A flexible, lubricious organic coating is formed by applying a mixture of an isocyanate, a polyol, polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), and carrier liquid to a surface to be coated. The carrier liquid is removed and the mixture reacted to form a lubricious, flexible coating, particularly suitable for use as a protective lubricious coating on medical devices introduced into the body. The coating exhibits a significantly reduced coefficient of friction when exposed to water or aqueous solutions.

It has long been known that hydrophilic coatings with low friction (coefficient of friction of 0.3 or less) are useful for a variety of medical devices such as catheters, catheter introducers and the like. When low friction surfaces are used, the devices, upon introduction into the body, slide easily with arteries, veins, cannula and other body orifices and passageways. There have been a wide variety of methods used to provide the surfaces desired. In some cases the material of the catheter or medical device is formed of a material having good anti-friction properties such as poly(tetrafluoroethylene) or other plastics which tend to avoid abrasion with the body. However, in many cases the selection of materials does not provide the anti-slip properties desired in conjunction with other desirable properties for the particular medical device.
The art has recognized that polymer surfaces can be provided with hydrophilic coatings formed from combinations of isocyanate, polyurethane and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP).
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,642,267 discloses a coating which is a simple blend of thermoplastic polyurethane and PVP. When deposited on a substrate and dried, no reactions occur. The coating does not bond to the plastic substrate, and can readily be redissolved in a solvent. Furthermore, the PVP is only lightly complexed, thus allowing the coatings to become generally soft and readily removed when wet.
The present invention, in contrast, is a crosslinked system, and thus more tightly complexes the PVP. Furthermore, some reaction may occur between the isocyanate and the substrate to improve adhesion.
The prior art coatings using PVP typically rely on a 2 step, 2 coating process, usually involving a primer coat of isocyanate or isocyanate/polymer blend which is dried, followed by a second coat containing PVP, a blend of PVP and another polymer, or another hydrophilic polymer such as poly(ethylene oxide). The 2 coatings, one superimposed on the other, are then baked to effect a cure. Several disadvantages to this process exist.
1. The exact ratio of primer material to PVP is difficult to control, as it relies on whatever amounts of primer and PVP happen to be deposited by the wet film during the respective dip coating steps. PA0 2. The primer may begin to redissolve in the second coating solution, causing some loss of primer, and further resulting in difficulty in controlling the primer/PVP ratio. PA0 3. Additional facilities and time are needed for coating with a 2 step process, as compared to a 1 step process. PA0 1. A high molecular weight polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), or a blend of two or more such PVP products. PA0 2. A polyhydroxy species or polyol containing at least 2 hydroxyl groups per molecule, or a blend of two or more such polyols. PA0 3. An isocyanate prepolymer or monomer containing at least 2 NCO groups per molecule, or a blend of two or more such isocyanates. PA0 4. A solvent or blend of solvents suitable for dissolving components 1 - 3, which does not significantly react with the components. PA0 1. The present coatings can be formulated over a wide range of properties such as lubricity, durability, adhesion to various surfaces, etc., because the exact composition of the polyurethane -PVP complex can be tailored to the desired result, and particular substrate and end-use application by selecting the specific isocyanate and polyol combination from a wide range of products available commercially. PA0 2 The ratio of polyurethane (total mass of isocyanate plus polyol) to PVP can be varied exactly during preparation of the coating solution.
Prior patents have suggested applying solutions of polyvinylpyrrolidone with isocyanate and/or polyurethane in multi-step operations. These coatings often lack good durability. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,666 to Lambert discloses medical devices having hydrophilic coatings formed from an isocyanate layer overcoated with a polyvinylpyrrolidone layer. However, such coatings are of polyurea materials formed from a first solution of an isocyanate being applied to a base, the solvent then evaporated, followed by a second solution application of a polyvinylpyrrolidone, in turn followed by evaporation of the solvent. Cure is effected by baking, in the application provides polyurea materials which do not have the tenacity of the coatings of the present invention. Additionally the multistep procedure makes it difficult to tailor properties and values of the final coatings.
In my copending application Ser. No. 512,872, filed Apr. 23, 1990, there are disclosed coatings which are the result of polyurethane linkages in combination with an association of poly(ethylene oxide). Such poly(ethylene oxide) containing coatings are formed using a one-dip process to provide low friction coatings which are abrasion resistant in the body, hydrophilic and lubricious.


A system and method of distributed computation based upon a novel partitioning of computer networks. In the distributed computing system of the present invention, instructions are disseminated to select agents on a computer network, each of which is a member of at least one “path,” a path being an ordered set of one or more connected agents within the network. The computation is then performed by the agents along the path, and any results then returned. A computation to be performed is broken down into instructions executed on a unique ordered sequence of agents making up a path. This vastly increases the expressive power of a single network to be not only the sum of its parts, but the sum of all possible configurations of those parts on a graph. The basic components of the computing system are agents, probes and paths. The agents are interconnected forming a network and a path is an ordered sequence of agents. Information is exchanged between agents by the sending and receiving of probes between the agents in the network.

To aid in understanding the prior art and the problems associated therewith, it is helpful to provide a brief overview of distributed computing environments. The field of distributed computing is a well known field in computer science that deals with distributed systems. A distributed system is a software system in which components located on networked computers communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages. The components interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal. Three significant characteristics of distributed systems include concurrency of components, lack of a global clock, and independent failure of components. Examples of distributed systems vary from SOA-based systems to massively multiplayer online games to peer-to-peer applications.
Distributed computing also deals with the use of distributed systems to solve computational problems. In distributed computing, a problem is divided into many tasks, each of which is solved by one or more computers, which communicate with each other by message passing.
The computational entities are typically referred to as nodes. A distributed system may have a common goal, such as solving a large computational problem. Alternatively, each computer may have its own user with individual needs, and the purpose of the distributed system is to coordinate the use of shared resources or provide communication services to the users.
Other typical properties of distributed systems include the ability to tolerate failures in individual computers and/or nodes. The structure of the system (i.e. network topology, network latency, number of computers) is not known in advance, the system may consist of different kinds of computers and network links, and the system may change during the execution of a distributed program. In addition, each computer has only a limited, incomplete view of the system and each computer may know only one part of the input.
Distributed computing can make use of various hardware and software architectures. At a lower level, multiple CPUs are interconnected with some sort of network, regardless of whether that network is printed onto a circuit board or made up of loosely coupled devices and cables. At a higher level, processes running on those CPUs are interconnected with some sort of communication system.
Currently, distributed programming typically falls into one of several basic architectures: client-server, three-tier, n-tier, or peer-to-peer; or categories: loose coupling, or tight coupling. Client-server architecture is a hierarchical architecture for distributed computing environments that is generally divided into two layers. One layer within the client-server architecture includes most of the application systems. Application systems include fourth generation languages, computer aided software engineering tools, programming languages and their support tools, and various other commercially available software products. This first layer typically represents the client layer. In client-server architectures smart clients contact the server for data then format and display it to the users. Input at the client is committed back to the server when it represents a permanent change.
A second layer within the client-server architecture includes most of the information service systems. The information service systems are software products such as database management systems and data repositories, specialized data access methods, application servers, and any number of service based monolithic software systems. This second layer represents the server layer.
The client-server architecture also includes a third or middle layer. This third layer typically includes software products designed to provide various infrastructure or interfacing services between other components of the distributed computing environment such as between an application system and an information service system. Such software products are classified as middleware products or systems. A recent term for the hierarchical architecture that utilizes middleware systems is a three-tier system or multi-tier system architecture, where the middleware system consists of software products, applications and services that had previously existed either in the client layer or server layer. Three-tier or multi-tier layers are well known in the art.
Three-tier architectures move the client intelligence to a middle tier so that stateless clients can be used. This simplifies application deployment. For example, the majority of web applications are three-tier. n-tier architectures refer typically to web applications which further forward their requests to other enterprise services. This type of application is the one most responsible for the success of application servers.
In peer-to-peer architectures there are no special machines that provide a service or manage the network resources. Instead all responsibilities are uniformly divided among all machines, known as peers. Peers can serve both as clients and as servers. A peer-to-peer architecture provides any number of peers or service providers while removing some of the constraints imposed by a traditional client-server or other hierarchical architecture. Within a peer-to-peer system architecture, each peer provides one or more services and is able to cooperate and collaborate with fellow peers as services need to be performed concurrently or sequentially.
Another basic aspect of distributed computing architecture is the method of communicating and coordinating work among concurrent processes. Through various message passing protocols, processes may communicate directly with one another, typically in a master/slave relationship. Alternatively, a "database-centric" architecture enables distributed computing without any form of direct inter-process communication, by utilizing a shared database.
One important requirement of application systems operating within a distributed computing environment is scalability. Scalability is the ability of an application system and information service system to address computer environments that range from small (i.e. small numbers of users and computers) to very large computing environments (i.e. large numbers of users and computers) without the significant loss of efficiency. There is a growing demand for a distributed computing system architecture to incorporate such advantageous features as scalability, fault-tolerance, support of legacy applications, and other features such as modeling and simulation capabilities, etc., without significantly contributing to the complexity of the computing environment and without significantly sacrificing performance of the distributed computing system.
An alternative technique aimed at addressing some of the aforementioned problems arising in distributed computing environments is the application of agent technology. The notion of agents and agent technology already exists in the information industry. A standard definition of what an agent entails, however does not exist. A common perception of an agent is a software module or process that accomplishes a task, typically on behalf of a user. For example, conventional agents can filter electronic mail messages for a user based on a specific criterion to reduce the number of junk mail that a user receives.
Disadvantageously, the more an agent looks and functions as a customized software process, the less likely that agents will be able to cooperate with other customized agents operating within the distributed computer environment. Many of the related art agents, both static and dynamic, operating within a distributed computing environment inevitably demonstrate different behaviors and characteristics. Because these different agents often need to cooperate with one another within the distributed computing environment to accomplish various tasks, however, there is a need to facilitate communication between different agents. This is especially true where the agents are associated with different application systems or services. To that end, there is a need to provide a universal or generic architecture for agents which facilitates the cooperative behavior of agents associated with different applications or services. The architecture of an agent based computing system should be independent of the environment in which it exists and independent of the application system or service which it supports. Further, there is a need for a distributed computing architecture that is capable of expanding the computing power that can be expressed by the nodes of a network.

