An anti-reflection optical member has a laminated structure including: a transparent substrate having a first refractive index greater than that of a predetermined medium; a metal-microparticle-containing layer containing metal microparticles; and a dielectric layer having a second refractive index greater than that of the predetermined medium, in this order. At least 60% of the metal microparticles are flat particles with a diameter-to-thickness ratio of 3 or more. Principal planes of the flat metal particles are surface-oriented in the range from 0° to 30° relative to the surface of the metal-microparticle-containing layer. In the metal-microparticle-containing layer, the metal microparticles are disposed without forming a conductive path. The dielectric layer has such a thickness that light reflected at the surface of the dielectric layer of incident light entering the laminated structure from the surface is interfered and canceled by light reflected at the interface between the dielectric layer and the metal-microparticle-containing layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anti-reflection optical member that has a function of anti-reflectivity with respect to incident light.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, a display section of a display has been provided with an anti-reflection structure (anti-reflection film) on a translucent member in order to prevent visibility from being lowered due to reflection of an external light source or a landscape.
For example, known examples of an anti-reflection optical member having anti-reflectivity with respect to visible light include a dielectric multilayer, an anti-reflection film that comprises a visible-light-wavelength absorption layer formed of a metal microparticle layer in a multilayer film (WO2004/031813A (JP4400458B), JP2001-281401A, and the like).
WO2004/031813A (JP4400458B) discloses the following configuration. In an anti-reflection film which is formed by applying a plurality of thin films onto a substrate film, an attenuation coefficient at a wavelength of 550 nm is set to 0.1 to 5. For example, the anti-reflection film may comprise a layer that contains metal microparticles.
JP2001-281401A discloses a low-reflectivity transparent conductive laminated film using a chain-like metal colloid. In a description thereof, there is provided a transparent conductive layer including the chain-like metal colloid, whereby it is possible to obtain a film having an antistatic property, an electromagnetic-wave-shielding property, anti-reflectivity, a mechanical property, and an antifouling property.


A prosthesis including an abutment, an operationally removable component including a coupling apparatus, and an adapter, wherein the abutment is connected to the adapter and the coupling apparatus of the operationally removable component is releasably coupled to the adapter.

Field of the Invention
Some embodiments relate generally to prostheses and, more particularly, to a prosthesis having an adapter.
Related Art
For persons who cannot benefit from traditional acoustic hearing aids, there are other types of commercially available hearing prostheses such as, for example, bone conduction hearing prostheses (commonly referred to as "bone conduction devices"). Bone conduction devices mechanically transmit sound information to a recipient's cochlea by transferring vibrations to a person's skull. This enables the hearing prosthesis to be effective regardless of whether there is disease or damage in the middle ear.
Traditionally, bone conduction devices transfer vibrations from an external vibrator to the skull through a bone conduction implant that penetrates the skin and is physically attached to both the vibrator and the skull. Typically, the external vibrator is connected to the percutaneous bone conduction implant located behind the outer ear facilitating the efficient transfer of sound via the skull to the cochlea. The bone conduction implant connecting the vibrator to the skull generally comprises two components: a bone attachment piece (e.g., bone fixture/fixture) that is attached or implanted directly to the skull, and a skin penetrating piece attached to the bone attachment piece, commonly referred to as an abutment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A dyeing machine without rollers including a circular trough having a neck portion at an upper portion, a tail portion having an upper inlet extending upwardly and then vertically downwardly to form a lower outlet, a large tubular passage connected between a lower portion of the circular trough and the lower outlet of the tail portion, a small tubular passage connected between the neck portion of the circular trough and an upper inlet of the tail portion, a filtering board disposed on a bottom of the large tubular passage, a perforated panel mounted under the filtering board, a reservoir formed at a lower part of the large tubular passage and located under the perforated panel, a branch pipe fitted under the reservoir and communicated therewith, and a pump connected with a lower portion of the circular trough.

It has been found that the conventional dyeing machine utilizes rollers to convey the cloth. However, the speed of the roller can not adapt to the travelling speed of the cloth thereby making the cloth twist together and therefore damaging the surface of the cloth.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a dyeing machine without rollers which may obviate and mitigate the above-mentioned drawbacks.


Vinyl acetate in ambient air is measured by first drying the air sample, then adsorbing the vinyl acetate on an adsorbent containing a polymerization inhibitor, followed by desorption and assay of the desorbed vinyl acetate.

This invention pertains to a method of assaying vinyl acetate and more particularly to an assay of vinyl acetate in ambient air.
Environmental restrictions and regulations relating to the presence of chemicals in the ambient air present in plant and other working areas are particularly stringent with respect to monomeric materials. A need arose therefore for means of monitoring the levels of widely used monomers, such as, vinyl acetate which is used in a plethora of polymeric materials.
One of the difficulties associated with taking routine assays of vinyl acetate in ambient air present in industrial polymerization plants is the fact that it hydrolyzes with water to form acetic acid and vinyl alcohol. The latter immediately undergoes a rearrangement to acetaldehyde. Furthermore, upon vaporization from the liquid state, vinyl acetate loses any polymerization inhibitor which was present in the liquid vinyl acetate. This makes any analytical procedure more difficult since vinyl acetate which polymerizes will not appear in the final analysis as a monomer. It is common to inhibit vinyl acetate liquid with from 5 to about 20 parts per million of a free radical stabilizer, such as, hydroquinone. The boiling point of hydroquinone is far too high to permit its evaporation with vinyl acetate to the vapor state. The problem of analyzing ambient air to which employees in a vinyl acetate polymerization plant are exposed is therefore made inaccurate because of the hydrolysis or polymerization of vinyl acetate after collection of a representative air sample prior to analysis.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a facile method of determining the vinyl acetate monomer levels in random ambient air samples collected in a working vinyl acetate plant during the time of worker exposure to this monomer.


Markers associated with Sclerotinia stem rot resistance are provided. Methods of identifying resistant, and susceptible plants, using the markers are provided. Methods for identifying and isolating QTL are a feature of the invention, as are QTL associated with Sclerotinia stem rot resistance.

Sclerotinia stem rot in soybean, also know as white mold, is caused by the fungus pathogen Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. The disease was first reported in Hungary in 1924, and has since been reported in many other countries, including the USA. The disease has become increasingly important in the USA since 1990. For example, Sclerotinia stem rot caused an estimated yield loss of 6.4×105 metric tons in the USA during 1994 (Wrether et al. (1997) Plant Dis 81:107-110). Yield has been shown to be inversely correlated with the percent incidence of Sclerotinia stem rot. Yield loss has been estimated at 250 kg/ha for each 10% increment in diseased plants (Grau and Hartman (1999) Compendium of Soybean Diseases, 4th ed. APS Press, St. Paul, Minn., USA, pp. 46-48).
S. sclerotiotum infects soybean plants in the form of ascospores that land on flowers (Grau (1988) Am Phytopathol Soc, St. Paul, Minn., USA pp 56-66). The ascospores germinate under adequate moisture condition and use the flower petals as a nutrient base. Stem lesions originate at leaf axils where flowers are positioned and advance up and down the stem. Symptoms of the Sclerotinia stem rot begin to develop at growth stages R2 and R3. Lesions are most frequently on the main stem and completely encircle the stem and disrupt the transport of water, mineral nutrients, and photosynthates to developing pods. Pod development and pod fill above stem lesions are reduced, resulting in yield reduction.
Soybean genotypes show large variations in resistance to Sclerotinia stem rot (Kim et al. (1999) Crop Sci 39:64-68). So far, no soybean genotypes with complete resistance to S. sclerotiorum have been identified. The heritability of partial resistance, measured with a disease severity index (DSI), was estimated to be 0.59 with significant genotype and environment interaction observed (Kim and Diers (2000)Crop Sci 40:55-61). Quantitative trait loci ("QTL") analysis identified three QTL explaining 10, 9, and 8% of the variability for DSI across environments and locating on linkage groups C2, K, and M. Two of the QTLs were also significantly associated with disease escape mechanisms such as plant height, and date of flowering.
Breeding for white mold resistance via the traditional approach has been very difficult, due to the multigenic nature of this trait. What is needed in the art is a means to identify genes conferring resistance to white mold, using molecular markers. These markers can then be used to tag the favorable alleles of these genes in segregating dicot populations and then employed to make selection for resistance more effective. The present invention provides this and other advantages.


