The invention is for a system and method of constructing an array of fixed antennas to provide coverage for radio communications to multiple mobile aerial vehicles from a terrestrial location. In one embodiment there is provided antenna system providing radio communications to a plurality or moving aerial vehicles, said system comprising an array of fixed antennas; at least one or a plurality of transceivers selectively connected to the array of fixed antennas; and a control unit configured to switch individual antennas from said array to connect with at least one transceiver. The control unit is configured with a switch matrix to control the connections from the antennas to the plurality of transceivers to implement a desired communications protocol, and the system is further configurable to supply exclusion policies to the control unit which identify which antennas are not to be connected to the switch matrix.

Antenna systems are used widely in aeronautical communications. It is desirable to provide a high antenna gain for maintaining a radio communications link with an aircraft or UAV when travelling in air.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,134 discloses a geodesic sphere phased array antenna system which is capable of scanning the entire omni-directional communication space and comprises a substantially equilateral triangular planar subarrays of antenna elements arranged in a geodesic sphere configuration. However, this communications space does not take into consideration static and dynamic terrestrial and satellite interference constraints.
US Patent Publication No. US 2009/186611 discloses an aircraft broadband wireless system and method which includes a plurality of spaced-apart ground stations for transmitting and receiving signals to and from a respective plurality of aircraft. The broadband wireless system may also include a network operations center in communication with each of the ground stations via a global communications network. However, similar to U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,134, this communication system is not adapted to modify its functionality in view of static and dynamic interference constraints.
It is an object to provide an improved antenna array system and method for use in aeronautical communications.

Antenna array for aeronautical communications


An air filter having a counter rotating drum, i.e., the rotation of the drum is opposite the tangential intake of air. The intake air has about 1 lb. of rock wool fibers per 10.sup.7 cu. ft. of air sometimes at about 100% relative humidity. The fibers are doffed from the drum by suction nozzle which are adjacent to the drum at the bottom of the filter housing. The drum screen is cleaned by periodically jetting hot dry air at 120 psig through the screen into the suction nozzles.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to filtering particles from air and cleaning the filter screen with a fluid blast.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In the manufacture of mineral fibers, commonly known as rock wool, the manufactured fibers are carried in an air stream, the air sometimes being about 100% relative humidity. After the fibers are separated from the air, the air will still retain about 1 lb. of fibers for every 10.sup.7 cu. ft. of air. It is desirable to remove these fibers from the air before the air is discharged.
In the rock wool manufacture process in common use today the air is separated from the fibers. It is necessary that there be no appreciable back pressure applied to the air-fiber separation machines. Therefore, the pressure drop across the filter screen should be less than 1.5 inches water pressure (3.8 cm water).
Previous workers in the field have attempted to filter the fibers from the air stream using a rotating drum filter and doffing the fibers from the filter screen by brushes. The fibers as carried in the air stream will be sticky or adhesive and they tend to adhere to the screen and doffing brushes.
In filtering the air for textile plants, revolving drum air filters are used. In some instances, these air drums have a suction nozzle extending substantially the full length of the drum for removing the textile fibers from the air filter. Normally, these drums rotate in the same direction as the air which often enters the housing tangentially of the drum.
Before this application was filed, a search was made in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The following patents were discovered on this search:
U.S. Pat. No. 350,286, Bigler PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,474,478, Hart PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,689,020, Hersey PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,875,846, Yonkers PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,339,347, Otto PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,345,805, Sherrill PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,194, Ferri
SHERRILL discloses a filter for filtering the air in textile plants. A suction nozzle is positioned adjacent to the filter. The suction nozzle extends for about 1/4 the length of the drum. The nozzle is moved in steps to five overlapping positions across the drum length.
BIGLER discloses a dust collector for rotating drum filters. His drum rotates opposite the direction of the tangentially entering air. The dust is removed from the filter by a knocker.
FERRI discloses an air filter for fibers and dust and the flow is from the inside of the drum to the outside of the drum. A pair of suction nozzles, which together extend for what appears to be less 1/4 the total length of the drum are opposed by air blast nozzles. The air blast nozzles and suction nozzles are mounted upon common structure which is moved back and forth along the length of the drum so that a portion of the drum is cleaned of the dust and fibers by the suction on the suction nozzle and the air blast on the air nozzles. As understood, the air blast and suction operates at all times over that strip or segment of the drum about which they are located. The drum is supported and rotated by circumferential rollers.
The remaining patents do not appear to applicant to be as pertinent as those specifically discussed above.


A floor mat (10) is provided which includes longitudinal rail sections (e.g., 16, 17) capable of being interconnected with other longitudinal rails to form a roll up floor mat or pedestrian walking surface. The rails include a plastic cushion layer (21) which can be coextruded onto the upwardly facing surface of an underlying rigid plastic rail core (8), with the cushion layer being softer than the rail core and forming an integral walking surface thereon. At least one living hinge (23) may be employed within the rail section for pivotal movement of the rail, allowing the floor mat to be rolled up.

Roll-up style floor covering mats or foot grille structures are in general use in public foyer areas and typically include a series of rails that are interconnected. Each of the rails usually includes a channel which receives a removable insert strip, the insert strips forming the actual surface upon which pedestrians walk. Typically, the strips are inserted into each rail by being pulled or pushed into its channel from one end thereof.
Ideally, such an insert strip should be relatively easy to install in the channel, yet relatively difficult to remove under normal use. However, in practice, the force used to insert the strip can permanently deform or elongate the strip such that it will not dimensionally match the channel over time. Several solutions have been proposed to this problem with limited success.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,783,491, issued to F. L. McGeary, discloses a carpeted insert strip having a plastic backing material to prevent it from being easily pulled out the channel. Hartstein, U.S. Pat. No. 3,533,893, provides a tufted fabric strip heat sealed to a backing strip of paper, jute or a plastic material. Sands, U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,280, discloses a tufted carpet having a polymeric composition applied to its bottom surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,151, issued to Chester Ellingson, Jr., discloses an insert strip formed of suitable plastic materials through a dual durometer extrusion so as to provide a soft, non-slipping walking surface and a fairly rigid, reduced friction underlying surface which may be seated into a grille channel with the application of a longitudinal pulling force.
Shreiner, U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,672 discloses floor mats with rigid rails joined by living hinges, the rails having a body portion adapted to receive a tread member and a coupling portion by which it is joined to an adjacent rail, with the living hinges disposed in the coupling portion of the rail. However, the flexible hinges employed in the coupling portion have the problem of stretching or compressing, resulting in instability of the floor mat.
Therefore, there is a need for an attractive, functional floor covering which avoids the problems and disadvantages of prior floor coverings.

Floor covering with integral walking surface


A circuit and method for charging a super capacitor to an optimal voltage that provides a desired flash diode current value while minimizing power dissipation in circuit elements other than the flash diode. One embodiment uses periodic sampling of the current through the flash diode and termination of the charging upon the super capacitor having been charged to a voltage value that produces the desired flash diode current. Another embodiment includes a current regulator in the flash diode firing circuit that keeps the current at a substantially constant level during the time that the flash diode is being fired.

Devices such as cameras and cell phones having camera capability use a flash source to produce a light output to enable a picture to be taken. Such devices typically have one or more flash diodes, actually LEDs (light emitting diodes), that emit white light when fired. The flash diode firing current is supplied from a voltage source, such as a lithium ion battery, that is carried by the camera or cell phone.

Method and circuit for charging of super capacitor as energy source for flash diodes


A video display control system comprises a video display processor (VDP) which is capable of accessing to a video RAM (VRAM) at an extremely high-speed. The VRAM used in this system comprises first and second dynamic RAMs each having an address input terminal to which row address data and column address data are supplied, a row address strobe input terminal, a column address strobe input terminal, and a data input/output terminal. The row address data is latched at the leading edge of a row address strobe signal applied to the row address strobe input terminal, while the column address data is latched at the leading edge of a column address strobe signal applied to the column address strobe input terminal. An access to an address of each dynamic RAM is established when both of the row and column address data are latched. The VDP comprises a VRAM interface for controlling an access to the first and second dynamic RAMs which is connected to the RAMs through a common address bus. The VRAM interface first outputs row address data together with a row address strobe signal RAS and then outputs column address data together with two column address strobe signals CAS0 and CAS1 which are rendered active in sequence and supplied to the first and second dynamic RAMs, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video display control system for use in terminal equipment for a computer, television game apparatus or the like.
Recently, various kinds of display control systems which display animation and still images on a screen of a CRT (cathode-ray tube) display unit under the control of a CPU (central processing unit) have been developed. FIG. 1 shows one example of such conventional systems which comprises a video display processor (hereinafter referred to as "VDP") 101 and a central processing unit (CPU) 102. The system further comprises a memory 103 which includes a ROM (read only memory) for storing a variety of programs to be executed by the CPU 102 and a RAM (random access memory) for storing other necessary data. The CPU 102 outputs data representative of still and animation images to be displayed on a screen of a CRT display unit 105 to the VDP 101 which in turn stores the still and animation data into a video RAM (hereinafter referred to as "VRAM") 104.
Upon receipt of a display command from the CPU 102, the VDP 101 sequentially reads the still and animation data from the VRAM 104 in accordance with scanning synchronization signals of the CRT display unit 105, and supplies the read data to the CRT display unit 105, thereby the still and animation images being displayed on the screen of the CRT display unit 105.
In such a display control system, when the number of display elements or dots on the display screen is increased to improve the quality of a display image or when the number of bits of each color code is increased to increase the number of colors available, the quantity of data stored in the VRAM is also increased. As a result, the large quantity of data must be read from or write into the VRAM at a speed corresponding to the display speed so that the VDP must establish accesses to the VRAM at an extremely high speed.
However, in the conventional video display control systems, any particular means for making a high speed access to the VRAM have not been provided, so that it has been difficult to improve the quality of display image and to increase the number of colors available. In addition, in case of performing the access at a high speed, it has been necessary to use as the VRAM a DRAM (dynamic RAM) having a high access speed. However, such a DRAM is generally expensive.