Distributed computation system incorporating agent network, paths and associated probes


The present application relates to a method for seamless splicing of a special-shaped display screen, including: dividing the special-shaped display screen into a number of regular quadrilateral modules and a number of special-shaped modules; calculating a number of LED light pieces on a first side of a regular quadrilateral module after division; determining the number of the LED light pieces arranged on the first side of the regular quadrilateral module; calculating a number of LED light pieces arranged on a second side of the regular quadrilateral module, and the second side is adjacent to the first side; and continuing for the number of special-shaped modules obtained above.

At present, there are two types of special-shaped corners and arc-shaped structural boxes in the LED industry: the first is a flexible module, which can be fitted according to the actual shape of the display. The second is to combine a number of custom-shaped modules to form the overall shape of the special-shaped project.
However, the above two methods have one or several shortcomings. Among them, the flexible module can only be used in projects with a large arc with a large rounded angle. If the rounded angle is small, components such as PCB and LED lamps will not be able to be bent and deformed follow the arc, otherwise there is a risk of damage. In addition, the flexible modules currently on the market are all conventional squares or rectangles, and it is difficult to adapt to completely splice together special-shaped projects with different arcs. The conventional PCB module methods with customized shapes are also commonly used in the market. However, the splicing effects are poor, such as the flatness is poor, the splicing seam effect is poor, the LED lamps distribution is unscientific, and the obvious the phenomenon of brightness and darkness splitting is occurred.

Method for seamless splicing of special-shaped display screen and LED display screen


A master cylinder includes a piston received in a cylinder body and formed with piston ports. An annular groove is formed in the inner periphery of the piston in its area where the piston ports are formed. An arcuate plate is received in the annular groove. A sleeve is inserted into the arcuate groove to retain the arcuate plate in the annular groove. A gap as a fluid passage is defined between the arcuate plate and the inner surface of the annular groove. A pressure chamber defined in the cylinder body communicates with a communication passage communicating with a reservoir through the above gap, cutouts of holes formed in the arcuate plate and holes formed in the sleeve. When hydraulic fluid flows rapidly from the pressure chamber toward the reservoir, the arcuate plate is adapted to elastically and radially expand, thus closing some of the piston ports.

The present invention relates to a plunger type master cylinder used in a vehicle brake system, and more specifically a simple and reliable master cylinder which can smoothly draw hydraulic fluid from a reservoir during automatic brake control and which restricts backflow of hydraulic fluid from pressure chambers into the reservoir while the brakes are being manually operated.
Many of today's vehicle hydraulic brake systems are equipped with an automatic brake function such as a traction control (TRC) function or an electronic stability control (ESC) function.
In some of such brake systems, during automatic braking, hydraulic fluid is supplied from the reservoir to required units through a pressure chamber in the master cylinder. Thus in such brake systems, it is required that hydraulic fluid be smoothly drawn into the pressure chamber of the master cylinder. Also, when the brake pedal is depressed, it is necessary to restrict backflow of hydraulic fluid from the pressure chamber into the reservoir to prevent the brake pedal from being pushed in without encountering resistance.
JP patent publication 2000-142365A (paragraph [0039] and FIG. 21) discloses an arrangement that satisfies both of these requirements. This arrangement includes a throttle valve member comprising a throttle valve portion including a restricted passage and provided on the inner periphery of a piston, and a support portion fitted in the piston to support the throttle valve portion. When hydraulic fluid flows from the pressure chamber toward the reservoir, the throttle valve portion abuts a valve seat on the inner surface of the piston, thus closing the passage between the throttle valve portion and the valve seat, so that hydraulic oil flows only through the restricted passage into the reservoir.
When hydraulic fluid flows from the reservoir toward the pressure chamber, the throttle valve portion deflects and separates from the valve seat, thus opening the passage between the throttle valve portion and the valve seat. Thus, hydraulic fluid is smoothly drawn into the pressure chamber through the passage between the throttle valve and the valve seat because this passage has a larger sectional area than the restricted passage.
However, the arrangement disclosed in this publication has a problem in that the throttle valve member is complicated in structure and thus low in productivity. In order to vent air when filling the brake system with hydraulic oil, hydraulic air is fed under pressure, or with the interior of the circuit evacuated beforehand, hydraulic fluid is dawn into the circuit. When air is vented in either of the above manners, the throttle valve portion may deflect significantly into the piston and interfere with a return spring for the piston which is mounted inwardly of the throttle valve member, thus causing deformation (plastic deformation) of the throttle valve portion. This impairs various functions inherent to the throttle valve portion.
If such throttle valve portions are provided in a tandem master cylinder, which includes two pistons mounted in the cylinder and two pressure chambers defined in the cylinder, when automatic braking begins, hydraulic fluid is rapidly returned into the pressure chambers. In this state, excessive backward movement of the primary piston (rearward piston) is prevented because it is in abutment with an output rod of a booster. But the secondary piston (front piston) may excessively move backward and come out of the cups. If this happens, when the secondary piston returns to its inoperative position thereafter, the secondary piston may damage the cups or the secondary piston may be inserted into the cups in an unnatural way and skew.
An object of the present invention is to provide a simple and reliable plunger type master cylinder which can smoothly draw hydraulic fluid from a reservoir during automatic brake control and which restricts backflow of hydraulic fluid from pressure chambers into the reservoir while the brakes are being manually operated.


A method for treating a roller cover includes the steps of positioning an element with respect to a roller cover and removing a portion of the roller cover with said element to form a pattern on said roller cover. The process for treating roller covers for a paint roller may also includes the steps of providing a surface, forming a pattern on the surface, heating the surface, and contacting the roller cover with the heated surface. The heated surface is a metal. The heat is transferred from the heated metal surface to the roller cover when the heated metal surface contacts the roller cover. The heated surface sears or melts the nap of the roller cover. The surface can be provided with a pattern so that a pattern can be placed into the nap of the roller cover. An apparatus used to treat the surface of a roller cover includes a surface having a desired pattern therein. A holder for a roller cover holds or presents the roller cover to the surface. A heater is attached to the surface. The apparatus may also include a mechanism for rotating the roller covers and moving one of either the surface or the holders for the roller covers. A roller cover can also be formed by placing a woven fabric which has raised patterns therein onto a roller cover.

