1×2 switch, the digital-optical switch, and the total internal reflection (TIR) X-switch. Depending on the voltage applied to such switches or in some cases the electrical current actually, light is thus partly or completely diverted from an input waveguide to an output waveguide.
By appropriately combining waveguides and switches, a switch fabric (also referred to as switch matrix) is formed to switch light from multiple input waveguides among multiple output waveguides. A variety of switch fabric geometries have been used. Switch fabrics based on geometries such as crossbar geometry can be used to divert input signals to output channels arbitrarily. Signals from any input channels can be directed to any output channel, and even to multiple output channels, in broadcast and multicast transmission modes.
A typical switch employs the thermo-optic effect in a localized manner to control the refractive index within polymer waveguide structures to switch and attenuate the optical signals, which may limit the switching speed of the switch. Further, there has been a lack of commercially available switches possessing microsecond operation that have integrated variable optical attenuators and integrated optical power monitoring. The lack of integrated power monitoring means external components are required, which makes the overall approach more cumbersome and bulky.


In a method for the inactivation of microorganisms in liquid foods, a liquid food is mixed with a pressurized, liquefied gas at a pressure which is sufficient to maintain the liquefied gas in the liquid state. The mixture of food and gas is then depressurized to a pressure at which the liquefied gas is vaporized. According to the invention, before or during the depressurization to the second pressure, the mixture is guided through a pipeline and brought up to a flow speed in the pipeline which is sufficient to form cavitations in the liquid food.

The sterilization of foodstuffs, especially liquid foodstuffs such as fruit or vegetable juices, is usually effected by heat treatment at temperatures of over 60° C., ultrafiltration or by chemical processes such as for example the cold sterilization process. The processes of heat treatment and ultrafiltration have the disadvantage that valuable contents are in the process simultaneously removed from the product or destroyed. Cold sterilization is predominantly carried out using chemicals the safety of which in terms of health has not been proven in all cases and which moreover can result in alterations to the sensory properties of the product.
WO 2004/026452 A1 proposes exposing a liquid to ultrasonic waves. The resulting cavitations lead to cell disruption of the microorganisms present in the liquid.
As an alternative to the aforementioned methods, physicochemical processes for sterilization using carbon dioxide have already been proposed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,547 A1 describes a process in which a foodstuff to be sterilized, especially a liquid foodstuff such as fruit juice, is mixed with liquid or supercritical CO2. After a given exposure time of for example 1-60 min has elapsed, carbon dioxide and foodstuff are separated from each other. The sterilization effect is predominantly based on the diffusion of carbon dioxide into the cells at a low pH. On subsequent expansion of the mixture, carbon dioxide diffuses back out of the cell and extracts vital components therefrom. Repeating this process a number of times destroys the cell walls of the microorganisms and thus inactivates them. However, due to the high pressures required of 700 bar or more, this process has to date not been able to be implemented for industrial purposes.
US 2004/0033296 A1 discloses a method in which a liquid foodstuff is subjected to high-pressure treatment using carbon dioxide in a batch or semi-batch process. Treatment is effected either at pressures of over 700 bar (10 000 psig) or at pressures of between 1.7 and 17 bar (25-250 psig); during the treatment the temperature of the mixture is maintained at a value of below 50° C., but above the solidification temperature of the foodstuff treated.
EP 0 979 657 A1 proposes conducting high-pressure treatment of orange juice with liquefied or supercritical carbon dioxide. Here, the foodstuff to be treated is mixed at a pressure of preferably from 200 to 500 bar with liquid carbon dioxide. After a certain exposure time of from 1 to 13 minutes, the mixture of juice and carbon dioxide is expanded to ambient pressure in a plurality of stages. Prior to the expansion of the mixture, an additional process step in which the mixture is subjected to intense mechanical shear forces may furthermore be provided. However, this process is quite complex in terms of construction and requires quite high operating pressures in particular for the treatment of fruit juices.

Method for the inactivation of microorganisms in foods


A seat belt retractor according to the present invention comprises a torsion bar 2 which is connected integrally with a bobbin 3 on one end side thereof and is connected integrally with a locking base 5 on the other end side thereof, a pawl 16 for preventing the rotation of the locking base 5 in the webbing pull-out direction thereof, a ratchet wheel 18 for bringing the pawl 16 into engagement with an engaging internal teeth 25 in a vehicle emergency, a control plate 65 which, in accordance with the winding amount of a webbing 50, positions a lock lever 55 at a first position in which the lock lever 55 is engaged with the ratchet wheel 18 and the pawl 16 is engaged with the engaging internal teeth 25 or at a second position in which the lock lever 55 is not engaged with the ratchet wheel 18, and a lock member 80 which, when the lock lever 55 is positioned at the first position, can be engaged with the ratchet teeth 3b of the bobbin 3 to thereby prevent the rotation of the bobbin 3 in the webbing pull-out direction thereof. Accordingly, it is possible to provide an improved seat belt retractor which can switch an energy absorbing mechanism between its operation condition and its non-operation condition by use of a simple structure.