A feed line switching circuit includes a relay connected between feed lines, a normally close contact of the relay, and a resistor that constitutes a series circuit with the normally close contact, which series circuit is connected in parallel with the relay. The resistance of the coil of the relay and the resistance of the resistor are determined to satisfy the condition that the current flowing through the relay after energizing the relay can prevent the chattering of the relay. Thus, the feed line switching circuit can positively carry out the feed line switching.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a feed line switching circuit for switching a feed line by energizing relays by feed current control, and more particularly to a feed line switching circuit suitable for a branching unit constituting an optical submarine cable system.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram showing a configuration of a conventional feed line switching circuit disclosed in Japanese patent application publication No. 7-34550/1995, for example. In FIG. 7, reference numerals 1a-1c each designate a feed line for feeding repeaters and the like with a current; 2a-2c each designate a power supply such as a DC constant current source; and the reference numeral 3 designates a ground.
The reference numeral 4 designates a feed line switching circuit for switching the feeding from the feeding across the feed lines 1a and 1b to the feeding across the feed lines 1a and 1c or vice versa by feed current control. In the feed line switching circuit 4, reference numerals 5a-5c designate terminals connected to the feed lines 1a-1c.
The reference symbol K1 designates a relay connected between the feed lines 1a and 1b; K2 designates a relay connected between the feed lines 1a and 1c; reference numerals K3 and K4 designates relays connected in series across the feed lines 1b and 1c. The relays K1-K4 each consist of a vacuum relay or the like that operates in response to a feed current. The reference symbol k1-1 designates a contact set of the relay K1; k2-1 designates a contact set of the relay K2; reference symbols k3-1 and k3-2 each designate a contact set of the relay K3; and k4-1 and k4-2 each designate a contact set of the relay K4.
Next, the operation of the conventional feed line switching circuit will be described.
First, to achieve the feeding across the feed lines 1a and 1b, the power supplies 2a and 2b are driven so that the feed current flows from the power supply 2a to the power supply 2b through the feed line 1a, terminal 5a, relay K1, contact k4-2, contact set k2-1, terminal 5b and feed line 1b. As a result, repeaters (not shown) connected to the feed lines 1a and 1b are supplied by double-end feed. In this state, when the feed current reaches the working current of the relay K1, the relay K1 actuates its contact set k1-1 to open the connection across the feed lines 1a and 1c, and to close the connection between the relay K3 and the feed line 1c. Furthermore, the power supply 2c is driven to pass the feed current through the ground 3, relay K3, contact set k1-1, terminal 5c, feed line 1c and power supply 2c. As a result, the repeaters connected to the feed line 1c are supplied by single-end feed. When the feed current reaches the working current of the relay K3, the relay K3 closes its contact k3-1 and opens its contact k3-2, thereby self-holding the connection between the relay K3 and the feed line 1c.
Likewise, to achieve the feeding across the feed lines 1a and 1c, the power supplies 2a and 2c are driven so that the feed current flows from the power supply 2a to the power supply 2c through the feed line 1a, terminal 5a, relay K2, contact k3-2, contact set k1-1, terminal 5c and feed line 1c. As a result, the repeaters connected to the feed lines 1a and 1c are supplied by double-end feed. In this state, when the feed current reaches the working current of the relay K2, the relay K2 actuates its contact set k2-1 to open the connection across the feed lines 1a and 1b, and to close the connection between the relay K4 and the feed line 1b. Furthermore, the power supply 2b is driven to pass the feed current through the ground 3, relay K4, contact set k1-1, terminal 5b, feed line 1b and power supply 2b. As a result, the repeaters connected to the feed line 1b are supplied by single-end feed. When the feed current reaches the working current of the relay K4, the relay K4 closes its contact k4-1 and opens its contact k4-2, thereby self-holding the connection between the relay K4 and the feed line 1b.
In the conventional feed line switching circuit with the foregoing configuration, the impedance of the feed passage can sometimes vary because of the operation of the contacts, thereby varying the feed current flowing through the feed line switching circuit 4.
For example, assume that the feeding across the feed lines 1a and 1b is carried out by the feed current control when a breaking of the optical submarine cable on the side of the feed line 1c takes place, and a shunt fault occurs in which the end of the optical submarine cable on the side of the feed line 1c is grounded by seawater. In this case, the feed current passes not only through the passage of the power supply 2axe2x80x94relay K1xe2x80x94power supply 2b, but also through the shunt fault pointxe2x80x94relay K2xe2x80x94relay K1xe2x80x94power supply 2b transiently. When the sum of the two feed currents reach the working current of the relay K1, the relay K1 opens the contact set k1-1, thereby disconnecting the shunt fault point. Thus, at the time when the contact set k1-1 activates, the impedance of the feed passage seen from the feed line 1b to the feed line switching circuit 4 increases, so that the feed current flowing through the feed line switching circuit 4 is reduced transiently.
Thus, the feed current flowing through the feed line switching circuit 4 is reduced when the feed current reaches the working current of the relay K1 and the contact set k1-1 is opened. As a result, the feed current flowing through the relay K1 is reduced at the same time, and hence the relay K1 can return to unenergized state again. In such a case, the relay K1 will repeat the energized state and unenergized state (chattering), presenting a problem of disabling the switching of the feed line.
The present invention is implemented to solve the foregoing problem. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a feed line switching circuit and branching unit capable of positively switching the feed line with preventing the current reduction in the relay after it is energized, and hence capable of preventing its chattering.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a feed line switching circuit for switching feeding by feed current control between feeding across a first feed line and a second feed line and feeding across the first feed line and a third feed line, the feed line switching circuit comprising: a relay that is connected between the first feed line and the second feed line, and operates in response to a feed current flowing through the relay; a first contact of the relay that closes when the relay is unenergized and opens when the relay is energized;, and a resistor that constitutes a series circuit with the first contact, which series circuit is connected in parallel with the relay, wherein a resistance r of the relay and a resistance R of the resistor are set to satisfy a relationship of
(R/(r+R))xc3x97Ia less than Ib
where Ia is a current value flowing through the second feed line immediately before operation of the relay, and Ib is a current value flowing through the second feed line immediately after the operation of the relay.
Here, the relay may further comprise a second contact that is connected between the first feed line and the third feed line, and that closes when the relay is unenergized and opens when the relay is energized.
Besides, each of the resistors may consist of any one of a single resistor, a combination of a plurality of resistors and an assemblage of other elements that provides resistance in its entirety.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a feed line switching circuit for switching feeding by feed current control between feeding across a first feed line and a second feed line and feeding across the first feed line and a third feed line, the feed line switching circuit comprising: a relay that constitutes a series circuit with a first resistor, and operates in response to a feed current flowing through the relay, the series circuit being connected between the first feed line and the third feed line; a first switching section of the relay that closes its first and second contacts and opens its first and third contacts when the relay is unenergized, and that closes its first and third contacts and opens its first and second contacts when the relay is energized; a second switching section of the relay that is connected between the first feed line and the second feed line, and that closes when the relay is unenergized, and opens when the relay is energized; a first line, a first end of which is connected to a connecting point of the relay and the first resistor, and a second end of which is connected to the first contact of the first switching section of the relay; a second resistor, a first end of which is connected to a relay side end of the series circuit, and a second end of which is connected to the second contact of the first switching section of the relay; and a second line, a first end of which is connected to the first resistor side of the series circuit, and a second end of which is connected to the third contact of the first switching section of the relay, wherein a resistance r of the relay and a resistance R of the second resistor are set to satisfy a relationship of
(R/(r+R))xc3x97Ia less than Ib
where Ia is a current value flowing through the third feed line immediately before operation of the relay, and Ib is a current value flowing through the third feed line immediately after the operation of the relay.
Here, each of the resistors may consist of any one of a single resistor, a combination of a plurality of resistors and an assemblage of other elements that provides resistance in its entirety.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a branching unit comprising a feed line switching circuit, the feed line switching circuit comprising: a relay that is connected between the first feed line and the second feed line, and operates in response to a feed current flowing through the relay; a first contact of the relay that closes when the relay is unenergized and opens when the relay is energized; and a resistor that constitutes a series circuit with the first contact, which series circuit is connected in parallel with the relay, wherein a resistance r of the relay and a resistance R of the resistor are set to satisfy a relationship of
(R/(r+R))xc3x97Ia less than Ib
where Ia is a current value flowing through the second feed line immediately before operation of the relay, and Ib is a current value flowing through the second feed line immediately after the operation of the relay.

Feed line switching circuit and branching unit


A preparation is provided which can be injected or implanted into the human or animal body, and which comprises, as main component, globin that is insoluble at physiological pH, biocompatible and sterile.

Many medical applications of collagen have already been described, whether in the form of pastes, for example for filling, of fluid or solid formulations, such as films or compresses, or in the form of diverse implants. In fact, only animal collagen is generally used.
The preparation of human collagen, which would be preferable to animal collagen, can be envisioned from human cutaneous tissues. However, it is made very difficult since the taking of human tissue samples from cadavers poses considerable ethical problems and requires expensive tests in order to eliminate the risks of transmission of infectious diseases, viral diseases or the like. The preparation of human collagen from placentas is expensive, complex and difficult to organize. The preparation of human collagen by the modern methods of genetic recombination or of cell culture is also very expensive, which would certainly impair the commercial development of this product.
Globin is the protein constituting hemoglobin, which, itself, contains 4 peptide chains (2 α-chains and 2 β-chains), each associated with a heme. The heme consists of a tetrapyrole structure containing one positively charged iron atom. There are 4 hemes per molecule, responsible for the red coloration of hemoglobin.
The processes for preparing globin have been known for a very long time and have been developed with dietary application being the aim, or for preparing injectable pharmaceutical solutions.
Unlike hemoglobin, which is completely soluble at physiological pH, globin is notably insoluble under the same conditions. The insoluble nature of globin under physiological conditions has, to date, impaired the development of its pharmaceutical applications. For this reason, most experiments have sought to prepare globin derivatives which are soluble at physiological pH, in particular by succinylation using succinic anhydride or by acetylation using acetic anhydride, or by hydrolysis of the amide functions at alkaline pH, which increases the negative charge of globin and decreases its isoelectric pH. An injectable product combining a soluble preparation of acid globin with insulin has been developed, patented and marketed: Reiner (1939); Reiner et al. (1939). It allows, after injection, gradual delivery of the insulin from this complex: Rabinowitch et al. (1947); Berg et al. (1953). Globin is not the active element or the main element of this product.


