An outer part of a motor vehicle having an element and a carrier part. The emblem and carrier part are formed in one piece with the carrier part. The carrier part can take many forms such as a vehicle grille or decorative trim. The outer part can be formed using a method of injection molding and can have a variety of surface finishes.

Emblems, which typically have raised letters, numerals and/or pictorial elements, are regularly applied to motor vehicles to denote the manufacturer or the type of vehicle and are frequently also referred to as badges and company and trademark insignia.
German utility model G 8813438.5 discloses a molding punch for producing a car emblem, which consists of a rubber-elastic material. It has a contact surface corresponding to the end face of a base member, which has a collar around its outer edge.
German utility model G 9319813.2 describes a car emblem made of plastics which is trapezoidal in shape and is made in two parts with a junction extending parallel to the plane of vision or plane of mounting of the emblem. A partial member forming the visible side is chrome-plated at least on one visible side. Another partial element consists of a colored plastics.
Known emblems are produced as separate components and are attached by various methods, e.g. to the radiator grille or to the radiator cover. What is important is that the emblem should be mounted so as to be clearly visible on the exterior of the car. A disadvantage of this is that such emblems are tricky to fit and can easily be removed by unauthorized people.


A slat structure includes a plurality of support sticks integrally woven with a woven fabric into a piece of decoration article wherein the support sticks are equidistantly wrapped in place by the woven fabric, and an adhesive layer is coated at the upper and lower surfaces of the decoration article thereon respectively, securely binding the woven fabric and the support sticks thereby to form a hard and solid piece of the decoration article which is then laterally or vertically dissevered in equal distance into specific horizontal-type or vertical-type slat pieces. Thus, via the weaving of the woven fabric, the slat pieces thereof are equipped with artistic diagrams of rich colors and three-dimensional designs at the upper and lower surfaces thereon. Besides, the woven fabric, securely hold by the supported sticks and further bound by the adhesive layer, can efficiently avoid the loose yarns in cutting operation thereof, preventing the slat pieces from coming or wearing off after long time of repeated friction in use so that the upper and lower surfaces of the slat pieces thereof can be precisely protected by the adhesive layers coated thereon to achieve longer using lifespan of the slat pieces thereof.

The present invention is related to a slat structure, including a plurality of support sticks integrally woven with a woven fabric into a piece of decoration article wherein the support sticks are equidistantly wrapped in place by the woven fabric, and an adhesive layer is coated at the upper and lower surfaces of the decoration article thereon respectively, securely binding the woven fabric and the support sticks thereby to form a hard and solid piece of the decoration article which is then laterally or vertically dissevered in equal space into specific horizontal-type or vertical-type slat pieces; whereby, via the woven fabric, the slat pieces thereof are equipped with artistic weaving diagrams of rich colors and three-dimensional designs at the upper and lower surfaces thereon; besides, the woven fabric, securely hold by the supported sticks and protected by the adhesive layer, can efficiently avoid the loose yarns in cutting operation thereof, precisely preventing the slat pieces from coming or wearing off after long time of repeated friction in use to achieve longer using lifespan of the slat pieces thereof.
Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 2 inclusive. Conventional horizontal-type and vertical-type slat pieces 1, 1′ are molded via plastics into elongated and slim solid color slat pieces of sufficient strength and hardness before diagrams 2, 2′ are printed or hot-pressed onto the surfaces of the horizontal-type and vertical-type slat pieces 1, 1′ respectively. Finally, cord passage holes, 3, 3′ are punched at the slat pieces 1, 1′ thereon for retaining cords to be led there-through.
There are some drawbacks to the above conventional slat structures. First, the horizontal-type and vertical-type slat pieces 1, 1′, made of plastics, must be individually formed via injection molding, which is complex in the process and thus unable to be quickly produced on a massive scale. Besides, the slat pieces 1, 1′ must be further processed via printing or hot-pressing to apply the diagrams 2, 2′ onto the surfaces thereof, which may boost the cost of production and is rather uneconomical in efficiency. Second, after long time of repeated friction of the slat pieces 1 in use, 1′thereof, the diagrams 2, 2′ printed thereon can easily come or wear off, which not only mars the overall beauty of the blinds, but also reduces the using lifespan of the slat pieces thereof. Third, the horizontal-type and vertical type slat pieces 1, 1′, made of plastics, can increase the burden of the environment in recycle. When burned off in disposal, the slat pieces 1, 1′ thereof can also cause air pollution and harm the environment.


A method for the manufacture of mineral wool, is disclosed. In one example, the method comprises reacting an aqueous phenol-formaldehyde resole with free formaldehyde with a first amount of urea, thereby preparing a prereact; contacting the prereact with a second amount of urea; applying the resulting mixture of prereact and second amount of urea, as part of a binder, optionally with additives, to the surface of mineral fibers; and curing the binder on the surface of the mineral fibers. The total amount of urea used ranges 10-40 wt. % relative to the sum of the dry weight of the phenol-formaldehyde resole and the total amount of urea, and the second amount of urea used is at least 40 wt.-% of the total amount of urea. The invention also relates to a mineral wool product with reduced emissions of formaldehyde obtained by the method.

Mineral wool products are widely used for the thermal and acoustic insulation of different parts of buildings, transportations, or appliances, as well as for fire protection. Mineral wool materials are mainly randomly interlaced masses of mineral fibers with varying lengths and usually bound by a cured resin-based binder. Three types of mineral materials are most commonly employed, glass, stone or slag. Processes for the production of mineral wool products are well known in the art, and usually comprise the steps of melting the mineral material to an adequate temperature, fiberizing the molten mixture into fine fibers, application (mainly spraying) of an uncured liquid binder composition to the individual fibers while they still have some residual heat, collection of the fibers and formation of a primary fleece on a foraminous conveyor, densifying the fleece, and curing the binder at elevated temperatures. The cured mat is then cut to the desired size with transverse and edge trimmers, before it is packaged for transport.
The most extensively used binders are based on thermosetting aqueous phenol-formaldehyde resoles, due to their good performance and attractive low cost. Most common phenol-formaldehyde resoles used for this purpose are manufactured by phenol methylolation with formaldehyde and partial condensation in aqueous solution, catalyzed by strong alkaline substances. A detailed description of the preparation and characteristics of phenol-formaldehyde resoles suitable to be used in binders for mineral wool can be found for instance in 'Phenolic Resins: A Century of Progress', chapter 10, edited by L. Pilato and published by Springer-Verlag in 2010.
Phenol-formaldehyde resoles for mineral wool production are characterized by being prepared with a stoichiometric excess of formaldehyde, which results in free, unreacted, formaldehyde being mixed with the resole reaction product. In the recent years, there has been an increasing concern about the toxicity of formaldehyde, and formaldehyde containing materials, which has led to the development of approaches to cope with this concern.
In this respect, urea has been found highly useful, so much that it is nowadays mostly always added to the resoles used for mineral wool manufacture. Urea plays a dual role: first, it acts as a formaldehyde scavenger, reacting with the free formaldehyde in the resole and thus lowering its concentration; and second, it works as a resin extender, being incorporated into the cured thermoset binder without deteriorating unacceptably its properties, and thus increasing the usable solid content of the binder at low cost. Urea extension levels commonly used range from 20-40 wt.-%, depending on the starting resole, relative to the sum of the dry weight content of the resole and the weight of urea. Higher levels of urea extension, if no countermeasures are adopted, have been reported to result in reduced binder mechanical properties, particularly after ageing, together with the production of high ammonia emissions and the formation of troublesome "blue smoke" during mineral wool manufacture.
Urea might be added to the phenol-formaldehyde resole as soon as the reaction between phenol and formaldehyde is quenched. The resole and urea mixture is then allowed to react, usually at temperatures up to 60° C. and for up to 24 h. The industry often refers to this process as "premixing" or "prereacting", and the phenol-formaldehyde-urea product obtained is called "premix" or "prereact". The prereact is then stored and transported before use. There are known drawbacks associated with the application of the urea prereact method; the prereact is considerably less stable than the phenol-formaldehyde resole (the higher the ratio of urea, the less stable), what turns into much shorter usable storage times. Furthermore, temperatures <10° C. need to be avoided for the prereact.
To address the stability problems, urea might alternatively be added to the phenol-formaldehyde resole by the mineral wool manufacturer at its production site, shortly before the mixture is applied to the mineral fibers. Prolonged storage or transport of the prereact is therefore no longer needed. In this case, the industry sometimes refers to urea being "cold" added, to distinguish it from the prereact formation (in the prereact method, urea is frequently added to the resole reaction product when it is still warm). Cold urea addition has however also its disadvantages. For instance, the presence of unreacted urea, which had not sufficient time to react, has been associated with increased undesired emissions of ammonia and amines during mineral wool manufacture. Furthermore, when urea is first added just shortly prior to application to the fibers, resoles with high content of free formaldehyde need to be stored, transported and handled with the associated concerns related to their toxicity.
The combination of both prereacting and cold urea addition has been described, e.g. in patent publications U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,538,761 A1, 5,670,585 A1 and US 2007191574 A1. In these references, either the total urea extension level is higher than 40 wt.-%, or the amount of urea added cold is lower than 40 wt.-% of the total urea used, or both.
Although the use of urea has been helpful reducing the concerns related to the free formaldehyde content in the phenol-formaldehyde resole based binders, it has not been totally satisfactory regarding emissions of formaldehyde from the manufactured mineral wool products. This is due to the fact that urea-formaldehyde reaction products have been proved not to be sufficiently heat stable, and during curing at temperatures higher than 100° C., they give back formaldehyde which is released from the produced mineral wool products.
Reducing the emissions of formaldehyde from mineral wool products has been extensively researched. Most approaches entail the use of formaldehyde scavengers other than urea to trap irreversibly the excess of formaldehyde, like melamine, dicyandiamide, alkanolamines, glycine, and substances with active methylene groups, among others. This approach has however significant drawbacks. The most important ones are the extra cost of the scavengers used, and the need for extra processing steps and installations. Additionally the scavengers might detrimentally affect the resin stability and processability.
The inventors noticed that there is a need in the field for an improved method for the manufacture of mineral wool products with a binder based on phenol-formaldehyde resoles, which avoids storing, transporting, and handling materials having high free formaldehyde content, and which results in mineral wool products with reduced formaldehyde emissions, without having to employ formaldehyde scavengers different than urea.