The present invention relates to an improved retractor (a winding device) for use in a seat belt device and, in particular, to an improved seat belt retractor which includes both an emergency lock mechanism and an automatic lock mechanism. In addition, the present invention also relates to a control method for controlling a seat belt retractor which includes an emergency lock mechanism, an automatic lock mechanism and an energy absorbing mechanism.
Conventionally, in a seat belt for holding an occupant and the like of a vehicle safely in the seat of the vehicle, there is provided a seat belt retractor which is structured such that, when restraining the body of the occupant, an emergency lock mechanism thereof can be operated, and, when fixing a baggage, a child seat or the like to the seat, an automatic lock mechanism can operated.
That is, the seat belt retractor of this type comprises a well-known emergency lock mechanism including lock means engageable with a winding shaft and capable of locking the rotation of the winding shaft in a webbing pull-out direction thereof and inertia sensing means for actuating the lock means in a vehicle emergency, and control means for actuating the emergency lock mechanism in accordance with the winding condition of the webbing to thereby cause the lock means to move to an engaging position or a non-engaging position properly with respect to the winding shaft, while the control means brings the lock means into engagement with the winding shaft to thereby lock the rotation of the winding shaft in the webbing pull-out direction thereof, so that the automatic lock mechanism can be actuated. And, conventionally, there have been proposed various seat belt retractors each of which, due to provision of the above-mentioned control means, can be surely switched from an emergency lock retractor over to an automatic lock retractor.
On the other hand, when the shock caused by a collision is extremely great, the tension of a webbing increases with the passage of time after the collision to thereby produce a sudden deceleration in the body of the occupant, so that a load to be applied to the occupant from the webbing becomes very large. In view of this, there have also been proposed various kinds of seat belt devices each structured such that it include an energy absorbing mechanism which, when a load acting on the webbing becomes equal to or greater than a preset given value, pulls out a seat belt by a given amount to thereby absorb the shock given to the body of the occupant so as to be able to protect the occupant body against the shock more surely. As the seat belt retractor having such structure, there is known the energy absorbing device designed especially for a safety belt which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,494 to Fiala.
The above-mentioned energy absorbing device comprises a winding member (a bobbin) serving as a part to which the energy absorbing device transmits a force, and a holder (a retractor base) relatively rotatable with respect to the winding member, while a torsion bar is interposed between the holder and winding member. In this device, if, after the rotation of the winding shaft is caused to stop in a vehicle emergency, a load is further applied to the lock means, the torsion bar is twisted about its own axis, so that the shock energy given to the occupant body can be absorbed as the deformed version of the work of the torsion bar.
The seat belt retractor including the energy absorbing mechanism of the above-mentioned type pulls out the seat belt by a given amount when the load acting on the webbing becomes greater than the preset given value, while the pull-out amount of the seat belt is generally set according to the size of a space formed in front of an occupant seated in the seat.
In this structure, when a child seat or the like bulkier than the body of the occupant is fixed to the seat, if the seat belt is pulled out in a vehicle emergency, then there is a possibility that the child seat or the like can be contacted with the dashboard of the vehicle.

Seat belt retractor and controlling method of the same


Systems, methods, and devices are provided for kernel configurations. One embodiment includes a kernel configuration tool, a system file accessible by the kernel configuration tool, and means for automatically detecting and moving a kernel configuration in association with boot and shutdown routines.

In a computing device, such as a server, router, desktop computer, laptop, etc., and other devices having processor logic and memory, the device includes an operating system and a number of application programs that execute on the computing device. The operating system layer includes a "kernel". The kernel is a master control program that runs the computing device. The kernel provides functions such as task, device, and data management, among others. The application layer includes application programs that perform particular tasks. These programs can typically be added by a user or administrator as options to a computer device. Application programs are executable instructions, which are located above the operating system layer and accessible by a user.
The application layer and other user accessible layers are often referred to as being in "user space", while the operating system layer can be referred to as "kernel space". As used herein, "user space" implies a layer of code which is more easily accessible to a user or administrator than the layer of code which is in the operating system layer or "kernel space".
In an operating system parlance, the kernel is the set of modules forming the core of the operating system. The kernel is loaded into main memory first on startup of a computer and remains in main memory providing services such as memory management, process and task management, and disk management. The kernel also handles such issues as startup and initialization of the computer system. Logically, a kernel configuration is a collection of all the administrator choices and settings needed to determine the behavior and capabilities of the kernel. This collection includes a set of kernel modules (each with a desired state), a set of kernel tunable parameter value assignments, a primary swap device, a set of dump device specifications, a set of bindings of devices to other device drivers, a name and optional description of the kernel configuration, etc.
System users, e.g., system administrators may make changes to a running kernel configuration that will not take effect until a next system boot and may save kernel configurations to be selected for a later boot. When a system user wants to shutdown a computing device and/or computing system a shutdown routine can be called either via a shutdown command (e.g., an orderly shutdown) or the reboot command (e.g., a quick, abrupt shutdown). Previously, shutdown routines called through a shutdown command would move a selected or marked new kernel configuration into place during shutdown, but shutdown routines called through a reboot command would not. That is, the shutdown routine associated with the reboot command did not handle saved configurations, kernel registry service (KRS) databases, titles, etc. For reboot, the system user had to manually move the new desired kernel configuration into place prior to reboot.
Another issue with various kernel configurations involves crash dumps. When a kernel configuration gets into a bad error state, e.g., panic state, from which it is unable to recover, it is said to have crashed. At this point several utilities try to save the kernel state, e.g., what programs were running and what their state was at the time of the crash, on to disk so that the problem can be investigated further. This saved kernel state information can be referred to as a crash dump. While saving the state data to a known location, the utility tools will also attempt to save a copy of the kernel configuration which caused the crash.
Current crash utility tools are unable to deterministically say which kernel configuration caused the panic. Crash utility tools typically copy a kernel configuration located at a pre-defined directory along with a crash dump. In some scenarios, a system user may have interacted with a boot prompt to boot to a kernel configuration different from the one which is present at the pre-defined directory. Hence, if a crash dump occurs while using another boot prompted kernel configuration, the system user would have to remember to manually copy this requested kernel configuration for diagnostic use since a different kernel configuration exists in the pre-defined directory and would have been copied by default. If the wrong kernel configuration is copied along with the crash dump, the results will be unreadable since a kernel id contained in the crash dump will not match the kernel configuration copied from the pre-determined directory.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An engine having a multi flow rate control valve may include a valve, a valve housing and a driving unit. The valve may have a hollow pipe structure and coolant holes through which a coolant supplied to a space at a center portion of the valve is to be distributed and cooled outside of the valve. The valve housing may be coupled with the valve such that an inner side of the valve housing is capable of being in close contact with an outer side of the valve, and have coolant outlets formed at positions corresponding to the coolant holes. The driving unit may rotate the valve to selectively connect the respective coolant holes to the corresponding coolant outlets or close the coolant holes by bringing them in close contact with the inner side of the valve housing.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an engine having a multi flow rate control valve that maximizes cooling efficiency for an engine and improves combustion efficiency of the engine by integrally controlling coolants supplied to a cylinder block, a cylinder head, a heater, a transmission, and a radiator.
2. Description of Related Art
At present, multi flow rate control valves are used to control the coolant of engines. Those multi flow rate control valves can improve the entire cooling efficiency and reduce fuel consumption by distributing a coolant that is supplied to a bypass line, a transmission oil warmer, a radiator, a cylinder block, and a heater and controlling the coolants supplied to the parts to be cooled in accordance with the driving state.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a multi flow rate control valve of the related art. Referring to FIG. 1, the control valve supplies a coolant to a radiator 130, a heater 110, and a bypass line 120 and improves the entire cooling efficiency by controlling the coolants supplied to the radiator 130, the heater 110, and the bypass line 120.
A study for controlling coolants that are supplied to the right cylinder block and the left cylinder block in a V-type engine has been conducted and a study for separately cooling a cylinder block and a cylinder head and separately controlling coolants that are supplied to parts to be cooled has been conducted.
The information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

