Disclosed is a gas cycle apparatus for a tire vulcanizer, configured to increase the circulating flow rate of a heating gas by preventing a gas feeder of the gas cycle apparatus from being subjected to an excessive load caused by a drain, and thereby capable of shortening the tire vulcanizing time by improving the temperature difference eliminating capacity in a bladder, to thereby allow the enhancement of the production capacity of tires. A gas circulating flow path 2 constituted by allowing a forward flow path 2a and a return flow path 2b to communicate with each other, is connected to a bladder 1; a gas supply flow path 3 is connected to the forward flow path; an air-water separation section 5 is provided on the way through the return flow path; the return flow path is connected to an upper space 5a of the air-water separation section; and a gas discharge flow path 4 is connected to a lower space 5b of the air-water separation section.

The tire vulcanizer includes an upper mold, a lower mold, and a bladder expanding and contracting under the supply/discharge of a heating gas (steam or the like), and is configured to press the bladder expanded by the supply of the steam, against the inner surface of a raw tire set inside the mold.
In such a situation, in order to eliminate the temperature difference within the bladder, a gas cycle apparatus arranged to circulate the heating gas is used, as set forth in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 62-33611.
As shown in FIG. 2, this gas cycle apparatus includes a bladder 1 expanding and contracting under the supply/discharge of a heating gas; a gas circulating flow path 2 constituted by allowing a forward flow path 2a connected to a supply port 10 of the bladder 1 and a return flow path 2b connected to a discharge port 11 of the bladder 1, to communicate with each other through a circulation valve 20; a gas feeder 21 (pump) provided in the gas circulating flow path 2; and a gas supply flow path 3 connected to the forward flow path 2a; and a gas discharge flow path 4 connected to the return flow path 2b.
In a state where a gas supply valve 30 and gas discharge valve 40 are opened and the circulation valve 20 is closed, a heating gas is supplied from the gas supply flow path 3 to the inside of the bladder 1 to fill it with the heating gas. Thereafter, the gas supply valve 30 and gas discharge valve 40 are closed and the circulation valve 20 is opened. Under this situation, the heating gas is circulated between the gas circulating flow path 2 and the inside of the bladder 1 by the gas feeder 21.
However, in such a conventional gas cycle apparatus, a drain of the heating gas liquefied by a heat exchange within the bladder 1 undesirably flows in the gas circulating flow path 2.
When the drain of the heating gas flows in the gas circulating flow path 2, an excessive load is applied to the gas feeder 21 of the gas cycle apparatus, so that it becomes difficult to increase the circulation flow rate of the heating gas.
This has caused a, problem in that the temperature difference eliminating capacity in the bladder 1 decreases, and the tire vulcanizing time increases, resulting in the reduction in production capacity of tires.
The present invention has been made for solving the above-described conventional problem. For this purpose, an air-water separation section is provided in the gas circulating flow path, and the drain is stored in this air-water separation section, whereby the drain is prevented from flowing in the gas circulating flow path.
This inhibits an excessive load by the drain from being applied to the gas feeder of the gas cycle apparatus, and thereby increases circulating flow rate of the heating gas.
As a result, the temperature difference eliminating capacity in the bladder is improved and the tire vulcanizing time is shortened. Herewith, the present invention aims to provide a gas cycle apparatus for a tire vulcanizer, capable of enhancing the production capacity of tires.


Crystallization of precursor polycarbonates prior to solid state polymerization is achieved by contact with a non-solvent comprising, at least in part, a dialkyl carbonate such as dimethyl carbonate. The non-solvent can be a mixture, typically of dimethyl carbonate with water or an alkanol such as methanol.

This invention relates to the preparation of polycarbonates, and more particularly to a method for their preparation by solid state polymerization.
Solid state polymerization is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,948,871, 5,204,377 and 5,214,073, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein. It involves three steps: a first step of forming a prepolymer, typically by melt polymerization (i.e., transesterification) of a dihydroxyaromatic compound such as bisphenol A with a diaryl carbonate such as diphenyl carbonate; a second step of crystallizing the prepolymer; and a third step of building the molecular weight of the crystallized prepolymer by heating to a temperature between its glass transition temperature and its melting temperature. Use of this method is of increasing interest by reason of its effectiveness and environmental benefits.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,204,377 describes a solid state polymerization method which requires the use of a crystallized prepolymer having a specific surface area of at least 0.2 m.sup.2 /g. This is a rather high surface area and is difficult to achieve, requiring, for example, high shear conditions. It is of interest, therefore, to develop a solid state polymerization method which does not require crystallized prepolymers having such a high surface area.

Method of preparing polycarbonates by solid state polymerization


Methods for increasing yields of regulatory T cells, useful, e.g., in transplantation contexts. Use of antigen presenting cells and anti-CD28 are also described.

Interleukin-10 is a cytokine which was originally characterized by its activities in suppressing production of Th1 cytokines. See, e.g., de Vries and de Waal Malefyt (eds. 1995) Interleukin-10 Landes Co., Austin, Tex.; and Fowler and Powrie (1999) Springer Semin. Immunopathol. 21(3):287–294. Th1 cells are implicated in the induction of pathology in transplantation and autoimmune contexts.
Suppression of immunological function finds utility in many different contexts. See, e.g., Paul (ed. 1998) Fundamental Immunology 4th ed., Raven Press, NY. In particular, allogeneic immunity is important in a transplantation context, due largely to its extraordinary strength. As organ and tissue transplants become more common in medical contexts, the ability to minimize problems from tissue rejection exhibit larger economic advantages. In addition, means to minimize adverse autoimmune conditions, to block certain responses to particulate antigens, e.g., bacterial and parasitic, and to minimize the reaction to certain soluble antigens, both protein and allergens, will be significant advances for therapeutic purposes.
The lack of fully effective therapeutics to minimize or eliminate tissue rejection, graft vs. host disease, autoimmunity, or these other immunological responses leads to many problems. The present invention addresses and provides solutions to many of these problems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An apparatus for automatically washing, sanitizing and drying a toilet seat. The apparatus comprises a toilet seat cover having independent fluid and gas conduits, a toilet seat and a runoff pan means, a control unit box and means for connecting the fluid and gas supply lines from the control unit box to said toilet seat cover. The toilet seat and the toilet seat cover and the runoff pan are pivotally connected by a hinge means and can independently move to an up or down position. Upon closing, toilet seat cover means are provided for automatically initiating the washing and drying cycles after each use. The control box unit further comprises an electric process unit including means to control and adjust the starting and finishing time of washing and drying cycles. The toilet system is sealed during the washing cycle to avoid splashing the fluid out of the toilet system.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for automatically cleaning toilet seats in public and private rest rooms. Specifically, it pertains to washing, sanitizing and drying a toilet seat after each use.
Toilet seats have the potential to transmit infectious diseases from one user to another. In recent years, the importance of toilet seat hygiene, in particular, of public toilet seat hygiene has come to people's attention and there is a great public awareness. Thus, there has been interest in insuring the cleaning, sterilizing and drying of all toilet seats. To maintain the required hygiene standards, many different methods have been utilized, many of which have not been applied on a large scale because of their various disadvantages. Therefore, a great majority of private and public toilet seats are still manually washed and dried and on an intermittent basis.
There are various methods of cleaning and subsequently drying a toilet seat using a fluidics agent and gas. The preferred fluidics agent is a combination of water and a suitable chemical such as sterilizing agent that is used for cleaning and disinfecting the toilet seats.
In surveying the prior art, cleaning and sterilizing toilet seat devices are disclosed which have the significant disadvantage of being expensive and impractical to use. In general, these devices are extremely complicated, heavy and in many cases cannot be easily retrofitted to the present toilet system. Furthermore, most of these prior art provide limited of washing, sterilizing and drying and they are inconvenient to use. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,980,931 to M. Chaskel, 3,837,018 to W. Haberle, 5,022,097 to P. Pusic, 4,853,982 to A. Martinval, 4,063,316 to K. Hunninghaus, and 4,924,532 to D. Pennestri all are illustrative of such prior art. None of the cited cleaning devices, while may be suitable for the particular purpose which they address, provide a satisfactory solution for fast and inexpensive toilet seat washing, sanitizing. Many of them require some major changes in existing toilet structures. Further, none of the cited toilet seat cleaning systems use a separate conduit for the gas and fluid agents, or seal the seat while it is being washed and dried.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a toilet seat cleaning system which provides cleaning, sterilizing and drying and which provides a universal and highly versatile system for home usage as well as public rest rooms. Therefore, the object of this invention is to provide an improved and an automated cleaning, sanitizing and drying apparatus which can be easily retrofitted to the present toilet systems in private and public rest rooms.
An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic system for cleaning, sterilizing and drying a toilet seat that is economical, easily retrofitted to the present toilets and will overcome the limitations, disadvantages and shortcomings of the prior art devices.
Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic toilet seat cleaning system embodying improved and advanced principles of design and construction.
A further object of the invention is to provide means to use water from the regular water main and through a specific conduit spray a fluid agent on all the surface areas of the seat wherein a user's skin comes in contact with and thus effectively clean and sterilize the seat.
Another object is to have a separate gas conduit for drying and deodorizing the seat.
A further object of the invention is to provide means to use electric power from the regular electric outlet for drying and deodorizing toilet seats through the gas conduit.
A still further object is to provide means to adjust and control the starting and finishing times of the cleaning, sterilizing, drying and deodorizing processes.
It is another object for the present invention to provide a system for cleaning and sterilizing, drying and deodorizing that is self contained and will not splash any fluid outside the toilet bowl during operation.