Method for the manufacture of mineral wool products with a phenol-formaldehyde resole based binder


An equipment inspection system receives data captured by a sensor of an autonomous vehicle (AV). The captured data describes a current state of equipment for servicing the AV. The equipment inspection system compares the captured data to a model describing an expected state of the equipment. The equipment inspection system determines, based on the comparison, that the equipment differs from the expected state. The equipment inspection system may transmit data describing the current state of the equipment to an equipment manager. The equipment manager may schedule maintenance for the equipment based on the current state of the equipment.

In conventional automobile contexts, drivers use equipment to service their automobiles. For example, drivers use gasoline pumps to fuel gas-powered vehicles, and drivers plug electric vehicles into chargers at their homes or at businesses. Drivers and other people who manage such equipment, such as gas station employees, can observe when equipment is not functioning properly or is reaching the end of its life. Current fleet management systems for driverless AVs similarly rely on manual processes to use and inspect various equipment for servicing the AV fleet. For example, a fleet operator working at an AV maintenance facility plugs electric vehicles into charging stations. The fleet operator can identify any faults or wear in the charging stations during use of the equipment. Other fleet operators may also periodically use and inspect car washes, other cleaning equipment, and maintenance equipment.
AV servicing and maintenance tasks are increasingly being automated, so that human operators are no longer involved in certain routine servicing and maintenance tasks. As more tasks become automated, fewer human operators will be present in AV facilities and able to observe faults in the equipment during their routine use of the equipment. However, the equipment still needs to be maintained and monitored. Sensors can be built into equipment, but this requires building additional hardware and capabilities for each type of equipment. Furthermore, equipment sensors cannot detect all potential issues or failure points.

Automated inspection of autonomous vehicle equipment


A lithographic apparatus including a position control system to control a position of a moveable object is presented, The position control system includes a position controller, an object represented as an object filter, a position feedback circuit, and an acceleration control system. The acceleration control system includes a subtractor and a first filter in a first circuit branch and a second filter in a second circuit branch. A position controller signal output from the position controller is input into the subtractor of the acceleration control system. An external disturbance force, however, is directly exerted upon the object. Thus, a first transfer function from the input of the subtractor to the acceleration of the object for the position controller force may be different than a second transfer function from the input of the object to the acceleration of the object for the disturbance force. Preferably, the first transfer function is identical to a transfer function for the position controller force in case no acceleration control system is present in the position control system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lithographic apparatus and methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lithographic projection apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In such a case, a patterning device may generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (e.g. including one or more dies) on a substrate (silicon wafer) that has been coated with a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). In general, a single wafer will contain a whole network of adjacent target portions that are successively irradiated via the projection system, one at a time.
In the current apparatus, in which the patterning device comprises a mask, a distinction can be made between two different types of machines. In one type of lithographic projection apparatus, each target portion is irradiated by exposing the entire mask pattern onto the target portion at once; such an apparatus is commonly referred to as a wafer stepper or step-and-repeat apparatus.
In an alternative apparatus—commonly referred to as a step-and-scan apparatus—each target portion is irradiated by progressively scanning the mask pattern under the projection beam in a given reference direction (the "scanning" direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate table parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. Since, in general, the projection system will have a magnification factor M (generally <1), the speed V at which the substrate table is scanned will be a factor M times that at which the mask table is scanned. More information with regard to lithographic devices as here described can be gleaned, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,792, incorporated herein by reference.
In manufacturing processes using a lithographic projection apparatus, pattern on the patterning device (e.g. in a mask) is imaged or exposed onto a substrate that is at least partially covered by a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). Prior to this imaging step, the substrate may undergo various procedures, such as priming, resist coating and a soft bake. After exposure, the substrate may be subjected to other procedures, such as a post-exposure bake (PEB), development, a hard bake and measurement/inspection of the imaged features.
This array of procedures is used as a basis to pattern an individual layer of a device, e.g. an IC. Such a patterned layer may then undergo various processes such as etching, ion-implantation (doping), metallization, oxidation, chemo-mechanical polishing, etc., all intended to finish off an individual layer. If several layers are required, then the whole procedure, or a variant thereof, will have to be repeated for each new layer. Eventually, an array of devices will be present on the substrate (wafer). These devices are then separated from one another by a technique such as dicing or sawing, whence the individual devices can be mounted on a carrier, connected to pins, etc. Further information regarding such processes can be obtained, for example, from the book "Microchip Fabrication: A Practical Guide to Semiconductor Processing", Third Edition, by Peter van Zant, McGraw Hill Publishing Co., 1997, ISBN 0-07-067250-4, incorporated herein by reference.
The term "patterning device" as hereinafter employed should be broadly interpreted as referring to a device that can be used to endow an incoming radiation beam with a patterned cross-section, corresponding to a pattern that is to be created in a target portion of the substrate. Generally, the pattern will correspond to a particular functional layer in a device being created in the target portion, such as an integrated circuit or other device (see below). Examples of such patterning device include:                a mask: the concept of a mask is well known in lithography, and it includes mask types such as binary, alternating phase-shift, and attenuated phase-shift, as well as various hybrid mask types. Placement of such a mask in the radiation beam causes selective transmission (in the case of a transmissive mask) or reflection (in the case of a reflective mask) of the radiation impinging on the mask, according to the pattern on the mask. In the case of a mask, the support structure will generally be a mask table, which ensures that the mask can be held at a desired position in the incoming radiation beam, and that it can be moved relative to the beam if so desired;        a programmable mirror array: one example of such a device is a matrix-addressable surface having a viscoelastic control layer and a reflective surface. The basic principle behind such an apparatus is that (for example) addressed areas of the reflective surface reflect incident light as diffracted light, whereas unaddressed areas reflect incident light as undiffracted light. Using an appropriate filter, the undiffracted light can be filtered out of the reflected beam, leaving only the diffracted light behind; in this manner, the beam becomes patterned according to the addressing pattern of the matrix-addressable surface. An alternative embodiment of a programmable mirror array employs a matrix arrangement of tiny mirrors, each of which can be individually tilted about an axis by applying a suitable localized electric field, or by employing piezoelectric actuation means. Once again, the mirrors are matrix-addressable, such that addressed mirrors will reflect an incoming radiation beam in a different direction than unaddressed mirrors; in this manner, the reflected beam is patterned according to the addressing pattern of the matrix-addressable mirrors. The required matrix addressing can be performed using suitable electronic devices. In both of the situations described hereabove, the patterning device can include one or more programmable mirror arrays. More information on mirror arrays as here referred to can be gleaned, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,891 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,523,193, and PCT patent applications WO 98/38597 and WO 98/33096, which are incorporated herein by reference. In the case of a programmable mirror array, the said support structure may be embodied as a frame or table, for example, which may be fixed or movable as required; and        a programmable LCD array: An example of such a construction is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,872, which is incorporated herein by reference. As above, the support structure in this case may be embodied as a frame or table, for example, which may be fixed or movable as required.
For purposes of simplicity, the rest of this text may, at certain locations, specifically direct itself to examples involving a mask and mask table; however, the general principles discussed in such instances should be seen in the broader context of the patterning device as hereabove set forth.
For the sake of simplicity, the projection system may hereinafter be referred to as the "lens"; however, this term should be broadly interpreted as encompassing various types of projection system, including refractive optics, reflective optics, and catadioptric systems, for example. The radiation system may also include components operating according to any of these design types for directing, shaping or controlling the beam of radiation, and such components may also be referred to below, collectively or singularly, as a "lens".
Further, the lithographic apparatus may be of a type having two or more substrate tables (and/or two or more mask tables). In such "multiple stage" devices the additional tables may be used in parallel, or preparatory steps may be carried out on one or more tables while one or more other tables are being used for exposures. Dual stage lithographic apparatus are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,969,441 and WO 98/40791, both incorporated herein by reference.
The movement of one or more moveable mask tables, one or more moveable substrate tables and other moveable tables, or other moveable objects being part of the lithographic projection apparatus in general, may be controlled by a position control system. Conventionally, e.g. as disclosed in European Patent No. 1,265,106, a position control system for an object includes a position controller and a position feedback circuit. A desired position is supplied to the position controller which calculates the required movement of the object. The position controller exerts a position control force on the object corresponding to the required movement. Via the position feedback circuit, the position controller receives information on the actual position of the object. If the determined actual position deviates from the desired position, the position controller may change the position control force until the object reaches the desired position.
A deviation of the actual position from the calculated position may result from external forces. In case of a multi-stage lithographic apparatus, air-pressure changes induced by an acceleration of one stage may lead to an external disturbance force on another stage, for example. The sensitivity of the position control system to external forces should-be as small as possible, but other design parameters and requirements limit the possibilities to decrease the sensitivity to external forces.

Lithographic apparatus, device manufacturing method, and device manufactured thereby


The invention comprises a system for providing host-to-host connectivity through use of SAN. In the preferred embodiment, the end-to-end host connectivity is accomplished through the FICON protocol, over the Fiber Channel layered stack on a standard Fiber Channel adapter that runs transparently across the SAN infrastructure.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to network connectivity between host computer systems over storage area networks (SANs) using the SAN's network protocol such as the FICON protocol.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Network architecture is a blueprint that is used to guide the design and implementation of networks. These blueprints are used because networks are not fixed at a single point in time, but evolve to accommodate changes in both the underlying technologies upon which they are based as well as changes in the demands placed on them. The primary function of a network is to provide general cost-effective, robust and high-performance connectivity among a large number of computers.
Channels and networks are the two primary ways that data is transferred between devices such as processors, and peripherals such as printers. Channels transfer data through switched or direct point-to-point connections and they work by creating a fixed connection between the source and destination devices until the transfer is complete. Channels transfer data at high speeds and are very economical. Networks, on the other hand are collections of nodes such as processors, print devices and workstations. Connections on networks are slower than those made via channels. Channels work best among few devices, and connect via predefined addresses. Networks, on the other hand, can handle multiple requests among multiple connections. Fibre Channel (FC) is a hybrid of both network and channel methods and combines the best aspects of both.
Host to host connectivity within a high-speed network environment is typically accomplished by using several different types of network media. Network media include Token Ring and Ethernet and other topologies. Token Ring is a physical network technology in which hosts are connected in a ring. A token (bit pattern) circulates around the ring and a given node must possess the token before it is allowed to transmit. Token Ring has a bandwidth of 4 and 16 Mbps (megabits per second). Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) is a high-speed token ring networking technology designed to run over optical fiber. The cables used for the token ring network are attached to adapters instead of the hosts themselves. Ethernet is a network technology that uses CSMA/CD (Common Sense Multiple Access) and has a bandwidth of 10 Mbps or 100 Mbps. The Ethernet protocol is implemented in hardware on the network adapter.
A SAN is a dedicated, centrally managed, secure information infrastructure which enables any-to-any interconnection of servers and storage systems. SANs allows for connection between storage devices and host machines across greater distances than are possible on a traditional local area network (LAN). SANs enable users to store large volumes of data at remote locations called libraries. SANs are rapidly being integrated into distributed environments using Fibre Channel technology.
Fibre Channel (FC) is a high speed (1.06 Gbps) medium used for data transfer and storage. It is essentially a serial data channel created over fiber optic cabling. Fibre Channel provides a logical bi-directional, point to point connection between a host and a device. Just as existing networking technologies using LAN/WAN (Local-Area-Network/Wide-Area-Network) utilize configurations connected to PCs, servers, print and storage devices, so too does FC. However, because FC uses fiber optic cabling, connections along a FC network are possible. Another feature of FC is its ability to provide increased bandwidth over communications channels.
ESCON (Enterprise Systems Connection) is a fiber-based protocol. The ESCON protocol allows various emulations to run on top of it for further communication with the mainframe either directly or indirectly through ESCON emulators. However, in order to perform this connectivity, the non-mainframe hosts need a separate ESCON hardware adapter, as well as other limitations.
ESCON based physical channel speeds are 17 Mbps. ESCON network connectivity is usually accomplished through ESCON directors and hence the distances between the end-hosts are limited. ESCON requires a repeater every 1.86 miles. This requirement leads to increased costs when the machines or hosts that are to be connected are far apart.
By comparison, FICON (Fibre Connectivity) Channel is a protocol that is targeted to provide high-speed storage Input/Output (I/O) capability. FICON provides a theoretical throughput of 100 Mbytes/sec, which allows it to be used in a SAN (Storage Area Network) environment.
Addressing the need for a centralized storage management solution across heterogeneous networked resources, FC SAN architecture benefits a typical networked environment by delivering a dedicated storage environment, and by using of high-speed fiber-optic or copper cabling to interconnect servers, workstations and storage devices.
As a data-channel network standard, the FC backbone of a SAN environment contains the network features that provide connectivity, distance and protocol multiplexing.
Because FC SANs are protocol-independent, the support for network protocols like Tansmission Control Potocol/Iternet Potocol (TCP/IP) and audio/video is accomplished with a single physical layer. FC allows concurrent communication among workstations, mainframes, servers, data storage systems and other peripherals using SCSI and IP protocols. The interconnectivity of computers and storage devices forms the basis of a SAN.
Although FC SAN is a fiber-based solution for high-speed storage access, there remains an industry need for high-speed, host to host connectivity that is an improvement upon the existing ESCON based architecture.

System for host-to-host connectivity using ficon protocol over a storage area network

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is directed to a welding-type power source that includes a power source housing and an engine arranged in the power source housing to supply electrical power. An energy storage device is included that is in rechargeable association with the internal combustion engine and arranged to provide welding-type power for at least a given period.

The present invention relates generally to welding-type systems and, more particularly, to a portable welding-type apparatus designed to respond "on-demand" to operator input. The welding-type apparatus includes an energy storage device capable of providing immediate and sufficient power in conjunction with an internal combustion engine that can then be started to compliment the energy storage device and provide sufficient operational welding-type power.
Traditional welding-type apparatus can be broken into two basic categories. The first category receives operational power from transmission power receptacles, also known as static power. The second is portable or self-sufficient, stand alone welders having internal combustion engines, also known as rotating power. While in many settings conventional static power driven welders are preferred, engine driven welders enable welding-type processes where static power is not available. Rotating power driven welders operate by utilizing power generated from engine operation. As such, engine driven welders and welding-type apparatus allow portability and thus fill an important need.
Static powered welders initiate the weld process by way of a trigger on a hand-held torch or with an electrically charged stick connected to a charged electrode.
Rotating power driven welders operate similarly, as long as the engine is running. If the engine is shut down, there is typically no residual power to create an arc. To once again weld, the engine must be started and run at operational speed to produce the arc. Therefore, it is simply not possible to manually start and stop the engine between each and every break in the welding process. Further, even during longer periods, operators may find it easier to let the engine run because of distance to the engine, a misconception that it is better for the engine, or just out of habit.
However, the welding process is usually not a continuous one. That is, there are many starts and stops involved in welding, and often, other steps are performed between welding. Such steps can include removing slag, rearranging components, acquiring additional supplies, checking one's work, or simply taking a break.
Further, rotating power driven welders typically require that the engine be running at full speed before sufficient power is generated to perform the welding-type process. That is, when initiating the welding-type process, an operator must first start the engine and wait until the engine is at operational speed before beginning the welding-type process. Operational speed is idle for non-welding operation and full output for a welding-type process. This creates long periods of user downtime, or results in a waste of fossil fuel by leaving the engine running. To avoid repeatedly waiting for the engine to reach full state, operators may allow the engine to idle during breaks in the welding-type process. That is, unlike traditional static welders that only use a significant amount of power during the welding-type process, rotating power driven welders can remain running and continually use energy even during a break in the welding-type process.
Accordingly, although operation of the engine is not continually necessary, operators allow the engine to continuously run. Running the engine at all consumes excess fuel and creates additional noise and exhaust unnecessarily.
As such, although rotating power driven welders provide the required power over a suitable duration, startup and shutdown of the engine and the delay associated therewith, and the wasted use of energy of allowing the engine to run continuously, are significant drawbacks to rotating power driven welding-type apparatus.
It would therefore be desirable to design a portable welding-type device that is operationally equivalent to static welders. Specifically, it would be desirable to have a portable welding-type device that operates on-demand and meets the power requirements of the desired welding-type process.

Power source with rechargeable energy storage device


A switched-mode power supply circuit having an operating mode and a stand-by mode, includes a functional ON/OFF switch. The switched-mode power supply circuit includes a transformer and a controllable switch connected to a primary winding of the transformer for switchably connecting the primary winding to a source of d.c. voltage. In the stand-by mode, based on a detected voltage level at an input of a controller IC, the switched-mode power supply circuit is arranged to switchable connect the primary winding to the d.c. voltage source in bursts which occur at a low frequency. By switchably connecting this input to a power source for the switched-mode power supply circuit, the controller IC detects the absence of this power source, and turns off the switched-mode power supply circuit allowing a minimum current consumption by the switched-mode power supply circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to switched-mode power supply circuits for television receivers.
2 . Description of the Related Art
Switched-mode power supply circuits are used in television receivers to provide main operating power and stand-by power to the various circuit in the television receiver. A particular type of switched-mode power supply circuit provides stand-by power using a burst mode of operation. Although power consumption during this stand-by burst mode is low, there is still an appreciable amount of power being consumed. Thus, the television receiver also includes a main power switch for terminating all power to the television receiver when a user anticipates that the television receiver will not be used for a significant period of time.
This main power switch is usually in the form of a mechanical switch which is bulky and expensive.

Functional on/off switch for switched-mode power supply circuit with burst mode operation

Philips Electronics North America Corporation


Provided are systems and methods for separating a purge gas recovered from a polyethylene product. The method includes recovering a polyethylene product containing one or more volatile hydrocarbons from a polymerization reactor and contacting the polyethylene product with a purge gas to remove at least a portion of the volatile hydrocarbons to produce a polymer product having a reduced concentration of volatile hydrocarbons and a purge gas product enriched in volatile hydrocarbons. The purge gas product is compressed to a pressure of 2,500 kPaa to 10,000 kPaa, and is then cooled and separated into at least a first product, a second product, and a third product. A portion of one or more of the first, second, or third products is then recycled as a purge gas, to the polymerization reactor, or to the purge gas product enriched in volatile hydrocarbons prior to compression, respectively.

In gas-phase polymerization, a gaseous stream containing one or more monomers is passed through a fluidized bed under reactive conditions in the presence of a catalyst. A polymer product is withdrawn from the reactor while fresh monomer is introduced to the reactor. Residual gaseous and/or liquid components such as unreacted hydrocarbon monomer(s) and/or diluent(s) are usually absorbed in the polymer product. These volatile, unreacted monomers and/or diluents need to be removed from the polymerized particulates.
Typically the polymer product is introduced to a product separator or purge bin and contacted with a countercurrent flow of a purge gas such as nitrogen. The recovered purge gas product that includes the purge gas and volatile, unreacted monomers and/or diluents is either flared, used as fuel, or undergoes further processing to recover the valuable monomers and/or diluents. Current separation systems utilize membrane separation, adsorption materials, and/or pressure swing adsorption. While some of the valuable monomers and/or diluents are recovered, the remaining nitrogen purge gas must be flared or combusted as fuel because the concentration of monomers and/or diluents in the purge gas remains too high.
There is a need, therefore, for improved systems and methods for recovering hydrocarbons from a polymerization purge gas.

Systems and methods for recovering hydrocarbons from a polyolefin purge gas product


A form of symbolic logic gate, referred to as don't.sub.-- care logic, provides a construct that does not have a technology primitive correspondent, and that is useful for carrying valuable additional information to logic synthesis and/or logic optimization processes. Thus, a logic optimization process may proceed more effectively when presented with such don't.sub.-- care information because, e.g. overlapping combinational logic is simplified (but not always eliminated) and dependency (i.e. shared combinational logic) is resolved between the data input and the enable input. The don't.sub.-- care gate is readily generalized, such that it can be applied for any technology primitives that have an enable line input, where there is potential shared combinational logic between the data input (or any inputs) and the enable input. Such category may include technology primitives, such as a latch, a D.sub.-- flip.sub.-- flop, and a tri-state element.

1. Technical field
The invention relates to combinational logic. More particularly, the invention relates to overlapping logic for data and enable inputs to a logic function.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is a designation applied to a variety of devices fabricated in a variety of semiconductor technologies. An ASIC is designed to perform a specific function. The major advantages of ASICs are typically lower unit cost and higher performance. This is the result of eliminating circuitry from the chip otherwise needed to make it programmable and incorporating only the logic functions that are needed for the application. This makes a smaller, less costly chip. Higher performance is a result of directly implementing the logic instead of using an instruction set that requires multiples of clock cycles to execute, as with a microprocessor.
ASICs can be divided into two categories: standard and custom. Standard ASICs are generally commodity items which have been designed by a semiconductor manufacturer and which are sold in large volumes. Custom ASICs are generally designed by or for a specific customer and are not available to the public. This allows the developer of a custom ASIC to exploit the advantages of the device. One disadvantage of custom ASICs is the high nonrecurring engineering cost associated with designing the ASIC.
ASICs are typically designed using a schematic entry design system which includes a library of cells that are usable by a target silicon foundry and technical data relating to cell performance that must be programmed into a schematic capture tool.
A block diagram of the desired ASIC is first created by the system designer. The design is implemented by placing logical elements from the library onto the screen of a workstation. The elements of the design are uniquely defined by an instance number, connections are drawn in, and the wires are named. The operator then runs the schematic entry program to produce a netlist. In producing the netlist, all of the positional information contained in the schematic drawing, i.e. what elements goes next to what and where the critical signal paths are, is lost. Because the netlist is produced from a schematic, there is no actual information regarding such factors as, for example stray capacitance, inductive coupling, or transmission line length. These parameters must be estimated and added to the netlist in a format that is usable by a timing simulator.
In addition to the netlist obtained from the schematic entry program, test vectors must be generated to simulate the netlist. To bridge the interface between the schematic entry program and the simulator program, the test vectors must be in a format required by the simulator. The simulator program itself must be programmed to handle all of the logic elements contained in the foundry library.
When the simulation is completed, the results must be examined. This requires a program that takes the output of the simulator and displays it in the format desired.
The next interface is that between the schematic entry program and the auto-place-and-route program. The router must be programmed with the appropriate standard cell library and the output from the schematic entry tool must be in a format acceptable to the router.
The router outputs the geometrical data that define the structures and locations of the structures used in the fabrication of the design in silicon. These structures define data paths and capacitive loading which may be critical to the performance of the circuit. Because the router may not produce performance that meets the design specification, it is necessary to run an extraction program on the output of the router. The extraction program traces the layout and constructs a netlist of the actual layout. The extractor can also calculate the actual node loading.
The extractor must be programmed with appropriate data relating to the electrical properties of the various structural layers. The extractor also must assure that the output format of the router is usable by the input to the extractor, and that the output of the extractor is usable by the input to the timing simulator. The netlist containing the actual loading obtained by extraction from the layout is referred to as back-annotated data. The timing simulation obtained from simulating the back-annotated netlist should represent the actual circuit performance. Otherwise, engineering (i.e. human) intervention is required.
The actual netlist, i.e. the netlist provided by the extractor, and the netlist provided by the schematic entry, i.e. the intended netlist, must be compared to determine if the real netlist is the same as the intended netlist. This is performed by a layout-versus-schematic program.
Many design systems are based upon the use of a Hardware Description Language, such as VHDL or Verilog, and may use a silicon compiler and synthesizer. Assuming the system is described in VHDL and partitioned, if needed, into one or more ASICs, the resulting VHDL description must be converted to a detailed specification. The specification is typically dependent upon the design system that is used to implement the design. For example, a synthesizer program that is used to synthesize the ASIC from the VHDL description must be expanded to include specified timing. To determine if the specification is correct, the VHDL description must be simulated. Thus, test vectors described in the required stimulus format for a VHDL simulator must be provided. Once the specification is determined to be correct, a synthesizer program which contains a library of cells and a set of design rules appropriate for the target silicon foundry is run.
The HDL design tools ideally should allow the user to describe only the desired operation of the logic circuit, i.e. the signals generated by the logic circuit. However, HDL only permits an operational description of simple circuit elements. Accordingly, only designers that have knowledge of both the use and operation of logic elements and the operational features of the desired logic circuit can successfully use HDL.
B. Gregory, R. Segal, Method For Converting A Hardware Independent User Description Of A Logic Circuit Into Hardware Components, U.S. Pat. No. 5,530,841 (25 Jun. 1996) describe the generation of a logic network using a hardware independent description technique. A hardware generator is used to synthesize the logic network based upon information provided by an assignment condition generator.
In general, during the synthesis of latch logic using such systems, enable and data logic, i.e. combinational logic, overlap. It would be advantageous to simplify the overlapping logic for data and enable inputs, and thereby simplify the design. Additionally, such overlapping logic can cause timing problems after technology mapping because the same signal, i.e. the shared signal, may arrive to the data input of the latch at a different time than to the enable input of the latch. It would therefore also be advantageous to optimize circuit design in such way as to minimize or eliminate timing issues related to enable and data logic overlap.


Embodiments of the present invention provide an approach for invocation and de-allocation of networked-based resources (e.g., cloud-based resources) based on users' geographic movements. Specifically, in a typical embodiment, a set (one or more) of user preferences are received. Such preferences can include: a set of geographic points of interest, a set of users, associations of a set of resources (e.g., services, applications, etc.) of the set of users with the set of geographic points of interest, and/or contexts associated with the set of geographic points of interest. A listening service may then be implemented for the set of resources to determine a location of the set of users. Based on the location and the associations of the set of resources with the set of geographic points of interest, at least one of the set of resources may then be activated.

The networked computing environment (e.g., cloud computing environment) is an enhancement to the predecessor grid environment, whereby multiple grids and other computation resources may be further enhanced by one or more additional abstraction layers (e.g., a cloud layer), thus making disparate devices appear to an end-consumer as a single pool of seamless resources. These resources may include such things as physical or logical computing engines, servers and devices, device memory, and storage devices, among others.
Given processing and bandwidth enhancements over recent years, advantages of putting users' informational resources into a networked computing environment such as a cloud environment have become apparent. Challenges may exist, however, in that the user may have a certain set of steps that are necessary to be performed prior to development and testing such implementations. This might include starting or stopping web servers and/or application servers, logging into databases, deploying virtual images, and/or turning on or off other resources. Such a manual process can be both inefficient and error-prone.

Activating location-based resources in a networked computing environment


Method of data processing for Computed Tomography from a spectral image data set of an imaged zone, an anatomical image data set of the imaged zone, and an anatomical model, comprising: a. Assigning an initial set of values to a regularization scheme, 5 b. Performing a noise reduction scheme on the spectral image data set, wherein said noise reduction scheme is a function of the regularization scheme, of the spectral image data set and of the anatomical image data set, in order to obtain a processed spectral image data set, c. Performing a segmentation of structures of interest using the anatomical data set, the processed spectral image data set, and the anatomical model, in order to obtain a segmentation result, d. Updating the regularization scheme based on the segmentation result, e. Repeating step b to e, wherein the method also comprises a control step, performed when step b and c has both been performed at least once, the control step comprising checking an endloop criterion, and if the endloop criterion is met, outputting at least one of the segmentation result obtained in last iteration of step c and the processed spectral image data set obtained in the last iteration of step b.

Segmentation of anatomical and biological structures from CT images, and other imaging modalities, is a common approach in many diagnostic applications. Analyses of diseases or clinical conditions which can benefit from segmented structures can be related for example to automatic bone and calcification extraction, automatic CT angiography and vessel shape measurements, tumor lesion characterization, or differentiation between organ sections such as in cardiac, liver, or lungs.
Spectral CT can improve segmentation results in cases where better material separation or quantification adds relevant information beyond the conventional CT x-ray attenuation values, the Hounsfield Units. A known limitation of spectral CT is that usually the spectral images suffer from high noise or artifacts compared to conventional CT images. This issue sometimes leads to the application of strong non-linear filtration or other related noise reduction algorithms. Applying strong non-linear filtration sometimes degrades the spatial resolution or the low contrast resolution, and may even leave artifacts or create new image artifacts. Using such images to derive segmentation results may lead to non-optimal diagnosis.
Several techniques were proposed already to improve the noise reduction process of spectral images. These techniques were mostly based on prior information related to different tissues and material in the body.
For example, US 2013/0053689 describes a method to adjust the spectral filters in dual-energy CT based on known spectral characteristics of pre-determined tissue types, but without any relation to any organ or anatomical model. US 2008/0063135 and US2014/0133729 describe additional relevant background techniques in the field.
WO2014/128595A1 discloses a method in which spectral projection data is restored based on an underlying structure estimated from a reference dataset based on a determined noise pattern.
WO2015/083065A1 discloses a bone segmentation method for spectral image data in which a bone structure is extracted based on probabilities that were determined for each voxel if they represent a bone structure.

Method of data processing for computed tomography


In a first preferred embodiment for an improved synthetic jet actuator, the orifice shape is altered by either a flap or adjusting the housing walls. If the flap is deployed outward from the wall just above the orifice of a synthetic jet actuator, the synthetic jet flow will be vectored upward, toward the flap. Similarly, if the upper wall forming the orifice is moved outward from the jet chamber interior with respect to an opposing wall forming the orifice, the flow will also vector upward. In the second preferred embodiment of an improved synthetic jet actuator, an opening in addition to the orifice, may be formed in one or more walls of the housing. A louver is aligned with the opening in the housing and permits fluid flow in only one direction, either into the chamber or out of the chamber. When the louver permits fluid flow into the chamber, the jet actuator can operate at high speeds since fluid can enter the chamber through a greater surface area. Another preferred embodiment for an improved synthetic jet actuator comprises two concentric tubular sections normal to an outside surface of a solid body). In operation, the innermost section is connected to a vacuum device and constantly pulls fluid down its length from the ambient fluid above the outer surface. Meanwhile, the outer section ejects fluid into the ambient environment by pulses. Such an operation will cause a synthetic fluid jet to form above the constant suction synthetic jet actuator.

The ability to manipulate and control the evolution of shear flows has tremendous potential for influencing system performance in diverse technological applications, including: mixing and combustion processes, lift and drag of aerodynamic surfaces, and thrust management. That these flows are dominated by the dynamics of a hierarchy of vortical structures, evolving as a result of inherent hydrodynamic instabilities (e.g., Ho & Huerre, 1984), suggests control strategies based on manipulation of these instabilities by the introduction of small disturbances at the flow boundary. A given shear flow is typically extremely receptive to disturbances within a limited frequency band and, as a result, these disturbances are rapidly amplified and can lead to substantial modification of the base flow and the performance of the system in which it is employed.
There is no question, that suitable actuators having fast dynamic response and relatively low power consumption are the foundation of any scheme for the manipulation and control of shear flows. Most frequently, actuators have had mechanically moving parts which come in direct contact with the flow [e.g., vibrating ribbons (Schubauer & Skramstad J. Aero Sci. 14 1947), movable flaps (Oster & Wygnanski, 1982), or electromagnetic elements (Betzig AIAA, 1981)]. This class of direct-contact actuators also includes piezoelectric actuators, the effectiveness of which has been demonstrated in flat plate boundary layers (Wehrmann 1967, and Jacobson & Reynolds Stan. U. TF-64 1995), wakes (Wehrmann Phys. Fl. 8 1965, 1967, and Berger Phys. Fl. S191 1967), and jets (Wiltse & Glezer 1993). Actuation can also be effected indirectly (and, in principle, remotely) either through pressure fluctuations [e.g., acoustic excitation (Crow & Champagne JFM 48 1971)] or body forces [e.g., heating (Liepmann et al. 1982, Corke & Mangano JFM 209 1989, Nygaard and Glezer 1991), or electromagnetically (Brown and Nosenchuck, AIAA 1995)].
Flow control strategies that are accomplished without direct contact between the actuator and the embedding flow are extremely attractive because the actuators can be conformally and nonintrusively mounted on or below the flow boundary (and thus can be better protected than conventional mechanical actuators). However, unless these actuators can be placed near points of receptivity within the flow, their effectiveness degrades substantially with decreasing power input. This shortcoming can be overcome by using fluidic actuators where control is effected intrusively using flow injection (jets) or suction at the boundary. Although these actuators are inherently intrusive, they share most of the attributes of indirect actuators in that they can be placed within the flow boundary and require only an orifice to communicate with the external flow. Fluidic actuators that perform a variety of "analog" (e.g., proportional fluidic amplifier) and "digital" (e.g., flip-flop) throttling and control functions without moving mechanical parts by using control jets to affect a primary jet within an enclosed cavity have been studied since the late 1950's (Joyce, HDL-SR 1983). Some of these concepts have also been used in open flow systems. Viets (AIAA J. 13 1975) induced spontaneous oscillations in a free rectangular jet by exploiting the concept of a flip-flop actuator and more recently, Raman and Cornelius (AIAA J. 33 1995) used two such jets to impose time harmonic oscillations in a larger jet by direct impingement.
More recently, a number of workers have recognized the potential for MEMS (micro eclectro mechanical systems) actuators in flow control applications for large scale systems and have exploited these devices in a variety of configurations. One of a number of examples of work in this area is that of Ho and his co-investigators (e.g., Liu, Tsao, Tai, and Ho, 1994) who have used MEMS versions of `flaps` to effect flow control. These investigators have opted to modify the distribution of streamwise vorticity on a delta wing and thus the aerodynamic rolling moment about the longitudinal axis of the aircraft.
Background Technology for Synthetic Jets
It was discovered at least as early as 1950 that if one uses a chamber bounded on one end by an acoustic wave generating device and bounded on the other end by a rigid wall with a small orifice, that when acoustic waves are emitted at high enough frequency and amplitude from the generator, a jet of air that emanates from the orifice outward from the chamber can be produced. See, for example, Ingard and Labate, Acoustic Circulation Effects and the Nonlinear Impedance of Orifices, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, March, 1950. The jet is comprised of a train of vortical air puffs that are formed at the orifice at the generator's frequency.
The concern of scientists at that time was only with the relationship between the acoustic impedance of the orifice and the "circulation" (i.e., the vortical puffs, or vortex rings) created at the orifice. There was no suggestion to combine or operate the apparatus with another fluid stream in order to modify the flow of that stream (e.g., its direction). Furthermore, there was no suggestion that following the ejection of each vortical puff, a momentary air stream of "make up" air of equal mass is drawn back into the chamber and that, as a result, the jet is effectively synthesized from the air outside of the chamber and the net mass flux out of the chamber is zero. There was also no suggestion that such an apparatus could be used in such a way as to create a fluid flow within a bounded (or sealed) volume.
Such uses and combinations were not only not suggested at that time, but also have not been suggested by any of the ensuing work in the art. So, even though a crude synthetic jet was known to exist, applications to common problems associated with other fluid flows or with lack of fluid flow in bounded volumes were not even imagined, much less suggested. Evidence of this is the persistence of certain problems in various fields which have yet to be solved effectively.
Vectoring of a Fluid Flow
Until now, the direction of a fluid jet has chiefly been controlled by mechanical apparatus which protrude into a jet flow and deflect it in a desired direction. For example, aircraft engines often use mechanical protrusions disposed in jet exhaust in order to vector the fluid flow out of the exhaust nozzle. These mechanical protrusions used to vector flow usually require complex and powerful actuators to move them. Such machinery often exceeds space constraints and often has a prohibitively high weight. Furthermore, in cases like that of jet exhaust, the mechanism protruding into the flow must withstand very high temperatures. In addition, large power inputs are generally required in order to intrude into the flow and change its direction. For all these reasons, it would be more desirable to vector the flow with little or no direct intrusion into the flow. As a result, several less intrusive means have been developed.
Jet vectoring can be achieved without active actuation using coanda effect, or the attachment of a jet to a curved (solid) surface which is an extension one of the nozzle walls (Newman, B. G. "The Deflexion of Plane Jets by Adjacent Boundaries-Coanda Effect," Boundary Layer and Flow Control v. 1, 1961 edited by Lachmann, G. V. pp. 232-265.). However, for a given jet momentum, the effect is apparently limited by the characteristic radius of the curved surface. The effectiveness of a coanda surface can be enhanced using a counter current flow between an external coanda surface and a primary jet. Such a system has been used to effect thrust vectoring in low-speed and high-speed jets by Strykowski et al. (Strykowski, P. J, Krothapalli, A., and Forliti D. J. "Counterflow Thrust Vectoring of Supersonic Jets," AIAA Paper No. 96-0115, AIAA 34th Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, Nev., 1996.).
The performance of coanda-like surfaces for deflection of jets can be further improved by exploiting inherent instabilities at the edges of the jet flow when it is separated from the surface. It has been known for a number of years that substantial modification of shear flows can result from the introduction of small perturbations at the boundaries of the shear flow. This modification occurs because the shear flow is typically hydrodynamically unstable to these perturbations. Such instability is what leads to the perturbations' rapid amplification and resultant relatively large effect on the flow. This approach has been used in attempts to control separating flows near solid surfaces. the flow typically separates in the form of a free shear layer and it has been shown that the application of relatively small disturbances near the point of separation can lead to enhanced entrainment of ambient fluid into the layer. Because a solid surface substantially restricts entrainment of ambient fluid, the separated flow moves closer to the surface and ultimately can reattach to the surface. This effect has been used as a means of vectoring jets near solid surfaces. See e.g., Koch (Koch, C. R. "Closed Loop Control of a Round Jet/Diffuser in Transitory Stall," PhD. Thesis, Stanford University, 1990) (using wall jets along in a circular diffuser to effect partial attachment and thus vectoring of a primary round jet).
Similar to mechanical deflectors, technologies that rely on coanda surfaces are limited because of the size and weight of the additional hardware. Clearly, a coanda collar in aerospace applications must be carried along at all times whether or not it is being used.
As noted in the first part of this section (page 3), Fluidic technology based on jet-jet interaction has also been used for flow vectoring or producing oscillations of free jets. Fluidic actuators employing control jets to affect a primary jet of the same fluid within an enclosure that allows for inflow and outflow have been studied since the late 1950's. These actuators perform a variety of "analog" (e.g., proportional fluidic amplifier) and "digital" (e.g., flip-flop) throttling and control functions in flow systems without moving mechanical parts (Joyce, 1983). In the "analog" actuator, the volume flow rate fraction of two opposite control jets leads to a proportional change in the volume flow rate of the primary stream out of two corresponding output ports. The "digital" actuator is a bistable flow device in which the control jets and Coanda effect are used to direct the primary stream into one of two output ports.
These approaches have also been employed in free jets. Viets (1975) induced spontaneous oscillations in a free rectangular jet by exploiting the concept of a "flip-flop" actuator. More recently, Raman and Cornelius (1995) used two such jets to impose time harmonic oscillations in a larger jet by direct impingement. The control jets were placed on opposite sides of the primary jet and could be operated in phase or out of phase with each other.
Use of a fluidic jet to vector another flow, while known for years, has been used with limited success. In particular, the only way known to vector a jet with another jet (dubbed a "control jet") of the same fluid was to align the control jet so that it impinges directly on the primary jet. Obviously, this involved injection of mass into the flow and has not been deemed very effective at vectoring the primary flow because it relies on direct momentum transfer between the jets for altering the direction of the primary jet. Direct momentum transfer is not economical in general and undesirable when the available power is limited (such as on board an aircraft). Furthermore, such control hardware is difficult and expensive to install because of the complex plumbing necessary to supply the control jet with fluid to operate.
Modification of Fluid Flows About Aerodynamic Surfaces
The capability to alter the aerodynamic performance of a given airframe by altering its shape (e.g., the "camber" of an airfoil) during various phases of the flight can lead to significant extension of the airframe's operating envelope. Geometric modification of lifting surfaces has so far been accomplished by using mechanical flaps and slats. However, because of the complex control system required, such devices are expensive to manufacture, install and maintain. Furthermore, flap systems not only increase the weight of the airframe, but also require considerable interior storage space that could be used for cargo, and additional ancillary hardware (e.g., hydraulic pumps, piping, etc.). In some applications, the weight penalty imposed by the flaps may more than offset their usefulness.
In addition to the use of mechanical flaps, there has been considerable effort to enhance the aerodynamic performance of lifting surfaces by delaying flow separation and thus the loss of lift and increase in drag. Conventional methods for such flow control have primarily focused on delay of separation or inducement of reattachment by introducing small disturbances into the upstream wall boundary layer. Excitation methods have included external and internal acoustic excitation (Huang, Maestrello & Bryant, Expt. Fl. 15 1987), vibrating flaps (e.g., Neuberger & Wygnanski, USAF A TR-88 1987) and unsteady bleeding or blowing (e.g., Sigurdson & Roshko, AIAA 1985, and Seifert, Bachar, Koss, Shepshelovich & Wygnanski, AIAA J. 31 1993). These methods have been used with varying degrees of success. The effectiveness largely depends on the receptivity of the boundary layer to excitation within a relatively narrow bandwidth.
Other efforts of designers to modify the flow about an aerodynamic surface have centered on injection of energy into the boundary layer of the flow in order to augment lift, reduce drag, delay turbulent onset, and/or delay flow separation. For example, the method disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,642 to Mangiarotty involves the retardation of a flow's transition to turbulence. However, this prior art does not and cannot change the effective aerodynamic shape of the airfoil. That is, the apparatus cannot change the direction of flow of the free stream fluid about the surface. Instead, the apparatus propagates acoustic excitation above the Tollmien-Schlichting frequency in an attempt to disrupt Tollmien-Schlichting waves as they begin to form and thereby delay the onset of turbulence. Although this method changes the drag characteristic of a lifting surface, the mean velocity field outside of the boundary layer and thus apparent aerodynamic shape of the surface remain unchanged.
Such devices as slots and fluid jets have also been extensively employed to inject energy into the boundary layer in order to prevent flow separation. Recently, efforts have turned to the use of piezoelectric or other actuators to energize the boundary layer along an aerodynamic surface. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,991 to Edleman. These techniques, which employ acoustic excitation, affect the surface aerodynamic performance by suppressing or delaying the naturally occurring boundary layer separation. This method requires the flow state to be vulnerable to specific disturbance frequencies. Although effective at delaying flow separation, none of these devices alter significantly the apparent aerodynamic shape or mean velocity field of a given aerodynamic surface. Even though the changes in lift and drag that are caused by separation can be somewhat restored, there is no effect before separation occurs and the locus of the stagnation points remain largely unchanged. Therefore, before the present invention, no effective methods were suggested for altering the effective shape of an aerodynamic surface without the complexity, high expense, and weight penalty of mechanical flaps or slats.
Mixing of fluids at the small scale level
In a somewhat different field of study, the ability to effectively control the evolution of the shear layer between two streams of similar fluids (gas or liquid) may have great impact on the mixing between the two streams (e.g., mixing a hot exhaust plume with cold ambient air). The boundary between the two streams forms the turbulent flow region known as a "shear layer." Hydrodynamic instabilities in this shear layer induce a hierarchy of vortical structures. Mixing between the two streams begins with the entrainment of irrotational fluid from each stream by the large-scale vortical structures. These vortical structures scale with geometric features of the flow boundary (e.g., nozzle diameter of a jet, vortex generators, etc.) and they are critical to the mixing process between the two streams by bringing together in close contact volumes of fluid from each stream in a process that is referred to as entrainment. Layers of entrained fluid are continuously stretched and folded at decreasing scales by vortical structures that evolve through the action of shear and localized instabilities induced by larger vortical structures. This process continues until the smallest vortical scales are attained and fluid viscosity balances the inertial forces. This smallest vortical scale is referred to as the Kolmogorov scale. Thus, a long-held notion in turbulence is that the smallest and largest turbulent motions are indirectly coupled through a cascade of energy from the largest to successively smaller scales until the Kolmogorov scale is reached and the process is dominated by viscous diffusion. Turbulent dissipation is the process by which (near the Kolmogorov scale) turbulent kinetic energy is converted into heat as small fluid particles are deformed.
Scalar mixing (of heat or species, for example) is similar, but not identical to momentum mixing. Analogous to the Kolmogorov scale, the Batchelor scale is the smallest spatial scale at which an isoscalar particle can exist before scalar gradients are smoothed by the action of molecular diffusion. If scalar diffusion occurs on a faster scale than momentum diffusion, the Kolmogorov energy cascade breaks "packets" of scalars down into scales small enough that molecular scalar diffusion can occur (at the Batchelor scale). In this case, the Batchelor scale is larger than the Kolmogorov scale and turbulent motions persist at scales where scalar gradients have been smoothed out by diffusion. If, on the other hand, scalar diffusion occurs on a slower scale than momentum diffusion, turbulent motions stop (at the Kolmogorov scale) before the scalar gradients are smoothed out. Final mixing only occurs after laminar straining further reduces the size of the scalar layers.
There is a substantial body of literature that demonstrates that mixing in shear flows can be influenced by manipulating the evolution of the large scale eddies (vortical structures) within the flow. Because the large-scale eddies result from inherent hydrodynamic instabilities of the flow, they can be manipulated using either passive or active devices.
As noted above, although the entrainment process in turbulent shear flows is effected by the large-scale eddies, molecular mixing ultimately takes place at the smallest scales which are reached through a hierarchy of eddies of decreasing scales that continuously evolve from the largest scale eddies. Because the base flows are normally unstable at the large scales (and thus receptive to either passive or active control inputs), the traditional approach to controlling mixing at the small-scale has been indirect. Previous attempts to control small-scale mixing employing both passive and active control strategies have relied on manipulation of global two-and three-dimensional instability modes of the base flow with the objective of controlling mixing through the modification of the ensuing vortical structures.
Passive control has primarily relied on (permanent) modification of the geometry of the flow boundary. For example, mixing of jet exhaust is often enhanced by corrugating the exhaust port of a jet (e.g. Peterson, R. W. 1986 Turbofan Mixer Nozzle Flow Field--a Benchmark Experimental Study Journal of Engineering for Gas Turbines and Power 106, 692-698). This corrugation creates the appearance of a number of lobes defined by raised and recessed curves which induce counter-rotating vortices, thus promoting mixing in the direction of the exhaust flow. Other passive devices for the promotion of mixing have included small tabs that act as vortex generators. The disadvantage of such mixing devices is that their geometry is fixed and thus their effectiveness cannot be adjusted for varying flow conditions.
Conventional active control strategies overcome this deficiency because the control input can be adjusted. For example, the US patent of Wygnanski and Fiedler U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,224, describes the manipulation of large scale eddies in a plane shear layer between two uniform streams using a small oscillating flap. However, because this approach depends on the classical cascading mechanism to transfer control influence to the scales at which molecular mixing occurs, mixing at the smallest scales in fully turbulent flows is only weakly coupled to the control input. More importantly, mixing control of this nature relies on a priori knowledge of the flow instabilities and associated eigenfrequencies of the particular flow. Specifically, this method also requires that the flow be unstable to a range of disturbances, a condition which is not always satisfied
Clearly, more efficient control of mixing in fully turbulent shear flows might be achieved by direct (rather than hierarchical) control of both the large-scale entrainment and the small-scale mixing processes. Such a control method has, before now, not been available but is enabled by piezoelectric actuators as described in prior patents and by synthetic jet actuators that are the subject of the present disclosure.
That synthetic jets operate without net mass injection enabler their using some common applications of mixing in a bounded volumes are, for example, mixing in chemical lasers, mixing for chemical or pharmaceutical products bioreactors etc. In addition to these fields, the development of methods for enhancement of mixing through manipulation of the flow in which it occurs will have a direct impact on the performance of various other technologically important systems (e.g., in bioengineering).
Cooling of Heated Bodies
Cooling of heat-producing bodies is a concern in many different technologies. Particularly, a major challenge in the design and packaging of state-of-the-art integrated circuits in single- and multi-chip modules (MCMs) is the ever increasing demand for high power density heat dissipation. While current technologies that rely on global forced air cooling dissipate about 4-6 W/cm.sup.2, the projected industrial cooling requirements are 10 to 40 W/cm.sup.2 and higher within the next five to ten years. Furthermore, current cooling technologies for applications involving high heat flux densities are often complicated, bulky and costly.
Traditionally, this need has been met by using forced convective cooling using fans which provide global overall cooling when what is often required in pinpoint cooling of a particular component or set of components. Furthermore, magnetic-motor-based fans generate electromagnetic interference which can introduce noise into the system.
In applications when there is a heat-producing body in a bounded volume, the problem of cooling the body is substantial. In fact, effective cooling of heated bodies in closed volumes has also been a long standing problem for many designers. Generally, cooling by natural convection is the only method available since forced convection would require some net mass injection (e.g., air) into the system, and subsequent collection of this mass. The only means of assistance would be some mechanical fan wholly internal to the volume. However, often this requires large moving parts in order to have any success in cooling the heated body. These large moving parts naturally require high power inputs. But, simply allowing natural convective cooling to carry heat from the body producing it into the fluid of the volume and then depending on the housing walls to absorb the heat and emit it outside the volume is limited to low-power applications.

Synthetic jet actuators for modifiying the direction of fluid flows


A composition for cleaning and sanitizing dental appliances and dentures having at least one of anti-viral, anti-fungal, antibacterial, germicidal, and anti-microbial properties and comprising (a) a surfactant system having a quaternary amine as a first component and a nonionic surfactant as a second component, (b) peppermint oil, (c) a quaternary salt additive, (d) propolis resin extract, (e) antibiotic additive, and (f) Triclosan.

The prior art discloses various compositions designed to remove plaque and scale buildup on dental appliances and dentures. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,163 disclosing bleach precursors with sulfonimines; U.S. Pat. No. 5,045,223 disclosing N-sulfonyloxaridines as bleaching compounds; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,041,236 disclosing antimicrobial methods and compositions employing lysozymes and endoglycosidases. There also numerous references using perborate, carbonate, bicarbonate, and phosphate salts to generate effervescence. See, e.g, U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,486.
The resin base utilized by nearly all removable orthodontic appliances exhibits a certain degree of porosity which can harbor a vast accumulation of harmful pathogens and plaque. This increase in microorganisms can provide an increased risk for many serious ailments, including heart disease and diabetes. While prior art cleaning solutions and devices may remove some odors and stains and large particles from dental appliances, they do not provide protection against bacteria, viruses, and germs that reside and multiply on the appliance, as well as in the container in which it is stored. Moreover, some prior art cleaning solutions are known to discolor and stain appliances or to leave an unpleasant odor or taste on the appliance.


Rigid-rod macromonomers, and methods for preparing such macromonomers, having a polyaromatic backbone, solubilizing side groups, and reactive side groups are provided. The macromonomers are chemically incorporated into polymer systems to provide stronger, stiffened polymers.

It is well known that the stiffness and strength of a polymer are related to the flexibility of the polymer chain on the molecular level. Thus, if the chemical structure of the main chain restricts chain coiling and flexing, the resulting polymer will be stiff and strong. An example of a stiff polymer is poly-1,4-phenylene-1,4-terephthalamide (PPTA). While PPTA can coil in solution, the amide linkages and para-phenylene groups favor an extended chain conformation. Fibers can be prepared in which the chains are essentially all extended into rod-like conformations, and these fibers are extraordinarily strong and stiff. Unfortunately, PPTA is difficult to process (except for fiber spinning) and cannot be molded or extruded. In general, the more rigid the polymer main chain the more difficult it is to prepare and process.
Some applications require strong, stiff materials that can be easily processed by molding or extrusion. A widely used approach to obtain such stiff materials is to add fillers such as carbon or silica, or to incorporate fibers, such as glass and carbon fibers, into a relatively flexible polymer, thereby forming a stiff, strong composite material. The most widely utilized, high-performance fiber-polymer composites are composed of oriented carbon (graphite) fibers embedded in a suitable polymer matrix.
The improvements in strength and stiffness of composites are related to the aspect ratio of the filler or fiber, i.e., the length to diameter ratio of the smallest diameter cylinder that will enclose the filler or fiber. To contribute reasonable strength and stiffness to the composite, the fibers must have an aspect ratio of at least about 25, and preferably at least 100. Continuous fibers have the highest aspect ratio and yield the best mechanical properties but are costly to process. Low aspect ratio materials, such as chopped fibers and fillers, give limited improvement in mechanical properties, but are easy and inexpensive to process. The success of composites is demonstrated by their wide use as structural materials.
There are several drawbacks associated with composite materials. Composites are often more costly than the unreinforced polymer. This is because of the expense of the fiber component and the additional labor needed to prepare the composite. Composites are difficult or impossible to repair and in general cannot be recycled. Many composites also have undesirable failure characteristics, failing unpredictably and catastrophically.
Molecular composites (composed of polymeric materials only) offer the prospect of high performance, lower cost and easier processability than conventional fiber-polymer composites. In addition, molecular composites generally can be recycled and repaired. Because molecular composites contain no fibers, they can be fabricated much more easily than fiber-polymer compositions, which contain macroscopic fibers.
Molecular composites are materials composed of a rigid-rod polymer embedded in a flexible polymer matrix. The rigid-rod polymer in a molecular composite can be thought of as the microscopic equivalent of the fiber in a fiber-polymer composite. The flexible polymer component of a molecular composite serves to disperse the rigid-rod polymer, preventing bundling of the rigid-rod molecules. As in conventional fiber/resin composites, the flexible polymer in a molecular composite helps to distribute stress along the rigid-rod molecules via elastic deformation of the flexible polymer. Thus, the second, or matrix-resin polymer must be sufficiently flexible to effectively surround the rigid-rod molecules while still being able to stretch upon stress. The flexible and rigid-rod polymers can also interact strongly via Van der Waals, hydrogen bonding, or ionic interactions. The advantages of molecular composites over fiber-based composites are realized by incorporating rigid-rod segments into polymer systems. The advantages of molecular composites have been demonstrated by, e.g., W. F. Hwang, D. R. Wiff, C. L. Benner and T. E. Helminiak, Journal of Macromolecular Science.--Phys., B22, 231-257 (1983).
Molecular composites are simple mixtures or blends of a rigid-rod polymer with a flexible polymer. As is known in the art, most polymers do not mix with other polymers, and attempts at blends lead to macroscopic phase separation. This is also true of rigid-rod polymer/flexible polymer blends. Metastable blends may be prepared by rapid coagulation from solution. However, metastable blends will phase separate on heating, ruling out further thermal processing, such as molding or melt spinning and use at high temperatures. The problem of macroscopic phase separation is reported in H. H. Chuah, T. Kyu, and T. E. Helminiak, Polymer, 28, 2130-2133 (1987). Macroscopic phase separation is a major limitation of molecular composites.
Rigid-rod polymers produced in the past are, in general, highly insoluble (except in the special case of polymers with basic groups, which may be dissolved in strong acids or in organic solvents with the aid of Lewis acids) and infusible. Preparation and processing of such polymers is, accordingly, difficult. A notable exception is found in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/397,732, filed Aug. 23, 1989 (assigned to the assignee of the present invention), now U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,457, which is incorporated herein by this reference. The rigid-rod polymers described in the above-referenced application have a rigid-rod backbone comprising a chain length of at least 25 organic monomer units joined together by covalent bonds wherein at least about 95% of the bonds are substantially parallel; and solubilizing organic groups attached to at least 1% of the monomer units. The polymers are prepared in a solvent system that is a solvent for both the monomer starting materials and the rigid-rod polymer product. The preferred monomer units include: paraphenyl, parabiphenyl, paraterphenyl, 2,6-quinoline, 2,6-quinazoline, paraphenylene-2-benzobisthiazole, paraphenylene-2-benzobisoxazole, paraphenylene -2-benzobisimidazole, paraphenylene-1-pyromellitimide, 2,6-naphthylene, 1,4-naphthylene, 1,5-naphthylene, 1,4-anthracenyl, 1,10-anthracenyl, 1,5-anthracenyl, 2,6-anthracenyl, 9,10-anthracenyl, and 2,5-pyridinyl.
The rigid-rod polymers described above can be used as self-reinforced engineering plastics and exhibit physical properties and cost-effectiveness superior to that exhibited by many conventional fiber-containing composites. It would be quite useful if rigid-rod polymers could be incorporated into conventional flexible polymers, especially large volume commodity polymers. The value of a flexible polymer would be increased significantly if its mechanical properties could be enhanced by addition of rigid-rod polymers. Such molecular composites could displace more expensive engineering resins and specialty polymers and conventional composites as well. To date, practical molecular composites have not been demonstrated. This is chiefly due to deficiencies in currently available rigid-rod polymers, namely, limited solubility and fusibility and unfavorable chemical and physical interactions between the rigid-rod and the flexible polymer component.
There is a need in the art for a rigid-rod polymer that can be chemically incorporated into flexible polymers and polymer systems, during or subsequent to polymerization, to thereby add strength and/or stiffness to the resulting polymers. Chemical rather than physical incorporation is desirable to inhibit phase separation during the processing and use of the polymer and to increase the resulting polymer's solvent resistance. The mechanical behavior of polymer systems which contain chemically incorporated rigid-rod moieties can be different and superior to physical blends of, for example, rigid-rod polymers with flexible polymers.

Macromonomers having reactive side groups


An induction heating device includes a case having a lower plate that defines an inlet and an exhaust slit; a cover plate coupled to the case; a working coil disposed inside the case; an indicator substrate support coupled to the lower plate and disposed below the working coil; an inverter substrate disposed on a lower surface of the indicator substrate support and including an inverter and a first heat sink configured to dissipate heat generated from the inverter; and a first blowing fan disposed at the lower plate and configured to draw air from an outside of the case through the inlet and discharge the air to the inverter substrate. The exhaust slit is configured to discharge, to an area below the lower plate, at least a portion of air discharged from the first blowing fan to the inverter substrate.

Various types of cooking appliances may be used to heat food in homes and restaurants. For example, gas ranges may use gas as fuel. In some examples, cooking devices may heat an object such as a cooking vessel (e.g., a pot) with electricity instead of gas.
A method of heating an object via electricity may be classified into a resistive heating method and an induction heating method. In the electrical resistive method, heat may be generated based on current flowing through a metal resistance wire or a non-metallic heating element, such as silicon carbide, and the heat may be transmitted to the object through radiation or conduction. In the induction heating method, eddy current may be generated in the object made of metal based on a magnetic field generated around a coil based on a high-frequency power having a predetermined magnitude applied to the coil to heat the object.
Induction heating devices that use an induction heating method may include working coils arranged respectively in corresponding regions to heat each of a plurality of objects.
In some cases, an induction heating device (e.g., a zone-free type induction heating device) may simultaneously heat one object with a plurality of working coils.
In some cases, a zone-free type induction heating device may inductively heat an object regardless of a size and a position of the object that is disposed in a region in which a plurality of working coils are present.
In some cases, the zone-free type induction heating device (e.g., a flex or dual type induction heating device) may have a cooling structure (e.g., a blowing fan) to control the temperature of the components related to the driving the working coil. One example of the cooling structure of an induction heating device in related art is described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing a cooling structure of an induction heating device in related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, an induction heating device may include a blowing fan 20 and a fan cover 50 in an inside of a case 10 to reduce heat (i.e., a temperature) of a printed circuit board (PCB) 30 for controlling the driving of the working coil or the indicator. An exhaust slit 15 is defined at one side of the case 10, and the exhaust slit 15 is placed opposite to the blowing fan 20 with respect to the fan cover 50.
The temperature of the PCB 30 may be reduced by the air discharged by the blowing fan 20 while passing through a heat sink 40 along an air flow path defined by the fan cover 50. The air (i.e., the heat) that has passed through the heat sink 40 may be discharged to an outside of the case 10.
The fan cover 50 may prevent the heat discharged by the heat sink 40 from being leaking to other components or a substrate, and may function as an air flow path to guide the heat discharged from the heat sink 40.
In some cases, where an additional injection component such as the fan cover 50 is included in a cooling structure, material cost of the induction heating device may increase. In some examples, the injection component may require an additional mold to be manufactured, thereby incurring additional cost to manufacture the mold.
In some cases, the cooling structure described above may increase a height of the product (i.e., a height of the induction heating device) due to the fan cover 50, thereby making it difficult to manufacture a compact product.
The height of the product may be an important factor to determine whether another product may be installed at a lower end of the product. If the height of the product (i.e., a size of the product) can be reduced, another product may be installed at the lower end of the product.

Induction heating device having improved cooling structure


In an apparatus and method for detecting the concentration of a substance in a fluid, such as the concentration of sugar in blood, the measuring field of a test strip to which the fluid to be tested in applied is divided into two separate measuring areas. The change in the light reflection or light transmission capacity of the two measuring areas is then detected separately at repetitive time intervals, and in comparing the changes in light reflectivity or light transmission of the two measuring areas over time, perceived differences in the changes occurring in the two areas are evaluated to provide useful information.

In the case of blood sugar measurements performed by patients themselves, the patient gives a drop of blood onto the measuring field of a test strip which is then optically measured, with the detector, for example, detecting the color change of the measuring field which is provoked by the application of the blood to the measuring field. The signal produced by the detector corresponds to an average value of the color change in the measuring field. A correct value is thereby obtained only if the amount of blood is sufficient to uniformly wet the entire measuring field. If, in contrast to this, the measuring field is only partially wetted, the measurement becomes falsified since in the making up of the measured value, areas are also included in which practically no chemical reaction results and, therefore, in which no color change takes place. By the time this error is recognized in a customary measurement, a subsequent dosing as a rule is no longer possible because, in the wetted portion of the measuring field, the chemical reaction has already so far advanced that upon further application of blood a uniform coloring of the measuring field is no longer achievable. Moreover, in the case of the patient, as a rule, the small stab wound from which the blood drops have been pressed has again so far closed that no further blood can escape. The patient must, therefore, repeat the measurement, which for him can be very uncomfortable if one remembers that a patient, depending on circumstances, must carry out such measurement several times a day and with each measurement must each time stick himself in the finger.
The invention has as its object the provision of a method of the aforegoing type in which the previously mentioned error can be recognized in time and can be eliminated in the same measurement.

Method and apparatus for the measurement of blood sugar