A paint ball gun barrel indexing pin includes a plunger, cover, body, and first and second magnets that bias the plunger within the barrel. Magnetic coupling is used between rigid components that are used to position paint balls within a paint ball gun. In a “push-push” arrangement, a pair of magnets are oriented with like poles facing each other. When force is applied to one of the pair of magnets, the force will be transmitted through the magnetic fields to the second magnet. This magnetic coupling offers low resistance to movement when the magnets are in an initial substantially spaced apart relationship. Such low force coupling ensures gentle handling of the paint balls. However, as the limits of travel are approached, the magnetic coupling will exponentially increase forces between the magnets, preventing a “bottoming out” of the coupling.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to mechanical guns and projectors, and more specifically to magnetic couplings which offer improved interaction with and operation of paint ball guns. In specific manifestations, magnetic couplings are provided for paint ball indexing, gas valve coupling, magnetically coupled bolts, and custom triggers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Paint ball guns have enjoyed much popularity for a number of years. The sport offers the challenge and intrigue of competitions and battles that stimulate a person's consciousness. However, unlike actual wars, hunts and the like, the combatants may return day after day to continue to test and refine their skills.
In a paint ball competition, the paint balls themselves are designed to be propelled by a gun which uses pressurized gas as the propellant. The paint ball is designed to withstand normal movements inside of the gun, while being sufficiently frangible to break upon impact, subsequent to being propelled. When the paint ball strikes a competitor, it will break and mark the person who has been hit. Consequently, the ball must also be sufficiently soft to not cause harm to the person, though it is understood that in most competitions the person will be wearing basic protective gear such as goggles and the like to protect body parts which would otherwise be too easily harmed.
Modern paint balls are typically comprised of gelatinous compounds which offer both the necessary toughness to survive gun use and the rupture strengths that are low enough to lead to breakage on impact. Unfortunately, it is also known that many factors can affect the characteristics of the paint ball outer membrane, including but not limited to such diverse factors as temperature, humidity, manufacturing tolerances, production or post-production handling, and the like.
Since the paint ball must be sufficiently soft and frangible to not harm the competitors, and to reliably break upon impact, and since there are unpredictable factors that may weaken the ball, a paint ball gun must be designed to handle the paint balls as gently as possible. Otherwise, paint balls may break inside the gun, even prior to firing. When a paint ball does break, the gun may be disabled until the competitor cleans out both the paint and the gelatin capsule. When this occurs deep inside the gun, the time required for cleaning may be too great, leaving the competitor defenseless against another competitor. Consequently, it is highly desirable to have the most reliable handling of paint balls within the gun possible.
A typical paint ball gun must receive a single paint ball and position the ball into the breech. Subsequently, the gun will expel the ball using a blast of pressurized gas. The source of paint balls is typically a magazine, which will hold a plurality of paint balls therein. The magazine in turn couples to the gun just ahead of a bolt, and typically at an angle offset from parallel to the gun barrel.
To ensure a single paint ball is placed into the breech, a bolt travels parallel to the gun barrel, and in a first position permits a single paint ball to pass down into the path parallel to the barrel. Next, the bolt will travel forward, both moving the paint ball forward into the breech and simultaneously blocking the passage of any additional paint balls from the magazine into the barrel region. The bolt additionally blocks back-flow of propellant into the magazine feed path. This handling of the paint ball by the bolt is one of several critical controlled movements that are made by a paint ball gun, often in very small fractions of a second.
In order to prevent more than one paint ball from being loaded into the breech per cycle, or from simply rolling out of the barrel accidentally, some type of barrel restriction is typically applied. Exemplary apparatus include rings within the barrel that are smaller than diameter of the paint ball, elastomer and polymer projections into the paint ball path, and barrel sections selectable based upon paint ball size to properly compress the paint ball during firing. The use of a spring-button cartridge for holding paint balls in place in the barrel is exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,538 by Ellis, entitled "Electronically actuated marking pellet projector", the teachings which are incorporated herein by reference. Patents which illustrate other related devices, the teachings which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,878 by Wittbrot, entitled "Device for holding spherical projectiles"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,280,778 by Kostsiopoulos, entitled "Semi-Automatic firing compressed gas gun"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,838 by Anderson, entitled "Paint ball gun"; U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,080 by Sullivan, Jr., entitled "Paint ball gun barrel with multiple compression zones"; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,516,791 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,172 by Perrone.
In addition to the proper handling of paint balls, it is also highly desirable to provide other reliable mechanisms within the gun, which may preferably be customized easily and, where practical, without tools.


A frequency-conversion mixer, which is designed to operate in substantially the whole range of the radio frequency band extending from low frequency to the ultra-high frequency, has first and second diodes inversely arranged in parallel connection between a first input terminal for a receiving signal and a junction point. Third and fourth diodes are connected in forward series between a common terminal and a second input terminal for an oscillator signal with the junction point between the third and fourth diodes. A dc component removing capacitor is connected to the junction point for providing a frequency mixed signal, whereby the use of a transformer as used in a double balanced mixer is eliminated and there is practically no output response at frequencies below the cutoff frequency of the diodes.

The present invention relates to a frequency-conversion mixer and more particularly to a frequency-conversion mixer which operates within substantially the whole range of the radio frequency band extending from long wave or low-frequency to ultra-high-frequency.
The frequency-conversion mixers heretofore used in superheterodyne receivers, transverter transmitters, etc., have included vacuum-tube mixers, transistor mixers, diode mixers, double balanced mixers, etc.
The vacuum-tube mixers have consisted of a triode, pentode or heptode and have had the disadvantages of causing conversion noise inherent to the mixer, producing a greater loss than the diode mixers at frequencies higher than an upper-limit frequency of several hundreds MHz due to the construction and size of the electrodes of the vacuum tube and requiring a very critical coupling between the mixer and the local oscillator. In any event, vacuum-tube mixers have come out of use along with the development of transistors.
Transistor mixers have substantially the same electric performance as vacuum-tube mixers but even somewhat greater conversion noise. In addition, while mixers employing field-effect transistors have been improved more or less in cross modulation distortion characteristic as compared with other transistor mixers, they still have substantially the same conversion loss as vacuum-tube mixers.
Referring now to FIG. 7, there is shown a type of the diode mixers which has been used in ordinary transmitters, radars, etc., involving frequencies higher than the ultra-high frequency band. A signal R of a frequency f.sub.1, which has been received through a tuning circuit 1, is coupled with a local-oscillator signal OSC of a frequency, mixed by a diode 2 and outputted as an intermediate frequency signal IF of a frequency f.sub.1 +f.sub.2 or .vertline.f.sub.1 -f.sub.2 .vertline. through a tuning circuit 3. Such diode mixers have large conversion loss and, frequently, coupling loss due to the inevitable use of magnetic coupling from the tuning circuit and thus restrictions are imposed on obtaining the best coupling.
Also, FIG. 8 shows a circuit diagram of the double balanced mixer. The double balanced mixer includes 4 diodes D.sub.1, D.sub.2, D.sub.3 and D.sub.4 which are connected in a ring form so that, when a received signal R is applied via an input-output transformer T.sub.1 and also a local-oscillator signal OSC is applied between the secondary side of the input-output transformer T.sub.1 and the primary side of an input-output transformer T.sub.2, an intermediate frequency signal IF of a frequency f.sub.1 +f.sub.2 or .vertline.f.sub.1 -f.sub.2 .vertline. is generated through the input-output transformer T.sub.2.
The double balanced mixer has been designed so that the local-oscillator signal OSC does not leak from the mixer circuit. As a result, the cross modulation distortion characteristic is excellent as compared with the vacuum mixer, the transistor mixer and the diode mixer. In addition, the coupled circuit can be coupled directly at X. Presently, therefore, it is the best mixer.
As another result, if the circuit design of a double balanced mixer is proper, the mixer circuit itself operates positively and no adjustment is required. Thus, the double balanced mixer is used in a variety of circuits.
However, double balanced mixers have the disadvantage that the electric characteristics are largely dependent on the characteristics of the component parts such as the diodes and the transformers thus requiring the careful selection of component parts depending on the frequency band used.
Also, it has been required that the output of the local-oscillator signal is between 10 and 30 dbm. There has been another disadvantage that there are instances where the output of the local-oscillator signal corresponds to the transmitted output in microwave and therefore a high cost is required just by the circuit for generating the local-oscillator signal.
Further, the double balanced mixers have been disadvantageous in that they are highest in conversion loss as compared with the mixers of the other types thus requiring the provision of an amplifier on the output side.


