A rod bending device includes an L-shaped bracket formed by a mounting plate adjoined to a support plate at a substantially 90.degree. angle. The bracket is mounted to an outwardly extending corner wall whereby an outer surface of the support plate aligns with one of the intersecting corner walls. A bending assembly is mounted to the support plate and includes a pivot support block and corner block which extend outwardly from the support plate and which are spaced from and parallel to one another forming a rod retaining cavity therebetween. The corner block having a corner edge which forms the fulcrum about which the rod is bent. An end block extends between the corner block and the pivot support block to enclose the rod retaining cavity. A gap is formed between an upper portion of the pivot support block and the support plate for receiving a pivot arm. The pivot arm is pivotally secured within the gap. An outer free end of the pivot arm is formed with a rod receiving channel which engages the rod to be bent and retains the rod substantially in line with the pivot arm. The pivot arm has a pivot point which is positioned on a side of the rod receiving cavity opposite that of the fulcrum of the corner block.

1. Technical Field
Generally, the invention relates to a rod bending device. Particularly, the invention relates to a device having a bracket which supports the rod on a vertical wall while a pivot arm engages and bends the rod. More particularly, the invention relates to a rod bending device which can be mounted on any outwardly extending corner wall for retaining the rod within a bending assembly while the pivot arm having a U-shaped channel engages the rod and bends the rod about a corner block.
2. Background Information
Rods bent in L-shaped or U-shaped configurations are used in numerous applications. Particularly, automobile muffler systems require curved rods which extend into rubber bushings or housings of the automobile chassis and curve around a bottom of the muffler system to vertically support the muffler system to the chassis. These bent rods are available as "off-the-shelf" parts from the automobile manufacturer or from after market suppliers, but it is much less expensive for muffler repair shops to purchase straight rods and bend and cut the straight rods to fit the particular automobile and muffler system. By bending their own rods, the muffler repair shops can create muffler supports for virtually any type of automobile having the rubber bushing and curved support rod configuration.
Various devices have been invented which are used to bend a rod or pipe. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 669,858 discloses a machine for bending iron--flat and angle--having a guide block and former between which the iron is placed. A cam mechanism advances the former into and out of the operative position when the former is placed in the operative position, the iron is sandwiched between the former and the guide block and an operating arm is pivoted horizontally to bend the iron at the desired angle. A supplemental operating arm pivots vertically over the iron to prevent the iron from buckling and to help produce an even bend.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,510,162 discloses a pipe bending machine having a pair of rollers between which the pipe is inserted. A bending block is formed with a channel into which the pipe is placed and secured by a u-bolt. A handle is attached to a bending block and is used to pivot the bending block around the top roller. As the handle and bending block are pivoted, the pipe bends around the top roller into its desired configuration.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,987,021 discloses a bending machine having a pair of formers around which a pipe is bent. A handle pivots to bend the rod at a 90.degree. angle. The formers are separated and the handle is further pivoted to create a U-shaped bend in the rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,675,723 discloses a pivoted rod bending hand tool having first and second pivot arms. A guide formed with a channel is rigidly mounted to the first pivot arm and engages the rod. The second pivot arm pivots relative to the guide and first pivot arm and includes a bearing sleeve which rolls along the rod as the rod is bent by the pivotal movement of the second pivot arm.
Although these prior art rod bending devices are adequate for the purpose for which they are intended, several of these rod bending devices require a horizontal work surface such as a workbench or table upon which the device is mounted to keep the device stationary while bending rods. In a small place such as a muffler repair shop, it is undesirable to waste the limited amount of available horizontal work space on a rod bending device. Also, because the rods are often bent before they are cut to the specific size, there may not be enough room in the muffler repair shop for the rod to be clamped in the rod bending devices and extend horizontally outwardly therefrom possibly hitting and damaging cars or blocking aisle ways.
Other of the prior art rod bending devices require that the rod be clamped or otherwise mechanically secured within the device before the rod can be bent. Because of the large number of rods which must be bent in a single day, it would be inefficient to mechanically clamp each rod bent by the rod bending device. The muffler shops require a device in which the rod can be placed and quickly bent by the activation of an arm or lever.
Therefore, the need exists for a rod bending device which mounts vertically to a wall and in which the rod may be quickly inserted and bent by the activation of a pivot arm.


A clip comprises a pin having a flange and a shank and a bush having a flange and a hollow shank into which the pin shank is inserted. The clip is configured so that the pin and bush can be temporarily connected, and the bush shank can be inserted into a mounting hole in a workpiece such as a panel while the pin and bush are temporarily connected. When the pin shank is further inserted into the bush shank, the bush shank expands to fix the clip to the workpiece. The bush flange has a wall extending to about the level of the pin flange when the pin and the bush are temporarily connected so as to shield the pin flange and the pin shank.

The present invention relates to a so-called one push-type clip having a pin and a bush and able to connect a plurality of workpieces together, such as panels, by pushing the pin into the bush.
There is a well-know type of clip consisting of a pin and a bush in which a hollow bush shank is inserted into mounting holes of two workpieces such as panels to be connected together, a pin shank is inserted into the hollow bush shank, a portion of the bush shank expands, and the workpieces are connected together by the expanded portion of the bush shank and a bush flange. This clip makes it easy to connect workpieces together by simply inserting the bush shank into the mounting holes in the workpieces and pushing in the pin.
This well-known clip is configured so that the pin and bush are temporarily connected by pushing in the pin shank to a temporary connecting position in the bush shank without causing the bush shank to expand. The bush shank is inserted into a mounting hole in a workpiece such as a panel while the pin and bush are temporarily connected. The clip is also configured so that the pin shank is further inserted into the bush shank to expand the bush shank and establish a permanent connection. This type of clip is sold, stored and used with the pin and bush temporarily connected. Because workpieces can be fixed by simply pushing the pin into the bush one time (with one push), this type of clip is commonly known as a one push-type clip.
A door switch bumper for an automobile has been disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Application Publication No. 61-66011) that has a main body and a pin inserted into a leg portion of the main body. The leg portion of the main body of the door switch bumper is inserted into a mounting hole in a door panel, and some of the leg portion expands when the pin is pushed in. The main body is thus permanently attached to the door panel by a base of the main body and the expanded leg portion.
A part mounting device has been disclosed in Patent Document 2 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-124022) that consists of a hollow female component (bush) with flexible legs to engage a mounting hole in a workpiece and a male component inserted into the female component to keep the flexible legs from bending inwardly. This part mounting device is configured to provide a temporary connection state by pushing the male component into the female component to a position at which it does not prevent the flexible legs from bending inwardly. The flexible legs of the female component in the temporary connection state are then inserted into the mounting hole of a workpiece such as a panel, and the male component is pushed further into the female component to prevent the flexible legs on the female component from bending inward, thereby connecting the device permanently to the workpiece. The part mounting device in Patent Document 2 constitutes a clip that is sold, stored and used in the temporary connection state.
In the door switch bumper of Patent Document 1, the pin is pushed into the main body to attach the main body to a panel, but because the pin is not temporarily connected to the leg portion of the main body, the two components—pin and main body—have to be assembled on site. This type of clip also has to be carefully managed in inventory so that one of the components is not lost.
Because the attachment device in Patent Document 2 is a one push-type clip in which the pin or male component is temporarily connected to the female component (bush), the pin and bush do not have to be assembled on site, and the clip is easy to manage in inventory without loss of one of the components. A certain number of such clips or part mounting devices are usually wrapped together in a single package for sale, and a user transports and uses them in the temporary connection state. However, the packaged clips can collide with each other as they are held and transported, so that some of the pins can be pushed further into the bushes to the permanent connection state. Such clips cannot be used to mount parts to a workpiece. These clips have to be treated as defective and only used after being returned to the temporary connection state. Because it is not easy to determine on-site which delivered clips are in the permanent connection state, a user can waste time attempting to mount the bushes on these clips in mounting holes in workpieces. The result is reduction in productivity and increased expense.