The invention pertains to an organic light emitting diode (LED) comprising a transparent electrode, superposed by a layer of a conductive transparent polymer (CTP), superposed by a layer of a light emitting polymer, oligomer, or low molecular weight compound superposed by a metal cathode, characterized in that the CTP layer has a sulfate ion content of less than 7,500 ppm, and a metal ion content of more than 0.04 mmoles/g.

The invention pertains to an organic light emitting diode (LED) comprising a transparent electrode, superposed by a layer of a conductive transparent polymer (CTP), superposed by a layer of a light emitting polymer, oligomer, or low molecular weight compound, superposed by a metal cathode, wherein the CTP layer has a low sulfate and high metal ion content.
LEDs comprising a conductive transparent polymer are known in the art to increase the lifetime of polymer LEDs essentially. LEDs with CTP layers have been described, for instance, in patent application WO 96/08047. Various polymeric materials have been described as suitable for use in LEDs as materials that on the one hand provide areas of electric insulation, and at the other hand provide electroconductive areas that serve as real hole-injection anodes. Such polymers that, depending on the location, can be in the conductive and non-conductive state, have been found in the classes of polythiophenes, polyamines, polypyrroles, polyanilines, and polyacetylenes, which polymers may be substituted with alkyl and alkoxy groups, halogens, and the like. The thickness of these CTP layers is reported to be between 50 and 500 nm. Thin layers are preferred to prevent substantial absorption of the visible light, which decreases the performance of the LED. However, in practice these layers must be relatively thick to prevent leakage currents, short-circuit, and pinholes, and to improve the device lifetime.
The major disadvantage of these CTP layers is the complicated and expensive method of making layers with conductive and non-conductive areas, e.g. for use in a matrix or segmented organic LED displays. It would be a substantial advantage to make layers that have the same conductivity over the whole layer. Pixels that are electrically connected through the CTP layer suffer from an inhomogeneous decay of emitted light within one pixel under multiplexed driving, the so called anode shrinkage. Examples of multiplexed driving can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,119. Typically, anode shrinkage is first visible at the sides of the display and propagates row after row, or column after column inside the matrix display. In general anode shrinkage can appear between any two pixels or segments of a display. Moreover, generally layers of these CTP polymers influence the lifetime of the device due to compounds included in the dispersion, solution, or suspension. It is an object of the present invention to improve the pixel degradation due to the shrinkage and to improve the lifetime of the device. Also by applying ink jetting for the deposition of the CTP layer, it is possible that a connected CTP layer covering more than one pixel is easier and cheaper to realize than preparing a substrate architecture with separation walls around one pixel that prevents the CTP dispersion, suspension, or solution, dispensed to one pixel, to cover other pixels also. Such pixels, which are electrically connected via the CTP layer suffer from shrinkage under multipled driving.
It has now been found that when the CTP layer has a sulfate ion (SO42xe2x88x92) content less than 7,500 ppm, and a metal ion content more than 0.04 mmoles/g, the lifetime and the anode shrinkage of the LEDs is considerably improved. The present invention therefore pertains to an organic light emitting diode (LED) comprising a transparent electrode, which preferably is a layer of indium oxide or indium-tin oxide (ITO), superposed by a layer of a conductive transparent polymer (CTP), superposed by a layer of a light emitting polymer, oligomer, or low molecular weight compound, superposed by a metal cathode, characterized in that the CTP layer has a sulfate ion content of less than 7,500 ppm, and a metal ion content of more than 0.04 mmoles/g.
The conductive transparent polymer can be made to a layer by any suitable method, and in general is deposited by a spin coating process from a solution, dispersion, or suspension, or by an ink jet process. For application in an organic LED display, the dried film of the conductive transparent polymer preferably satisfies one or more of the following properties to achieve a long lifetime and a minimum anode shrinkage, as well as a large efficiency:
The conductive transparent polymer is selected from of the class of polythiophenes, polypyrroles, polyanilines, polyamines, and polyacetylenes.
The salt or polyelectrolyte serving as a counter ion is selected from a sulfonic acid, such as polystyrenesulfonic acid and para-toluenesulfonic acid.
The sulfate concentration in the dried film is less than 1,250 ppm.
The metal ion concentration in the dried film is more than 0.5 mmoles/g to avoid anode shrinkage in a matrix or segmented display.
The metal ion is preferably an alkali or earth alkali metal ion. With more preference the metal ion is substantially an ion of K, Rb, Cs, Mg, Ba, and/or Ca.
The preferred requirement that the metal ions are substantially only K, Rb, Cs, Mg, Ba, and/or Ca is of particular importance when the CTP layer is used on an active matrix substrate to realize a long lifetime of the device and to avoid anode shrinkage. The metal ion concentration has then to be high, but the Li and Na ion concentration should be as low as possible, preferably less than 1010 ions/cm2, to avoid MOS instability effects and to optimize the gate dielectrics. The metal ions can be added in the form of their oxides, hydroxides, or salts. Suitable salts are, for instance, carbonates, nitrates, halides (fluorides, chlorides, bromides, and iodides), organic salts, and mixtures thereof.
The sulfate content in the dried layer must be less than 7,500 ppm, which is obtained when the sulfate content is less than 300 ppm in a 4 wt. % solid CTP dispersion. A sulfate content in the dried layer of 1,250 ppm corresponds to a content of 50 ppm in a 4 wt. % dispersion that is used for making the CTP layer.
The metal ion content in the dried layer must be more than 0.04 mmoles/g, which is obtained when the metal ion content is more than 1.6 xcexcmol/g in a 4 wt. % solid CTP dispersion that is used for making the CTP layer. An metal ion content in the dried layer of 0.5 mmoles/g corresponds to a content of 0.02 mmoles/g in a 4 wt. % dispersion.
The polymers that are suitable for the CTP layer are known in the art. Particularly, reference is made to patent application WO 96/08047, which discloses various materials and methods of preparation thereof, and which contents are incorporated by reference. Useful polymers are polythiophenes, polypyrroles, polyanilines, polyamines, and polyacetylenes. Particularly useful are poly-3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene, polyaniline (PANI), and polyurethanes such as ConQuest (ex. DSM, The Netherlands). The polymer may be mixed with monomers, oligomers, or other polymers. A preferred material for use in the CTP layer is the mixture of poly-3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene and polystyrene sulfonic acid (PEDOT).
The active layer is situated between two electrode layers of electroconductive materials. At least one of said electrode layers must be transparent or translucent to the emitted light in the active layer. One of the electrode layers serves as the (positive) electrode for injecting holes into the active layer. The material of this electrode layer has a high work function and is generally formed by a layer of indium oxide or indium-tin oxide (ITO). In addition, such layers are transparent to the emitted light in the active layer. Particularly ITO is suitable because of its satisfactory electrical conductivity and high transparency. The other electrode layer serves as the (negative) electrode for injecting electrons into the active layer. The material for this layer has a lower work function and is generally formed from a layer of, for example, indium, calcium, barium, or magnesium.
The electrode layer of ITO is provided by vacuum evaporation, sputtering, or a CVD process. This electrode layer and often also the negative electrode layer, for example, of calcium, are structured in accordance with a pattern by means of a customary photolithographic process or by partly covering it with a mask during the vacuum deposition process which corresponds to the desired pattern for a display. In a typical example of a display, the electrodes of the first and second electrode layers have line structures which intersect each other at right angles and hence form a matrix of separately drivable rectangular LEDs. The rectangular LEDs constitute the pixels or picture elements of the display. If the electrodes of the first and second electrode layers are connected to an electrical source, light-emitting pixels are formed at the intersection of the electrodes. In this way a display can be formed in a simple manner. The pixel structure is not limited to a particular shape. Basically all pixel shapes are possible leading to a segmented display, e.g. for showing icons or simple figures.
The light emitting polymers, oligomers, or low molecular weight compounds may be any electroluminescent material, such as polyfluorene copolymers such as disclosed in WO 97/33323, polyspiro copolymers such as disclosed in DE 19615128, poly(3-alkylthiophene), and poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) such as disclosed in WO 98/27136. Preferably, soluble conjugated polymers and oligomers are used because they can be easily applied, for example in a spin-coating process or by ink jetting. Preferred examples of soluble conjugated PPV derivatives are poly(dialkyl-p-phenylene vinylene) and poly(dialkoxy-p-phenylene vinylene). The light emitting material may also be a doped low molecular material, such as 8-hydroxyquinolin-aluminum doped with a dye, such as quinacridone, deposited in a vacuum process.
Dependent upon the preparation of the conjugated polymer, said polymer may comprise 5 to 10% non-conjugated units. It has been found that such non-conjugated units increase the electroluminescence efficiency, which is defined by the number of photons per injected electron in the active layer.
The above-mentioned conjugated PPV derivatives can be dissolved in the customary organic solvents, for example halogenated hydrocarbons such as chloroform, and aromatic hydrocarbons such as toluene. Acetone and tetrahydrofurane can also be used as solvents.
The degree of polymerization of the conjugated polymer ranges between 10 and 100,000.
The layer thickness of the light emitting layer of the conjugated polymer often ranges between 10 and 250 nm, in particular between 50 and 130 nm.
The LED structure can be provided on a substrate which is made, for example, from glass, quartz glass, ceramic, or synthetic resin material. Transistors or other electronic means may be present between the substrate and the transparent electrode forming a so called active matrix substrate. Preferably, use is made of a translucent or transparent substrate. If a flexible electroluminescent device is desired, use is made of a transparent foil of a synthetic resin. Suitable transparent and flexible synthetic resins are, for example, polyimide, polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate, polyethene, and polyvinyl chloride.
These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.