A polymer containing perfluoroalkyl group in its side chain which is an addition reaction product of a polymer having the following general formula: ##STR1## wherein R is phenyl group or alkoxyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, R.sup.1 is alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, and n is an integer of 10 to 2,000, with an epoxy compound selected from the group consisting of ##STR2## wherein R.sub.f is perfluoroalkyl group having 3 to 20 carbon atoms and R.sup.2 is alkyl group having 1 to 12 carbon atoms, the addition reaction product containing 0.1 to 50% by mole of the group derived from the epoxy compound having the formulae (IIa) to (IIc) per 1 mole of the recurring unit of the polymer having the formula (I). The polymer is good in compatibility with film-forming resins and solvents and improves the leveling property of a coating composition when incorporated thereinto and the surface smoothness of the film obtained from the composition.

The present invention relates to a novel polymer containing perfluoroalkyl group in its side chain, and the preparation and use thereof.
These are known various kinds of coating compositions such as paints, protective coating compositions, and hair styling compositions. Generally the coating composition is mainly composed of a film-forming resin and a solvent and applied to a foundation to give a film.
British Pat. No. 1,290,367 discloses a polyer containing perfluoroalkyl group in its side chain used as a film-forming resin for hair styling compositions. The polymer is a reaction product of a copolymer of maleic anhydride and vinyl ether with a compound containing perfluoroalkyl group. In the British patent, there is described that the polymer has an improved balance of properties between the requirements of softness and curl retention and gives a good holding power at relatively high humidities. However, the polymer is remarkably poor in compatibility with film-forming resins and solvents. Accordingly the polymer does not give a sufficient result with respect to the smoothness of the film surface unless it is used alone.

Polymer containing perfluoroalkyl group, process for preparing the same and coating composition


A steering lock including a lock body having a transverse half-round recess in the middle and a longitudinal sliding track at the top, a protective cushion mounted within the half-round recess and attached to the bottom side of the periphery of the steering wheel, an adjustment cushion having one end attached to a bottom groove on the protective cushion and retained to a rectangular slot thereof and an opposite end flanged and covered over the periphery of the steering wheel, a slide inserted into the longitudinal sliding track of the lock body, a hollow top cover fixed to the slide to hold an audio alarm circuit, and a stop bar having one end fixed to the lock body to hold the slide in position and an opposite end stopped at the instrument board of the motor vehicle to hold the steering lock in place.

The present invention relates to steering locks, and relates more particularly to such a steering lock which has an audio alarm circuit that produces an audio alarm signal when the steering lock is moved from the steering wheel by force.
Various steering locks have been developed for use to lock the steering wheel of a motor vehicle. Exemplars of these steering locks are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,732 (see FIG. 2) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,976 (see FIG. 3). The steering lock of U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,732 comprises a lock body and a lock bar pivoted to the lock body. The lock bar is turned away from the steering wheel mounting chamber on the lock body for permitting the lock body to be attached to the periphery of the steering wheel, then the lock bar is turned back and bridged over the periphery of the steering wheel and then locked in position to hold down the steering lock in position. This structure of steering lock is inconvenient to operate in the limited inside space of the motor vehicle. Furthermore, because the steering wheel mounting chamber is not adjustable subject to the thickness of the periphery of the steering wheel, the steering lock tends to slip on the periphery of the steering wheel when locked. FIG. 1 shows another structure of steering wheel according to the prior art. However, this structure of steering wheel is still not satisfactory in function. By inserting a lever into the elongated top track on the lock body of this structure of steering wheel, the locking mechanism can be easily destroyed to let the steering lock be removed from the steering wheel. Furthermore, regular steering wheels are commonly heavy and can be destroyed by tools easily.

No.49-1, Chung-Lung Chun, An-Ting Hsiang

No. 94, Kang Chih Wei, Kang-Wei Chun, An-Ting Hsiang


A semi-monocoque structure is nondestructively tested by affixing an exciter to the outer skin of the structure for causing it to vibrate with an out-of-plane motion in a nodal pattern. Sensors either attached to or spaced from the outer surface provide signals representative of phase and acceleration information at likely anti-nodal points from which a computer-programmed controller senses resonant frequencies and amplitude of displacement. The controller automatically scans the excitation frequency through a predetermined range, and upon sensing a resonant frequency examines the signal to ascertain phase and amplitude of displacement of the anti-nodes and automatically adjusts their amplitude of displacement until the anti-nodes are optimized to be either bi-concave or concave/convex. When it has sensed optimum conditions, the controller twice triggers the Pockels cell of a double-pulse holographic camera at times of maximum plus and maximum minus displacement, respectively, whereby the resulting overlaid holograms are synchronized to points of maximum displacement of the anti-nodal pattern. It is from the fringe map of resulting interference patterns contouring the anti-nodal patterns that faults are interpreted.

This invention relates generally to non-destructive inspection of structures and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for non-destructive inspection of monocoque and/or semi-monocoque structures which utilize excitation of nodal patterns in the skin of the structure and recording such patterns.
A semi-monocoque structure, such as an aircraft fuselage, is basically a skeleton over which a skin is secured, and may be characterized as a frame-lined shell. The skin, usually formed of metal which may vary in thickness or stiffness according to design requirements, is fixed to the skeletal framework so as to form a series of panels. It is from the skeletal framework surrounding each panel that the skin derives its strength. If the skin develops cracks, or is weakened or becomes detached from the skeletal framework, then a rupture can result causing impairment of the safety of the entire structure, particularly if the system is operated at pressure. Similarly, if the underlying structure cracks, or become seriously corroded, or the fastening system fails, structural failure can result. Since the semi-monocoque structure of an aircraft fuselage is usually pressurized, the fastening of the skin to the skeleton is critical, as is the integrity of the skeleton itself. Therefore, it is important that inspection techniques ascertain not only the condition of the skin and the fixers, such as rivets used to attach the skin to the framework, but also that of the underlying or sub-surface elemental skeleton.
However, it is very difficult to inspect the substructure of the skin of an aircraft fuselage for corrosion, broken fastenings, cracks or loose rivets, a situation referred to in the aircraft industry as "multi-element damage". Eddy current and acoustic systems heretofore used for the purpose achieve less than acceptable results. Visual inspection is a commonly used method, but substructural elements of a monocoque structure can be inspected with assurance only by using fiber-borescopes, or by stripping out interior instrumentation, linings or, in cases where a fault is suspected, making an X-ray examination, all of which procedures are time-consuming, expensive, and far from foolproof in their ability to detect faults.
Holographic interferometry has also been used to detect material flaws or nonhomogeneities through their effect on surface deformation when the test object responds to some mechanical or thermal load. By this technique complex laser light waves can be recorded and later reconstructed with such fidelity that they can be used to form interference fringe patterns. Using a pulsed laser, operated in a manner to produce two sequentially timed pulses and two holographic records--one of the light of the first pulse scattered by an object in some initial or known state and the other of the light from the second pulse scattered by the same object while it is subjected to vibration, for example--an image of the object with superimposed interference fringes is formed. These fringes are contour curves of constant surface displacement and provide a display of the deformation of the test object in response to the applied load. As this deformation may be affected by the presence of surface cracks or sub-surface defects, by comparing the fringe patterns for a flawed test object with those for a defect-free object it is possible to detect the presence of a subsurface defect, and possibly to estimate its size and depth.
It is also known that debonds and delaminations can be detected by inducing resonance of the locally flexible region created by the flaw. By using real-time holographic interferometry the surface response can be observed as the transducer which drives the vibration is tuned through a range of frequencies. This is accomplished by observing the vibrating object through a hologram which previously was recorded while the object was stationary. Vibrational techniques have been used to detect flaws in a variety of laminates and honeycomb materials as well as structures and components including airframe panels, turbine blades, helicopter rotors, cathode ray tube face plates and brake disks.
Interpretation of the fringe map of contour patterns is usually qualitative, consisting of searching for abrupt changes of curvature near cracks or for closely spaced "bull's eye" fringes near debonds, or fringes in normally fringe-free areas of low fringe count such as stringer or frame lines; this usually requires some operator judgment.
While the basic principles and techniques of holographic nondestructive evaluation are well-developed, to applicant's knowledge holographic NDE has not been satisfactorily utilized for the reliable detection of flaws in the substructure of monocoque or semi-monocoque structures. Accordingly, a need exists for apparatus and methods for nondestructively inspecting for multi-element damage in monocoque or semi-monocoque structures, such as aircraft fuselages.
The present invention utilizes a vibrational nondestructive technique for locating damage and flaws in such structures. Applicant's studies have shown that a semi-monocoque structure, when excited by a low energy vibrator attached to the skin, may freely vibrate at a number of resonant frequencies which have very narrow bandwidths, on the order of two or three cycles, compared to the separation of the frequencies. The panels circumscribed by the skeletal substructure resonate in a uniquely characteristic pattern of nodes and anti-nodes, and if the frequency of excitation, or the structural support of a panel is changed, then the nodal pattern changes shape, frequently becoming asymmetric, or in the extreme, changing frequency. The nodal patterns differ markedly in dependence on whether the excitation is applied at a node or is applied at an anti-node, for a particular frequency of excitation. In order for the panel to take up its own natural resonance and nodal pattern shape in a steady and constant manner, excitation must be applied at an anti-node.
A recording of changes in the nodal pattern can nondestructively reveal hidden flaws in the substructure and/or in the skin of the structure. However, applicant has recognized from results of his described studies that a recording of nodal pattern changes can reveal flaws with acceptable accuracy only if the recording is made at the instant certain conditions are present in the nodal pattern; these conditions are maximum displacement of the anti-nodes and satisfaction of certain conditions of phase of the anti-nodes and correct excitation.
Accordingly, a general object of the invention is to improve the accuracy of holographic nondestructive inspection methods and apparatus using vibrational techniques for the detection of flaws in monocoque and semi-monocoque structures.
A more specific object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for recording two time-displaced overlaying holograms of the vibrating skin of a monocoque structure at such times that the interference pattern generated by reconstruction of the holograms will optimally reveal flaws in the structure.
Another object is to provide a method and apparatus for correlating phase and amplitude of anti-nodal information in a vibrating structure to diagnose the structural condition of a monocoque structure.