This invention relates to novel dicationic and polycationic monoprimary alcohol compounds and their derivatives, represented by the formula ##STR1##. wherein each alk is independently alkyl of 1-8 carbon atoms; each ALK is independently alkyl of 1-8 carbon atoms; each R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3, R.sub.4 or R.sub.5 is independently H or alkyl of 1-8 carbon atoms; n is 2-5; G is H, CR.sub.1 R.sub.2 CR.sub.3 OHCR.sub.4 R.sub.5 X or ##STR2##. X is Cl, Br or I; An.sup.- is an anion and p is 1-10; provided that the compound is soluble in water.

Representative references disclosing dicationic or polycationic compounds, containing hydroxyl functionality, include Lewis et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,729), Matter et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,632,559), Evani et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,775), Hoppe et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,605) and Bachem et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,737,576). The compounds disclosed by these references are generally symmetrical in structure and have a plurality of secondary hydroxyl functions. The compounds are often not highly reactive, or selectively reactive, for example, with starch. Use of these compounds, for example, to prepare cationic starch, give products which are more or less highly cross-linked and which may be unacceptable for many utilities.
It is an object of this invention to provide novel dicationic or more-highly cationic monoprimary alcohols, which can be used to prepare highly cationized derivatives, for example, of starch, without presenting a problem of undesired cross-linking of the thus-treated starch.

Dicationic and polycationic monoprimary alcohols and derivatives thereof


A panel-shaped loudspeaker includes a panel (1) and an exciter coupled to the panel. The panel is provided with two parallel extending thin walls (1a, 1b) which are interconnected by a structure of thin strip-shaped partitions (1c) situated between the walls. The longitudinal axes of all partitions extend parallel to each other and give the panel an anisotropic bending stiffness. The material of the walls and the partitions of the panel has an internal damping which is at least 2.5% of the critical damping of the relevant material, used in the panel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a panel-shaped loudspeaker comprising a panel and at least an exciter coupled to the panel, said panel being provided with two, at least substantially parallel, interconnected walls.
2. Description of The related Art
A loudspeaker of this type is known from PCT Patent Application WO-A 97/09842.
The known panel-shaped loudspeaker comprises a panel having a sandwich-like structure and a rigid cellular core such as a honeycomb structure, and two skins glued to the core, the core extends extending the skins. A light metal and a synthetic material are used as materials for the core. Paper, cardboard, synthetic material and light metal are mentioned as materials for the skins. The omni-sided relatively rigid lightweight panel exhibits usable patterns of bending waves only at relatively high frequencies. In the known loudspeaker, one or more exciters are used which are arranged with respect to the panel in such a way that bending waves are produced only at relatively high frequencies. Due to reflections on the edges of the panel, bending waves which interfere with each other are spread across the panel. The known loudspeaker has a poor acoustical behavior in the low-frequency range.
It is an object of the invention to provide a panel-shaped loudspeaker which has a satisfactory acoustical behavior, both at relatively low frequencies and at higher frequencies.
This object is achieved with the loudspeaker according to the invention, which is characterized in that the panel comprises a structure of strip-shaped partitions extending between the walls of the panel, the longitudinal axes of all of said partitions mutually extending at least parallel to each other and parallel to the walls, said partitions being further secured to the walls, the walls and the partitions being made of a material which, used in the panel, has an internal damping which is at least 2.5% of the critical damping of the relevant material, used in the panel. Critical damping is herein understood to mean that damping at which the oscillating character of the panel stops.
Mechanically, the panel of the loudspeaker according to the invention is anisotropic, the panel being bendable around an axis extending parallel to said longitudinal axes and being relatively bending-stiff about an axis oriented transversely thereto. Surprisingly, it has been found that the loudspeaker according to the invention has a favorable acoustical behavior, both at low frequencies, central frequencies and high frequencies. It has been found, by experiments, that natural resonances already occur at relatively low frequencies in the panel of the loudspeaker according to the invention, these resonances having a smaller amplitude only at natural resonances occurring at relatively high frequencies, as compared with the loudspeaker known from said WO-A 97/09842. It is preferable not to exceed an internal damping of maximally 10% so as to avoid negative effects possibly occurring with larger dampings at higher frequencies. A very favorable acoustical behavior through a wide frequency range was found at an internal damping of 3% of the critical damping.
An embodiment of the loudspeaker according to the invention is characterized in that the partitions mutually extend at least substantially parallel to each other and are at least substantially perpendicular to the walls for achieving an optimal anisotropy.
A practical embodiment of the loudspeaker according to the invention is characterized in that the material of the walls is equal to the material of the partitions. A further embodiment is characterized in that the walls and partitions blend seamlessly. In this embodiment, the walls and partitions constitute an integral unit manufactured, for example, by means of extrusion. Such a panel is obtainable in a simple manner and at low cost.
An embodiment of the loudspeaker according to the invention is characterized in that the material of the walls and the partitions of the panel is a polypropylene. The polypropylene is preferably a co-polymer.
An extruded, twin-walled plate of polypropylene co-polymer suitable as a loudspeaker panel is commercially available. Measurements proved that this material had an internal damping of 2.9% of the critical damping factor of the relevant material.
These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.


A durable, semi-rigid, single-layered flexible duct having a sleeve made of a single aluminum layer and a resilient wound element disposed at the mid-point of the overlap region of the aluminum layer. The wound element imparts corrugations to the sleeve, such that the duct is extendible between a compacted configuration suitable for storage and for shipping and an extended configuration suitable for installation in a gas transport arrangement. Closely and evenly-spaced ridges that are situated in between the corrugations, add rigidity and durability to the duct. The inward-facing surface of the aluminum ribbon is substantially smooth and featureless except for the helical corrugations imparted by wire winding and the closely and evenly-spaced ridges. The aluminum sleeve is of a predetermined thickness rendering the duct substantially rigid when in an extended configuration and enabling the duct to maintain its substantial rigidity upon extension from a compacted configuration.