Paint rollers are well known in the art as a fast and convenient means by which to coat a flat surface with a layer of paint. Unfortunately, such rollers are only capable of spreading a uniform coat of a given paint color across the surface, and cannot be effectively used to create designs or patterns on the surface. In the 1930's custom wall painting techniques, such as rag rolling and sponging become popular as a means to attain a decorative, patterned pain coating on a wall, ceiling or the like. Unfortunately, such techniques generally required a great deal of time and skill to successfully complete, making them unfeasible options for the general public. As a result, those wishing to obtain decorative patterns typically have had to resort to covering their walls with wallpaper. However, wallpaper is also very expensive, and its application requires skills that many people do not possess. Wallpaper is also undesirable because its removal is an arduous process that requires a good deal of time.
In recent years it has once again become popular to use custom wall painting in the decoration of homes. Custom wall painting provides a unique look for a room in a particular house and many times, if the home owner is able, the look achieved is somewhat like wallpaper but is much less expensive than wallpaper. The present techniques are also faster than the application of wallpaper, less materials are required and, therefore, there is less to handle. In addition, when custom painting is used as opposed to wallpaper, there is no need to match rolls of paper from various paint batches nor is there a need for matching seams or a need for excessive amounts of equipment. Two of the more common types of custom wall painting used in home decorating are sponging and rag painting. In many instances a home owner is able to use these two techniques to produce a very professional-looking wall or room. It is has become so popular in fact that sometimes professional painters are hired to apply these techniques to rooms of houses.
Custom wall painting has also become desired for commercial applications in large-scale buildings. The custom wall painting produces a wallpaper effect and is usually cheaper to apply than other wall coverings, such as wallpaper. Even though the current methods for sponge painting and rag rolling a wall or the walls of the room are much quicker than applying wallpaper, it would be advantageous if there were still quicker methods that could be employed to produce custom wall painting. The current method for sponge painting a wall requires rolling or applying an initial base color to a wall and allowing it to dry. After the wall is dry, a second color is used. A natural sponge is dipped into a second color and then the excess paint absorbed by the sponge is blotted away so that the amount of paint left in the sponge is enough to transfer paint onto the wall yet not enough to produce a solid shape onto the wall. The natural sponge is then used to contact the wall and apply the second color of paint over the base color previously applied. Once the paint within the sponge runs out, the sponge is reinserted into the second color, blotted so the excess paint comes off the sponge and then applied to the wall. This process is repeated until the entire wall or room is painted. Even though this method is faster than applying wallpaper to a room, it still has some problems. First of all, paint is wasted since excessive paint is blotted out of the natural sponge. Secondly, the process is time consuming since a first layer of paint must be applied before the second "sponged" layer of paint is applied to the wall.
Another common home-decorating technique for applying paint is called rag rolling. U.S. Pat. No. 5,471,703 issued to Niven shows a roller having specialized slots therein. The specialized slots receive a rag that is wrapped around the roller and catches or is hooked into the various slots on the roller cover. Paint is applied to the rag and then the roller is used to apply or contact the wall to be painted. Like sponge painting, an initial layer or base layer must be applied to the surface. The initial layer of paint must be allowed to dry before rag rolling the second layer. Rag rolling can also be accomplished by wrapping a rag around a roller, applying paint to the rag and rolling it over a base layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,179 issued to Wright et al. Shows a decorating tool that has flaps attached to a roller. The roller is used to produce a broken patterned surface-coating which is quick and easy to use even by non-specialist painters. One of the objects of U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,179 is to produce a tool which simulates the broken pattern of rag rolling.
The shortcomings associated with sponge painting are approximately the same as the shortcomings associated with rag rolling. In addition, a rag must be dealt with when using the rag rolling technique. This technique is somewhat more difficult that sponge painting a wall. The U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,179 includes the additional shortcoming that it will be difficult to control the amount of paint in the flaps attached to the roller. The flaps might also produce paint splatters. The flaps are also limp as shown in FIG. 2 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,179.
These methods are labor intensive, so there is a need for an apparatus which could produce sponge painting effect, custom wall painting as well as rag roll-type custom wall painting. There is also a need for several other custom wall painting schemes. There is also a need for a manufacturing process and apparatus that can be used on commercially available roller covers to produce sponge painting-type custom walls as well as rag rolling-type custom walls. In addition, there is a need for an apparatus and method that can be used to treat commonly available roller covers that will produce other patterns to produce a custom painted wall. There is also a need for a process and apparatus that can produce roller covers for custom wall painting quickly and inexpensively. There is also a need for a process and apparatus that can be used to process commonly available rollers quickly and efficiently.


A three-phase active filter for connection into a three-phase power distribution system to compensate undesirable harmonic deviations. A converter is electrically connected between the power distribution system and a DC energy storage element. The converter is selectively controlled by control means to effectuate a flow of energy between the system and the storage element to offset the harmonic deviations. To improve the dynamic response of the filter, the control means utilize vector control principles. Specifically, a synchronous fundamental vector of AC energy waveforms in the power distribution system is derived in a rotating reference frame. Fundamental reference signals are then produced in a stationary reference frame which are compared with corresponding actual condition signals. Error signals thus produced are then utilized to operate the converter. To compensate losses in the storage element and inverter, the control means preferably further comprise loss compensation means also utilizing vector control principles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three-phase active filter for compensating undesirable harmonic deviations in AC energy delivered from a three-phase AC source to a three-phase load. More particularly, the invention relates to such an active filter having a control scheme utilizing vector control principles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a three-phase power distribution system wherein a three-phase AC source is feeding a three-phase load, undesirable harmonic deviations are often generated on the interconnecting supply line. These harmonic deviations result in harmonic distortion which can cause problems in the reliable operation of harmonic sensitive components in the system. Particularly, non-linear loads such as rectifiers, power converters, and other types of power electronic equipment may draw rectangular or pulsed currents from the source which consist of a fundamental component and a series of harmonics. The current harmonics may create a voltage drop across the source impedance which results in harmonic distortion of the voltage seen by the load.
To reduce these harmonics and the concomitant distortion, various active power filter arrangements have been utilized. Originally, such filters generally fell into one of two categories: (1) those using controllable impedance or admittance as the active element, and (2) those using linear power amplifiers controlled by various feedback techniques. The first type had relatively low efficiency and was thus considered not well suited for power applications. The second type tended to be cost prohibitive in relatively high power applications.
A third type of active filter was later developed to overcome some of these deficiencies. This filter utilizes a current or voltage "generator" selectively controlled to produce a flow of energy matching and compensating the harmonic components to be eliminated. A nearly ideal filter characteristic is thus produced at the point of connection into the system. Filters of this type in single-phase systems are disclosed and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,825,815, issued Jul. 23, 1974 to Gyugyi et al. Three-phase power distribution systems utilizing such filters are illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,265, issued to Stacey et al. on Mar. 17, 1987. Both of these patents are incorporated herein by reference.

Three-phase active filter utilizing rotating axis transformation


A system for communicating information relating to a geographical area includes a circuit for determining the location of a vehicle within a geographical area and for receiving and processing message information relevant to the geographical area. The system further includes a communication device for communicating both the location and message information to an operator of the vehicle. The location and message information may be further correlated with characteristics sampled at various locations within the geographical area.

The advent of publicly available global-positioning-satellite technology (GPS) has transformed such industries as agriculture and construction into high-tech, precision operations. By offering advantages, such as cost control and enhanced performance, GPS-based systems have become attractive tools for agricultural and construction operations.
GPS systems obtain location information from a system of satellites orbiting about the earth. The satellites transmit electromagnetic signals from which the location of a GPS receiver located on or near the earth's surface can be determined. Presently, civilian GPS signals provide location information having an accuracy limited to approximately fifty meters. However, various available technologies, such as differential GPS signals, used in conjunction with GPS, can greatly increase accuracy.
For agricultural applications, the highly accurate GPS technology allows the large-scale farmer to micromanage his fields. For example, existing farming systems employing GPS permit farmers to accurately map grain yield within a field or to pinpoint problems, such as weeds, drainage or soil characteristics. However, these systems receive location information only, which is then combined, and often displayed, with data collected within the geographical area.
In addition to combining GPS location data with collected data, farming and construction operations could function even more advantageously by combining the GPS data with data received from external sources that also is related to the geographical area. For example, a farmer working in his field could profit from receiving an up-to-date weather map that may indicate the need to deviate from a planned prescription. Or, a farmer monitoring crop quality and yield could make investment decisions based on receiving contemporaneous commodities reports. In a construction operation, the vehicle operator could receive precise instructions regarding site-specific dig depth or grading requirements. A need exists, therefore, for a system that communicates information related to a geographical area to an operator of a vehicle moving within the area. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a system which receives information, which includes both location and message information, from external sources.

System and method for communicating information related to a geographical area


A surgical device for use in a minimally invasive procedure to treat urinary incontinence can include a dilator coupled to a curved needle at one end and a sling at the opposite end. Urinary incontinence can be treated minimally invasively. One treatment includes positioning the sling on an anterior portion of the urethra to provide proper coaptation to the urethra.

Urinary incontinence is a widespread problem throughout the world. Urinary incontinence affects people of all ages and can severely impact a patient both physiologically and psychologically.
One form of urinary incontinence suffered by women is intrinsic sphincter deficiency (ISD), a condition in which the valve of the urethral sphincter does not function properly, thus preventing proper coaptation of the urethra. Without proper coaptation, a person is unable to control urinary leakage. ISD can arise from loss of urethral vasculature, thinning of urethral mucosa, loss of the urethral connective tissue elements, neurologic compromise of the sympathetic smooth muscle, or compromise of the external striated sphincter.
Another form of urinary incontinence is known as bladder neck hypermobility. Bladder neck hypermobility can arise from loss of support by the pelvic floor and loss of suspension by the pelvic connective tissue in ligaments and fascia. In this condition, the bladder neck and proximal urethra descend in response to increases in intra-abdominal pressure, resulting in uncontrollable urinary leakage.
Common approaches to treating urinary incontinence in women require invasive surgical procedures either through the vaginal wall or the abdominal wall. These surgical procedures focus on elevating the urethrovesical junction by introducing a sling that passes to the posterior side of the urethra and suspending the urethra from an anatomical structure located anterior to the urethra, for example, the abdominal fascia, the pubic bone, or the Cooper's ligament. Surgical treatments of urinary incontinence that use slings typically involve placing the sling under the urethra to provide suburethral support. Slings of this type simultaneously compress and suspend the urethra to treat urinary incontinence. One disadvantage of these procedures is the invasive nature of these procedures. Mother disadvantage is that weight gain or loss can affect the suspension of the urethra causing it to become too tight or too loose. Still another disadvantage is that some types of slings may shrink with age and may cause difficulties with voiding. Other invasive surgical approaches to treating urinary incontinence include the use of vaginal wall slings and/or artificial urinary sphincters.
Periurethral injection (PI) of biocompatible bulk-enhancing agents, another approach to treating urinary incontinence, has the advantage of being a less invasive form of treatment and, thus, can be performed on an outpatient basis. PI uses bulk-enhancing agents, such as Teflon® (DuPont), autologous fat, and collagen, to increase pressure on the urethra and reduce the size of the urethral lumen, providing additional resistance to the flow of urine. Such injections may be accomplished either transurethrally or periurethrally. Typically, however, repeat treatments of PI are required because the bulk-enhancing agent can be absorbed by the body or translocated from the site of injection. Mother drawback to PI is that accidental over-bulking may result in undesirable urinary retention requiring catheterization to void until the injectant is absorbed by the body.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for delivering a medical implant to an anatomical location in a patient