Engine having multi flow rate control valve


A method and apparatus are provided for supplying data to users through xe2x80x9cquery objectsxe2x80x9d, where the data corresponds to attributes of domain objects and is stored in a relational database. The query objects create a bridge between the information the user wants to see (as expressed in the user interface presented to the user), the object model in which domain logic is implemented, and the relational model in which the data is stored. Thus, data used to populate the user interface is queried directly from the data model and returned in the shape required by the user interface. As the query results are read into memory, objects that model the data using object-oriented techniques are instantiated. Subsequent manipulation of the data is redirected to those objects, thereby preserving data encapsulation and allowing reuse of existing logic.

Relational databases store information in tables, each of which has one or more columns and zero or more rows. Relationships may be defined between two or more tables to reflect real-world relationships between what is represented by the data contained in those tables. Database systems are very good at responding to queries that are written in terms of the relational model in which they store data.
Frequently, the data stored in a database corresponds to real world items. For example, a database may store information about the purchase orders received by a company. The real world items that are represented by the relational data are often constrained by limitations inherent in the real world domain of those items. For example, it may be company policy that P.O. boxes cannot be used as the mailing address for purchase orders. Rules that apply to data items, such as the xe2x80x9cno P.O. box mailing addressxe2x80x9d rule, are generally referred to as xe2x80x9cdomain logicxe2x80x9d.
Ideally, the database applications used to store information in a database implement the domain logic that applies to that information. For example, the database application used to enter purchase orders into a database should check the mailing address specified for each purchase order, and reject the address if it specifies a P.O. box.
Frequently, database application designers tie the domain logic that applies to a data item to the user interface component that is used to present the data item to a user. For example, the database application may present the user with a user interface that includes a user interface component (e.g. a text field) for receiving a mailing address. The application designer associates with that text field domain logic that checks to determine whether the text within the UI component represents a P.O. box. Using a database application design tool, the association of the xe2x80x9cno P.O. boxxe2x80x9d domain logic with the text field may be accomplished by (1) selecting a user interface control associated with the text field, where the user interface control allows entry of validation logic for the text field, and (2) entering validation logic that verifies that the text in the text field does not specify a P.O. box.
Unfortunately, the domain logic thus created is tied to that particular UI component in the user interface, not to the mailing address information itself. Thus, if the application presents the mailing address information in another UI component of a second, different user interface, the xe2x80x9cno P.O. boxxe2x80x9d domain logic would have to be repeated and tied to that other UI component as well. This would involve, once again, entry of validation logic that verifies that the text in the text field does not specify a P.O. box.
Tying the domain logic to user interface components tends to produce applications where the domain logic of the application is xe2x80x9cscatteredxe2x80x9d among the various user interface components. The decentralized nature of the domain logic creates severe problems when, for example, the domain logic for a given type of data item must be modified. For example, if the company decided that mailing addresses can be P.O. boxes if the P.O. boxes are within a particular state, then the application programmer would have to make the appropriate revisions to the validation logic of each user interface component that allows entry of mailing addresses.
Object oriented programming provides certain benefits that the relational model does not. Object oriented programming allows programmers to model real-world things, such as purchase orders, in a way that they find intuitive. It also allows the domain logic that applies to those real-world things to be xe2x80x9cencapsulatedxe2x80x9d, and the code that implements that logic to be re-usable. To achieve these benefits, applications that interact with relational databases are often written so that data is modeled using objects, even though the data for those objects is actually stored in a relational database.
Unfortunately, applications that model data using an object model frequently do so at the cost of sacrificing the efficiency of the relational model. For example, in the relational model, if a user only wants to see data from a particular column, data is only retrieved from that column. In an object model, if a user only wants to see data from a particular attribute of a particular object, the entire object may have to be instantiated before the one attribute value is supplied to the user. At the database level, instantiating the object may involve performing complex joins between multiple tables, and retrieving significantly more data than the user actually wants to see.
The following scenario illustrates the problem of systems that include components that must work together, but which model the same data differently. Specifically, a system for creating purchase orders will be described in which a database server that stores the data persistently uses a relational or xe2x80x9cdata modelxe2x80x9d, the JAVA runtime classes that manipulate the data use an object model, and multiple user interfaces, representing distinct end-user applications, present the data to users.
The Data Model
Referring to FIG. 1, it illustrates the data model for a Purchase Order that could be used by a relational database server. A Purchase Order is a contractual document that includes information describing the buyer, the seller, the goods and services being procured, delivery information and internal accounting.
In the schema shown in FIG. 1, the purchase order (PO) is modeled as a Header which has one or more Lines. Each Line has one or more Shipments, and each shipment has one or more Distributions.
The Header (PO_HEADERS table) stores information pertaining to the entire document (e.g. Buyer, Document Total, Approval Status, Supplier and so on). A purchase order has one and only one header.
The Line (PO_LINES table) stores information about what the buyer wants to order (e.g. Item Number and Description, Unit of Measure, Price, Order Quantity).
A purchase order must have at least one line, and may have more than one if the buyer wants to order different goods and services from the same supplier.
The Shipment (PO_SHIPMENTS table) stores information about where and when the order is to be delivered (e.g. Ship-To Location, Due Date, Shipment Quantity).
A line must have at least one shipment and may have more than one if the buyer wants a single order quantity to be shipped to multiple receiving docks, or shipped to the same dock on several different dates. If a line has greater than 1 shipment, the total quantity of all shipments must equal the line quantity.
The Distribution (DISTRIBUTIONS table) stores information pertaining to the internal accounting for each shipment (e.g. Cost Center, Distribution Quantity).
Each shipment must have at least one distribution and may have more than one if the buyer needs to allocate procurement costs to multiple accounts. If a shipment has greater than 1 distribution, the total quantity of all distributions must equal the shipment quantity.
In accordance with standard relational design, each of the Purchase Order tables store IDs (foreign keys) for referenced entities. In this example, the Purchase Order Header table (P_HEADERS) stores a buyer ID and a supplier ID. The Line table (PO_LINES) stores an item ID. To obtain the Buyer Name, Supplier Name, Item Number and Item Description these foreign keys must be resolved using a join to their corresponding primary key in the referenced tables (BUYERS, SUPPLIERS and ITEMS respectively).
Finally, within the Purchase Order itself, each child entity stores the unique identifier of its parent entity.
The Object Model