Led comprising a conductive transparent polymer layer with low sulfate and high metal ion content


A device for filling and closing disposable bags for containing banknotes, comprises a container for the temporary housing of one or more banknotes, having side walls and a bottom with an opening for the exit of said one or more banknotes from the container, a pushing piston for pushing said one or more banknotes towards the bottom of the container, a bag made of flexible material intended to be filled with the banknotes temporarily housed in the container, which is anchored, at the edges of its mouth, to fixing pins placed in proximity of the opening in the bottom of the container, a plate which is vertically movable through controlled lowering means and placed below the container, the plate having a central slot, which is open at the top towards the container and extending vertically through the body of the plate for the insertion of a bottom portion of the bag anchored to the fixing pins, and first sealing elements placed between the container and the plate.

The present invention refers to a device for filling and closing disposable bags for containing paper documents, in particular banknotes.
Such device is intended to be used in machines for storing banknotes, usually present in banks, supermarkets, shopping malls or the like.
In the prior art, the banknotes are introduced into these machines through an inlet port and they are then inserted into boxes or into plastic bags removably housed in the machine.
In case of use of plastic bags, they can advantageously be of the disposable type, i.e. bags which, after filling, are sealed by appropriate sealing blades at the edges of the their mouth so that, once opened, they cannot be used again.
Obviously, the use of plastic bags instead of rigid boxes implies various difficulties both as regards fixing the bag to the machine and introducing the banknotes into the bag up to its correct filling, these difficulties essentially being due to lack of rigidity of the bag and in particular to the flexibility of its walls. On the other hand, the disposable plastic bags are simple and inexpensive to be made, they are light and easy to be handled and they do not require any maintenance.
US-A-2011/0052363 discloses a system in which a banknote is introduced one at a time, through a roller feeding device, into the bag, which is placed horizontally and fixed to a support frame provided with a seat within which the bag is initially rolled. Each banknote is introduced into the bag oriented vertically and, as the banknotes are progressively introduced into the bag, the pack that is thus formed is translated horizontally along a conveyor belt which supports it, thus causing an extension of the bag which unrolls from its seat. The pack of banknotes is laterally accompanied by a support plate at the bottom of the bag, while a pressing element on the opposed side of the pack with respect to the aforementioned support contributes to keep the banknotes constantly compact in the bag.
The solution described in this prior art document however implies a considerable structural complexity and, thus, even high production costs.
Document WO-A-02/19289 provides for a piston for facilitating the entry of the banknotes into the box or into a bag.
DE-A-102009053155 discloses a system for filling a bag, with a plate for the lower support of the bag containing the banknotes. The plate is vertically movable downwards as the bag is filled and it is provided with a central passage for the insertion of a "tail" portion of the bag. The machine also comprises a pair of plates, in intermediate position with respect to the height-wise extension of the bag, horizontally movable by acting from outside the bag so as to divide the bag into an upper portion and a lower portion. A piston is vertically movable to firstly compact the banknotes in the upper portion of the bag and then push them, due to the mutual departure movement of the pair of plates, in the lower portion of the bag.
However, this is a complex solution, with many movable parts. In addition, the bag is pressed between the horizontally movable plates and the banknotes stacked in the upper and lower portions, so that the aforementioned horizontal movement of the plates may lead to the risk of breaking the bag.

Device for optimising the filling of bags for containing banknotes


Provided is an image forming apparatus which acquires a plurality of jobs for repeatedly arranging images having widths smaller than a width of a continuous paper in a conveyance direction of the continuous paper, sets information for arranging the acquired jobs in a width direction of the continuous paper, forms images based on the set information, and sets a common blank forming period at which blanks among images appearing at different periods in each job coincide with each other between the jobs in the conveyance direction and forms a common blank.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, an image forming method, a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium stored with a common blank forming period setting program, and an image forming system.
2. Description of Related Art
There has been proposed an image forming apparatus that performs printing by using a continuous paper such as a rolled paper. The rolled paper, for example, is a paper having a width of about several hundreds of millimeters and a conveyance direction length of about several hundreds of meters. Since the rolled paper has a wide paper surface, a plurality of images can be continuously printed. However, if printing is not performed in the state in which images have been efficiently arranged on the paper surface, it results in a problem that a blank area becomes wide and thus the paper is wasted.
In order to reduce the blank area in such a problem, there has also been known a technology in which images of a job are arranged in a width direction of a rolled paper and is printed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-47137). In the technology disclosed in the patent document, at the time point at which the arranged images have protruded in the width direction of the rolled paper, the cutting position of the rolled paper is determined according to an image having the longest length in a conveyance direction among the already arranged images. Other images are arranged in blank areas among the arranged images and the cutting position, so that a paper is effectively utilized.
Moreover, in recent years, in printing of a label and the like, images of a job are repeatedly arranged in a conveyance direction of a rolled paper and image sequences are printed. Also in this case, in order to effectively utilize a paper, there has been proposed a technology in which a plurality of image sequences arranged in a conveyance direction of the paper are arranged in a width direction of the paper so as to be printed.
However, as described above, when a plurality of image sequences arranged in the conveyance direction of the paper are arranged in the width direction of the paper and are printed, the lengths of images included in each image sequence and the lengths of blanks among the images are various. Therefore, when it is necessary to cut the paper in the width direction during printing due to the occurrence of jam and the like, it is difficult to find a position at which the paper can be cut without cutting images of any image sequences. When the images are cut, an operator confirms the number and content of the cut images and needs to perform setting of re-printing, discard of the cut images and the like, resulting in an increase in work load.

Image forming apparatus for determining a common blank space for parallel continuous printing


An electronic device comprising: a touch screen display; and at least one processor operatively coupled to the touch screen display, configured to: detect an input on the touch screen display; identify an input range based on a location of the input; detect a first path associated with additional input that is performed at least partially in the input range and display an indication of the first path on the touch screen display; compare the first path to a second path; and perform a function in response to detecting that the first path matches the second path.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electronic devices, in general, and more particularly to an apparatus for controlling security of an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent development of digital technology, various kinds of electronic devices, such as mobile communication terminals, smart phones, tablets, Personal Computers (PCs), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), electronic schedulers, notebooks, wearable devices, and the like, are widely used. The electronic devices have evolved to reach a mobile convergence stage encompassing the functions of the other devices. For example, the electronic devices are able to provide a telephony function such as a voice call, a video call, etc., a message exchange function such as a short message service (SMS)/multimedia message service (MMS), an electronic mail, etc., an electronic scheduler function, a photographing function, a broadcast replay function, a video replay function, a music replay function, an Internet function, a messenger function, a game function, or a social networking service (SNS) function, etc.
An unlocking method of an electronic device displays a pattern input area on a fixed area in a screen lock state, recognizes an input pattern which is inputted by touching the displayed pattern input area, and determines whether to unlock the screen. However, the user of the electronic device should use both hands to input a pattern to the pattern input area displayed on the fixed location, and thus has difficulty in inputting a pattern with one hand. In addition, since the lock screen is displayed on the first screen, the lock screen may hide the screen (wall paper) (visual noise), and accordingly, may increase screen complexity. In addition, when the pattern input area is not displayed on the first screen, depth may be generated and thus much time may be required to perform an operation desired by the user (an unlocking operation).

Apparatus and method for controlling security of electronic device


Methods for improving adhesion between a shape memory alloy and a polymeric material include functionalizing a surface of the shape memory polymer with a phosphorous containing compound or an organosilane coupling agent. Other methods include surface texturing the shape memory alloy surface, independently or in combination with the functionalization.

The present disclosure generally relates to methods for improving adhesion between a metal and a polymeric material, and more particularly to improving chemical and/or mechanical adhesion between a shape memory alloy and the polymeric material.
Applications of shape memory alloys (SMA) can include embedding of the SMA material into a polymer material composite to control external shape, change stiffness, and provide vibration control of the composite, for example. The performance of applications comprising SMA material embedded in a polymeric material is heavily dependent on the quality of the SMA-polymer adhesion. The interface must have sufficient adhesion to transfer the stresses and strains from the SMA constituents to the surrounding material; the stronger the adhesion, the higher level of strain that can be transferred prior to mechanical failure. An exemplary use would be an automotive component with numerous SMA wires embedded in a polymeric material. The embedded wires must remain adhered to the polymeric material when they are deformed, for example, by application of an external current.
One method for improving adhesion between the SMA and the polymer involves treating the surface of the SMA with silane coupling agents prior to bonding the SMA to a reactive polymeric material, for example, an epoxy resin. However, the use of silane coupling agents can produce toxic compounds. Additionally, the silane coupling agents must be hydrolyzed before use, and the hydrolyzed solutions have a very finite stable lifetime. Moreover, adhesion quality needs to be improved for certain applications. Another approach involves hand sanding or sandblasting the SMA material. However, as the size of the SMA used in an application decreases to micron- or nano-sized particles, sanding or sandblasting treatments become difficult and not suitable.
Accordingly, a need exists for improved methods of adhering shape memory alloys to polymeric materials.