Ducts are used for different purposes, including for the conveyance of air, such as in ventilation, heating and cooling systems, or for conveying away exhaust gas from clothes dryers or other similar machines, as well as for carrying electrical cables and wiring, or other utilities.
When used for air conditioning or ventilation systems, such as within suspended ceilings, particularly in industrial and office premises, the ducts are circular and must be supported, as they have little self-support.
A further, very well known use of ducts is an exhaust vent for clothes dryers, in which the duct is fabricated of a resilient wire helix covered with vinyl or aluminum tubing. Both type of ducts lack structural integrity, while the vinyl-covered duct is not flame resistant. The lack of structural integrity of these ducts typically results in sagging and crinking thereof, causing the duct, over time, to become lined with lint from the clothes dried in the dryer, posing a fire hazard. In the United States alone, thousands of fires associated with clothes dryers occur, causing deaths and injuries and millions of dollars in damages. It is generally recommended by clothes dryer manufacturers not to use vinyl ducts such as these for dryer exhaust transition ducts.
Representative of the prior art in ventilation systems is U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,187 to Whitney, for a "Unitary Vent and Duct Assembly" which discloses a "semi-rigid flexible duct" for a ventilation system installed with a suspended ceiling structure. The duct taught in this patent is actually a solid aluminum tube which is corrugated or "accordion-folded" so that it can be compressed or compacted for storage or shipping. The corrugated aluminum tube duct taught therein, is meant to be coupled to a duct assembly of which it is an integral part, which is intended only for installation within a framed section of a suspended or dropped ceiling. However, once such a tube has been compressed and then re-extended for installation, it is unlikely to maintain its rigidity, depending on the thickness of the aluminum. A tube of this type maintains its rigidity by virtue of its being fabricated of solid metal, is heavy and expensive and can be unwieldy to install. The corrugated aluminum, when extended after compression, has significant ridges and other obtrusive topographical features along its interior due to the corrugations, which cause frictional resistance to the air flow within, a further disadvantage.
Corrugated aluminum is also employed for the exhaust vent of clothes dryers, as, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,121,948, 5,133,579, and 5,145,217, which solve the above-described problem of insufficient rigidity, but by using totally rigid segments. Even though the aluminum tubing itself is clearly fire resistant, the ridges and other internal topographical features similar to those mentioned hereinabove with respect to the Whitney patent, also cause frictional resistance to the air flow within, permitting accumulation of lint, which, as stated hereinabove, presents a fire hazard.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,849, included herein by reference, to Gray for a "Flexible Duct" discloses a duct and a method for manufacture thereof. The duct disclosed therein is formed of plastic tapes wound on a rotating mandrel with a wire resilient helix and a yarn helix therebetween. The duct so produced, while flame resistant, has rigidity limited to that provided by the wire helix. The additional yarn helix complicates the manufacturing process and adds to the internal topographical features of the duct, increasing friction and the possibility of lint accumulation therein, as described above.
The shape of ducts also has significance. Relatively heavy, rectangular metal ducts, formed of heavy gauge sheet metal, are often used for heating and cooling systems in industrial and office premises. A rectangular cross-sectional shape is desired due to the possibility of placing the duct against a support surface, and thereby utilizing available space more efficiently than a circular duct. These ducts are limited, however, in length, due to their relatively heavy weight and rigidity, as well as to transportation considerations. Accordingly, several lengths of these ducts may need to be joined together on site in order to provide adequate lengths of duct. It will be appreciated that they also require sufficiently strong hangers and other mechanical supports to be provided so as to provide adequate support. Furthermore, specially made corner portions must be provided to take account of bends.
A further consideration that must be taken into account when installing exhaust ducts for directing exhaust gases from machines, is the fact that the exhaust vents (or in the case of air conditioning units, the cool air supply vents) often have a square or rectangular shape, requiring somewhat unorthodox adaptive connections to conventional round ducts.
During manufacturing of conventional round ducts, a problem has been encountered with wrapping of semi-rigid materials, such as a thin aluminum sheet, about a rotating mandrel. While the semi-rigid materials provide flexibility to the resulting duct produced in this fashion, the manufacturing process is complicated due to the fact that semi-rigid materials may tear under the tension applied during the wrapping procedure. The solution to this problem, until now, has been to avoid the use of thin aluminum sheets in constructing semi-rigid ducts, and to rely on heavier, more rigid materials, which do not lend themselves to flexibility, and are unwieldy to install, as mentioned above in relation to U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,187 to Whitney.
A "SEMI-RIGID DUCT" product number A045/9 5-FT, manufactured by "Deflecto Corporation", is known, manufactured without the use of wire or glue, and has the disadvantage of not being rigid enough, so if it gets crushed, it will obstruct the airflow and there will be a lint buildup which is a fire hazard.
In our previous application, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/692,612, filed by the present inventors, a method and double-layered duct product is shown having only two layers of aluminum, which overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages. Even with this improvement, heavy boxes or bottles such as detergents and fabric softeners often fall off the dryer and land on the duct, crushing it as a result.
Therefore, it would be desirable to manufacture a duct that is more rigid and durable, which will withstand heavy impact forces, which might crush the duct and reduce its diameter.

Durable semi-rigid single-layer flexible duct


New injectable pharmaceutical formulations are described, containing a partricin derivative in the form of a free base as the active ingredient, or a pharmaceutically acceptable water-soluble salt thereof in a solubilizing/dispersing medium made up of a lipid and/or phospholipid emulsion in water, a procedure to obtain them, and the use of the formulations in the treatment of phathologies sensitive to the action of partricin derivatives.

This invention relates to new injectable pharmaceutical formulations containing partricin derivatives as the active ingredient. In particular, the new pharmaceutical formulations enclose at least one derivative of partricin in the form of a free base, or a pharmaceutically acceptable water-soluble salt of it, in a solubilizing/dispersing medium made up of a lipid and/or phospholipid emulsion in water.
In patent applications EP-A-0434943 (equivalent to U.S. Pat. No. 5,296,597) and EP-A-0489308 (equivalent to U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,495) several derivatives of partricin A and/or B (henceforth xe2x80x9cpartricinxe2x80x9d) are described, wherein the carboxyl in position C-18 of the macrolidic ring is in the form of an ester or of a neutral amide or of an amide containing a basic nitrogen group in the side chain and where the primary amino group of mycosamine can optionally form an amide bond with the carboxyl of an acid, it too containing a basic nitrogen group in the chain.
The afore-said documents also describe the preparation of their salts with acids, acceptable from a pharmacological and pharmaceutical point of view, and report that such salts are unusually water-soluble.
It has already been ascertained that the partricin derivatives, described in the afore-said European patent applications, can also be used in clinical practice, for human and veterinary application as drugs for treatment of several pathologies sensitive to the partricin derivatives; in particular, injectable formulations may be prepared enclosing such derivatives, evidencing the advantages deriving from the water-solubility of the said partricin derivatives. These formulations may permit, for instance, using a derivative of partricin""s as the active ingredient (e.g., N-dimethylaminoacetyl-partricin A 2-dimethylamino-ethylamide diascorbatexe2x80x94code name SPA-S-843) for instance with the addition of ascorbic acid, as antioxidant, and of lactose as excipient. The freeze-dried product is normally dissolved in 5% glucose solution at the time of use and administered by slow intravenous infusion.
Even though this formulation can be of concrete utility in the clinical practice, it was however found that such aqueous formulations of partricin derivatives, specially when repeatedly administered and with daily frequency, can cause local vascular damage with considerable pain at the site of injection, tissue irritation, edema formation and thickening of vasal epithelium, leading in the end, to massive formation of thrombi and onset of frank thrombophlebitic forms.
It has now been surprisingly found that these side effects involving the vascular system, brought about by intravenous injections of known formulations of the partricin derivatives, can be considerably limited, or even avoided, by the use of new formulations wherein the partricin derivative is enclosed in a lipid and/or phospholipid emulsion in water.
One of the subjects of the present invention is in fact an injectable pharmaceutical formulation enclosing at least one partricin derivative in the form of free basexe2x80x94or of water-soluble pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, with acids that are acceptable from a pharmaceutical and pharmacological point of viewxe2x80x94in a solubilizing/dispersing medium made up of a lipid and/or phospholipid emulsion in water such that the resulting emulsion be iso-osmotic.
In the present invention the expression xe2x80x9cpartricin derivativexe2x80x9d indicates the derivatives of partricin described in patent applications EP-A-0434943, EP-A-0489308, GB-A-1359473 (equivalent to U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,173) and GB-A-1046774 (equivalent to U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,047). In particular, preferred formulations are those wherein the partricin derivative is a derivative of partricin A and/or B presenting the carboxyl in position C18 of the macrolidic ring in the form of ester or of neutral amide or of amide containing a basic nitrogen group in the side chain, and those wherein the derivative is further substituted, on the primary amino group of mycosamine in the form of amide with an acid containing a basic nitrogen group in the side chain. A partricin derivative specially preferred for the formulations of the invention is N-dimethylaminoacetyl-partricin A 2-dimethylamino-ethylamide. When the formulations of the invention enclose a partricin derivative in the form of a free base, the addition of a surfactant and/or a co-solvent is preferred in order to avoid any eventual problem of active ingredient solubilization before its inclusion in the lipid emulsion; alternatively, this trouble can be avoided by sonication of the particles, elevation of the system temperature e.g., from room temperature to 40-50xc2x0 C., and etc.
In the case the formulations of the invention enclosed a pharmaceutically acceptable salt of the partricin derivative, these salts are preferably formed with at least one, preferably two, acid equivalents, preferably ascorbic or aspartic acid; the salt preferred for the formulations of the invention is N-dimethylaminoacetyl-partricin A 2-dimethylamino-ethylamide diascorbate, as such or as its free base.
The formulations of the invention comprise a pharmaceutically effective quantity of the partricin derivative; the dose of partricin derivative per unit to be administered remains substantially equal to that of the traditional formulations. In particular, the quantity ranges from 1 to 100 mg, preferably 10 to 50 mg.
The partricin derivative enclosed in the formulations of the invention is, preferably, in the form of solution, of micellar pseudosolution, of encapsulated inclusion compound, or of suspension of sub-micronized particles, their size being smaller than 5 xcexcm. preferably smaller or equal to 3 xcexcm, to avert the risk of pulmonary embolism; following sterilization (by sterilizing filtration or other suitable method), the partricin derivative can directly be added to the lipid emulsion or, preferably, stored in the dry state, following suitable processing (e.g., through freeze-drying), to improve long-term stability and be added to the lipid emulsion just prior to its therapeutic use by parenteral injection, particularly intravasal and, preferably, intravenous route.
In the formulation of the invention, the solubilizing/dispersing medium, is a lipid emulsion, preferably oil-in-water, containing lipids and/or phospholipids, in the form of droplets, vesicles, nanospheres, etc.
The lipids and/or phospholipids used in the formulations of the present invention can be from different origin, that is, animal and/or vegetable and/or synthetic and/or semisynthetic origin (hydrogenated fats and the like).
The lipids are preferably taken from the group of the mono-, di- or triglycerides; specially triglycerides; when of vegetable origin preferably from olives, for instance triolein, or from soybeans, when of animal origin preferably fish oils.
The phospholipids, in particular the phosphatidylcholines, when of vegetable origin are typically soybean lecithins, when of animal origin are selected preferably from egg yolk lecithins.
Other phospholipids, preferred for the formulations of the invention, are those selected from the group of the distearoilphosphatidyl-choline, dimyristoilphosphatidylcholine, dimyristoilphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidyl-ethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidyl-inositol.
Hydrogenate lipids and/or phospholipids too can be used in the formulations of the invention.
When phospholipids are used alone, they can be in the form of multilamellar or unilamellar, large or small vesicles, optionally containing sterols. In other cases, lipids and/or phospholipids can be present in the form of lipid nanospheres able to encapsulate the partricin derivative.
The concentration of the lipids eventually present in the formulations of the invention varies from 1 to 25%, being it usually 10-20% while the concentration of the phospholipids eventually present can vary from 0.05% to 5%.
The formulations of the invention can also enclose an excipient and/or a pharmaceutically acceptable adjuvant, such as those commonly used in the formulations intended for injectable use and according to the evidence of the experts in the field, for instance selected from the sugar group, preferably lactose, glucose, saccharose, maltose; antioxidants, preferably ascorbic acid, sodium ascorbate, vitamin E; preservatives, preferably alkyl paraben, benzyl alcohol; ionic or non-ionic surfactants, preferably sodium laurylsulfate, sodium deoxycholate, Tween(copyright), particularly Tween 80, polysorbates, Cremophor (LE or other); acid or neutral or basic buffers, preferably mono- or bi-basic phosphates; co-solvents; stabilizers; polyalcohols such as i.e. glycerol, mannitol and xylitol; sterols such as cholesterol.
The formulations of the invention can moreover be realized in both a pharmaceutical form wherein the partricin derivative is already inserted in the lipid and/or phospholipid emulsion together with any eventual excipient and/or adjuvant, and in a pharmaceutical form wherein the partricin derivative is preserved in an anhydrous state (in the form, for instance, of a lyophile), together with any eventual excipient and/or adjuvant, separated from the lipid and/or phospholipid emulsion, together with any eventual excipient and/or adjuvant, in which it is extempore inserted before therapeutic administration.
The formulations of the invention are useful to prepare a medicament intended for the clinical treatment of pathologies sensitive to the action of the partricin derivative, such as, f.i., those described in EP-A-0434943, EP-A-0489308, GB-A-1359473 and GB-A-1046774 and several other pathologies. The texts of the four a/m documents are incorporated, for reference, in the present description, in particular as regards the partricin derivatives, their preparations and their described uses.
All the above mentioned products (lipids, phospholipids, excipients etc.) are commercially available and must be specially purified, fractioned and declared suitable for the injectable use (non pyrogenic etc.) The final composition should be such as to conduct to an iso-osmotic emulsion.
Industrial preparation of the emulsions requires the use of special equipment such as, in example, colloidal mills, two-stage pressure homogenizers, ultrasound generators, as is evident to an expert in the sector. Special attention will have to be paid to size control of the particles in suspension (sub-micron dimensions or, at any rate, not greater than 3-5 xcexcm), to their distribution interval and their homogeneity, as well as stability of the emulsion itself, as is evident to an expert of the sector.
An additional item of the present invention consists in a procedure for preparation of the formulations of the invention, comprising sterilizationxe2x80x94preferably by sterilizing filtration of the solution, micellar pseudo-solution, encapsulated compound or suspension of sub-micronized particles of the partricin derivativexe2x80x94and subsequent inclusion in the lipid and/or phospholipid emulsion.
Moreover, drying of the derivative is preferredxe2x80x94subsequent to sterilization and, at any rate, before inclusion in the lipid and/or phospholipid emulsion, of the solution, pseudo-solution or suspension of the partricin derivativexe2x80x94preferably through freeze-drying.
In the case that the partricin derivative be in the form of a free base, the procedure according to the invention can also comprise the addition of a surface active agent and/or a co-solvent to the partricin derivative or sonication of the particles or rising of the system temperature, passing, i.e., from room temperature to 40xc2x0-50xc2x0 C., before inclusion of the derivative into the lipid and/or phospholipid emulsion. Incorporation of the drug in the lipid emulsion can occur in both the presence of the partricin derivative in the form of a solution, and in the solid state: in the latter case, the solid, for example a freeze-dried substance, can first be dissolved or dispersed in sterile water and the solution added to the emulsion or, better still, it can be directly solubilized with a portion of it. The final preparation will be sterile.
The final volume of the injectable formulation of the invention varies, in general from 5-10 ml when intended for bolus administration, to 100, 250, 500 ml when intended for slow, drip infusion over 1-5 hours, as evident to an expert of the sector.
As already mentioned, the formulations of the invention can unexpectedly reduce and even eliminate, the local irritating effects when used by intravascular route, contrary to what commonly occurs when using more traditional formulations as those obtained in glucose solution (5% glucose solution) or in physiological solution (0.9% sodium chloride solution). Moreover, the formulations of the invention allow, for instance, incorporation of the more lipophylic (hydrophobic) derivatives of partricin, in particular if in the form of free bases, in the inner oily phase of the oil-in-water emulsion, enabling the derivatives to be released over longer times and with particular tropism for the cells of the reticuloendothelial system and for the organs rich thereof, with relative decrease of the blood levels and wide changes of their toxicity. Viceversa, the more hydrophilic derivatives, along with their water soluble salts, specially when maintained in an acid pH medium, remain in the outer aqueous phase of the same oil-in-water emulsions, and retain their distribution in the body fluids substantially unchanged.
The following examples illustrate the invention without limiting it.