Apparatus for automatic washing, sanitizing and drying toilet seats


A method detects objects in a scene over time. Sets of time-aligned features are extracted from multiple signals representing a scene over time; each signal is acquired using a different modality. Each set of time-aligned features is arranged as a vector in a matrix to which a first transform is applied to produce a compressed matrix. A second transform is applied to the compressed matrix to extract spatio-temporal profiles of objects occurring in the scene.

We perceive the real world by integrating cues from multiple modalities of perception. Our mental representation is not just based on what we see, but also on the sounds we hear, what we smell, as well as other sensory inputs. For example, fireworks are perceived and remembered as bright flashes of lights, soon followed by loud explosions, concussion waves, and the smell of gun powder.
In contrast, conventional computer recognition systems only operate on signals acquired in a single input modality, e.g., either visual signals, or alternatively, audio signals. Patterns recognized separately in different domain are sometimes combined heuristically after processing. That presumes a prior understanding of how different signals are related, see Hershey et al., in "Using audio-visual synchrony to locate sounds," Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 12. MIT Press, Cambridge Mass. 1999, Slaney et al., in "Facesync: A linear operator for measuring synchronization of video facial images and audio tracks," Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 13, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass., 2000, Fisher et al., "Learning joint statistical models for audio-visual fusion and segregation," Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 13. MIT Press, Cambridge Mass., 2001.
It is desired to provide a system and method for detecting events represented by multiple input modes with a single processing method, without a prior understanding of how the events are related.

Detecting temporally related components of multi-modal signals

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


A charging apparatus may be provided that includes a first charger part and a second charger part. The first charger part to receive first power from a first power source and second power from a second power source. The first charger part to determine a type of the second power source and to provide a first output power based on the determined type of the second power source. The second charger part to receive the first output power from the first charger part and to provide power to a load and/or a battery.

1. Field
Embodiments may relate to a charger for alternative energy sources (or alternative power sources).
2. Background
There is a desire to extend battery life and/or to create new usage models by applying alternative energy (or alternative power). However, mobile devices (such as tablets and phones) may be very slow and limited in their use of alternative energy.


A superalloy component includes a substrate article of a superalloy, and a strengthenable, adherent coating on the substrate. The coating is preferably a nickel-base superalloy that is strengthened by the formation of gamma and gamma-prime phases. The coating is stronger than conventional MCrAlX coatings, and, therefore, more resistant to thermal fatigue. One operable coating has a composition, in weight percent, of about 7.5 percent cobalt, about 9 percent chromium, about 6 percent aluminum, about 1 percent titanium, about 1.5 percent molybdenum, about 4 percent tantalum, about 3 percent tungsten, about 3 percent rhenium, about 0.5 percent hafnium, about 0.3 percent yttrium, about 0.5 percent columbium, about 0.05 percent carbon, about 0.015 percent boron, about 0.015 percent zirconium, and balance nickel.

This invention relates to the protection of superalloys to be used at elevated temperatures, and, more particularly, to coatings applied to such superalloys.
One of the most demanding materials applications in current technology is found in the hot-stage components used in aircraft jet engines. The higher the operating temperature of an engine, the greater its efficiency, and the more power it can produce from each gallon of fuel. There is therefore an incentive to operate such engines at as high a temperature as possible. The primary limitation on the operating temperatures of a jet engine is the materials used in the hottest regions of the engine, such as gas turbine blades and vanes.
There has been much research to develop materials that can be used in high temperature engine applications. The currently most popular and successful of such materials are the nickel-base superalloys, which are alloys of nickel with additions of a number of other elements such as, for example, chromium, cobalt, aluminum, and tantalum. The compositions of these superalloys are carefully engineered to maintain their strength and other mechanical properties even during use at the high temperature of engine operation, which is in the neighborhood of 2000.degree. F. or more.
The materials used in the jet engines must operate at high temperatures, but additionally are subjected to oxidative and corrosive conditions. Oxidation of materials such as nickel and many of its alloys is rapid at engine operating temperatures. The engine components are also subjected to corrosive attack by chemicals in the burned fuel, as well as ingested agents such as salt that might be drawn into the engine as it operates near an ocean. The materials that have the best mechanical properties at high temperatures often are not as resistant to oxidation and corrosion as other materials, and there is an ongoing search for materials that offer a compromise between the best mechanical properties and the best oxidation and corrosion resistance.
High operating temperatures can also be achieved by other techniques not related directly to the alloy compositions used in the components. For example, control of grain structures and preparation of components as single crystals may result in improved properties. Cooling passages may be provided in the components, and cooling air passed through them to lower their actual operating temperature.
In another approach which is the primary focus of the present invention, a thin protective metallic coating is deposited upon the component. The coating protects the substrate from oxidation and corrosion damage The coating must be adherent to the superalloy substrate and must remain adherent through many cycles of heating to the operating temperature and then cooling back to a lower temperature when the engine is idling or turned off. Because materials of different compositions have different coefficients of thermal expansion, cycles of heating and cooling tend to cause the coating to crack and/or spall off, which results in the exposure of the superalloy substrate to the environment, and subsequent deterioration of the substrate.
To accommodate the strains imposed by the thermal cycling, the thin coatings have historically been made of materials that are relatively weak and ductile at operating temperatures. In theory, such a coating can plastically deform either in tension or compression to remain adherent to the surface of the substrate as the substrate is heated and cooled. Most coatings for nickel-base superalloys have been made of alloys of nickel, chromium, aluminum, and yttrium, which are termed NiCrAlY alloys, and nickel, cobalt, chromium, aluminum, and yttrium, which are termed NiCoCrAlY alloys. The term MCrAlX, where M represents nickel, cobalt, iron or some combination thereof and X represents yttrium, hafnium, tantalum, silicon or some combination thereof, is a widely used generic description for this type of alloy. While such alloys contain many of the same elements as the substrate materials, the proportions of those elements have been adjusted to enhance oxidation and corrosion resistance rather than mechanical properties. They therefore lack the strength to serve as the structural components themselves, but serve well as protective coatings.
However, recent engine operating experience has shown that such coatings may be too weak for some applications characterized by large amounts of cyclic plastic strain. Under such conditions a weak coating is vulnerable to wrinkling and cracking. The resulting cracks may extend through the coating to the substrate, and in those locations the substrate is subject to the same deterioration as if it had not been coated with the protective coating. Thus, even though the coatings do not necessarily need the strength to function as the primary load bearing structural members, they must be sufficiently strong to resist cracking or failure induced by thermal fatigue as the coated substrate is repeatedly heated and cooled. For this reason, as superalloy substrates of increased strength and operating temperatures are developed, it is necessary that the strength of coatings used on these substrates also be improved. At the present time, improved strengths of the coating materials are needed so that the coatings will not fail prematurely, long before the substrates would fail.
Therefore, there is an ongoing need for improved metallic coating materials that can protect the substrates against oxidation and corrosion damage for extended periods of cyclic loading. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.

Strengthened protective coatings for superalloys


This invention relates to novel crystalline lopinavir/surfactant adducts, methods for their preparation, therapeutic uses of those crystalline lopinavir/surfactant adducts, and pharmaceutical compositions containing them or made from them.

Lopinavir, (2S,3S,5S)-21-2,6-dimethylphenoxyacetyl)-amino-3-hydroxy-5-(2-(1-tetrahydropyrimid-2-onyl)-3-methylbutanoyl)amino-1,6-diphenylhexane, has the following chemical structure:
Lopinavir is known to have utility for the inhibition of HIV protease, the inhibition of HIV infection, and treatment of HIV infection.
Lopinavir and processes for its preparation are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,332, issued Jun. 22, 1999, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Crystalline forms of lopinavir and processes for their preparation are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,864,369, issued Mar. 8, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
Pharmaceutical compositions containing lopinavir or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,914,332, issued Jun. 22, 1999; U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,333, issued May 15, 2001; U.S. Pat. No. 7,141,593, issued Nov. 28, 2006; and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0084529, published Apr. 21, 2005, all of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.


A method for controlling a height of a cutting torch, includes loading a workpiece onto a numerical control machine, scanning the workpiece with a scanning device at a plurality of discrete points on an upper surface of the workpiece, measuring an X-, a Y-, and a Z-coordinate for each respective one of the scanned discrete points, where X and Y define a plane substantially parallel to the loaded workpiece and Z represents a distance between the upper surface and the scanning device at a respective discrete point, storing the measured XYZ coordinates from each of the scanned discrete points into a data set, mathematically fitting the stored data set to a smooth surface representative of the upper surface of the loaded workpiece, and cutting the workpiece along a cutting path programmed into the numerical control machine, while controlling the cutting torch height to correspond to the representative smooth surface.