A visible light spectrum and light source apparatus are described that provide over 90% of their total radiant power within the 385 nm-530 nm and the 570 nm-820 nm spectral ranges, collectively. The objective of the light spectrum and apparatus is to improve the visibility and shape of a wider range of objects than is practical using conventional LED white light sources at similar radiant power conditions. The new light source can provide good Scotopic or Mesopic at low power levels compared to most other light sources for illumination. One illustrative embodiment of this new spectrum and light source provides a full visible light spectrum with at least 6% of the highest peak radiant power of all wavelengths between 405 nm-730 nm, and another illustrative embodiment provides a similar full spectrum between 440 nm and 730 nm. In both embodiments, the average radiant power in the 475-510 nm cyan spectral region is at least 2-times the average radiant power in the 530-570 nm spectral region.

A great many Light Emitting Diode (LED) devices and light sources exist that generate light for illumination of objects primarily for direct vision by the human eye. Product categories include lamps for architectural lighting, retail and office product lighting, body mounted illumination lights, flashlights, lanterns, reading lights, streetlights, medical and dental uses, home lighting, automotive lighting, and many other lighting products.
For reference, there are also illumination systems for electronic imaging sensors that function at the edge of human vision or well outside of the human vision spectral and intensity capability range such as infrared and thermal imaging or ultraviolet light imaging outside of the direct-imaging sensitivity range of normal biological eyesight.
In illumination systems, LED light sources can provide a high degree of longevity, reliability, low cost per radiant-watt of light, and a wide selection of spectral characteristics.
Illumination approaches to lighting for vision with LEDs frequently seek to enhance the green-yellow 530-570 nm spectral range because this spectral range provides the highest "specification value of lumens" for a given input electrical power or radiant power. Lumens has become a common metric for measuring light intensity, but this metric provides actual radiant power convolved with the CIE's assessment of the human eye's color sensitivity curve. The use of "Lumens" as a consumers' primary metric for assessing light output capability of lighting products has resulted in much of the LED lighting industry evolving toward light sources that maximize "Lumens" and not maximizing light output for quality of vision.
Warm-white light LEDs are an improvement on cool-white LEDs for general illumination because they increase the valuable red component of the light spectrum. These lamps usually utilize added orange and/or red emitting phosphor(s) (typically 590-620 nm emission peak phosphors) to the white LED phosphor(s) or add orange-red 620-630 nm dominant emission peak LEDs. An example of where warm-white or even pink-tinted LEDs are especially important for illumination is when meat or bakery goods are being presented to consumers. Many retail display cases that were initially converted to cool white LEDs to save energy resulted in customer and retailer dissatisfaction due to lack of sufficient red light in the spectrum making meats, fish, and breads appear unappealing, and therefore have been or are being changed to warm-white or even pink lights with a moderately high orange and red spectral content.
There are numerous special-application exceptions to the use of white light for illumination using LEDs. These applications include red LEDs being used for dark-adapted vision or signaling, blue and/or cyan and red LEDs for identifying blood, cyan LEDs for making certain patterns stand out, green lights for use in greenhouses so as to not initiate certain photoactivation processes, ultraviolet or deep violet LEDs for making objects to fluoresce and stand out, and a few other specialty applications. These are all narrow and specific lighting applications.
As discussed in the definitions hereinafter, "Lumens" is a derived unit of luminous power, providing a measure of the total amount of "visible" light emitted by a light source. Luminous power reflects the varying perception of the "average" human eye to different wavelengths based on the Luminosity Function standard established by the Commission Internationale de l'Éclairage (CIE) in 1931 for the human eye's sensitivity. This function provides an average spectral sensitivity of human visual perception of brightness based on a non-representative sampling of the human population. The Luminosity Function standard was determined using subjective judgments by selected participants who indicated which of a pair of different-colored lights is brighter, to describe relative sensitivity to light of different wavelengths. The CIE luminosity function is a standardizing function used to convert "radiant energy" into luminous (i.e., "visible") energy.
Light that is close to or outside the CIE defined visible light spectrum limits of the 400 nm to 700 nm range provides virtually no measured Lumens, regardless of light's actual radiant power or the fact that most people can easily detect light wavelengths far beyond the CIE spectral range illuminating white surfaces even at well under 1 mW/cm2 radiance. These "outside of the CIE range" wavelengths are present in many types of non-LED light sources and some LED light sources, contributing useful radiant power in view of the fact that most people easily perceive these wavelengths (unless color blind to certain spectra). Incandescent light sources predominantly provide these near-infrared wavelengths of light as well as longer wavelengths far into the infrared. Visible light is defined as the approximate range within which most people can see reasonably well under most circumstances. Various sources consider visible light as broadly as from 375 nm to 800 nm. Under ideal conditions, many people can even visually perceive light from under-330 nm to over-950 nm. The vast range of objects in the world that are being illuminated reflect light or are activated to fluoresce over a wide range of range wavelengths unrelated to the CIE curve.
Human eyes are generally several times less sensitive to 390 nm-400 nm violet light or to 700 nm-730 nm deep-red light than they are to 530 nm-570 nm range yellow-green light. Illumination light intensity, the light source spectrum, light angles, polarization, reflected or emitted light intensity from objects of interest, background and surroundings, and individual perception of light spectra all effect people's ability to visually detect objects using a selected light source. There have been publications on the subject of human vision range showing actual human vision ranging from 330 nm up to over 1000 nm, but some of the more recent publications where extensive subject sampling was performed put "useful" human vision into at least the 375-750 nm range, depending on how the experiments were performed and the test subject criteria (illustrative references include (375 nm-750 nm): Curtis, Barnes. Invitation to Biology: Fifth Edition. New York: Worth Publishers, 1994: 163, and (375-780 nm): Lapedes, Daniel. Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms: Second Edition. New York: McGraw Hill, 1978: 954.)
Color Rendering Index (CRI) has recently begun to be emphasized for general LED lighting to correct for some of the problems originating from the extensive use of lumens as the only light output metric. Several versions of CRI as an added metric have been used for some time in photography, although there are also other standards. CRI provides a quantitative measure of the ability of a light source to "reproduce the colors of various objects" faithfully in comparison with their concept of an "ideal" or "natural" light source. Unfortunately, a variation of the flawed CIE assessment of human eye spectral range was also applied to CRI metrics in determining the spectrum of an "ideal" light source. Therefore, objects absorbing or returning light to the eye outside the CRI range are considered almost invisible, and can almost become invisible if illuminated using a light source providing a center of the CIE curve shaped light spectrum. While adding CRI as a metric is better than using lumens alone, and although CRI can be useful for display applications where subjects are effectively looking at the light source, CRI can also be very misleading if used in the selection of LED lighting for many non-reflective surface illumination applications.
If the eye is less sensitive to light in a portion of a spectral range, increasing the relative intensity of light in these lower optical sensitivity spectral ranges increases the probability of detection of objects that absorb or reflect primarily in such portion of the light spectrum. Many materials may also fluoresce in the visible range after absorbing light, affecting their visibility. The eye can perceive the light returned directly from the object, and light returned from other nearby or background objects. Coatings on objects such as water, oils, or wax can also influence the probability of visual detection of objects.
LEDs are available providing light spectra more closely approximating various embodiments of the "simulated-sunlight" spectrum, or mimicking incandescent light. Black body light spectrum or fluorescent lighting can provide a better range of colors and can make the color of objects appear more "normal". Reasonable sunlight ("visible" part of the spectral range) and other recreations of natural spectra have been shown. Light spectra similar to sunlight can recreate and "resolve" colors as they would appear in sunlight, especially if the lamps also contain considerable ultraviolet light. The presence of UV in sunlight or a simulated spectrum can activate fluorescent effects in many materials that also greatly affect perceived color.
Most LED light source products in the market create white light consisting of one or more blue 440-470 nm spectral range LEDs with one of more spectrum converters (usually phosphors) mixed into a translucent medium and placed over the LED, usually as a coating on the LED. This spectrum converter usually consists of YAG phosphors with predominantly 530-580 nm light emission peaks in a polymer, glass, or silicone medium. The phosphor spectrum converter may or may not have additional phosphors added. Red phosphors such as AlGaAs, GaAsP, GaN, GaP, and/or AlGaInP are frequently added to increase the red spectral content and create warm-white LEDs.
Single narrow spectrum wavelength LEDs such as red, blue, green, or cyan are used in many lamps as special vision modes or for entertainment, stage lighting, displays, backlighted control panels, signaling and flashing. Colored lights are seldom used for general illumination.
Mixing of different dominant emission peak types of LEDs is well known for tailoring specific light spectra. Red (usually this is an orange 620-630 nm dominant emission peak LED), green, and blue LEDs are commonly used at different relative intensities to create a wide range of colors by electronically control of fixed color light sources.
A great many LED configurations are known with the phosphors or dyes coated onto the LED or remotely placed in the exiting light path. Concentrations of spectrum converters in a medium, on a surface, or on a reflector can vary, depending on the length of the light path, the percentage of incoming light to be absorbed, and the output light spectrum that is desired.
Optical absorbing filters or reflecting filters (interference filters such as dichroic filters or absorbing-only dyes or pigments) are sometimes used to remove or reflect portions of the output light spectrum at the expense of losing the energy associated with the portion of the spectrum that is removed. Commonly seen examples of filtered light are in stage lighting, automobile tail and running lights, indicators and control panels.