Method and apparatus for nondestructive inspection utilizing phase integration and recording of induced vibrating nodal patterns


There is described a forming assembly (10b) for forming a plurality of sealed packs (3) starting from a tube (2) of packaging material, comprising first conveying means (15b) movable along a first path (Q) comprising: a first operative branch (Q1), which has a main elongation direction parallel to an advancing direction (A) of the tube (2); and a first return branch (Q2) comprising an initial portion (35b) which is arranged immediately downstream of the operative branch (Q1) and extends transversally to the advancing direction (A); first conveying means (14b, 15b, 14b′) comprise one of a sealing element (22b) or a counter-sealing element (22a); and a first half-shell (21b), which is movable along the operative branch (Q1) between: a first rest position, in which it is detached from the tube (2) or the formed pack (3); and a first operative position, in which it grips the tube (2) or the formed pack (3); the first half-shell (21b) is arranged in the first operative position along a first portion (34b) of the first operative branch (Q1); the first half-shell (21b) is kept in the first operative position along an initial portion (35b), so as to grip and convey the pack (3) in a staggered position with respect to the advancing direction (A); and moves, from the first operative position to the rest position at an end (36b) of the initial portion (35b) opposite to the first portion (34b), so as to discharge the pack (3) in a staggered position with respect to the advancing direction (A).

As is known, many liquid or pourable food products, such as fruit juice, UHT (ultra-high-temperature treated) milk, wine, tomato sauce, etc., are sold in packages made of sterilized packaging material.
A typical example is the parallelepiped-shaped package for liquid or pourable food products known as Tetra Brik Aseptic (registered trademark), which is made by folding and sealing laminated strip packaging material. The packaging material has a multilayer structure comprising a base layer, e.g. of paper, covered on both sides with layers of heat-seal plastic material, e.g. polyethylene. In the case of aseptic packages for long-storage products, such as UHT milk, the packaging material also comprises a layer of oxygen-barrier material, e.g. an aluminium foil, which is superimposed on a layer of heat-seal plastic material, and is in turn covered with another layer of heat-seal plastic material forming the inner face of the package eventually contacting the food product.
Packages of this sort are normally produced on fully automatic packaging units, on which a continuous tube is formed from the web-fed packaging material; the web of packaging material is sterilized on the packaging unit, e.g. by applying a chemical sterilizing agent, such as a hydrogen peroxide solution, which, once sterilization is completed, is removed from the surfaces of the packaging material, e.g. evaporated by heating; the web so sterilized is then maintained in a closed, sterile environment, and is folded and sealed longitudinally to form a tube, which is fed along a vertical advancing direction.
In order to complete the forming operations, the tube is filled with the sterilized or sterile-processed food product, and is sealed and subsequently cut along equally spaced transversal cross sections.
Pillow packs are so obtained, which have a longitudinal sealing band and a pair of top and bottom transversal sealing bands.
Packaging units are known, as described for example in European Patent EP-B-0887265, which comprise two chain conveyors defining respective endless paths.
In greater detail, the first conveyor is fitted with a plurality of first jaws, each comprising a respective sealing element and a respective extractable cutting element.
The second conveyor is fitted with a plurality of second jaws, each associated to a relative first jaw and comprising a respective counter-sealing element and a respective seat.
In particular, the sealing element is a heating element and the counter-sealing element is made of elastomeric material, which provides the necessary mechanical support to grip the tube to the required pressure.
The paths of the chain conveyors comprise:                respective operative branches substantially facing and parallel to each other, and between which the tube of packaging material is fed, so that the first jaws cooperate with the second jaws on the other conveyor to grip the tube at a number of successive cross sections and to heat-seal the tube and cut the packs; and        respective return branches, along which the first jaws and the second jaws are spaced apart from the tube.
In greater detail, the first jaws and the corresponding second jaws at first move away from each other and then move towards each other, as they move along return branches downstream of the operative branches with respect to the advancing direction of the chain conveyors.
As each first jaw cooperates with the corresponding second jaw along the operative branches, the respective sealing element cooperates with the respective counter-sealing element to heat-seal the tube at a corresponding transversal section.
Furthermore, as each first jaw cooperates with the corresponding second jaw, the respective cutting element is extracted to cut the formed sealed packs at the transversal section so as to form corresponding sealed packages.
Each first jaw and second jaw also comprises respective forming half-shells, which are hinged with respect to the relative sealing element or the counter-sealing element, so as to control the volume of the relative packs in formation.
The half-shells of each first jaw and of the corresponding second jaw move cyclically between:                an open position, in which they are detached from the tube; and        a closed position, in which they contact the tube and fold the portion of the tube between two consecutive sealing sections to define and control the volume of the packs being formed.
In this way, as the sealing element of each first jaw seals the pack in formation, the half-shells of the same first jaw and of the corresponding second jaw control the volume of the pack in formation.
More specifically, the half-shells may be spring-loaded by respective springs into the respective open position, and have respective rollers, which cooperate with respective cams designed to move the half-shells into the respective closed position by the time the forming assembly reaches a predetermined position as it moves down.
Each half-shell has a C-shaped cross section, and comprises, integrally: a main wall, and two parallel lateral flaps projecting towards the axis of the tube of packaging material from respective opposite end edges of the main wall.
In the closed position, the main walls are located on opposite sides of the tube axis, are parallel to each other, and cooperate with respective first portions of the tube.
In the closed position, the flaps of one half-shell cooperate with respective second portions of the tube to completely control the volume of the pack being formed, and, on the opposite side to the relative main wall, face corresponding flaps on the other half-shell.
Finally, the packaging unit comprises a pair of fixed cam assemblies arranged on respective sides of the tube.
The cam assemblies cooperate in rolling manner with respective rollers carried by the first jaws and the second jaws.
The profiles of the cam assemblies are so designed to move the first jaws and the second jaws along the respective return branches and operative branches, and to ensure the smoothest transition between the various positions assumed by the first jaws and the second jaws, so as to prevent undesired stress on the materials.
The cam assemblies are shaped so as to displace, after the completion of the formation of the tube, the half-shells from the closed position to the open position, as they travel parallel to the advancing direction of the tube.
In this way, the cut and sealed packs fall, under the gravity action, towards an outlet conveyor, which is arranged in the lower region of the packaging unit and along the advancing direction of the tube.
Though performing excellently on the whole, the packaging units of the type described still leave room for further improvement.
In particular, the Applicant has found that there is the risk that the packaging material of a formed packs can stick to the packaging material intended to form the immediately upstream pack in formation, thus creating connecting bridges between two consecutive packs.
As a result, there is the risk that the gravity action is not able to ensure a proper, repeatable and precise detachment of the packs and, therefore, transport of the packs towards the outlet conveyor.
A need is felt within the industry to improve the repeatibility and the precision of the detachment of the packs and, therefore, transport of the formed packs towards the outlet conveyor.

Forming assembly and method for forming a plurality of sealed packs for pourable food products starting from a tube of packaging material


A scroll-type machine having a control arrangement which acts to disable the machine when there is an abnormal pressure in one of the scroll fluid pockets, thereby preventing damage to the machine upon reverse rotation or low system charge.

