An incontinence management system for monitoring wetness in one or more absorbent articles, includes input for receiving one or more sensor signals indicative of a presence of wetness in an absorbent article, processor for processing the one or more sensor signals and for performing an analysis of the signals to characterise wetness events occurring in an absorbent article and user interface for communicating with a user of the system. A mathematical model is used to characterise wetness events, receiving as inputs variables derived from sensor signals and optionally, patient and demographic data. The mathematical model can be configured and/or re-configured utilising observation data obtained while monitoring a patient for wetness. A diaper for use with such as system is also disclosed.

Incontinence is a condition in which there is uncontrolled release of natural discharges or evacuations. While some forms of incontinence are more widespread, the condition usually affects women, the elderly and the infirm. Urinary incontinence refers to loss of bladder control resulting in involuntary or uncontrolled urination. Other forms of incontinence including faecal or bowel incontinence also exist. In the context of the present application, the term "incontinence" is to be taken to include urinary and faecal incontinence.
Incontinence, in the context of this specification, includes urinary and faecal incontinence, and management of such incontinence is to be seen in the context of persons located in hospitals, nursing homes, aged care facilities, geriatric institutions, private homes and the like.
The aforementioned incontinence, when unchecked, may result in the person suffering from the condition experiencing discomfort or at least embarrassment, and in the existence of unpleasant odours and environment for others in the vicinity of the person. In addition, health regulations or protocols may prescribe a maximum period, such as 15 minutes, for which a patient may be left in a wet state caused by incontinence. In the past, to comply with such requirements, it has been necessary for nursing staff to manually check each patient at least once during the prescribed period. Apart from the unpleasantness experienced by nursing staff in carrying out such manual checks, such a regimen may place a severe strain on staff resources, and may constitute an interruption to patients' rest and sleep.
A range of different incontinence types are recognised. Stress incontinence refers to involuntary loss of urine immediately associated with coughing, sneezing, lifting, straining or other physical exertion. The term "stress" relates to the mechanical stress of the abdominal muscles compressing the bladder wall, working against weakened sphincter muscles. Childbirth, obesity, constipation and changes in the sphincter muscles after the menopause can aggravate stress incontinence as can the use of some drugs.
Urge incontinence refers to the involuntary loss of urine coupled with a strong desire to urinate. Often the sufferer is unable to reach the toilet before there has been a urine loss. The need to visit the toilet may occur very frequently during the day and often at night also. Urge incontinence is generally caused by an overactive or "unstable" bladder which contracts involuntarily in an attempt to empty. The contractions give rise to an urgent desire to pass urine and uncontrolled leakage occurs before a toilet is reached. Mixed Urinary Incontinence (MUI) refers to involuntary leakage associated with urge incontinence and also with exertion, effort, sneezing, or coughing associated with stress incontinence.
Overflow incontinence refers to involuntary loss of urine associated with a chronically distended and overfull bladder. The bladder may be distended as a result of incomplete emptying which may be caused by obstruction to the outlet of the bladder or as a result of a failure of the bladder muscle to contract properly. Bladder failure of this kind may be caused by disease of the nervous system, by some drugs or by psychological factors.
Dribble incontinence refers to leakage of urine without warning or provocation. This is a demoralising condition because leakage can occur at anytime and is unpredictable. Persons suffering from dribble incontinence often need to wear protective pads or diapers throughout the day and night. Total incontinence is a term sometimes used to describe continuous leaking of urine, day and night, or periodic large volumes of urine and uncontrollable leaking. Some people have this type of incontinence because they were born with an anatomical defect. It can also be caused by a spinal cord injury or by injury to the urinary system from surgery.
Functional incontinence occurs where the ability to get to the toilet is impaired either by physical conditions such as paralysis or arthritis, or mental impairment. This is very common in nursing home patients who rely on assistance from others for mobility.
Although incontinence is relatively widespread, it is a condition which must be treated with sensitivity as it can be uncomfortable and embarrassing for sufferers and carers alike. When left unchecked, incontinence can become more embarrassing due to the existence of unpleasant odours associated with incontinence events and this can create an unpleasant environment for others in the vicinity of the incontinence sufferer. In addition, exudate escaping the body as the result of an incontinence event often contains bacteria, so unchecked wetness can create health and hygiene problems. Also, health regulations or protocols may prescribe a maximum period, for example 15 minutes, for which a patient suffering incontinence may be left in a wet state.
In the past, to comply with regulations and protocols and to ensure that patients in care institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes, aged care facilities and geriatric institutions are well looked after, it has been necessary for staff to manually check patients suffering from incontinence on a regular basis. Apart from the unpleasantness involved with manual checks, such a regimen also places a strain on staff resources. Often manually checking for wetness will also cause interruption to a patient's rest and sleep.
Incontinence indicators and detection systems exist. However, they have done little to improve the current situation in which carers must manually and regularly check patients for wetness. Existing incontinence detection systems are generally unable to distinguish a urinary incontinence event from a fecal incontinence event or the size of these events. Existing systems are also deficient in that they alarm or alert a carer simply when wetness is detected, with no indication of the degree of wetness present. This can cause more time wasted than saved as very small volumes e.g. of urine or perspiration may trigger an alert even though the patient does not actually require attention from a carer. This can also be a source of embarrassment for the patient.
Some systems involve complicated circuitry and are expensive and difficult to manufacture. Since most diapers and pads are disposable both for efficiency of use and hygiene reasons, complicated sensor systems do not lend themselves to widespread uptake and ongoing use.
Some systems are clumsy to use and the sensors can interfere with the absorbent capacity of the diaper or pad with which they are used. Others again are generally incompatible with current care practices and actually create additional work, significant complications or changes in care practices undermining any benefits they may offer and making them less susceptible to widespread uptake and ongoing use.
The present invention aims to improve upon these systems, to improve efficiency in monitoring and management of continence with minimal changes in care practices, or at least provide a useful alternative to existing systems.