While the data model is optimized for quick data storage and retrieval, the object model is optimized for effective domain logic implementation at runtime and code reuse. Fundamental to the object model is the concept of domain objects. Domain objects are objects that represent items of significance in the real world that can be modeled and implemented in software. Domain objects can exist in any domainxe2x80x94business, scientific, natural, etc. Domain objects encapsulate the application behavior or xe2x80x9cdomain logicxe2x80x9d that is relevant for the domain of the items they represent.
For example, complicated domain logic may be encapsulated within domain objects that are implemented in reusable bundles of Java classes. FIG. 2 is a block diagram that illustrates an object model, implemented in Java classes, for four Domain objects: Purchase Order, Supplier, Buyer and Item. Note that domain objects can include calculated values that are not stored in the database.
To illustrate the benefit of encapsulated logic, assume that a company has a policy against shipping to P.O. box addresses. In the object model illustrated in FIG. 2, the ship-to address corresponds to the shipToLocation attribute of the POShipment object. Every time a shipToLocation attribute is retrieved, it is retrieved by calling the getShipToLocation() method of the POShipment object. Every time a shipToLocation attribute is stored, it is stored by calling the setShipToLocation( ) method of the POShipment object. Thus, the xe2x80x9cno P.O. boxxe2x80x9d rule can be implemented by adding logic to a single location: the setShipToLocation( ) method. This logic will be executed regardless of the user interface UI components through which a user attempts to set the ship-to address, since the logic is tied to the shipToLocation attribute and not to the user-interface UI components themselves.
Consequently, if the company decides to accept ship-to P.O. boxes for a particular state, the company may do so simply by modifying the logic of the setShipToLocation( ) method. The modifications will take effect everywhere that the ship-to address attribute is manipulated because the logic is tied to the attribute, not the user interface.
The User Interface
The data stored using the relational model of FIG. 1 and retrieved using the object classes of FIG. 2 may actually be presented to users using the interfaces shown in FIG. 3. For example, assume that a Company X has installed an application which includes a Purchase Order module that generates user interface 302. Since user interface 302 displays every possible data value for a POxe2x80x94and the business process of Company X requires only a small subset of those values while defaulting many of the valuesxe2x80x94Company X has built a custom Purchase Orders module that generates interface 300, which lets Company X display just a few relevant UI components in a spreadsheet-like format for speedy data entry and review.
The business rules governing the data validation are the same for both modules, and the underlying data model provided by the database server is the same. The only thing that is different is the xe2x80x9cshapexe2x80x9d and content of the data as presented to the user.
Not only does Company X want to display fewer data values to the user, they never create multiple shipments or distributions, so there is no reason to complicate the data entry process by displaying this information in a hierarchical user interface. In fact, it is not even necessary for the buyers in Company X to know that the underlying object and data models have the concept of shipments and distributions within their internal architecture.
The problem associated with storing data using the relational model illustrated in FIG. 1, and manipulating it using the object model illustrated in FIG. 2, and presenting it using the interface illustrated in FIG. 3, is illustrated by the following scenario.
When a software engineer in Company X""s IT group is assigned the task of building the custom user interface 300, the software engineer may realize that this is the first of what is likely to be several requests for custom PO applications. For example, the software engineer may have already heard from someone who wants an HTML front end for key suppliers to create their own POs based on weekly planning data.
The software engineer also does not want to recreate the domain logic coded in the Purchase Order domain object since that would not add any value to the custom application, but will introduce problems when the company upgrades to the next release of the Purchase Order domain object.
The problem that presents itself is how to easily reuse the Domain objects (while preserving encapsulation) and the underlying data model when neither matches the xe2x80x9cshapexe2x80x9d of the data as perceived by the user through different user interfaces. When presented with this problem, the object-oriented approach would dictate that data should only be accessed through a class""s public get() methods, and therefore user interface components that expect to be mapped to a datasource should be mapped directly to the domain objects that own the data.
Unfortunately, the pure object-oriented strategy has several drawbacks. For example, the xe2x80x9cshapexe2x80x9d of the object model does not necessarily mirror the underlying data model, and neither of these has to match the user interface. Direct dependence on the Domain object classes to serve up data make it difficult to tailor performance for different user interfaces. The temptation is to build different domain objects for each user interface, which defeats the goal of code reuse.
Also, using the pure object-oriented strategy, there are performance penalties that are caused by fully populating a domain object (plus references) every time the user wants to see a data value. In the example given in FIG. 1, each of the objects has only a few values. However, in real world scenarios, objects routinely have hundreds of attributes, the attribute values are stored in tables that have millions of rows, and the objects have 25+ references to other objects that are equally complex. Under these conditions, it is difficult to efficiently handle queries when the user is going to be driving the query with referenced data values, as in the query xe2x80x9cfind all POs for the Supplier AMPxe2x80x9d.
Further, if the domain objects are instantiated on the client, data for all of the non-requested attributes will have to be sent from the server to the client. The percentage of communication bandwidth consumed by the transmission of data for attributes that are not even needed by the user interface may vastly exceed the bandwidth consumed by the transmission of the requested data. Thus, instantiating client-side domain objects is particularly inefficient in environments where the communication channel between the client and server represents a bottleneck.
Based on the forgoing, it is clearly desirable to provide a mechanism that allows the domain logic associated with data stored in a database to be encapsulated, but which does not incur the performance penalties associated with a pure object-oriented approach.
According to one aspect of the invention, a mechanism is provided that achieves the benefits of both the relational model and the object oriented model. Specifically, data is supplied to users through xe2x80x9cquery objectsxe2x80x9d, where the query objects create a bridge between the information the user wants to see (as expressed in the user interface presented to the user) and the relational model. Thus, data used to populate the user interface is queried directly from the data model and returned in the shape required by the user interface. As the query results are read into memory, objects that model the data using object-oriented techniques are instantiated. Subsequent manipulation of the data is redirected to those objects, thereby preserving data encapsulation and allowing reuse of existing logic.
According to another aspect of the invention, the objects associated with the data that is retrieved through a query object are lazily populated. For example, when instantiating a particular object that has thousands of attributes, the values for all of the attributes are not automatically retrieved. Rather, those values that are already being retrieved in response to the query are used to populate their corresponding attributes, while other attributes of the object are only populated on an as-needed basis. In a preferred embodiment, all of the attributes for the object are retrieved as soon as a method needs a value that was not populated when the object was instantiated.