Referring to FIG. 1, a Numerical Control machine, or NC machine, is a cutting machine with a numerical control unit 150 that guides a path of a cutting tool (e.g., a cutting torch 125), above a bed 140 on which a generally flat sheet or plate 160 rests. Generally, NC machines cut a series of shaped parts from the sheet/plate 160 with a vertical torch.
Cutting with an NC machine is controlled by an NC program which resides in NC control unit 150. This NC program is typically a user-readable list of coordinates and commands using the letters A-Z and the numbers 0-10. Additional characters usually include a period ("."), positive ("+"), and/or negative ("−") signs. Orthogonal planar axes of the NC machine are usually designated by the letters "X" and "Y," although in some NC languages the designation is implied by position in the control line of text, the first being "X" and the second number being "Y." Such a list of movements and actions is known as an NC program. NC machines are used extensively in manufacturing industries, and typically follow a version of Electronic Industry Standard 273 known as Word Address, or the equivalent European Standard known as ESSI, as defined by International Standards Organization as ISO 6582, and which uses only numbers 0-9, signs "+" and "−," and implicitly reads the X and Y axes through a position in an expression such as +100+200, where the X movement is 10 mm and the Y movement is 20 mm.
Some NC machines, such as in embodiments discussed below, are known as "profiling" machines, which cut shapes from a flat sheet or plate material with torches 125, which can include oxy-acetylene, plasma, laser, and/or water jet.
Torch 125 is generally moved vertically using a motorized Torch Height Control (THC) 130 mounted on a gantry 135. The THC 130 allows the NC machine to cut materials of various thicknesses by retracting and lowering torch 125 to the material 160 to be cut. Generally, while cutting shapes in two dimensions, it is important to control the height of torch 125 above material 160.
Machines such as that shown in FIG. 1 are typically engineered to be flat and horizontal. Bed 140 on which the plate/workpiece lies is also expected to be flat, although bed 140 tends to become damaged over time with use. The plate is considered substantially close to "flat" originally, and can be further flattened before cutting if required. The rails on which gantry 135 runs are also supposed to be substantially flat and horizontal. Thus, all surfaces are expected, in principle, to be near flat, horizontal, and parallel from the start of operations. In theory, it would thus be conceivable that a clean new machine with a flat bed should be capable of cutting a plate without using height control feedback. In reality, height control feedback can be avoided only for short distance cuts. The risk of the cutting head colliding with the plate is much too high in practice for large parts and long distance cuts.
When cutting parts with beveled edges, on the other hand, maintenance of the height of the head becomes more critical than when edges of a cut part are not beveled. A torch height 210 is illustrated in FIG. 2, for example. Laser torches are commonly used to cut thinner materials, in the thickness range 0-10 mm, for example, although some laser torches are used to cut steel up to 50 mm thick. Torch height 210, or the torch-to-plate cutting distance, is typically not more than a few millimeters when using a laser torch. Plasma torches, on the other hand, are commonly used to cut thicker materials, in the thickness range 0-50 mm, and sometimes as thick as 160 mm. The torch-to-plate distance with a plasma torch is typically 4-10 mm. Oxy-acetylene torches and water jets are commonly used to cut materials as thick as 400 mm, with torch-to-plate distances in the order of approximately 20 mm.
For systems where a vertical torch is used to cut a sheet or plate, it is important to set and maintain torch height 210 at an optimum point above the material, which can be done by a Torch Height Control (THC) system 220, together with a motor 200 (best seen in FIG. 2), which raises and drops a torch 205 as required.
Another use for THC system 220 is to avoid collisions with the plate material, or pieces cut from the material that may have moved or broken from it. At times, even the scrap plate skeleton itself can spring or bend and hit the torch 205 as it moves across the material. Height control thus can be used both to prevent damage to the torch, and to optimize the height of the torch, and therefore the quality of the cut.
The torch height 210 is maintained by a separate feedback loop independently of NC control (CNC) 260 and programmable logic controller (PLC) 270, which generates X axis 280 and Y axis 290. THC system 220 works on measuring torch height 210 during cutting of the plate or material. When plasma cutting, for example (as shown in FIG. 2), torch height 210—while cutting—is maintained by measuring a voltage of a plasma arc that is directly related to its arc length. The voltage is supplied by a power supply 230 to THC system 220, which in turn drives motor 200 to adjust the height of torch 205 to keep both the voltage and torch height 210 within desired bounds. This feedback system is used almost universally for plasma torches, and is independent of NC control (CNC) 260 during operation. Such technology is commonly known as Automatic Voltage Control (AVC), and removes a need for an independent height sensing device. AVC systems are convenient for plasma arc cutting because interference between sensitive electronics in a sensor used in a different measurement system, in the presence of a plasma arc, might be rendered ineffective. Other continuous height sensors include lasers, acoustic devices, capacitive ring sensors, and/or various plate riders that drag or roll over the plate surface.
The separate and independent height control loop between a sensor and the THC 220 allows NC control 260 to concentrate processing power on other functions that are of higher priority, which can be significant when processing power is limited. Movement of torch 205 to maintain torch height 210 is in principle a consequence only of a bent plate, or that the plate and machine are not both horizontal and perfectly parallel to each other. For this reason, torch height 210 is to be independent of the conventional NC program, which is only concerned with XY movement of a vertical torch 205, and not at all with movement in the vertical or Z direction. Thus, communication between NC control 260 and THC 220 is usually restricted to general functions such as "Raise," "Lower," "Height Control On," and "Height Control Off." In most known profiling machines, NC control 260 does not directly control the exact height, Z, during cutting.
Conventional height control systems tend to work adequately for simple vertical cutting (i.e., where a cutting torch is aligned perpendicular to the workpiece), though the height of the torch relative to the workpiece may vary within a considerable distance range. For plasma cutting, the variance may typically be +/−3 mm. For vertical torch cutting, the variance tends to only affects the quality of the cut, but will have little effect on the shape of the part that is cut.
Mechanical devices that physically contact the plate for cutting are generally more accurate than AVC devices, but mechanical devices are known to experience problems when their cutting heads run over previously cut paths, or fall into holes in the workpiece. Such difficulties can require very complex NC programs to avoid these obstacles to efficient cutting. Ball bearing mechanical feet, for example, can become clogged with dirt or metal from the surface of or waste from the workpiece.
The conventional relationship between an arc voltage (e.g., sensed arc voltage 240) for plasma cutting and the respective torch height is known to be only a general range, and not a specific value, because the AVC arc is unstable at the start of cutting, and even when the arc "stabilizes," the required voltage for the AVC must still be averaged because of continual variations in the arc for reasons other than variation of torch height 210. AVC is also known to be less useful for cutting small holes and tight corners, because the typical fluctuations in arc conditions can produce unfavorable torch height changes, thereby resulting in lower quality cuts.
One significant drawback to using conventional feedback THC systems, such as that shown in FIG. 2, is that when torch 205 traverses a hole in the material, torch 205 can "dive" (i.e., drop into the hole). The dive results from the THC system are unable to distinguish between the hole versus a simple variation in the height of the material of the workpiece. Conventional systems deal with such problems by turning off the height control in the NC program at various points in the programmed cutting path, for example, such as when torch 205 moves near previously cut holes or paths, or when cutting into scrap material of the workpiece which may have tilted or dropped. Torch dives can result in poor quality cutting, and also in damaging collisions between the torch and the workpiece material.
Torch dives are difficult to avoid because the cutting path of a part will invariably encounter a hole at least near the exit from the cutting path to drop the cut part from the workpiece material. Similarly, a void in the workpiece can also be encountered in the cutting path when a piece of adjacent scrap material may have already fallen out of the workpiece from an earlier cut. Accordingly, many NC programs further rely on generating complex machine paths to avoid traversing previously cut holes, or else the programs force full torch lifts after every part or hole is cut. Because torch lifts can slow the cutting process significantly, full torch lifts for each part or hole can add greatly to the time needed to cut and process a nest of parts, or to traverse a pattern of holes in one part. As the variations in plate shape are not known before cutting, such conventional slowing of processes is performed even when the workpiece material is, for all intentions, reasonably flat, and when THC variations are largely irrelevant to vertical cuts.
Turning now to FIG. 3, when cutting is not only vertical, some more complex machines allow a torch 305 (e.g., torches 125, 205 of FIGS. 1, 2, respectively) to be tilted under program control to create a beveled edge to a cut part. Multiple cutting passes on a workpiece, each at a different tilt angle to the torch, as shown in FIG. 4, can create multiple bevels to an edge of the part. Beveling is of great commercial interest because most cut materials have to be subsequently welded to other parts, which in the art is typically a slow, difficult, messy, and expensive manual process. The welding process though, can be simplified and made more efficient by first performing the beveling operations on the part during the cutting process, as best illustrated in FIG. 4.
In edge beveling operations, however, the greatest problems are known to occur with independent THC systems that are based on continual feedback from height sensors while cutting. Referring back to FIG. 3, the present inventor has discovered that conventional height control systems move the torch only in a vertical direction 300, in order to maintain an arc length 310, rather than along the axis 340 of torch 305. Therefore, any movement in the vertical direction 300 without concurrent associated plate/workpiece movement will change a desired intersection point 320 for cutting to a different, and incorrect, point 330 on the plate surface (i.e., at intersection point 320). When such a shift occurs, the angle of torch 305 will still be correct, but the position of the cut on the plate/workpiece will be incorrect. As an example, at 45 degrees of inclination to torch 305, a vertical displacement of 1 mm in direction 300 (to maintain arc length 310) will result in a horizontal displacement of 1 mm on the workpiece between points 320 and 330.
Accordingly, conventional beveling machines experience unplanned vertical movement of the torch, i.e., other than for a variation of torch-to-plate distance 210 (see FIG. 2), resulting in incorrect cuts of the outline of respective parts. For example, in AVC systems, the arc length/voltage 310, which does roughly vary with torch height, is not an accurate absolute measure of torch height. Also, the arc length/voltage 310 is affected by many other factors, including the absence of previously removed material, the proximity to previous cuts, or other factors related to normal variation arc conditions that are unrelated to torch height. These factors are not considered to cause problems for vertical cutting applications, but will certainly lead to significant accuracy problems in bevel cutting, as point 330 is not the desired point 320.
Referring again to FIG. 4, bevel cutting for weld preparation can involve one, two, three, or more passes of the torch. An example of three-pass beveling is shown represented by an under cut 400, a center cut 410, and a top cut 420, which all may be performed in this respective order. A "K"-shaped bevel preparation is shown, and can be used for subsequent welding of the cut part from plate. For the cut part to be usable, the tolerance of dimensions 430, 440, and 450 should be within +/−1 mm. If, however, the THC varies within the typical +/−3 mm, as discussed above, such tolerances are impossible to achieve.
Because of such difficulties in achieving desired dimension tolerances for beveled parts, the use of NC flame, waterjet, and plasma machines for preparation of weld-ready parts has been historically unacceptable. These types of machines thus represent less than 1% of all machines sold. As the present inventor has discovered, plasma machines being used for multi-pass weld preparation are rare, and even more rarely work satisfactorily, even for a single-pass beveling operation. Attempts with such machines to do any cutting other than vertical are often abandoned. The largest manufacturers of such machines have attempted to produce multi-pass bevel machines for many years, but most have abandoned AVC based systems as unworkable.
As discussed above, for theoretically flat machine beds and plates, short cuts can be reasonably performed without requiring height control feedback. However, in practice, limiting the cuts to only short distances and/or small workpieces is not practical or economically feasible.
An alternative approach that has been attempted is the measurement of the profile of the plate after it is loaded, but before it is cut. The Messer Greisham company, for example, is known to have implemented a concept of prior measurement of particular XYZ points on a workpiece before cutting the workpiece. In the Messer Greisham approach, commands are inserted in the NC program to move the cutting head of the torch to predetermined points along an exact path to be cut, but prior to the actual cutting itself. The voltage is measured at each of particular XY points on the workpiece, and stored in the memory of the NC control 150 for each measured XY point. When the machine again reaches these same XY points during cutting, the previously measured AVC voltage is recalled in the NC program to approximate a height value from the recalled voltage value. These XY points are chosen by the NC programmer during creation of the NC program.
According to the Messer Greisham approach, the XY points must be chosen by the creator of the NC program prior to cutting, and then embedded in the NC program. These points must then be explicitly recalled during cutting, and at the same respective locations. The approach thus requires skilled judgment by the programmer on general principles, without prior knowledge of the shape of the plate workpiece. In a multi-pass situation, where the paths are near parallel but slightly different, the required skill of the programmer increases substantially. A typical programmer is not generally considered capable of programming the NC machine to perform within required tolerances. The coding of the NC program must also be completed before nesting occurs, which factor is a significant impediment to the nesting process itself. Substantial changes must be made to the NC control to accommodate geometric transformations of individual bevels as part of the program. The approach uses samples of the arc voltage measured at specific points, which, as noted above, is not a direct measure of torch height.
While the Messer Greisham approach can be better than the dynamic feedback approach in beveling operations, because the Z height is theoretically "correct" at the start of each machine movement, a problem still occurs where the approach of the torch is based on the assumption that Z varies linearly between the points that are actually measured in advance of the cutting operation. As discussed above, many factors can drastically reduce the feasibility of such an assumption. When a workpiece plate is substantially flat within desired tolerances, and the flatness is not significantly altered during the cutting process, the Messer Greisham assumption can be sufficient. However, the present inventor has discovered that, in practice, when long or curved cuts are made, the flatness and parallelism of the respective plate, bed, and machine will vary on the order of 10 mm, and over a run of only a few meters. Accordingly, the Messer Greisham approach can create dangerous risks to the machine parts, since distance between the workpiece and the cutting head, for example, is not a straight line over the entire cutting, thereby resulting in a significant risk of a collision between plate and torch.
The Messer Greisham approach further requires the use of special codes in the NC program, which makes the programming nonstandard, thereby requiring additional extensions to most standard NC languages, especially to the ESSI code discussed above, as well as additional costs and resources to implement the approach effectively. The Messer Greisham approach also does not appear to use a directly programmable Z axis (see element 745 in FIG. 7, discussed further below), but instead simply utilizes the arc voltage that was previously recorded from the NC program (see element 260, FIG. 2) to a traditional THC (see element 220, FIG. 2). The Messer Greisham approach uses no element of prediction; it instead measures and remembers specific voltages around the path to be cut.