Injectable pharmaceutical formulations for partricin derivatives


In one embodiment, a diagnostic system for biological samples is disclosed. The diagnostic system includes a diagnostic instrument, and a portable electronic device. The diagnostic instrument has a reference color bar and a plurality of chemical test pads to receive a biological sample. The portable electronic device includes a digital camera to capture a digital image of the diagnostic instrument in uncontrolled lightning environments, a sensor to capture illuminance of a surface of the diagnostic instrument, a processor coupled to the digital camera and sensor to receive the digital image and the illuminance, and a storage device coupled to the processor. The storage device stores instructions for execution by the processor to process the digital image and the illuminance, to normalize colors of the plurality of chemical test pads and determine diagnostic test results in response to quantification of color changes in the chemical test pads.

Illuminance Ev is the area density of luminous flux received by an illuminated body, integrated with all wavelengths and all directions. Illuminance is used to gauge the amount of light incident on a surface. A unit of illuminance is a lux (lx), lumens per square meter. Another unit of illuminance is foot candles. Illuminance on a surface area is luminous flux per area defined by the equation:
      E    v    =                    luminous                                                  flux            area        =                  dΦ        v            dA
The spectral illuminance Ev(λ) is defined by the illuminance per unit wavelength interval at the wavelength λ. Spectral illuminance Ev(λ) is related to the illuminance Ev by the equationEv=∫0∞Ev(λ)dλ.
A device or application that measures illuminance is referred to as a luxmeter. Luxmeter software applications that measure illuminance are available for use with portable electronic devices that include a digital camera. The luxmeter software application is executed by a processor and the operating system software (e.g., APPLE iOS and GOOGLE Android) of the portable electronic device. The accuracy of the luxmeter software applications is often limited by the sensor and digital camera used in the portable electronic device. In addition, OS manufacturers may only provide incomplete application programming interfaces (API) to these sensors, or prohibit direct access by other applications to these sensors. Consequently, luxmeter applications typically have limited access to metadata of the digital pictures taken with a digital camera, if available. Typical metadata parameters produced by portable electronic device cameras that are associated with digital photographs are:                ExposureTime;        ShutterSpeedValue;        FNumber;        ApertureValue;        BrightnessValue;        ISOSpeedRatings;
These metadata parameters are sometimes stored in registers as register settings. The metadata parameters ExposureTime, ShutterSpeedValue, FNumber, and ApertureValue are well defined because they follow standard photographic values. The parameter ExposureTime is related to the parameter ShutterSpeedValue through the mathematical equation:
  ExposureTime  =      1          2      ShutterSpeedValue      The parameter FNumber is related to ApertureValue through the mathematical equation:FNumber=√{square root over (2ApertureValue)}
The metadata parameter values of BrightnessValue and ISOSpeedRatings vary from camera to camera, such that they are difficult to use for a luxmeter application. As a consequence, luxmeters in applications are quite approximate or require an external calibration before use.
A number of references disclosing measurement of illuminance conditions were developed during the argentic film era, such as U.S. Pat. No. 3,972,626, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,266, when film based cameras were used to capture photos. Digital cameras revolutionized the structure of cameras, capturing pixels of images and storing them into flash memory. A number of analog optical mechanisms were replaced with digital computations. Accordingly, some inventions disclosed in patents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,737,648, were no longer relevant. New illuminance measurement methods were introduced for digital cameras.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,071,456 discloses a camera illuminance sensor to set lighting levels of I/O systems, such as keypads, and backlights for adjustable displays. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2012/0236173 similarly discloses adapting a camera user interface to environmental conditions. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2012/0236173 discloses use of a plurality of sensors to allow corrections for underwater conditions such as very cold conditions, very bright conditions, and very dark conditions. U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2012/0236173 discloses addressing illuminance conditions of extreme brightness and extreme darkness, but does not make precise illuminance measurements.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,629,998 and U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2007/0002143 disclose a method and apparatus for measuring the performance of a camera, including illuminance. A test environment is disclosed to better comprehend and verify the specifications of a camera and test their fitness. The disclosed approach to measure illuminance requires that additional sensors be used for the test environment.
U.S. Pat. App. Pub. No. 2001/0007470 entitled MEASUREMENT OF ILLUMINANCE CONDITIONS uses external light emitting diodes (LEDs), as well as color filters and photo sensors to measure illuminance. The LEDs are used to control the lighting conditions. The intensity of each main color in the illuminance light is measured by dedicated photosensors having corresponding color measurement bands. These color intensities are used to adjust signals originating from the charge coupled device (CCD) array of the photo image sensor. Using external light emitting diodes (LEDs) and color filters makes it more difficult to measure illuminance.
It is desirable to ease the measurement of illuminance so that it can be readily used.