Accessing domain object data stored in a relational database system


An apparatus for cleaning a selected surface, usually fluid-wetted or submerged, has a membrane element. The membrane element comprises a generally concave lower surface that clings, when in motion, to the selected surface by a first force and a generally convex upper surface. The membrane element has a means associated with the generally convex upper surface which generates a second force which, when in motion, causes the lower surface and the selected surface to be pressed more closely together. particularly embodied as a generally wing shaped cross-sectional profile, wherein the generally wing shaped cross-sectional profile is produced with at least one ring wall comprised of a series of rods projecting up from the generally convex upper surface of the membrane and often a plurality of ring walls formed from projecting rods. An elongated handle, usually a float, is affixed to the membrane element upper surface.

1. Field of the Invention
A device for converting motion into an inter-surfacial attractive force between a lower surface of the device and a selected surface where such force can be generated, controlled and used to clean or remove filth from an appropriately fluid-wetted or submerged surface is disclosed. More particularly, a hinged handle is coupled to a generally flat membrane element having both a cutting edge and a cleaning lower surface that adheres while in motion, during usage, to a fluid-wetted or submerged surface, thereby removing unwanted buildup such as algae, dirt and the like.
2. Description of the Background Art
Several types of aquarium cleaners exist in the prior art. Disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,766 is a device for cleaning the interior surface of an aquarium and comprises a sponge cleaning element fastened to a headpiece that includes a non-rusting scraper. A handle extends from the headpiece and terminates in a planter element.
An ice scraper is related in U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,206. Included in the apparatus is a concave-convex cleaning head that has two arcuate scraping edges, two radial slots that introduce sufficient resiliency for the head to fit to the contours of a curved surface, and an extending handle. The head flexes only as much as the slots allow. The underside of the head contacts the surface only at the scraping edges. The rigidly attached handle provides pressure for the scraping edges to function.
A cleaning device for utilization with toilet bowls is presented in U.S. Pat. No. 1,927,350. An applicator is attached to a handle. The applicator is fabricated from material that permits a slight deformation to allow the head to mold to surface contours of the toilet bowl. Specifically, the applicator is of inverted cup form providing a flexible top wall, a slightly deformable annular wall or lip and providing an interior space open at the bottom. A suitable detergent or soap element fits within the interior space.
A complex window cleaning device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 1,973,708. Combined are a suction cup with a mechanical sealing and releasing means and a cleaning member such as pad or squeegee. The suction cup stabilizes the device for the other elements to function. The apparatus is designed to work on the surface of a air exposed window.
A semi-rigid cleaning scraper having an irregular concave lower surface is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,188,114. The device also serves as a shovel or scoop. The semi-rigid head is affixed to a handle. During usage the head distorts slightly to adapt to the form of irregular surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,682,071 exhibits a portable implement for use in connection with the wiping and polishing of plane surfaces. A polishing cloth fits over a flexible head member. In use, the flexible head member and polishing cloth contour to the shape of an underlying surface.
A bladed cleaning apparatus for aquariums is related in U.S. Pat. No. 3,630,364. An elaborate vacuum means is included for removing scraped particles.
Swedish Patent No. 72,755 shows an implement used to clean toilet bowls, bath tubs, and the like. A handle is rigidly affixed to a head having a concave lower surface and a perimeter edge. The foregoing patents reflect the state of the of which the applicant is aware and are tendered with the view toward discharging applicant's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information which may be pertinent in the examination of this application. It is respectfully submitted however, that none of these patents teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, applicant's claimed invention.