A chip package includes: a semiconductor chip having an upper surface and a lower surface opposite to each other, the semiconductor chip including an image sensor circuit; a metal heat conductive layer formed on the lower surface, for conducting or absorbing heat generated by the semiconductor chip; a bond pad formed on the upper surface, for electrically connecting with the image sensor circuit in the semiconductor chip, wherein the metal heat conductive layer conducts or absorbs heat generated by the semiconductor chip, to thereby reduce temperature of the image sensor circuit in the semiconductor chip and improve the performance of the circuit, wherein the metal heat conductive layer entirely covers the lower surface.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a chip package and a manufacturing method thereof; particularly, it relates to such chip package with a function of heat sink and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a prior art chip package 1 from cross-section view. As shown in FIG. 1, the chip package 1 for example is an image sensor chip package, which includes: a semiconductor chip 11, a bond pad 12, a chamber wall 13, an optical glass 14, an electrical conductive pad 15, an electrical conductive wire 16, a barrier solder mask 17, solder balls 18, and a solder mask face 19. An optical image signal passes through the optical glass 14 and a cavity formed by the chamber wall 13 to enter the semiconductor chip 11. The optical image signal is converted to an electronic signal by a circuit operating in the semiconductor chip 11, and the electronic signal is delivered from the bond pad 12, via the conductive pad 15, the conductive wire 16, and the solder balls 18, to a printed circuit board (PCB, not shown).
When the circuit in the semiconductor substrate 11 operates, heat is generated. The chip package 1 for example is a chip scale package (CSP), and such heat dissipation issue will impact the performance of the semiconductor chip 11, generating noises in the optical image signal, and even damaging the chip package 1 in a severe situation.
In view of above, to overcome the drawbacks in the prior art, the present invention proposes a chip package and a manufacturing thereof, which improves the heat dissipation efficiency of the chip package to reduce the operation temperature and improve the operating performance of the chip.

Chip package with improved heat dissipation and manufacturing method thereof


A computer vision system is disclosed that utilizes a spinning array of photodetectors. The array is rotated about the focal plane of a lens and scans all the possible orientations and positions of the edges of the unknown object. In one embodiment, the photodetectors are elongated so as to provide for maximum light gathering ability along the direction of elongation and a minimum light gathering ability in the direction perpendicular to the direction of elongation. In other embodiments, optical means are used to focus the image onto conventional photodetectors while still having the ability to more efficiently determine edge segments of unknown objects. The system efficiently and rapidly implements the wavelet projection transform to characterize-multi-scale edge segment features of an image of an unknown object. An imaging radar system that utilizes a spinning antenna system having frequency scanning provisions is also disclosed.

Computer vision systems find many applications in various fields such as automatic target recognition for military purposes, medical systems for the detection of tumors, and security and law enforcement systems for finger print identification and, more recently, face recognition of wanted criminals. The computer vision system typically has a digital camera that detects an unknown object having edge segments and converts the detected unknown object into an image represented by digital quantities that are extensively processed by known pattern recognition techniques so that the unknown object can be classified as being a known object.
Pattern recognition of unknown objects is somewhat hindered in its ability to decompose images of unknown objects into their constituent multi-scale edge segments (MSESs). To better provide for this decomposition, the wavelet projection transforms (WPTs) may be employed in a manner, as more fully described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/833,482. It is further desired to have an efficient high speed hardware implementation of the wavelet projection transform. This implementation would consist of a special camera that outputs direct imagery in the wavelet projection transform domain. This camera would consist of a unique spinning focal plane array, a special read out, and preferably spinning optics.

Spinning focal plane array camera particularly suited for real time pattern recognition

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


A converter generates an output voltage differential across a floating load, such as a string of LEDs. The converter receives an input voltage Vin from a power supply, and the floating output voltage differential may be greater than or less than Vin. The converter uses a first switch and first inductor in a boost mode type configuration, and uses a second switch and second inductor in a buck mode type configuration. The inductors have a common node. The first inductor has another end coupled to ground, and the other end of the second inductor is coupled to the load. Both inductors charge and discharge together depending on the conductivities of the switches. One end of the load will be approximately zero volts, while the other end will be at a negative voltage VEE. The two inductors smooth input current/voltage ripple and output current/voltage ripple, resulting in low EMI.

It is common to drive a series string of LEDs using a DC/DC switch mode power supply converter. One end of the LED string may be connected to a reference source (e.g., ground or the input voltage), or both ends of the string may be floating, since only the regulated current through the string is relevant to light output. The converter can be a step up (boost) or step down (buck) converter. There are other types of converters (buck-boost) using four switches that boost or buck the input voltage as needed. The additional switches add cost and size, and the transition between the buck and boost modes can create noise. Such buck-boost converters do not have both low input voltage ripple and low output voltage ripple, so generate higher EMI than desirable.
What is needed is an efficient converter for a floating load, such as a string of LEDs, where only two switches are required, and where the configuration inherently smoothes both input and output current ripple for low EMI. The converter should output a voltage across the floating load that can be either greater than or less than the input voltage while regulating the LED string current. The switch controller may be an off-the-shelf buck controller IC due to features offered by buck controllers that are not available with boost controllers or buck-boost controllers. Using such an off-the-shelf buck controller will also greatly reduce the cost of implementation of the converter.

Floating output voltage boost-buck regulator using a buck controller with low input and low output ripple


A brushless DC motor modifies motor commutation events to reduce noise by providing overlapping activation of the switch being deactivated with the switch being newly activated so that three switches are temporarily activated. The newly activated switch is pulse width modulated with a motor torque controlling duty cycle, and the switch being deactivated is pulse width modulated synchronously with the newly activated switch but with a duty cycle decreasing from the torque controlling duty cycle. The decreasing modulation of the switch being deactivated allows a slower current decrease in the phase turning off to reduce or eliminate the disturbances, and thus the noise. The decreasing modulation is preferably exponential in manner, with a time constant varying inversely with motor speed so that the duty cycle reaches a predetermined minimum in a predetermined maximum number of motor electrical degrees. The decreasing modulation may be switched on at low motor speeds where its noise reduction is required and switched off at higher motor speeds where the potential for interference with commutation is greater. The decreasing modulation is applicable in a dual switching mode in which each activated switch, except for the switch being deactivated in commutation, is pulse width modulated at the torque controlling duty cycle, or in a modified single switching mode in which the activated switch of one of the upper or lower groups is always closed continuously during its activation, except for commutation, during which the switch remaining on, which alternates between the groups, is closed continuously. Each mode of operation is applied in the motor speed/torque region to which it is best suited.

A brushless DC motor requires electronic commutation of its armature currents. This is typically accomplished, for a trapezoidal back EMF, three phase motor, by means of a bridge switching circuit containing six semiconductor switches, as shown in FIG. 3 and 4. When a predetermined upper switch and non-series lower switch are simultaneously conducting, an armature current flows through two of the three phase windings in series to electromagnetically interact with the permanent magnet rotor and develop torque in a predetermined direction. Commutation to a different pair of armature windings is accomplished by turning off one of the switches and turning on a different non-series switch of the same level (upper or lower), with a control providing switching signals to the switch gates in the proper sequence and with the proper timing. Motor operation is thus controlled by activating the switches in a predetermined pattern.
The electric currents in the activated phases are controlled, usually by pulse width modulation at a higher frequency, to control motor torque. This modulation, in combination with the inductance of the windings, produces an average motor current, and thus a smooth motor torque, except during commutation. In traditional commutation, where the phases are turned off and on abruptly, the rise and fall of the phase currents are controlled only by the network properties of the motor and switching circuitry. The forcing function for the phase turning off is not the same as it is for the phase turning on, and one of the currents (rising or falling) will change faster than the other. The unequal current in the phase turning off and the phase turning on can produce a disturbance in the average motor current, and thus a variation in torque, at each commutation event; and such disturbances can drive the motor structure to generate audible noise. In some applications of such motors these noises may be objectionable. In particular, use of such a control and motor in an electric power steering system in modes of operation producing high phase currents at low motor speed can produce an annoying clicking noise at commutation, which may be termed "zipper noise." It is an object of this invention to control the phase currents of such a motor during commutation to reduce or eliminate such objectionable noise.

Brushless DC motor control method and apparatus for reduced commutation noise


Systems and methods to generate power using wind and controlled air movement and related structures to more cost effectively produce energy and protect system components.