Incontinence management system and diaper


A power supply device for vehicles, output units (10a, 10b) thereof are connected to a motor (5), includes a fuel cell (1) which is connected to the output units (10a, 10b), a capacitor (2) which is connected in parallel to the fuel cell (1), a lithium ion battery (21) which is connected in parallel to the capacitor (2) through a DC/DC converter (20), and a current control means (32) which limits an output current of the lithium ion battery (21) to at most an output upper-limit current (Ibout_lmt) when power is supplied to the motor (5) from the lithium ion battery (21) during a power running operation of the motor (5), and limits an input current into the lithium ion battery (21) to at most an input upper-limit current smaller than the output upper-limit current (Ibin_lmt) through the DC/DC converter (20) when regenerative power of the motor (5) is recovered into the lithium ion battery (21) during a regenerative operation of the motor (5).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply device for vehicles, which is mounted on a vehicle, has an output unit connected to a motor which is rotated with a drive wheel, supplies drive power to the motor during a power running operation of the motor, and recovers regenerative power of the motor during a regenerative operation of the motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a power supply device for vehicles, in which a fuel cell and a capacitor are connected in parallel to a drive motor and a secondary battery is connected in parallel to the fuel cell and the capacitor through a DC/DC converter, is known as a drive source of a fuel cell vehicle (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-59689 (pages 4 to 5 and FIG. 1)).
In the conventional power supply device for vehicles, during a power running operation of the motor, an output voltage of the secondary battery is set by the DC/DC converter such that the capacitor is discharged preferentially to the fuel cell and the secondary battery. Further, during a regenerative operation of the motor, an output voltage to the secondary battery is set by the DC/DC converter such that the capacitor is charged preferentially to the secondary battery.
Further, there is provided an electric vehicle in which drive power is supplied to a motor from a battery during a power running operation of the motor and a secondary battery is charged with regenerative power generated during a regenerative operation of the motor (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-353033 (page 7 and FIGS. 4 and 5)). In the electric vehicle, limit values of output and input currents of the battery are determined on the basis of the temperature and remaining charging capacity of the secondary battery. Further, as the limit values of the output and input currents of the secondary battery are set in such a manner, it is possible to prevent the deterioration of the secondary battery.
However, in the above-mentioned electric vehicle 1, as the output current of the secondary battery is limited, the output of the motor is also limited. Therefore, the travel performance of the electric vehicle is degraded. Further, as the input current of the secondary battery is limited, the current at the time of recovering the regenerative power of the motor into the secondary battery decreases. Therefore, the overall regenerative power of the motor cannot be recovered, and the recovery rate of the regenerative power decreases.
Further, to prevent the degradation of the travel performance of the electric vehicle and the decrease in the recovery rate of the regenerative power, it is considered that the capacity of the secondary battery is increased. In this case, however, the volume of the secondary battery increases, so that the mounting space thereof expands. Further, the cost of the secondary battery increases.