Precision luxmeter methods for digital cameras to quantify colors in uncontrolled lighting environments


It is possible to stably reduce an amount of image data. An image processing system includes an image transmitting apparatus and an image receiving apparatus. The image transmitting apparatus includes an image reducing unit that reduces the size of an input image to generate a reduced image, a determining unit that determines, when the reduced image is enlarged to the size of the input image, an enlargement parameter where a difference from the input image becomes minimum and a transmitting unit that transmits the reduced image and the enlargement parameter. The image receiving apparatus includes a receiving unit that receives the reduced image and the enlargement parameter from the image transmitting apparatus and an image restoring unit that enlarges the reduced image using the enlargement parameter to generate a restored image.

The present invention relates to an image processing system, an image processing method, and an image transmitting apparatus, and relates to, for example, an image processing system, an image processing method, and an image transmitting apparatus for transmitting and receiving image data.
In recent years, the resolution of network cameras has been increasing and the number of network cameras that are installed has been increasing. Video data captured by a network camera is transmitted to a video reproducing apparatus or the like via a network. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-320707 is known, for example, as a technique regarding an image transmission system.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-320707 discloses a technique for extracting a difference between successive images that have been taken and transmitting a compressed image obtained by compressing image components of the difference (change area) as a second image data and positional information of the difference.

Image processing system, image processing method, and image transmitting apparatus


Exemplified methods and systems are disclosed that provide a control IO device comprising a head unit and a plurality of IO slices coupled to a common backplane in which two or more adjacent IO slices are functionally connected to one another over an independent IO bus to form a functional IO slice group.

Embedded control systems ("control systems") are used in a wide variety of different field applications. For example, control systems can be used to control and monitor power stations, turbines, motors, and the like.
One type of distributed control systems includes, at a local unit, a modular head unit that communicates to a global controller and that establishes a local data bus (also referred to as a head unit bus) that supports variable number of modular IO modules (also referred to as IO slice). The local data bus provides control signaling between the head unit and each given IO module.
For a given size of IO slice, slice entitlement defines finite resource capabilities (e.g., number of I/O field wire connection points, locations for indicator lights, power dissipation capability, among others) for the IO slice. While having varying slice sizes in a given control system can provide different entitlements, these different sized IO slices can limit or restrict the layout of the control system in a given control cabinet.
In addition, large IO slices configured with complex functions include additional IOs and capabilities not necessary for all applications.
What are needed are devices, systems, and methods that can address such limitations, among others.

Industrial control adjacent input-output modules and methods thereof


The present invention relates to a method to use an optical fibre as a sensor. The method involves designing an optical fibre to have a sensor area (12) where the external influence on the fibre that is to be measured, for example pressure or magnetic field, is freely able to influence the fibre. Coherent radiation is then transmitted through the sensor area in several modes. On the receiver side the radiation is split in a detector device (14) into two beams, each including the entire interference pattern created by the transmission in the fibre. After that the beams are plane-polarized in two different directions which are conducted to a signal processing device (9,9.sup.0) which detects the amplitude and/or frequency content of each beam and from this forms a signal which is a measure of their amplitude and/or frequency relation, which in its turn is a measure of the external influence in the sensor area (12).

Fibre optical sensor technique is a field that during the last ten years has been predicted a very expanding market. The expansion has, however, not reached the pace that was predicted. The reason for this is principally the difficulty to separate the sensor information from the varying influence from the environment, both on the sensor and on the transmission to and from the sensors. Another reason is that the single-mode technique that has the highest degree of sensitivity is complex and demands that the components used are very accurate. The multimode technique, on the other hand, can allow a more simple design and moreover, it uses more robust components. Thereby it is possible to reach such a level for the costs for the fibre optical sensors that they become economically interesting. But the multimode technique has also not experienced a break-through, mostly due to the lower sensitivity that hitherto has been achieved with this technique. Conventional multimode technique is of cause based on principles of intensity modulation of the light that is transmitted in the core of the multimode fibre. This technique is less sensitive than the phase-sensitive detection that the single-mode technique is based on.
The fibre optical sensors have potentially very great advantages, primarily due to their non-galvanic construction, that result in for instance insensibility for EMP, EMC etc. The sensitivity that can be achieved is also as good as or better than what can be achieved with other types of sensors. Another interesting characteristic of the fibre optical sensor technique is the possibility to multiplex several sensors along the same fibre optical cable and in that way implement sensor systems that is able to cover for instance large surveillance zones. The sensors of the system can be dimensioned to be sensitive to several physical quantities such as pressure and magnetism. Great tactical advantages can be achieved by this. In order to achieve this goal the sensors have to be based upon such a technique that a realization of the sensor technique is robust and functionally reliable and this at a reasonable cost in comparison with conventional technique.

Method to use an optical fibre as a sensor


Provided are an anti-static and anti-microbial surface treatment agent including a quaternary ammonium salt compound as an active ingredient and a method of preventing a polymer fiber from developing static electricity by using the surface treatment agent. The quaternary ammonium salt compound has excellent anti-static and anti-microbial effects for the prevention or improvement of static electricity in a polymer fiber. Accordingly, the quaternary ammonium salt compound is suitable for use as a fabric softener, or an anti-static agent, and also, provides anti-microbial effects to a polymer fiber.

Anti-static materials are used to remove static electricity or electrostatic charge, and an enhancement in charging with static electricity is associated with various problems in processing and using a variety of industrial products and materials. Charging with static electricity may cause attraction or repulsion of materials. In addition, an enhancement in charging with static electricity may cause attachment of waste or dust onto materials, thereby leading to manufacturing problems and pollution, and damaging performance of products.
An enhancement in charging of static electricity may be controlled by increasing electric conductivity of a material. This can be achieved by increasing ionic conductivity or electric conductivity. Typically, the accumulation of static electricity is controlled by adsorbing water molecules to increase electric conductivity. The adsorption is performed by, typically, adding water molecules to ambient air or using a water-absorbing anti-static agent, which is called a wetting agent. Most anti-static agents reduce electrostatic charges when charging with static electricity increases.
Known anti-static agents are, for example, organic amine and amide, aliphatic ester, an organic acid, a polyoxyethylene derivative, polyvalent alcohol, metal, carbon black, semiconductor, and various organic and inorganic salts. In addition, various surfactants may also be used, and they may be neutral or ionic.
Since various low molecular weight neutral anti-static agents have sufficiently high vapor pressure, such materials may be reduced in amounts by evaporation at high temperature, and thus, they are not suitable for use at high temperature. Various other neutral anti-static agents do not have sufficiently high thermal stability, so that they fail to perform their due functions under conditions for dissolving and processing a polymer and other high-temperature process conditions.
Various non-metallic anti-static agents are wetting agents that resort to adsorption and conductivity of water molecules to reduce charge. Accordingly, when humidity in the air is low, their effects are typically low. In addition, those anti-static agents are water-soluble, and accordingly, when materials are exposed to water molecules, the anti-static agents are easily removed. Accordingly, durability thereof is low.
Metal salts of inorganic, organic, and fluoro-organic anions are also suitable for use as an anti-static agent in a particular polymer composition. Due to costs and toxicity, and high affinity of an alkali metal cation, in particular, lithium with respect to water, alkali metal salts are the most commercially used. However, most metal salts do not have compatibility with polymers with middle or lower levels of polarity, such as polypropylene, polyester and polycarbonate. This incompatibility may decrease performance of an anti-static agent, may decrease physical properties of an anti-static agent to an unacceptable level, or may decrease transparency of finished polymer products to an unacceptable level. Ultimately, a metal salt for use as an anti-static agent is limited to a polymer matrix with high polarity or high hydrophilic property.
In response, the inventors of the present application searched for a quaternary ammonium salt compound that is suitable for use as an anti-static and anti-microbial agent and found that when a fiber is treated with a quaternary ammonium salt compound, static electricity of the fiber may be prevented or improved, thereby completing the present invention.