1. Field Of The Disclosure
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for harnessing wind energy, and more specifically to wind turbines for producing electricity from wind energy.
2. Related Art
Typical horizontal axis wind turbines having multiple rotating blades are made to endure enormous destructive wind forces during operation. The wind forces may be created by wind conditions that vary from a no-wind condition to an extreme-wind condition. The rotating blades are generally designed such that the entire length of the blade is externally configured as an airfoil in cross-section since the airfoil shape of the rotor blade generally provides for a higher efficiency of performance.
However, because of the extremes in the variation of the wind conditions, the design considerations of the rotor blades must include a careful balancing of many factors. For example, the rotor blades must be constructed such that they are as lightweight as possible to reduce the strain on the tower. At the same time, however, consideration must be given to the possibility that the blades may be subject to resonance and harmonic vibration at their operating speeds. Moreover, the rotor blades need considerable strength to endure the buffeting of the winds and the stress they experience being constantly exposed to natural forces.
The horizontal axis wind turbines also suffer from several disadvantages due to their typically large-scale design. These concerns include not only the obscuring of the landscape with banks of rotating turbines, noise, and environmental safety, but that they are impractical for smaller, owner-controlled applications. Vertical axis turbines are generally much less efficient and exhibit frequent failures of the main top bearings due to the radial stress on the bearings. The blades also have to endure great shear forces from bottom to top due to the nature of wind shear.
As the use of wind turbines continues to present an environmentally friendly solution to help reduce the need for burning fossil fuels to generate electricity, what is needed is a wind turbine system that overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks.


Embodiments of the present invention provide hydrogen-free dielectric films and methods of fabrication. A hydrogen-free precursor, such as tetraisocyanatosilane, and hydrogen-free reactants, such as nitrogen, oxygen (O2/O3) and nitrous oxide are used with chemical vapor deposition processes (PECVD, thermal CVD, SACVD, HDP CVD, and PE and Thermal ALD) to create hydrogen-free dielectric films. In some embodiments, there are multilayer dielectric films with sublayers of various materials such as silicon oxide, silicon nitride, and silicon oxynitride. In embodiments, the hydrogen-free reactants may include Tetra Isocyanato Silane, along with a hydrogen-free gas including, but not limited to, N2, O2, O3, N2O, CO2, CO and a combination thereof of these H-Free gases. Plasma may be used to enhance the reaction between the TICS and the other H-free gasses. The plasma may be controlled during film deposition to achieve variable density within each sublayer of the films.

For a long time, silicon-based integrated circuits (IC)s have been fabricated using a silicon dielectric such as silicon oxide. These films are heretofore formed using various hydrogen-bearing precursors. These hydrogen-bearing precursors, are mostly in gas or liquid form and are widely used due to their ease of implementation into a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process or a plasma enhanced CVD (PECVD) process. As a result, most of these dielectrics used in FEOL (front end of line) and BEOL (back end of line) silicon integrated circuit fabrication have a significant amount of weakly bonded hydrogen that can have a negative reliability impact to electronic devices, Furthermore, UV and E-Beam processing that have been recently implemented in sub-50 nm (for ULK curing or UV/E-beam lithography) devices can break the weak hydrogen bonds and release hydrogen atoms, and subsequently cause reliability issues. It is therefore desirable to have improvements in dielectric films to mitigate the aforementioned problems.

Hydrogen-free silicon-based deposited dielectric films for nano device fabrication

International Business Machines Corporation


Example implementations relate to metadata operations in a storage system. An example includes a storage controller loading a manifest from persistent storage into memory, and loading a first container index from persistent storage into the memory. The first container index is associated with the manifest loaded into the memory. The storage controller determines whether a tracking data structure of the first container index includes an identifier of the manifest. In response to a determination that the tracking data structure of the first container index does not include the identifier of the manifest, the storage controller discards the manifest.

Data reduction techniques can be applied to reduce the amount of data stored in a storage system. An example data reduction technique includes data deduplication. Data deduplication identifies data units that are duplicative, and seeks to reduce or eliminate the number of instances of duplicative data units that are stored in the storage system.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements. The figures are not necessarily to scale, and the size of some parts may be exaggerated to more clearly illustrate the example shown. Moreover, the drawings provide examples and/or implementations consistent with the description; however, the description is not limited to the examples and/or implementations provided in the drawings.

Container index including a tracking data structure

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


There is provided a polarizing plate including (a) upper and lower substrates both composed of transparent material, (b) a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the upper and lower substrates, (c) a pair of adhesive layers formed on the upper and lower substrates, respectively, (d) first hard coat layers adhered to the upper and lower substrates, respectively, through the adhesive layers, (e) polarizing layers formed on the first hard coat layers, respectively, (f) a second hard coat layer formed on one of the polarizing layers, and (g) an electrically conductive layer having glare shield function and formed on the other of the polarizing layers. For instance, the electrically conductive layer is composed of a resin in which electrically conductive particles composed of In.sub.2 O.sub.3, SnO.sub.2, or a mixture of In.sub.2 O.sub.3 and SnO.sub.2 are scattered. The above-mentioned polarizing plate can have an electrically conductive, non-glare layer without carrying out additional steps such as vacuum evaporation or sputtering.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a polarizing plate to be used for a liquid crystal display, and more particularly to a polarizing plate having glare shield effect and electrical conductivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional twist nematic (TN) liquid crystal display, an electric field is applied perpendicularly to a glass substrate to thereby cause liquid crystal molecules to stand perpendicularly to a panel, and images are displayed utilizing variation in light transmittance of the panel which occurs when the liquid crystal molecules are caused to stand perpendicularly to the panel. A polarizing plate generally used in such a conventional TN liquid crystal display is constituted of a pair of acrylic films, and a polarizing film sandwiched between the acrylic films. One of the acrylic films is adhered to a panel of a polarizing plate through acrylic adhesive, and a glare shield layer is formed on the other of the acrylic films adhered to a display surface. The glare shield layer is designed to have irregularities at a surface thereof, or be composed of acrylic resin in which SiO.sub.2 particles are scattered, and the SiO.sub.2 particles are fixated by being optically or thermally cured. The glare shield layer is formed for the purpose of scattering reflection lights to thereby reduce glare caused by reflection of external lights. The glare shield layer enhances visibility in display in a TN liquid crystal display.
TN liquid crystal display is employed in variety of fields because it consumes less power, is more compact, and provides better quality than other displays such as cathode ray tube (CRT). However, since crystal liquid molecules are driven perpendicularly to a panel, a viewer sees the crystal liquid molecules in different directions in dependence on an angle with which the viewer observes the panel. Since an angle of visibility, defined as an angle at which contrast is inverted, in crystal liquid molecules is quite narrow because of anisotropy in a refractive index thereof, TN liquid crystal display is not suitable to a big screen at which many viewers looks in all directions.
In these days, with development in technology for fabricating a thin film transistor (TFT) in a quite small size, a horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display which has an angle of visibility sufficiently wide to use for a big screen such as a monitor, has been put to practical use. A horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display displays images thereon, utilizing variation in light transmittance of a panel which takes place when a voltage is applied in parallel with a panel to thereby rotate liquid crystal molecules in the panel. Hence, a viewer can look at crystal liquid molecules in a common direction regardless of an angle with which the viewer looks at a panel. Thus, a horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display has almost no dependence on an angle of visibility, and has an angle of visibility as wide as an angle of visibility of CRT. A horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display is expected to take over CRT.
A polarizing plate used in a horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display has a glare shield layer on a surface thereof for enhancing visibility similarly to TN liquid crystal display. However, a horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display is accompanied with a problem that when electric charges such as static electricity are accumulated on a surface of the liquid crystal display, and the electric charges have no space to escape to, an electric field is generated perpendicularly to a panel. The thus generated perpendicular electric field puts out of order an electric field applied to liquid crystal molecules both when crystal liquid molecules are driven or not driven. As a result, crystal liquid molecules behave independently of signals transmitted thereto, and accordingly the quality of display is considerably deteriorated.
As a solution to the above-mentioned problem, a horizontal electric field type liquid crystal display has been designed to have an electrically conductive polarizing plate not only for preventing from being charged, but also for providing glare shield effect.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional, electrically conductive polarizing plate not only for preventing from being charged, but also for providing glare shield effect. The illustrated polarizing panel is used in a liquid crystal panel. The liquid crystal panel includes an upper glass substrate 38, a lower glass substrate 40, and a liquid crystal layer 39 sandwiched between the upper and lower glass substrates 38 and 40. A first polarizing plate includes a pair of transparent hard coat layers 43 and 44, a polarizing layer 41 sandwiched between the transparent hard coat layers 43 and 44, a glare shield layer 49 formed on the transparent hard coat layer 43, and a thin, electrically conductive film 50 formed on the glare shield layer 49. The first polarizing plate is adhered to the upper glass substrate 38 through an acrylic adhesive layer 47. A second polarizing plate includes a pair of transparent hard coat layers 45 and 46, and a polarizing layer 42 sandwiched between the transparent hard coat layers 45 and 46, and is adhered to the lower glass substrate 40 through an acrylic adhesive layer 48.
Since no electric charges are accumulated on the first polarizing plate having electrical conductivity, no electric field is generated perpendicularly to a panel, and thus it is possible to prevent deterioration of the quality of display. A polarizing plate having both an electrically conductive film and a glare shield layer, as mentioned above, has been suggested in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 6-324214, 6-139822, 6-196110, 61-168899, and 4-342202. However, the polarizing plates having been suggested in those Publications are accompanied with a problem which occurs when an electrically conductive film is formed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 6-324214 and 61-168899 have suggested methods of forming an electrically conductive film by evaporating electrically conductive material in vacuum. However, the suggested methods have to include an extra step of vacuum evaporation, resulting in an increase in cost for fabricating a polarizing plate. In addition, these methods use an electrically conductive, thin film. Hence, a light interference of external lights reflected from the thin film varies in dependence on a thickness of the thin film with the result that the reflected lights are colored, which considerably deteriorate quality of display.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publications Nos. 6-139822 and 6-196110 have suggested methods of fixating electrically conductive material by burning in order to have an electrically conductive film. However, it is necessary in both the methods to burn an electrically conductive film at 100.degree. C. or greater in order to fixate the film. Namely, a polarizing plate has to be treated at a temperature greater than a maximum temperature at which the polarizing plate can withstand. Hence, these methods are not suitable for forming an electrically conductive film to be used for a polarizing plate.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 4-342202 has suggested a method of forming irregularities on a surface of a polarizing plate for reducing reflection at the surface. The irregularities are formed by applying energy such as ultra-violet ray and heat to a base resin, scattering resin, which is cured in a different atmosphere, in a surface of a polarizing plate and then curing the resin to thereby use irregularities of the cured resin, and so on. However, this method has to have an extra step of forming irregularities, resulting in an increase in cost for fabricating a polarizing plate.
In brief, the above-mentioned prior art has the following problems.
The first problem is that external lights reflected from a surface of an electrically conductive film cause light interference in dependence on a thickness of the electrically conductive film, resulting in that the reflected lights are colored. This is because the electrically conductive film is formed as a thin film by vacuum vaporation and so on.
The second problem is that it is necessary in the prior art to carry out an extra step for forming an electrically conductive film with the result of an increase in fabrication cost of a polarizing plate. This is because a step of forming an electrically conductive film is a step additional to usual fabrication steps of fabricating a polarizing plate.