In a communications system using a plurality of beams, a terminal determines a beam to be communicated with the terminal among the plurality of beams, determines one sequence among sequences allocated to the determined beam as a beam based random access preamble, and transmits the beam based random access preamble through the determined beam. In addition, if a random access response for the beam based random access preamble is not received from a base station for a set interval, the terminal determines one sequence among sequences in a cell based random access preamble collection as a cell based random access preamble and transmits the cell based random access preamble.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for a random access in a communications system, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for a random access in a communications system operating a multi-beam.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In a mobile communications system, a random access procedure is performed so that uplink synchronization and uplink resource are allocated to a terminal in order for the terminal to perform an initial access and a connection setting with a base station. Besides, the random access procedure is also used for a scheduling request, a recovery of radio link failure, and the like. In LTE/LTE-A, the random access procedure is initiated by sending a specific preamble to a resource allocated for a given random access by the terminal.
In LTE/LTE-A, a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence having a length of 839 or 139 is used as a preamble for the random access, and 64 different ZC sequences are allocated to one cell for random access. The 64 ZC sequences allocated to one cell are classified into a contention based random access sequence group and a non-contention based random access sequence group, and the contention based random access sequence group is classified into two groups, which are a group A and a group B. Depending on an amount of MAC data to be transmitted to the base station by the terminal in the random access procedure and a state of a channel, the sequence in the group A or the group B is selectively used. In a general random access, the terminal selects one among the sequences in the contention based random access sequence group and uses the selected sequence for the random access.
Meanwhile, depending on characteristics of the ZC sequence, a specific ZC sequence and a sequence obtained by cyclic shifting the specific ZC sequence are perpendicular to each other. Thus, in LTE/LTE-A, the 64 ZC sequences to be used for the random access for each cell may be configured of a root ZC sequence and the ZC sequence generated by cyclic shifting the root ZC sequence. Thereby, interference between the preambles may be minimized in the random access procedure within the cell, and inter-cell interference may also be decreased. A time in which the terminal may transmit the preambles in a specific cell, and a location of a frequency resource are informed to the terminal through system information by the base station, and the terminal arbitrarily selects one among the preambles usable in an allocated resource and transmits the selected preamble.
A general procedure of the random access will be described in more detail. The base station informs the system information including preamble information, maximum transmission power information, and the like for the random access to all of terminals in the cell. The terminal receiving the system information selects an arbitrary preamble suitable for a situation of the terminal among the preambles usable for the random access and transmits the selected preamble to the base station using the allocated time and frequency resource. The base station attempts to detect the preamble from the time and frequency resource allocated to the random access, and if the preamble is received, the base station transmits a random access response for the received preamble to the terminal. In this case, when several terminals in the cell use the same preamble in the same time and the same frequency resource, the base station does not distinguish a plurality of terminals and a contention resolution procedure should be performed later. The random access response includes timing advance (TA) information for matching the uplink synchronization, index information of the detected preamble, and uplink resource allocation information to be used for a future random access procedure. The random access response is transmitted via PDSCH, and PDCCH for a corresponding PDSCH is scrambled with RA-RNTI. Here, RA-RNTI is generated as expressed in Equation 1.RA-RNTI=1+t_id+10*f_id  [Equation 1]
Here, t_id, which is an integer between 0 and 10, denotes an index for a first subframe of a specific physical random access channel (PRACH), and f_id, which is an integer between 0 and 6, denotes a frequency index for the specific PRACH.
The terminal receiving PDCCH scrambled with RA-RNTI corresponding to the resource transmitted by the terminal performs a network entrance procedure such as transferring an RRC connection request message using the uplink resource allocation information allocated to the random access response and is switched to a state in which data may be transmitted and received.
Meanwhile, since an attenuation of a channel seriously occurs in a mobile communications system based on a millimeter wave of 30 GHz or more, the mobile communications system should use a directional beam in order to compensate for the attenuation. Since a channel of a millimeter wave band has strong linearity of a radio wave, one directional beam may cover only a specific area within the cell. Thus, in order to completely cover the cell by one base station, a plurality of directional beams should be simultaneously operated. A receiving terminal of each directional beam may include an RF module and a base band modem. In this case, the signal received by each beam may be independently demodulated for each beam. Alternatively, one RF module and one base band modem may be provided to several beams. In this case, data may be independently demodulated for the reception signal of each beam and the reception signals of the several beams may also be collected to demodulate data at the same time.
As such, in a communications system in which the base station uses the plurality of beams, the base station may receive the signal transmitted from one terminal through the several beams depending on channel characteristics between the base station and the terminal. Thus, in the case in which the random access procedure such as an existing LTE/LTE-A is used in the communications system using the plurality of beams, the preambles transmitted from the terminal may be detected from the plurality of beams of the base station, and in the case in which a preamble detection is each attempted for each beam, a lot of time and computation may be spent for the preamble detection.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Method and apparatus for random access in communications system