Dyes, phosphors, and/or pigments are used as fluorescent, phosphorescent, and other spectrum converters in various media, to shift light spectra and reshape the light energy distribution in light spectra. These media containing spectrum-shifting materials have been shaped into lenses, coated onto reflectors, and formed into a wide variety of shapes in the light path. Photonic arrays such as photonic crystals and nanoparticles such as quantum dots or rods in or on various media or reflectors have also been used to modify light spectra with less energy loss than absorbing or reflecting only filters, or to shift a spectrum to longer wavelengths (or to shorter wavelengths using 2 photon materials).
Most white light LED lamps provide a spectrum of cool white or warm white light. These lamps contain blue light, and blue light that has been converted using phosphors to green light and to orange-red light wavelengths, with a small percentage of the light spectrum in the red. There is also usually a gap in the cyan (475-510 nm) spectral region of most white light LED lamps between the blue emission of the LED that is passed by the phosphor, and the phosphor emission peaks in the yellow-green, yellow, or orange spectral regions. A low radiance of 480 nm-510 nm cyan light is present in conventional white light LED lamps, relative to 550 nm-570 nm yellow or ˜450 nm blue. Since cyan is the spectral region where the eye's rods are most sensitive, this creates an issue that did not exist with natural light or most other pre-LED light sources. Red phosphors have become available using GaN that can provide deeper red such as 650 nm or 670 nm. Phosphors, dyes, and QDs are known that can provide long wavelength light emission. See, for example, the Intermatix and Bejing Yuji examples discussed elsewhere in this disclosure.
Full-visible-light-spectrum LED-based lamps have been demonstrated that simulate the profile of the sun's spectrum with a high relative green-yellow (520 nm-590 nm) light intensity (relative to other parts of the spectrum), utilizing multiple LEDs and phosphors and/or other spectrum converter materials. Examples of this approach are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,998,925.
LED light sources using UV LEDs and other UV light sources have been used with phosphors and other color converters to generate violet light and light in most other portions of the visible light spectrum.
Many full-visible-spectrum lamps use multiple LEDs (including orange-red, red, green, and sometimes violet LEDs) and some phosphor coated LEDs. This approach has resulted in better lamps, but such lamps still have multiple weak intensity voids in the visible light spectrum, and/or require six or more types of LEDs to be mixed. Mixing large numbers of different LEDs can be costly, since different LEDs frequently also require different electrical bias conditions and the resultant level of assembly complexity can become very high.
LED lamps also are widely available that provide special colors or mixtures of different spectral ranges of light. Blood tracking lights are just one example of a special spectrum, and are designed to highlight fresh blood using a combination of blue and orange-red wavelengths of light. Examples are described in Fiskars U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,290,896; 7,517,307; and 8,113,681. Blood tracking lights use a mixture of different wavelength LEDs in red and blue, including cyan. These special-purpose lights typically contain very little light in several portions of the visible spectrum, and thus are not appropriate for maximum detection of the widest range of objects.
LED lamps that provide large amounts of blue light and red light relative to green-yellow light are used for horticultural lighting. These LED lights sometimes also include a few conventional white light LEDs, but their spectra usually contain very little green-yellow light since this spectral range is not significantly utilized by most plants. Therefore, most green plants appear almost black under these light sources. These lamps typically use six-or-more types of LEDs in combination and seldom contain color converters. All horticultural LED lamps have one or more very weak spots in visible spectrum, where the light intensity is less than 9% of the highest photon power in the lamps' spectrum. These spectral gaps are frequently intentional for energy efficiency or due to small spectral gaps that can occur between various narrow emission spectra LEDs.
The human eye's color-sensing cones are collectively most sensitive to the yellow-green part of the spectrum. The commonly used light output measurement system of lumens weighs this yellow-green spectral range light heavily. A focus on maximizing lumens, as a guide for illumination lamp development, is at least partly flawed. The search for lumens instead of radiant power leads LED makers to introduce or accept spectral weaknesses in the output visible spectrum of the lamps. Since a great many objects in the overall world are not mostly yellow-green reflecting, providing the maximum radiant power in the 530-570 nm spectral range is flawed for many vision-oriented illumination applications in which the illumination light intensity may be low and detection of the maximum number of object types is the only objective. Lumens as a metric is best suited for predicting relative brightness to the eye when looking directly at the light source, or when illuminating objects that are highly reflecting in the 500-600 nm spectral range.
Flat-spectrum LEDs and sunlight-spectrum simulating LED lamps partly address the issue of missing portions of the visible spectral range, since the entire visible spectrum may be provided. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,646,032, U.S. Patent Application Publication 20100289044, and U.S. Patent Application Publication US20130134885. However, these lamps provide excessive amounts of light energy in the yellow-green spectral range where the eye is most sensitive. Sunlight, flat spectrum, incandescent, and other LED light sources that simulate other common light sources are best when multiple people need to agree on the color of objects. However, these conventional light spectra are not the most energy-efficient solutions for basic visual detection of the widest range of objects and assessing their shapes in low light intensity situations such as are frequently encountered, especially when using small battery-operated mobile outdoor lighting devices (flashlights, lanterns, body mounted lights, bicycle lights, etc.).
Commercial white LEDs are weak in the 480 nm-500 nm cyan portion of the spectrum where the eyes' rods are most sensitive and used for dark-adapted vision (Scotopic vision), relative to the 530 nm-570 nm portion of the spectrum. The eyes' rods play a major role in visual acuity, especially in low light situations. The concentration of rods is highest in the macula of the eye. High night vision capability animals typically have higher concentrations of rods in their macula than humans. Cyan LEDs are primarily used for special purpose lighting such as all-cyan lamp forensics, blood lights with orange-red and blue LEDs, and in combination with red LED light for high visibility yellow traffic lights. Cyan LEDs are not used in white lighting, even though they can improve visual acuity. This oversight is attributable to a blind focus by lamp designers on only providing the most "lumens", and not on providing the best quality of full spectrum light.
No light sources have been demonstrated that provide a full visible spectrum of light with over 1.5× enhanced radiant power in both the deep-red and violet spectral intensity components relative to the 530-570 nm green-yellow part of the spectrum, and enhanced light intensity in the cyan 480-510 nm range that is greater than the highest radiant power anywhere in the 530-570 nm spectral range.
No light sources have been demonstrated that specifically target (1) providing light over the full visible spectrum from 405-730 nm, and (2) providing over 1.5-times enhanced higher relative light intensity specifically in the 405-430 nm spectral range, the 630-700 nm spectral range, and the 470-510 nm spectral range, relative to the middle yellow-green 530-570 nm portion of the light spectrum.
No light sources have been demonstrated that specifically target (1) providing light over the visible spectrum from 440 to 730 nm or longer wavelengths, and (2) providing over 1.5-times relative light intensity specifically within the 630-730 nm spectral range, and the 470-510 nm spectral range, relative to the yellow-green 530-570 nm portion of the light spectrum.
Light sources with UV, violet, blue, and/or cyan LEDs have been disclosed that have phosphors and/or other color-converting materials in a wide variety of configurations. See, for example, International Publication WO2011120172A1 and Chinese Patent Publication CN 202871750 U.
Up to 85% and higher internal QY red phosphors are available, while lower cost red phosphors have under 60% internal QY. Light scattering by phosphor particles and absorption losses can cut the output light efficiency by another 20% to 50%, depending on the amount of phosphor used, the medium, and the overall design used due to internal scattering by phosphor particles, trapped light, misdirected light, and other losses. QDs and some other nanoparticles can provide higher internal conversion efficiency and are less scattering-prone than standard phosphors, but also entail higher cost. Mixtures of different phosphors and/or QDs have been used to create multiple types of specific light sources.
Fluorescent dyes can have low internal scattering losses in many transparent media since the dyes are molecular in size (as long as dye aggregation is minimal). A few red-emitting dyes exhibit over 90% QY, and therefore dye-based lamp systems can be up to two times as efficient as typical particle phosphor systems, if over 80% of the light is to be converted to the orange and red spectral range, if the Stokes shift is adequate, if light trapping is controlled, and if the photostability of the dyes is adequate for the application. Fluorescent dyes are typically not used in commercial LEDs, as it has not been previously demonstrated how to accomplish these combined objectives using available dyes in reasonable media. Photostability issues are usually present, and the Stokes shift is usually small, so most red emitters tend to absorb poorly in the violet-blue where most of the more efficient LEDs reside, and because of the need for some blue light in most white light spectra. See, for example, International Publication WO/2012/042415, describing the use of dyes with LEDs.
Dyes may aggregate into groups of molecules, or bond with the medium used to contain it. Such effects typically reduce QY, and cause the dyes to remain dispersed rather than dissolved in a medium, so that the medium contains some combination of both dye aggregates and non-aggregated dye molecules. Proper dye-medium compatibility, dye-medium mixing, and processing of the dye-medium mix is important for the achievement of high QY.
Non-fluorescent dyes are sometimes used as filters to absorb portions of the light spectrum to provide more pure visual color, but absorption filtering wastes a significant amount of light energy and is therefore usually undesirable for practical applications unless it is to block UV or long wavelength IR, or otherwise represents the only way to achieve a desired light spectrum at reasonable cost.
Biological applications for fluorescent dyes, quantum dots, and phosphor-like nanoparticles have included tagging and tracking of biological materials, and use as photosensitizers or in photodiagnostic systems. Photoacoustic applications are also known.
The art therefore continues to face unresolved needs in the generation of visible light spectra, and particularly in the creation and use of such spectra to achieve improved visual acuity and enhancement of visualization processes.