Methods and systems for predictive torch height control


The organic EL display device includes at least a transparent electrode, an organic EL layer, and a non-transparent electrode in this order and further includes a black insulating layer, and the non-transparent electrode has a reflectance of 25%±20%.

An organic EL display device has been attracting attention as a next-generation flat panel display. The organic EL display device is a self-luminous display device utilizing electroluminescence emitted from an organic compound, so that the angle of visibility can be made wide, high speed response can be attained, and an image with high contrast can be displayed. Furthermore, since the organic EL display device can be reduced in thickness and weight and can be flexible, in recent years, research and development have been actively conducted.
The organic EL display device can be categorized according to a light-emitting mechanism into a bottom-emission type that emits light toward a substrate and a top-emission type that emits light toward a side opposite to the substrate. In either type, it is required to efficiently extract light emitted in an organic EL (Electro Luminescence) layer. As an organic EL element of the top-emission type, an organic EL element whose anode electrode is made of a metal having a high reflectance has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Literature 1).
The organic EL display device has an insulating layer in order to separate pixels from each other. As the organic EL display device having the insulating layer, for example, there has been proposed a display device which includes a first electrode formed on a substrate, an insulating layer formed on the first electrode so as to partially expose the first electrode, and a second electrode provided to face the first electrode and in which the insulating layer is formed of a positive photosensitive polyimide (see, for example, Patent Literature 2).


Rinsing or sealing solutions based on cobalt are described for barrier films such as anodic coatings, phosphate coatings, or “black oxide” coatings. The treated films contain a trivalent or tetravalent cobalt/valence stabilizer complex. The rinsing or sealing bath may also contain an optional preparative agent or an optional solubility control agent. The oxidized cobalt is present in the coating in a “sparingly soluble” form. The valence stabilizers can be either inorganic or organic in nature. Cobalt/valence stabilizer combinations are chosen based on the well-founded principles of cobalt coordination chemistry. A number of cobalt/valence stabilizer combinations that match the performance of conventional hexavalent chromium systems are presented.