This invention relates generally to scroll compressors and more particularly to a control arrangement therefor for sensing low system gas charge and/or a reverse rotation condition.
Scroll machines generally comprise first and second scroll members, each comprising ar end plate which is provided with an upstanding spiral wrap. The scroll members are interleaved, with the flanks of the wraps engaging one another at substantially line contacts and the tips of each wrap sealingly engaging the end plate of the other scroll member so as to define travelling pockets of varying volume in which gas is compressed as one scroll member is caused to orbit relative to the other. Suction gas is communicated to the outermost compression chamber near the radially outward-most portion of the wraps and discharged through a discharge port centrally of the wraps. A motorized drive mechanism causes the orbiting scroll to orbit thereby decreasing the volume of the pockets and increasing the pressure of the compressed gas as it is progressively moved towards the discharge port. Exemplary of such an apparatus is U.S. Pat No. 4,767,293 entitled "Scroll Type Machine", the disclosure thereof being specifically incorporated herein by reference.
When a scroll machine works as a compressor, the pockets are pressurized thereby causing the scroll members to be forced apart, however when orbited in the reverse direction the machine acts as a vacuum pump and therefore the scroll members are drawn together. The latter can be caused when the motor is improperly wired, or by a power interrupt, and the resulting vacuum can cause damage to the scroll members because of the excessive wear which occurs. The possibly destructive vacuum condition can also occur when a serviceman runs the compressor with the suction blocked, a not uncommon occurrence.
Another condition which can result in excessive wear is a loss of charge, particularly in a refrigerant compressor, which results from the installation of insufficient refrigerant into the system or from refrigerant leakage.
It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide a control for a scroll-type machine which overcomes the aforesaid problems in a simple and inexpensive manner, and which does not result in any significant loss of efficiency.
Additional advantages and features of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent description and the appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


The present invention relates to a method of decoding tokenized Session Initiated Protocol. A token from a tokenized Session Initiated Protocol packet is received. A decoding table is accessed and the corresponding entry for the token is determined. The token is executed according to the corresponding entry. This may be done for all tokens in a tokenized Session Initiated Packet. Once the tokens have been executed according to their entries in a decoding table, the decoded tokenized Session Initiated Protocol packet is provided.

Session Initiated Protocol (SIP) is a signaling protocol for Internet-type conferencing, telephoning and instant messaging. SIP provides the basic elements of telephony such as call setup, call termination, call configuration and data transfer. SIP has recently been used to route wireless communications using Internet-type networks.
With reference to FIG. 1, a wireless communication device 102 communicates with a server 104, which in turn communicates with a server 106 and another wireless communication device 108. One form of communication between the wireless communication devices 102 and 108 and the servers 104, 106 uses SIP. SIP uses tags and words to properly route the communication. The tags and words of SIP take up a lot of bandwidth and sometimes cause a slow connection.
To speed up the transfer of SIP, a tokenized version of the SIP was developed. Instead of including long tags and words, the tokenized SIP comprises small tokens representing the tags and words. As such, the information communicated from the communication devices 102 and 108, can be communicated to the servers 104 and 106 quickly. One exemplary version tokenized SIP is used with two-way walkie-talkie style communications such as SPRINT PCS READYLINK.
However, sometimes errors occur when using tokenized session initiated protocol to connect wireless communication devices. It is difficult to determine where errors are occurring (e.g., at the communications device level or the server level) or why connections are not being made. Because tokens stand for tags and words, it is difficult to decipher the tokenized version of the session-initiated protocol. There also are not any sniffers to decode tokenized SIP. And while sniffers exist to decode SIP, no sniffers exist to decode tokenized SIP.
Therefore, it would be beneficial to have a method and system for decoding tokenized SIP into regular SIP to decipher and determine where errors may be occurring.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for decoding tokenized session initiated protocol packets


The tilt-compensated interferometers of the present invention are novel variations of Michelson's interferometer that use tilt- and shear-compensation to provide excellent photometric accuracy even when there are imperfections in the scanning motion used to produce variation of path difference. The tilt-compensation mechanism of the present invention consists of antiparallel reflections from a beamsplitter element and a roof reflector element, which elements are held rigidly in alignment. Several particularly useful embodiments of the invention are described. Other advantages of the present invention include photometric stability and reduced cost because manual alignment is not required. This interferometer has applications in spectrometry, spectral imaging and metrology.

1. Field of the Invention
It is an object of the present invention to provide new interferometers, which are better than prior art in respect to stability, scan speed and cost of manufacture. It is an object of the present inventions to improve the state-of-the-art in photometric accuracy of interferometric measurements.
2. Background Information
The book by Griffiths and deHaseth, "Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry," ISBN 0-471-09902-3, is included by reference for the entirety of its content. This book describes much of the prior art and practice in great detail.
Michelson interferometers can be used for many purposes, including spectrometry and metrology. The principle of operation is that a beam of electromagnetic radiation or energy is divided into two portions, which propagate in first and second paths; the two portions are delayed and recombined, leading to interference that is a function of the path difference between the first and second paths, as well as frequency content of the radiation. This prior art is illustrated by FIG. 1. A source of radiation is indicated by 10 and the radiation may be collimated by a parabolic mirror 11 into a primary beam of energy. The primary beam is divided at the beamsplitter 30 into two portions, which propagate in first 15 and second 16 paths. These paths 15 and 16 are often called the arms of the interferometer, and are typically oriented at 90 degrees to each other, as shown in FIG. 1.
At the ends of the two arms or paths 15 and 16 are mirrors 80A and 80B from which the two beams are reflected back toward the beamsplitter, retracing more or less exactly paths 15 and 16. At the beamsplitter, each of the two returning beams are split again resulting in two recombined beams. One recombined beam propagates back toward the source, generally being lost from use, and the second (hereafter, "the recombined beam") propagates out of the interferometer at an angle to the input beam, and follows a path to a detector. The second recombined beam may propagate to a parabolic focusing mirror 21A that concentrates the radiation at a sampling point 23. The radiation from the sampling point may be collected by a mirror 21B and focused on a detector 20. Many alternatives to the mirror combination 21A and 21B are known in the art. Radiation from a second source 12, generally having a precisely known wavelength, may be used as an internal standard of distance for the interferometer. Such a source 12 is often a helium-neon laser, but may be instead a diode laser, stabilized diode laser or gas discharge lamp. The radiation from the second source may be observed simultaneously with a second detector 21. External focusing optics generally are not required for a reference laser such as 12 because the beam is already tightly collimated. The interferometer usually is operated by moving one of the mirrors; the most common method for driving the mirror is a voice coil linear motor, but many other approaches are possible and some are known. The mirror may be moved at constant velocity and reciprocated, or it may be moved incrementally and stopped. It is understood that the signals from the detectors 12 and 22 are generally digitized and input to a computer. The data are processed by known means to generate and display spectra of the source radiation as modified by interaction with a sample.
A disadvantage of the Michelson interferometer and many related designs is that the two end mirrors 80A and 80B are susceptible to misalignment with each other and with the beamsplitter 30. Further, the alignment must be preserved, to interferometric tolerances, during and between motion of one or both of the mirrors 80A and 80B. Expensive, high-quality bearings are often required to provide such precise rectilinear motion. In some instruments, airbearings are used with the aforementioned voice coil linear motors to provide such motion. Various other solutions to this problem have been proposed in the literature and prior art. For example, Jamin (1856), Solomon (U.S. Pat. No. 5,675,412), Turner and Mould (U.S. Pat. No. 5,808,739), Spanner (U.S. Pat. No. 6,369,951), Frosch (U.S. Pat. No. 4,278,351), Woodruff (U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,525), and related designs provide interferometers in which slight misalignments of the optical components are compensated with respect to interferometric alignment. Slight residual misalignment may result in a beam of radiation not reaching exactly the intended detection location. The sensitivity to the resulting misalignment of the source image on the detector is roughly 100 times smaller than the sensitivity to interferometric misalignment. In short, there is a substantial advantage to optical tilt compensation. However, a disadvantage of the prior art is the long optical paths required for optical tilt compensation. For example, the approaches of Frosch, Woodruff, Solomon, Turner, and others, impose an undesirable limit on throughput, which is the product of solid angle and aperture area.
Larsson has described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,848 a method for tilt-compensating the scanning mirrors of an interferometer. This prior art extends ideas described by Steel in the 1960's (see for example, "Interferometry," Cambridge University Press, 1967 W. H. Steel). Larsson's approach employs three mutually perpendicular facets on a common assembly, but the radiation reaches them in a substantially different order than in the present invention. The radiation first reaches a beamsplitter. After being divided into two beams, in Larsson's interferometer design, each of the two beams reaches a single reflector surface rigidly and perpendicularly mounted to the beamsplitter. Because the single reflectors are mutually perpendicular, the two beams from the beamsplitter are both folded by 90 degrees (in different planes), rendering them antiparallel. Two plane mirrors held in opposition on a common carriage may be used to return the beams to the beamsplitter. One substantial improvement, relative to Larsson, of the present invention described herein, is that two reflector facets are placed in one arm of an interferometer. Further, the facets are combined into a roof reflector, which makes the assembly of the present invention more compact, more rigid and provides a rigid mounting surface for the beamsplitter and associated components.
Bleier et al. describe what they term "monolithic optical assemblies" in two U.S. patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,949,543 (1999), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,141,101 (2000). Their system might also be called a bilithic interferometer, in that two assemblies are juxtapositioned to form a variation of Michelson's design. The two assemblies are a hollow cube corner retroreflector and the monolithic assembly containing a beamsplitter and two reflecting surfaces. The two reflecting surfaces are interferometer end mirrors analogous to mirrors 80A and 80B of FIG. 1. Bleier's two reflecting surfaces, like 80A and 80B of FIG. 1, are mutually perpendicular with each other, but not with the beamsplitter; they are oriented at 45 degree angles relative to the beamsplitter. Hence, Bleier's monolithic interferometer is not tilt-compensated to the full extent of the present invention. However, the construction techniques taught by Bleier for producing monolithic assemblies can be applied to the interferometer designs of the present invention. This is not presently the preferred approach to construction, because the resulting assemblies are more fragile and thought to be more expensive than the construction of the preferred embodiments described below.