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


Included are liquid detergent compositions comprising anionic and/or nonionic surfactant, proteolytic enzyme, second enzyme, and an aromatic borate ester.

A commonly encountered problem with protease-containing liquid detergents is the degradation of second enzymes in the composition by the proteolytic enzyme. The stability of the second enzyme upon storage in product and its effect on cleaning are impaired by the proteolytic enzyme.
Boric acid and boronic acids are known to reversibly inhibit proteolytic enzymes. A discussion of the inhibition of one serine protease, subtilisin, by boronic acid is provided in Philipp, M. and Bender, M. L., "Kinetics of Subtilisin and Thiosubtilisin", Molecular & Cellular Biochemistry, vol. 51, pp. 5-32 (1983).
One type of boronic acid, peptide boronic acid, is discussed as an inhibitor of trypsin-like serine proteases, especially in pharmaceuticals, in European Patent Application 0 293 881, Kettner et al., published Dec. 7, 1988.
German Patent 3 918 761, published Jun. 28, 1990 discloses liquid enzyme concentrate which is said to be usable as a raw material solution for making liquid detergents and the like. The concentrate contains hydrolase, propylene glycol and boric acid or its salt.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,707, issued Aug. 27, 1985 describes heavy duty liquid detergents containing artionic surfactants, fatty acid, builder, proteolytic enzyme, boric acid, calcium ions and sodium formate. The combination of boric acid and sodium formate is claimed to provide improved proteolytic enzyme stability in this composition, especially in the presence of a polyol. These compositions are free of lipase.
European Patent Application 0 080 223, published Jun. 1, 1983 describes detergent compositions containing a polyfunctional amino compound or a polyol together with a reducing alkali metal salt.
Similarly in GB 2 079 305, published Jan. 20, 1982, it is disclosed that enhanced enzyme stability can be obtained in a built liquid detergent by inclusion of boric acid, a polyol in the ratio of polyol to boric acid more than 1:1, and a cross-linked polyacrylate polymer. These compositions contain no lipase.
In European Application 0 381 262, Aronson et el., published Aug. 8, 1990, mixtures of proteolytic and lipolytic enzymes in a liquid medium have been disclosed. The stability of lipase is claimed to be improved by the addition of boron compound and a polyol having vicinal hydroxyl groups.
It has now been found that certain aromatic borate esters are especially effective in reversibly inhibiting protease, in a HDL which also comprises detergency ingredients and a second enzyme.
Upon dilution, such as under typical wash conditions, the proteolytic enzyme is no longer inhibited and can function (e.g. to remove protease-sensitive stains from fabrics in the wash).

Liquid detergents with aromatic borate ester to inhibit proteolytic enzyme


This invention relates to a tire with tread for promoting a combination of winter service at low temperatures and for promoting wet traction. The tread rubber contains a combination of a high or low Tg styrene/butadiene elastomer, cis 1,4-polybutadiene rubber, reinforcing filler comprised of precipitated silica, rubber processing oil and tris(2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate.