This invention relates generally to compositions and methods for the formation of protective, corrosion-inhibiting rinses and seals for use to impart additional corrosion resistance to structural materials without the use of chromium in the hexavalent oxidation state. More particularly, this invention relates to non-toxic, corrosion-protective rinses and seals for metal phosphating, anodizing, and "black oxiding" processes based on trivalent (or tetravalent) cobalt and methods of making and using the same.
Metals like aluminum, zinc, titanium, iron, cadmium, tin, indium, manganese, beryllium, magnesium, niobium, tantalum, zirconium, lead, cobalt, copper, and silver, their alloys, or items plated with these metals, require protection from corrosion due to their low oxidation-reduction (redox) potentials or ease of oxide formation. These metal alloys have many uses that range from architectural adornments to protective coatings themselves to automotive, structural aerospace, and electronic components, to name a few. The unalloyed metals typically form an outer layer of natural oxide: a "passive film" that serves to protect them and reduce their overall rate of corrosion. However, the corrosion protection offered by the naturally formed oxide layer on certain alloys of these metals is not complete and corrosion will eventually occur unless some form of additional corrosion protection is used. Thus, for example, steels are typically "phosphated" to provide an impermeable coating that not only resists corrosive attack, but also provides a paint base. Additionally, architectural and structural aluminum are frequently "anodized" to form an impermeable oxide film for the same reasons.
Inhibiting the initiation, growth, and extent of corrosion is a significant part of component and systems design for the successful long-term use of metal objects. Uniform physical performance and safety margins of a part, a component, or an entire system can be compromised by corrosion.
One method to enhance the corrosion resistance of these alloys is through the use of a chemically- or electrolytically-generated coating such as an anodized coating (typically on aluminum), a phosphate coating (typically on electrogalvanized or bare steel), or a black oxide coating (for high strength bearing and tool steels). The metal is exposed to a compound that chemically alters the surface (in phosphating and black oxiding) or an electric current (in anodizing) and forms a coating that provides some corrosion resistance by forming a barrier film. The morphology and possibly the chemistry of the anodic coating or phosphate coating can allow for the formation of a strong bond with subsequently-applied paint systems. An anodic coating is usually applied via immersion in an electrolytic cell. A phosphating or black oxide solution may be applied by immersion, by spray, or by manual means.
These coatings frequently exhibit "flaws" such as pores, pinholes, or thin portions in the coating after formation and do not contain any inherent means to "repair" these coating breaches. The application of a second solution is necessary to fill the pores in the coating and deposit compounds that will act as long-term corrosion protective species. These "second solutions" are termed "rinses" or "seals" in the corrosion literature. The term "rinse" is typically used for the second solution applied to phosphating and black oxide coatings, whereas the term "seal" usually refers to the second solution applied to anodic coatings. These rinses and seals are typically applied via spray techniques, but immersion, fogging, and wiping are also accepted practices.
Hexavalent chromium has traditionally been the active corrosion-inhibiting agent used in rinses and seals for the formation of protective coatings for iron, electrogalvanized iron, aluminum, zinc, magnesium, titanium, cadmium, tin, indium, manganese, and their alloys. Niobium, tantalum, zirconium, beryllium, lead, cobalt, copper, and silver may also be treated with hexavalent chromium rinses and seals for special applications. The three main coating processes that use these rinses and seals are 1) the phosphating process for steel and galvanized steel products, 2) the anodization process for a host of structural metals, and 3) the black oxide process for high-strength steel and iron used for bearing materials. Table 1 illustrates the processes that typically utilize a final chrome "rinse" or "seal" to impart additional corrosion protection to a given substrate material.
TABLE 1Current Rinse and Seal Processes Using Hexavalent ChromiumComments/Government/ProcessExamplesSubstrate MetalsASTM/Mil SpecsRinses for zincUsed as a paint baseZinc-coated steel,MIL-P-50002phosphating onon all automotivezinc, or bare steelDoD-P-16232steel, steel products,bodies, also for someare usual substrates.MIL-HDBK-205and nonferrouscoil and sheet stock.Also for aluminum,SAE-AMS2481alloysUsed as a lubricatingmagnesium, copper,QQ-P-416layer on tooling dies.titanium, cadmium,and silver in lesscommonapplications.Seals for anodizedUsed extensively forAluminum andMIL-A-8625aluminum includingarchitectural andaluminum alloysSAE-AMS2470sulfuric, chromic,decorativeASTM B580oxalic, boric,applications,ASTM D1730sulfonated organicadhesive bonding,AA46-78acids, citric, andsiding, etc. Alsophosphoric acidused as a paint base.anodizingRinses for ironUsed as a paint baseSteel and iron alloysTT-C-490phosphating on bareon coil coatings forMIL-HDBK-205steelsgeneral applianceSAE-AMS2481and sidingQQ-P-416applications.Different from Znand Mn phosphating.Rinses forUsed solely as a solidMostly bare steel.MIL-P-50002manganeselubricant, not as aCan also be used onDoD-P-16232phosphating on steelpaint base. Usedhigh-strength copperMIL-HDBK-205and steel alloys, alsoextensively onalloys.SAE-AMS2481on nonferrous alloysbearing materials.Rinses for "blackUsed solely as a solidMostly bare steel.MIL-C-13924oxide" and otherlubricant, not as aCan also be used onMIL-C-46110oxide lubricatingpaint base. Usedhigh-Strength copperSAE-AMS2485layersextensively onalloys.bearing materials.Seals for anodizedUsed as a paint andMagnesium andMIL-M-45202magnesiumadhesive base.magnesium alloysASTM D1732including sulfuric,SAE-AMS2475chromic, oxalic,MIL-C-13335boric, sulfonatedorganic acids, citric,and phosphoric acidanodizingSeals for anodizedUsed as a paint andTitanium andSAE-AS4194titanium includingadhesive base.titanium alloysSAE AMS-2488sulfuric, chromic,oxalic, boric, citric,hydrofluoric, andphosphoric acidanodizingSeals for anodizedUsed as a paint andZinc and zinc alloysMIL-A-81801zinc includingadhesive base.sulfuric, chromic,oxalic, boric,sulfonated organicacids, citric, andphosphoric acidanodizingSeals for anodizedUsed as a paint andIron, steel, and steelQQ-P-35steel includingadhesive base.alloyssulfuric, chromic,oxalic, boric, andphosphoric acidanodizingSeals for anodizedUsed for a number ofCopper, cadmium,QQ-P-416copper, cadmium,applications,silver, tantalum,silver, tantalum,principally as a paintniobium, zirconium,lead, cobalt,and adhesive base.tin, indium,niobium, zirconium,For example,manganese and theirtin, indium, andniobium andalloysmanganesetantalum capacitors,including sulfuric,cadmium plate, silverchromic, oxalic,solder, and zirconiumboric, sulfonatedfor nuclearorganic acids, citric,applications.and phosphoric acidanodizing
As shown in Table 1 above, there are three "generic" phosphating processes for steel and steel alloys—zinc, manganese, and iron phosphating. Differences in the coating solutions result in different chemistries and physical attributes in the formed coatings. For example, zinc phosphating is used primarily on galvanized steel sheet, and results in an ideal surface morphology for paint adhesion if the crystals are small in size, and as a solid lubricant for larger size crystals. Manganese phosphating, however, results in a hard, lubricious coating that has no use as a paint base, but exhibits excellent characteristics as a solid lubricant. Manganese phosphating coatings are rarely subjected to a post-chrome rinse, because the corrosion resistance of these coatings is of lesser concern. Iron phosphating is also used as a paint and adhesive base, and always receives post-treatments for corrosion protection.
Similar differences are also noted in anodizing processes. Anodizing processes involve the application of an electric potential under a variety of acidic conditions to the substrate to be coated. Sulfuric acid is the conventional anodizing acid used to form hard oxide films on aluminum, although other anodization solutions have specialized applications. For example, phosphoric acid may be used for adhesive bonding applications on aluminum. Oxalic acid anodization results in a harder, denser coating with higher corrosion resistance than sulfuric acid anodization and is used more often in Europe. Boric acid anodization is used frequently for electronic capacitors although citric and tartaric acid anodization can be used for the same application. Anodization with sulfonated organic acids (such as sulfosalicylic or sulfophthalic acids) is used to impart color during the anodization process. Chromic acid anodization is used on parts with complex shapes where final sealing or rinsing is not possible. Other acids, including hydrofluoric acid, have been used for special applications or in proprietary formulations. Those skilled in the anodization art know that there exist a wide variety of anodizing processes due to the multitude of substrate metals, anodizing acids, applied voltages, and final applications.
Finally, "black oxide" coatings are applied to high strength steels and copper-containing alloys to impart a lubricious coating. The difference between "black oxide" coatings and other lubricious coating processes (such as manganese phosphating) is that "black oxide" coatings are applied under caustic, elevated temperature conditions. For example, a concentrated sodium hydroxide solution is raised to its boiling point and the substrate metal is then immersed in this solution. This results in the formation of a lubricious coating of magnetite/ferrite on the surface of steel alloys.
Other coating processes that result in coatings with no inherent self-healing characteristics have also been enhanced through the use of hexavalent chromium rinses and seals. Carbonate coatings on metals such as zinc, iron, magnesium, and especially copper have been described in the early literature as providing some degree of corrosion protection. These coatings can be further enhanced through the use of hexavalent chromium rinses to deposit inhibiting compounds to self-heal coating breaches. Other oxide, phosphate, oxalate, silicate, aluminate, borate or polymeric coatings, or combinations thereof, can also be enhanced via hexavalent chromium rinses and seals.
For each of these three generic coating processes (phosphating, anodizing, and black oxiding), a second, subsequent chemical treatment is often applied. The nature of this second treatment is dependent upon the desired final characteristics of the metal piece. For phosphating and black oxiding processes, this second treatment is usually a rinse of hexavalent chromium, to impart additional corrosion protection to the coating. For anodizing processes, the second treatment can impart a number of useful attributes to the work piece. This second "sealing" process for anodized coatings can include: 1) pure boiling water (to plug the pores with a hydrated alumina composition); 2) silicates (to plug the pores with a silicate composition); 3) dyes or metal-dye complexes (to impart color to the anodic coating); 4) metal salts followed by cathodic reduction (to color the coating via the formation of metals or metal sulfides in the pores); 5) lubricating additives such as molybdenum disulfide or dispersions of polytetrafluoroethylene (to fill the pores with a lubricious additive); and 6) hexavalent chromium seals to fill the pores with chromate species. It is noteworthy that the only one of these six generic sealing processes that results in a coating with self-healing characteristics is the hexavalent chromium seals. The other sealing processes for anodic coatings may temporarily increase the corrosion resistance of the coating by plugging the pores in the oxide coating (e.g., with hydrated alumina or silicate), but the coating does not retain any corrosion-inhibitive species.
The various coating processes to which the art described in this invention is applicable are shown in Table 1 above. The frequent use of hexavalent chrome to "rinse" or "seal" the coating (phosphate, anodic, or black oxide) formed in the first unit operation of the process, to impart additional corrosion resistance, connects them. These solutions are usually simple formulations consisting of nothing more than dissolved chromium trioxide, chromate, or dichromate. These formulations are usually applied by spraying, although immersion, fogging, or even wiping may also be used.
Sometimes these hexavalent chromium rinse or sealing formulations will contain other constituents. Some formulations include minor concentrations of fluorides. These fluorides act to "etch back" the coating formed in the first unit operation (e.g., phosphate, anodic, or black oxide), thus further facilitating the deposition of corrosion-inhibiting species. Rinsing solutions for phosphate solutions are frequently observed to include phosphoric acid in addition to hexavalent chromium in order to reduce staining of the phosphate coating by the hexavalent chromium. These hexavalent chromium rinse or sealing solutions can also contain other constituents, such as ferricyanides or molybdates. The presence of these other constituents is significant in light of the chemistry developed and presented in this invention.
Significant efforts have been made to replace chromium with other metals for corrosion-inhibiting applications due to toxicity, environmental, and regulatory concerns. Cobalt is one non-toxic, non-regulated metal that has been considered as a chromium replacement. Cobalt (like chromium) exhibits more than one oxidation state (Co+2 and Co+3). In addition, the oxidation-reduction potential of the Co+3-Co+2 couple is comparable to the Cr+6-Cr+3 couple. For example, in acid solution:Co+3+eCo+2+1.92 VCr+6+3eCr+3+1.36 VAccordingly, a number of processes have been reported in the literature, which make use of cobalt in rinsing or sealing bath solutions, generally to provide coloring of the coated alloys. However, the coatings formed by these processes provide only limited corrosion protection and do not approach the benefit derived from the use of hexavalent chromium. None of the prior art recognizes the importance of trivalent (or tetravalent) cobalt for corrosion protection, nor the need to "valence stabilize" trivalent cobalt to ensure its long-term stability. The use of cobalt in the prior art is primarily as a coloring agent for anodic coatings, although there is some reference to its use as a rinse for phosphate coatings. The use of cobalt in rinses for black oxide coatings has heretofore been unrecognized.
The use of film-forming substances, such as polymers, silicates, sol-gel, etc., which have no inherent oxidizing character in sealing or rinsing coating solutions, has been described in the literature. The film formers may enhance short-term corrosion resistance by functioning as a barrier layer. Barrier layers lacking an active corrosion inhibitor have been demonstrated to be capable of inhibiting corrosion as long as the barrier is not breached, as by a scratch or other flaw. Film formers can actually enhance corrosion on a surface after failure due to the well known effects of crevice corrosion.
1) Rinses for Phosphate Coatings
U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,445 to Tuttle, Jr., et al. describes the use of a 175° F. post-treatment for phosphate coatings that contains cobalt, a tin (II) compound [stannous], and tartaric acid. Given the proper pH conditions, it may be possible to form a stannate-stabilized cobalt complex from this solution. However, no conditions are described that would result in oxidation of the cobalt to the trivalent or tetravalent oxidation state. Stannous compounds are mild reducing agents so it is extremely unlikely that Co+3 or Co+4 could be formed from these solutions in the absence of any oxidizing species.
European Patent No. EP 0 486 778 B1 to McMillen, et al. describes the use of rinsing solutions that contain an amino compound (amino acid or amino alcohol) and a transition metal compound. However, the preferred group IIIB and IVB transition metal and rare earth metal compounds described are zirconium, titanium, hafnium, cerium, and mixtures thereof.
2) Seals for Anodic Coatings
Cobalt has primarily been described as a coloring agent for anodized coatings, under a variety of different processing conditions. These include:
a) Electrolysis in the absence of valence stabilizer compounds once an anodic coating is formed. Coloring is frequently accomplished by immersing the work piece into a separate, cobalt-containing solution and then electrolyzing. However, these solutions typically do not contain materials that can function as valence stabilizers, nor are subsequent treatments with compounds that can function as valence stabilizers described. Additionally, electrolysis is performed under conditions that reduce the cobalt-to-cobalt metal, cobalt-containing alloys, or reduced cobalt compounds such as sulfides. This process involves connecting the anodized work piece to the electrolytic cell so that it functions as a cathode to reduce the cobalt. An example of this is described in European Patent No. EP 0 368 470 B1 to Fern, et al. A "pore-filling"metal (cobalt is a described example) is deposited into the pores using an a.c. or modified a.c. deposition. Long-term corrosion resistance will be decreased due to the formation of galvanic couples between the anodized substrate metal and the pore-filling metal, while a temporary increase in corrosion resistance may be expected due to the filling of the pores. The use of trivalent or tetravalent cobalt to provide long-term corrosion protection is not described in these patents.
b) Use of cobalt-dye complexes to color anodic coatings has been used since the 1950s with metal complexes of azo dyes, sulfonic acids, amino acids, aromatic carboxylic acids, and other organic compounds. Many of these compounds can be used as "valence stabilizers" for trivalent cobalt. The oxidation state of the cobalt in the described coloring materials is always divalent. Divalent cobalt provides no redox-based corrosion-inhibiting protection. The use of cobalt in corrosion-inhibiting seals for anodic coatings has been described less often than for coloring. None of these compositions describe the use of trivalent (or tetravalent) cobalt as the inhibitor species, nor the use of "valence stabilizers" to provide long-term corrosion-resistance.
Accordingly, the need remains for improved rinses and seals which have an effectiveness, ease of application, and performance comparable to coatings formed with hexavalent chromium and which do so without the use of toxic or currently regulated materials.