A method and apparatus for establishing optimum film exposure time for documents of different reflectances, A photo-sensor is used to produce a signal proportional to the intensity of light reflected from the document to be microfilmed, The signal is integrated and a time is determined for the integrated signal to reach a threshold or reference value, The time needed to reach the threshold value is measured very accurately by a microprocessor, The measured time is then convened to new time by using a look-up table, The new or desired shutter time is controlled by the microprocessor by terminating the exposure when the total time the shutter was open equals new exposure time found in this look-up table.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to slope control exposure control apparatus for use in document reproducing apparatus such as planetary microfilmers and, more particularly, where a microprocessor is used to control the shutter time based upon a signal level from a sensor that determines the reflectiveness of a document and a look-up table that controls the shutter operation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When using a planetary microfilmer, it is desirable to have the capability of automatically exposing the documents to their optimum film density level. Some planetary microfilmers typically use sensors to determine the reflectance of a document. Once the reflectance is known, the shutter speed is controlled to achieve some target density. This may be the same film density for the full range of document reflectances. This does not optimize performance of a printer that produces prints of low reflectance, low contrast documents. It is best to expose the film at a lower film density in the case of a low contrast document. This change in film density as a function of document density is called an exposure slope.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,795,445, issued Mar. 1, 1974, entitled "Slope Control Exposure Apparatus" describes an apparatus for creating a film exposure slope. A portion of the light that is used to illuminate the documents is combined with the light reflected from the document and collected on a photosensor. In this way, the film density will drop as a function of lower document reflectances. This design requires additional optics and involves critical alignment for proper operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,267, issued Sep. 8, 1992, entitled "Reflectance Based Microfilming Process" describes a process for optimizing film exposure by controlling the illumination level of the document based upon a light meter reading for reflectance. Sample targets of background hues are used to establish calibration points and the operator adjusts the document illumination in accordance with a reference spreadsheet. In the present invention, no sample targets are required so there is no need to create the sample calibration film.

Automatic exposure control using density slope control for a planetary microfilmer


The present invention provides a novel filter aid which has excellent filtration properties and forms a stable cake layer on a filter member. The filter aid includes a flake-like, scale-like, or rod-like silica gel as a primary component thereof. The silica gel is approximately 5 through 100 micrometer in grain diameter and has a pore volume of approximately 0.2 through 1.5 ml/g and a specific surface area of approximately 100 through 1,000 m.sup.2 /g.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a novel filter aid, and more specifically to a filter aid including a specific silica gel as a primary component.
2. Description of the Related Art
Filter aids are generally used to reduce the filtration resistance and prevent clogging of a filter member in order to obtain a filtrate with high clarity by adsorbing or containing solid or colloidal substances in slurry.
In a pre-coat method, a filter aid forms a cake layer of 1 through 2 millimeter thick on a filter member to separate solid substances from slurry.
Typical examples of commonly used filter aids include diatomite, pearlite, and cellulose. These conventional filter aids have several drawbacks as difficulty in waste treatment and inability of eliminating water soluble proteins, which deposit as precipitate and decrease the clarity of the filtrate.

Filter aid including specific silica gel


A circuit for protecting the ac generator and/or load of a diesel-engine generator set is provided. Included is a circuit for measuring indications of the current in each phase of the ac generator, and a switching circuit for protecting the ac generator if the current in any phase is greater than a predetermined current for a predetermined length of time (overcurrent), or if the current in any phase is less than a predetermined function of the currents in each of the phases for the predetermined length of time (imbalance). The circuit which protects the ac generator preferably short circuits the field winding of the ac generator and thereby turns off the ac generator, and/or closes a fuel valve to effectively turn off the engine should the current imbalance or overcurrent be sensed. In conjunction with the protection circuit, a switch interlock and/or circuit breaker arrangement for shock protection is provided.

This invention generally relates to protection systems for alternating current (ac) generators. More particularly, this invention relates to systems for protecting ac generators of diesel-engine generator sets against damage from overload.
The protection of ac generators of diesel-engine generator sets against damage from overload is presently accomplished by one of several arrangements. In a first arrangement, a measurement of the ac generator field current is used to shut down the excitation field of the ac generator when the field current increases above a predetermined value. In a second arrangement, a circuit breaker is provided in the output circuit. Both arrangements have proved unsatisfactory for several reasons. Where the field current is measured, the currents being measured are typically small; e.g. two amperes. Depending on the output voltage and the load, normal field current variation can be larger than the value to which the detector is set to shut down excitation. Thus, the diesel-engine generator may be inadvertently shut down during normal operation; an undesired situation.
When a circuit breaker in the output circuit is used, the current in the load is measured by a thermal or magnetic element, and the circuit breaker is tripped (i.e. the circuit is opened) when the load current exceeds a given value for a certain length of time. When used in compressor motor starting, as is the case with transport refrigeration units, the circuit breaker must not trip immediately as the motor starting ("inrush") current must be accommodated. Typically the inrush current is about five to six times the normal load current, and must be accommodated for a period of between one to five seconds. Because of the materials and components used in typical circuit breakers designed for motor starting, a range of circuit breaker trip times is expected for a given overload current. For example, as seen in the prior art FIG. 1, the circuit breaker trip time for a 700% current overload is typically one to four seconds. In diesel-engine generator sets for 460 V service for refrigerated containers, the typical circuit breaker rating is thirty amperes, and a 700% overload represents two hundred ten amperes. When such a circuit breaker is used with a power grid network of a public utility, the grid is able to supply well in excess of two hundred ten amperes. The circuit breaker can therefore be expected to open the circuit within the one to four seconds in the event of a short circuit in such situations. However, with small generators, such as are used in diesel-engine generator sets, the maximum current that can be delivered by the ac generator is about one hundred fifty amperes, or 500% overload. In such situations, as seen in FIG. 1, the trip time of the circuit breaker can be as long as approximately eight seconds at which time the ac generator may already be damaged. Moreover, the circuit breakers of the art will not protect the ac generator in time in the case of current imbalance; i.e. where one of the conductors of a three phase circuit is not drawing current (single phase condition) and the unit is running at only 500% overload or less.
In light of the shortcomings of the field current measurement and the circuit breaker in the output circuit arrangements, it appears that the only reliable manner of protecting the ac generator is to measure the load current directly. Circuit breakers which measure the load current and cause the circuit breaker to trip with an auxiliary device are known in the art. They are not suitable for application to diesel-engine generator set protection, however, because they do not have adequate delay time to accommodate motor starting currents.


In a six high rolling mill comprising each pair of upper and lower work rolls, intermediate rolls and backup rolls, at least the intermediate rolls of the work and intermediate rolls being adapted for shifting in axial directions thereof, each of the intermediate rolls has a barrel length longer than that of the backup roll such that barrel ends of the intermediate roll extend beyond barrel ends of the-backup roll at maximum and minimum shifted positions of the intermediate roll, thereby providing a six high rolling mill having a high mill rigidity.