Tires are sometimes desired with treads for promoting traction on wet surfaces. Various rubber compositions may be proposed for such tire treads.
For example, tire tread rubber compositions which contain high molecular weight, high or low Tg (glass transition temperature) diene based elastomer(s) might be desired for such purpose particularly for wet traction (traction of tire treads on wet road surfaces). Such tire tread may be desired where its reinforcing filler is primarily precipitated silica which may therefore be considered as being precipitated silica rich.
In one embodiment, the improved predictive wet traction performance for the tread rubber composition is based on a maximization of its tan delta physical property at about 0° C. and a desired low value for rebound at about 0° C.
However, it might also be desired to provide such tread rubber composition containing a high or low Tg styrene/butadiene elastomer (SBR) for wet traction with a lower stiffness at lower temperatures to promote cold weather winter performance, particularly for vehicular snow driving.
In one embodiment, the predictive cold weather performance for the tread rubber composition is based on a minimization of its stiffness physical property at −20° C. (e.g. minimized storage modulus G′).
Therefore, it is desirable to provide such vehicular tire tread with a rubber composition containing high or low Tg SBR elastomers with an optimized (maximized) tan delta property at about 0° C. (for predictive wet traction performance improvement) combined with an optimized (minimized) stiffness property at about −20° C. (for predictive cold weather performance improvement).
It is considered that significant challenges are presented for providing such tire tread rubber compositions that provide a combination of both wet traction and winter performance. To achieve the challenge of providing such balance of tread rubber performances with tread rubber compositions, it is recognized that concessions and adjustments would be expected.
To meet such challenge, it is desired to evaluate rubber compositions:
(A) utilizing a high or low Tg styrene/butadiene rubber,
(B) utilizing a low Tg cis 1,4-polybutadiene rubber,
(C) providing an inclusion of a traction promoting resin in the tread rubber composition to aid in promoting wet traction for the tread,
(D) providing reinforcing filler containing rubber reinforcing carbon black and high content of precipitated silica to also promote wet traction for the tire tread rubber composition, and
(E) providing tris(2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate to promote a lowering of the stiffness of the rubber composition at low temperatures while substantially maintaining a higher stiffness of the rubber composition at the operating temperature range of the tire tread, particularly in a range of about 40 to about 60° C.
Such rubber compositions may contain a petroleum and/or vegetable triglyceride based rubber processing oil to reduce the viscosity of the uncured rubber composition and to thereby promote more desirable processing conditions for the uncured rubber composition. In practice, the high viscosity SBR may be extended with the petroleum based oil or vegetable triglyceride oil in a sense of adding the oil to a low viscosity polymerization cement containing the SBR following polymerization of styrene and 1,3-butadiene monomers to form a composite of oil extended SBR with the petroleum oil or vegetable triglyceride oil before the composite is added to the rubber composition in an internal rubber mixer (e.g. Banbury rubber mixer). Alternately, the petroleum based oil or vegetable triglyceride oil may be added to the rubber composition in an internal rubber mixer to reduce the viscosity of the uncured rubber composition both in the internal rubber mixer and for subsequent rubber processing in a rubber processing apparatus such as, for example, in a rubber extruder.
As indicated, it is considered that significant challenges are presented for providing such tire tread rubber compositions for maintaining a balance of both their wet traction and also low temperature (e.g. winter) performance.
To achieve such balance of tread rubber performances with tread rubber compositions containing the high and/or low Tg diene-based elastomer(s), an application of combinations of petroleum based rubber processing oils and/or vegetable triglyceride type oils, such as for example soybean, sunflower and rapeseed oil, may be used to achieve the desired lower rubber stiffness at low operating temperatures while still promoting a predictive beneficial wet traction based on tan delta measurement at 0° C.
However, while the use of a vegetable triglyceride oil (e.g. soybean oil), has been observed to promote a desirable lower G′ stiffness at about a −20° C. low temperature for the cured rubber composition, it has also been observed to promote a corresponding loss of stiffness of the cured rubber composition at a higher intended operating temperature range (about 40° C. to about 60° C.) of the tire. Such loss of stiffness at such higher operating temperature for a tire tread rubber composition can lead to a reduction of wet and dry handling performance for the tire.
To meet such challenge of providing a silica-rich tread rubber composition containing high and/or low Tg elastomer(s) to promote wet traction combined with promoting a reduction in its stiffness at low temperatures, but maintaining stiffness at higher ambient temperature conditions, it is desired to evaluate the following approach:
(A) replacing a portion of the rubber processing oil (e.g. petroleum based oil and/or vegetable triglyceride oil) with tris(2-ethyl hexyl) phosphate to promote a suitable uncured rubber processing viscosity and to promote a lower cured stiffness of the tread rubber composition at lower temperatures to thereby promote low temperature winter performance for the rubber composition, while maintaining the desired stiffness at higher operating conditions for the rubber composition to thereby promote maintenance of wet and dry handling performance for the tire,
(B) adding a traction promoting resin in the tread rubber composition, particularly at a relatively high resin loading, to promote wet traction of the sulfur cured tread rubber composition,
(C) providing a high content of precipitated silica-rich rubber reinforcing filler to promote wet traction for the cured rubber composition.
In the description of this invention, the terms "compounded" rubber compositions and "compounds" are used to refer to rubber compositions which have been compounded, or blended, with appropriate rubber compounding ingredients. The terms "rubber" and "elastomer" may be used interchangeably unless otherwise indicated. The amounts of materials are usually expressed in parts of material per 100 parts of rubber by weight (phr).
The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the solid elastomers may be determined by DSC (differential scanning calorimetry) measurements, as would be understood and well known by one having skill in such art. The softening point of a resin may be determined by ASTM E28 which might sometimes be referred to as a ring and ball softening point.