Non-toxic corrosion-protection rinses and seals based on cobalt


Device, system, and method of storage controller simulating data mirroring. For example, an apparatus for simulating data mirroring includes: a storage controller to control a primary storage unit that has data stored therein, wherein the storage controller is able to simulate a process of mirroring data stored in the primary storage unit in response to a mirroring simulation command.

In some computing systems, a host computer utilizes a storage controller in order to access data stored in storage units. For example, the storage controller receives from the host computer requests to read or write data. The storage controller reads or writes the data, respectively, to or from one or more of the storage units. Optionally, the storage controller operates in accordance with data management schemes or structures (e.g., Redundant Arrays of Independent Discs (RAID)), for example, to divide and/or replicate data among multiple hard disk drives, to increase data reliability, or to increase Input/Output (I/O) performance.
An administrator of the computing system may consider replicating data among multiple storage units of the computing system, for example, using a data mirroring process, which replicates a content of a first disk drive onto a second disk drive, or a content from a first storage controller onto a second storage controller. Such a data mirroring process may result in changes in the overall performance of the storage controller and/or the computing system, for example, changes in latency, changes in error rates, or the like. Unfortunately, the system administrator may not be able to fully or successfully estimate in advance the impact of performing a data mirroring process in the computing system.

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention includes a bridge connector with one or more semiconductor layers in a bridge connector shape. The shape has one or more edges, one or more bridge connector contacts on a surface of the shape, and one or more bridge connectors. The bridge connectors run through one or more of the semiconductor layers and connect two or more of the bridge connector contacts. The bridge connector contacts are with a tolerance distance from one of the edges. In some embodiments the bridge connector is a central bridge connector that connects two or more chips disposed on the substrate of a multi-chip module (MCM). The chips have chip contacts that are on an interior corner of the chip. The interior corners face one another. The central bridge connector overlaps the interior corners so that each of one or more of the bridge contacts is in electrical contact with each of one or more of the chip contacts. In some embodiments, overlap is minimized to permit more access to the surface of the chips. Arrays of MCMs and methods of making bridge connects are disclosed. Bridge connector shapes include: rectangular, window pane, plus-shaped, circular shaped, and polygonal-shaped.