Generally, when a hot rolled steel sheet is produced by means of a hot finish rolling mill, rolls are deflected due to rolling load, thereby sheet thickness at a central portion in sheet width becomes thicker than sheet thickness at portions in the vicinity of opposite edges of the rolled sheet, that is a sheet crown is formed in the rolled sheet. By the way, the sheet crown, if the sheet crown becomes large, makes it difficult to provide an adequate sheet profile in cold rolling in the next step, which also provides deficiency in the shape and unavoidably results in reduction in yield, so that it is required for the hot finish rolling mill to make the sheet crown as small as possible.
Thus, for a purpose of controlling the shape of sheet to reduce the sheet crown, for example, JP-A-62-10722 discloses a six high rolling mill to be installed in a post-stage stand, wherein a rolling mill array includes intermediate rolls having a constant diameter over the full length thereof arranged between backup rolls and work rolls, respectively, and these intermediate rolls are adapted to shift in the mutually opposite axial direction, thereby the ability to control the sheet crown is enhanced. Furthermore, JP-A-57-91807 discloses a rolling mill in which an S-shaped crown is formed on any one of a work roll, an intermediate roll or a backup roll, and the roll having the S-shaped crown is shifted in the axial direction, thereby the ability for controlling the sheet crown is enhanced.
However, in the former prior art disclosed in JP-A-62-10722, the length of the intermediate roll is made approximately the same as each length of the backup roll and the work roll, so that when the intermediate roll is shifted in order to make the sheet crown small, the length of contact of the intermediate roll with the backup roll and the work roll becomes short, and the mill rigidity of the rolling mill decreases, and hence, there has been such a problem that when the rolling load changes due to temperature deviation in the sheet bar or the like, the roll gap between a pair of work rolls greatly changes, and no predetermined accuracy in the sheet thickness can be provided, and there has been such a problem that when the center in sheet width deviates from the center of the rolling mill due to deviation of the sheet bar or the like, meanderings resulting from the difference in rigidity of right and left portions of the rolling mill take place, sometimes it is fallen into impossibility of rolling from occurring of reduction ears caused by miss rolling.
In addition, there has been such another problem that spalling occurs on the surfaces of rolls resulting from the increase in pressure between rolls on account of the short length of contact of the intermediate roll, and the service life of the rolls decrease.
It is noted that the problem mentioned above can be avoided by decreasing the shift amount of the intermediate rolls, but the ability for controlling the crown of the work rolls in the rolling mill is greatly limited.
And also in the later prior art disclosed in JP-A-57-91807, there has been such a problem, when the profile control is performed by shifting intermediate rolls provided with an S-shaped crown, the control of crown becomes impossible due to the abrasion of rolls.
Furthermore, when the profile control is performed by producing a curved roll crown on the intermediate roll or the backup roll, it becomes necessary to enlarge the roll crown in order to ensure a large control amount for the crown, but when a sheet bar having a relatively narrow width is rolled with small rolling load by providing such a large roll crown, non-contact portions are generated between the backup roll and the intermediate roll or between the backup roll and the work roll, and the mill rigidity of the rolling mill becomes low, which unavoidably results in the decrease in accuracy of the sheet thickness. In addition, there has been another problem that when the non-contact portions are generated, meander and reduction ears occur in the rolled sheet as a result of a difference of rigidity in the axial direction of the rolls and as a result sometimes rolling of sheet becomes impossible.


A speed reduction unit in which an input shaft and an output shaft, coaxial with respect to one another are rotatably supported by an outer casing enclosing a face gear connected to the said output shaft, a bevel gear facing said first gear and coupled therewith, and connection means between said bevel gear and said input shaft, the number of the teeth of the said two gears differing from one another by at least one tooth; bevel gear being inclined with respect to said face gear, and being centrally supported inside said casing by means of a ball joint support in order to oscillate relative to the said casing and said face gear about a point of the common axis of the said two shafts.

The present invention relates to a speed reduction unit.
Speed reduction units are known which comprise an input shaft, an output shaft, a first gear keyed on the said output shaft and a second gear connected to the said input shaft, and in which a 360.degree. rotation of the input shaft produces a rotation of the output shaft corresponding to an advancement of the said first gear by one or more teeth.
Generally, such known reduction units are of the type with planocentric gears in which the said first gear is an internal gear having n teeth, and the second gear is a gearwheel having n-x teeth and a diameter smaller than that of the said internal gear so that it can be accomodated inside the latter. Moreover, the said gearwheel is rotatably coupled with a central disc which is integral with the input shaft, but is positioned eccentrically with respect to it.
In use, because of the presence of the said eccentric disc, to a rotation of the input shaft does not correspond any rotation of the said gearwheel, but a transversal movement of it, owing to which the teeth of this gearwheel successively mesh with the teeth of the said internal gear. If, as said before, the number of the teeth of the internal gear is n and that of the gearwheel is n-x; to a complete revolution of the input shaft in one direction corresponds a rotation of the output shaft in the opposite direction, equal to a number x (in a border-line event a single tooth) of the internal gear.
It clearly results from the foregoing that to obtain the successive meshing of the teeth of the gearwheel with those of the internal gear, the manufacturing tolerances of the single elements must necessarily be relatively close; accordingly, the manufacturing costs are relatively high and such as to inhibit the use of such reduction units in many cases in which their use would be technically advisable.


An electric heating device (34) in which is included an electric energy source (45) which is designed as a thin film battery (45). The heating device also includes a resistor heating unit (40) comprising a first material stratum (40) consisting of an electrically conductive polymer material with PTC properties. The resistor heating unit (40) and the electric energy source (45) are disposed adjacent to one another and form a composite unit in which the major surfaces of the first material stratum (40) and thin film battery (45), respectively, face towards one another. Electrodes (42, 43) are connected, by the intermediary of a switch (48), to the poles of the battery (45) and to the resistor heating unit (40).

Within many fields of activity, it is desirable to heat different parts of the body, for example for medical purposes or for reasons of comfort. One example is the heating of joints, hands and other parts of the body of rheumatism sufferers. Another example is within the areas of sports and leisure activities where proposals have been put forward for heated gloves, shoe inlays and other items of clothing as well as sleeping-bags.
It is also desirable in the art to devise containers which, on transport or power failure, maintain an elevated temperature in their storage space. Similarly, there are needs for substrates which, on transport or power failure, maintain an elevated temperature, for example to avoid the risk that the temperature falls in accumulators or batteries placed on the substrates--which could lead to a reduction in the quantity of energy which can be extracted from them.
To cover these needs numerous solutions have been proposed in the art, these all being based on electric heating with the aid of various resistor heating elements and electric energy sources, normally dry cell batteries. As examples of this known technology, mention might be made of Swedish patent application No. 8402743-2 which describes a glove intended for rheumatics with inlaid resistor wires and a current source so as to develop a thermal effect exceeding 25 W in the glove.
In a corresponding manner, Swedish patent application No. 8404783-6 describes a medical undergarment with inlaid resistor heating elements and a current source in the form of a battery. Electrically heated shoe inlays are described, for instance, in the two German specifications DE-A-3 904 603 and DE-C-4 000 259. These shoe inlays have inlaid resistor heating elements which are connectable to a battery or other source of electric energy. In both cases, the resistor heating elements are in the form of printed conductor paths on a base consisting of plastic or other non-conductive material. In both cases, the heating proper is also controlled by means of electric circuit connections so as to as avoid overheating.
As was mentioned above, it is known in the leisure-time sector to make use of electrically heated sleeping-bags or garments. One example is disclosed in US-A-3,443,066 which describes a sleeping-bag or other clothing garment of flexible, thermally insulating material with inlaid resistor heating wires and batteries for electric power supply.
In automotive engineering, similar ideas have been employed, for example to provide heating elements for vehicle seats, an employment which necessitates a degree of give in the inlaid resistor heating elements. One example of this technique is described in SE-B-434 204 (7713250-4), in which the give or extensibility has been achieved by making the inlay of meandering loops of resistor heating wires or tapes in a layer in the padding material of the seat.
Yet a further a example of textile material which can be heated electrically is to be found in US-A-4,845,343 in which the resistor wires have been woven into the fabric structure proper.
All of these prior art devices for heating larger or smaller parts of the body of a patient or general user suffer from numerous common drawbacks. One such drawback is that the prior art resistor heating elements consume considerable quantities of power and are, therefore, expensive in operation. Another drawback is that the possibilities of regulating the heating effect locally, i.e. within a limited part of the body are poor--in other words the user must choose between either a heating effect which gives satisfactory heating of the coldest part of the body which at the same time results in overheating of other parts of the body, or a heating effect which provides comfortable heating of the major part of the body but insufficient heating within certain other parts of the body. A further drawback inherent in many of the prior art devices is that they require separate accumulators whose capacity is often reduced at low temperatures, since they must be carried at relatively unprotected positions in the wearer's clothing. Moreover, the separate accumulators must be carried in some type of belt or the like which may prove unwieldy. Another drawback is that some type of external thermostat is necessary in order to be able to obtain a determined average temperature.