Tire with tread for combination of low temperature performance and wet traction


A computer aided rational molecular design method that includes establishing a virtual library of functional monomers each having a portion that is capable of polymerizing and a functional group that is capable of interacting with a template molecule with the aid of a computer, designing a molecular model of a biological template molecule by a computer facilitated molecular mechanical method and screening said virtual library of functional monomers and selecting those monomers which have the highest binding score to the template molecule by their functional group.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), materials with artificially created receptor-like recognition properties, have recently attracted significant attention as potential substitutes for unstable receptors and antibodies in affinity chromatography, membranes, capillary electrophoresis and sensor technology (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,110,833, 5,587,273, 5,756,717, 5,728,296, 5,786,428 and 5,849,215). Among the factors limiting their practical application is the absence of a general procedure for polymer synthesis. Several attempts have been made to develop a general procedure for rational design of the imprinted polymers (Nicholls I. A. (1995): Thermodynamic consideration for the design of and ligand recognition by molecularly imprinted polymers, Chem. Lett., 1035-1036; Whitcombe M. J., Martin L., Vulfson E. N. (1998): Predicting the selectivity of imprinted polymers. Chromatography, 47, 457-464; Takeuchi T., Fukuma D., Matsui J. (1999): Combinatorial molecular imprinting: an approach to synthetic polymer receptors. Anal. Chem., 71, 285-290). In the best cases they give rules or hints, indicating how the MIP should be made in order to possess a certain level of specificity. Thus it is recommended that the polymerization should be performed in a hydrophobic solvent in order to produce a material able to interact with the template through electrostatic interactions. At the same time the choice of monomers, solvent and polymerization conditions in most cases depends on general principles, personal experience or information about similar systems. In some extreme cases it has been necessary to produce and investigate hundreds of polymers in order to optimize MIP monomer composition (Takeuchi et al. op. cit).


A method and apparatus is disclosed for prevention of clogging of exhaust systems, especially the exhaust hoods and ducts above fused salt baths onto which salts splatter as they are being added by spraying from aqueous solutions. A fluid tight jacket surrounds a portion of the exhaust pipe and hood and a cooling fluid, preferably the aqueous solution of the salt being added is flowed through the jacket. This will condense the water of the solvent onto the inside of the hood and duct dissolving and washing away any splattered salt.

This invention relates generally to the addition of chemicals to fused baths, and more particularly to the addition of aqueous solutions of materials to essentially non-aqueous fused baths. Application Ser. No. 759,763, filed Jan. 17, 1977, entitled, "Liquid Additions to Fused Chemicals Baths", now U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,511 and commonly assigned herewith, discloses a system for addition of aqueous solutions of chemicals to essentially non-aqueous fused chemical baths. (These baths are normally referred to as "salt" baths in the trade although they may contain chemicals which are not defined as salts in classical chemical definitions, e.g. hydroxides, permanganates, etc.) Typical examples of such baths are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,790,489; 3,260,619; as well as many other patents.
Said Application Ser. No. 759,763 describes how aqueous solutions of the chemicals are sprayed through nozzles under a hood onto fused high temperature baths. The water is vaporized into steam under a hood, and the steam is exhausted through a duct while the remaining chemicals fall onto the fused bath. Agitation of the bath mixes the essentially non-aqueous chemicals into the bath. The duct in this prior application communicates with the main hood. Such aqueous solution liquid addition has been found to be an excellent way to add materials to a fused bath, giving good control of added material, and allowing great flexibility in the addition of material to fused baths.
However, it has been found that with this type of aqueous solution liquid addition there may, and often does, occur appreciable amounts of splattering of the fused salt in the region where the material is being added. Some of the splattering material strikes this hood and solidifies thereon. As the additions continue, the material builds up on the interior of the hood. This build up often collects around the opening between the duct and the hood tending to clog this opening and preventing the discharge of the steam from the hood. This forces the steam out around the hood. Since the hood is partially submerged in the bath, this actually causes the steam to enter the bath to get out from the hood, causing much splattering and an unsafe condition.

Method and apparatus for prevention of clogging of exhaust systems


The present invention relates to a water treatment agent, a preparation method therefor, a water treatment apparatus using the same, and an in-situ groundwater treatment apparatus and, more specifically, to: a water treatment agent comprising a carbon nanotube support, and β-manganese dioxide nanoparticles adsorbed on the carbon nanotube support and having a particle size of 1,000 nm or less; a preparation method therefor; a water treatment apparatus using the same; and an in-situ groundwater treatment apparatus.

With the development of industrial society, various types of pollutants have been increasing in water from streams, lakes, and underground. Thus, as an amount of water resources of good quality reduces, drinking water production becomes more difficult, and available water resources reduces, the need to re-use treated wastewater dramatically increased.
Particularly, in recent years, toxic trace elements such as heavy metals, pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) increase in water from streams, lakes and underground, and effluent in treated wastewater, which threatens the production of drinking water of good quality and water re-use. Because toxicity of toxic trace elements is high even at a low concentration, toxic trace elements must be removed in a water purification process and a water recycling process. Typical examples of heavy metals include lead, cadmium, and chrome, typical examples of pharmaceuticals and personal care products include ibuprofen, acetaminophen, oxytetracycline, and caffeine, and typical examples of endocrine disrupting chemicals include 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), 17β-estradiol (E2), estrone (E1), and bisphenol A (BPA).
As opposed to other pollutants, toxic trace elements are not removed in general water purification and sewage and wastewater treatment processes. To remove toxic trace elements, coagulation, adsorption, biological treatment, ion exchange, membranes, and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are being attempted. However, they have problems such as low efficiency, high costs and secondary pollution, which limit the commercialization. Particularly, activated carbon is primarily used in a water purification process and a sewage and wastewater treatment process, and activated carbon has good adsorption performance of organic pollutants, but when organic pollutants more than a maximum adsorption capacity are adsorbed (saturated), saturated activated carbon cannot adsorb and remove an amount of pollutants any more. The saturated activated carbon needs to be replaced with new activated carbon. It is possible to reactivate saturated activated carbon, but a large amount of energy and costs is required for reactivation, secondary pollutants are created, and a partial loss occurs during reactivation. Also, activated carbon is known as having low adsorption performance of toxic trace elements.
Recently, to remove toxic trace elements, metal oxide nanoparticles are gaining attention. Metal oxide nanoparticles generally refer to particles having an individual particle size of 100 nm or less, and iron oxide, iron oxide and iron hydroxide, titanium oxide, and manganese oxide particles are mainly being studied. In the removal of pollutants in the water, attempts are being made to use metal oxide nanoparticles in a variety of applications, for example, catalysts, adsorbents, and ion exchange materials, and in particular, more recently, attention is being paid to metal oxide nanoparticles as heterogeneous catalysts or adsorbents for organic pollutants oxidation/reduction.
Advantages of metal oxide nanoparticles are as follows. Firstly, a specific surface area is large, reactive sites and adsorption sites are rich on the surface, and organics oxidative removal performance and heavy metals adsorptive removal performance is very high. For example, research has reported that iron oxide nanoparticles have a phenol removal rate about 35 times higher than and an ethylene glycol removal rate 2 times to 4 times higher than the Fenton oxidation process traditionally used to remove non-biodegradable organics (Zelmanov and Semiat, 2008). Also, it was reported that micro-sized zinc oxide is incapable of adsorb and remove arsenic (As), but nano-sized zinc oxide has good arsenic adsorption and removal performance (Tiwari et al., 2008). Secondly, because pollutant removal efficiency per unit weight is high due to a large specific surface area, when removing the same amount of pollutants, an amount of injection is lower than particles having a larger particle size, so it may be used with economic efficiency.
However, metal oxide nanoparticles are difficult to commercialize due to the following drawbacks. Firstly, it takes a large amount of energy and toxic chemicals such as acid or alkali, an oxidant or a reducing agent, and a dispersant to prepare metal oxide nanoparticles, so there is a high likelihood that environment pollution and a safety-related problem will occur in the preparation process. Secondly, because nanoparticles have a small size less than or equal to 100 nm, they are difficult to separate by precipitation and filtration. That is, when nanoparticles are fed into a reactor for water treatment, they are released into water bodies together with treated water after treatment of pollutants and contaminate water from streams, lakes, and underground.