Electrically conductive non-glare polarizing plate


A function optimization method includes the operations of: constructing an upper bound using a double majorization bounding process to a sum-of-exponentials function including a summation of exponentials of the form

The following relates to the information processing arts and related arts.
The softmax function is the extension of the sigmoid function for more than two variables. The softmax function has the form:
                              y          n                =                                            ⅇ                              x                n                                                                    ∑                                  k                  =                  1                                K                                                          ⅇ                                  x                  k                                                              .                                    (        1        )            The denominator is a sum-of-exponentials function of the form:
                                          ∑                          k              =              1                        K                                          ⅇ                          x              k                                      ,                            (        2        )            where xkεxεK. The softmax function finds application in neural networks, classifiers, and so forth, while the sum-of-exponentials function finds even more diverse application in these fields as well as in statistical thermodynamics (for example, the partition function), quantum mechanics, information science, classification, and so forth. For some applications a log of the sum-of-exponentials function is a more useful formulation.
One application of the softmax function is in the area of inference problems, such as Gaussian process classifiers, Bayesian multiclass logistic regression, and more generally for deterministic approximation of probabilistic models dealing with discrete variables conditioned on continuous variables. Such applications entail computing the expectation of the log-sum-of-exponentials function:
                              γ          =                                    E              Q                        [                          log                                                                                ∑                                      k                    =                    1                                    K                                                                  ⅇ                                                            β                      k                      T                                                            x                                                                        ]                          ,                            (        3        )            where EQ denotes the expectation for a distribution Q(β) which is the probability density function (pdf) of a given multidimensional distribution in d×K and x is a vector of d. The expectation can be computed using Monte Carlo simulations, but this can be computationally expensive. Taylor expansion techniques are also known, but tend to provide skewed results when the variance of the pdf Q(β) is large.
Another known approach for computing the expectation is to use an upper bound. In this approach an upper bound on the log-sum-of-exponentials function is identified, from which an estimate of the expectation is obtained. The chosen upper bound should be tight respective to the log-sum-of-exponentials function, and should be computationally advantageous for computing the expectation. For the log-sum-of-exponentials function, a known upper bound having a quadratic form is given by:
                                          log                                                      ∑                                  k                  =                  1                                K                                                          ⅇ                                  x                  k                                                              ≤                                                                                ∑                                  k                  =                  1                                K                                                                            (                                                            x                      k                                        -                                          χ                      k                                                        )                                2                                      -                                          1                K                                                          (                                                      ∑                                          k                      =                      1                                        K                                                                          (                                                                  x                        k                                            -                                              χ                        k                                                              )                                                  )                                      +                                          ∑                                  k                  =                  1                                K                                                                                (                                                                  x                        k                                            -                                              χ                        k                                                              )                                                                          ⅇ                                          χ                      k                                                                                ∑                                                                  k                        ′                                            =                      1                                        K                                                                          ⅇ                                          χ                                              k                        ′                                                                                +                          log                                                              ∑                                      k                    =                    1                                    K                                                                  ⅇ                                      χ                    k                                                                                ,                            (        4        )            See, e.g., Krishnapuram et al., Sparse multinomial logistic regression: fast algorithms and generalization bounds. IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell., 27(6):957-68, 2005; Böhning, Multinomial logistic regression algorithm. Annals of the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, 44(9):197-200, 1992. These quadratic bounds are generally tight. However, they use the worst curvature over the space, which can result in inefficient integrating when using the upper bound.
As a result, the use of the softmax function for inference problems with more than two variables has heretofore been computationally difficult or impossible for many practical inference and classification problems.

Clustering and classification employing softmax function including efficient bounds

Abstract: ∑              k        =        1            K                  ⅇ                        β          k          T                        x              ;optimizing the constructed upper bound respective to parameters β to generate optimized parameters β; and outputting the optimized sum-of-exponentials function represented at least by the optimized parameters β. An inference process includes the operations of: invoking the function optimization method respective to a softmax function constrained by discrete observations y defining categorization observation conditioned by continuous variables x representing at least one input object; and applying the optimized softmax function output by the invocation of the softmax function optimization method to the continuous variables x representing at least one input object to generate classification probabilities.


A method of removing an oxide layer from an article. The article is located in a reaction chamber. An interhalogen compound reactive with the oxide layer is introduced into the reaction chamber. The interhalogen compound forms volatile by-product gases upon reaction with the oxide layer. For compounds that form volatile chlorides, bromides or iodides, a reducing gas, such as for example hydrogen, ammonia, amines, phosphine, silanes, and higher silanes, may optionally be added simultaneously with the interhalogen to form a volatile by-product. Unreacted interhalogen compound and volatile by-product gases are removed from the reaction chamber. In one embodiment, the temperature in the reaction chamber may be elevated prior to or after introducing the interhalogen compound. In another embodiment, a metal layer is deposited in-situ on a portion of the article within the reaction chamber.

Reactive ion etching is a process whereby a low pressure gas is subject to a radio frequency electric field in a reaction chamber to form a plasma. A plasma is a gas which contains positive, negative and neutral atoms, and/or molecules including radicals and a "gas" of emitted photons. The ions and radicals in the plasma that form the etchants are accelerated by an electric field against the material to be etched. The ions/radicals interact with the surface of the atoms or molecules within the material to be etched, forming a volatile by-product which is subsequently removed from the reaction chamber.
If a chemically inert gas, such as argon, is ionized and accelerated to impinge on a substrate surface, material can be removed from the surface of the substrate by momentum transfer, a process similar to sand blasting. This process is used in three distinct modes: sputter etching, ion-beam milling and focused ion beam etching. Sputter etching and broad-ion beam milling use high-energy, inert gas ions (typically Ar.sup.+) to dislodge material from the substrate surface, a highly anisotropic etch process. Anisotropic etching occurs when the etch rate is considerably greater in one direction then in another (also known as unidirectional etching). Isotropic etch refers to etching in all directions at a relatively even rate.
The inherent poor selectivity and slow etch rate of these purely physical processes, however, severely limit their use in the cleaning of sub-micron patterns. It can be difficult to focus plasma to the bottom of high aspect ratio (depth:width) features. The anisotropic nature of dry etching makes it difficult to clean two or more surfaces. For example, it is often desirable to clean the bottom and side walls of a high aspect ratio feature on a substrate. Plasma reactors are difficult to modify to perform both the etching process and metal deposition. Finally, the sputtered material is typically non-volatile and tends to re-deposit onto the substrate and elsewhere in the system.
The ion bombardment in reactive ion etching can also result in a charge build-up on insulated surfaces, resulting in damage to the underlying film and semiconductor surface exposed to ion bombardment. For example, if the beam strikes a conducting grounded surface, sufficient secondary electrons are generated to balance the space charge of the beam and external neutralization is not necessary. If ions impinge on an insulated surface, however, positive charge can build-up on the surface, damaging the underlying insulator and semiconductor surface. When accumulated surface charge causes excessive current to pass through an insulator, the damage to the dielectric can be permanent.
Wet process cleaning to remove native oxides is limited in that the surface tension of the liquid inhibits penetration down into surface features with small lateral dimensions or high aspect ratios. Wet process cleaning is difficult to control. Finally, it is difficult to integrate wet process cleaning in the same equipment with metal deposition.

