The mechanism includes: an urging means for urging an inner needle (12) to the side opposite to an outer needle (11) with respect to the axial direction of a holder sleeve (1) for holding the inner needle (12); an actuator (6) which is positioned between the urging means (8) and inner needle (12), moves together with the inner needle (12) and has a puncture position retainer for keeping the inner needle (12) and outer needle (11) ready for puncture and an inner needle retraction actuating portion for allowing for the retraction actuation of the inner needle (12); and a slit (2) for assuring the path of movement of the actuator (6). The puncture position retainer has a puncture position engagement portion whereby the actuator (6) is engaged with the holder sleeve (1) at a position on the outer needle side (11). The inner needle retraction actuating portion includes: an actuating portion (6a) for releasing the actuator (6) from the engaged state of the puncture position engagement portion into the urged state by the urging means (8) and an actuator housing for enclosing the actuator after retraction of the inner needle.

As a known method for infusing a medical fluid or the like into a patient, an outer needle (catheter) is inserted and placed in the human body to infuse the fluid thereinto. As a device for insertion of the outer needle, indwelling needles have been known to insert and place the outer needle using the inner needle incorporated inside the outer needle.
The inner needle is discarded after placement of the outer needle, but it takes a certain time before it is discarded. Therefore, as to an indwelling needle without a safety mechanism, there is a risk of the inner needle, after use, pricking the human body again during this period or a so-called needlestick accident occurring. Since, in this case, the inner needle might be contaminated with the HIV virus or the like, even a needlestick accident alone has been regarded as a cause of virus infection.
In order to solve this problem, many types of safety indwelling needles which avoid a needlestick accident by confining the inner needle immediately after use have been developed. For example, a technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 3 No.15481 is directed to a cannula inserting device for retracting a needle hub, which might cause a needlestick, into a hollow handle by means of an urging means.
Alternatively, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.2000-167051, etc. presented a technology relating to a safety indwelling needle (puncture device) having a retracting mechanism for retracting the inner needle immediately after use into the holder sleeve. These technologies present techniques whereby the inner needle is retracted by means of an urging means when an actuator is operated in a peripheral direction of the holder sleeve so that the actuator is fixed to cutout formed in the holder sleeve.
Since the device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 3 No.15481 employs a compression spring as the urging means, the outer and inner needles should be assembled by passing them through the interior of the compression spring. Hence extra steps are needed in order for the needle tip not to come into contact with the inner side of the compression spring.
With the safety indwelling needle, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.2000-167051, etc., in order to prevent the inner needle once retracted, from being re-exposed, the actuating element (actuating portion) needs to be moved in the peripheral direction so that the actuating element (actuating portion) will be fixed to the cutout (engaging window) formed in the holder sleeve (outer sleeve) In this case, the following problems will occur. First, the handedness problem, whereby the actuation is hard to make depending on the left or right handedness. Further, since one more action needs to be made to fix the actuating element after retraction of the inner needle (needle portion), this disturbs the quick prevention against re-exposure of the inner needle (needle portion). Thus, there have been some problems with prevention against re-exposure of the inner needle (needle portion). Further, since the actuating element (actuating portion) is exposed outside the holder sleeve (outer sleeve), there has been a risk of the actuating element (actuating portion) coming away from the cutout (engagement window) due to an external force so as to cause an event of the inner needle (needle portion) being exposed.
It is therefore an object of the present applicant to provide a technology for a safety indwelling needle which is easy to assemble and prevents the inner needle from being re-exposed by an external force.
Particularly, the object of the inventions described in the first to fifth features is to provide a safety indwelling needle which can prevent the inner needle from being re-exposed by an external force.


A printing control system includes a printing mechanism having settable print members. A gear is rotatably mounted and operably connected for selectively setting the print members. The gear is connected to control inhibiting the printing mechanism from being energized to print. The gear may also be connected to control inhibiting the selective setting of the print members.

Electronic postage meters have been developed with electronic accounting circuitry. Postage meter systems of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,457 for Microcomputerized Electronic Postage Meter System and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,095 for Computer Responsive Postage Meter. The electronic accounting circuits include memory capability for storing postage accounting information. The memory function in the electronic accounting circuits have replaced the function served in postage meters by mechanical accounting registers.
Postage meters with mechanical accounting registers are not subject to many of the problems encountered by electronic postage meters. Conditions cannot normally occur in postage meters with mechanical registers that prevent accounting for a printing cycle or which result in the loss of data stored in the registers. Thus, dependent reliable control of the postage printing mechanism operation is desirable in electronic postage meters. It is also desirable in systems of this type that the printing mechanism be controlled in a manner which inhibits printing postage if the system is not operating properly.
Postage meter printing systems suitable for use with electronic postage meters, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,851 for Setting Mechanism for a Postage Printing Device and U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,374 for Meter Setting Mechanism, include a printing drum with a set of adjacent print wheels each of which carriers print characters. Each print wheel is set for example, to position different postage amounts for printing, by an independently rotatable gear mechanism adapted to be engaged by a master gear. The master gear is rotatably mounted within a laterally movable carriage. The carriage can be moved to cause successive engagement with each independently rotatable gear mechanism. The printing drum is energized to rotate to print postage by a drive gear within the meter. Meter printing systems of this type are detachably mounted on a drive base. When so mounted, the postage meter drive gear meshes with a drive gear in the base. One suitable drive base is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,934,009 for Sheet Feeding and Treating.
Postage meter printing systems may incorporate a shutter bar movably mounted within the meter. The shutter bar is movable into and out of a blocking position which inhibits energization of the postage meter drive gear. When the meter is mounted on the base, the shutter bar is mechanically connected to a shutter bar lever on the base which drives the shutter bar to move into and out of the blocking position. A clutch is provided in the base and is operated by the shutter bar lever. The clutch is arranged to prevent the base drive gear from rotating unless the shutter bar lever is in a position which corresponds to the shutter bar being moved out of the blocking position. This insures that if the base is tripped to drive the postage meter drive gear, the base drive gear will rotate only if the shutter bar has been moved by the shutter bar lever out of its blocking position.
The postage setting meter printing systems of the above type may also incorporate interposers which prevent the shutter bar from being moved out of its blocking position by the drive base shutter bar lever. The interposers may be operated to lock the shutter bar in the blocking position and thereby inhibit energization of the meter drive gear when the postage meter is not properly conditioned to print postage. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,374 for Meter Setting Mechanism, the shutter bar is blocked by a camming extension on the master gear carriage or yoke when the carriage is shifted to any position other than an enable position. These arrangements are satisfactory and properly perform their intended purpose.


Techniques and mechanisms to facilitate data error detection by a memory controller. In an embodiment, the memory controller calculates, for each of a plurality of data blocks, a respective result based on a first metadata value and data of that data block, where the first metadata value describes a characteristic which is common to each of the plurality of data blocks. With each such calculated result, the memory controller further performs a respective error detection analysis, wherein such analysis is based on a retrieved error correction code for a corresponding one of the plurality of data blocks. In another embodiment, a single version of the metadata value is stored by the memory controller, where the single version of the metadata value is made available to facilitate error detection for any of the plurality of data blocks.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the field of computer memory systems and, more particularly but not exclusively, to detection and correction of data errors.
2. Background Art
Soft errors in data storage elements, such as cells of a memory device, occur when incident radiation charges or discharges the storage element, thereby changing its binary state. Soft errors are increasingly a concern with smaller scale fabrication processes as the size (hence, the capacitance) of the storage elements shrink, since incident radiation will have greater effect in causing the soft errors on such smaller scale storage elements. Previously, soft errors were statistically significant only for large and dense storage structures, such as cache memories. However, the smaller feature structures of next-generation memory devices are now more prone to having soft errors.
A problem with soft errors is that they have a tendency to silently corrupt data. This type of silent data corruption (SDC) is not desirable, particularly in a hard drive and/or a solid-state drive (SSD) of a computer system. Conventional error mitigation techniques variously provide for the storage of error correction codes along with the respective data to which such error correction codes each correspond. As computer system technologies increasingly rely on efficient utilization of memory storage capacity, the burdens imposed by having to support error detection and correction will be increasingly significant in terms of their affect on memory device performance.

Method, system and apparatus for providing access to error correction information


An information processing apparatus includes a position detection unit that detects a presence position of the information processing apparatus, a communication network information obtaining unit that obtains information regarding data communication in an accessible mobile communication network, and a data communication related information generation unit that generates data communication related information regarding the data communication using the mobile communication network at the presence position based on information regarding the presence position and information regarding the data communication in the mobile communication network.

The present application relates to an information processing apparatus, an information management server, an information processing method, an information management method, a program, and an information processing system.
In recent years, with the advance of information processing techniques or the like, the functions of mobile phone terminals have been dramatically improved (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2008-28792), and thus a mobile phone terminal under contract in Japan can be used in many countries through roaming.
Here, under the circumstances where a plurality of operators respectively provide mobile communication networks, such as urban area, typically, a mobile phone communication module sequentially searches for the operators, and transmits SIM contract information (IMSI and the like) to the mobile communication networks. Further, the mobile phone communication module selects mobile communication networks which are accessible by the mobile communication networks as mobile communication networks available to the mobile phone communication module. In addition to this case, there is a case where a user or embedded software manually sets identification information (network code) of available mobile communication networks in advance.