Anti-microbial and anti-static surface treatment agent with quaternary ammonium salt as active ingredient and method for preventing static electricity in polymer fibers using same

Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, Yeungnam University


A shift control system can perform clutch-to-clutch shifts without occurrence of delay in shifting operation and aggravation of shift shock, by decreasing an engaging force of a first frictional engagement device and increasing an engaging force of a second frictional engagement device, and comprises a low pressure retention instructer for maintaining the second frictional engagement device at a predetermined low level until a revolution speed of a rotary member reaches a predetermined value upon the shift, an engagement instructer for increasing the engaging force of the second frictional engagement device after the revolution speed of the rotary member has reached said predetermined value, and a pressure rise instructer for increasing the engaging force of the first frictional engagement device after increasing the engaging force of the second frictional engagement device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a shift control system for an automatic transmission of a vehicle, and more particularly to a control system for controlling a so-called clutch-to-clutch shift in which one of two frictional engagement means such as a clutch, a brake and the like is released while the other frictional engagement means is applied.
2. Related Art
As is known in conventional automatic transmissions of vehicles, shifts between one gear stage and another gear stage are facilitated by engaging a one-way clutch for the gear stage to be set. However, since the automatic transmission having such a construction inevitably necessitates to incorporate the one-way clutch therein, there occurs an inconvenience that the automatic transmission becomes large in size. Therefore, the automatic transmission has been recently constructed by a gear shifting device only without the one-way clutch. In the automatic transmission of this type, it is required to conduct a so-called clutch-to-clutch shift, in which two frictional engagement means are simultaneously switched between engaged and disengaged states, to set a given gear stage.
In case the clutch-to-clutch shift is conducted, if the two frictional engagement means are both in a released condition, it is likely to cause undesirable racing of the engine. To the contrary, when both the engaging forces of these frictional engagement means becomes excessively large, there occurs a so-called tie-up condition, which results in considerably decreasing an output shaft torque. Moreover, in case rotational fluctuation is caused so slowly to prevent a shift shock, it takes a long time to accomplish the shift operation so that a so-called delayed response occurs.
Thus, the engaging forces of the frictional engagement means concerned in the clutch-to-clutch shift, give a considerable influence on the vehicle attitude, and must be therefore controlled while taking into account a mutual relation therebetween. In this regard, for example, JP-A-62-261,747 discloses a control system which is so constructed that, when the clutch-to-clutch shift is made, one frictional engagement means on an applied side is maintained in the condition able to engage immediately while the other frictional engagement means on a released side is controlled in its engaging force, whereby an input R.P.M. is caused to be varied at a first changing rate at an initial stage followed by a next stage in which the input R.P.M. is caused to be varied at a second changing rate, and a final stage in which the frictional engagement means on the applied side is completely engaged when the input R.P.M. reaches a synchronous revolution speed of the gear stage to be established after the shift.
In the control system disclosed in the JP-A-62-261,747, the control for smoothly changing the input R.P.M. is effected only by controlling the engaging force of the frictional engagement means on the released side. In consequence, the control of the input R.P.M. can be performed without delay as compared with the control system of such a type that both the frictional engagement means must be simultaneously controlled. In addition, since the input R.P.M. is caused to be varied smoothly, occurrence of the shift shock is improved.
In the aforementioned conventional control systems, only the frictional engagement means on the released side is substantially controlled upon the clutch-to-clutch shift. This is advantageous for preventing the delayed shift control. However, it is required to perform the control of the engaging force of the frictional engagement means on the released side by taking into consideration the change in the input R.P.M. In other words, the engaging force of the frictional engagement means on the released side must be controlled while detecting the change in the input R.P.M., so that the shift delay can be improved only in a limited manner.
Moreover, the aforementioned conventional control systems are so constructed that the engaging forces of the respective frictional engagement means are controlled only relative to the input R.P.M. Therefore, if it is intended to cause the input R.P.M. to be changed moderately so as to prevent the shift shock, a long period of time is required until the input R.P.M. reaches the synchronous revolution speed of the gear stage to be established after the shift. In consequence, the time required for the shift is not necessarily shortened to an enough level and the shift shock can be prevented only in a limited manner.

Shift control system for automatic transmission


A circular or bar-type slide rule made of a durable rigid material for converting a golf handicap index into a converted playing handicap based upon the slope rating of a golf course. A method for calculating a converted playing handicap by aligning the player's handicap index value on a first logarithmic scale, locating the golf course slope rate on a second logarithmic scale so that the aligned value of the converted playing handicap may be read on the first scale.

1. Field of Invention
This invention utilizes a logarithmic scale slide rule specifically used to convert a calculation used only in the game of golf and more particularly relates to a well defined and narrow field of usage of circular or bar type slide rules.
2. Description Of Prior Art
Heretofore slide rules for various purposes have become known though not as a tool used in converting a Handicap Index into a playing handicap.
Similarly various slide rule devices associated with the game of golf have become known such as mechanical devices called slide rules to calculate handicaps, not to be confused with a playing handicap which will be later discussed. Devices have become known that determine the total number of shots or strokes used for a particular hole or game, or to determine the nature of a particular club for a particular shot, or to determine the distance to a particular hole. Logarithmic scale slide rule devices, however, in the nature of converting Handicap Indexes into course handicaps have not become known.
The instant invention uses the simplicity of a slide rule to calculate the golfer's equation thus providing three valuable services, 1. quick and accurate course handicaps and 2. equitable competition or a more true indication of how one plays on any particular day and 3. encourages more golfers to maintain a handicap, a major goal of the U.S.G.A.


A light absorbing layer, and a window layer formed thereon constitutes a first conduction-type semiconductor layer. In a part of this first conduction-type semiconductor layer there is provided a second conduction-type region extending to the light absorbing layer through the window layer. A part of the window layer around the second conduction region is selectively removed. Consequently even when light intended to enter a light detecting region is incident outside of the light detecting region, most of the carriers generated there are recombined at a surface level of the light absorbing layer before diffusing in a depletion layer. This light detecting device therefor does not substantially detect sensitivity to light incident outside the light detecting region.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a light receiving device for use in devices for monitoring an output of semiconductor laser, receiver devices used in optical communication systems, etc.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 1A shows a top view of a conventional light receiving device, and FIG. 1B shows a sectional view along the line X-X' thereof.
A buffer layer 2a, a light absorbing layer 2b, and a window layer 2c are sequentially formed, in this stated order as a first conduction-type lightly doped semiconductor layer 2 on a surface of a first conduction-type highly doped semiconductor substrate 1 having a first conduction-type electrode 6 on the backside. At an element forming region (a region where a PIN photo-diode structure to be formed) which is a part of the first conduction-type semiconductor layer 2, there is formed a second conduction-type region 3 on which impurities are selectively diffused. An anti-reflection coating 4, a second conduction-type electrode 5, and a device protection film (i.e. passivation film) 7 are formed on a surface of the second conduction-type region 3.
When a reverse bias is applied to the light receiving device of the above-described structure, a depletion layer is expanded in a pn junction portion of the first conduction-type semiconductor layer 2. In this state, when light pulses or the like are incident on a neighborhood of the pn junction portion through the window layer 2c, carriers are generated in this light detecting region 8. The generated carriers are separated and accelerated by an electric field in this depletion layer to be output as a photoelectric current through the electrodes 5 and 6.
In the light receiving device of FIGS. 1A and 1B, carriers generated outside the light detecting region 8 are concurrently detected. In other words, even these carriers are output as a photoelectric current because carriers generated by light pulses entering outside the element forming region are diffused in the device forming region due to a density gradient. In this case, the transfer of the carriers due to the diffusion is so slow that the response waveforms of the light pulses have a tail at the end of waveform as shown on curve B in FIG. 2.
It is possible to solve this problem by the perfect control of the incidence position of light pulses or others. Practically, however, it is difficult to cause light pulses to be incident on the inside of the element forming region. Especially in optical communication applications for detecting optical signals from optical fibers, etc., the area of the element forming region, i.e., the light detecting region 8, is made small for the purpose of the high-speed response of the light detecting device. As a result, the current component attributed to the diffusion of carriers generated outside the light detecting region 8 is increased, and the response speed of the light detecting device is reduced. This problem occurs similarly with the light receiving device used in controlling drive-currents for semiconductor lasers.