Method for improving adhesion between a shape memory alloy and a polymer


Systems and methods for handling Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) drives in a tiered storage system. In some embodiments, an Information Handling System (IHS) may include a processor; and a memory coupled to the processor, the memory having program instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by the processor, cause the IHS to: identify, among data stored in a first storage medium, a data subset that has a selected access pattern, wherein the selected access pattern is indicative of how often data is updated; and move the data subset from the first storage medium to one or more SMR drives.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is an Information Handling System (IHS). An IHS generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements may vary between different applications, IHSs may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in IHSs allow for IHSs to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, global communications, etc. In addition, IHSs may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
In the context of IHSs, a hard disk drive (HDD) is a data storage device used for storing and retrieving digital information using one or more rotating magnetic disks. The disks are paired with magnetic heads arranged on a mechanical arm, which can then read and write data from/to the rotating surface. Data is accessed in a random-access manner such that individual blocks of data can be stored and retrieved in any order.
A Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) drive is a special type of HDD where relatively wide tracks are written to the magnetic disk, and successively written data tracks partially overlap previous ones (similar to the manner roof shingles are applied). As such, SMR drives can store significantly more information per unit area than conventional HDDs. The inventors hereof have determined, however, that for certain input/output (I/O) access patterns, SMR drives perform worse than standard HDDs—particularly when tiered storage is used.

Handling shingled magnetic recording (SMR) drives in a tiered storage system


A self draining door sill assembly for use in the bottom of an exterior door frame of a house or other building is disclosed. The assembly includes an elongated base and a threshold member adjustably attached to the base for cooperating with and engaging a weather strip attached to the underside of a door when the door is closed in the frame to form a primary water seal. The threshold and base define an elongated water chamber therebetween and the threshold defines an upwardly opening storm drain channel formed in and along an upper, interior side surface portion thereof which terminates in a pair of slots located in opposite ends of the threshold, which slots also communicate with the underlying water chamber. A pair of spaced apart weep channels are formed in the base and extend from a floor of the water chamber exteriorally along the through an exterior side of the base, such that rain water which blows or seeps past the primary seal gathers in the drain channel, flows through the slots onto the floor of the water chamber, migrates along the floor to the weep channels, and then flows through the weep channels out of the assembly. A weather cover panel covers an exterior side portion of the base and a compressible resilient gasket is attached to the weather cover and fills a gap between the weather cover and the threshold member.

This invention relates generally to a door sill structure of the self draining type adapted for use in the base of an exterior door frame of a house or other building. More specifically, the invention relates to such an assembly which also includes an adjustable threshold having means for gathering rain water that has blown or seeped past a primary weather seal located in the door frame plane and for expelling such water from the assembly.
Broadly speaking, self draining door sill assemblies for use in exterior door frames are known in the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,831,779 issued to D. W. Kehrli et al. on May 23, 1989; U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,793 issued to N. J. Mills on Aug. 18, 1987; U.S. Pat. No. 4,310,991 issued to J. R. Seely on Jan. 19, 1982; U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,917 issued to J. Coller on Nov. 1, 1977; U.S. Pat. No. 3,351,420 issued to P. E. Tibbetts on Dec. 3, 1974 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,167,958 issued to P. R. Oftedal et al. on Aug. 1, 1939.
The door sill structures of Kehrli et al., Mills, Seely, Coller and Tibbetts do not include an adjustable threshold member, which is necessary for assuring a close, compression fit between the member and a primary seal weather strip attached to and along the underside of the door. In fact, of these patents, only the patents to Coller and Tibbetts even disclose a door sill assembly for use with a weather strip attached to the underside of a door.
The patent to Oftedal et al. also discloses a door sill assembly which cooperates with a weatherstrip attached to an underside of an entrance door. However, while the reference structure is said to be adjustable, it is adjustable only horizontally to allow proper positioning of an exteriorally facing flange for proper cooperation with an outer screen door as a screen door stop. The reference structure does not employ means for making separate vertical adjustments along the length of the member underlying the entrance door as would be necessary for assuring satisfactory water tight engagement between the member and the weatherstrip uniformly along the bottom edge of the door.
By means of my invention these and other difficulties encountered using door sill construction of the prior art are substantially overcome.


The present invention relates to a chuck for gripping workpieces having an outer chuck body rotatable about a chuck axis and defining a cavity. The chuck includes a collar, coupled to the outer chuck body, having a slot with a slot axis angled relative to said chuck axis. An inner chuck body located within the cavity is movable along the chuck axis relative to the collar and the outer chuck body. The inner chuck body includes a bore having a bore axis angled relative to said chuck axis into which the jaw rod is disposed, with the jaw rod being coupled to the collar.

The present invention relates to a chuck for gripping workpieces and, more particularly, to a chuck having limited pull-back when gripping workpieces thereby, reducing forces that tend to distort the workpiece.
Draw-down chucks are widely used to grip workpieces while machining or performing other operations. Draw-down chucks come in a variety of sizes to grip various sized workpieces and typically have two to four jaws that move axially between an extended and a retracted position. To extend or retract the jaws, a puller coupled to the jaw rod moves the jaws axially to grip or release the outer or inner surface of a workpiece. Generally the body of the chuck includes bores through which the jaw rods extend. As the puller moves the jaw rods between the extended and retracted positions, the jaws rods are moved within the bores in the stationary chuck body. It is difficult to grip some workpieces with conventional chucks in a consistent and reliable manner without distorting the workpiece. For example, if the puller is retracted too far, the jaw rods engage against the outer radial surface of the workpiece and may exert too much force, thereby distorting the workpiece. Distortion may also occur from the retaining force of the engaged jaws during the machining process. Some manufacturers use elaborate methods to limit the amount of force exerted by the jaw rods or the location of the puller, but it is still difficult to consistently grip a workpiece with a limited force or limited movement of the jaw rods.


An intensity of light reflected on a phase-changing type of information recording medium is changed since unrecorded and recorded portions of the recording medium have different phase states so that reflectivities of the unrecorded and recorded portions are different from each other. Such an intensity change takes place in a very short time immediately after a recording pulse is irradiated onto the phase-changing type of information recording medium. In a recording and simultaneous verifying method of the phase-changing type of information recording medium, the change in intensity of light reflected on the phase-changing type of information recording medium is detected by using this light reflected simultaneously with a recording pulse irradiated onto the phase-changing type of information recording medium. It is confirmed if the information is correctly recorded by detecting the reflected light. Thus, this information can be recorded to the information recording medium and can be simultaneously verified.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording and simultaneous verifying method of a phase-changing type off information recording medium in which this method is utilized in fields of devices relative to an optical memory, etc., and information can be recorded, regenerated and rewritten by changing a phase of the material of a recording layer by irradiating an optical beam onto the information recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A so-called phase-changing type of information recording medium is well known as one of optical memory media in which information can be recorded, regenerated and erased by irradiating an electromagnetic wave, especially, a laser beam to this recording medium. This phase-changing type of information recording medium uses a transition between a crystal phase and a noncrystal phase, or a transition between crystal phases. It is difficult to overwrite information by a single beam in the case of a magneto-optic memory. However, in accordance with this phase-changing type of information recording medium, information can be especially overwritten by a single beam. Further, the construction of an optical system on a driving side of the phase-changing type of information recording medium is simplified in comparison with the magneto-optic memory. Therefore, the phase-changing type of information recording medium has recently been searched and developed actively.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,530,441 shows a typical example of such a phase-changing type of information recording medium. In this United States Patent, the phase-changing type of information recording medium uses a so-called chalcogen alloy material such as Ge-Te, Ge-Te-Sn, Ge-Te-S, Ge-Se-S, Ge-Se-Sb, Ge-As-Se, In-Te, Se-Te, Se-As, etc. In Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 61-219692, gold (Au) is added to a Ge-Te including material to improve stability of the recording medium and crystallize the recording medium at a high speed, etc. In Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 61-270190, tin (Sn) and gold (Au) are added to the chalcogen alloy material. In Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 62-19490, palladium (Pd) is added to the chalcogen alloy material. Further, in Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 62-73438, a composition ratio of Ge-Te-Se-Sb and Ge-Te-Sb in the chalcogen alloy material is specified to improve cyclability of data recording and erasing operations.
However, all recording characteristics required for the phase-changing type of information recording medium are not satisfied in each of these publications. In particular, the most important subjects to be solved are to prevent an erasing ratio of data from being reduced by an incomplete erasing operation at an overwriting, and to increase the number off cyclability of overwriting.
Japanese Patent Application Laying Open (KOKAI) No. 63-251290 proposes a phase-changing type of information recording medium having a recording layer composed of a single phase off compound whose crystal state is substantially equal to a ternary compound or more. In this kind of recording layer, a ternary compound such as In.sub.3 SbTe.sub.2, etc. having a stoichiometric composition exists at a ratio of 90 molecular percent (%) or more. By using such a recording layer, recording and erasing characteristics of the recording medium is improved. However, an erasure ratio still remains low.
In consideration of these situations, it is desirable to develop a phase-changing type of information recording medium having a high data erasure ratio and an excellent cyclability.
Materials for a protective layer suitable for a material of the recording layer have been also developed. For example, ZnSSiO.sub.2, Al.sub.2 O.sub.3, Ta.sub.2 O.sub.5, SiN, AlN, etc. are used as the protective layer. However, all characteristics of the recording medium required for an optical memory medium are not satisfied at present even with these materials.
Generally, in the magneto-optic memory, it is necessary to perform three operations composed of erasing, recording and verifying data. In this case, accordingly, three rotations of the disk are required. Therefore, a data writing speed is apparently low in comparison with a magnetic disk that requires two operations composed of recording and verifying data. In this case, which is represented by hard disk, two rotations or less of the disk are normally required. For the phase-changing type of information recording medium, two operations composed of recording and verifying are also required with existing technology. This is a great obstacle to a reduction of the data writing speed. Concretely, the data writing speed is two or three times slower than that in the magnetic disk, which leads to a low data transfer rate.