Inverse visible spectrum light and broad spectrum light source for enhanced vision


An aspect of the present invention is a method and apparatus for computing a geomagnetic transmission function. This apparatus includes a programmed digital computer running modeling software for modeling the transmission of cosmic ray particles through the magnetosphere. The software includes a model representing a solution to the Lorentz equation in a magnetic field given by B=BIGRF(r,t′)+BTSYG(Kp,r,t′). Another aspect of the present invention is a method and apparatus for computing a flux of particles at the outer surface of a satellite comprising, inter alia, an improved method and apparatus for computing a flux of solar heavy ions. This apparatus includes a programmed digital computer running modeling software for modeling the flux of cosmic ray particles through the outer surface of a satellite. Another aspect of the invention is a method and apparatus comprising a programmed digital computer running modeling software for modeling the effect of cosmic rays on microelectronics, where this software embodies at least one of the two foregoing aspects of the invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for modeling the effects of cosmic rays on microelectronics in earth orbit, and more particularly to an improved method and apparatus for modeling these effects, these improvements reflecting a simpler, easier way for the user to operate the model over the internet, and more accurate modeling of these effects.
2. Description of the Related Art
For electronic components onboard satellites in earth orbit, exposure to cosmic rays represents a serious risk, due to the capacity of cosmic rays to induce single event effects (SEE) in these components. See generally Sherra E. Kerns, Transient-Ionization and Single-Event Phenomena, in Ionizing Radiation Effects in MOS Devices and Circuits 485-91 (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., T. P. Ma et al. eds., 1989). In brief, SEEs occur when an energetic particle changes a particular device in an integrated circuit, thereby causing an error. To date, the only effective methods for hardening these circuits against SEEs have been shielding, redundancy, and error detection and correction (EDAC).
Unfortunately, these measures are not always effective, and the failure of a single component may lead to the total loss of a multi-million dollar satellite. With the potential loss associated with this risk so high it is desired to have a way to accurately predict the magnitude of this risk, as well as a way of predicting how successful ameliorative efforts are likely to be.
CREME (short for Cosmic Ray Effects on Microelectronics) was a software package developed by the Naval Research Laboratory in 1981 for modeling how a given electronic chip on a given satellite with a given orbit and amount of shielding would hold up against cosmic ray bombardment. See Cosmic Ray Effects on Microelectronics, Part I: The Near-Earth Particle Environment, Adams et al., NRL Memorandum Report 4506; Cosmic Ray Effects on Microelectronics Part II: The Geomagnetic Cutoff Effects, Adams et al., NRL Memorandum Report 5099; Cosmic Ray Effects on Miroelectronics, Part IV, Adams, NRL Memorandum Report 5901, each incorporated herein by reference, in their entireties, for all purposes. CREME had several shortcomings. It has been discovered that many of the predictions of CREME were inaccurate. Particular shortcomings of the original CREME software included its inaccurate modeling of the transmission of cosmic rays through earth's magnetosphere, and inaccurate modeling of the flux of heavy ions associated with solar flares.
Moreover, the implementation of this program was less than optimal, having a difficult user interface, and requiring each user to install, maintain, and run the software.

Method and apparatus for modeling cosmic ray effects on microelectronics

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


An integral intermodal train is provided for carrying standard over-the-highway semi-trailers. Each segment can have a plurality of platforms and may be loaded or unloaded independently of any other segment using a self contained, roll-on/roll-off system. Several sub-systems to speed performance and enhance reliability, such as an electronic assisted air brake, health monitoring, trailer tie-down and locomotive interface subsystems, can be provided on each segment. A spring applied parking brake is provided for the segments and operably connected to the train pneumatic brake systems. In a preferred embodiment the brake is automatically applied when brake pipe pressure falls below 40 psi nominal. The pneumatic valving for the parking brake prevents application of the valve in an emergency braking situation, until the pressure has bled off in normal system leakage, preventing wheel damage. A handle is provided for manual application and release of the parking brake when desired.

The present invention relates generally to rail cars for an integral/semi-integral intermodal train employing a segmented roll-on/roll-off system. More particularly, the rail cars can be connected together to form segments of an integral train for carrying freight, such as semi-trailers, wherein each train segment has an integrated arrangement composed of different types of rail car platforms, including an adapter platform, intermediate platforms and a loading ramp platform. The present invention relates, in particular, to an apparatus for the automatic application and release of parking brakes for the rail cars. An intermodal train platform system is described in applicants co-pending application Ser. No. 09/252,204 filed Feb. 22, 1999, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Adapter, intermediate and ramp platform rail car platforms are provided for forming an intermodal train for carrying standard over-the-highway semi-trailers. The intermodal train can have a standard locomotive pulling one or more identical train segments. Each segment can have eleven or more platforms and may be loaded or unloaded independently of any other segment using a self contained, roll-on/roll-off system. This system can have an integral ramp on at least one end of each segment, for use by a hostler tractor and/or the semi-trailers as they are being loaded or unloaded. The platforms which make up each segment can be connected by articulated joints so as to eliminate longitudinal slack and reduce costs. At least one platform should be equipped with a standard knuckle coupler at standard height to permit the segments to be pulled by any existing locomotive.
In order to permit carriage of non-railroad trailers, a very good ride quality is required; and this can be provided by premium trucks and a low 36xc2xd inch deck height, both of which combine to permit stable operation at high speed. High speed operation is also made possible by a brake system providing actual train average braking ratios of eighteen percent nearly double that available with standard equipment. Use of this braking system can permit the Steel Turnpike to operate at speeds thirty percent higher than AAR standard freight trains, while stopping within the same distance.
Several sub-systems intended to speed performance and enhance reliability can be provided on each segment. These are the xe2x80x9cElectronic Assisted Air Brake,xe2x80x9d xe2x80x9cHealth Monitoringxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cTrailer Tie-Downxe2x80x9d subsystems. A xe2x80x9cLocomotive Interface Unitxe2x80x9d subsystem is also required if former subsystems are to be used to best effectiveness.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention a spring applied, air released parking brake is provided for the intermodal train. The parking brake is only permitted to apply when normal air brake cylinder pressure is lost, and preferably only to a degree approximating the loss of normal full service brake cylinder pressure. Manual release of the parking brake is provided should it become necessary or desirable to move a rail car without first charging the brake pipe.
Other details, objects, and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawing Figures of certain embodiments thereof.

Spring applied parking brake for rail cars

Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation


A pivoting cage cargo bed extender is pivotally mounted to the D-pillars of a pick-up truck to be pivotally movable between a forward position and a rearward position. In the rearward position, the pivoting cage serves as a supplemental tailgate structure that rests on the open tailgate to extend the operative area of the cargo bed. The pivoting cage is formed of individual segments that are hinged together and separable at the center into two halves that are each collapsible into a stowed position adjacent the respective side wall of the cargo bed. The two halves of the cargo bed are connectable with a latching mechanism at the center to form a pivoting cage structure that spans transversely across the floor of the cargo bed. The latching mechanism compresses an internal O-ring to provide a tight connection between the two halves.