Fluid-wetted or submerged surface cleaning apparatus


An organic electroluminescent device includes an anode, a light-emitting layer, and a cathode, which has a structure formed by sequentially laminating, from the light-emitting layer side, a first cathode formed of a material having a work function of 3.0 eV or less, and a second cathode, formed of a material having a work function higher than that of the first cathode, so that the total thickness of the first and the second cathodes is 100 angstroms or less. These elements are stacked on a substrate, and light is emitted to an exterior of the device via at least the cathode.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to organic electroluminescent devices, which are electrical device light emitting devices used for displays, light sources for displays, and the like, and to manufacturing methods therefor.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, as self-luminous displays replace liquid crystal displays, development has been advancing rapidly of light-emitting devices (organic electroluminescent devices, hereinafter referred to as "organic EL devices"), which have a structure in which a light-emitting layer formed of an organic material is provided between an anode and a cathode. Among these, a high-transmission EL device, a so-called transparent EL device (TOELD) used in the visible light region, which can emit light from the two electrode sides, has been desired, since overlapped displays can be performed by disposing another display device thereunder. A particular structure of this device is disclosed in, for example, Appl. Phys. Lett. 68(19), 6 May 1996, p 2606. In this publication, it is disclosed that an aluminum complex Alq3, which is a low molecular material, is used as a light-emitting layer, a cathode is formed by co-deposition of Mg and Ag, an ITO film is formed by sputtering thereon for sealing or for assistance to the cathode so as to form a device, and a threshold voltage of approximately 8 V is achieved. In the structure described above, in view of the life and the threshold characteristics of a material used for the light-emitting layer, Mg and Ag are used for the cathode, and in addition, ITO is used for the upper layer thereon.
Concerning organic EL devices, a light-emitting material having a low threshold value can be used for a light-emitting layer, and a metal material having a low work function can be used for a cathode so as to realize operation at a low threshold voltage. However, in the structure proposed in the paper described above, Mg and Ag are not sufficient in view of the work functions, and since ITO is additionally deposited on the metal material by sputtering, in order to prevent the degradation thereof, Mg is oxidized, whereby a problem may arise in that an increase in threshold voltage of the device cannot be finally avoided.

Organic electroluminescent device and manufacturing method therefor


An inverter charger, fed with d.c. from a battery, to supply a.c. to a load, comprising eight inverters stages which each provide an alternating step function output current and which are arranged in two sets of four, the inverter stages of each set being serially connected and driven sequentially to produce in combination, a generally sinusoidal step function waveform comprising fifteen degree steps, the two step function waveforms thus produced, one by each set, being serially combined, and mutually relatively phase controlled to produce a regulated sinusoidal output voltage for the load, wherein regulation is effected in dependence upon the relative phase between the two step function waveforms both for battery charging and for supply of power to the load, regulation being facilitated by the provision of xe2x80x98dwell periodsxe2x80x99 in the output from each inverter stage.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to inverter chargers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inverter chargers are generally well known and are used in the event of a utility supply failure, to provide continuity of supply for a load from a battery, and/or to provide a supplementary supply to cope with peak power requirements which exceed the capability of a supply generator, power from the utility or from the generator, as the case may be, being used to charge the battery. Inverter chargers may also be arranged to feed surplus energy back to the utility.
Inverter chargers comprise an inverter unit, which serves to provide a.c. for the load by converting d.c. from the battery, and control/switching apparatus for control of the supplementary/surplus power supply as required, and for providing current for charging the battery from the utility or generator.
The provision of a sinusoidal output voltage, similar to the waveform of an a.c. 50 hertz or 60 hertz utility supply, is highly desirable, since some loads, such as a.c. motors for example, operate inefficiently when fed from an a.c. source having a high harmonic content such as a square wave source. Also, provision for drawing a sinusoidal current from a 50 hertz or 60 hertz utility supply or generator is highly desirable for maximum utilization of generator power rating and most efficient usage of utility power when drawing power from the utility supply or generator to charge the battery, or when delivering surplus power from the inverter to the utility or when delivering supplementary power in support of the generator.
It will thus be appreciated that an inverter charger may be used as a part of standby power or emergency power supply apparatus wherein power for a load is provided via the inverter charger by the battery when the utility supply or generator, as the case may be, fails and wherein the battery is charged via the inverter charger from the generator or utility supply, during periods when it is available, and wherein some supplementary power for the load from the battery may also be provided in order satisfy peak load demand when this exceeds the capability of a generator having insufficient capacity to meet such demands.
Known inverter chargers capable of providing the functions as just before described, and having a sinusoidal output, tend to be expensive to fabricate and somewhat inefficient in operation due to the design of the inverter unit. In order to produce an inexpensive inverter charger, it is desirable to use one inverter both for battery charging purposes and to supply a load but with such arrangements regulation for both functions poses problems.
It is an important object of the present invention to provide an inverter charger wherein the shortcomings of such known apparatus are obviated, at least in part, and wherein regulation of both charging and load supply functions is facilitated.
Since the present invention is concerned more particularly with the provision of an inverter charger, control/switching apparatus as used in inverter chargers, and which may take any suitable form, will not be described herein in detail.
According to the present invention, an inverter charger comprises a single phase inverter unit having eight inverter stages arranged for connection to a common D.C source, which stages provide similar stepped alternating waveforms of substantially the same amplitude and waveshape, eight individual similar single phase two winding transformers, one primary winding provided on each of the said single phase transformers to which, respective ones of the said inverter stages are connected, one secondary winding provided on each of the said single phase transformers, two secondary winding sets, each of which sets comprises four of the said secondary windings connected in series, the secondary windings of each set being driven sequentially to produce in combination, a generally sinusoidal step function waveform comprising fifteen degree incremental steps, the two step function waveforms thus produced, one by each set, being serially combined, and mutually relatively phase controlled to produce a single phase sinusoidal output voltage for a load normally fed from a utility or generator supply so as to provide continuity of supply if the utility or generator supply fails, output voltage regulator means operative to regulate the said output voltage in dependence upon the relative phase between the said two step function waveforms, a battery for supplying d.c. to the said inverter unit, control means for controlling the supply of charging current fed from the utility or generator supply to the said battery and for controlling provision by the inverter of supplementary power when the capacity of the generator is inadequate, and switch means responsive to a control signal produced by the control means in dependence upon battery voltage to connect the inverter to the utility or generator so that controlled sinusoidal charging current is fed from the utility or generator back through the inverter to charge the battery, and wherein each of the said stages comprise, four transistor switches connected in bridge configuration across the said primary winding of one of the said transformers with which they are operatively associated, conductivity of the said transistor switches being controlled so as to produce dwell periods in the output voltage from each stage, whereby provision by the inverter of charging current in one direction or supplementary power in the other direction are both controllable.
It will be readily apparent that the relative phase of the two step-function waveforms, can be controlled manually, or automatically by appropriate operation of the drive circuit, thereby to effect the regulation.
By utilizing eight transformers in two sets of four, a regulated sinusoidal output voltage is provided and sinusoidal current is drawn from the utility or generator for regulated charging, efficiently and relatively economically as will hereinafter be explained. One embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

5 Rutland House, Whitehart Lane, Collier Row


Downhole Camera systems and methods. Certain systems include a high-speed video camera configured with a 360 degree optical field-of-view, a jet-flushing system capable of temporarily displacing debris substantially simultaneously along all azimuths within the optical field-of-view, and optionally a downhole real-time image processing system for reducing the amount of captured video transmitted to surface. Certain methods include capturing a set of images downhole using a high-speed video camera having a 360 degree optical field-of-view, substantially simultaneously temporarily displacing debris in the optical field-of-view for at least a portion of the time the camera is capturing video using a jet-flushing system capable of projecting flushing fluid substantially simultaneously along all azimuths in the borehole. The methods may also involve pre-processing the set of images to reduce the number of images or reduce the amount of information transmitted to surface.