Recording and simultaneous verifying method of phase-changing type of information recording medium


A process for the concentration of dilute phosphoric acid in a phosphoric acid process characterized by a plurality of separate phosphoric acid cycles when the phosphoric acid is concentrated in each cycle by a vacuum evaporation is described wherein the phosphoric acid cycles is heated by indirect heat exchange by heat of formation formed in a sulfuric acid contact process.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process of concentrating dilute phosphoric acid, which is conducted in a plurality of separate phosphoric acid cycles, which are associated with respective vacuum evaporator stages connected in series, and is indirectly heated in each cycle outside the evaporators by means of surplus heat from a contact process sulfuric acid plant.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The treatment of raw phosphates with sulfuric acid often results in a dilute phosphoric acid which contains about 26 to 32% P.sub.2 O.sub.5 which for use in the production of fertilizer, must be concentrated to a concentration of more than about 45% P.sub.2 O.sub.5.
From A.V. Slack "Phosphoric Acid", Vol. 1, Part II, 1968, published by Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, pages 607 to 634, it is known to concentrate phosphoric acid in a process in which the phosphoric acid is conducted in a plurality of separate phosphoric acid cycles, which are associated with respective vacuum evaporator stages connected in series, and is indirectly heated in each cycle outside the evaporators by means of low-pressure steam, which is produced by means of surplus heat from a sulfuric acid process contact process. Because much energy is consumed in concentrating phosphoric acid, a large proportion of the high-grade energy produced in the form of steam in the sulfuric acid contact process plant is spent for such concentrating. Unless it was required in the form of valuable steam for concentrating the phosphoric acid, the energy supplied from the sulfuric acid contact process plant could be used to produce more-electric power to meet the total energy requirement of the combined plant for producing sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid.
It is an object of the invention to provide a process for concentrating phosphoric acid in a combined plant for producing sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid which avoids, as far as possible, the use of high-grade energy for concentrating the dilute phosphoric acid and provides a substitute for such energy in a manner which is technologically simple and economical.

Process of strengthening dilute phosphoric acid


A tamper-resistant cash box combination including a cash box support structure defining a storage cavity accessible through a front opening, a closed cash box sized to fit snugly into the structure containing a front panel for fitting flush with the structure front opening, the front panel forming a first slot therethrough for passing currency and the like into the box, a bolt inside the cash box in slidable engagement with the front panel, the bolt defined by a top end and a bottom end, and a lock on the cash box front panel for moving the bolt upward to cover the first slot and downward through a second slot formed in the bottom of the cash box into a third slot formed in the bottom of the structure to lock the cash box in the structure where actuation of the lock in one direction locks the cash box in the structure and simultaneously opens the currency-passing first slot for access to the interior of the cash box and actuation of the lock in the other direction unlocks the cash box from the structure for removal therefrom and simultaneously closes the currency-passage first slot to prevent further access to the interior of the cash box.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to currency security boxes which are commonly used to accept bills, coins, tokens and other types of currency and the like. More particularly, this invention pertains to a unique cash box combination that automatically locks and becomes tamper-resistant the moment it is unlocked for removal from its housing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cash boxes are used throughout the commercial world as receptacles for receiving and storing cash and the like in locked storage until the owner or appropriate official can remove it from operation for subsequent processing. Because the box holds currency it is often the subject of tampering. Normally, one person possesses the key to unlock the cash box for removal to be periodically emptied. Tampering often occurs when the box is unlocked for emptying and/or replaced with an empty box. Further, many boxes have a non-closable entry slot that is susceptible to having currency withdrawn by the use of thin wires or string passed through the entry slot and into the box.
Numerous patents have been issued disclosing and claiming various modifications to cash boxes in order to make them useful for accepting and retaining currency and adaptable to easy access by authorized personnel. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,292,849; 3,433,185; 4,080,908; 4,278,033; 4,452,390; 4,462,317; 4,493,268; 4,638,746; and, 4,896,826 are just a few of these patents. All of them come at a high cost, however, because the devices attached to them require extra manufacturing material and extra labor resulting in a high retail cost. In addition, most of them require training of personnel so that higher wages are required for management personnel. Finally, numerous locks and keys are required to open and close the many drawers and doors to these items. All of these disadvantages makes this part of business highly expensive and heavily managed.


An improved technique for simultaneously performing bit synchronization and error detection of received digital data bursts in a time division multiplexed/time division multiple access (TDM/TDMA) system, such as that used in conjunction with low power portable digital telephony. With the improved technique both bit synchronization and error detection are performed simultaneously to thereby reduce latency in the transceiver. Since round-trip delay is reduced, echo suppression techniques may not be needed.