Conventionally, pickup trucks include a tailgate at the back of a bed that closes off a cargo box. Often times, the truck bed is not long enough to hold the cargo, so truck bed extenders have been developed. The truck bed extenders work in conjunction with the open tailgate in order to provide additional length to the bed. Some of the bed extenders mount to the outside of the tailgate or to the box itself, which may be convenient for deployment, but they tend to interfere with cargo space in the box since the bed extender, when not in use, protrudes into the box. Moreover, it is typical for the vehicle operator to employ the extender only occasionally, so it is generally undesirable to have the extender exposed at all times, which detracts from the attractiveness of the vehicle.
Additionally, it is sometimes desirable to have an extender that can provide other functions in addition to a bed extender, such as a box extender function—an upwardly extending structure from the rearmost edge of an open tailgate that mimics the function of a closed tailgate. Such arrangements are particularly useful for carrying a load that is longer than the bed, but needs rearward support like a closed tailgate provides in order to prevent the load from falling backwards off the truck. Again, though, typical box extenders that provide adequate functionality are externally mounted and not only detract from the vehicle appearance when not in use but also require changes to the box for mounting such extenders. Also, most of these types of extenders are very cumbersome to deploy and later stow away, thus being undesirable for the operator to use. Such functions may be provided with simple ergonomic operation of the assembly, while still allowing for an attractive appearance for the vehicle when the extender is stowed during periods of non-use. Thus, while the exterior mounted extenders may be able to perform multiple functions, they still suffer from the drawbacks of an unattractive appearance and taking up room in the bed even when not in use.
Another drawback with common bed extenders is that a desirable feature of conventional tailgates may be lost. That is, a conventional tailgate has an ornamental plastic tailgate molding mounted along its top surface. It is meant to provide a surface along which cargo can be slid into the bed without the concern of rusting due to paint being scraped off. Some bed extender designs interfere with or cause the elimination of this molding, further detracting from the appearance of the vehicle.
Positioning the extended supplemental tailgate structure generally perpendicularly to the plane of the main tailgate structure, while the main tailgate structure is moved to an open position such that the plane of the tailgate structure is substantially parallel to the bed of the pickup truck, places the extended supplemental tailgate structure in an orientation that is substantially parallel to the main tailgate structure when the main tailgate structure is in a normal closed position. In such an extended position, the supplemental tailgate can provide a restriction to the rearward movement of objects located on the bed of the pickup truck. Furthermore, such an extended position of the supplemental tailgate can provide support for objects placed on top of the supplemental tailgate. The extended supplemental tailgate, however, has a limited support structure on the main tailgate and would have enhanced stability if support members were provided to extend between the extended supplemental tailgate and the body of the pickup truck.
The utilization of a pivoting cage as an apparatus for restraining cargo on the bed of pick-up trucks is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,123, issued to Gerard Kmita, et al on Apr. 1, 2003, wherein a cage assembly is mounted to the D-pillar of the pick-up truck to be movable between a position resting on the opened tailgate and a position resting on the bed to form an enclosed compartment between the cage and the closed tailgate. This fixed cage is also movable into a folded orientation against the tailgate when storage is desired by folding the side pieces against the end piece. Such a storage position for the cage structure will reduce the overall available length of the cargo bed for utilization.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,805,392, issued to Horst Leitner, et al on Oct. 19, 2004, a pivoting cage is disclosed for use as a supplemental tailgate and as a cargo retaining apparatus, depending on which pivoted position the cage is oriented. The cage is of a fixed configuration spanning transversely between the side walls of the cargo bed and is pivotally attached to the side walls of the cargo bed for movement between the two orientations. Storage of the cage structure is accomplished by removing the cage from the cargo bed and placing it somewhere remotely from the vehicle. Convenient storage of the cage apparatus cannot be accomplished without removal of the cage apparatus from the vehicle. If large cargo items need to be loaded into the cargo bed, this cage apparatus would have to be removed and cannot be conveniently stored.
A cage storage device can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,147,103, granted to Wayne Ducote on Sep. 15, 1992, in which a top wall is supported on the top rails of the side walls, while a rearward cage wall extends transversely between the side walls to define a caged storage area at the forward portion of the cargo bed. This cage structure is not pivotal or movable into different orientations. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,253,913, granted on Oct. 19, 1993, a cage-like netting is mounted on a pivoted bar to be movable between a lowered position defining a cargo retaining area between the netting and the front wall of the cargo bed. This pivoted device cannot be positioned in conjunction with the tailgate to provide a supplemental tailgate apparatus, or provide a folded storage configuration.
Supplemental tailgate devices are found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,364,392, issued to Joseph Meinke on Apr. 2, 2002, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,338, issued to David Glickman on Sep. 24, 2002. Such supplemental tailgate devices can be selectively deployed from a storage position housed internally of the tailgate to an upright, operative position, which in conjunction with the lowered tailgate provides an extended cargo bed area that encompasses the floor of the cargo bed and the contiguous top surface of the tailgate. Such supplemental tailgate devices, however, can only restrain cargo passing directly rearwardly over the tailgate. Any cargo that would be loosely positioned on the cargo bed would be able to pass diagonally off the tailgate without encountering the supplemental tailgate device. Furthermore, loose cargo items having a small size can also pass rearwardly through these supplemental tailgate devices.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a cargo bed extending device that is in the form of a pivoting cage, yet can be conveniently configured into a storage position that would permit the utilization of the full length of the cargo bed, while allowing the pivoting cage to be deployed transversely across the cargo bed as needed.

Pivoting cage cargo retainer for pick-up trucks


An apparatus for conveying a process gas stream from an upstream source to a downstream treatment unit, including a manifold receiving gas from the upstream source, including first and second valved inlet lines which are alternatingly employed to flow gas to a downstream process. The manifold is arranged so that one of such lines is actively flowing gas from the upstream source to the downstream process, while the other is blocked by closure of the valve therein and is undergoing regeneration. A pressurized water source is coupled with the manifold, by valved water flow lines to each of the first and second inlet lines, with the water flow line valves being selectively openable or closeable to establish or discontinue flow of pressurized water therethrough, respectively. Cycle timer control means are employed to control the operation of the manifold and valves, for water cleaning of the off-stream inlet line.

1.Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to the field of gas stream scrubbing technology. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for maintaining inlet duct lines of scrubber units free from clogging due to accumulation of particulates and the like.
2.Description of the Related Art
It is common in the treatment of industrial waste gas streams to integrate a cleaning apparatus downstream (relative to the direction of waste flow) of a processing system. The function of the cleaning apparatus is to receive and process effluents produced in upstream process operations.
For example, in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, numerous integrated cleaning systems are commercially available and oftentimes employed for treating effluents and off-gases from semiconductor manufacturing processes. Semiconductor manufacturing processes may include chemical vapor deposition, metal etching, and etch and ion implantation operations. Examples of commercial integrated gas stream cleaning systems include the Delatech Controlled Decomposition Oxidizer, the Dunnschicht Analagen System Escape system, and the Edwards Thermal Processing Unit. Each of these systems include a thermal processing unit for oxidative decomposition of effluent gases, combined with a wet quench for temperature control of off-gases from a hot oxidation section, and wet scrubbing systems for a removal of acid gases and particulates found in the oxidation process.
Scrubbers, like the ones employed above, generally include elongated columns that accommodate effluents and subject them to a counter-current contacting with liquid solvents, reactant solutions, or slurries. The result of the counter-current contacting is an intimate mixing which assists the absorption process to effect removal of impurities from the effluents.
Integrated cleaning systems may be built into the manufacturing system to be an integral part of the manufacturing system. In contrast, stand-alone systems are maintained in a housing structure independent from the process or manufacturing system. Although such stand-alone units may be integrated to the process of the upstream equipment, stand-alone units enjoy a greater degree of mobility than their integrated cleaning system counterparts.
Use of scrubber technology is not limited to integrated cleaning systems but may also be incorporated in stand-alone operation systems. Examples include: a) unheated chemically reacting packed bed dry scrubbers, b) unheated chemisorptive packed bed dry scrubbers, c) heated chemically reacting packed bed dry scrubbers, d) heated catalytically reacting packed bed dry scrubbers, e) wet scrubbers, and f) flame-based thermal treatment units. Each of the aforementioned units is applicable to selected usages depending on the nature of the gas stream undergoing treatment.
Use of scrubber technology is accompanied by various deficiencies, including particulate clogging of the scrubber inlets, lines and manifolds. A line and/or manifold that is even partially clogged prevents the efficient flow of process gases therethrough. Partially clogged lines or manifolds could also interfere with the absorption processes occurring with the normal operations of a scrubber, e.g., dissolution of a gaseous component or components in a solvent medium.
In application to scrubbing of effluent gas streams, various causes for clogging of scrubbers have been suggested. Clogging can be caused by the reaction of silicon bearing in-coming species reacting with water, or water vapor, and depositing droplets of silicon-containing water in the inlet of a scrubber. This clog-formation mechanism is present for processes applied to semiconductor tools used for epitaxial growth on wafers and which tend to use trichloro silane and dichloro silane. Clogging can also be caused by the condensation deposition of condensable species in the inlet section to a water scrubber. Clogging may also be caused by the back-migration of water vapor from a water scrubber into the incoming process line. This back-migrating water vapor can then react with incoming species and form materials with low volatility and result in their depositing in the inlet to a water scrubber. This last mechanism is, for example, characteristic of scrubber abatement of tools for the metal etch process.
During metal etching machining, e.g., an off-gas such as BCl.sub.3 (boron trichloride) may be produced. BCl.sub.3 reacts with water vapor to form a non-volatile particulate boric acid which condenses, accumulates, and at least partially clogs inlet ports or inlet lines.
Existing practice has several methods to attempt to eliminate these types of clogs. One method attempts to flush the clog periodically with water. This subjects the clog to a pressurized water stream that dissolves the clog and the clog is flushed away. An undesirable effect of the flushing process is, however, the back migration of water will now originate from the point of introduction of flush water and result in increased hydrolysis reactions upstream with other water sensitive gases, such as WF6 (tungsten hexafluoride), and merely cause the clog to move further upstream.
Another method utilizes the introduction of a mechanical plunger mechanism or other solid removal means to keep the inlet and lines free of solids accumulations. However, such mechanical solutions are costly, labor-intensive, require significant maintenance and are susceptible to mechanical breakdown.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for cleaning scrubber manifold lines so as to reduce the tendency for clog formation in the lines, the scrubber inlets and the manifolds.
It is another object of the present invention provide such an apparatus and method which prevents the back-migration of process water.
It is another object of the present invention to prevent hydrolysis reactions and minimize particulate accumulation.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide method and apparatus of the above-described type which has minimal interference with the operation of the scrubber.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will be more fully apparent from the ensuing disclosure and appended claims.