Downhole camera services may be used, for example, to diagnose mechanical problems in wells, for example casing and tubing anomalies, and corrosion, or for example for multilateral window identification and observation of items lost in a well (fishing operation). However, existing downhole camera tools are generally incompatible with other logging tools because they usually use their own telemetry system which requires large bandwidth in order to send optical still images or optical moving images (movies). In addition, they may produce unclear or ambiguous images due to the poor visibility of downhole fluid. The poor visibility can be due to the opacity of the downhole fluid (such as dark oil, mud or other opaque downhole fluid), drilling debris, and/or particles inside the downhole fluid. In conventional downhole camera systems, replacing well fluid with clean fluid from surface is one of the methods used to improve the visibility downhole, but it takes costly time from well operations.


The present invention relates to preservation of meat products. In particular new additives are provided for effective inhibition or prevention of bacterial outgrowth in meat products. The present inventors found that a combination of carvacrol and a cationic surfactant was effective in the inhibition or prevention of bacterial outgrowth in meat products. The combinations, more in particular, proved to be effective at levels that do not result in significant effects on the flavor and/or taste of the products. The present inventors furthermore found that treatment of meat products with the combinations of this invention had a favorable effect on the visual appearance (color) of the meat products. The present invention provides preservative compositions, the use of thereof as well as the meat products containing them.

Meat spoilage and rancidity is typically caused by unwanted growth of certain aerobic and anaerobic bacteria that contact the meat during processing. The opportunity for bacterial contact with the fresh meat begins when an animal is initially presented for processing and extends up until the time the meat product is consumed. The initial bacterial contact with fresh meat is encountered with a processing facility due to the contaminated state of the animal when it enters the facility. The time between the initial opportunity for bacterial contact with meat products and the ultimate consumption of such products by consumers, allows for the proliferation of various forms of bacteria, including the growth of undesired spoilage and pathogenic bacteria.
The growth of undesired bacteria on meat affects the shelf life thereof. For example, growth of spoilage bacteria, such as Pseudomonades, Lactobacillus and Coliforms, creates undesired odors and/or taste due to bacterial production of certain esters, hydrogen sulfide, nitrogenous compounds, propionic acid, formic acid, as well as other undesirable components. Some bacteria also act to discolor the surface of the meat. Moreover, when meat packaged in permeable plastic packages spoils, the packaging often inflates due to the generation of gas produced by spoilage bacteria.
Contamination of meat with pathogenic bacteria is also a great concern since such bacteria, or toxins produced by such bacteria, can cause illness or disease in humans and animals who consume such meat. In the meat processing industry, many types of bacteria are known to cause food poisoning including: E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Bacillus anthraces, Balantidium coli, Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter jejune, Francisella tularensis, Sarcocystis, Taenia saginata, Taenia solium, Toxoplasma gondil, Trichinella spiralis, Yersinia enterocolinea, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, Brucella, Chlamydia petechia, Leptospira and Clostridium. Each group of pathogenic bacteria proliferates under different conditions, any or all of which may be encountered in meat processing. For example, Listeria is generally found in cool, damp environments such as coolers and meat processing areas and is even able to proliferate in and compromise the safety of vacuum packaged meat.
In principle, measures to preserve meat resulting in elimination of bacteria or at least reducing outgrowth thereof, have been known (and practiced) for ages. Early preservation techniques of meat mainly took the form of drying, storing in salt (pickling), smoking, fermenting and/or (pre-)cooking. These processing methods, while effective for preserving the meat and preventing it from becoming spoiled or rancid, drastically change the overall visual and sensorial characteristics of the meat products.
In more modern times, freezing has become a common and effective way to retard the growth of bacteria that may be present on the surface of meat. However, by freezing a meat product, water within the meat crystallizes, causing the denaturing of proteins and other damage to the meat on a cellular level. The texture, consistency and taste of thawed frozen meat is less desirable than that of fresh meat. Consumers are accustomed to and often demand the sensorial quality (taste and texture) of non-preserved meat.
Keeping the meat under refrigeration temperatures only is much less detrimental to the quality of the meat and therefore still is the preferred option. The obvious down-side of keeping meat under refrigeration temperatures is that it is less effective in slowing down or preventing bacterial outgrowth. It has therefore often been attempted to apply additives or preservatives to further enhance the shelf-life of refrigerated meat products.
Well known additives for fresh meat include nitrates and nitrites, which not only help inactivate bacteria, but also give meat a pink or red color. Nitrate (NO3−), generally supplied by sodium nitrate or potassium nitrate, is used as a source for nitrite (NO2−). The use of nitrates in food preservation is controversial. This is due to the potential for the formation of nitrosamines when nitrates are present in high concentrations and the product is cooked at high temperatures.
Solutions of organic acids, such as lactic and acetic acids, are frequently used in commercial meat processing plants. Other organic acids, have been researched for use in chemical washes as well, including formic, propionic, citric, fumaric, and L-ascorbic acid. The mechanism of action of organic acids on the microbial cell is not completely understood, but it is hypothesized that it is the undissociated molecule of the acid that is responsible for the antimicrobial activity. Organic acids have been shown to be most effective when applied as a warm (50-55° C.) rinse. The USDA has specifically approved lactic acid, acetic acid, and citric acid as antimicrobial agents in the final wash that is applied to livestock carcasses after trimming and inspection but before chilling. There may be issues associated with the use of organic acids however in relation to meat surface discoloration. Furthermore, operators may experience skin/eye irritation when acetic acid is used. The use of acids, especially if applied at higher temperatures also enhances equipment corrosion.
Clearly, the consumers' demand for products with a 'fresh-like' quality is driving processors to develop new procedures and additives for effective inhibition or prevention of bacterial outgrowth. There is a particular desire to accomplish this using additives that the consumer perceives as 'natural'. Any ingredient used should not negatively interfere with the visual and/or sensorial properties of the products, i.e. when used at effective levels. It is the objective of the present invention to provide new additives conferring any or all of these advantages.