Various systems have been developed and implemented to match the explosive demand for wireless communication. Such systems include cordless telephone systems, cellular mobile radio systems, public packet radio data networks, and radio paging systems. As outlined in commonly assigned Ariyavisitakul et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,891, Jan. 28, 1992 ("Patent '891"), the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein, these systems are each characterized by various advantages and drawbacks.
Among such other wireless communication systems, low power digital systems have been developed which support low-speed, portable use (for example, by pedestrians). Similar to cellular radio, low power portable digital telephony uses a fixed base unit, referred to as a radio port (RP), and a number of fixed or portable transceivers (hereinafter referred to as subscriber units (SUs)) that can simultaneously access that port on a multiplexed basis.
Low power multiplexed radio links commonly operate on a time division multiplexed/time division multiple access basis to provide a number of separate fully duplex demand-assigned digital channels between an RP and each of its associated SUs. Each RP transmits time division multiplexed bit streams on a pre-defined carrier frequency. In turn, each SU that accesses an RP responds by transmitting a TDMA burst on a common, pre-defined carrier frequency that may be different from that used by the RP (in the case of frequency-division duplexed systems), or that may be the same as that used by the RP (in the case of time-division duplexed systems). The power used by the transmitter in the SU may range between 5-10 milliwatts or less on average and provide a range of several hundred to a thousand feet. With this transmission range, an RP might simultaneously serve 20 to 30 separate locally situated SUs.
In such a system, the same TDM channels may be re-used at RPs that are spaced sufficiently far apart to reduce co-channel interference to an acceptably low level, but yet conserve valuable spectrum. To provide access to the wireline telephone network, each RP may be interfaced, typically through a conventional fixed distribution facility, over either a copper or fiber connection to a switching machine at a local central office. The switching machine is suitably programmed, in a similar manner as is a Mobile Telephone Switching Office (MTSO), to controllably and automatically handoff calls from one RP to another as subscribers move their SUs from RP to RP.
PACS (Personal Access Communication Systems) is a standard which supports low power, portable digital communication. As illustrated in FIG. 1, PACS architecture consists of four main components: the SU (portable 2 or fixed 4), the RPs 6 which are connected to a radio port control unit (RPCU) 8 and an access manager (AM) 10. An interface A, the air interface, provides a connection between the SU and the RP. Interface P provides the protocols required to connect the SUs through the RPs to the RPCU.
With PACS, a large number of radio frequency (RF) channels may be frequency division multiplexed with 80 MHz separation, or time division multiplexed. A variant of PACS, known as PACS-UB and developed for the unlicensed U.S. PCS band between 1920 and 1930 MHz, uses time division duplexing. While the present invention applies equally to frequency- and time-division duplexed systems, without loss of generality, the following material will consider only frequency-division duplexed link examples, for simplicity and clarity.
FIG. 2A shows the forward link (or downlink) from an RP to an SU. One 2.5 ms frame corresponds to eight 312.5 .mu.s time slots. Each time slot consists of 120 bits. The first 14 bits form a synchronization channel and the next ten bits form a system signaling logical channel called the Slow Channel. The Frame Synchronization Channel and the Slow Channel are used to derive initial frame synchronization for each SU. User information is transmitted in the Fast Channel which comprises the next 80 bits. The next 15 bits are used for a cyclic redundancy check for error detection, while the last bit, known as the power control bit, provides an indication to the SU to adjust its transmitting power up or down.
FIG. 2B illustrates the reverse link (or uplink) from the SUs to an RP. Again, each 2.5 ms frame is divided into eight 312.5 .mu.s time slots during which 120 bits are transmitted. The first twelve bits form a guard channel, while the next two bits enable differential encoding. This guard channel is used to prevent different TDMA bursts that are transmitting from different SUs from overlapping in time as a result, for example, of propagation delays. The SU does not actually begin transmission of the uplink burst until the differential encode bits.
As in the forward link, the next ten bits correspond to the Slow Channel, and data is contained in the next eighty bits. The next fifteen bits are used for error detection, while the last bit serves as a pad bit to provide an even number of bits for transmission.
The frequency band for PACS is 1850 MHz to 1910 MHz (uplink) paired with 1930 MHz to 1990 MHz (downlink), the "Broadband PCS Spectrum" allocated by the U.S. FCC in June 1994. As known in the art, PACS utilizes .pi./4-shifted, differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK) in which the digital bit stream is separated into two binary streams before the bits are differentially encoded. Typically, this is done by directly mapping pairs of input bits onto relative phase increments of .+-.(.pi./4) and .+-.(3.pi./4) of the baseband signal.
As explained in greater detail in Patent '891, one crucial function required in TDM/TDMA systems such as PACS is the need to achieve synchronization between an RP and its associated SU. In particular, three levels of synchronization are needed: frame, burst and symbol synchronization.
Frame synchronization is necessary for an SU to determine the start of a frame and the occurrence of its currently assigned TDM/TDMA channel therein. In a frequency-division duplexed system, frame synchronization is readily achieved in an SU by having the RP continuously transmit in a TDM mode during which a known framing sequence, including "idle" information in idle TDM channels, would be transmitted at a known time relative to the start of each frame. The SU would extract frame timing of its associated RP by using a digital correlator to reset a frame counter whenever the framing sequence was received. Once frame timing is determined, the SU would then expect to receive successively occurring TDM packets arriving within a designated time window that is sufficiently wide to allow for slippage due to frequency drift.
Knowledge of time boundaries between successive .pi./4-shifted DQPSK symbol transmissions is important to obtain good radio link performance. Symbol synchronization is needed to determine the start of a data symbol situated within any transmitted TDM packet or TDMA data burst. Symbol synchronization can be derived from the received data as an integral part of the demodulation process, for example, as disclosed in Chuang et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,155, Jul. 10, 1990. While it will be understood that a particular application of this invention to radio transceivers may require the recovery of symbol timing for proper operation, specific details of the symbol synchronization process are known in the art and therefore are beyond the scope of this disclosure.
Burst synchronization is necessary to ensure that an SU is able to discern when it should transmit a TDMA burst in response to a TDM packet received from the RP and that both the RP and SU are able to discern which specific bit in each received TDMA burst or TDM packet, respectively, is the first bit therein. Unfortunately, each TDM packet transmitted from an RP to an associated SU is subject to timing misalignment. In the SU, this misalignment can arise from frequency drift. Burst misalignment can arise in an RP from the different propagation time delays associated with the SUs transmitting to that RP, frequency drift of local oscillators and reference oscillator error in an RP receiver. Burst misalignment can be large after an outage. Due to the need to detect and properly compensate for bit slippage arising from misaligned bursts or packets, burst and packet synchronization is difficult and complex to achieve and maintain over a sufficiently wide range of slippage, especially when the use of overhead bits for such synchronization is not feasible due to link efficiency considerations.
Apart from synchronization, a second crucial function needed in TDMA is error detection--the ability of both an RP and an SU to reliably determine whether the bit stream in any received TDM packet or TDMA burst contains an erroneous bit. Bits are frequently corrupted through interference and/or noise. If an erroneous bit occurs, then the packet or burst containing that bit needs to be blanked. With high probability the receiver should be able to detect this condition and implement appropriate recovery mechanisms.
Error detection is conventionally achieved by adding one or more parity bits to each data word to form a codeword. In its simplest form, parity takes the form of one bit that represents odd/even parity. In sophisticated forms, multiple parity bits are used to store a cyclical redundancy check (CRC). Codes for CRC generation have the desirable property that even multiple bit errors, up to a maximum number which depends on the particular code selected, will not result in the transmitted codeword being changed to another codeword. This characteristic allows a receiver to detect an error condition in which up to the maximum number of bit errors have occurred. Further, even where the number of bit errors exceeds this maximum number, with a good choice of code there is a high probability that the error in transmission will be detected. Codes that have low probability of undetected error are crucial to robust performance of wireless communication links.
Patent '891 describes a technique for bit synchronization and error detection of received digital data bursts in a TDM/TDMA system which addresses the concerns described above. This technique is believed to have broad applicability to radio link signal processing required by contemporary digital wireless technologies. In particular, the current U.S. JTC Standards (soon to be ANSI standards) for the PACS and PACS-UB air interfaces require the use of a particular channel code for error detection that is also amenable to bit synchronization in the manner described in the aforementioned patent.
As described in Patent '891, a codeword from an error detecting code is to be located and decoded within a (larger) window of demodulated bits (the "burst window"). It is assumed that the bits on either side of the codeword do not carry information pertinent to the established link and can therefore be discarded by the receiver. Prior to transmission, the first and last bits of this codeword are inverted in order to enable the synchronization capabilities of the code. As long as the received codeword falls wholly within the demodulation window, and in addition, the codeword falls within a maximum distance from a "reference" position, then the codeword can be successfully decoded in the absence of radio link errors caused by noise or interference. FIG. 4, which illustrates possible alignments for received codewords in a demodulated burst, shows this maximum distance.
In FIG. 4, times t.sub.1 and t.sub.2 delineate a reference codeword position. A first burst 42 illustrates a maximum retard codeword position which begins prior to time t.sub.1 and ends prior to time t.sub.2. A second burst 44 illustrates a reference codeword position which falls within times t.sub.1 and t.sub.2. A third burst 46 illustrates a maximum advance codeword position 46 which begins subsequent to time t.sub.1 and ends subsequent to time t.sub.2.
The maximum synchronization distance is determined by the number of CRC bits according to the following formula: EQU d.sub.max .ltoreq.floor[(n-k-2)/2]
where n is the codeword size, k is the information sequence size, and the floor function returns the largest integer not greater than its argument. For PACS, a (105, 90) cyclic codeword may be used wherein n is 105 and k is 90. Thus, (n-k)=15, so the maximum synchronization distance is 6 bits.
A block diagram of an encoder circuit that implements the channel code required by the PACS and PACS-UB standards for transmission of a TDM or TDMA burst is illustrated in FIG. 3. In this example, the encoder circuit calculates fifteen parity bits for each 90-bit informational bit stream for subsequent inclusion in a TDM bit stream using the g(x) generator specified by a polynomial equation for a corresponding cyclic code. The channel encoder appends the resulting parity bits to that informational bit stream to form a cyclic codeword and modifies the resulting cyclic codeword to include the first set of marker bits.
As shown in FIG. 3, information bits appearing on line 383 to be transmitted are sent to the modulation circuitry in the RP's or SU's transmission chain through multiplexer 340, line 345, adder 360, and line 387. The information bits are also simultaneously sent into a feedback shift register circuit 330 that calculates the CRC bits for error detection by dividing the information bits by a predetermined polynomial generator g(x) which is suitable for the PACS codeword size and information sequence size.
In this example, the g(x) divider encoder circuit 330 comprises a series arrangement of D type flip flops 331.sub.1 to 331.sub.8, where reference numeral 731.sub.1 refers to a series arrangement of six D type flip flops while reference numerals 331.sub.2 and 331.sub.4 each represents a series arrangement of two D type flip flops. Adders 332.sub.1 to 332.sub.7 combine the respective outputs of flip flops 331.sub.1 to 331.sub.8 to form the divided output bit stream. The reset input to all the D type flip flops is connected to CLEAR lead 352 from the clocking and control circuit 350 which generates its clock and control signals based upon the occurrence of each pulse in the burst timing signal appearing on lead 381. As shown, a feedback line 337 from flip flop 331.sub.8 leads to adder 310.
The bit stream received by the g(x) divider encoder circuit 330 at adder 310 is provided along lead 315 to an input A of multiplexer 326. Operating under a control signal provided from line 354 to an input C, the multiplexer 326 provides the bit stream to the input of the first set of flip flops 331.sub.1 in the g(x) divider encoder circuit. When the last information bit for the current TDM or TDMA burst is shifted into the divider circuit 330 in this manner, the flip-flop elements 331.sub.1 through 331.sub.8 will contain the CRC bits, which are the remainder of the polynomial division of the information sequence by the code's generator polynomial g(x). The multiplexer 340 then selects the shift register contents appearing at its input B, which are then shifted out to the modulation circuitry to complete the burst. The full codeword is the concatenation of the information bits (including both the Slow and Fast Channels in PACS and PACS-UB) and the CRC bits.
The first and last bits of the codeword are inverted with adder 360 by a marker sequence generated by the clocking and control circuit 350. For example, the adder 360 may comprise an XOR gate which receives a logic one signal along line 356 as the first and last bits in the codeword are received from the multiplexer 340. In this way synchronization properties referred to above are obtained.
A prior art technique for decoding a received codeword is explained in greater detail in reference to FIG. 5. This technique is based on that described in detail in Patent '891. As shown, incoming bit stream data entering the circuit from the demodulator first encounters the synchronization circuitry 100. The first and last bits of a reference codeword position are inverted at a binary adder 120 by a marker sequence generated by clock and control circuitry 180. The marked demodulated bit sequence is then circularly rotated by a prescribed amount in a gated shift register circuit 125, and the resulting marked and rotated sequence enters another shift register circuit 130 that effects a division operation by the code's generator polynomial g(x). The syndrome sequence that is produced by the divider circuit 130 will, in the absence of transmission errors, uniquely identify the position of the received codeword with respect to the reference position. This translates directly into a fixed amount of delay that must be inserted in order to align the position of the received codeword with the reference codeword position for further processing by the error detection circuitry 150.
While the synchronization syndrome is being calculated in the g(x) divider 130, the demodulated burst contents are stored in a burst buffer 105. After the synchronization syndrome is calculated, the demodulated bit stream is delivered to shift register 110, which can effect a range of fixed delays by varying the "tap point" where data is pulled out through multiplexer 115. The tap point is chosen through a synchronization syndrome lookup table 135. Since negative delay cannot be created, it is established that the reference codeword position corresponds to an intermediate delay through the shift register 110. Therefore, if the codeword is in fact found at the maximum retard codeword position, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, it can be advanced relative to the reference position by taking it through multiplexer 115 at the earliest tap point, which corresponds to zero shift register delay (i.e., for shift register 110). Similarly, a codeword found at the maximum advance position will result in a choice of shift register tap point that effects maximum delay through the shift register 110, in order to retard the received codeword timing to match the reference position.
Once the received codeword has been aligned with a reference position, it is ready for processing by error detection circuitry 150. A second marker sequence, aligned with the known first and last codeword bit positions, is generated by the clock and control circuitry 180 and is applied to another binary adder 151 to effect inversion of those bits. This restores the codeword to its original form prior to transmission, and allows the use of essentially standard error detection circuitry. A second g(x) divider 155, which preferably is separate from but identical to g(x) divider 130, produces an error syndrome. If the syndrome bits are all zeros, a successful decode operation is assumed to have been completed and bits are read out of a second burst buffer 165 directly for subsequent receive processing (e.g., by a speech decoder for voice service).
A codeword error is declared if either the synchronization circuitry 100 or the error detection circuitry 150 fails to produce recognizable syndrome patterns. This is accomplished with the use of a logical OR gate 170 operating on the separate sync error and error detect error flags. In the presence of a decoding error, the bits read out of burst buffer 165 can be blanked by logically AND-ing the decoded data bits with the inverted error flag.
In practice, it is found that the apparatus of FIG. 5 requires somewhat more than two bursts of latency between the incoming bit stream and the outgoing decoded data bits. This is because the syndromes generated by the g(x) dividers 130 and 155 cannot be determined until the bit stream for the entire demodulated burst is shifted through it.
In summary, the scheme described in the '891 Patent comprises two separate processing stages, one for synchronization and one for detection after the synchronization operation is complete. This scheme allows a pipelined implementation (operating at the air interface bit rate) with just over two (2) bursts of latency. When combined with the latencies introduced by burst buffering (for speech transmission), other radio link signal processing (e.g. demodulation), and wireline transmission into the public network, the overall round-trip delay for a PACS or PACS-UB system can approach 10 msec. Since the ITU-T recommends employment of echo suppression methods when the round-trip delay exceeds 10 msec, this latency may result in the need for additional echo suppression techniques. This, in turn, may lead to added costs and more complicated designs for receiver implementations. Thus, it would be desirable to reduce latency in the synchronization and error detection circuit.