Plasmaless dry contact cleaning method using interhalogen compounds


A battery cell assembly having a first battery cell and a cooling fin is provided. The first battery cell has a first housing and first and second electrical terminals. The cooling fin is disposed against the first housing. The cooling fin has a substantially rectangular-shaped plate that extends along a longitudinal axis. The substantially rectangular-shaped plate has a plate portion with a first side and a second side. The first side has a first plurality of recessed regions and a first plurality of flat regions. Each recessed region of the first plurality of recessed regions is disposed between two flat regions of the first plurality of flat regions along the longitudinal axis. The first housing of the first battery cell is disposed against the first side such that the first housing contacts the first plurality of flat regions.

As battery cells within a battery cell assembly age, the battery cells can swell and produce an outward pressure on frame members holding the battery cells therein.
Accordingly, the inventors herein have recognized a need for an improved battery cell assembly that is designed to accommodate a swelling of battery cells that reduces an amount of force applied to frame members holding the battery cells therein.


A semiconductor device includes at least one interlevel insulating film, a storage electrode, a capacitor insulating film, a plate electrode, and a protective film. The interlevel insulating film is arranged on a semiconductor substrate. The storage electrode is made of a metal material and arranged on the interlevel insulating film. The capacitor insulating film is made of an insulating metal oxide and arranged on the storage electrode. The plate electrode is made of tungsten nitride and arranged on the capacitor insulating film. The protective film is arranged on the plate electrode to suppress outward diffusion of nitrogen from the plate electrode. A method of manufacturing the semiconductor device is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device with a capacitor using tungsten nitride as a material to form an electrode, and a method of manufacturing the same.
In a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) comprised of one transistor and one capacitor, along with an increase in integration degree of the integrated circuit, it is required to increase the memory capacity by reducing the memory cell area. In this requirement, a technique has been proposed which increases the substantial area by forming a capacitor with a cylindrical or multilayered electrode structure, so that the memory capacity is increased without increasing the memory cell size.
For example, when a cylindrical capacitor structure is to be employed, a plate electrode which forms a capacitor is formed on a capacitor film having a large step. A conductor layer serving as the plate electrode to be formed on the capacitor film must be formed continuously including a step portion produced by the thickness portion of the capacitor film. Tungsten nitride, titanium nitride, ruthenium, or the like that can be formed with a good step coverage is used as the material of the conductor film, because these conductive materials can form a film by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) having a good step coverage. Among these conductive materials, tungsten nitride is superior in terms of adhesion properties and easiness to be processed to the electrode, and low leakage. Tungsten nitride is less expensive and easier to be processed to the electrode than ruthenium. Also, tungsten nitride can form a film with less damaging to an underlying capacitor film than titanium nitride.
A DRAM using above tungsten nitride will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3, a gate electrode 704 is formed on that region on a semiconductor substrate 701, which is defined by an isolation region 702 through a gate insulating film 703. Impurity regions are formed in the semiconductor substrate 701 on the two sides of the gate electrode 704 by ion implantation or the like using the gate electride 704 as a mask, thereby forming source/drain regions 705.
An interlevel insulating film 706 is formed on the gate electrode 704 over the entire surface of the semiconductor substrate 701. A contact plug 707 to be connected to the corresponding source/drain region 705 formed in the semiconductor substrate 701 is formed at a predetermined position of the interlevel insulating film 706. A bit line 708 is formed to be connected to the contact plug 707.
An interlevel insulating film 709 is formed on the interlevel insulating film 706 including the bit line 708. A contact plug 710 to be connected to the corresponding source/drain region 705 formed in the semiconductor substrate 701 is formed to extend through the interlevel insulating films 709 and 706. A storage electrode 711 is formed on the contact plug 710 through a barrier film 710a.
A capacitor insulating film 712 is formed to cover the storage electrode 711, and a plate electrode 713 made of tungsten nitride is formed to cover the storage electrode 711 and capacitor insulating film 712.
In this manner, a transistor comprised of the gate electrode 704, and a capacitor to be connected to this transistor and comprised of the storage electrode 711, capacitor insulating film 712, and plate electrode 713 make up the basic unit of the memory cell.
An interlevel insulating film 714 made of an insulator is formed also on the interlevel insulating film 709 including the plate electrode 713. Although not shown, an interconnection layer to be connected to the bit line 708 and plate electrode 713 (described above) is formed on the interlevel insulating film 714.
In the above semiconductor device, after the interlevel insulating film is formed on the plate electrode, for example, when a contact between the interconnection formed on the interlevel insulating film on the plate electrode and the silicon substrate is to be formed, high-temperature annealing at approximately 600xc2x0 C. is sometimes performed. If such a high temperature is applied, cracking may occur in the plate electrode or in the worst case, the plate electrode may be peeled.
It is, therefore, the principal object of the present invention to provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, by which even if a high temperature is applied in the post-process to a tungsten nitride electrode which forms a capacitor, cracking or peeling will not occur in the electrode.
In order to achieve the above object, according to the present invention, there is provided a semiconductor device comprising at least one interlevel insulating film arranged on a semiconductor substrate, a first electrode made of a metal material and arranged on the interlevel insulating film, a capacitor insulating film made of an insulating metal oxide and arranged on the first electrode, a second electrode made of tungsten nitride and arranged on the capacitor insulating film, and a protective film arranged on the second electrode to suppress outward diffusion of nitrogen from the second electrode.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A defrosting system includes an RF signal source, one or more electrodes proximate to a cavity within which a load to be defrosted is positioned, a transmission path between the RF signal source and the electrode(s), and an impedance matching network electrically coupled along the transmission path between the RF signal source output and the electrode(s). A system controller is configured to modify, based on the reflected signal power, values of variable passive components of the impedance matching network to reduce the reflected signal power. The system controller may be configured to estimate the mass of the load by comparing component value(s) of one or more variable passive components of the impedance matching network with a component value table stored in memory, where stored mass values correspond to the stored component values. Desired signal parameters for the RF signal may be determined based on the estimated mass of the load.

Conventional capacitive food defrosting (or thawing) systems include large planar electrodes contained within a heating compartment. After a food load is placed between the electrodes and the electrodes are brought into close proximity with the food load, electromagnetic energy is supplied to the electrodes to provide gentle warming of the food load. As the food load thaws during the defrosting operation, the impedance of the food load changes. Accordingly, the power transfer to the food load also changes during the defrosting operation. The duration of the defrosting operation may be determined, for example, based on a timer, which may be used to control cessation of the operation. Some conventional capacitive food defrosting (or thawing) systems may require the use of physical weight sensors to determine the weight of a food load. Some conventional systems may forego weight detection entirely, instead depending entirely on user input for the characterization of a food load.
For conventional systems that include physical weight sensors, such sensors may add to the cost and complexity of manufacturing the system. Additionally, although acceptable defrosting results are possible using systems that rely on user input for determining load weight, inaccuracies inherent in relying on user-defined weight of a food load may result in premature cessation of the defrosting operation, or late cessation after the food load has begun to cook. What are needed are apparatus and methods for defrosting food loads (or other types of loads) that may result in efficient and even defrosting throughout the load and cessation of the defrosting operation when the load is at a desired temperature without necessarily requiring the use of physical weight sensors.

Defrosting apparatus with mass estimation and methods of operation thereof


Some problems related to processing workpieces are presented along with solutions to one or more of the problems. One embodiment of the invention comprises a sensor apparatus for collecting data representing one or more process conditions used for processing a workpiece. Another embodiment of the present invention is a combination comprising a sensor apparatus and a process tool for applications such as chemical mechanical planarization of workpieces and chemical mechanical polishing of workpieces.