A liquid crystal composition including: a liquid crystal compound and a liquid crystal aligning agent including at least one compound represented by Formula 1:

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a liquid crystal composition, a liquid crystal display device including the same, and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device, which is one of the most widely used display devices, generally includes a display substrate containing a pixel electrode, a counter display substrate including a common electrode, a liquid crystal layer disposed between the display substrate and the counter display substrate, and a liquid crystal alignment film disposed between the liquid crystal layer and at least one of the display substrate and the counter display substrate.
An example of a method of arranging liquid crystal compounds in a direction perpendicular to a display substrate or a counter display substrate includes using a liquid crystal alignment film. The liquid crystal alignment film may be manufactured by coating the surface of at least one of a display substrate and a counter display substrate with an organic polymer compound or an inorganic compound such as silicon oxide to form a thin film, and subsequently drying and sintering the thin film.
Generally, a vertically aligned polyimide thin film is used as a polymer-based liquid crystal alignment film. In order to manufacture a polymer-based liquid crystal alignment film, the surface of at least one of a display substrate and a counter display substrate is coated with an alignment solution containing an organic polymer compound and an environmentally hazardous organic solvent, followed by drying, and high-temperature sintering of the coated alignment solution. Such a long series of processes may decrease productivity, cause harmful effects to humans and the environment, and therefore, are disadvantageous. Thus, there remains a need for an improved method of manufacturing the liquid crystal display device, which is devoid of the above shortcomings.

Liquid crystal composition, liquid crystal display device including the same, and method of manufacturing liquid crystal display device

Abstract: wherein in the Formula 1, X—*, *-L1-*, *-L2-*, *-L3-*, *—C—*, *—R—*, *—Y, n1, n2, and m are the same as defined in the specification.


A PTC-resistor includes a base body made of a ceramic material with a positive temperature coefficient of resistance. The base body extends along a median plane, and is confined by surfaces. At least one surface is configured to electrically connect the base body. An area of the at least one surface is larger than an area of a parallel projection of the base body in a direction perpendicular to the median plane.

The rise of the electric resistivity ρ as a function of the temperature follows a logarithmic curve in a certain temperature range. PTC-resistors may be produced in the form of disks with a circular, quadratic or rectangular shape.
Such PTC-resistors are suitable for a wide range of applications, in particular including overcurrent protection devices, switches and additionally as heaters.
PTC-resistors can be fabricated by dry pressing of a granulate. The variety of possible shapes of such PTC-resistors with a base body being manufactured by dry pressing is strongly restricted to very simple geometric structures such as disks like those mentioned above.


An LED luminaire (10) comprising: a main body portion (12) adapted, in use, to house an LED light panel (24); a mount (14) for securing, in use, the luminaire (10) to a surface; a driver unit (62); and a hinge (16, 42, 44) adapted to hingedly connect the main body portion (12) to the mount (14), wherein the hinge (16, 42, 44) comprises a, hollow interior volume for accommodating the driver unit (62), and wherein the driver unit (62) comprises a water-resistant housing.

LED luminaires are becoming an increasingly popular choice for lighting installations due to their favourable power consumption, longevity and light quality properties, compared with conventional incandescent, cold cathode and gas discharge lighting systems of equivalent specifications. Unlike, for example, incandescent bulbs, which can operate directly from an AC mains power supply, most LEDs require a relatively low-voltage, DC power source. Moreover, because the longevity of LEDs is closely related to the power (voltage and/or current) supplied to the LEDs over time, careful consideration needs to be given to powering LED lighting systems.
It is therefore commonplace for LED luminaires to comprise a light panel, comprising one or more LEDs (connected together in series, parallel, or a combination thereof) and a driver unit that is interposed between an available power supply and the light panel to condition the power to the light panel. In most applications, the driver unit is connected to a switched mains power supply at its input, and to one or more light panels at its output. The driver unit usually comprises a step-down transformer and a rectifier (for stepping-down the mains voltage to a suitable low voltage, and to convert it from AC to DC, respectively), or in certain applications, a more sophisticated inverter is used, which, whilst being generally more expensive than a transformer-rectifier unit, generally offers better control over the output to the light panel, and can improve the quality of the light emitted by the LEDs and/or their longevity.
Given that a driver unit is generally necessary in most LED lighting applications, the end user has two basic choices:
First, a shared driver unit can be used to provide power to a plurality of LED light panels. This option is generally favoured where a number of LED light panels will be relatively closely spaced, and/or where the cabling to the luminaires needs to be "low-voltage" for safety reasons. However, shared driver units result in dual wiring systems being present, i.e. mains wiring to the driver unit, and low voltage wiring between the driver unit and the light panels. Whilst such a system is not uncommon, and in certain cases, desirable, it does increase the likelihood human error when retrofit modifications are made, for example, it is possible to confuse the low-voltage and mains voltage cables.
Second, a dedicated driver unit can be provided for each LED light panel. Such a configuration greatly simplifies installation because only mains wiring is present on site, but incorporating a driver unit into each LED luminaire increases the size and weight of the luminaires, which can make them unattractive. Moreover, because LED light panels have high cooling requirements, it is usually undesirable to co-locate the driver (which generates heat itself) with the LED light panel. Thus, co-locating the driver unit and LED light panel can complicate cooling considerations, especially where passive air cooling is needed. The main commercial drawback, however, of using integrated drivers and LED panels, is that the LED luminaires tend to appear quite "boxy" and unattractive.
One known solution to this problem is provided by the present applicant's FUSION product, upon which the present invention is based. The FUSION product provides a luminaire with separate LED panel and driver housing, which are hingedly connected to one another. The driver unit is located within a hollow interior portion of the hinge and the hinge is IP-rated to withstand the elements. However, it has been found that due to the relative movement of the hinge components, a seal is difficult to achieve and thus the hinge portion is susceptible to filling with rainwater when the unit is used outdoors, or in a submerged installation, meaning that that driver unit can be subject to wet conditions and/or submersion, even when the surrounding environment is dry. Obviously, this can lead to problems over time, such as ingress of water into the driver unit. Moreover, the need for additional sealing of the hinge components can limit the dimensions of the driver, since the driver needs to be accommodated within the hinge. Using an under-sized driver is mostly undesirable because the driver may then need to work at, or beyond, its duty cycle (compared with a larger driver unit). A further problem that is often encountered with known luminaires is that of correctly affixing the luminaire to a surface, such as a wall or ceiling, which operation is often carried out at height, e.g. using a ladder or a "cherry picker". Because the cabling for a luminaire is usually installed during a "first fix" installation, but the luminaires themselves are installed subsequently, during a "second fix" installation, the installer often has to work with relatively short lengths of cable. However, because one of the objectives of second fix installations is to conceal as much of the cabling as possible from view, the cabling enters the luminaire through the mounting, which means that the luminaire hangs from the wall, by its cable, during installation. A need therefore exists for a luminaire mounting system that provides a temporary, or a secondary, connection between the mounting and the luminaire itself, which permits an installer to use both hands, i.e. without having to support the luminaire with one hand; and/or without simply allowing the luminaire to dangle from its cable during installation of the mount.
A need therefore exists for an improved and/or an alternative LED luminaire, which addresses one or more of the above problems.


An embodiment of a slew-rate enhancement output stage is disclosed. A first slew-rate enhancement circuit receives a first control voltage and outputs a first voltage. A second slew-rate enhancement circuit receives a second control voltage and outputs a second voltage. A first PMOS transistor includes a first first terminal coupled to a high voltage source, a first control terminal receiving the first voltage, and a first second terminal coupled to a voltage output terminal. A first NMOS transistor includes a second first terminal coupled to the voltage output terminal, a second control terminal for receiving the second voltage, and a second second terminal coupled to a low voltage source. The first voltage is higher than the first control voltage, and the second voltage is lower than the second control voltage.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an output buffer, and more particularly to an output buffer with a slew-rate enhancement output stage.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional operational amplifier, high slew rate is achieved by increasing the current or decreasing compensation capacitance. If the operational amplifier is used to drive the pixel in LCD panel, the only way to increase slew rate is increasing the driving current. However, increasing the current may increase static current consumption, and deteriorate the stability of the operational amplifier.

Output buffer with slew-rate enhancement output stage


A method of producing and accelerating an ion beam comprising the steps of: providing a magnetic field with a cusp that opens in an outward direction along a centerline that passes through a vertex of the cusp: providing an ionizing gas that sprays outward through at least one capillary-like orifice in a plenum that is positioned such that the orifice is on the centerline in the cusp, outward of the vortex of the cusp; providing a cathode electron source, and positioning it outward of the orifice and off of the centerline; and positively charging the plenum relative to the cathode electron source such that the plenum functions as an anode. A hot filament may be used as the cathode electron source, and permanent magnets may be used to provide the magnetic field.