The present invention relates to interconnection of devices including connections for power, control, and/or communication between those devices. More specifically, the invention relates to interconnections between multiple integrated circuit devices, e.g. semiconductor chips (chips).
With circuitry scaling to smaller and smaller dimensions, interconnections between and among chip circuitry is becoming more and more limiting on system manufacturing and performance.
Examples of current technologies interconnecting semiconductor chips (chips) include connections through a mother board (e.g. flex electrical connectors, optical interconnects, etc. on a motherboard); interposer layers (including silicon-based interposers, optical interposers, organic based interposer layers, etc.); silicon-bridged multi-interposer systems; etc.
While mother board connections have been used a long time, these connections face limitations as pitch between chip connections decreases and the density (number of interconnects between chips) increases. Also, bandwidth limitations can make these interconnections unsuitable for high data rate transmissions between chips.
Optical connections can handle high bandwidths but reduce efficiency due to the conversions between electrical and optical signals. Optical components also add complexity to the manufacturing of devices requiring communication between multiple chips.
Interposers can enable high densities of connections and accommodate higher bandwidth requirements for short connections, but these advantages diminish as the number of connections within the interposer increase.
Silicon-bridge technology, enabled by 2.5D and 3D integration on a substrate/wafer, can enable high-bandwidth communication between chips via a bridge. However, this technology introduces package complexity and substrate processing.
As there are increases in the number of chip contacts and contact pitch, chips on a module, and interconnections among those chips, particularly for smaller chip sizes with high bandwidth requirements, there is a need for interconnection designs that maximize the number of connections per surface area and minimize the distance between inter-chip connections and the overlap area of the connector over the chip surface.


A uniprocessing computer system is provided with an original CPU and an upgrade socket for receiving an additional processor that need not be of a single predetermined type. On system RESET, the original CPU determines if an upgrade processor is resident in the upgrade socket and, if so, what kind of upgrade processor is present. Each upgrade processor is equipped with a programmed data word for identifying the upgrade type and its features. The system includes a mechanism for communicating this upgrade information from the upgrade processor to the original CPU. The processors cooperatively configure the system properly according to the identity and features of the upgrade processor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of computer processing systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to the field of upgrading computer systems, particularly those employing microprocessors.
2. Art Background
Microprocessor based computer systems frequently employ printed circuit boards (PCBs) containing connectors or sockets which physically hold the microprocessor integrated circuit and provide electrical connections between the microprocessor and the remainder of the computer system via wirings etched in the PCB. These computer systems frequently rely on a single microprocessor to carry out all processing operations for the computer system. One drawback of the single microprocessor computer system is that the single processor effectively creates a bottleneck in the system thus limiting the overall speed and power of the computer.
As computer users require greater processing capabilities, the ability to upgrade to a faster microprocessor or to add additional functions or features becomes more important. One solution that computer developers have embarked upon to increase the performance of computer systems is to provide for the sharing of processing duties. It is now possible to add a math coprocessor chip to many computer systems which takes on many of the mathematical tasks for the central processing unit (CPU). Other enhancements that have been developed are graphics processors which handle the processing of graphical information to free the CPU to perform other tasks. These types of upgrades work in conjunction with and at the behest of the single CPU.
Other enhancements for computer systems include the use of two or more central processing units in what is known as a multiprocessing environment. When multiple processing units are implemented, they divide the processing work up to increase the overall performance of the computer system. Conventional multiprocessing systems are much more expensive than uniprocessing systems because the hardware to support multiple processors can be very complicated and the protocols for implementing multiprocessing are complex.
Another advance in making computer systems more powerful has been to design systems which can be readily upgraded simply by the addition of the various coprocessor chips described above. This will usually entail leaving on the PCB of the computer system one or several empty sockets which are coupled to the already present CPU (referred to as the computer system's original equipment manufacture (OEM) CPU). Each of the empty sockets is designed for a dedicated type of processor and the OEM CPU is equipped for dealing with each particular associated chip socket. For example, one socket might be dedicated for the optional addition of a math coprocessor while another socket might be for the use of a graphics coprocessor. Each of these processors may come from a different source than the computer system with the OEM CPU.
The present computer systems with dedicated expansion sockets leave many things to be desired. The nature and type of upgrade supported by a system must be preconceived at the time of system manufacturing. Many pins from the central processing unit are required for accommodating a plurality of different types of upgrade processors. The insertion of a math coprocessor chip into a socket dedicated for the use of a graphical coprocessor will not work. Likewise, a math coprocessor chip may not be added to the expansion socket for a graphics coprocessor. Further, to date no provision has been made for the creation of a multiprocessing system merely by the addition of a new processor without the addition of other supporting hardware.
One method of upgrading a computer system to use a more advanced CPU is described in co-pending U.S. patent application, "Method and Apparatus for Upgrading a Computer Processing System," Ser. No. 07/687,222 (now abandoned), filed Apr. 18, 1991 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. That application discloses providing a dedicated upgrade socket solely for receiving an upgrade CPU. When the upgrade CPU is present, a signal is propagated from the upgrade socket to the original CPU indicating "upgrade present". The original CPU then shuts itself down and the upgrade CPU operates the computer system as a single processor system.
The reason the upgrade sockets have had to be dedicated to the various types of upgrade processors is that there has been no way for the CPU to determine what kind of processor has been inserted into an adjacent upgrade socket. It would be desirable, and is therefore an object of the present invention, to provide flexibility in the use of upgrade processors in upgrade sockets found on newly designed computer PCBs.

Computer system having a central processing unit responsive to the identity of an upgrade processor


A chest tube insertion device includes a semi-rigid curvilinear sheath body having a distal end and a proximal end, a lumen defined axially through the sheath body from the distal end to the proximal end, the lumen including a distal end opening at the distal end and a proximal end opening at the proximal end, and a tapered pneumostatic tube clamp at the distal end of the sheath body, the tube clamp including one or more clamp tabs angled radially inward toward the distal end opening. The chest tube insertion device is supported during insertion into the chest cavity by a stylet. The chest tube insertion device is also removable from a chest tube when a free end of the chest tube is positioned in the chest cavity of a patient.

The present disclosure relates generally to surgical devices and methods and more particularly to devices and methods of introduction of a chest tube into the chest cavity of a patient.
The use of thoracotomy tubes or chest tubes in clinical medicine dates back to the World War II era. Chest tubes are inserted into the chest cavity to evacuate blood, fluid, air, or infectious material. The chest tube ideally is located in the pleural space defined as the space between the outer lining of the lung (visceral pleura) and the inner lining of the chest wall (parietal pleura). This space is normally a potential space as the area is effectively under vacuum. Air and fluid can be introduced into this space by way of trauma, infection, cancer, and inflammatory conditions among others. Once a tube is appropriately inserted, the tube is attached to a vacuum source and the material is evacuated. This is clinically important to avoid further damage to the lung and allow the lung to re-inflate for proper functioning.
Classically the technique used to insert large bore chest tubes includes the following steps: first, sterile cleaning and draping to the surgical site; second, administering local anesthesia; third, creating an incision at a lateral or superior chest site; fourth, dissecting down through the subcutaneous fat and tissues to reach the rib at the target entry point; fifth, puncturing the intercostal fascia, muscle, and finally the parietal pleura with a large curved hemostat clamp having a blunt tip; sixth, forcibly spreading the clamp jaws to stretch the tissues and create a hole large enough for the tube to pass; seventh, inserting the operator's finger to ensure the opening is proper, the lung is not scarred to the chest wall, and there is adequate space for the tube; eighth, blindly inserting the tube, either with the large clamp initially guiding the tube through the opening, or just advancing the tube itself; and ninth, suturing the tube in place and hooking up to suction.
There are numerous problems with the standard technique and instruments used for insertion of a chest tube into the chest cavity. The intercostal space between the ribs varies greatly from patient to patient, but is often only a small or tight space. There are times that the operator's index finger will hardly fit through the intercostal space as described in the standard technique. Because of the limited space and possible thick adipose tissue under the skin, the guidance of the chest tube can be a challenge.
Generally, the most superior part of the pleural space, or apex, is the desired location for the tip of the tube if there is a pneumothorax. If blood or fluid is to be evacuated, then the base of the pleural space is the best target. Many studies have documented a high complication rate with chest tube placement. The complications vary from malposition of the tube in a fissure to perforation of the heart. The operator has very little control of the tube once it passes between the ribs of the patient. Attempts at turning the tube are often ineffective, and the operator, as a result of the standard procedure, is unaware in which direction the tube is directed. If a chest tube is found to be malfunctioning after insertion, or is malpositioned on a post-procedure chest x-ray, a new tube must be placed via a new insertion site. Current standard of care does not allow for repositioning of an existing chest tube secondary to high risk of infection.
What is needed then are improvements in chest tube insertion devices and methods for surgical procedures.