In a printer of the present invention, an EEPROM that carries out sequential access and has a relatively small storage capacity is applied for storage elements mounted on both black and color ink cartridges, which are detachably attached to the printer. Pieces of information relating to each ink cartridge, for example, pieces of information on remaining quantities of respective inks in the ink cartridge, are stored in the storage element of the ink cartridge. A format of addressing adopted in the storage elements of the ink cartridges is different from that adopted in an EEPROM incorporated in a printer main body of the printer. A control IC provided in the printer accordingly converts the storage format of addressing, before writing the information into the storage elements of the ink cartridges. In the printer, a RAM is mounted with the control IC on a carriage, and the pieces of information to be written into the storage elements of the ink cartridges are temporarily registered in the RAM. The pieces of information are then written into the respective storage elements of the black and color ink cartridges, for example, at a timing of a power-off operation. The signal lines and the memory used in the course of writing the information into the storage elements are identical with the signal lines, through which print data are transmitted to a print head mounted on the carriage of the printer, and the memory, in which the print data are stored. The arrangement of the present invention reduces the manufacturing cost of the ink cartridge and also enables size reduction of the whole printer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer with an ink cartridge attached thereto that carries out printing by the unit of dots, as well as to an ink cartridge detachably attached to a main body of the printer. More specifically the invention pertains to a technique of storing information into the ink cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
The printing apparatus like the ink jet printer and the ink jet plotter mainly includes an ink cartridge, in which one or plural inks are kept, and a printer main body with a print head to carry out actual printing operations on a printing medium. The print head transfers ink fed from the ink cartridge onto the printing medium, such as printing paper, so as to implement printing on the printing medium. The ink cartridge is designed to be detachably attached to the printer main body. A new ink cartridge has a predetermined quantity of ink kept therein. When the ink kept in an ink cartridge runs out, the ink cartridge is replaced with a new one. Such a printing apparatus is arranged to cause the printer main body to calculate the remaining quantity of ink in the ink cartridge based on the amount of ink transferred from the print head and to inform the user of a state of running out of the ink, in order to prevent the printing procedure from being interrupted by the out-of-ink.
The data on the remaining quantities of inks are generally stored only in the printer main body or in a printer driver that controls the printer. In the event that a first ink cartridge is replaced with a second ink cartridge in the course of the printing operation, the information relating to the first ink cartridge, such as the data on the remaining quantities of inks, are thus lost or made wrong.
One proposed technique to solve this problem utilizes a non-volatile memory provided in the ink cartridge and causes the required data, for example, the data on the remaining quantities of inks, to be written from the printer main body into the non-volatile memory (for example, JAPANESE PATENT LAID-OPEN GAZETTE No. 62-184856). In the case of replacement of the ink cartridge during the printing operation, this technique ensures the storage of the data on the remaining quantities of inks.
The ink cartridge attached to the printer is expendable. A non-volatile memory generally used in the printer, for example, a large-sized, expensive non-volatile memory having a relatively large storage capacity of several kilobytes and more than ten terminals, is not applicable for the ink cartridge. Using such a non-volatile memory makes the ink cartridge undesirably bulky and increases the manufacturing cost of the expendable ink cartridge, which is abandoned after the ink kept in the ink cartridge runs out.
One proposed technique accordingly applies a small-sized special non-volatile memory having a relatively small storage capacity for the ink cartridge. The non-volatile memory with only several terminals adopts a specific format of addressing, which is different from the format of addressing adopted in the general non-volatile memories. This accordingly arises another problem of difficulty in handling.
In the case where the different addressing format is adopted, the computer that controls the writing operation of data may carry out conversion of the addressing format. In the case of an ink cartridge having an ink reservoir, in which a plurality of different inks are kept, and information is require to be held, such as pieces of information on the amounts of ink consumption, independently with regard to each of the respective inks, however, relatively long data lengths need to be written and the address conversion may take an undesirably long time. Such a disadvantage is not negligible since it may cause all the data to be not rewritten when an insufficient time period is provided for the address conversion, for example, at the time of a forcible cut-off of a power supply.
The problems discussed above arise in any printing apparatus that does not directly measure the remaining quantity of ink or the amount of ink consumption in an ink cartridge but causes the printer to compute such data, and in an ink cartridge attached thereto. Such printing apparatus includes an ink jet-type printing apparatus that uses ink obtained by mixing or dissolving a pigment or a dye with or in a solvent and transfers ink droplets in the liquid state to implement printing, a printing apparatus that uses an ink cartridge with an ink toner accommodated therein, and a thermal transfer-type printing apparatus.

Printer and ink cartridge attached thereto


An optical NOR gate is formed from two pair of optical waveguide devices on a substrate, with each pair of the optical waveguide devices consisting of an electroabsorption modulator electrically connected in series with a waveguide photodetector. The optical NOR gate utilizes two digital optical inputs and a continuous light input to provide a NOR function digital optical output. The optical NOR gate can be formed from III-V compound semiconductor layers which are epitaxially deposited on a III-V compound semiconductor substrate, and operates at a wavelength in the range of 0.8-2.0 μm.

Optical logic gates have been the subject of research for several decades due to the possibility of achieving higher operating speeds than logic based on electronics. The advantages of digital signal processing in the optical domain include higher signal bandwidth, lower signal cross-talk, and greater protection against electronic eavesdropping. All-optical signal processing also eliminates the need to convert signals from the optical domain into the electronic domain for processing and then to re-convert the processed signals from the electronic domain back into the optical domain. All-optical signal processing is advantageous to reduce the cost, electrical power requirement, size and weight compared to optical-to-electronic converters, electronic signal processing circuitry, and electronic-to-optical converters which are currently being used.
The present invention addresses the need for optical logic gates by providing an optical NOR gate which can be formed as a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) using two electroabsorption modulator (EAM) photodiode (PD) pairs, with each EAM/PD pair being electrically connected in series. This configuration according to the present invention provides advantages in terms of optical isolation of input and output signals, an ability to be monolithically integrated and an ability to operate using direct-current electrical power sources with a relatively low power consumption and a relatively compact size. The present invention is also advantageous in providing for optical signal gain and regeneration thereby permitting a fan out capability which can allow multiple optical NOR gates to be interconnected together or to be interconnected to the optical NAND gates described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/182,683 to provide a higher level of logic functionality as needed for optical signal processing or optical computing applications.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become evident to those skilled in the art.


An adhesive bilayer transdermal dosage system capable of sustained release of a pharmaceutically active drug to the skin of a human patient having a first component layer which is a pharmaceutically active drug-containing essentially planar sheet of an at least partially cross-linked acrylic adhesive. The planar sheet is formed of a flexible self-supporting cross-linked acrylate of sufficient adhesivity, durability and strength whereby intimate diffusional contact with the skin of the patient is maintained for a period of at least about 24 hours without destruction of the physical integrity of the sheet. The sheet is capable of retaining, dispersed therein, sufficient pharmaceutically active drug to deliver to the skin a pharmaceutically effective amount of the drug over a 24-hour period without dissolution of the at least partially crosss-linked acrylic adhesive. The system also contains a second component layer intimately adhered to one side of the first component layer. The second component layer is resistant to the passage of the pharmaceutically active drug from the first component layer. Methods for making the first component layer and dosage system are also disclosed.

It is well known that many drugs, if taken orally, are destroyed on the first pass through the liver. It is also well known that when many drugs are taken orally, their rate of absorption into the system is not constant. In view of such difficulties, a number of different drug delivery systems have been developed. Recently, the use of transdermal delivery systems has met with increasing interest by researchers in the pharmaceutical drug-delivery field.
In attempting to produce the invention described in detail infra, the inventors incorporated a pharmaceutically active drug (nitroglycerin) into an acrylic adhesive in order to form a transdermal drug delivery system. After incorporating the drug into the adhesive polymer, the inventors found that the adhesive dissolved. Accordingly, the structural integrity of the dosage unit formed was lost and the rate of release of the nitroglycerin therefrom could not be controlled. Since the dissolution of the adhesive appeared to be caused by the incorporation of the nitroglycerin, the inventors decreased the amount of nitroglycerin in order to maintain the structural integrity of the adhesive and prevent it from dissolving. The inventors found that, by decreasing the amount of nitroglycerin in the adhesive, dissolution could be prevented and a transdermal delivery system could be prepared. However, such a system contained a relatively small amount of nitroglycerin. Accordingly, when the system was applied to human skin, although the adhesive properties of the system were maintained, the release of nitroglycerin was so slight as to not have the desired effect on the patient to which the system was applied. The inventors have since found that others apparently attempted the same procedure and also found that the amount of nitroglycerin released was not sufficient or not controllable due to dissolution (see Ito, et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,737, column 7, line 68--column 8, line 2; Canadian Patent 1,144,070, page 14, lines 3-5, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,470 at column 1, lines 23-34.)
In an attempt to solve the above-referred to problems, the inventors tried various types and combinations of adhesive polymers without success. The inventors found that with certain polymers and combinations thereof, the polymer composition formed was simply too hard and insoluble with respect to the solvent-acting drug such as nitroglycerin. Accordingly, the polymer composition did not have sufficient adhesive properties in order to adhere firmly to human skin and could not incorporate therein a sufficient amount of the solvent-acting drug such as nitroglycerin. Other polymer compositions that did have sufficient adhesive properties could not maintain their structural integrity when standing alone or when exposed to human skin and body heat over a substantial period of time and further became dissolved when sufficient amounts of nitroglycerin were incorporated therein. The present inventors found that these problems could be solved by including within the composition a cross-linking agent in a relatively small amount. The cross-linked adhesives disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,164 and 3,475,363 are useful in connection with the present invention and these patents are incorporated herein by reference for purposes of disclosing such cross-linked adhesives.
The inventors noted that by including large amounts of cross-linking agents into polymer compositions that included solvent-acting drugs incorporated therein, the adhesive properties of the compositions were lost, i.e., the composition lost its tackiness. If insufficient amounts of cross-linking agent were included in the composition, the composition was dissolved.


A SiC epitaxial wafer includes: a substrate having an off angle of less than 4 degrees; and a SiC epitaxial growth layer disposed on the substrate having the off angle of less than 4 degrees, wherein an Si compound is used for a supply source of Si, and a C compound is used as a supply source of C, for the SiC epitaxial growth layer, wherein the uniformity of carrier density is less than 10%, and the defect density is less than 1 count/cm2; and a C/Si ratio of the Si compound and the C (carbon) compound is within a range of 0.7 to 0.95. There is provide a high-quality SiC epitaxial wafer excellent in film thickness uniformity and uniformity of carrier density, having the small number of surface defects, and capable of reducing costs, also in low-off angle SiC substrates on SiC epitaxial growth.