Technique for jointly performing bit synchronization and error detection in a TDM/TDMA system


There is disclosed a silver halide photographic material in which a residual color can be compatible with a sensitivity in a development processing. The photographic material comprises a support and provided thereon at least one silver halide emulsion layer containing at least one of the methine compounds represented by the following Formula (I) and at least one of the compounds represent-ed by the following Formula (II): ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 represents --(CH.sub.2).sub.r --CONHSO.sub.2 --R.sup.3, --(CH.sub.2).sub.s --SO.sub.2 NHCO--R.sup.4, --(CH.sub.2).sub.t --CONHCO--R.sup.5, or --(CR.sub.2).sub.u --SO.sub.2 NHSO.sub.2 --R.sup.6, in which R.sup.3, R.sup.4, R.sup.5 and R.sup.6 each represent an alkyl group, an alkoxy group, or an amino group and r, s, t and u each repre-sent an integer of 1 to 5; R.sup.2 is synonymous with R.sup.1 or represents an alkyl group which is different from R.sup.1 ; Z.sup.1 and Z.sup.2 may be the same or different and represent the group of non-metallic atoms necessary to form a 5- or 6-membered heterocyclic ring; L.sub.1, L.sub.2 and L.sub.3 each represent a methine group; n.sub.1 represents 0, 1 or 2; X.sub.1 represents an anion; k.sub.1 represents a number necessary to adjust a charge in a molecule to 0; and p and q each represent 0 or 1. ##STR2## wherein R.sub.7 represents an aliphatic group or an aromatic group; R.sub.8 represents a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, an alkoxy group, an aryloxy group, an amino group, or a hydrazino group; G.sub.1 represents a --CO-- group, a --SO.sub.2 -- group, a --SO-- group, a --P(O)R.sub.9 -- group, a --CO--CO-- group, a thiocarbonyl group, or an iminomethylene group; both of A.sub.1 and A.sub.2 represent a hydrogen atom, or either of them represents a hydrogen atom and another represents a substituted or unsubstituted alkylsulfonyl group, a substituted or unsubstituted arylsulfonyl group, or a substituted or unsubstituted acyl group; and R.sub.9 is selected from the same groups as those defined for R.sub.8 and may be different from R.sub.8.

Rapidity in development processing and the addition of a large amounts of sensitizing dyes in recent years have been accompanied with the significant problems that the sensitizing dyes contained in a silver halide photographic material are not completely eluted during processing and that coloring (so-called residual color) remains in the photographic material.
Sensitizing dyes have been investigated which offer decreased residual color, these dyes having a hydrophilic substituent such as a sulfamoyl group and a carbamoyl group (for example, JP-A-1-147451 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an unexamined published Japanese patent application) and JP-A-61-294429, JP-B-45-32749 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an examined Japanese patent publication), and JP-A-61-77843). However, the sensitivity is not sufficient in any of those dyes since an increase in the hydrophilicity of a sensitizing dye generally lowers its absorption. Residual color also does not reach a sufficiently satisfactory level. While a residual color improvement effect can be observed in the sensitizing dyes described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,282,933 and European Patent 451816A1, a sufficient effect is not obtained in terms of compatibility of residual color with sensitivity.


The invention is a corrosion inhibiting water-based machining fluid comprising a synergistic combination of a 2-heptyl-1-ethoxypriopionic acid imidazoline, sodium salt; free amine and a mixture of an amine salt of C.sub.8 to C.sub.14 dicarboxylic acids.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is a water based machining fluid with a synergistic rust inhibiting combination of an amphoteric imidazole derivative, a free amine and amine salts of dicarboxylic acids.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Aqueous systems have been preferred for many machine applications which are subject to high heat or sparks. Such applications include hydraulic fluids for use in systems involving a high risk of fire, and in quenchants used to cool heated metals during various metal working processes where the hot metals can ignite hydrocarbon based quenchants. However, aqueous systems are corrosive toward metal, particularly ferrous metal.
In a previously used aqueous system which is non corroding to metals, an inorganic nitrite, such as sodium nitrite, was used to impart improved corrosion inhibition to the aqueous system. However, nitrites are somewhat toxic and in recent years there has been a movement toward the removal of nitrites and the replacement with other materials to impart corrosion inhibition to the aqueous system.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,450,088 and 4,452,758 describe aqueous antifreeze compositions comprising 2-heptyl-1-ethoxypropionic acid imidazoline, sodium salt and triethanolamine.

Corrosion inhibiting metal working fluid


Various methods and systems are provided for cryogenic heat transfer by nanoporous surfaces. In one embodiment, among others, a system includes a cryogenic fluid in a flow path of the system; and a system component in the flow path that includes a nanoporous surface layer in contact with the cryogenic fluid. In another embodiment, a method includes providing a cryogenic fluid; and initiating chilldown of a cryogenic system by directing the cryogenic fluid across a nanoporous surface layer disposed on a surface of a system component.

Cryogenic fluids are widely used in industrial applications, space exploration, and cryosurgery systems. Specifically, in space exploration, cryogenic fluids are used in the power and propulsion, thermal management, and life-support systems of a spacecraft during space missions. These systems involve transport, handling, and storage of these fluids under both terrestrial and microgravity conditions. For example, cryogens such as liquid hydrogen and oxygen are used as liquid fuels such as that liquid hydrogen and oxygen that are burned in the liquid-fueled rocket engine. When a cryogenic fluid transport system first starts up, its walls and hardware go through a transient chilldown period prior to reaching steady state operation. Chilldown is the process of adjusting the system to the low temperature scale, which is usually several hundred degrees below the room temperature. The chilldown or quenching process is a complicated phase-change phenomenon, involving unsteady two-phase flows, and heat and mass transfer.

Cryogenic heat transfer by a nanoporous surface

University of Florida Research Foundation, Inc.