Information processing apparatus, information management server, information processing method, information management method, program, and information processing system


A foldable and lockable walker is disclosed that includes a pair of locking members provided on the cross-brace and cooperatively engaged to the horizontal portion of the side supports. The locking member receives a spring biased pin to lock the side supports against relative movement with respect to the cross-brace.

This invention relates to an improved foldable walker and particularly to a locking device for a foldable walker.
Although foldable walkers are known, there is a need for a foldable walker having a simple and effective means for locking the walker in an open position for use and for permitting the walker to be readily folded for storage and transport.
Several prior art walkers provide a pair of telescoping tubes with the inner tube carrying a spring biased pin that is received in an aperture provided in the outer to lock the inner tube with respect to the outer tube. U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,652, for example, provides sleeves (23, 25) to position a front cross-brace 20 on the legs (12) of the walker. The legs carry a spring biased key (30) that extends through slots (40 or 42) in the sleeves (23, 25) to lock the legs in position with respect to the front cross brace.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,088 shows a foldable walker having a telescoping bar (74) that includes an inner tube (76) telescoped within an outer tube (78). One end of the inner tube is riveted to the rear leg of the walker. The other end of the bar (74) is attached to the front cross brace. A spring loaded locking button (84) is provided on the inner tube (76) to engage an aperture in the outer tube (78) to lock the inner tube with respect to the outer tube and consequently to lock the side members of the walker in an open position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,086 shows an improvement to U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,088 where the legs can be hyper-extended and a palm pusher device (44) is provided to operate the spring biased locking button.
One problem with these and other walkers having telescoping tubes is that it requires additional parts and a complicated structure to attach the tubes to the rear legs or to joining members provided between the front and rear legs. Another problem is that the locking devices are inconveniently located making it difficult for the user to unlock the walker so that it can be folded for storage.
The present invention solves these problems by providing a foldable walker having a locking device with an easy to reach push button located on the front cross bar so that the legs can be unlocked from the open position.


Disclosed are novel compositions and methods for making a polymer substrate and a ligand that includes a proximal portion with a photoactive compound bound to the polymer substrate, a terminal portion with an anti-infective/anti-microbial compound, and a reactive portion attaching the proximal portion and the terminal portion.

Microbial infections pose a serious health risk, particularly for those undergoing medical procedures, such as surgery. Typically, infection prevention may be achieved by the topical application of disinfectants, antiseptics and antibacterials to surfaces likely to be contacted by infectious agents. However, many of these compounds are harmful to mammalian tissue, only have a short-term effect and need to be reapplied constantly for infection prevention. Those patients that do contract a microbial infection may be able to treat the infection with an antibiotic. However, the antibiotic may not be effective and, even if the patient may be treated with an antibiotic, the infection alone can still cause serious harm to the patient.
A patient may be particularly susceptible to infection during surgery or when a medical device is implanted in the patient since there is two-fold exposure from the surgery itself as well as the medical device. There remains a need decrease the instances of infection by treating the surface material of the medical devices to help prevent infections.
Silicones are an increasingly important polymer for both medical and non-medical applications. For medical devices in particular, silicones may be used for seals, gaskets, valves, masks, catheters, tubing, breast implants among other devices. With the growing popularity for silicones in use with medical devices, there is also a growing need to make silicones more resistant as a source for infection.
There exists a need in the art for a compositions, methods and techniques to create surface modifications to polysiloxanes (e.g., polydimethyl siloxanes such as silicones) and to attach anti-microbial (e.g., anti-infective) agents to the surface of polysiloxanes (e.g., silicones).

Methods, compositions and techniques for polydimethylsiloxane surface modifications


An evaporative emissions (EVAP) control system for a vehicle includes a purge pump configured to pump fuel vapor trapped in a vapor canister to an engine of the vehicle via a vapor line when engine vacuum is less than an appropriate level for delivering fuel vapor to the engine, the fuel vapor resulting from evaporation of a liquid fuel stored in a fuel tank of the engine. The EVAP control system includes a hydrocarbon (HC) sensor disposed in the vapor line and configured to measure an amount of HC in the fuel vapor pumped by the purge pump to the engine via the vapor line. The EVAP control system also includes a controller configured to, based on the measured amount of MC, control at least one of the purge pump and a purge valve to deliver a desired amount of fuel vapor to the engine.

Conventional evaporative emissions (EVAP) control systems include a vapor canister and vapor transport lines. The vapor canister traps fuel vapor that evaporates from liquid fuel (e.g., gasoline) stored in a fuel tank of the vehicle. Engine vacuum is utilized to deliver the fuel vapor from the vapor canister to the engine through the vapor transport lines and into intake ports of the engine. When an engine is off (e.g., during engine cold starts), however, there is no engine vacuum. The specific composition or concentration of the fuel vapor is also unknown. Accordingly, while such EVAP control systems work for their intended purpose, there remains a need for improvement in the relevant art.

Evaporative emissions control system including a purge pump and hydrocarbon sensor


A sun tracking plant growing system includes a body having a first face, a second face opposed to the first face and a peripheral connecting edge which is relatively small, as compared to the size of the first face and the second face. A mounting enables the body to pivot about a pivot axis. Plant supports, which receive plants, are supported by the body. A sun tracking mechanism is provided which senses or calculates the position of the sun and adjusts the orientation of the body about the pivot axis to maintain a selected portion of the peripheral connecting edge of the body facing the sun so as to provide desirable and naturally attenuated sunlight exposure according to plants' needs on both faces throughout a day. This system allows that multiple rows or single row of the plural bodies are arrayed closely together without creating shadows to each other.

Although sun-tracking systems are commonly used with solar collectors to allow maximum solar collection by tracking the movement of the sun across the sky, growing systems for plants are generally fixed. As a result, plants are in direct sunlight for a portion a day often over-exposed with too much light particularly when sunlight energy is highest and in indirect sunlight or shade for the balance of the day leading to insufficient light. What is required is a sun tracking system that meets the needs of photosynthetic organisms such as plants and algae.

Sun tracking growing system for photosynthetic organisms


A combustion burner for a boiler includes: an inner cylinder defining a fuel supply passage for supplying fuel; an outer cylinder surrounding the inner cylinder and defining an air supply passage between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder; and a swirler in the air supply passage, the swirler being configured to swirl air in the air supply passage. The swirler includes a plurality of blades radially disposed between the inner cylinder and the outer cylinder, the plurality of blades extending from an air-supply side toward a combustion-space side of the air supply passage, and each of the plurality of blades having, at least on an inner cylinder side of the blade, a section with a thickness varied in a burner axial direction, the thickness being smaller at an edge portion on the combustion-space side than at a maximum-thickness section of the blade.

As illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 11, a known combustion burner 80 to be mounted to a boiler furnace includes air-supply nozzles 84, 86 for supplying combustion air disposed on an outer periphery of a fuel-supply nozzle 82 for supplying fuel. Such a combustion burner 80 is often equipped with a swirler 88 disposed in an air supply passage, for securing swirl flame-holding performance.
The swirler 88 normally swirls combustion air and supplies the combustion air to a combustion space 100 of the boiler furnace, and forms a swirl flow 92 of air which a flow of fuel injected from the fuel-supply nozzle 82 in the combustion space 100 is made the center. The swirl flow 92 of air rapidly expands with a distance from the combustion burner 80, due to a centrifugal force. Thus, an inverse pressure gradient with a pressure decreasing toward the center is generated in the swirl flow 92. This inverse pressure gradient forms a flow flowing toward the center of the swirl flow 92 at a position of the swirl flow 92 away from the combustion burner 80 by a certain distance. Accordingly, combusted gas is circulated, and the high temperature of the combusted gas ignites non-combusted air-fuel mixture (fuel+air) to hold a flame.
For instance, JPH8-61609A discloses a liquid-fuel burner including an air supply passage for supplying primary air, disposed on an outer periphery of an oil-spraying nozzle, and a swirler for swirling the primary air, disposed on a distal end portion of the air supply passage.
Further, though not equipped with a swirler, JP2008-510618A (translation of a PCT application) discloses a nozzle assembly including an air-supply passage disposed on an outer periphery of a liquid-supply nozzle for supplying a liquid flow. This nozzle assembly is configured to atomize a liquid supplied by the liquid-supply nozzle and to inject the atomized liquid. In addition, the nozzle assembly is equipped with a crash pin to promote breakage of atomized liquid particles, thereby functioning to prevent accumulation of liquid around a bottom section of the crash pin.


An intraoral moisture measuring device includes: a swing member that swings with respect to a main body about a predetermined swing center; a moisture amount detection unit provided at a tip of the swing member, for detecting a moisture amount by being directly or indirectly abutted against a measurement site in a mouth; and a biasing member for biasing the swing member in one of swing directions. Consequently, the intraoral moisture measuring device is capable of measuring intraoral moisture in a simple and highly-accurate manner.