The fabrication of a semiconductor device often requires that a suitable workpiece (e.g. a silicon wafer) be subjected to a sequence of discrete process operations. Many of these processes are very sensitive to the process conditions and are preferably carried out within individual process chambers or work cells, often referred to as process tools, within which very specific conditions are established. Modern semiconductor processing equipment typically utilizes robotic transfer mechanisms to move silicon wafers into and out of these work cells.
The ability to establish and maintain precise conditions within a work cell accurately and reproducibly is needed for the successful production of some of the state-of-the-art silicon devices. In order to achieve the high device yields necessary for commercial success, the conditions within a process chamber are continuously monitored and controlled through the use of sensors designed to measure specific physical parameters. Typically, these control sensors are built into the process tool and measure the parameter of interest (e.g. pressure) at a specific location within the work cell.
As larger work pieces are adopted (e.g. 300 mm diameter silicon wafers), and as the design feature sizes decrease (e.g., 0.13 um transistor gate widths), it becomes important to have each point on the surface of the workpiece processed under optimum process conditions. Measurement of a parameter (e.g. temperature) at an arbitrarily selected point within the work cell may not be adequate to achieve and maintain optimal device yields and performance characteristics. A new type of sensor has been developed to address the need for monitoring process conditions at the work piece surface: U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,835 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,691,068 describe such a sensor system.
Typically, CMP processing is accomplished by pressing the front side (device side) of the semiconductor wafer against a compliant pad. Usually, a liquid solution is introduced between the pad and the wafer. This solution typically contains etching materials and abrasive particles. In some CMP systems, the abrasive particles are preloaded onto and/or into the surface of the compliant pad. By moving the wafer with respect to the pad, material is removed from the surface of the wafer by a combination of chemical etching and mechanical abrasion. Careful control of physical parameters such as contact pressure, slurry composition, surface velocity, pad compliance, etc. results in protrusions on the wafer surface (high spots) being removed at a greater rate than the bulk of the wafer surface. This selective removal of material from the high spots results in the wafer being planarized or flattened. This planarization process is useful in eliminating the uneven surface topology caused by the repeated deposition and patterning (photolithography) steps required to fabricate an integrated circuit.
A second application of CMP processing is in the production of conductive lines or traces via the damascene process. In this process, trenches are etched into an insulator material deposited on the surface of semiconductor wafers. A layer of a conductive material (typically copper) is then deposited or plated onto the wafer surface so as to completely fill the trenches. A CMP process is then used to polish or remove the deposited material back to the original insulator surface, leaving the conductive material filling the trenches.
The quality of the CMP process in terms of removal rates, uniformity, selectivity, etc., is strongly affected by a number of the process variables; the pressure or force with which the wafer or other workpiece is pressed against the pad during the process being a critical factor. Consequently, there is a need for accurate knowledge of the localized pressure distributions (spatial mapping) during actual process conditions. Furthermore, there is a need for methods and apparatus for measuring the evolution of the pressure distributions over time (trajectory); this would provide a valuable tool for optimizing and maintaining CMP processes and process tools.

Apparatus for measurement of parameters in process equipment


An edger feed apparatus and method of feeding flitches into an edger are disclosed. The flitches are positioned with minimal spacing between successive flitches and with flitches positioned and the edger adjusted so as to yield a maximum value of lumber from each flitch. The edger feed apparatus may include a fetcher assembly to hold a second flitch in an edger ready position while a portion of the first flitch is directed below on an edger infeed mechanism being transported to the edger. The fetcher assembly releases the second flitch on to the edger infeed mechanism when the first flitch has moved clear from beneath the edger ready position. The edger feed apparatus additionally includes a scanner system for creating and storing a digital three-dimensional model of each flitch for determining a sawing solution to be implemented by the edger.

The present invention relates to processing wood products, and in particular to apparatus and a method for feeding flitches into an edger so as to optimize production of marketable lumber from the flitches.
When a log is sawed in the process of producing lumber a cant or cants are produced from the central portion of the log by removing slabs and flitches from sides of the log, usually in a way to maximize the marketable amount of lumber that can be produced from the cants. Flitches removed from the sides of the log may include wane that can be removed by an edger to obtain marketable lumber from each flitch.
An edger typically includes several parallel circular saw blades spaced at standard distances, or in some cases adjustably spaced, along an arbor. Sets of powered bottom rollers and press rollers are arranged to run a flitch longitudinally through the edger saws to produce standard-sized boards and remove edge portions that have no commercial value as lumber.
In conventional practice, an edger operator manually places each flitch onto infeed rollers of an edger in a position estimated to provide the maximum amount of marketable lumber from a particular flitch, in some cases with the assistance of laser guidelines. In such conventional edger operation flitches are delivered serially and longitudinally into a preliminary position where the edger operator must adjust its position and orientation before edger infeed rollers pinch the flitch and deliver it into the saw blades. As a result, there is a significant gap between the tail end of a flitch being sawn in the edger and the head end of the next flitch to enter the edger saw blades.
As a result of the gaps between flitches being fed into an edger, there may be a significant delay, or dead time, of as much as a few seconds between flitches going through an edger. The output of an edger could be significantly increased by reducing the space between the tail of one flitch and the head end of the next flitch, thus reducing the dead time between successive flitches.
What is desired, then, is a way to reduce the dead time between flitches being sent through an edger, and at the same time to maximize the production of marketable lumber from flitches by ensuring that they are located and oriented, as they pass through an edger, so as to produce boards calculated to result in the maximum value of marketable boards from each flitch.

Method and apparatus for providing flitches to an edger


A rolling mill drive with gear-type joint spindles arranged between driveable rolls and the gear units of the driveable rolls and equipped with a device for circulatory or pressure lubrication of the gear units. Each spindle has a grooved oil supply ring connectable to an oil supply, wherein oil can be supplied through a central duct of the spindle shaft to the gear-type joints, and with a stationary housing surrounding the spindle shaft at a distance and serving for the oil discharge, and with an oil delivery pump connectable on the pressure side to the oil supply rings and interacting with an oil cooler. Each gear-type joint spindle is surrounded by a pipe at a radial distance so as to form an annular oil return duct. The pipe is open at the end facing the gear unit and protrudes into the oil collection housing provided at this location for effecting oil discharge. The oil return duct is in circulatory oil connection with the central duct through the internally toothed spindle sleeve on the side of the roll stand. On the side of the roll stand, the pipe is guided in an articulated manner and sealed toward the outside and relative to the spindle sleeve through a spherical joint arranged on the pipe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rolling mill drive with gear-type joint spindles arranged between driveable rolls and the gear units of the driveable rolls and equipped with a device for circulatory or pressure lubrication of the gear units. Each articulated spindle has a grooved oil supply ring connectable to an oil supply, wherein oil can be supplied through a central duct of the spindle shaft to the gear-type joints, and with a stationary housing surrounding the spindle shaft at a distance and serving for the oil discharge, and with an oil delivery pump connectable on the pressure side to the oil supply rings and interacting with an oil cooler.
2. Description of the Related Art
When rolling, for example, comparatively thin and wide strips, it is necessary to displace the work rolls axially in the roll stand by a certain adjustment range for correcting any planarity errors of the rolled material and, if necessary, to adjust the width of the roll gap in accordance with different rolling schedules. For this purpose, an adjustment drive effects the axial displacement of the work rolls by exactly predetermined distances within the roll stand, while the rotary drive of the work rolls takes place in the known manner through gear-type joint spindles which are in connection with drive motors between the driveable work rolls and driving gear units. The gear-type joint spindles must be constructed in such a way that they compensate the axial and vertically adjustable displacements of the work rolls within the roll stand, on the one hand, and that they transmit the full drive power, for example, from pinions, to the work rolls. The interacting wobblers in the spline gearings are subjected to high frictional forces and develop heat as a result, and must be continuously supplied with lubricant for reducing the sliding friction and the temperature increase. For the purpose of a problem-free lubrication and cooling of the gear-type joints, the prior art provides for a circulatory oil lubrication which ensures a problem-free supply of all lubrication points of the gear-type joints with lubricant and, moreover, ensures the required discharge of the friction heat from the gear-type joints.
EP 0 324 168 B1 discloses a rolling mill drive with axially displaceable gear-type joint spindles arranged between drive shafts and driven rolls between drive necks of pinions and drive necks of the rolls. Arranged at each spindle head is a wobbler provided with a spiral toothing and a coupling sleeve provided with an internal toothing and surrounding the wobbler, wherein the coupling sleeve, in turn, is connected to a drive gear-type neck or to a roll neck. Provided for this drive arrangement is a circulatory oil lubrication in which an oil supply ring is arranged in a stationary oil housing, wherein the oil supply ring surrounds the spindle shaft and is provided on the side facing the spindle shaft with an internal annular groove which is in open connection with an oil duct leading to the spindle axis. This oil duct leads into a concentrically arranged central duct from which the gear-type joints are supplied in a suitable manner with lubrication oil. Oil reservoirs are provided on the spindle heads on both sides, wherein the oil reservoirs are each connected to an oil housing rotatably mounted on the coupling sleeve, wherein, for this purpose, the rotatable coupling sleeve is provided with a labyrinth-type seal whose other sealing elements are connected to the housing.
During a roll change, at least the spindle heads on the side of the roll stand have to be removed from the coupling sleeve on the side of the rolls; this requires a very labor-intensive assembly because of the oil housing with labyrinth-type seals located on this side. Moreover, an oil contamination is unavoidable during operation, wherein, for example, in the case of labyrinth-type seals, experience has shown that water/emulsion cooling liquid can penetrate into the oil reservoirs.
DE 1 902 894 discloses an gear-type joint spindle for rolling mill drives with a device for circulatory lubrication which includes a grooved ring for effecting the oil supply, wherein the grooved ring sealingly surrounds the spindle shaft and is mounted so as to be non-rotatable relative to the spindle shaft, and wherein oil can be supplied from the ring through ducts of the spindle shaft to the gear-type joints. The device further includes a non-rotatable housing for effecting the oil discharge, wherein the housing surrounds the spindle shaft at a distance. The device further includes an oil delivery pump which on an intake side is in connection with a cooling device, preferably with the intermediate arrangement of a cooling device, and is on the pressure side in connection with the grooved ring. The housing has in the area where the spindle shaft extends through the housing lamella walls which are engaged with play in a labyrinth-type manner by lamella rings provided on the spindle shaft.
This arrangement also requires a relatively complicated assembly when rolls are exchanged resulting in disadvantageously long idle times. On the other hand, in this arrangement, it is also not possible to exclude with absolute certainty a contamination of the circulating oil, which makes it necessary to exchange the oil after relatively short periods of operation, or the circulating oil must be purified in the known manner with the use of an oil centrifuge, which is also very expensive.
DE 37 06 577 C2 discloses a rolling mill drive with gear-type joint spindles and wobblers provided with spiral toothings mounted on the ends of the spindle shafts as well as connection sleeves provided with internal toothings engaging around the wobblers, wherein the connection sleeves are supported at both ends of the spindle shaft by means of support balls and pressure pistons; the drive further includes a circulatory oil lubrication. The central duct of this oil lubrication is equipped with bores and oil lines for lubricating all friction surfaces between the wobbler and the axially displaceable guide sleeve and the support balls which are displaceable against the pressure pistons and the spiral toothings which are displaceable against the internal toothings.
In this known rolling mill drive, the spindle heads are also located within the oil collection housings from where the oil return is pulled off and is returned by means of a pressure pump once again into the circulation.
This drive has in principle the same disadvantages as the rolling mill drives discussed above, i.e., a progressive contamination of the oil during the operation and difficult assembly conditions for the roll exchange in the area of the spindle heads on the side of the roll stand.

Rolling mill drive with gear-type joint spindles and with a device for circulatory lubrication


An optical head device includes a base member having an attachment surface passing a laser beam of light reflected by an optical disk, a block in the form of a wedge having an attachment surface adjacent to that of the base member and an attachment surface opposite that adjacent to the base member's attachment surface, and a photodetector arranged on the block's attachment surface opposite that adjacent to the base member's attachment surface to receive a laser beam of light having passed through the base member's attachment surface. The block's attachment surface opposite that adjacent to the base member's attachment surface inclines relative to the base member's attachment surface. The optical head device further includes adhesive fixing the block on the base member's attachment surface at a desired position and adhesive fixing the photodetector on the block's attachment surface opposite that adjacent to the base member's attachment surface at a desired position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to optical head devices and particularly to optical head devices having a structure positionally adjusting a photodetector.
2. Description of the Background Art
Optical head devices are used to read information written on compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (DVDs) and the like and record information on CDs, DVDs and the like.
For such an optical head device an optical source outputs a beam of light which is directed to a CD or a DVD to illuminate the disc. The disc reflects the light which is in turn directed toward a photodiode IC (PDIC). To allow the PDIC's photo-receptive portion to receive a focused beam of light at an appropriate position the PDIC needs to be moved to and fixed at an appropriate position. An optical head device contemplated to facilitate such a PDIC's positional adjustment is disclosed by Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2-301028 as an optical pickup device.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the optical pickup device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2-301028. With reference to the figure this optical pickup device includes an optical head base 104, a movable plate 103 arranged on optical head base 104, an adhesive 105 fixing movable plate 103 on optical head base 104, a metal plate 102 fixed to movable plate 103 integrally, and a photodetector 101 mounted on metal plate 102. Adhesive 105 is placed along a perimeter of movable plate 103 as well as between movable plate 103 and optical head base 104. In other words, by interposing adhesive 105, movable plate 103 is positioned afloat above optical head base 104.
The optical pickup device is fabricated as follows: movable plate 103 integral with metal plate 102 having photodetector 101 mounted thereon, and optical head base 104 are positioned. Movable plate 103 and optical head base 104 are positioned three dimensionally so that a beam of light is focused in the form of a spot of light on photodetector 101 at a light receptive portion. Movable plate 103 and optical head base 104 thus positioned have their relative, positional relationship maintained for example by a jig. Adhesive 105 is applied between movable plate 103 and optical head base 104 to fix them.
FIG. 6 is a cross section of another optical pickup device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 3-301028. With reference to the figure, this optical pickup device includes an optical head base 204 having a main surface, a movable plate 203 arranged on the main surface, a metal plate 202 arranged on a top surface of movable plate 203, and a photodetector 201 arranged at metal plate 202. Movable plate 203 and metal plate 202 have their respective one ends screwed to optical head base 204 with a screw 207. Metal plate 202 has the other end with an adjustment screw 206 screwed therethrough. By tightening adjustment screw 206, metal plate 202 can be bent with the metal plate 202 one end serving as a supporting point.
In the FIG. 6 device, movable plate 203 is moved on optical head base 204 to positionally adjust photodetector 201 in a surface parallel to the main surface of optical head base 204. Furthermore, adjustment screw 206 tightened and loosened positionally adjust photodetector 201 in a direction perpendicular to the main surface of optical head base 204.
In the FIG. 5 device, photodetector 101 is positionally fixed by adhesive 105 posed between movable plate 103 and optical head base 104. However, adhesive 105 reduces in volume when it sets. As such, photodetector 101 once positionally adjusted to have a position at which a beam of light collects might be fixed offset from the position as adhesive 105 placed between movable plate 103 and optical head base 104 contracts. In general, photodetector 101 is positionally adjusted with a precision in steps of several micrometers, and if movable plate 103 is not chamfered, as described in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2-301028, the effect of the contraction of adhesive 105 would still not be ignored.
Furthermore, adhesive 105 has a coefficient of linear expansion having a relatively large value. As such, even after adhesive 105 has set, photodetector 101 can be positionally offset if the optical pickup device is used in a thermally varying environment. Furthermore, it is difficult to use a jig or the like to maintain a relative, positional relationship between movable plate 103 and optical head base 104 while introducing adhesive 105 into a small gap between movable plate 103 and optical head base 104. The optical pickup device is thus fabricated inefficiently.
In the FIG. 6 device, photodetector 201 is fixed at a prescribed position and metal plate 202 is accordingly held bent. Accordingly, movable plate 202 is constantly under tension, which may cause movable plate 202 to creep. In particular, metal plate 202 is tensioned particularly intensively for example at a portion notched in the vicinity of one end to help metal plate 202 to bend and a portion at which adjustment screw 206 contacts metal plate 202. If such portions creep, metal plate 202 distorts. This distortion varies in amount with time, resulting in photodetector 201 having an offset position.


A grease fitting is made by forming its outer shell in a series of cold forging steps to make a blank with the necessary thread blank at one end, a hexagonal center portion, and with a grease-fitting-mating nipple outline at the other end. Threads are rolled onto the thread blank, and the grease-gun-mating nipple is rolled to smooth and burnish its surface. The grease fitting is then successively drilled to make a hole of three different diameters to form the one-way valve ball seat and two ball spring clearance diameters. The ball and spring are inserted, and the end of the hole is formed over the end of the spring to capture the spring into place.

Grease fittings--sometimes called "Zerk" fittings--have long been used in automobiles and a host of other apparatus for supplying grease to mechanical bushings and bearings without the need to disassemble the bushing or bearing to repack it and without the need to use bulky, awkward, and easily-damaged grease cups.
For years, grease fittings have been made from hex-shaped bar stock that is machined on an automatic screw machine. The bar stock is supplied in rather long lengths that have to be replenished manually at frequent intervals. Also a great deal of scrap is produced in the machining process, and the strength of the resulting fittings is limited by the machining process.
Grease fitting manufacture is largely automated and fairly inexpensive. However, a great many grease fittings are manufactured every year. Therefore, even a modest reduction in the cost of producing each grease fitting can translate into significant savings. Also, any improvement in the quality of the product can position a manufacturer more favorably with respect to its competitors.
Zerk fittings are usually sturdy and reliable. However, they are occasionally broken in service and must be extracted and replaced. Extraction is not usually difficult; because, when a grease fitting breaks in service, it is usually just below the nipple, leaving the threads and hex portion together. Also, if the fitting does break between the threads and the hex portion, there is a ready-made hole available for quick extraction of the remaining threaded portion. However, a stronger nipple structure might reduce the incidence of breakage in service.

Manufacture of grease fittings and blanks therefor


A rolling cone drill bit includes at least one cutter element comprising a base portion and a cutting portion extending from the base portion. The cutting portion includes a cutting surface with an apex defining an extension height and at least one rib extending from the apex toward the base portion. In addition, the at least one rib has a convex outer surface in profile view.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to earth-boring bits used to drill a borehole for the ultimate recovery of oil, gas or minerals. More particularly, the invention relates to rolling cone rock bits and to an improved cutting structure and cutter element for such bits.
2. Background Information
An earth-boring drill bit is typically mounted on the lower end of a drill string and is rotated by rotating the drill string at the surface or by actuation of downhole motors or turbines, or by both methods. With weight applied to the drill string, the rotating drill bit engages the earthen formation and proceeds to form a borehole along a predetermined path toward a target zone. The borehole formed in the drilling process will have a diameter generally equal to the diameter or "gage" of the drill bit.
A typical earth-boring bit includes one or more rotatable cutters that perform their cutting function due to the rolling movement of the cutters acting against the formation material. The cutters roll and slide upon the bottom of the borehole as the bit is rotated, the cutters thereby engaging and disintegrating the formation material in its path. The rotatable cutters may be described as generally conical in shape and are therefore sometimes referred to as rolling cones. The borehole is formed as the gouging and scraping or crushing and chipping action of the rotary cones remove chips of formation material which are carried upward and out of the borehole by drilling fluid which is pumped downwardly through the drill pipe and out of the bit.
The earth disintegrating action of the rolling cone cutters is enhanced by providing the cutters with a plurality of cutter elements. Cutter elements are generally of two types: inserts formed of a very hard material, such as tungsten carbide, that are press fit into undersized apertures in the cone surface; or teeth that are milled, cast or otherwise integrally formed from the material of the rolling cone. Bits having tungsten carbide inserts are typically referred to as "TCI" bits or "insert" bits, while those having teeth formed from the cone material are known as "steel tooth bits." In each instance, the cutter elements on the rotating cutters break up the formation to form a new borehole by a combination of gouging and scraping or chipping and crushing.
In oil and gas drilling, the cost of drilling a borehole is proportional to the length of time it takes to drill to the desired depth and location. The time required to drill the well, in turn, is greatly affected by the number of times the drill bit must be changed in order to reach the targeted formation. This is the case because each time the bit is changed, the entire string of drill pipe, which may be miles long, must be retrieved from the borehole, section by section. Once the drill string has been retrieved and the new bit installed, the bit must be lowered to the bottom of the borehole on the drill string, which again must be constructed section by section. As is thus obvious, this process, known as a "trip" of the drill string, requires considerable time, effort and expense. Accordingly, it is always desirable to employ drill bits which will drill faster and longer and which are usable over a wider range of formation hardness.
The length of time that a drill bit may be employed before it must be changed depends upon its rate of penetration ("ROP"), as well as its durability. The form and positioning of the cutter elements upon the cone cutters greatly impact bit durability and ROP, and thus are critical to the success of a particular bit design.
To assist in maintaining the gage of a borehole, conventional rolling cone bits typically employ a heel row of hard metal inserts on the heel surface of the rolling cone cutters. The heel surface is a generally frustoconical surface and is configured and positioned so as to generally align with and ream the sidewall of the borehole as the bit rotates. The inserts in the heel surface contact the borehole wall with a sliding motion and thus generally may be described as scraping or reaming the borehole sidewall. The heel inserts function primarily to maintain a constant gage and secondarily to prevent the erosion and abrasion of the heel surface of the rolling cone. Excessive wear of the heel inserts leads to an undergage borehole, decreased ROP, increased loading on the other cutter elements on the bit, and may accelerate wear of the cutter bearing, and ultimately lead to bit failure.
Conventional bits also typically include one or more rows of gage cutter elements. Gage row elements are mounted adjacent to the heel surface but orientated and sized in such a manner so as to cut the corner of the borehole. In this orientation, the gage cutter elements generally are required to cut both the borehole bottom and sidewall. The lower surface of the gage row cutter elements engage the borehole bottom while the radially outermost surface scrapes the sidewall of the borehole.
Conventional bits also include a number of additional rows of cutter elements that are located on the cones in rows disposed radially inward from the gage row. These cutter elements are sized and configured for cutting the bottom of the borehole and are typically described as bottomhole or inner row cutter elements. In contrast to gage and heel row inserts that ream the sidewall of the borehole and cut formation via a scraping or shearing action, inner row inserts are intended to impact, penetrate, and remove formation material by gouging, crushing, and fracturing formation material. Consequently, in many applications, inner row cutter elements are sharper than those typically employed in the gage row or the heel rows.
Inserts in TCI bits have been provided with various geometries. One insert typically employed in an inner row may generally be described as a "conical" insert, one having a cutting surface that tapers from a cylindrical base to a pointed or a generally rounded apex. Another common shape for an insert for use in inner rows is what generally may be described as a "chisel" shaped. Rather then having the pointed or spherical apex of the conical insert, a chisel insert generally includes two generally flattened sides or flanks that converge and terminate in an elongate crest at the terminal end of the insert. The chisel element may have rather sharp transitions where the flanks intersect the more rounded portions of the cutting surface, as shown, for example, in FIGS. 1-8 in U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,779. As a result, such inserts are generally more aggressive and effective at penetrating the formation as the weight applied to the formation through the insert is concentrated, at least initially, on the relatively small surface area of the crest. However, the relatively sharp cutting edges endure high stresses that may lead to chipping and ultimately breakage of the insert. And further, although inner row inserts with sharper geometries provide reasonable rates of penetration, they tend to wear at a fast rate, particularly in hard abrasive formations. Both wear and breakage may cause a bit's ROP to drop dramatically, as for example, from 80 feet per hour to less than 10 feet per hour. Once the cutting structure is damaged and the rate of penetration reduced to an unacceptable rate, the drill string must be removed in order to replace the drill bit. As mentioned, this "trip" of the drill string is extremely time consuming and expensive to the driller.
Another type of insert that can be employed in an inner row may be described as a "dome-shaped," "semi-round top," or "hemispherical" insert. As the description implies, such inserts have a more rounded cutting surface that is free of sharp cutting edges and crests. As compared to more aggressive inserts, dome-shaped inserts tend to be more abrasion resistant since they generally have more insert material in their cutting portions. Further, lacking sharp cutting edges and crests, such inserts are less susceptible to chipping and fracturing. Although conventional dome-shaped inserts are more robust and durable than conventional aggressive inner row inserts, dome-shaped inserts are less effective at penetrating the uncut formation and removing formation material, and therefore, typically provide lower ROP.
As will be understood then, there remains a need in the art for a cutter element and cutting structure that will provide a high rate of penetration and be durable enough to withstand hard and abrasive formations.
Increasing ROP while maintaining good cutter and bit life to increase the footage drilled is still an important goal so as to decrease drilling time and recover valuable oil and gas more economically. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for a drill bit and cutting elements that will yield a high ROP and footage drilled. Such a drill bit and cutting elements would be particularly well received if it was sufficiently durable and had a geometry less susceptible to breakage.

Rock bit and inserts with wear relief grooves