A recording unit according to the present invention includes a holding member, a recording element held on the holding member, an ink supply section held on the holding member, and a guiding portion provided in the holding member. The guiding portion guides a recording medium so as to prevent the recording medium from contacting the recording element. An image recording apparatus according to the present invention includes a conveying mechanism having a conveying member on which a recording medium is placed for conveyance, a recording unit, and a fixing member which fixes the recording unit. A guiding portion of the recording unit guides the recording medium to the conveying member so as to prevent the recording medium from contacting the recording element. The guiding portion also maintains a constant gap between the recording medium and the recording element to achieve high-quality image recording.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording unit and an image recording apparatus which spouts ink to record images.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently prevailing image recording apparatuses, for example, ink jet printers, commonly have a conveying mechanism (belt platen or the like). The belt platen conveys recording medium, for example, ordinary paper or envelopes.
A recording medium conveyed by the belt platen may be wrinkled at its leading ends by moisture absorption or the like. If an image is recorded on the wrinkled recording medium, image quality may be degraded. The wrinkled recording medium may also contact a print head, which may cause an error in the conveyance of the recording medium.
Further, if the recording medium is curled (the recording medium partly floats), the gap between nozzles provided in the print head and the recording medium is nonuniform. The nonuniform gap may degrade the image quality. The curled part of the recording medium may also contact the print head, which may cause an error in the conveyance of the recording medium.
For example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2002-067418 discloses an image recording apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 12, this image recording apparatus is provided with a nozzle portion 42 having nozzles 41, an ink jet head 44 which is filled with ink 43, a conveying member 45 that conveys a recording medium 47, and a guide member 46 that prevents the recording medium 47 from floating.
Further, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 07-081166 discloses an image recording apparatus.
As shown in FIG. 13, this image recording apparatus is provided with a print head 51 and a float preventing means 54 provided in front of the print head 51 in a moving direction and having an elastic member 52 and a surface film 53. The float preventing means 54 suppresses the floating (curl 56) of a recording medium 55.
Moreover, for example, Japanese Patent No. 2801283 discloses an ink jet recording apparatus having a carrier which holds a head and which is provided with a recording medium guide.

Image recording unit and image recording apparatus


A semiconductor device using power gating includes a circuit unit and a current blocking unit. The circuit unit is connected between a first voltage node and a virtual voltage node. The current blocking unit is connected between the virtual voltage node and a second voltage node, and can block a leakage current of the circuit unit in a standby mode. Also, the current blocking unit controls whether or not to connect the virtual voltage node and the second voltage node in response to a plurality of random signals whose logic states are randomly transited when the standby mode is switched to an active mode. The semiconductor device can minimize ground bounce noise and can stably apply a voltage to a circuit storing data in a data retention mode.

The inventive concept relates to a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a semiconductor device that uses power gating.
Due to the nanoscale nature of semiconductor processing, power consumption sharply increases due to leakage current. In order to reduce the leakage current, a technique referred to as power gating is used to cut off power supplied to a circuit block that is not currently used in a chip. However, the technique has drawbacks in that data stored in a flip-flop or in a memory is damaged due to the power being cut off. Also, inductive noise may occur in the chip since a current instantaneously rapidly flows when power is re-supplied to re-use the circuit block. The inductive noise is known as ground bounce noise which affects adjacent circuit blocks, and which may cause abnormal operation.


A storage apparatus includes a magnetic storage medium which is formed with a data portion based on isolated magnetic dots and a servo pattern portion, a drive mechanism which drives the storage medium, a head actuator which includes a head for reading and writing data from and to the storage medium, and a permanent magnet which is disposed at a position that is opposable to a whole radial region of the servo pattern portion, during a rotation of the storage medium.

1. Field
The embodiment(s) discussed herein are related to storage apparatus including a magnetic storage medium having a structure where recording tracks are divided by providing grooves or nonmagnetic regions in a data recording surface, or a magnetic storage medium formed with isolated magnetic dots in a user data portion.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, as techniques for enlarging a recording capacity by enhancing the areal recording density of a magnetic storage medium in a hard disk drive, there have been a perpendicular magnetic recording technique where the storage medium is magnetized in the depth direction thereof, and a medium technique where predetermined concave and convex patterns are formed in the perpendicular magnetic storage medium and where data signals and servo signals (signals which are used for a head to trace tracks) are recorded in the convex patterns. The perpendicular magnetic storage medium to which the prepatterned medium technique is applied, is called a "discrete track medium (DTM)".
The DTM has the regions of nonmagnetic parts between recording tracks to reduce the interferences between the tracks. Further, it is expected to introduce a recording technique which employs a medium called a "bit patterned medium (BPM)" where the tracks in the DTM is divided by nonmagnetic parts so as to form isolated magnetic dots in a track direction on the disk medium and where the magnetic dots are used as information units (bits).
It is considered that the servo patterns of the magnetic disk apparatus employing such a BPM technique are formed in terms of the presence or absence of magnetic regions by working a magnetic recording layer (magnetic region). In this case, the magnetization state of the servo pattern portion is usually such that the direction of the magnetization is either an upward toward the front surface side of the medium or a downward contrary thereto. Besides, in the servo pattern portion, the pattern is made long in order to ensure servo signal quality. Therefore, the area (volume) of a magnetic material pattern in the servo pattern portion is considerably larger as compared with the area (volume) of the dot serving as the information unit in a data portion.
In the servo pattern portion, therefore, the influence of magnetostatic interactions becomes intense, and the deterioration of the signal attributed to a thermal fluctuation is more liable to occur than in the user data portion. In addition, once the servo signal is recorded in the magnetic material pattern of the servo pattern portion, it is not recorded again. As a result, the magnetization state of the magnetic material pattern of the servo pattern portion becomes unstable against heat, and poses a problem in that the track positioning precision of the magnetic head worsens. Regarding this problem, it is proposed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-66006 that a servo pattern is re-magnetized after detecting the lowering of the reproduced output of the servo signal.
However, a state where the lowering of the servo signal has occurred in the detection of the reproduced output, is a state where the positioning precision of the head to the track has been deteriorated, that is, a state where the positioning precision of the head to a region for the re-magnetization has been deteriorated. When the decision of the lowering of the servo signal is made stricter in order to better the positioning precision, the re-magnetizations are frequently performed with the technique disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-66006. This can cause the problems that the re-magnetization is required during the use of the disk apparatus by a user, and that a re-magnetization process becomes long to increase power consumption.


A utility to determine identity of an electronic device electronically, by running a device attribute collection application that collects key data points of the electronic devices and a device identification application that uses these key data points to link the electronic device to a specific owner or entity. Data points of the device may change over time for reasons such as reconfiguration, repair or normal daily use. The device identification application intelligently and consistently tracks changes in key data points associated with the device, even if the data points change over its lifecycle. The device may be identified remotely with the device identification application (e.g., in the event of theft or loss of the device) based on the collected data points. The device identification application may be deployed in conjunction with services that may include asset tracking, asset recovery, data delete, software deployment, etc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to identification of an electronic device electronically by remote access.
2. Description of Related Art
In today's competitive business environment, information technology (IT) is playing an increasingly important role in the exchange of knowledge in day-to-day business as well as personal functions. Individuals, systems, organizations, and other business assets are interconnected in this emerging economic web, and as this IT landscape grows increasingly complex, so does the need to efficiently manage IT assets, including both physical assets and data. As a result, individuals and organizations alike are now, more than ever, are recognizing the need to take control of, manage and secure their computer asset base, in order to preserve their IT investments. It becomes more challenging to protect IP assets with the increase in processing power for mobile computing devices, where more and more individuals have opted for mobile computing devices, either as replacements to their desktop units, or as additional devices for home or small business networks.
Most IT departments will support the statement that conventional asset management solutions can't accurately account for the ever-increasing population of remote and mobile users. In fact, a typical organization will lose up to 15% of its PC assets over a two year period due to PC drift—where assets are not necessarily lost or stolen, but they simply cannot be accounted for due to the many times they've changed owners or departments since first being provisioned. On average, most organizations can only accurately identify 65% of their actual PC asset base when asked to do an inventory. Best practices demands that IT know where at least 90% of PC assets are located at all times. In a response to recent corporate accounting scandals, identity theft and malicious hacking, governments are establishing regulations that force businesses to protect and be accountable for all sensitive digital information. If organizations do not effectively identify and track all of their computing assets there could be severe regulatory concerns.
For an asset tracking and/or configuration management application to undertake its tracking function, not only should it be able to resist certain level of tampering by an unauthorized user, it must also be able to accurately identify the physical electronic asset being tracked. Attempts to identify, track, manage and update PC assets and their configurations are further challenged in view of the fact that during a PC's lifecycle it will undergo hardware, software and image changes including: break/fix repairs, configuration changes, operating system reinstalls, hard-drive reformats/replacements, system crashes and user-driven configuration changes. Many of these changes will require a reinstallation of the operating system whereby the original footprint or identification of the PC asset can be disabled or removed. This change, if not diligently recorded and tracked, is the beginning of a PC asset drifting from a known state into an unknown state. These routine PC life cycle operating requirements can increase the complexity and challenge of identifying and tracking PC assets, especially those that are remote and mobile. The challenges in achieving reliable asset identification further create uncertainties in deployment of certain asset control operations, such as undertaking remote data deletion operation to remove sensitive data in a target mobile computer.
Heretofore, some computer assets have been identified by relying on firmware serial numbers. This approach is simple and relatively reliable, but hardware changes could cause misidentification. Other computer assets have been identified by software-assigned identifiers, such as serial numbers and/or names. While this approach is also relatively reliable and the identifiers can be easily assigned, it also creates opportunities for reassignment of the identifiers, such as when the device operating system is reinstalled and/or upon a hardware change, either by an authorized user or by tampering by an unauthorized user.
It is therefore desirable to develop a method for intelligently and accurately determining identification of electronic devices electronically.

Method for determining identification of an electronic device