Conventionally, xerostomia, called dry mouth, is generally considered to be developed, for example, by systematic illness such as diabetes or renal disease, mouth breathing or smoking, side effects of medicine or treatment, salivary gland disease, central or peripheral nervous disorder, or psychological stress. Xerostomia is often found especially in the elderly. It has been reported that approximately 40% of the elderly suffer from xerostomia.
In Japan, starting with the research of "About xerostomia in the elderly and the physical properties of saliva" in Comprehensive Research Project on Longevity Science by Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in 2001 to 2003, various researches have been made, for example, on actual conditions of xerostomia in the elderly and the effectiveness of oral care for the prevention of aspiration pneumonitis. As a result of this, active oral care systems have been introduced, for example, in the National Cancer Center which practices advanced cancer therapy and palliative care. In the revisions on medical treatment fees in fiscal year 2012, the "perioperative oral management fee for cancer patients" has been introduced into insurance based on these systems.
It is important for oral care to measure intraoral moisture accurately. In recent years, an intraoral moisture measuring device including a capacitance type sensor is increasingly used (see Patent Literature 1, for example). For such a capacitance type intraoral moisture measuring device, a moisture amount in mucosa is measured on the basis of a change in capacitance between two electrodes. Therefore, the sensor unit needs to be abutted against a measurement site with a suitable pressing force (load). Thus, when a user is inexperienced in using the intraoral moisture measuring device, there is a risk of producing variations in the measurement result.
As a countermeasure against such a problem, a technique has been proposed in which a sensor is disposed in a slider, which is biased in a pressing direction by a spring, in a skin moisture measuring device, for example, and the magnitude of a pressing force is determined on the basis of a travel distance of the slider (see Patent Literature 2). Also, another technique has been proposed in which a sensor holding structure, capable of easily deforming, is disposed on the rear side of a sensor in an intraoral moisture measuring device, so that the direction of the sensor can be freely changed when being pressed (see Patent Literature 3).


A method for implementing a dynamic financial statement may include generating and dynamically updating a financial statement for a consumer based on the receipt of consumer-related information from the consumer or other entities. A database of updated dynamic financial statements may be queried by external systems such as the consumer's or another entity's computer for statements that satisfy one or more criteria. One or more computer systems may create and deliver offers to consumers corresponding to the statements satisfying the query. Those offers may invoke dynamic pricing, e.g., better pricing may be offered to those consumers as compared to consumers that don't satisfy the queried details. Those offers alternatively may invoke collaborative or group pricing, i.e., a certain price may be available if enough consumers accept the offer.

Financial platforms are defined as databases that contain the most current financial information on the entities. The most basic platform is the credit or risk mitigation platform (hereinafter known as the "credit platform"). The credit platform incorporates all current credit information on an entity into one database. This dynamic database (hereinafter known as the "c-file") instantaneously reflects germane credit information (1) and is available 24/7.
The next platform is the financial statement platform which incorporates the credit platform information with additional financial information (2) on the entity. This additional information creates a dynamic financial statement (hereinafter known as the "f-file"). These platforms and their database offspring create transparencies and provide ample product, service, and management opportunities for our global and interconnected economies (hereinafter known as the "financial web").
Transparency is defined as the accessibility of germane financial and risk information. Significant liquidity and transparency problems have arisen on a global scale that have instilled fear and uncertainty into the minds and markets of the world, and governments and citizens are crying out for better accountability, better governance, and increased transparency.
Businesses understand the dynamic, rapid, and instantaneous nature of the markets and their inherent risks. Not only are they trying to capture and evaluate the most recent data, they are trying to predict behaviors and thus bring new efficiencies into the markets, the businesses, and the lives of the consumer.
Fidelity Investments provides an aggregate financial picture available to its customers. This dynamic snapshot supplies the consumer with current and somewhat comprehensive financial information. A more complete picture with more interactive tools would be an improvement.
The government and the investment community are hard at work to address the lack of transparency in publicly held corporations: better corporate governance, changes in accounting and financial statements, and a general cry for fairness are all at the forefront of today's business climate. On a global scale, in this interconnected, global economy, liquidity crises and market meltdowns can occur due to lack of transparency.
The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, (MISMO), the new electronic mortgage files sponsored by Fannie Mae and the Mortgage Bankers Association, makes the movement of mortgage files and their parts more efficient. Although not fully implemented across the mortgage industry, the launch of MISMO should supply opportunities of interchangeability within each mortgage package that will create efficiencies that can save investors, businesses, and consumers time and money and decrease risk.
Commercially available 'alert systems' come from the credit bureaus and are geared towards businesses and consumers. Of the three credit bureaus, Trans Union and Experian have such products whereas Equifax does not. At present, two of the credit bureaus have a useful product in place. Trans Union's product is called 'Watch'; Experian's is 'Retention Trigger': each monitors accounts for inquiries. To activate 'Watch', Bank XYZ supplies Trans Union with a name, address (present and previous) and social security number. This account is monitored for inquiries, new trade-lines (mortgages, credit cards, installment loans), employment, and address. Should that file receive information about a change in any of the above four categories, a report is mailed out. The cost for this service is $180/year membership fee plus $2/file/month and $4/feedback (20). The feedback is mailed, not emailed or faxed. Experian's product, Retention Trigger, triggers with inquiries or new trade-lines. The feedback is emailed. They limit their customer files to a minimum of 50,000 files. Cost per month is $7,500 plus 2.3 cents per file. 50,000 files would cost $8,650/month. However, all three credit bureaus collect pertinent information and the integration of that information would provide a more complete consumer profile.
For example, in the Illinois counties of Cook and Lake, the environment for 'predatory insurance' exists. Although the term 'predatory' is unusual in connection with homeowners insurance, circumstances in these two counties create an environment whereby a scrupulous business can take advantage of an unsophisticated or enfeebled consumer by stripping equity (22) and/or taking their home. Here is how that scenario plays out:
Because of several severe weather incidents in the past year, a plethora a very expensive claims have been filed in these two counties. As a general rule, the better insurers like Kemper are not renewing policies that have two claims within a three year period. Those homeowners, because all the better insurers are following this practice, find themselves looking for sub-prime insurers. The annual premium on a $300,000 home has gone from around $550 with Kemper-like insurers (hereinafter known as "A-insurers") to $2800 with sub-prime insurers. If the homeowner cannot afford the higher premium and has a mortgage, the mortgage company will buy the policy and that cost can go as high as $7000. They will attach the cost to the mortgage payment; some cannot afford the new payment and default on their mortgage. Although this outcome appears unlikely, the enfeebled and isolated could fall prey to predatory businesses.
In the past, a bank's success in real estate lending was the result of well-documented loan packages undergoing an underwriter's objective scrutiny. However, today's predatory lending environment has lessened the value of the underwriting decision: in the realm of the predatory lender, significant risks begin after the loan leaves the underwriter's hands. Predatory lenders prey upon desperate and/or ill-informed consumers, and it is this reality that the lending world must guard against. A lender that attempts to protect it's portfolio against predatory lenders faces significant challenges:
1) The resources necessary to battle the predatory lender can be daunting; funding must be available for:
a) Sufficient and ongoing education of a large client base.
b) Monitoring a large portfolio.
c) Damage control and remediation.
2) The duration of the loans may be for a 30 year term or more. Much can happen during that time span. Sickness, disability, financial hardship, consumerism, etc., all can create an environment ripe for the predatory lender.
3) Ownership or occupancy may change, affecting the client's stake in the property, its liens, and its value.
Financial products are pricing themselves according to a consumer's risk profile. Mortgages can be less expensive if the credit scores of the consumer are better; certain credit cards price themselves according to risk: the riskier the profile the more expensive is the credit. However, this pricing occurs at acquisition and the consumer's risk profile could improve dramatically shortly thereafter.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for generating dynamic and collaborative pricing offers in a financial platform environment


A liquid discharging head includes a flow path unit having a common liquid flow path; an individual liquid flow path; and a plurality of plates that are stacked to form the common liquid flow path and the individual liquid flow path. The plurality of plates includes at least four manifold plates that include partial plates and support members, wherein the at least four manifold plates comprise: a first manifold plate that includes a first partial plate and a first support member that supports the first partial plate; a second manifold plate that includes a second partial plate and a second support member that is adjacent to the first support member in a direction in which the common liquid path extends, the second support member supporting the second partial plate; and at least one manifold plate that is interposed between the first manifold plate and the second manifold plate.

Japanese unexamined patent application publication No. JP-A-2004-114520 describes a related art inkjet head for discharging ink droplets. The related art inkjet head comprises a flow path unit in which a common ink chamber having a plurality of manifold flow paths and a plurality of individual ink flow paths which reach nozzles from outlets of the respective manifold flow paths via pressure chambers. This flow path unit has a stacked construction in which a plurality of plates are stacked. In addition, of the plurality of plates, manifold plates which configure parts of side walls of the manifold flow paths include island-like partial plates which are surrounded by the manifold flow paths. The partial plates are disposed so as to cross the manifold flow paths and are supported by rectangular support pieces which are connected to the side walls of the manifold flow path which confront each other.