There is a need for a simple, low power, light-weight, compact, high specific impulse electric propulsion device to satisfy mission requirements for micro and nano-satellite class missions. Satisfying these requirements entails addressing the general problem of generating a sufficiently dense plasma within a relatively small volume and then accelerating it in a way that generates a net thrust reaction force in a desired linear direction. Known means for ion generation and propulsion generally require relatively large containment volumes in order to achieve reasonable ionization efficiencies, therefore new means are needed in order to achieve effective scaled-down propulsion devices.
Recent prior art electric propulsion devices and plasma accelerators are commonly some form of Hall effect thrusters (Hall accelerators or Hall engines). A conventional Hall effect thruster generally comprises an accelerating channel arranged along an axis with an anode and a propellant source at a first, generally closed, end of the channel, and a cathode (electron source) at a second, generally open, end of the channel. The cathode and anode establish an electric field with a gradient generally aligned with the axis of the channel. A system of magnets is arranged so that a magnetic field crosses the channel.
To continue the description of the Hall effect thruster, an exemplary thruster is presented comprising an annular accelerating channel extending circumferentially around the axis of the thruster and also extending in an axial direction from a closed end to an open end. The anode is usually located at the closed end of the channel, and the cathode is positioned outside the channel close to its open end. Means is provided for introducing a propellant, for example xenon gas, into the channel and this is often done through passages formed in the anode itself or close to the anode. A magnetic system applies a magnetic field in the radial direction across the channel and this causes electrons emitted from the cathode to move circumferentially around the channel. Some but not all of the electrons emitted from the cathode pass into the channel and are attracted down the electric field gradient towards the anode. The radial magnetic field deflects the electrons in a circumferential direction so that they move in a spiral trajectory, accumulating energy as they gradually drift towards the anode. In a region close to the anode the electrons, collide with atoms of the propellant, causing ionization. The resulting positively charged ions are accelerated by the electric field towards the open end of the channel, from which they are expelled at great velocity, thereby producing the desired thrust. Because the ions have a much greater mass than the electrons, they are not so readily influenced by the magnetic field and their direction of acceleration is therefore primarily axial rather than circumferential with respect to the channel. The ion stream is at least partially neutralized by those electrons from the cathode that do not pass into the channel.
Conventionally, the required radial magnetic field has been applied across the channel using an electromagnet having a yoke of magnetic material which defines poles on opposite sides of the channel, i.e. one radially inwardly with respect to the channel and the other radially outwardly with respect to the channel. An example is shown in European patent specification 0 463 408 which shows a magnetic yoke having a single cylindrical portion passing through the middle of the annular channel and carrying a single magnetizing coil; and a number of outer cylindrical members spaced around the outside of the accelerating channel and carrying their own outer coils. The inner and outer cylindrical members are bolted to a magnetic back plate so as to form a single magnetic yoke.
A recent example of the Hall effect thruster is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,493 (Yashnov, et al.; 1998) entitled "Hall Effect Plasma Accelerator". The described invention in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,847,493 comprises the use of magnets (permanent or preferably electric) wherein the magnetic poles are defined on bodies of material which are magnetically separate in order to allow greater freedom in selecting the dimensions of the thruster, particularly the length in the axial direction relative to the diameter of the accelerating channel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,113 (Yashnov, et al.; 1998), discloses a closed electron drift Hall effect plasma accelerator with all magnetic sources located to the rear of the anode. It is stated that this makes it possible to provide a Hall effect accelerator with an optimum distribution of magnetic field inside the acceleration channel by means of a simpler and less heavy arrangement using a single source of magnetic field, such as a single coil or permanent magnet. As in all Hall effect thrusters, the magnetic field lines (13, as seen in FIG. 2) extend laterally across the accelerating channel (1) over the anode (2) and propellant gas source (3) located at the closed end of the channel (see FIG. 1).
A problem common to the Hall effect thrusters is one of scaling its size. In general, it is difficult to scale down Hall effect thrusters appreciably because of the magnetic field requirements. In smaller engines, the large transverse magnetic fields required can hamper ion flow, thereby reducing the ion beam current. This is particularly problematic for such engines generating milliamp magnitude beams for micro-thruster applications, wherein small thrust to power ratios make Hall effect thrusters impractical for micro-satellite applications. Another scaling problem is that electromagnets do not scale well with size reduction because of heating issues and coil size required to achieve the desired field.
Hall effect thrusters generally employ hollow cathodes, and preferably employ electromagnets, thereby requiring fairly complicated, and thus heavier, control systems in order to control electromagnet current, gas flow in both the anode and the discharge electrode, and cathode discharge current. Adding to the problems of complexity and weight, the hollow cathode consumes propellant.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,321 (Hruby; 2000), discloses a Hall field plasma accelerator with an inner and outer anode, designed to deal with problems of wall heating and sputtering that are characteristic problems with Hall effect thrusters.
A non-Hall effect thruster is described by U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,456 (Grim, et al.; 1990), that discloses a dielectric coated ion thruster comprising a cathode chamber (12) from which free electrons flow into an attached ionization chamber (14) along with a flow of ionizable gas atoms. According to the abstract and to column 6 of the detailed description, the free electrons are accelerated by a positive potential applied to the interior surface of the ionization chamber, causing the electrons to collide with atoms of the gas with sufficient kinetic energy to create ions. The positively charged ions are accelerated toward a negatively charged perforated grid plate (24, 112), pass through the grid plate, and exit in a focused beam, providing thrust in the opposite direction. A plurality of bar magnets (20, 22, 108, 110) are arranged in a spaced apart circular array around the cathode chamber with a pole face of each of the magnets tangentially aligned with wall sections (16, 18, 102, 104) of the ionization chamber. The bar magnets define an axial geodesic picket fence arrangement that extends circularly about the cathode chamber, wherein the pole faces of adjacent bar magnets that are in contact with the ionization chamber alternate north and south polarity, so that a magnetic field extends between the opposite pole faces of adjacent bar magnets. Although magnetic field lines are not illustrated, it can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 5, for example, that the magnetic field lines will arch from pole to pole to create a scalloped line around the circumference of the ionization chamber with cusps occurring at each pole. As stated in column 7 of the detailed description, as a negatively charged electron is accelerated toward the wall sections, the magnetic field interacts with the moving charge, causing the electron to experience a force directed generally at a right angle to its forward velocity. In response to this force, the electrons are caused to spiral in a helical path, thereby extending the mean path of the electrons to increase the probability that the electrons may strike an atom and ionize it. Since the magnetic field lines that confine the plasma within the ionization chamber bend laterally away from the magnet poles (forming cusps), the surfaces of the poles are not well protected by the magnetic field and would normally be exposed to erosion due to impacts by high-energy electrons or ions, therefore dielectric coating (42) is provided to protect them from sputtering. Likewise, the outer surface of an emitter tube (28, 61, 128), and the inner and outer surfaces of the grid plate, are coated with a dielectric material to protect them from sputtering erosion.
Problems inherent in conventional ion thrusters with grids (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,456) include significant erosion issues for which dielectric coatings are needed to help provide protection, thereby adding weight and complexity. Furthermore, the use of grids along with charged chamber walls require the use of multiple power supplies, thereby complicating the power processor unit. Finally, gridded systems have inherently lower thrust density capability relative to gridless concepts.
It is known that plasma accelerators can be used for material processing in a vacuum by means of plasma ion interaction with materials. U.S. Pat. No. 6,380,684 (Li, et al.; 2002) discloses a plasma generating apparatus and semiconductor manufacturing method which generates a high-density plasma in a rectangular chamber using magnetron, high frequency discharge plasma generation, i.e., a high frequency oscillating electric field that interacts with magnetic fields to produce electrons and ions in a plasma. An annular-rectangular ("fistulous") discharge electrode (14) is in close proximity to concentric annular-rectangular permanent magnets (15,16) that are arranged axially on either side of the discharge electrode to generate magnetic field lines that loop over the discharge electrode to cusps that are on either axial side of the electrode. Rectangular parallel plate electrodes (17, 18) at the top and bottom of the chamber are either grounded or connected to a second high frequency source. The top electrode 17 is used, for example, as gas diffusion plate for diffusing a discharge gas or a process gas, wherein the top electrode (17) is a perforated gas shower plate (37).
It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact plasma accelerator that overcomes problems such as those described hereinabove for known devices, thereby providing sufficient thrust density to provide a simple, low power, light-weight, compact, high specific impulse electric propulsion device to satisfy mission requirements for micro and nano-satellite class missions.

Method of producing and accelerating an ion beam

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration