The steering wheel column and/or the bearing for the steering wheel column in a motor vehicle is pushed or pulled away from a position in front of the driver in the event of a head-on collision whose intensity exceeds a preselected minimum value. The displacing unit which is activated in the event of head-on collision of preselected minimum intensity (e.g., a collision which causes the engine block and/or the transmission case to move rearwardly with reference to the frame of the motor vehicle) can entrain the steering wheel column and/or the bearing for the steering wheel column by way of a carrier which is pivotably mounted adjacent the steering wheel column or its bearing and has one or more projections with cutting edges penetrating into the steering wheel column and/or bearing in response to activation of the displacing unit. Each projection can include a cylindrical portion which extends at an oblique angle from a side of the carrier and whose axis preferably makes an acute angle with an adjacent surface of the steering wheel column or its bearing.

The invention relates to improvements in apparatus for reducing the likelihood of injury to drivers of motor vehicles. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus which do not or need not employ air bags. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus which are designed to move the steering wheel away from a position directly in front of and close to the driver in automatic response to a head-on collision so that the driver is less likely to be injured or killed by the steering wheel, by the column for the steering wheel and/or by the structure which rotatably and/or otherwise mounts the column for the steering wheel.
Published German patent application No. 33 37 231 of AUDI NSU AUTO UNION discloses a safety system which can be installed in motor vehicles and is designed to move the steering wheel out of the way within a minute fraction of a second in response to a head-on collision which results in predetermined displacement of the engine block and/or the transmission case relative to the frame of the motor vehicle. The dispatch with which the steering wheel is displaced from its normal position in front of the driver suffices to enable the safety belt or belts to intercept the body of the driver so that the steering wheel is moved away from its normal position before the driver's body advances forwardly to an extent which, in the absence of displacement of the steering wheel, would result in a pronounced impact against the steering wheel and potential serious or deadly injury to the driver.
The makers of AUDI automobiles offer the aforediscussed safety system, under the name "procon-ten", as an option for installation in certain types of their vehicles. The safety system which is presently offered for sale as an optional feature for installation in certain types of AUDI automobiles is further designed to tension the safety belt or belts simultaneously with movements of the steering wheel and its column out of the way to thus further enhance the likelihood that the driver will survive, or will not be seriously injured as a result of, a head-on collision which entails a rearward displacement of the engine block and/or the transmission case relative to the frame of the damaged or destroyed motor vehicle. To summarize, the operation of the "procon-ten" safety system is based on the principle that the forward movement of the driver's body is to be delayed by the tensioned safety belt or belts as well as that the distance between the driver's body prior to the accident and the position in which the driver's body would strike the steering wheel and/or the dashboard and/or the windshield is to be increased.
Problems can arise when the column for the steering wheel of a motor vehicle is adjustable. Such adjustment can take place in the axial direction of the column and/or it can involve a pivotal movement about an axis which is normal to the axis of the column for the steering wheel and/or a change of the level of the steering wheel. Adjustability of the column is desirable and advantageous in order to enhance the comfort to the driver of the motor vehicle by permitting adjustments which are necessary to provide adequate room for slender, corpulent, tall, short and/or handicapped drivers while, at the same time, ensuring that the driver can readily manipulate the steering wheel. An adjustable steering wheel column, especially a column which is adjustable in several ways, cannot be positively connected to the safety system without interfering with convenience of adjustment of the column or without preventing such adjustment.

Apparatus for reducing the likelihood of injury to drivers of motor vehicles as a result of head-on collisions


Intermittent gas flow and membrane separation apparatus and methods of use including an internal gas chamber including an upper wall; at least one inlet for supplying gas to the internal gas chamber; a column pipe that extends above the upper wall of the internal gas chamber, the column pipe including a lower end portion including a lower end portion opening in the internal gas chamber, the column pipe linking the internal gas chamber to an area external to the internal gas chamber for fluid flow between the internal gas chamber and the external area; an auxiliary pipe including one end portion connected to the column pipe for fluid flow between the auxiliary pipe and the column pipe, and another end portion branched off from the column pipe, the another end portion including an opening located in the internal gas chamber at a position higher than the lower end portion opening of the column pipe by a predetermined height; and an auxiliary pipe external tubular member including a closed end, the auxiliary pipe external tubular member surrounding the another end portion of the auxiliary pipe with the closed end being positioned below the opening in the another end portion of the auxiliary pipe, and spaced from the another end portion by a predetermined distance permitting fluid flow into the space between the wall of the tubular member and the auxiliary pipe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to intermittent gas flow units useful for providing intermittent flow of gas, which units are useful in any environment wherein an intermittent flow of gas is desired, for example, with membrane separation units to provide cleaning of the membrane separation units. The present invention also relates to membrane separation units, such as membrane separation units including a plurality of membrane modules, such as hollow fiber membrane modules. The present invention also relates to filtering and separating liquid in a treatment tank by performing suction through membranes, such as through hollow fiber membranes submerged in the liquid in the treatment tank.
2. Discussion of Background Information
When food wastewater, sewage, or sludge, is decomposed, for example, a large amount of aeration is required in a treatment tank, so that bacteria can breath in the treatment tank. Since a direct impact of aeration for bacteria may damage hollow fiber membranes, the hollow fiber membranes are protected from aeration. Meanwhile, the liquid in the treatment tank is pumped through hollow fiber membranes, and thereby liquid that has permeated the membranes is filtered and separated, and obtained as filtered and treated water. Since suspended matters deposited on an external side of the hollow fiber membranes reduce filtration performance, an appropriate amount of aeration is provided to the external side of the hollow fiber membranes, so as to remove the suspended matters deposited on the external side of the hollow fiber membranes.
A submerged membrane apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H7-185270, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, having a membrane unit submerged in liquid in a treatment tank and providing filtered and treated water that has permeated the membrane. The submerged membrane apparatus is provided with an aerator generating coarse bubbles and an aerator generating fine bubbles below the membrane unit in the treatment tank.
When continuous aeration is performed, however, electricity expenses are incurred to constantly supply air, and life of hollow fiber membranes is shortened due to damage from being continuously aerated. Although Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. H7-185270 does not describe specific intermittent operations of the aerators, a separate control system is generally required to control intermittent operation. Such a separate control system leads to disadvantages, including a complex structure and cost increase. For example, intermittent supply of air controlled by valves includes the use of large pipes and high pump costs with the valves being hard to maintain.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for intermittent supply of gas that includes a simple device that is capable of providing a high volume of gas, preferably in the form of bubbles, preferably from a continuous flow of gas.

Intermittent gas flow apparatus and membrane separation apparatus


A transceiver comprising at least one chip comprising at least a first array of long-wavelength VCSELs and at least a second array of receiving optical devices, an optical interface optically coupled to the VCSELs and the receiving optical devices and configured to optically couple with an optical connector, transmitting and receiving circuitry electrically connected the VCSELs and the receiving optical devices, and adapted for connecting to an electrical connector, and a frame for holding the chip, the optical interface, and the transmitting and receiving circuitry.

Fiber optic components are used in a wide variety of applications. The use of optical fibers as a medium for transmission of digital data (including voice, interne and IP video data) is becoming increasingly more common due to the high reliability and large bandwidth available with optical transmission systems. Fundamental to these systems are transceivers for transmitting and receiving optical signals.
There is a general need to simplify both the design and manufacture of transceiver. Specifically, there is a need for a multi-channel transceiver configuration that is readily manufactured with relatively few optical alignments, and that reduces the transceiver's footprint and power consumption. The present invention fulfills this need among others.


A folding wagon is described. Front and rear sections of the folding wagon fold toward each other for storage. The folding wagon has a lightweight, robust and compact construction.

There exist several folding wagons, carts and trailers with various mechanisms for folding. Some of these folding wagons, carts and trailers have sidewalls for holding items. Typically, these walls must be removed or folded in order to permit the multiple sections of the wagons, carts and trailers to be folded.


Aspects of the disclosed apparatuses, methods and systems provide three dimensional gradient and dynamic light fields for display in 3D technologies, in particular 3D augmented reality (AR) devices, by coupling visual accommodation and visual convergence to the same plane at any depth of an object of interest in real time.

There are many types of vision systems that provide virtual or augmented reality displays. In particular, wearable technology such as head mounted displays (HMD) are becoming more popular. However, problems may exist with wearing or using such visual systems for some users, even if only worn or used for short periods of time.

Apparatuses, methods and systems coupling visual accommodation and visual convergence to the same plane at any depth of an object of interest


A latch assembly for a diamond core drill wire line. Included is a cylindrical main body having a main body interior, an outer wall, a main body end and a latch end. A ball hole is defined through the main body. An inner shaft ball lock is contained within the main body. A spring is disposed on the inner shaft ball lock. A main body top is attached to the main body end to contain the inner shaft ball lock within the main body and limit upstream movement of the inner shaft ball lock. A steel ball is then captured between the inner shaft ball lock and the outer wall of the main body such that upon axial movement of the inner shaft ball lock the ball penetrates up through the outer wall to extend past the main body to thereby latch onto an outer tube assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates to wire line core retrieval systems for diamond drilling exploration.
2. Description of the Related Art
Core barrels are used frequently in mineral exploration, where the coring may be several hundred to several thousand feet in length. Exploration diamond core drilling utilizes an annular diamond-impregnated drill bit attached to the end of hollow drill rods to cut a cylindrical core of solid rock. The core samples are recovered and examined for mineral percentages and stratigraphic contact points.
Core barrels comprise generally three main components, including a barrel head, outer steel tube to which the core bit is attached and an inner tube which is attached to the barrel head via a set of bearings. The outer tube or outer barrel rotates with the core bit attached to it and cuts the core, whereas the inner barrel on its bearings does not rotate so that the core entering the inner barrel is not disturbed. At the bit end of the inner barrel is a core retainer box and spring, which holds the core inside the barrel while the barrel is pulled out of the hole. If the core is still attached to the bottom of the bore hole it will grip the core firm enough for the barrel to be pulled back and snap the core from the bottom of the hole. Once the core barrel is full, the drill rods and barrel are pulled out of the hole and the core is removed.
Wire-line coring is the act or process of core drilling with a wire-line core barrel. In wireline drilling the barrels work the same way except the drill rods used with this barrel are thin wall tubes of the same outside and inside diameters as the outer tube of the barrel, and the inner barrel with its barrel head containing the bearing are lowered down inside the drill rods by means of a device called an overshot. When the barrel is full of core the overshot is lowered down inside the rods and latches onto the inner barrel at the same time the inner barrel locking latches are released and the inner barrel with its core are pulled out by the winch line. As a result, wireline core drilling is a faster process of recovering the core, eliminating the time consuming process of retrieving the core barrel every time it is full of core.
Since the drill strings in wireline coring are made up of various tubes, only the outer of which is rotating, certain coupling mechanisms must be employed. To removably retain the core barrel inner tube assembly adjacent to the core bit a locking coupling must be utilized. In the prior art, the outer tube assembly is composed of an adaptor coupling that is threadedly connected to the core barrel outer tube to provide a recess in which a landing ring (drill string landing shoulder) is mounted, a remaining shell connected to the inner (lower) end of tube and an annular drill bit at the inner end of the reaming shell for drilling into the earth formation from which the core sample is taken. The outer end of the assembly includes a locking coupling that connects the adaptor coupling to the adjacent pipe section of the drill string. At the opposite end of the coupling from the pipe section, the locking coupling, in conjunction with the annular recess of the coupling, forms a latch seat inside of the surface of the adaptor coupling against which the latches are seatable for removably retaining the core barrel inner tube assembly adjacent to the core bit. In the prior art, the latch assemblies comprise pivotal, spring-loaded arms which are in axial relationship to the core barrel inner tube.

Diamond core drill wire line latch assembly


Different arrangements for improving the coupling-in efficiency between an LED assembly and a light guide are disclosed. In a first arrangement, a substantially planar end of a light guide is seated on a perimeter wall of a support that encloses a LED assembly, and a reflecting surface enhances coupling efficiency of a light guide. Alternative arrangements use a separate coupler disposed between the LED assembly and the light guide, which coupler has a paraboloid or aspheroid conformation to develop substantially collimated light that is directed into the light guide. The cavity around the LED assembly and within the coupler, may be air or a material having an index of refraction that closely matches the index of refraction of the light guide material.

The present disclosure relates to a coupling arrangement or coupling apparatus between a light emitting diode (LED) and a light guide, and more particularly, to improving the coupling efficiency between the components. The coupling apparatus in this particular application is a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), for example, where there is a desire to intermix red color light with white light emitted from the CFL, although the disclosure may find more general application in related environments where a high efficiency or coupling is desired.
Color rendering of saturated red color of a standard CFL can be enhanced by a combination with red light from an LED. For example, commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,543,957 is directed to such an arrangement, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. High efficiency red LED's are temperature sensitive so there is a need to thermally insulate the LED from the CFL. The noted '957 patent mounts the LED in a base portion of the lamp assembly in order to segregate the thermally sensitive LED from the elevated temperature associated with the CFL. A light guide is employed to convey the red light from the LED in the base portion of the lamp assembly to a region adjacent the discharge tube(s) of the CFL where effective mixing with the white light emitted by the discharge tube(s) is attained.
The higher the in-coupling, transferring, and out-coupling efficiencies of a light guide, the higher the resultant effect on saturated red color rendering of the lamp. Improved efficiencies associated with (i) light entry into the light guide, (ii) along the length of the light guide, and (iii) upon exiting of the light guide, result in more red color intermixing with the white light from the CFL from a particular LED driven at a particular wattage.
In-coupling efficiency is deemed to be the most critical junction in the light path. Geometric incompatibility of the radiation mode of the source (here, the LED) and the guided mode (here, the light guide) indicates that substantial areas for improvement are required. By radiation mode is meant the angular and spatial distribution of light emitted from the LED. Where large light guides are used in conjunction with the light guide (that is where the diameter of a light guide is larger than the size of the LED source and its primary optics), the problem simplifies to matching LED radiation characteristics, usually lambertian, along with the limited acceptance angle or (NA of the light guide). Coupling efficiency is measured as a percentage of the light exiting the light guide relative to the intensity of the light emitted by the LED. Known coupling arrangements range exhibit an efficiency that ranges between 35% to approximately 50%.
Various coupling arrangements are suggested in the prior art. For example, one prior art arrangement provides butt coupling or contact between a polished end of the light guide and an integrated optical arrangement associated with the LED. Alternatively, a cavity or recess is formed around the LED to collect the light into the light guide such as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,279,345. Still another arrangement uses lens coupling where a special geometry lens, lens holder, etc. are interposed between the LED and the light guide (See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,176). Higher coupling efficiencies are attained when compared to the butt coupling arrangement. Still another coupling arrangement is a reflector-type coupling and heretofore the designs are based on classic reflector designs used with incandescent light sources which are not easily incorporated into the LED-light guide environment. Typically, the reflector includes a metallic reflective layer and also uses air as a propagation medium within the reflector Eliminating an air gap between the light source and the light guide is desirable because such a structure would reduce the Fresnel reflections on the LED-air and air-light guide interfaces, and also enhances the application of total internal reflection (TIR) on the reflecting surface.
Consequently, a need exists for improved coupling efficiency, and also consideration of commercialization of such an arrangement that limits the cost to manufacture while providing a repeatable solution for both ease of assembly and consistent results.

Light emitting diode-light guide coupling apparatus


Materials and methods for making low bulk density proppant capable of providing permeability at subterranean pressures. The low bulk density proppant is made from kaolin clay and at least one of calcined diatomaceous earth and burned kaolin clay.

The present disclosure relates to methods and materials for making a low bulk density proppant capable of providing permeability at subterranean pressures.
Oil and natural gas are produced from wells having porous and permeable subterranean formations. The porosity of the formation permits the formation to store oil and gas, and the permeability of the formation permits the oil or gas fluid to move through the formation. Permeability of the formation is essential to permit oil and gas to flow to a location where it can be pumped from the well. Sometimes the permeability of the formation holding the gas or oil is insufficient for economic recovery of oil and gas. In other cases, during operation of the well, the permeability of the formation drops to the extent that further recovery becomes uneconomical. In such cases, it is necessary to fracture the formation and prop the fracture in an open condition by means of a proppant material or propping agent. Such fracturing is usually accomplished by hydraulic pressure, and the proppant material or propping agent is a particulate material, such as sand, glass beads or ceramic particles (all of which can be referred to as "proppant"), which are carried into the fracture by means of a fluid or gel (both of which can be referred to as "fracture fluid"). As the density of the proppant decreases, the fracture fluid used to carry the proppant into the fracture can have lower viscosity, which reduces the cost of the fracture fluid as well as reduces what is referred to as "gel damage". Gel damage is caused by viscous fracture fluid which remains in the formation and blocks flow of gas or oil to the well bore. Additionally, as the density of the proppant decreases, it becomes easier and cheaper to pump the proppant into the fracture, and the proppant can get carried further into the fracture which will increase the oil or gas production for the well.

Low bulk density proppant and methods for producing the same


A method for operating an electric high voltage energy storage device of a hybrid vehicle with an electric drive motor, as well as an energy supply device, is provided. A predetermined working range of the high voltage energy storage device is shifted in the direction of the upper or lower physical charge limit as a function of the vehicle operating parameters and/or as a function of the vehicle environmental parameters.

The invention relates to a method for operating an electric high voltage energy storage device, as well as an energy supply device for a hybrid vehicle.
Currently it is known to operate high voltage accumulators—in particular, high voltage accumulators, based on lithium ion technology, with a nominal voltage greater than or equal to 60 V—within a predefined fixed operating range. This operating range is usually chosen in such a way that, on the one hand, a defined cold start (for example, a start of the internal combustion engine at −25° C.) has to be possible at any time (lower state of charge limit/minimum storage capacity) and that, on the other hand, there is (in the upward direction) adequate storage capacity (upper state of charge limit/maximum storage capacity) in order to be able to use the energy accumulator for brake energy regeneration.
The object of the invention is to provide a method for operating an electric high voltage energy storage device (in particular a high voltage energy storage device for supplying an electric drive motor of a hybrid vehicle), so that the result is a smaller design of said electric drive motor and so that slower ageing of the energy storage device is guaranteed. Furthermore, the object is to provide an energy supply device which comprises such a high voltage energy storage device, so that the size of the corresponding package is reduced and at the same time slower ageing of the energy storage device is achieved.
The invention is based on the knowledge that high voltage energy Accumulators—in particular, those that are designed on the basis of lithium ion Technology—age comparatively faster at high temperatures and/or at high states of charge than at lower temperatures and/or lower states of charge. Furthermore, as the ageing process of such energy accumulators increases, their performance decreases. In order to counteract these phenomena, a method and/or an energy supply device is proposed in accordance with the invention.
In the present invention, an electric high voltage energy storage device of a hybrid vehicle with an electric drive motor (in particular, a hybrid vehicle that can be operated by electrical means and/or by an internal combustion engine) is operated in such a manner that a predetermined working range of the high voltage energy storage device that is defined by an upper and a lower limit is shifted as a function of the vehicle operating parameters and/or as a function of the vehicle environmental parameters. The electric drive motor is defined for the purpose of the invention as an electric motor, by which it is possible to generate the torque that acts on the drive wheels.
The working range is shifted advantageously by shifting the upper and/or lower limit of the predetermined working range. In particular, the shift of the working range takes place by shifting the lower limit of the working range. In an additional advantageous design the entire breadth of the working range (the distance between the upper and the lower limit) is retained and shifted in its entirety. That is, the upper and the lower limits are shifted by the same degree (and/or the same amount) in the same direction.
Preferred vehicle operating parameters are for the purpose of the invention those parameters that correlate with the state of ageing of the energy storage device-in particular the cumulative operation period of the energy storage device (optionally weighted as a function of the states of charge that occur over the total operating time). An additional vehicle operating parameter that can be used as an alternative or as an addition in order to determine the state of ageing of the energy storage device is the energy throughput (energy throughput per defined period of time) through the energy accumulator. Furthermore, it is possible to determine the state of ageing by a computational algorithm, in particular as a function of the measurable variables of the battery, like the current, the cell voltages and the temperature. Preferred vehicle environmental parameters that can be mentioned are those parameters that correlate with the ambient air and/or the outside air temperature of the energy storage device or the motor vehicle. In this case special mention must be given to the vehicle ambient temperature, which is measured over a predetermined period of time, and/or its minimum temperature. It is advantageous to measure continuously the predetermined temperature variable (for example, the outside temperature) and to find as a function thereof a minimum temperature, on which an additional calculation is to be based. This so-called seasonal temperature may be used to differentiate between at least two temporal operating ranges (differing significantly in their lowest temperature)—for example, summer mode and winter mode—and to operate, as a function of the determined seasonal temperature, the energy storage device in the one or the other working range. The result is that for the case that the vehicle is to be started by the high voltage energy accumulator it is possible to guarantee a reliable start of the internal combustion engine even at low temperatures (cold start).
In addition, the intent is to carry out the shift of the working range as a function of the current operating mode of the vehicle (type of vehicle operating mode). In this case it is advantageous for a shift to occur as a function of which one of at least two different vehicle operating modes is currently on hand. In particular, a distinction is made between an engine start (start of the internal combustion engine), driving by just the electrical means, driving by just the internal combustion engine, a propulsion by the electric motor (motor driven) together with the internal combustion engine and a boost mode (call on maximum possible driving torque).
Analogous to the described method, there is provided an energy supply device which is intended for a hybrid vehicle (in particular, for a hybrid vehicle that can be operated electrically and/or by an internal combustion engine) and which comprises a high voltage energy storage device and a control unit for controlling the charging and discharging events of the energy storage device. In this respect the control unit is designed in such a manner that a predetermined working range of the high voltage energy storage device that is defined by an upper limit and a lower limit can be shifted as a function of the vehicle operating parameters and/or as a function of the vehicle environmental parameters.
The control unit is designed advantageously in such a manner that the shift is carried out by just shifting the lower limit of the working range. In another preferred embodiment the control unit can also be designed in such a manner that the working range is shifted in its entirety in one direction. That is, the upper limit and the lower limit are shifted in one and the same direction while at the same time retaining their distance and/or the range defined by said limits (or the charge quantity defined by them).
The high voltage energy storage device comprises energy storage elements, which are made advantageously on the basis of lithium ion technology. The control unit is designed advantageously in such a manner that the charging and discharging procedures of the high voltage energy storage device take place as a function of its state of ageing and/or as a function of the outside and/or vehicle ambient temperature.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Energy supply device for a hybrid vehicle and method for operating an electric high voltage energy storage device

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


An instrument panel for co-operation with a microprocessor storing selectable functions and selectable numerical information, comprises a knob (2'), a first switch (3'), an alphanumerical indicator (1'), and a second switch (4'). The knob (2') is rotatable to, in a first operating mode of the microprocessor, select a desired function and, in a second operating mode, selected the desired numerical information. By means of the first switch (3'), the selected function is accepted, the microprocessor is transferred to the second operating mode, the selected numerical information is accepted, and the microprocessor is returned to the first operating mode. The alphanumerical indicator (1') displays both the selected functions and the alphanurnerical information. By means of the second switch (4'), a selection is discarded and the microprocessor is returned to the first operating mode.

Today, instruments within the field of chemistry/biotechnology field exhibit mainly three different types of instrument panels, namely either a number of keys and knobs but no indicator, or a digital indicator and a number of keys and, possibly, knobs, or an alphanumerical indicator and a number of keys and, possibly, knobs. It is to be understood that the respective key is intended for switching/operating a corresponding switch.
The keys are either general in the form of a numerical keyboard or dedicated to a certain function. By means of the knobs, different values are set and, normally, the knobs have fixed setting ranges, i.e. can be rotated from a minimum value to a maximum value.
Today, all different instruments have their own panel.
Therefore, each time a user starts using a new instrument, he/she has to learn the instrument panel which is unique for the instrument in question. If several instruments are interconnected into a system, this will be quite complicated to handle since the different instruments in the system exhibit different panels. Therefore, such systems have to be characterized as user-unfriendly.
From an ergonomic point of view, it is also disadvantageous with keyboards on normal instrument panels since it is difficult to press the keys on vertical keyboards.
With unique panels for all different instruments, problems also arise in connection with the development of new instruments since the development time will be longer each time a new panel has to be designed and tested. Moreover, it is more expensive to produce instruments with different panels.
As examples of prior art instrument panels, reference is made to EP-A2-0 188 162 (video tape recorder system), EP-A1-0 347 686 (entertainment electronics), and EP-A1-0 504 514 (multimeter).


The present invention is a method of minimizing steam boiler pressure changes or turbine power changes during turbine control valve operational safety test stroking. The method of the present invention uses control valve positions as feedback into a compensation algorithm to minimize flow disturbance caused by the closing and reopening of a turbine control valve during periodic operational testing. By maintaining the total mass flow through several parallel turbine inlet control valves constant, the steam generator pressure is maintained constant, and the inlet pressure regulator is unaffected during inlet control valve testing. Maintaining the total mass flow through several parallel turbine inlet control valves constant also minimizes turbine power changes during inlet control valve testing. In addition, the monitoring of additional process parameters is not needed. The position (valve stem lift) of the individual parallel valves is used for closed loop control of inlet valve position, and is sufficient for the purpose of maintaining constant flow.

Required operating procedure for turbines includes periodic operational testing (closing and reopening) of parallel inlet flow control valves used in turbines. The testing is done to confirm operability of turbine safety mechanisms. One problem with such testing is changes in the turbine steam boiler pressure or changes in turbine power as a result of the closing and reopening of the turbine control valves during the periodic operational test. Steam boiler pressure changes or turbine power changes must be minimized during turbine control valve operational safety test stroking. When present, the turbine inlet pressure regulation or turbine power feedback must not be affected or modified to achieve the compensation.
One pre-existing method to minimize inlet pressure excursions uses turbine inlet pressure in a proportional regulator. The inlet pressure regulator design is defined and required by the steam boiler design and, thus, cannot be modified. Other methods that have been used to compensate for turbine power disturbances caused by flow changes that occur during operational testing of inlet control valves are the use of electrical power feedback in a proportional plus integral regulator, or the use of turbine-stage pressure feedback in a proportional regulator. Neither of these methods may be applied to the inlet pressure problem because they both allow inlet pressure to change. Some of these methods also involve the monitoring of additional process parameters.

Flow compensation for turbine control valve test


An object of the invention is to provide an electric oil pump with greatly improved operation, increased endurance, and extended service life of an Oldham's coupling connecting a drive shaft that rotates a rotor in a pump housing and a motor output shaft in a motor housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric oil pump that can greatly improve the operation, increase the endurance, and extend the service life of an Oldham's coupling connecting a drive shaft that rotates a rotor in a pump housing and a motor output shaft in a motor housing.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electric oil pumps comprising a combination of a pump housing having a drive shaft provided with a rotor of an inner contact gear type and a motor housing having a motor for rotating the drive shaft mounted on the rotor have been used as pumps in lubrication systems of automobiles or the like. A specific example of such electric oil pump is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-173278. The essence of the invention disclosed in this application is that a hydraulic gear pump and a motor are connected via a bracket. A drive shaft on the side of the hydraulic gear pump and a rotor shaft on the side of the motor are connected via a coupling, and an Oldham's coupling is disclosed as an example of the coupling.
The construction of the Oldham' coupling disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-173278 enables the rotation transfer even when the input shaft and output shaft are not coaxial. A plate-shaped protrusion is formed on the distal end of the output shaft of the motor, and a groove for inserting the protrusion is formed on the input shaft side of the pump housing. The output shaft of the motor rotates and the rotor shaft rotates in a state where the plate shaped protrusion is inserted into the groove. In this case, the rotation is transferred even though the input shaft and output shaft are not coaxial, but the plate-shaped protrusion and the groove rub against each other and the surfaces thereof wear each other in long-term usage, thereby decreasing the strength of the coupling. It is an object of the present invention to increase the endurance and extend the service life of the Oldham's coupling connecting the output shaft and input shaft.

Abstract: The electric pump comprises a pump housing having a rotor and a drive shaft for rotatably supporting the rotor, and a motor housing connected to the pump housing and having an output shaft connected to the drive shaft via an Oldham's coupling. The pump housing is provided with a coupling chamber for accommodating the Oldham's coupling, and a linking channel for transporting the leaked oil from a rotor chamber accommodating the rotor of the pump housing to the coupling chamber.


Devices and methods for assisting weight control where the device is inserted into the mouth of a patient between opposing rear molar teeth. The inserted devices cause an increase in resistance to chewing, which then slows eating by the person. The devices can include elastic bands, magnets, shock absorbers, combinations, thereof and sensors for detecting strength and frequency of chewing.

Obesity is a major health risk factor in the world, and in particular in the United States. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, National Center for Health Statistics estimates this to be about 35.7 per cent of the US population. Obesity can lead to hypertension, diabetes, heart attacks, osteoarthritis amongst various medical conditions.
A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Research Triangle Institute (RTI International) released in July 2009 estimated that obesity and obesity-related health conditions cost almost ten percent of annual medical spending in the US, totaling $147 billion in 2008. This is a condition which requires significant intervention at a national and an individual level.
Numerous ways exist to address this condition such as diet, weight loss drugs, psychotherapy, exercise, change in life style and surgery. Various types of medications used for this process include phenteramine, amphetamine and FDA approved lorcaserin.
A common surgical procedure can include gastric bypass and gastric banding. These medications and surgical procedures can have long term effects and complications.
A medical condition called giant cell arteritis can lead to decreased blood flow to the muscles for chewing. This condition leads to fatigue while trying to chew similar to as any muscle would if it did not get enough blood supply. This condition invariably leads to weight loss.
Various types of elaborate systems have also been proposed over the years. See for example, U.S. Published Patent Application 2010/0109876 to Schmid-Schonbein et al. which describes elaborate devices, systems and methods to control caloric intake where sensors can be attached to a patient's teeth and personalized feedback can occur. However, this device and system requires computers where feedback which only instructs the patient to eat slower, and does not physically restrict their chewing.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.


An optical module (100) includes a lens barrel (10), a lens module (20), a filter (40) and a clip (50). The lens barrel defines a groove in an inner periphery thereof. The lens module is received in the lens barrel. The clip is received in the groove of the lens barrel, so as to fix the lens module in the lens barrel. The filter is received in the lens barrel, between the lens module and the clip.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to optical modules used in photography and imaging equipment and, more particularly, to an optical module for a digital camera.
2. Description of Related Art
Currently, digital camera modules are included as a feature in a wide variety of portable electronic devices and, of course, in stand-alone digital camera units. Most portable electronic devices are becoming progressively more miniaturized over time, and digital camera modules are correspondingly becoming smaller and smaller. Nevertheless, in spite of the small size of a contemporary digital camera module, consumers still demand excellent imaging.
Optical modules used for digital camera modules typically include a barrel, a lens module, a spacer, and a filter. The lens module and the spacer are received in the barrel. The filter is fixedly mounted in the barrel by using, for example, a glue/adhesive, thereby preventing the lens module and the filter from falling out of the barrel. When the glue/adhesive used to adhere the filter to the barrel is dilute, it can seep into the lens module via capillary action, thus impairing imaging quality of the optical module.
Therefore, a new optical module is desired in order to overcome the above-described shortcomings.


A real time tire pressure gauge has a first connector for connecting to a compressed air source, a second connector for connecting to a tire valve, an internal passage between the first and second connectors, a pressure sensor configured to measure a pressure in the internal passage and generate a pressure signal indicating air pressure, a controller connected to the pressure sensor to receive the pressure signal, and a display connected to the controller. The controller is configured to store a static pressure in memory based on an initial pressure sensor and display the static pressure, detect a sudden change in pressure and store a changed pressure in memory in response to detecting the sudden change, periodically sample the pressure signal and store a periodic pressure in memory, calculate an estimated tire pressure based on the static pressure, the changed pressure the periodic pressure, and display the estimated tire pressure.

Vehicle manufacturers typically provide a recommended pressure to which the vehicle's tires should be inflated for optimum performance and safety. To increase pressure in a tire, an air source must be at a pressure higher than the tire to create a pressure differential causing air to transfer from the air source to the tire. The airlines and fittings of a compressed air delivery system are typically small in cross-section relative to that of a reservoir tank of a typical compressor, and act as constrictions which create resistance to the flow of compressed air. These mechanical resistances occur in components such as lengths of small diameter pipe or hose, valves and fittings which may have mechanical constrictions or cause the air flow to abruptly change direction. The resistance causes the static pressure of the compressed air flow to drop due to frictional losses in the flow, and can lead to inaccuracies in measurement of tire pressure.
Improvements in pressure measurement devices are desirable.


Certain monoclonal antibodies are able to detect urinary trypsin inhibitors (UTIs) that are characteristic of disease in humans. In particular, the UTIs include AMBK, Bikunin, Uristatin, Uristatin-1, Uristatin-2, as defined herein, also including the fragments and aggregates thereof.

This invention relates generally to the detection of urinary trypsin inhibitors (UTIs) in human urine. UTIs inhibit one or more of the Serine proteases. Trypsin is a member of the family of Serine proteases, i.e. enzymes, that includes trypsin, elastase, kallikrein, plasmin, thrombin, chymotrypsin, and cathepsin, among others. This group of inhibitors primarily forms after an increase in the number of white blood cells in the body due to the release of elastase during infection or inflammation. UTIs are not normally found in the urine produced by healthy individuals. The amount is elevated in those whose bodies have bacterial infections and inflammatory disorders or other maladies such as malignant tumors, kidney disease, myocardial infarction, lung emphysema, surgical trauma, and kidney stones among others.
When infections and/or inflammation occur, the bodies' response involves the production of serine proteases such as elastase released by neutrophils. Non-inhibitor forms of UTI, called pro-inhibitors, such as interleukin-α-inhibitor (I-α-I) and the pre-interleukin-α-inhibitor (P-α-I), circulate freely in plasma of healthy and diseased individuals. Serine proteases cause proteolysis of the pro-inhibitors and release the lower molecular weight UTIs into active function. The released urinary trypsin inhibitors act on serine proteases and are later excreted in the urine. Discovered in 1909, urine trypsin inhibitors are Kunitz-type protease inhibitors and have been named HI-30, Mingin, Urinastatin, Serpin, and Ulinastatin over the years with the scientific community settling on the name Bikunin for a prevalent fragment of ˜30 Kda molecular weight. The amino acid sequence of the Bikunin inhibitor fragment is known. It contains two Kunitz inhibitory binding domains and a large and variable chondroitin sulfate chain. See the International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology 32 (2000) 125-137.
Although the amount of urinary trypsin inhibitors has been measured by several methods, e.g. enzyme inhibition, antibody stains, latex agglutination, and radioimmunoassays, all of the UTIs in the sample are measured. It has not been shown that certain forms of the inhibitor can result from chronic disease and are more easily distinguished from the inhibitors which were present in individuals with lesser degrees of inflammation. As a result, the diagnostic use of UTIs has to date only been as a non-specific marker of infection and/or inflammation. The non-specific nature lessens the clinical utility as determination of UTIs does not help the care giver to know the type or site of infection and makes it difficult to separate conditions for which the patient would need therapy from general ailments. The present invention is directed toward making such distinctions.
One method of measuring the UTI content of a urine sample involves the addition to the sample of known amounts of trypsin and then measuring the degree to which the trypsin has been inhibited. Examples of this technique can be found in three published U.S. Patent Applications 2001/0055816 A1, 2002/0004219 A1, and 2003/0125577 A1. In these published applications, a known amount of trypsin on a substrate capable of producing a detectable response is added to a sample of urine. The substrate is cleaved by trypsin to yield detectable byproducts. If trypsin inhibitors are present, the response is diminished since some of the available substrate is not cleaved. Thus, by measuring the amount of the trypsin present and functioning relative to the amount added, the UTI content can be determined. This method detects any inhibitor of trypsin activity and is non-specific for any given trypsin inhibitor excreted into urine. The patent application published in 2001 discloses the use of a polycarboxylic chelating agent to inhibit the interference of calcium in the sample. The patent applications published in 2002 and 2003 concern certain aromatic esters of arginine shown to be useful as substrates for trypsin in the method just described.
Another method which determines directly the amount of UTIs in a urine sample involves the development of antibodies which attach themselves to the urinary trypsin inhibitors and which, by the addition of immunoassay reagents containing the antibody to a sample, produce a response signal. There are various immunoassay methods which could be used to apply antibodies of the invention such as microparticle capture immunoassays (MIC), latex agglutination inhibition (LAI), solid phase chromatographic (IC), radioimmunoassays (RIA), enzyme linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), enzyme linked assays (EIA), fluorescence linked assays (FIA), luminescence linked assays (LIA), rare earth metals label assays, chemiluminescence assays (CLA) and optical color label assays (OA) such as colored latex particle and colloidal gold. It is also feasible to use electrochemical signal transducers (EST) based on amperometric, impedimetric, and potentimetric detection methods.
In principle, immunoassays can be of either a heterogeneous format requiring a separation step or a homogeneous format without separation and either of a competitive or a non-competitive nature. For heterogeneous assays, solid phases can be used to separate bound antigen from free antigen and can include plastic wells, tubes, capillaries, membranes, latex particles, and magnetic particles. Antibodies are attached to the solid phases. Antibodies can also be attached or conjugated (labeled) with reagents that directly or indirectly produce detectable responses, other antibodies or other reagents in a variety of fashions. An immunoassay can also employ multiple and different antibodies in a variety of manners such sandwich assays, double label assays, and multiple sandwich assays depending on the detection needs for the material being detected.
In general, the immunoassay reagents undergo changes whereby a signal is generated and the intensity of the signal generated is proportional to the concentration of the analyte measured in the specimen or sample. Immunoassay reagents contain indicator dyes, metals, enzymes, polymers, antibodies, surface active agents, particles, electrochemically reactive ingredients and various other chemicals dried or filled onto carriers. Carriers often used are tubes, cups, capillaries, strips, vials, papers, microfluidic devices, cassettes, membranes or polymers with various sample volume, uptake and transport properties.
It has been found that polyclonal antibodies produced from rabbits inoculated with urinary trypsin inhibitors purified from the urine of patients with kidney disease are useful in measuring the amount of total UTIs in urine samples from both healthy individuals and those with disease. However, the polyclonal antibodies are not able to distinguish the various forms of UTI from each other, in particular from the pro-inhibitors interleukin-α-inhibitor (I-α-I) and pre-interleukin-α-inhibitor (P-α-I). Since all these proteins are readily present in the healthy patients, the cross reactivity of the polyclonal antibody makes it useless for distinguishing diseased patients from healthy patients by using blood specimens. In the case of urine specimens, the high molecular weights of P-α-I and I-α-I make it less likely that they will pass through the kidney, thus the polyclonal antibodies were more effective in spite of their reduced specificity. However due to the non-specific nature of the polyclonal antibodies they have not been found to be more effective than the general enzyme inhibition method previously discussed. The polyclonal antibodies were cross-reactive to all forms of UTI in urine and not specific to any one form and would measure both inhibitory and non-inhibitory UTI.
In Journal of Immunoassay 1991; 12:347-69, Trefz et al disclose the use of a monoclonal antibody produced from mice immunized with high molecular weight (240 kDa). Inter-α-trypsin inhibitor (an inactive pro-inhibitor) in an enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA). The results showed that the method was effective to distinguish between healthy individuals and those with disease, since the level of UTIs in the urine of those individuals with disease was higher than those without disease. The authors noted that Inter-α-trypsin inhibitor (ITI) having a molecular weight of about 240 kDa, contained several lower molecular weight peptides, understood to result from disintegration of the ITI. Their monoclonal antibody, IATI5, was found to recognize three major bands, a 240 kDa, a 120 kDa, and a 50 kDa band. In a purified HI-30 preparation their monoclonal antibody detected a protein of about 33 kDa.
In their work reported in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. 275, No. 28, issue of July 14, pp. 21185-21191, 2000, Hirashi Kobayashi et al. compared polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies raised against a purified preparation of UTI that was shown to have molecular weight in the range of about 40-80 kDa in SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. Derivatives were found to have molecular weights of about of 7 kDa, 30 kDa, and 60 kDa.
During the cross-reactivity studies of a polyclonal antibody for UTI prepared by Bayer, we were surprised to discover that further breakdown of the inhibitory Bikunin occurs during the acute phase infections in patients leading to the formation of other inhibitory UTIs containing both Kunitz inhibitor domains, but lacking the chondroitin sulfate chain. This UTI, termed Uristatin, has a molecular weight of ˜17 kDa. In a paper (Clinical Chemistry Acta (2004) 341, 73-81) reporting tests with a dipstick for detecting urinary trypsin inhibitors, Pugia et al showed that the dipstick reported the presence of two forms for UTIs; Bikunins and Uristatins. They identified the typical molecular weight of Bikunin (30.9 kDa) and three key forms of the Uristatin, designated Uristatin-1 (5.9 kDa), Uristatin-2 (8.5 kDa) and the combination of Uristatin-1 and Uristatin-2 which was termed Uristatin (17.4 kDa). All forms of Uristatin lack the chondroitin sulfate chain, and are very prevalent in patient specimens when analyzed by electrophoresis. All Uristatin forms are inhibitory to the trypsin family of proteases; therefore they contain at one of the two Kunitz inhibitory domains that inhibit the protease active site upon binding. Uristatin-1 contains binding domain 2 and Uristatin-2 contains binding domain 1.
It was further noted that, given the conditions of the patient used for collection, the typical molecular weights of IUTIs could vary considerably. Additional variations of Bikunin and Uristatin are due to fragmentation of peptide structure, variations in the peptide sequence and variations in carbohydrate sequences attached to the Bikunin and Uristatin. Variations in molecular weight resulting from fragments occur by cleavage of the peptide sequence. A high degree of fragmentation is expected during inflammation as the inhibitors are exposed to the proteases that can cause cleavage. Elongation and fragmentation of the carbohydrate portions was also expected during inflammation as the glycoprotein are metabolized by a number of glycosyl transferases and glycosidases causing a great number of possible variants to the chondroitin sulfate chain attached to Bikunin and to the sugar side chains attached to Uristatin. Additional variations also occur by aggregation of the fragments into diners or higher oligomers, especially through association and metabolism of the carbohydrate portions. Therefore the functional UTI proteins represent a range of possible proteins around a typical molecular weight.
An additional protein in this suprafamily is the precursor protein (AMBK) that initiates the biosynthesis of the inhibitory and pro-inhibitor forms. This protein is present in the plasma of patients when the genes signal up-regulation to initiate the biosynthesis. The AMBK contains the Bikunin but lacks the heavy chains that inactivate the inhibitory domains and is attached to alpha-1-microglobulin. The detection of this form of the inhibitor is also important in determining the body's response to inflammation and infection.
There remains a need for a method of measuring specific urinary trypsin inhibitors that is able to detect the presence of disease by determining certain characteristic UTIs not found in healthy individuals. The present inventors have developed a method for making such determinations by using certain monoclonal antibodies, as will be described in detail below.

Monoclonal antibodies for detection of urinary trypsin inhibitors


A cleaning solution for cleaning laboratory consumables comprises sodium percarbonate in a concentration of from 0.9% w/w to 1.6% w/w based on a total weight of the solution and at least one diluent to 100% w/w.

Every year around 4,000,000 pounds of plastic pipette tips, after a single use, are disposed of in landfills globally, leading to significant environmental pollution and costs. A typical laboratory consumes several thousand pipette tips daily for samples and assay procedures. Due to the lack of options for cleaning plastic consumables, the labs discard pipette tips after each use. Such high consumption of plastic tips adds $25,000-$1.5M to the annual operation cost to each of the approximately 14,000 research laboratories in the US.
Devices that are capable of efficient pipette tip cleaning and sterilization could save businesses substantial amounts of money in their scientific operations and drastically reduce the amount of waste produced in the course of operations. Few devices have been developed for this purpose to date. In some cases, laboratories have developed small-scale cleaning methods to reuse a few pipette tips, such as single 96-tip cases. In some small-scale automatic liquid handling instruments, there are setups for the cleaning of tips with solutions. Neither of these options, however, is large enough in scale to be useful in a large industrial, government, or academic laboratory that may use hundreds of pipette tips every day. Additionally, labs must have absolute confidence that a cleaning system has completely removed all contaminants from the pipette tips so that there is no carryover, a term for the contamination presented into an experiment by equipment used in a prior experiment.
Thus, there is a need for a large-scale and economical method for the comprehensive cleaning and sterilization

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Cleaning solution and method of cleaning laboratory consumables


The present invention relates to a device for controlling a composite bridge including two anode-gate thyristors, the cathodes of which are connected together to a positive output terminal, the gates of the two thyristors being interconnected. The device includes a single-throw switch, controllable to be turned off and on, connected on the one hand to the two thyristors and on the other hand to a reference potential, and control means to turn on the switch only in a predetermined voltage range around the zero voltage of an a.c. voltage of the composite bridge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the control of a composite bridge for rectifying an a.c. power supply, for example, the mains a.c. voltage, in the vicinity of its transition through zero.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An example application of such a composite bridge relates to the field of power converters which are meant to supply rectified d.c. power supplies, obtained from an a.c. voltage, and meant to be used as a basis, for example, for a switch-mode power supply system. The bridge is then often associated with a circuit for limiting the current surge of a storage capacitor upon power-on of a rectifier.
Another example application relates to circuits for supplying a resistive load, for example an electric radiator, which is to be supplied by a rectified a.c. voltage. The electric standard generally imposed for the power-on of such a load is in the vicinity of zero voltage of the a.c. power supply.
The conventional circuits for controlling a composite bridge have generally to be fed by a d.c. voltage with a low level with respect to the a.c. voltage. Thus, specific means are usually necessary for providing a supply voltage to the control circuit, with an insulation transformer associated to the supply means. These circuits are therefore complex and expensive.

Control of a composite bridge at zero voltage


A nonvolatile memory cell having a floating gate for the storage of charges thereon has a control gate and a separate erase gate. The cell is programmed by hot channel electron injection and is erased by poly to poly Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. A method for making an array of unidirectional cells in a planar substrate, as well as an array of bidirectional cells in a substrate having a trench, is disclosed. An array of such cells and a method of making such an array is also disclosed.

Nonvolatile memory cells have a floating gate for the storage of charges thereon to control the conduction of current in a channel in a substrate of a semiconductive material is well known in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,130 whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,130, a split gate nonvolatile memory cell having a floating gate with source side injection and poly to poly tunneling is disclosed. The memory cell has a first region and a second region with a channel region therebetween with the channel region having a first portion and a second portion. A floating gate is disposed over a first portion of the channel region is insulated therefrom and controls the conduction of current in the channel region depending upon the charges stored in the floating gate. A word line/erase gate is disposed over a second portion of the channel region and is insulated therefrom and controls the conduction of current in the second portion of the channel region. The cell is programmed when electrons through the mechanism of hot electron channel injection are injected from the channel region onto the floating gate. The cell is erased by electrons from the floating gate tunneling to the erase gate through the mechanism of Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. The floating gate is characterized by having a sharp tip to facilitate the tunneling of electrons from the floating gate to the control gate. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,029,130, the control gate/erase gate performs two functions. First, it controls the conduction of current in the second portion of the channel region during the operations of programming and read. Secondly, it is supplied with a high voltage during the erase operation to attract the electrons from the spaced apart and insulated floating gate. These two functions have compromised the design of a single member which must perform both functions. Specifically, during programming and read, the word line/control gate receives low voltage whereas during erase, it must receive a high voltage.
It is therefore, an object of the present invention to overcome this and other difficulties.

Nonvolatile memory cell having floating gate, control gate and separate erase gate, an array of such memory cells, and method of manufacturing


A reusable isolation structure features an easily cleanable shell. The opening of the shell includes a groove formed around the periphery thereof and is preferably not more than slightly smaller than an interior cross-section of the shell. A closure member (door) of the isolation structure is dimensioned to fit within the opening and has a resilient seal member clamped to the periphery of a backbone by front and rear plates. The front and rear plates cooperate with grooves formed in the backbone to define a preferred form of manifold for coupling pressure or a vacuum to the interior of the resilient seal member whereby the resilient seal member may be collapsed to allow removal of the closure member or allowed to expand or pressurized to provide secure closure member. A vacuum structure for handling the closure member simultaneously provides for evacuation and controlled collapse of the resilient seal member as well as containment of contamination of the exterior thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to packaging enclosure members and door opening systems and methods of operating such door opening systems for such enclosure members. More particularly this invention relates to enclosure members for the packaging of items and packaging structures for isolating contamination sensitive items such as electronic components.
2. Description of related art
For many years, packaging has been an integral part of the transportation and delivery of products to users. One principal function of packaging for these purposes has been to provide ease of handling and space efficient storage of the product, prior to use.
A further and often more important function of such packaging is the protection of the product from the time of production or manufacture until the time of use. Such protection has become particularly critical for electronic circuit components which are often subject to damage from a wide range of environmental conditions. Such conditions include, but are not limited to, accelerations during handling, such as impacts against surfaces, vibration, static electricity and contamination by vapors and particles and tampering.
Standardized mechanical interface (SMIF) systems have been designed for reducing particle contamination, including hermetically sealable, transportable containers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,874 of M. Parikh for "Sealable Transportable Container Having a Particle Filtering System" provides a transportable container with a box with an interior space for containing articles, The box has a conduit for communicating between the interior space and the environment outside the box. The conduit contains a filter for filtering fluids passing through the conduit for alternate evacuation or pressurization. In discussing the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,874, Cols.1 and 2, states as follows:
"A standardized mechanical interface (SMIF) has been proposed by the Hewlett-Packard Company as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,532,970, and 4,534,389. The purpose of the SMIF system is to reduce particle fluxes onto wafers. This end is accomplished by mechanically ensuring that during transportation, storage and processing of the wafers, the gaseous media (such as air or nitrogen) surrounding the wafers is essentially stationary relative to the wafers and by ensuring that particles from the ambient environment do not enter the immediate wafer environment. The SMIF system above consists of two parts:
"(1) a controlled environment including a clean process equipment canopy surrounding the wafer-handling mechanism of each processing machine, and PA1 "(2) a small, clean box having a quiet internal environment for carrying wafers from processing machine to processing machine.
"Systems of the above type are concerned with particle sizes which range from below 0.1 micrometers to above 200 micrometers. Particles with these sizes can be very damaging in semiconductor processing because of the small geometries employed in fabricating semiconductor devices. Typical semiconductor processes today employ geometries which are 1 micrometer and under. Unwanted contamination particles which have geometries measuring greater than 0.1 micrometer substantially interfere with 1 micrometer geometry semiconductor devices. The trend, of course, is to have smaller and smaller semiconductor processing geometries which today in research and development labs approach 0.1 micrometer and below. In the future, geometries will become smaller and smaller and hence smaller and smaller contamination particles become of interest.
"In typical processing environments today, `clean rooms` are established in which through filtering and other techniques, attempts are made to remove particles having geometries greater than 0.03 micrometers and above. There is a need, however, to improve the processing environment. In a clean room, wafers and other semiconductor processing articles are exposed to the full clean room environment. Since different people, different types of equipment and materials are also present in the clean room environment, the clean room cannot be maintained as particle free as desired. It is virtually impossible to maintain clean rooms free of particles of a 0.1 micrometer size and below.
"For this reason, systems such as the SMIF system have come under consideration. The proposed SMIF system, however, has some deficiencies. When SMIF boxes become contaminated, it is very difficult to remove small contaminant particles since the force of attraction of small particles to surfaces of the equipment is very high. When small particles become attached to a surface such as a SMIF box, they are not effectively removed by filtration techniques. Circulating and filtering air or other gas within a box does not readily remove the contamination particles which are attracted and hold in contact with surfaces. However, whenever an object such as a SMIF box is disturbed, by bumping for example, many small particles are freed from the surface and find their way as contaminants onto any semiconductor or other article which is present in the box. While scrubbing and washing techniques have been developed for removing small particles from equipment and surfaces, these processes tend to be cumbersome and furthermore are not entirely effective."
The Parikh patent states further, "Previous SMIF concepts have included the principle that the wafers move from the transportable container to the processing equipment through various apparatus by disturbing the least amount of air within the processing equipment. Thus the still air concept has pervaded prior SMIF transportable containers. The advantage of this is that any particulates in the air would not damage semiconductor wafers because the air remained relatively still during the transferring process. While this principle is still valid, it has been found that stagnant air too, has many particles which may also cause damage simply by static attraction. The recognition that stagnant air causes contamination and damage has created a need for active localized filtering of the SMIF box and the environments with which the semiconductor articles are exposed. This recognition is a departure from the previous SMIF concept which employed no active filtering means. The need for active filtering at localized areas and under specific conditions and at desired times has been left to this invention."
The same U.S. Pat. No. 4,724,874 of M. Parikh for "Sealable Transportable Container Having a Particle Filtering System" provides a transportable container with a box with an interior space for containing articles. The box has a conduit for communicating between the interior space and the environment outside the box. The conduit contains a filter for filtering fluids passing through the conduit for alternate evacuation or pressurization. The Parikh et al patent states, at the end of Col. 2 thereof, "In accordance with the above background, there is a need for an improved system which can be standardized and which is effective for reducing contamination using an active filtering system."
It is important for packaging to protect against contamination or tampering (e.g. removal and replacement of the device in a protective, shock absorbing packaging foam under conditions where damage could occur).
The maintenance of an adequately clean manufacturing environment has led to increased manipulation of the packaging and items contained therein by automated processing equipment. Therefore, isolation structures must be adapted to be manipulated by such equipment in addition to providing the required types of protection for the packaged items. This adaptation often requires both the packaging and the automated equipment to be specially modified and standardized, increasing costs and reducing the generality of application of the automated equipment.
It is accordingly important that such equipment can be opened and closed with maximum efficiency while maintaining the clean environment about the materials housed within the enclosure member during the process of opening and closing.

Internatinal Business Machines Corporation


System and method are described for program analysis with data caching. Briefly described, in architecture, the system can be implemented as follows. The present invention for program analysis with data caching includes a counter for tracking each time on of a plurality of blocks of code in the computer program is executed. A counter cache stores the plurality of counters of the plurality of blocks of code that are most recently executed. A storage area stores a plurality of counters of the plurality of blocks of code that are not most recently executed code.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system and method for analyzing a program and, more particularly, for decreasing the program analysis operation overhead.
2. Description of Related Art
As is known in the computer and software arts, when a software program is developed, there is generally a need to speed up the execution of the software program. One tool to assist a programmer in speeding up a software program are program analysis tools. Program analysis tools are used for the purpose of analyzing software programs in search of specific information, such as, for instance, analysis tools can be used to compute the number of times a branch is taken, versus executed, during the lifetime of the software program.
Programming analysis tools can also insert probes into a software program before a particular instruction that needs to be probed. This probe code will increment decrement a counter that is located in memory, i.e., such is a global data structure. Finally, when a software program is ready to end, the entire global data structure for the counters can be written to an output file in a human readable form. This allows the programmers to analyze the application program to determine instances and scenarios in which the application program may be modified to increase its efficiency.
However, there is a problem associated with these counters. Because the counters may be updated at anytime, the counters are loaded into memory as global data structures. These global data structures cause the memory footprint of the program analysis system to be dramatically increased, even if many of these counters are never accessed because the instructions being probed are never executed.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

System and method to decrease program analysis overhead

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A video game which incorporates a video game player's cardio-waveform into the video display and integrates the wave-form with the activities of the video game being played. A cardio-waveform sensor is attached to a video game player. The sensor produces a signal which is transmitted to an input interface of a micro-processor. A joystick or other control system which enables a player to control the play of the video game is also attached to the input interface of the micro-processor. The micro-processor produces a display signal dependant on the signal's generated from the joystick and cardio-waveform sensor. The player's cardio-waveform is also displayed on the video display and is incorporated into the activities of the game being played. In one embodiment the cardio-waveform represents a boundary which confines the activities of a roaming icon.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a video game, and more particularly a video game which integrates a players cardio-waveform (Electrocardiogram ECG!) into the display of the video game being played and is incorporated into the activities of the game itself.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recent developments in computer technology have generated an explosion of video games to be played on personal computers and dedicated computer game systems to be played on home television systems. An abundance of diverse video games have been developed in the past twenty years. However, none of the video games of the prior art have integrated a video player's cardio-waveform into the video game being played.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,362,069 and Reissue 34,728 each disclose an exercise device comprising a video game wherein the signal representing the heart rate of the player affects the level of play of the video game and are incorporated herein by reference. However, these references fail to disclose a means to display the player's cardio-waveform nor do they incorporate this wave-form into the play of the video game.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,095 to Lapeyre discloses an exercise monitoring system and is herein incorporated by reference. Lapeyre '095 discloses an exercise device which simply numerically displays a person's heart rate on a TV monitor. Lapeyre '095 does not incorporate a video game nor does it display or integrate a cardio-waveform.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,009 discloses an apparatus for displaying a time varying waveform and is herein incorporated by reference. This reference discloses an apparatus to display a generic time varying wave-form, including a person's cardio-waveform. However, it does not involve a video game.
German Offenlegungschrift 2,822,434 discloses an exercise device wherein an exerciser's cardio-waveform is superimposed over a video display of a video tape or television broadcast. German '434 does not disclose a video game or the incorporation of a persons cardio-waveform into a video game.
The prior art does not disclose the integration of a cardio-waveform into the play of a video game, nor even the display of a person's cardio-waveform on a video game screen.

Integral video game and cardio-waveform display


An input disk and a clutch disk are supported by an output shaft in such a manner that the input disk is rotatable relative to the output shaft, and the clutch disk is non-rotatable relative to and is axially movable relative to the output shaft. When a large load torque is exerted about the output shaft, relative rotation between the input disk and the clutch disk occurs. A connecting rod has one end connected to a worm wheel, and is reciprocally swung through rotation of the worm wheel. A rotatable lever has one end, which is connected to the other end of the connecting rod, and has the other end, which is engaged with and is secured integrally with the gear teeth of the input disk.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a wiper motor apparatus, such as a rear wiper motor apparatus (or simply referred to as a rear wiper motor), has a gear housing, which receives a speed reducing mechanism and a swing mechanism. The swing mechanism converts rotational movement of the motor into reciprocal swing movement to reciprocally rotate an output shaft of the motor.
An example of a rear wiper motor includes a rear wiper motor 200 of FIG. 20 that has a swing mechanism 208. One such wiper motor having the swing mechanism is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3550049. The swing mechanism 208 of FIG. 20 has a reciprocally swingable sector gear 206, which is meshed with a gear 204 that rotates integrally with an output shaft 202 (the gear 204 possibly rotating integrally with the output shaft 202 through a transmission member, such as a clutch), to reciprocally rotate the output shaft 202 through a large angular range (a wide angular range). Also, as shown in FIG. 21, there has been proposed a rear wiper motor 250 that serves as a rear wiper motor of a wide angular range type and includes a swing mechanism 258, in which a reciprocally movable rack 256 is meshed with a gear 254 that is rotated integrally with an output shaft 252.
Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 22, there has been proposed a rear wiper motor 300 that includes a swing mechanism 308, which includes a reciprocally swingable rod 306 connected to a lever 304 that rotates integrally with an output shaft 302. The swing mechanism 308 reciprocally rotates the output shaft 302 through a narrow angular range (not exceeding 180 degrees, and a maximum of 120 degrees). One such rear wiper motor having the swing mechanism of the narrow angular range type is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent No. 3180018. The rear wiper motor 300 of the narrow angular range type has a simple structure and can be manufactured at low costs.
In the rear wiper motor of the wide angular range type and the rear wiper motor of the narrow angular range type, some components, such as the output shaft and the wheel gear rotated by the motor main body or the drive force of the motor main body, are basically common to both of these rear wiper motors. However, the swing mechanism, which is located between the wheel gear and the output shaft, differs between the rear wiper motor of the wide angular range type and the rear wiper motor of the narrow angular range type. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 22, in the swing mechanism 308 of the narrow angular range type, one end of the lever 304 is secured to a base end of the output shaft 302, and the other end of the lever 304 is connected to the rod 306, which is, in turn, connected to the wheel gear 310 at an eccentric point. In contrast, as shown in FIG. 20, in the case of the swing mechanism 208 of the wide angular range type, the gear 204 is secured to a base end of the output shaft 202. The gear 204 is meshed with the gear teeth of the sector gear 206, which is connected to the eccentric point of the wheel gear 210. Even in the case of the swing mechanism 258 of the wide angular range type of FIG. 21, the gear 254, which is secured to the output shaft 252, is meshed with the gear teeth of the rack 256 that is connected to the eccentric point of the wheel gear 260. Thus, it is difficult to form the swing mechanism as a common component, which can be commonly used for both of the rear wiper motor of the wide angular range type and the rear wiper motor of the narrow angular range type. As a result, it has been required to manufacture the swing mechanisms for the respective motors of different types.
Particularly, in the case of the rear wiper motor, which has a clutch device installed to an output shaft to protect a swing mechanism and a speed reducing mechanism from an excessively large external force, it is desirable to handle the clutch device as a single component by installing the clutch device to the output shaft. However, in the case where the structure of the swing mechanism of the wide angular range type is different from the structure of the swing mechanism of the narrow angular range type, the components installed to the output shaft are different between these two types. Thus, different output shaft assemblies, which correspond to the different types, need to be formed, and therefore the manufacturing costs could be increased.


A fluid ducting valve of the type comprising an interception ball fitted with a through-duct and sealing rings interposed between such ball and fluid flow ducts, in which such through-duct of ball is located with its longitudinal axis offset in the downstream direction relative to the axis of rotation of ball, when the latter is rotated to the position of interception, the relatives distance between the longitudinal axis of duct and the axis of rotation of ball being such that upstream apertures of duct are always closed before downstream apertures move on downstream sealing rings with the valve either closed or open.

As is known, so-called "ball" valves are substantially comprised of a valve body, with a cylindrical cavity to which two or more ducts are connected for the fluid to be distributed or intercepted, and a ball provided with a longitudinal axial duct and capable of being operated from the outside, located within the cylindrical cavity and capable of being rotated so as to set the axial duct in alignment with the direction of the fluid for the passage thereof, or conversely with the duct set transverse relative to the direction of the fluid for the interception thereof.
The principal problems associated with the use of such valves are substantially centered on the sealing rings which surround the ball and are required to maintain a seal between the inlet and the ports in the two directions and between both ports and the axis of control toward the exterior.
Such sealing rings are subjected to pressure between the fixed part and the moving part, for which reason any wear likely to give rise to clearances which cannot be remedied should be avoided.
In particular, the sealing rings located upstream and downstream of the ball and in the direction of flow of the fluid are subjected to the erosive action of the fluid, particularly during closure and opening of the ball; during such operations, the axial duct of the ball which is rotated limits the inflow of fluid via the ball, but does not obstruct it completely; therefore, since the outflow channel is still open, there is encountered a marked increase in the velocity of the fluid with generation of turbulence acting on the upstream and downstream sealing rings, ultimately causing erosion thereof with resulting loss of sealing.
This condition is further aggravated by the fact that the fluids to be intercepted are normally supplied at high pressure and at high temperatures, as in the case of saturated steam, and the wear is more apparent in regard to the downstream gasket which is more likely to be exposed to such erosion and which is responsible for maintaining a seal when the valve is open.


A technology to measure the mass flux distribution of liquid spray to evaluate droplet dispersion of a spray device for liquids such as fuel, paints, or coating agents, is provided. The apparatus for measuring spray mass flux to evaluate the droplet dispersion of the spray device includes a liquid spraying part including a spray nozzle to spray liquid, a spray collecting part to collect the liquid sprayed from the liquid spraying part, a transfer tube to transfer the liquid collected in the spray collecting part, a multi-cylinder part including a plurality of cylinders to receive the liquid collected in the spray collecting part, a movable mass measurement part to measure a mass of each cylinder of the multi-cylinder part, and a mass flux calculating part to calculate a distribution graph of mass flux of the sprayed liquid.

In general, to evaluate the performance of a product or an assembly employing liquid fuel, paints, or coating agents, an amount of sprayed liquid must be measured in relation to the sprayed area of the liquid. To this end, conventionally, a patternator (collector of sprayed droplets) has been mainly used.
The conventional patternator divides and measures a distribution amount of fluid sprayed in a liquid state according to sections. As liquid is sprayed, the liquid is sprayed to a region other than a tube provided in the collector, so that flux loss occurs, and an amount of liquid collected in a predetermined tube overflows to move to another tube, so that an amount of sprayed liquid cannot be exactly measured.
In addition, the mass of the liquid is manually measured by using a fountainpen filler or a scale to measure an amount of liquid collected in each tube, so that too much time is spent in the measurement work, and the accuracy of the measured value may be degraded.

Device for measuring droplet mass flux distributions to test spray injection system and the measuring method

UNIVERSITY INDUSTRY COOPERATION FOUNDATION KOREA AEROSPACE UNIVERSITY


Provided is a belt for electrophotography which is capable of suppressing the occurrence of adhesion to other members and blocking and which is less liable to cause image defects due to a singular protrusion. The belt for electrophotography comprises a surface layer which comprises heteroaggregate including an inorganic oxide particle having an average primary particle diameter of from 10 to 30 nm and an electroconductive metal oxide particle having an average primary particle diameter of from 5 to 40 nm, and a ten-point average roughness Rzjis of a surface of the surface layer satisfies a relationship: 0.3 μm≦Rzjis≦0.7 μm.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a belt for electrophotography such as a conveyance transfer belt or an intermediate transfer belt to be used for, for example, an electrophotographic image forming apparatus such as a copying machine or a printer.
Description of the Related Art
In an electrophotographic image forming apparatus, a belt for electrophotography serving as a conveyance transfer belt for conveying a transfer material or as an intermediate transfer belt for temporarily transferring and holding a toner image is used. The belt for electrophotography comes into contact with and slides on other members in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus. Therefore, in the case where the surface of the belt for electrophotography is excessively smooth, adhesion to the other members or a blocking phenomenon is caused in some cases.
In particular, when a photosensitive drum and the surface of the belt for electrophotography are liable to adhere to each other, the running stability of the photosensitive drum and the belt for electrophotography may be impaired in some cases. Further, when a cleaning blade and the surface of the belt for electrophotography are liable to adhere to each other, blade curling or cleaning failure occurs in some cases. In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, hitherto, an attempt has been made to roughen the surface of a belt for electrophotography (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-182382).
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2007-31625 proposes, as a method of roughening the surface of a belt for electrophotography, a method involving causing a surface layer to contain particles each having a particle diameter of about 0.1 to 3 μm to form a protruded portion derived from the particles on the surface of the surface layer. However, a singularly large protrusion may be formed on the surface of the surface layer owing to agglomeration of the particles contained in the surface layer and the like. In the case of using the belt for electrophotography having such protrusion as an intermediate transfer belt, the transfer of a toner image from a photosensitive member (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "primary transfer"), or the transfer of a toner image from the intermediate transfer belt to paper or the like (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "secondary transfer") are inhibited, which may cause defects in an electrophotographic image.

Belt for electrophotography and production method therefor, and electrophotographic image forming apparatus


A new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe plant named ‘Razzle Dazzle’, characterized by its broadly upright and mounding plant habit; vigorous growth habit; dense and bushy appearance; dark green-colored leaves; freely and uniformly flowering habit; light and dark pink-colored flowers on strong, tall and upright peduncles; and good container and garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Astilbe, botanically known as Astilbe arendsii X Astilbe chinensis and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Razzle Dazzle'.
The new Astilbe plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Heemskerk, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program was to create new uniform and freely flowering Astilbe plants with attractive leaf and flower coloration.
The new Astilbe plant originated from a cross-pollination in 2013 in Heemskerk, The Netherlands, of an unidentified seedling selection of Astilbe arendsii, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unidentified seedling selection of Astilbe chinensis, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Astilbe plant was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled greenhouse environment in Heemskerk, The Netherlands during the summer of 2015.
Asexual reproduction of the new Astilbe plant by vegetative divisions in a controlled nursery environment in Heemskerk, The Netherlands since December, 2015, has shown that the unique features of this new Astilbe plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


In one aspect of the invention is a method for discouraging unauthorized redistribution of protected content. Content is bound to a customer I.D. associated with a customer requesting the content, such that the customer I.D. is needed to access the content.

Accompanying the widespread conversion of many types of content, such as movies, music, books, etc., to digital formats has been the development of a number of systems for protecting such content against unauthorized access, reproduction, and distribution. In many such protection systems, the content is encrypted such that access requires a decryption key, which is made available under terms agreeable to the content owner/provider.
To prevent unauthorized reproduction and redistribution of such protected content, the encryption key is often also made dependent on some unique or relatively unique identifier associated with the original storage medium or device to which the content is bound. This dependency can be implemented using, for example, a cryptographic function of the identifier. If the content is copied to another storage medium or device, the decryption key formed using the identifier of that other medium or device will be different from the original encryption key, thereby preventing access to the unauthorized copy.

Discouraging unauthorized redistribution of protected content by cryptographically binding the content to individual authorized recipients