A key ring clip lock apparatus for holding the plunger of a gas pump handle in a positional mode for automatic pumping operation has a key holding portion for directly holding keys or the like thereon, including a resiliently deformable portion for permitting opening and closing of the key holding portion to receive and to remove such keys or the like, and a clip-like portion for grabbing part of the pump handle to hold the apparatus thereto with the plunger in a substantially compressed, valve-open position so as to allow hands-off gas pumping operation of an associated gas pump. In a preferred embodiment the apparatus is a formed rigid metal wire with first and second rigid lengths, one being concave curved with respect to the other, and a connecting length securing them in relatively fixed positions spaced apart a distance adequate to accommodate at least part of the plunger and pump handle with the plunger in an automatic pumping positional mode, and the key holding portion is formed of a rebent extension of the second rigid length providing a useful lever arm to facilitate placing and removing keys and to provide an enlarged effective surface to facilitate manual manipulation and use of the apparatus.

The present invention relates generally, as indicated, to apparatus for holding the plunger of a gas pump handle in a positional mode for automatic pumping operation and, more particularly, to a key ring clip lock for pump handles which provides a duality of function including the convenient holding of keys, i.e. a key ring type function, and the facilitating of pumping gas, with a cooperation therebetween, as is described in further detail below.
With the advent of rising energy costs and the desire for reduction in expenditures therefor, the popularity of self-service gas pumps for automobiles has experienced a dramatic increase.
In the past, typical pump handles for gas pumps have had a manually depressable plunger which operates a valving mechanism to permit the flow of gas from the gas pump for discharge through the handle to a vessel or tank, such as a typical automobile gas tank. Usually, a flow pressure sensor mechanism associated with the valving mechanism automatically closes the latter, even though the pump handle is still depressed, to stop gas flow when the vessel has filled. Therefore, when the plunger is so depressed it may be considered to be placed in a positional mode for automatic pumping of gas, whereby automatic termination of gas flow occurs to avoid spilling of gas. Moreover, to facilitate pumping gas and to free a service station attendant to perform additional functions while gas automatically is pumped into a vessel, locking mechanisms have been provided in the past to lock the plunger of the pump handle in a positional mode for automatic pumping.
A disadvantage of present self-service gas stations is that the above mentioned lock mechanism usually is removed from the pump handle. Consequently, the customer must stand at the automobile gas tank and must continuously depress the pump handle plunger to place the same in a positional mode for automatic pumping of gas until the plunger is released or the valve mechanism automatically stops gas flow. In inclement weather, however, the requirement for continuous manual depressing of the pump handle plunger is inconvenient and bothersome, and during all types of weather is tiresome to one's hand holding a plunger for more than a short period of time; the latter being an especially critical disadvantage insofar as arthritic people are concerned.
Furthermore, for safety it is desirable that the engine of a vehicle be stopped while pumping gas into the vehicle gas tank. This safety requirement is all the more important in self-service gas stations, for to leave an engine operating with the operator's position unattended while the operator is outside pumping gas is especially dangerous and all the more so when, for example, young children are left in the vehicle.


A furnace preheat system uses furnace off-gas to preheat material to be charged into the furnace. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, first and second angularly-spaced preheat vessels are mounted on a rotatable member which rotates them to a position over the furnace for charging the furnace and to a position for preheating the material in the preheat vessels. There is ductwork from the furnace to the first and second preheat vessels to selectively vent the off-gases to the first and second preheat vessels.

The present invention relates to furnaces, and, in particular, to a system for preheating material before it enters the furnace, using the off-gas from the furnace as the heating source.
Heating and melting furnaces, and in particular electric arc furnaces, are used to heat or melt various materials. Electric arc furnaces pass an electric arc (current) through ferrous metallic, non-ferrous metallic, and non-metallic scrap or other feed stock in order to melt the scrap.
During this production process, large quantities of very hot particulate-laden gases are generated. These gases create a problem, in that they are very hot, abrasive, difficult to handle, and they cannot be vented directly into the environment, due to the particulate material in them. These gases are usually drawn out of the furnace through a hole in the furnace roof. Ambient air or oxygen is introduced into the gas stream to allow ignition of any combustible gases or particulate materials. The gases are cooled, usually by passing through water-cooled ductwork, and are filtered through a baghouse, scrubber, precipitator, or other device with the function of collecting the particulate matter prior to discharge of the gas into the atmosphere.
If these off-gases can be used to preheat material to be charged into the furnace, several problems can be solved at once. First, the amount of time and energy required to melt the materials in the furnace can be reduced, resulting in considerable cost savings in the production process. Second, since the off-gases are cooled as they are used in the preheat process, the extensive cooling systems can be eliminated or greatly reduced, saving considerable capital and operating expense. Third, some of the particulate matter becomes trapped in the scrap, thus reducing the waste material to be disposed from the dust collection device.
There are several systems in use or proposed which are intended to use the off-gases to preheat the material to be charged into the furnace, and there are problems with all the existing systems. Some systems for using the off-gas to preheat require a complete redesign of the production process and equipment. Some other systems are simply not compatible with normal furnace operations, because they do not permit good operating practices or for other reasons. Most of the existing systems are very maintenance-intensive and/or have high operating expenses. In many designs, only part of the gases pass through the material to be preheated, sharply reducing the efficiency of the system. In some designs, the preheater cannot be bypassed if maintenance problems occur, which is clearly an undesirable situation. Some systems require additional processing of materials, particularly scrap, prior to use, or are limited to certain specific types or sizes of scrap.
Some systems preheat the charging bucket containing the scrap each time the scrap is preheated. Because the bucket has a significant weight relative to the contents, much energy is wasted in heating the bucket. This heating of the bucket is also damaging to the bucket, increasing maintenance costs.
In many designs, a new load of material to be preheated cannot be prepared or placed in position until after the furnace begins the next production cycle. The preheater is therefore not "on-line" as soon as the furnace begins the melting process, thus losing the opportunity to use all the off-gas stream for preheating.
Because of the space required for the preheat system, it typically is not located in the immediate vicinity of the melting furnace. When the preheat station is located at some distance from the furnace, several problems result. First, the heated vessel must be moved by crane or other device through the operating area to the furnace, resulting in a loss of preheat temperature and the escape of irritating or toxic fumes into the air. Second, in order to transport the vessel to the furnace area in time to quickly charge the furnace when the furnace is shut off, the vessel must be removed from the preheat station prematurely, thus resulting in a loss of, efficiency in the preheat process. Third, this movement of the vessel to the furnace by crane or other means is a double handling of the charging material, compromising normal operations. Fourth, due to the distance between the furnace and the vessel, much of the energy in the off-gas is lost before the gases reach the material to be preheated, resulting in a loss of efficiency and in only partial combustion of contaminants, such as oil, grease, plastics, and fibers, which produces an undesirable gas emission. Fifth, because the system is not near the furnace, great lengths of water-cooled ductwork are required to transport the gases to the preheating station, wasting energy and creating a large capital and maintenance expense.
The material to be charged into the furnace is usually scrap material that includes contaminants such as oils, greases, plastics, fibers, and water or ice. In the prior art, when the material is charged into the furnace, the residual heat in the furnace causes a flash ignition of these various combustible contaminants in the scrap, and a huge plume of flame and dust particles rises to the roof of the shop building. In most cases, large overhead canopies must be located above the furnace to capture this plume, which is then carried to the baghouse or other dust collecting device through ductwork attached to the canopies. These large canopies capture not only the plume, but also a very large volume of air from outside the furnace that travels up with the plume. This requires that the baghouse or other system for cleaning the air be sized very large to handle this large volume of air. Even with these overhead canopies and large air-cleaning systems, considerable dust remains in the air inside the building, which is undesirable. In some installations, separate enclosures are built around the furnace to capture charging emissions. Large doors are opened to permit a crane to place the charging bucket into the enclosure. The doors are closed, charging occurs, and the doors are opened to permit removal of the charging bucket. Use of such enclosures also requires that large volumes of air be collected to capture the charging emissions, although the air volume is somewhat less than that required for an overhead canopy system. Some collection of fugitive emissions in the roof area is still required. Such furnace enclosures are expensive, are easily damaged (particularly the large doors), and considerably disrupt efficient charging and operating practices.


Since a front antenna 33 performs road-to-vehicle communication and vehicle-to-vehicle communication with oncoming vehicles, a nondirectional antenna enables effective communication in communication distances. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication with rearward vehicles by a rear antenna 37 needs long communication distances compared with road-to-vehicle communication and vehicle-to-vehicle communication with oncoming vehicles. The rear antenna 37 can also perform communication effectively with rear vehicles since what is selected is a directional one that can provide longer communication distances than a nondirectional one and that has directionality rearward of the vehicle. The front antenna 33 is disposed forward of a seat 7, and the rear antenna 37 is disposed rearward of the seat 7, which can inhibit an attenuation of electromagnetic waves due to the rider and the like. Consequently, while being capable of performing road-to-vehicle communication effectively, vehicle-to-vehicle communication with rearward vehicles can also be performed effectively.

Conventionally, there exists a first apparatus that has an antenna disposed forward of a vehicle for performing communications with vehicles in front or with roadside units (see Patent Document 1, for example). Specifically, a nondirectional antenna is disposed forward of an inclined line extending between the middle of a bar handle and the axle of a front wheel. This prevents influences of wave absorption by the rider's body, and prevents lowering of electric field strength in up and down and right and left directions.
Further, there exists a second apparatus that has a base in a storage box at the rear, and has a nondirectional antenna removably attached to the base (see Patent Document 2, for example). The antenna in this second apparatus is for receiving radio, and not for performing communications for an advanced safety vehicle ASV. However, a construction is employed to dispose the nondirectional antenna in the rear storage box.


The invention relates to a path-controlled adjustment device for a window pane of a motor vehicle, with a carrier assembly, with at least two guideways provided at the carrier assembly, which define an adjustment path for an adjustable window pane and which are spaced from each other transversely to the adjustment path, and with a driver which on the one hand includes means for connection of the window pane to be adjusted and which on the other hand is in engagement with the guideways so as to be longitudinally movable. The carrier assembly consists of at least two carrier elements which are connected with each other at a plurality of fixing points. On at least one carrier element fixing points, via which that carrier element is to be fixed at a further carrier element of the carrier assembly, are connected with each other by reinforcement paths.

This invention relates to a path-controlled adjustment device for a window pane of a motor vehicle.
Such path-controlled adjustment device, also called path-controlled window lifter, comprises a carrier assembly on which at least three guideways are provided, which define an adjustment path for an adjustable window pane and which are spaced from each other transversely to the adjustment path. The carrier assembly in principle can have a one-part or multipart design and in particular be equipped for incorporation into a motor vehicle door which contains a window pane to be adjusted by means of a window lifter.
For guiding an adjustable window pane along the adjustment path defined by the guideways, a driver is used here, which on the one hand includes means for connection of the window pane to be adjusted and which on the other hand is provided with guiding elements, such that with each of the at least three carrier-side guideways at least one guiding element each of the driver—movable along the associated guideway—is in engagement.
By coupling such driver, as known, with a window lifter drive, e.g.—in the case of a so-called cable window lifter—via a flexible pulling means which is connected with the driver, with a manual or motorized drive, the driver—guided by the carrier-side guideways—can be moved along the adjustment path defined by those guideways. The window pane to be adjusted, which is connected to the driver, is entrained thereby, in order to clear or close an associated window opening, depending on the direction of movement of the pane.
Path-controlled window lifters are used for example for adjusting window panes for frameless doors of a motor vehicle, e.g. in convertible cars. Beside the definition of a main adjustment direction in pull-off direction of the window pane, i.e. substantially the vertical vehicle axis (z-axis), the guideways usually serve for guiding the driver and the window pane connected thereto with a component of movement along the horizontal transverse vehicle axis (y-axis), i.e. vertically both to the vertical vehicle axis (z-axis) and to the longitudinal vehicle axis (x-axis). The guidance of the window pane with a component along the horizontal transverse vehicle axis (and hence vertically to the plane which is defined by the door into which the window lifter is to be incorporated) can be utilized, in order to press the window pane to the inside against a body-side seal, when closing the window opening, and thus ensure a safe closing of the window opening. In addition, the guideways also can force components of movement along the longitudinal vehicle axis (x-axis) on the driver and the window pane connected thereto, so that complex adjusting movements can be realized, which provide for an adaptation to a variety of different types of motor vehicle doors.
The associated carrier assembly here has a multipart, i.e. at least two-part design and comprises at least two carrier elements which are connected with each other at a plurality of fixing points. The adaptation to different designs of motor vehicle doors thereby is facilitated in that individual elements of the carrier assembly selectively can be adapted to different door surroundings. The carrier assembly, however, at the same time should be able to absorb and dissipate large forces which can act at the carrier assembly in operation of the adjustment device.

Path-controlled adjustment device with a multipart carrier assembly

Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Hallstadt


The present invention relates to yeast species which are normally capable of producing sophorolipids but which are modified in such way that they are incapable producing the latter compounds. These sophorolipid-negative strains surprisingly display equal growth characteristics and biomass formation as their wild type counterparts and are hence useful for the production of compounds such as recombinant proteins, glycolipids, polyhydroxyalkanoates and carotenoides. In addition, the present invention discloses two glucosyltransferase genes with key-functions in sophorolipid production.

The non-pathogenic yeast Candida bombicola and other yeast species such as Candida apicola, Candida batistae, Rhodotorula bogoriensis and Wickerhamiella domericqiae are known for their sophorolipid production during stationary phase (Spencer et al., 1970, Gorin et al., 1961, Tulloch et al., 1968, EP0837140A1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,433,152, U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,213). C. bombicola and others are oleaginous yeast species, i.e. they can utilize oleaginous substrates such as alkanes and oils as carbon source, and can handle those substrates in relatively high concentrations. Moreover, C. bombicola can produce sophorolipids in high amounts (over 400 g/L), which are excreted in the fermentation medium.
Candida bombicola ATCC 22214 is already applied commercially for the production of sophorolipids. These glycolipid biosurfactants are constituted of a sophorose head group (2-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-β-D-glucopyranose) from which the anomeric C-atom is attached to an (ω) or (ω-1) C16 or C18 hydroxylated fatty acid. They occur either as open-ring structures (acid form) or as lactones with an intra-esterification between the fatty acid carboxyl group and the 4″, 6′ or 6″ carbon atom of the sophorose head group. In addition, acetyl groups can be attached at the 6′ and/or 6″ positions (Asmer et al., 1988).
In a typical Candida bombicola fermentation with e.g. rapeseed oil as a hydrophobic carbon source, sophorolipids are present as a complex mixture of structurally related molecules with the mono- and di-acetylated lactonic sophorolipids being the most important.
While many research has focused on fermentation conditions to optimize sophorolipid production by C. bombicola (Daniel et al., 1998a, Daniel et al., 1998b, Casas et al., 1999, Cavalero et al., 2003, Kim et al., 2009), and sophorolipids have served as substrates for (chemo)-enzymatic modifications (Bisht et al., 1999, Hu et al., 2003, Rau et al., 1999), the biochemical pathway of these economically important bioproducts remains unclear and there is no information available about the genes involved (Ochsner et al., 1994a, Ochsner et al., 1994b). This lack of information hampers implementation of modern techniques such as metabolic engineering to increase sophorolipid yields. The only data about enzymes involved in sophorolipid production by C. bombicola suggest the involvement of a cytochrome P450 monooxygenase from the CYP52 family (Van Bogaert et al., 2009). Data about enzymes in other yeasts are limited to protein experiments with C. bogoriensis lysates and date from early 1970's and 1980's (Esders et al., 1972, Bucholtz et al., 1976, Breithaupt et al., 1982). Apart from an acetyltransferase, it was assumed that two glucosyltransferases were involved in the stepwise production of sophorolipid by this organism, though separation of the two activities remained unsuccessful (Breithaupt et al., 1982).
Besides the fact that the biochemical pathway of the production of sophorolipids is largely unknown, C. bombicola will always produce sophorolipids no matter which carbon source is applied. Hence, the sophorolipids will always form a mixture with other compounds of potential interest and the biosynthetic pathway will compete for the use of substrates. Consequently, it is hardly impossible to combine the (recombinant) production of a compound of interest with the sophorolipid synthesis without substantial loss of efficiency and without additional purification costs. The option to only produce the compound of interest during the exponential growth phase when no or low amounts of sophorolipids are produced, will not only result in lower yields due to the lower amount of available biomass and shorter production time, but will also often result in a low tolerance of the growing cells towards the oleaginous substrates used. These problems are omitted when strains that lack this sophorolipid production are used. However, Ito and Inoue (Ito et al., 1982; Inoue et al., 1982) demonstrated that sophorolipids stimulate the growth on oleaginous substrates whereas a number of synthetic non-ionic surfactants have no effect. They further state that sophorolipids act as specific growth stimulating factors and are needed to emulsify the insoluble oleaginous substrates. Therefore, strains unable to produce sophorolipids show inferior growth as compared to the wild type and are unable to handle oleaginous substrates.
Taken together, it is clear that sophorolipid-producing yeast species might be very useful to produce, in addition to sophorolipids, other numerous useful compounds such as recombinant proteins, glycolipids, polyhydroxyalkanoates, sophorose, rhamnose, special fatty acids, squaleen, organic acids, hydrophobic compounds and oleagenious compounds. However, a lack of understanding of the underlying biochemical pathway of sophorolipid synthesis and the problem of combining the production of a useful compound of interest with the sophorolipid synthesis without substantial loss of efficiency and without additional purification costs seriously hamper the usage of these yeast species.
Description of Tables:    Table 1 Primers used for knocking-out the C. bombicola CYP52M1 gene. All primers were obtained from Sigma Genosys.    Table 2 Primers used for isolation of the UGTA1 gene and construction of the knock-out cassette. All primers were obtained from Sigma Genosys.    Table 3 Ten best homology scores for the translated UGTA1 sequence    Table 4 Primers used for isolation of the UGTB1 gene and construction of the knock-out cassette. All primers were obtained from Sigma Genosys.    Table 5 Ten best homology scores for the translated UGTB1 sequence    Table 6 Primers used for creation of the GFP expression cassette. All primers were obtained from Sigma Genosys. Bold characters represent non-binding extensions.    Table 7 Primers used for creating the amylase expression cassette and control of amylase transformants.    Table 8 Primers used for creating the PHA expression cassette. All primers were obtained from Sigma Genosys.    Table 9 Primers used for creation of the UGT1 and CepB expression cassettes. All primers were obtained from Sigma Genosys.


A post-mix beverage dispenser utilizing a liquid concentrate in a self-pressurized container is provided. The beverage dispenser includes a connector and flow control valve to regulate the pressure of the liquid concentrate in the system. The liquid concentrate and diluent are mixed at the nozzle of the post-mix beverage dispense.

Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to post-mix dispensers to dispense beverage liquid concentrates from a self-pressurized container, e.g., a bag-on-valve container, as a component source.
Background
Post-mix dispensers are typically limited to dispensing syrup or liquid concentrates from a bag-in-box package. The syrup or concentrate is introduced into the system through the use of a pump or a pressurized tank, e.g., CO2. Thus, a typical post-mix system requires a great deal of components and technical understanding to set up and maintain the system.

Self-pressurized concentrate source for post-mix equipment


A visitor authorization management method is provided. In the method, an authorization object identifier and an authorization operation information corresponding to the authorization object identifier are obtained. The authorization operation information according to the authorization object identifier is cached. A current latest authorization operation information corresponding to the authorization object identifier is retrieved from the cache. A reference time is determined based on an authorization time in the current latest authorization operation information. When a preset time period having the reference time as an end is reached, an authorization operation is performed according to the current latest authorization operation information and the authorization object identifier.

With an improvement in function of a visitor system, the owner can input visitor information (such as the visitor's license number or mobile phone number) through an access authorization page at a terminal. The terminal generates an authorization operation request, and sends the authorization operation request to a server through a network. The server performs an authorization operation corresponding to the authorization operation request allowing the owner to authorize the visitor's access. So that when the visitor comes, an access control system or a barrier system will automatically identify and automatically release the authorized visitor.
In reality, the owner may repeatedly authorize the same visitor in a certain period of time, usually due to repeated changes of the visitor's time schedule, the owner's time schedule, etc. The owner may add, delete, add again, and modify the visitor's authorization information in a period of time.
In a conventional method, every authorization operation request corresponding to the visitor is sent from the terminal to the server through the network. The server needs to repeatedly and correspondingly perform the authorization operations. Obviously, repeating the authorization operations for the same visitor in a certain period of time will cost a great amount of resources.

Visitor authorization management method and apparatus, terminal, server, and storage medium


The invention utilizes harmonics of certain clamped ultrasound transducers to generate ultrasound within the liquid of an ultrasonic tank and in a frequency range of between about 100 khz to 350 khz (i.e., “microsonic” frequencies). The application of microsonic frequencies to liquid preferably occurs simultaneously with a sweeping of the microsonic frequency within the transducer's harmonic bandwidth to reduce or eliminate (a) standing waves within the liquid, (b) other resonances, (c) high energy cavitation implosion, and (d) non-uniform sound fields, each of which is undesirable for cleaning and/or processing of semiconductor wafers and other delicate parts. The invention can also drive ultrasonic transducers such that the frequency of applied energy has a sweep rate within the ultrasonic bandwidth of the transducers; and that sweep rate is also varied so that the sweep rate is substantially non-constant during operation.