Alternating wash/dry water scrubber entry

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An improved, continuous, cyclic process for selective coagulant recovery from clarifier sludge in water treatment plants. The improvement comprises several steps. First, the pH of the clarifier sludge is adjusted to about 3.5. Next, a composite membrane is provided having a chelating exchanger enmeshed in porous polymeric thin sheets. That composite membrane is placed in contact with the acidified sludge for selectively sorbing metal ion from the acidified sludge onto the composite membrane. The composite membrane, now carrying the metal ion, is withdrawn from contact with the acidified sludge and introduced into a stirred regeneration tank containing acid. In that tank, the chelating exchanger of the composite membrane is regenerated by desorbing the metal ion, thereby recovering the coagulant substantially devoid of organic material and undesirable metals. Finally, the regenerated composite membrane is recycled into contact with more acidified sludge while, at the same time, the acid is recirculated through the regeneration tank. In short, the improved cyclic process recovers alum selectively from clarifier sludge with insignificant carry-over of undesirable substances like organics, manganese, and heavy metals.

Sludge management is a growing problem for water utilities. Because alum constitutes thirty to fifty percent of the total clarifier sludge, recovering it would significantly reduce the amount of solid waste that water utilities must dispose. Moreover, recovered alum can be reused as a coagulant, thereby reducing water treatment operating costs.
Aluminum is not included on the list of priority pollutants issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Nevertheless, the toxic effect of free and complexed aluminum species on various aquatic life, including fish and benthic organisms, has been the focus of recent investigation. Consequently, although clarifier sludge is not a hazardous waste, its high aluminum content will prompt closer scrutiny in the future of clarifier sludge disposal.
Many of the sludge-producing water treatment plants in the United States are turbidity removal plants, which account for about seventy percent of all water treated. Water treatment plants use coagulants such as alum and ferric sulfate to remove the turbidity in raw water and produce coagulant sludges containing aluminum, magnesium, and iron hydroxides. The coagulant, an acidic sulfate, must be disposed or recovered. About twenty-five percent of the waste producing plants are water softening plants. They account for about twenty-five percent of all water treated. The problem with sludges is similar in other countries.
The need to eliminate sludge discharges has imposed both an economic and a technological problem on the water supply industry. Recently, sludge processing plants have been constructed to treat coagulant. Most disposal practices involve one or more of four alternatives. Co-disposal of the coagulant with sewage sludge at a waste water treatment plant is one alternative; co-disposal often is impractical because sewer access may be unavailable. Lagooning with and without natural freezing, which requires ultimate disposal of the residue in the future, may be a viable alternative at plants where large tracts of inexpensive land are available. Mechanical dewatering with landfills of residue is a third alternative; it is slow and expensive, especially for plants with a water treatment capacity of less than fifty million gallons per day, and undesirable because land disposal of solid wastes has emerged as a national problem (minimizing the volume of solid wastes is a top environmental priority). Finally, only coagulant recovery, of all the potential methods of sludge treatment, offers the ability to reduce the size of the facilities required and to provide a lower life cycle cost.
Several processes have been developed to recover coagulants, particularly the alum produced from aluminum hydroxide which is dispersed in an aqueous sludge resulting from precipitation or coagulation with alum in potable water clarification. They all have the basic disadvantage that the recovering means can be regenerated and reused only with great difficulty and cost. One process involves a substantial lowering of pH to solubilize the metal ion in a metal hydroxide precipitate by adding acid. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,133 issued to Fulton.
In the acid digestion process, sludge, usually from settling basins and filter backwashes, is collected in an equalization tank and subsequently thickened by gravity. The supernatant water from the tank is returned to the plant raw water intake. Acid (typically sulfuric acid) is added to the thickened sludge at a concentration determined by the amount of metal hydroxide in the sludge and the desired level of recovery. The dissolved aluminum, in the form of liquid alum, is separated from the residual solids by a gravity separator and returned to storage for reuse while the residual sludge is disposed of by landfills after neutralization.
The stoichiometry of the reaction, by which clarifier sludge is sufficiently acidified with sulfuric acid and insoluble aluminum hydroxide is dissolved in the form of dilute liquid alum, can be written as follows: ##STR1## The above equation summarizes the underlying concept of the acid digestion process, which was implemented at the water treatment plant of the city of Durham, N.C. with encouraging results.
The acid process for alum recovery has a number of shortcomings which may preclude water utilities from adopting and applying it. One potentially serious problem is that certain impurities may accumulate in the recovered and recycled alum. The process is nonselective; along with alum, it also recovers other impurities which are soluble under highly acidic conditions or which exist as colloids. If this occurs and the recovered alum is recycled for water treatment, the potable water may suffer degradation. Consequently, the acid process may not be used in areas where such impurities present problems.
Potential impurities include those which can be converted to a soluble form in the acidulation process, such as iron, manganese, chromium, other metals, and those from impure sulfuric acid. The concentration of heavy metals (copper, lead, cadmium, and others) in the clarifier sludge is normally low. That concentration may warrant concern, however, if the sludge is recycled through recovered alum. For example, the manganese concentration is significant in raw water in many areas and is likely to be very high in the recovered alum for the acid digestion process. Tests run at the Durham plant confirms that, in recovered alum, the manganese concentration is as high as 127 mg/g of aluminum. Contrast commercial alum, in which manganese is practically absent. This problem may occur for any element present in ionic or colloidal form in the raw water but which has a low solubility and a high settling rate in the clarifier. Such an element would tend to concentrate in the recovered alum during the acid digestion process.
Other impurities which the acid digestion process typically recovers along with alum include a wide variety of naturally occurring organic materials (humates and fulvates). Should the recovered alum be reused as a coagulant, the concentration of organic matter (trihalomethane precursors) and the potential to form trihalomethane in the treated water would tend to increase in the clarified water.
Researchers have tried extracting solvents using liquid ion exchangers for selective alum recovery. This process uses organic solvents to recover pure, concentrated alum from sludge by liquid ion exchange. The liquid ion exchange is a process step performed after acid is added to the alum sludge and is used to eliminate acid soluble impurities from the recovered alum. Such a process is operationally complex, however, and solvent carryover or entrainment into the recovered alum is unavoidable without incorporating an additional treatment step. Moreover, the economics of liquid-ion exchange have yet to be proven.
Chelating agents are useful both in theoretical and applied chemistry and related fields. Common uses include both qualitative and quantitative analyses, water softening, catalysis, and solution clarification. Chelating agents are particularly useful in treating aqueous effluents to remove metallic impurities.
Typically, chelating agents are used in either liquid ion exchange systems (see U.S. Pat. No. 4,334,999 issued to Cornwell) or packed columns (see W. Waitz, Ion Exchange in Heavy Metals Removal and Recovery, Amber-Hi-Lites, 162 (Rohm and Haas Co., Philadelphia, Pa.); T. Roy, Chelating Polymers: Their Properties and Applications, Master's Thesis, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pa. (1989)). In the former, an organic solution containing the chelating agent is placed in intimate contact with the aqueous solution. Metallic ions are removed when the two phases are separated. Unfortunately, a clean separation of the phases is difficult to achieve; some loss of organic solvent invariably results. In the latter, the aqueous solution passes through a column or "bed" of solid chelating resin, which is often mixed with a solid, inert carrier. Such a process requires extensive pretreatment, however, and cannot handle sludges or slurries which have high solids contents.
The preceding discussion stresses the need for a cyclic, selective, easy-to-operate, efficient, economical coagulant recovery process for water utilities. An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide an improved and different process for selective removal of coagulant (especially alum) from waste water clarifier sludge without encountering the shortcomings associated with the processes discussed above. A related object is to provide a process in which a metal ion can be extracted directly from an insoluble metal hydroxide or salt dispersed in an aqueous phase containing five to ten percent suspended solids. Further, it is an object of the present invention to provide a process which does not significantly accumulate organic material or heavy metals in the liquid coagulant recovered--as occurs in the acid digestion process. Still further it is an object of the present invention to provide a process which can be operated with relative ease when compared to existing processes.
In addition, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system which can be regenerated and used continuously for long periods of time. Another object is to provide a high surface area system which is compatible with sludge, thereby avoiding the need to pretreat the sludge.

Cyclic process for selective coagulant recovery from clarifier sludge