An idling stop control device includes an authenticator, a storage, a getting-off detector, and an engine restart permitter. The authenticator is installed in a vehicle, performs authentication via a wireless communication with a mobile device, and repeatedly performs, while the vehicle travels, an authentication operation at predetermined intervals. The storage stores result and time of authentication as the authentication history during travel. The engine restart permitter determines permission or prohibition of restart of the engine in accordance with the authentication history and getting-off information, permits restart of the engine when the authentication is successful and permits, in a case where the authentication fails, restart of the engine when a history of success of authentication has been stored in the storage during travel and the getting-off is not detected after the authentication has been successful.

The disclosure relates to an idling stop control device and, in particular, relates to an idling stop control device applicable to a vehicle in which a so-called smart entry system is installed.
In recent years, from a view point of improving fuel economy and reducing emissions in vehicles, for example, vehicles which include an idling stop function (an idling stop system) configured to automatically stop an engine, for example, when the vehicle stops to wait for a traffic signal to change at an intersection (at a time of parking) have been in wide practical use. In an idling stop system, when an engine is in an idling stop state, and then, for example, release of stepping on a brake pedal is detected, an engine restart request is output and the engine is restarted.
On the other hand, in recent years, in order to prevent a theft of a vehicle, vehicles which include a so-called smart entry system (SES) have been in practical use. In the smart entry system, for example, when a wireless communication is performed between a vehicle-side communication device (an onboard device) which is mounted on a vehicle and a mobile communication device (a mobile device) which is carried by an occupant and an ID code transmitted from the mobile device is authenticated to be a valid ID code (that is, when ID codes of both sides match), release of a door lock or start of an engine is permitted.
There is a possibility that, in a case where vehicles on which a radio device with a high output is mounted stop at an intersection or the like in front of and behind (or at left and right of) a vehicle in which the smart entry system (SES) and an idling stop system (ISS) are installed, for example, if ID authentication fails (key lost) in the vehicle due to a radio wave (a jamming radio wave) of a wireless device when restarting an engine after the engine has been automatically stopped by idling stop, the engine is not restarted and the vehicle is not started.
In order to solve the above described problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication (JP-A) No. 2006-307694 discloses a technology (an idle-stop start control device for vehicle) to achieve, in a vehicle including both an idle-stop start system (an ISS system) and a smart engine starter system (a SES system), both prevention of reduction in antitheft performance of the SES system and smooth automatic start of an engine in the ISS system with no difficulty. More specifically, in this technology (device), when the presence of an occupant in a vehicle is detected, an automatic start of an engine is permitted without using establishment of ID authentication of a mobile device as a condition and, when the presence of an occupant in a vehicle is not detected, ID authentication of a mobile device is not established, and a mobile device is not in the vehicle, an alarm is issued by a notification lamp and a buzzer in the vehicle for a predetermined time to restrict automatic start of the engine.


A method for helping improve operation of a heart valve includes implanting an apparatus at an annulus of a heart valve, such that one or more leaflets of the patient's heart valve the can move into and out of engagement with a portion of the implanted apparatus and thereby help control blood flow relative to the apparatus and heart valve.

A heart valve may become defective or damaged, such as resulting from congenital malformation, disease, or aging. When the valve becomes defective or damaged, the leaflets may not function properly. One common problem associated with a degenerating heart valve is an enlargement of the valve annulus (e.g., dilation). Other problems that may result in valve dysfunction are chordal elongation and lesions developing on one or more of the leaflets.
The bicuspid or mitral valve is located in the left atrioventricular opening of the heart for passing blood unidirectionally from the left atrium to the left ventricle of the heart. The mitral valve is encircled by a dense fibrous annular ring and includes two valve leaflets of unequal size. A larger valve leaflet, which is known as the anterior leaflet, is located adjacent the aortic opening. The smaller leaflet is the posterior leaflet.
When a mitral valve functions properly, for example, it prevents regurgitation of blood from the ventricle into the atrium when the ventricle contracts. In order to withstand the substantial backpressure and prevent regurgitation of blood into the atrium during the ventricular contraction, the cusps are held in place by fibrous cords (cordae tendinae) that anchor the valve cusps to the muscular wall of the heart.
By way of example, if an annulus enlarges or dilates to a point where the attached leaflets are unable to fully close (malcoaptation), regurgitation or valve prolapse may occur. Adverse clinical symptoms, such as chest pain, cardiac arrhythmias, dyspnea, may manifest in response to valve prolapse or regurgitation. As a result, surgical correction, either by valve repair procedures or by valve replacement, may be required.
Surgical reconstruction or repair procedures may include plication, chordal shortening, or chordal replacement. Another common repair procedure relates to remodelling of the valve annulus (e.g., annuloplasty), which may be accomplished by implantation of a prosthetic ring to help stabilize the annulus and to correct or help prevent valvular insufficiency which may result from defect or dysfunction of the valve annulus. Properly sizing and implanting the annuloplasty ring can substantially restore the valve annulus restored to its normal, undilated, circumference. In situations where the valve leaflets exhibit lesions, it also may be necessary to reconstruct one or more valve leaflets by securing grafts or patches to the leaflets, such as over lesions or holes formed in the leaflet. The repair or reconstruction of the leaflets may be complicated and time consuming, the results of which are not readily reproducible.

Method for helping improve operation of a heart valve