Ultrasonic energy has many uses; and applications of ultrasound are widespread in medicine, in the military industrial complex, and in engineering. One use of ultrasound in modern manufacturing and processing is to process and/or clean objects within liquids. For example, it is well-known that objects within an aqueous solution such as water can be cleaned by applying ultrasonic energy to the water. Typical ultrasound transducers are, for example, made from materials such as piezoelectrics, ceramics, or magnetostrictives (aluminum and iron alloys or nickel and iron alloys) which oscillate with the frequency of the applied voltage or current. These transducers transmit ultrasound into a tank filled with liquid that also covers some or all of the object to be cleaned or processed. By driving the transducer at its operational resonant frequency, e.g., 18 khz, 25 khz, 40 khz, 670 khz or 1 Mhz, the transducer imparts ultrasonic energy to the liquid and, hence, to the object. The interaction between the energized liquid and the object create the desired cleaning or processing action.
By way of example, in the 1970s ultrasonic energy was used in liquid processing tanks and liquid cleaning tanks to enhance the manufacture of semiconductor devices and other delicate items. The typical ultrasonic frequency of such processes was a single frequency between 25 khz to 50 khz. Many prior art generators exist which produce single frequency ultrasonics, including those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,152,295; 3,293,456; 3,629,726; 3,638,087; 3,648,188; 3,651,352; 3,727,112; 3,842,340; 4,044,297; 4,054,848; 4,069,444; 4,081,706; 4,109,174; 4,141,608; 4,156,157; 4,175,242; 4,275,363; and 4,418,297.
The early ultrasonic transducers were typically piezoelectric ceramics that were "clamped," i.e., compressed, so as to operate at their fundamental resonant or anti-resonant frequency. Many prior art clamped transducers exist, including those found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,066,232; 3,094,314; 3,113,761; 3,187,207; 3,230,403; 3,778,758; 3,804,329 and RE 25,433. Other ultrasound transducers are made of alloys that possess magnetostriction properties which cause them to expand or contract under the influence of a magnetic field.
As mentioned above, these transducers were bonded to or placed in tanks which housed the cleaning or processing liquid. Typically, such tanks were constructed of a material compatible with the processing liquid, such as: 316L stainless steel for most aqueous chemistries; 304 stainless steel for many solvents; plastics such as Teflon, polypropylene, and metals such as tantalum for strong acids; and coated metals such as Teflon-coated stainless steel for corrosive liquids.
In order to deliver ultrasound to the solution within the tank, the transducers were attached to, or made integral with, the tank. In one method, for example, epoxy bonds or brazing were used to attach the transducers to tanks made of metallic stainless steel, tantalum, titanium, or Hastalloy. In another prior art method, the drive elements of the transducers were machined or cast into the tank material, and the piezoelectric ceramic and backplates were assembled to the drive elements.
The prior art also provides systems which utilize ultrasonic transducers in conjunction with plastic tanks. Typically, the tank's plastic surface was etched to create a surface that facilitated an epoxy bond thereon. The transducers were bonded with epoxy to the etched surface, and various techniques were used to keep the system cool to protect the plastic from deterioration. One such technique was to bond the transducers to an aluminum plate that would act as a heat-sink, and then to bond the aluminum plate to the plastic surface. Often, fans would be directed toward the aluminum plate and the transducers so as to enhance cooling. Another cooling technique utilized a thin plastic, or a process of machining the plastic at the trasnducer bonding position, to provide a thin wall at the transducer mounting position. This technique enhanced the cooling of the plastic and transducer by improved heat conduction into the liquid, and further improved the coupling of sound into the processing liquid because of less sound absorption.
With advances in plastic formulations such as PEEK (polyetheretherketone), the prior art made improvements to the plastic ultrasonic tank by further reducing the sound absorption within the plastic material. The prior art further developed techniques for molding the transducers into the plastic material, such as through injection and rotational molding, which further improved the manufacturing of the tank as well as the processing characteristics within the tank.
For other materials such as ceramics, glass, Pyrex and quartz, the prior art used epoxy to bond the transducer to the tank surface. Casting the transducer into the material was also possible, but was not commercially used. Often, the radiating surface (i.e., the surface(s) with the ultrasonic transducers mounted thereon or therein), usually the tank bottom, would be pitched by at lease one-quarter wavelength to upset standing wave patterns within the tank. Other tank configurations which provided similar advantages are reported in the prior art, such as disclosed by Javorik in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,684.
An alternative to bonding the transducer directly to the bottom or sides of the tank was developed in the prior art by bonding the transducer to a window or plate that was sealed within a tank opening via a gasket. This had several advantages. If the transducer failed, or if cavitation erosion occurred within the radiating surface, the window or plate could be replaced without the expense of replacing the whole tank. Another advantage was the ability to use dissimilar materials. For example, a quartz tank with a tantalum window offered the advantage of an acid resistant material for the tank, and a metallic bonding and radiating surface for the transducer. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,649, Schwartzman described the use of a tantalum window with bonded transducers which coupled ultrasonic energy into a semiconductor wafer process tank.
A second alternative to direct bonding between the transducers and the tank was developed, in the prior art, by bonding the transducers inside a sealed container, called an "immersible" or "submersible," which was placed under the liquid in the process or cleaning tank. Certain advantages were also presented in this method, including (a) the relatively inexpensive replacement of the container, and (b) the use of dissimilar materials, described above. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,578, Branson discloses one such immersible where both the transducers and the generator are sealed in the container.
There are, however, certain disadvantages associated with above-described alternatives to direct bonding between the transducers and the tank. One such disadvantage is the occasional entrapment of contamination within the area of the window, or the window gasket, or under the immersible. When contamination-free processing is required, a direct bonded coved corner tank provides a better solution.
Although tanks, plates, windows and immersibles usually had clamped transducers bonded thereon, the prior art sometimes utilized an unclamped piezoelectric shape or an array of unclamped piezoelectric shapes, such as PZT-4 or PZT-8, which were bonded directly to the tank, plate, window or immersible. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,649 describes transducers shaped into hexagons, rectangles, circles, and squares and bonded to a window. These unclamped transducers had the advantage of lower cost. They further could be operated in either the radial mode, for low frequency resonance, or in the longitudinal mode for "megasonic" frequency resonance (i.e., "megasonic" frequencies generally correspond to those frequencies between about 600 khz and 2 Mhz).
Nevertheless, these prior art unclamped transducers proved to be less reliable as compared to prior art clamped transducers. Accordingly, these shaped transducer arrays were used primarily in low-cost bench-top ultrasonic baths, or in megasonic equipment where high frequency ultrasonic resonance was utilized. Still, these transducers proved to be particularly unreliable when operating at megasonic frequencies because of the high frequency stress affecting the ceramics.
One other system in the prior art used to couple acoustics into a liquid is commonly referred to as a "double boiler" system. In the double boiler system, an ultrasonic plate, tank, window or immersible transmits the ultrasonics into a coupling liquid. A processing tank, beaker or other container containing the processing or cleaning chemistry is then immersed into the coupling liquid. Accordingly, the ultrasound generated within the coupling liquid transmits into the tank containing the processing or cleaning liquid. The double boiler system has several advantages. One advantage is in material selection; the transducer support structure can be made out of an inexpensive material, such as stainless steel; the coupling liquid can be a relatively inert substance, such as DI water; and the process tank can be a material such as quartz or plastic material, which fares well with an aggressive chemistry such as sulfuric acid. Another advantage is that one transducer driving a relatively inert coupling liquid can deliver ultrasound into several different processing tanks, each containing different chemistries. Other advantages of the double boiler system are that the coupling fluid can be chosen so that its threshold of cavitation is above the cavitation threshold of the processing chemistry; and the depth of the coupling liquid can be adjusted for maximum transmission efficiency into the process tank(s). U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,130 discloses one double boiler system where sound is transmitted into an inert liquid, through a quartz window, and into the semiconductor cleaning liquid.
The prior art also recognizes multi-functional, single chamber ultrasonic process systems which deliver ultrasonic cleaning or processing to liquids. In such systems, the cleaning, rinsing, and drying are done in the same tank. Pedziwiatr discloses one such system in U.S. Pat. No. 4,409,999, where a single ultrasonic cleaning tank is alternately filled and drained with cleaning solution and rinsing solution, and is thereafter supplied with drying air. Other examples of single-chamber ultrasonic process systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,690,333; 5,143,103; 5,201,958, and German Patent No. 29 50 893.
In the prior art, "directed field tanks" are sometimes employed where the parts to be processed have fairly significant absorption at ultrasonic frequencies. More particularly, a directed field tank has transducers mounted on several sides of the tank, where each side is angled such that ultrasound is directed toward the center of the tank from the several sides. This technique is useful, for example, in supplying ultrasound to the center of a filled wafer boat.
In the late 1980s, as semiconductor device geometries became smaller, and as densities became higher, many shortcomings were discovered with respect to conventional low-frequency ultrasonic processing and cleaning of semiconductor wafers. The main disadvantage was that the existing ultrasound systems damaged the parts, and reduced production yields. In particular, such systems typically generated a sound wave with a single frequency, or with a very narrow band of frequencies. In many cases, the single frequency, or narrow band of frequencies, would change as a function of the temperature and age of the transducers. In any event, the prior art ultrasonic systems sometimes generated sufficient cycles of sound within a narrow bandwidth so as to excite or resonate a mode of the processed part. The relatively large displacement amplitudes that exist during such a mode resonance would often damage the delicate part.
Another disadvantage of single frequency ultrasound (or narrow band ultrasound) is the standing waves created by the resonances within the liquid. The pressure anti-nodes in this standing wave are regions of intense cavitation and the pressure nodes are regions of little activity. Therefore, undesirable and non-uniform processing occurs in a standing wave sound field.
In addition to the resonant and standing wave damages caused by single frequency ultrasound (or narrow band ultrasound), damages are also caused by (a) the energy levels of each cavitation implosion, and (b) by lower frequency resonances, each of which is discussed below.
The prior art methods for eliminating or reducing the damage caused by the energy in each cavitation implosion are well known. The energy in each cavitation implosion decreases as the temperature of the liquid is increased, as the pressure on the liquid is decreased, as the surface tension of the liquid is decreased, and as the frequency of the sound is increased. Any one or combination of these methods are used to decrease the energy in each cavitation implosion.
By way of example, one benefit in reducing the energy in each cavitation implosion is realized in the manufacture of hard disk drives for computers. The base media for a hard disk is an aluminum lapped and polished disk. These disks are subjected to 40 khz ultrasonic cleaning in aqueous solutions with moderate temperature, often resulting in pitting caused by cavitation that removes the base material from the surface of the aluminum disk. As discussed above, one solution to this problem is to raise the temperature of the aqueous solution to above 90° C. This causes the energy in each cavitation implosion to be less than the energy which typically removes base material from the aluminum disk. It is important, however, to keep the temperature below a value (typically 95° C.) which provides a cavitation implosion that is strong enough to remove the contamination. Another solution to the problem is to use a higher frequency ultrasound. A 72 khz ultrasonic system typically has the proper energy level in each cavitation implosion, with moderate temperature aqueous solutions, to remove contamination without removing base material from the lapped and polished aluminum disk.
In the prior art, wet bench systems often consist of several low frequency ultrasonic and/or megasonic tanks with different chemistries disposed therein. For example, a cleaning tank followed by two rinsing tanks, usually in a reverse cascading configuration, is a common wet bench configuration. In wet bench systems, there is an optimum value for the energy in each cavitation implosion; the highest energy cavitation implosion that does not cause cavitation damage to the part being processed or cleaned. However, because different chemistries are used in different tanks in the wet bench system, the energy in each cavitation implosion, for a given frequency, will be different in each tank. Therefore, not all tanks will have the optimum value of energy in each cavitation implosion. This problem has been addressed in the prior art by using different frequency ultrasonics in the different tanks. For example, the cleaning tank can have a chemistry with low surface tension, where a low frequency such as 40 khz gives the optimum energy in each cavitation implosion. The rinsing tanks, on the other hand, might use DI water, which has a high surface tension; and thus 72 khz ultrasonics may be needed to match the energy of the 40 khz tank for each cavitation implosion.
In single chamber process systems, different chemistries are pumped in and out of one tank. Because such process systems typically generate single or narrow band frequencies, or frequencies in a finite bandwidth, the energy in each cavitation implosion is optimum for one chemistry and not generally optimum for the other chemistries. Such systems are therefore relatively inefficient for use with many different chemistries.
Certain prior art ultrasonic systems generate ultrasonic frequencies in two or more unconnected frequencies, such as 40 khz and 68 khz. Although these systems had great commercial appeal, experimental results have showed little or no merit to these multi-frequency systems. Such systems tend to have all of the problems listed above, whereby the cleaning and damaging aspects of ultrasound are generally dependent upon a single frequency. That is, for example, if the higher frequency provides adequate cleaning, without damage, the lower frequency may cause cavitation damage to the part. By way of a further example, if the lower frequency provides cleaning without damage, then the higher frequency has little or no practical value.
Cavitation damage can also occur when the delicate parts are removed from an operating ultrasonic bath. This damage occurs when the ultrasound reflects off of the liquid-air interface at the top of the tank to create non-uniform hot spots, i.e., zones of intense cavitation. The prior art has addressed this problem by turning the ultrasonics off before passing a delicate part through the liquid-air interface.
Low frequency resonant damage is a relatively new phenomenon. The prior art has focused on solving the other, more significant problems—i.e., ultrasonic frequency resonance and cavitation damage—before addressing the low frequency resonant effects of an ultrasonic system. However, the prior art solutions to low frequency ultrasonic damage are, in part, due to a reaction to the problems associated with 25 khz to 50 khz ultrasound, described above. Specifically, the prior art has primarily focused on utilizing high frequency ultrasound in the processing and cleaning of semiconductor wafers and other delicate parts. These high frequency ultrasonic systems are single-frequency, continuous wave (CW) systems which operate from 600 khz to about 2 Mhz, a frequency range which is referred to as "megasonics" in the prior art.
One such megasonic system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,869. The transducers of this system and other similar systems are typically 0.1 inch thick and are unclamped piezoelectric ceramics driven at their resonant frequency by a single frequency continuous-wave generator. All the techniques described above, e.g., material selections, tank configurations, and bonding techniques, and used with lower frequency ultrasonics were employed in the megasonic frequency systems of the prior art. For example, because of the aggressive chemistries used, quartz or Teflon tanks with a transducerized quartz window became a common configuration adapted from lower frequency ultrasonic systems.
As described earlier and disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,118,649, the bonding of piezoelectric shapes to a tank, plate, window or immersible, by epoxy, were the common ways to integrate megasonic transducers within a treatment tank. One alternative is disclosed by Cook in U.S. Pat. No. 4,527,901, where the ceramic is fired, and then polarized, as part of the tank assembly. Another prior art alternative to the bonding a piezoelectric shape by epoxy is to mold or cast the piezoelectric shape into the product. For example, one prior art system utilizes a piezoelectric circle that has been injection-molded into a tank assembly. The prior art also suggests that a piezoelectric rectangle could be cast into a quartz window; however, in this case, poling or repoling the ceramic after casting may be necessary if it exceeds its curie point.
The megasonic systems of the prior art overcame many of the disadvantages and problems associated with 25 khz to 50 khz systems. First, because the energy in each cavitation implosion decreases with increasing frequency, damages due to cavitation implosion have been reduced or eliminated. Instead of cavitation implosion, megasonic systems depend on the microstreaming effect present in ultrasonic fields to give enhanced processing or cleaning. Resonant effects, although theoretically present, are minimal because the geometries of the delicate parts are typically not resonant at megasonic frequencies. As geometries become smaller, however, such as in state-of-the-art equipment, certain prior art megasonic systems have had to increase their operating frequencies to 2 Mhz or greater.
An alternative to higher frequency megasonics is to optimize the ultrasonic energies with amplitude modulation (AM) of a frequency modulated (FM) wave. Such systems operate by adjusting one of seven ultrasonic generator parameters—center frequency, bandwidth, sweep time, train time, degas time, burst time, and quiet time—to adjust one or more of the following characteristics within the liquid; energy in each cavitation implosion, average cavitation density, cavitation density as a function of time, cavitation density as a function of position in the tank and average gaseous concentration.
When megasonic systems became popular as a solution to cavitation and resonant damages caused by lower frequency ultrasonic systems, the prior art suggests that even higher frequencies be utilized in the removal of smaller, sub-micron particulate contamination. Recent data and physical understanding of the megasonic process, however, suggest that this is not the case. The microstreaming mechanism upon which megasonics depends penetrates the boundary layer next to a semiconductor wafer and relies on a pumping action to continuously deliver fresh solution to the wafer surface while simultaneously removing contamination and spent chemistry. Cleaning or processing with megasonics therefore depends upon (a) the chemical action of the particular cleaning, rinsing, or processing chemistry in the megasonics tank, and (b) the microstreaming which delivers the chemistry to the surface of the part being processed, rinsed, or cleaned.
However, because microstreaming is produced in all high intensity ultrasonic fields in liquids, it can be expected that submicron size particle removal will occur in any high intensity ultrasonic field. When experiments were done where the problems of non-uniformity, high cavitation energy, and resonance were overcome by ultrasonic techniques such as those taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,130, the data showed effective submicron particle removal at all ultrasonic frequencies used for semiconductor wafer cleaning and processing.
One problem with prior art megasonic systems relates to the transducer design and operation frequency. In prior art megasonic systems, the commonly available 0.1 inch thick piezoelectric ceramic shapes are bonded to a typical tank or gasketed plate and have a fundamental resonant frequency in the 600 khz to 900 khz frequency range. The main difference between these megasonic transducers and the 25 khz or 40 khz transducers is that the lower frequency transducers are clamped systems, i.e., where the piezoelectric ceramic is always under compression, whereas the megasonic transducers are unclamped. Because the megasonic transducers are unclamped, the piezoelectric ceramics go into tension during its normal operation, reducing the transducer's reliability. This remains a significant problem with prior art megasonic systems.
More particularly, ceramic is very strong under compression, but weak and prone to fracture when put into tension. When a clamped transducer is made, the front driver and the backplate compress the piezoelectric ceramic by means of a bolt or a number of bolts. However, the front driver and the backplate become part of the piezoelectric resonant structure, and operate to lower the resonant frequency of the combined part. The prior art clamped ultrasonic transducer structures resonate at fundamental frequencies well below the megasonic frequencies, and generally at 90 khz and below.
Therefore, one significant problem with megasonic systems and equipment is overall reliability. The megasonic piezoelectric ceramic is put into tension at 600,000 times per second (i.e., 600 khz), at least, during operation. This tension causes the ceramics to crack because it weakens and fatigues the material with repeated cycles.
Two other problems of prior art megasonic systems relate to the nature of high frequency sound waves in a liquid. Sound waves with frequencies above 500 khz travel like a beam within liquid, and further exhibit high attenuation. This beam effect is a problem because it is very difficult to uniformly fill the process or cleaning tank with the acoustic field. Therefore, the prior art has devised techniques to compensate for the beam effect, such as by (a) spreading the sound around the tank through use of acoustic lenses, or by (b) physically moving the parts through the acoustic beam. The beam and attenuation effects of megasonic systems result in non-uniform processing, and other undesirable artifacts.
In the last ten years, several manufacturers of prior art ultrasonic systems have introduced frequency-sweeping ultrasonic generators with certain frequencies in the 25 khz to 72 khz frequency range. Such systems overcome many of the problems associated in the prior art. By way of example, many or all of the damaging standing waves and resonances are eliminated by these frequency-sweeping ultrasonic systems. These systems reduce resonant damages by sweeping the frequencies fast enough, and over a large enough bandwidth, so that it greatly reduces the likelihood of having resonances within the tank. A rapid frequency sweeping system generates each cycle of sound (or in some cases, each half cycle of sound) at a significantly different frequency from the preceding cycle of sound (or half cycle of sound). Therefore, the build up of resonant energy required to impart a resonance amplitude within the part rarely or never occurs.
Another advantage of frequency sweeping ultrasonic systems is that they increase the ultrasonic activity in the tank because there is less loss due to wave cancellation. One of the first frequency sweeping ultrasonic generators had a bandwidth of 2 khz, a sweep rate of 100 hz, and a center frequency of 40 khz. Accordingly, at a frequency change 400 khz per second—i.e., two kilohertz sweeping up from 39 khz to 41 khz, plus two kilohertz sweeping down from 41 khz to 39 khz, times 100 times per second equals 400 khz per second—the increased ultrasonic activity was able to cavitate semi-aqueous solvents which were previously impossible to continuously cavitate with commercially available conventional ultrasonic generators.
The frequency-sweeping activity in the prior art was so significant that by 1991 every major ultrasonic manufacturer was shipping 40 khz generators that changed frequency at frequency sweep rates of up to 4.8 Mhz per second. This rapid sweeping of frequency provided good ultrasonic activity even at continuous wave (CW) operation. By way of example, one 10 kilowatt, 40 khz generator in the prior art operated directly from a rectified three-phase power signal which provided a 800 khz per second CW frequency-sweeping system that had superior performance as compared to AM single frequency ultrasonic systems.
Although the main problems with lower frequency ultrasonics were solved by frequency sweeping, cavitation damage could occur in any process where the energy in each cavitation implosion was strong enough to remove an atom or a molecule from the surface of the semiconductor wafer or the delicate part. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,736,130, system optimization at lower frequency ultrasonics permitted successful processing of many delicate parts because it was possible to maximize the microstreaming effects while minimizing adverse cavitation effects. However, the potential for cavitation damage remains a concern of the industry.
One important limitation to further improvement of ultrasonic processes is the low frequency and the narrow bandwidth of clamped piezoelectric transducers. For example, typical clamped or unclamped prior art transducers provide about 4 khz in overall bandwidth. One other important limitation of ultrasonic processes is that although amplitude control is known to be beneficial, inexpensive and uncomplicated ways of providing AM are generally not available.
Other problems exist in the prior art in that certain systems are driven by more than one ultrasonic generator. Such generators typically operate to either (a) drive the same tank, or (b) drive multiple tanks in the same system. Although the generators are typically set to the same sweep rate, the independent generators will never have exactly the same sweep rate. This causes another low frequency resonance problem within an ultrasonic tank or system. In addition, one problem with multiple tanks and multiple generators is that some of the ultrasound from one tank is coupled through connecting structure to the other tank(s). This creates unwanted cross-talk and negatively affects the desired cleaning or processing within the tank.
In particular, prior art multi-generator systems sometimes create an undesirable beat frequency which causes low frequency resonance in susceptible parts. For example, consider two sweeping frequency generators, each with sweep rates of approximately 10 hz sweeping over a bandwidth of 4 khz with a center frequency of 40 khz. Now consider a delicate part to be cleaned that has a low frequency resonance at one kilohertz. The following condition will occur periodically; one generator will be changing frequency from 38 khz to 41 khz, while the other generator is changing frequency from 39 khz to 42 khz. In this example, this will occur for about 37.5 milliseconds. Since the two frequencies in the tank or system are about one kilohertz apart, a beat frequency of about one kilohertz is produced. The period of one kilohertz is one millisecond, therefore a string of thirty-seven beats at about one kilohertz are produced. This is sufficient to setup a destructive resonance in a delicate part with a one kilohertz resonance.
It is, therefore, an object of the invention to provide ultrasonic systems which reduce or eliminate the problems in the prior art.
Another object of the invention is to provide improvements to ultrasonic generators, to transducers applying ultrasound energy to liquids, and to methods for reducing the damage to delicate parts.
It is still another object of the invention to provide methodology for applying ultrasound to liquid in a manner which is compatible with both the tank chemistry and the part under process.
Still another object of the invention to provide a method of supplying suitable energies in each cavitation implosion, in a single chamber process system, where different chemistries are used in different parts of the process.
Another object of the invention is to provide an ultrasonic generator that reduces the repetition of low frequency components from an ultrasonic bath to reduce or eliminate low frequency resonances within the bath.
One objective of this invention is to overcome certain disadvantages of prior art megasonic systems while retaining certain advantages of megasonic cleaning and/or processing.
It is a further objective of this invention to provide ultrasonic transducer arrays which supply ultrasonic energy with microstreaming and without significant cavitation implosion.
Still another object of this invention is to provide methodology of improved amplitude control in ultrasonic systems.
Another object of the invention is to provide systems which reduce or eliminate beating and/or cross-talk within a liquid caused by simultaneous operation of a plurality of generators.
These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the description which follows.

Apparatus and methods for cleaning and/or processing delicate parts