In recent years, much attention has been given to Silicon Carbide (SiC) semiconductors capable of realizing high breakdown voltage, high current use, low on resistance, high degree of efficiency, power consumption reduction, highspeed switching, etc., since the SiC semiconductors have wider bandgap energy and higher breakdown voltage performance at high electric field, compared with Silicon (Si) semiconductors or Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) semiconductors. The SiC has received attention also in terms of environmental protections since occurrence of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) can be reduced due to the low power consumption performance thereof.
Recently, the SiC devices have been applied to many applicable fields, e.g. air-conditioning apparatuses (air-conditioners), solar power generation systems, automobile systems, and train-vehicle systems.
Since SiC compound semiconductors capable of taking equal to or greater than 200 types of crystal polymorphisms, there may be stable structures different between a substrate (bulk) and an epitaxial growth layer formed on the substrate. Accordingly, the epitaxial growth layer formed on the SiC substrate having an off angle is 0 degree may include many crystal defects. Accordingly, it is general to provide an off angle in the substrate in order to form the SiC epitaxial growth layer.
In such a situation, one of the important problems in a case of applying the SiC is a point of cost. As a detail of the costs of SiC devices, wafer costs account for approximately 50%, SiC epitaxial growth costs account for approximately 22%, and fabrication process costs account for approximately 28%. For example, it is advantageous to use 150-mm (6-inch) φ wafers in terms of reducing the SiC device fabrication costs per unit area. However, it is general to use substrates having an off angle of 4 degrees, as the present 6-inch φ SiC wafers.
One method for a cost reduction of the SiC devices is to reduce such an off angle of the SiC substrate. However, if low-off angle substrates are used, it is difficult to realize high-quality epitaxial growth.
There has also already been reported results of SiC epitaxial growth performed on 4H—SiC substrates having an off angle of 2 degrees, from some groups. According to these reports, doping uniformity and film thickness uniformity can be satisfactorily controlled. However, occurrence of step bunching is increased and a triangular defect density is also increased, compared with SiC epitaxial growth on the SiC substrates having the off angle of 4 degrees. On the other hand, occurrence of the triangular defect can be relatively suppressed under high growth temperatures.

SiC epitaxial wafer, manufacturing apparatus of SiC epitaxial wafer, fabrication method of SiC epitaxial wafer, and semiconductor device


Particles such as magnetic iron oxide capable of being magnetized are crushed to obtain minute magnetic particles each size of which is not larger than 10 .mu.m. The minute magnetic particles are mixed as they are dispersed with such a binding material as cobalt or nickel. Thermal spraying particles each size of which is not smaller than 10 .mu.m are obtained from the mixture. Then, the thermal spraying particles are sprayed upon such a member as a turbine shaft to form a magnetic film on the member with plasma spraying method.

The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a sensor having a magnetic film, and more particularly, a sensor having a magnetic film which measures a torque received by a shaft member, and rotating speed and rotating angle of the shaft member accurately.
There has been a known method of manufacturing a sensor having a magnetic film by spraying a molten magnetic material to form a magnetic film on the surface of a shaft member, and a known method of measuring a torque received by the shaft member by utilizing the characteristic of the magnetic film of the sensor (The Japanese Patent Application Laying Open Gazette No. 61-53504).
When particles consisting of crystals are used for a magnetic material and a magnetic field is impressed upon the particles, the domain walls of the particles move so that each volume of the domains spontaneously magnetized in the direction of the magnetic field is increased and also the magnetization along with the magnetic field is increased.
In this case, the smaller the particles used for magnetic material are, the more the number of domain walls of the magnetic film becomes, so that a strong magnetic field can be impressed upon a magnetic film, and a number of domain walls move. Consequently, even after the value of the magnetic field impressed upon the magnetic film has returned to 0, regenerated output at the time of measuring is increased, as well as a reverse magnetic field necessary to make the value of coercive force, that is, a residual magnetization 0 is increased because high residual magnetization can be obtained by a number of domain walls which has once moved.
However, in the case of thermal spraying of the above mentioned minute particles by plasma spraying on a member to form a magnetic film on the surface of the member, the thermal spraying particles are so light that they cannot be supplied to the flame of the plasma spraying or they are struck and scattered by the flame. Namely, there is raised a problem such that the thermal spraying particles are not accurately adhered on the member to be sprayed.
Accordingly, the number of the above mentioned domain walls cannot be increased beyond a certain extent because minute particles consisting of crystals cannot be used as thermal spraying particles. Therefore, according to a conventional method, there is a problem such that a magnetic film of high regenerated output and of high coercive force cannot be formed on a member to be sprayed.

Method of manufacturing a sensor having a magnetic film


A power supply system includes a first energy storage, a second energy storage, a power transmission circuit, and circuitry. An electrical load is connected to the first energy storage and to the second energy storage via the power transmission circuit. The circuitry is configured to control the power transmission circuit such that the first energy storage charges the second energy storage and supplies electric power to the electrical load according to a demand of the electrical load when a charge rate in the second energy storage is lower than or equal to a first threshold. The circuitry is configured to control the power transmission circuit such that at least the first energy storage among the first energy storage and the second energy storage supplies electric power to the electrical load according to the demand when the charge rate is higher than the first threshold.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a power supply system, a transportation apparatus, and a power transmission method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Power supply systems of this type, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2014-187757 and 2015-70726, for example, are known in the related art.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-187757 proposes a system which is capable of supplying power to an electric motor for a vehicle by using two energy storage devices, namely, a high-capacity energy storage device (a battery) having a relatively high capacity and a high-power energy storage device (a capacitor) having a relatively high upper limit on power that can be output. In this system, power is exchanged, as appropriate, between the two energy storage devices so as to set the state of charge (SOC) of each energy storage device to be close to an SOC center that is set in accordance with the vehicle speed.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2015-70726 discloses a technique for a hybrid vehicle including two, high-capacity and high-power energy storage devices, for supplying power from only the high-capacity energy storage device when the required output for power is less than a threshold and supplying power from both energy storage devices when the required output for power is greater than the threshold.

Power supply system, transportation apparatus, and power transmission method


A method of controlling storage of electrical energy by charging and discharging an energy storage device in response to pricing data indicative of future prices of electrical energy over time and energy losses caused by charging and discharging the energy storage device comprises detecting alternating candidate charging and discharging occasions with respect to the pricing data by selecting a next occurrence of a locally minimum price in the pricing data as a candidate charging occasion or a next occurrence of a locally maximum price in the pricing data as a candidate discharging occasion; validating a candidate charging or discharging occasion if the price difference between that candidate charging or discharging occasion and another later price in the pricing data is at least sufficient to compensate for the energy losses caused by charging and discharging the energy storage device; and charging and discharging the energy storage device at the validated charging and discharging occasions, respectively.

Field
This disclosure relates to energy storage.
Description of the Prior Art
The "background" description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description which may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
With decreasing battery prices, increasing battery capacity and the rise of renewable energy sources which introduce unpredictability to the energy production, battery storage for the electricity grid becomes an increasingly interesting alternative for grid balancing. The term "grid balancing" is used here to relate to the ongoing need to endeavour to match the consumption requirements of an electricity grid to the production capacity or supply capabilities associated with that electricity grid, and "grid" is used as a generic term for the electricity supply network.
Typically, the usage pattern for an electricity grid varies dramatically over the course of a 24 hour period. Overnight, usage is generally lower than during the normal working day. Within the day time period, there can be significant peaks and troughs in the consumption pattern relating to the timing of industrial activities and workers' break periods, and to the typical timing of non-working activities such as cooking an evening meal.
One effect of this variation in the consumption pattern is on the price associated with electricity supply at any particular time. The price varies in a generally inverse relation to the expected demand, so that electricity is expensive at times of high demand (or, rather, at anticipated times of high demand) and is cheaper at anticipated times of lower demand.
This pricing variation has various effects on the operation of the grid. Firstly, it provides an incentive for bulk users to draw power at times of lower demand. So, if a factory can operate overnight, its electricity costs may be considerably lower than applying to an equivalent operation during the day. Secondly, it provides an incentive for power generating companies to provide additional generating capacity at the times of higher demand.
The pricing structure is generally set in advance by an interaction between electricity providers and bulk consumers such as resellers. For example, there may be a daily interaction such as an auction which sets the prices to be imposed for electricity supply at different times during the next calendar day or 24-hour period, or the next week. These prices can then be published to the market so that consumers and providers can take whatever action they think fit based on the time-dependent pricing structure as published.
A further complication in grid balancing arrangements applies to renewable energy sources. Typically, there are strong government incentives in many countries to increase or maintain the capacity to generate electricity from so-called renewable sources such as solar, wind or wave power. While these renewable sources have many advantages in terms of their possibly lower use of non-renewable carbon resources, they suffer from a disadvantage in that the amount of electricity delivered at any instant in time can depend upon aspects of the natural environment which are outside the control of the electricity supply company. For example, the sun may go behind a cloud or the wind may drop, all leading to a relatively sudden decrease in the amount of electricity produced from a solar or wind power source. So, for times of the day when reliance is made upon renewable energy, the electricity generators need to build into the pricing model the fact that an alternative supply source may be needed at very short notice.
To address both of these needs, it has been proposed that electricity may be stored from the grid and later released to the grid at times of particular need. Various technologies are available for storing electricity in this way. In one example, one or more rechargeable batteries may be used. In other examples, mechanical energy storage may be employed, for example by connecting a large flywheel to a motor/generator arrangement, or by pumping water from a lower point to a higher point so that when the water is released from the higher point it can drive a turbine to generate electricity.