Hybrid water treatment agent of β-manganese dioxide nanoparticles and carbon nanotube, preparation method therefor, water treatment apparatus using same, and underground water in situ treatment apparatus

UNIVERSITY-INDUSTRY COOPERATION GROUP OF KYUNG HEE UNIVERSITY.


There is described inkjet recording method and apparatus capable of printing very fine images stably on every type of printing material. The apparatus includes an ink-heating section to heat ink; an ink-jetting head having an ink channel, a volume of which is expanded and shrunken by applying a first electronic pulse and by successively applying a second electronic pulse, to emit an ink particle from a nozzle of the ink channel onto a recording medium so as to form the image on the recording medium; and an ultraviolet light irradiating section to irradiate ultraviolet light onto the recording medium for fixing the image; wherein, at a time after the ink particle is emitted by applying a first driving pulse to the ink channel and before an ink meniscus, formed at the nozzle, grows to an original stable state, a next ink particle is emitted by applying a second driving pulse.

The present invention relates to an inkjet recording method suitable for recording on every type of recording medium including a medium with no ink absorptivity.
Conventionally, water-soluble liquid ink composition has been widely used as the ink composition for inkjet recording. Besides, there has been proposed a hot-melt type inkjet recording method, using a hot-melt type ink composition made of wax or the like that remains solid at a room temperature, where the ink is liquefied by heating, emitted with the aid of some energy, and impacted on a recording medium, and then cooled immediately to harden and form a recording dot. This ink hardly causes stain during handling because it remains solid at a room temperature, and hardly causes clogging of nozzles because the ink evaporation when melted can be made minimal. In addition, the ink seldom causes blurredness because it hardens as soon as it is impacted on the medium, and so it produces an advantage that various kinds of recording media including Japanese paper, drawing paper, postcard, and plastic sheet without any pretreatment. An ink composition that provides excellent print quality irrespective of paper quality is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,391,369 and 4,484,948.
An UV-setting resin type ink composition having excellent adhesion onto metallic surface is disclosed in the Japanese Application Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 56-93776. Besides, there have been disclosed inkjet recording inks that are hardened by exposure to ultraviolet light: for example, the ink disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,438 where epoxy denaturated acrylic resin and urethane denaturated acrylic resin are used as binder and pigment in particle sizes of 5 μm or less is used as coloring material; the ink disclosed in the Japanese Application Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Sho 58-32674 (1983) where cation-polymerizing epoxy resin is used as binder; and the ink disclosed in the Japanese Application Patent Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 05-186725 (1993) where water-soluble or non-water-soluble dye is used, all of which are proposed to facilitate printing on ordinary paper and recycled paper.
As explained above, there has been desired an inkjet recording method that is capable of very fine printing, in picture quality, on various types of recording media such as plastic sheet without using special inkjet print paper.
When the above-mentioned water-soluble liquid ink is used for printing, printing on a recording medium that has no ink absorptivity is impossible and a large ink drying device is needed even if special print paper is used. Besides, it is applicable only limitedly because very fine printing is impossible due to resulting blurredness and so the resolution is limited.
While the hot-melt type ink using wax enables to print on a recording medium with no ink absorptivity and also to print at high speed, its abrasion resistance is very poor, and so the print result is lack of reliability and also less smooth.
On the other hand, since an inkjet recording method using organic pigment as coloring material has greater advantage, particularly in view of weather resistance, over an inkjet recording method using dye, wider applications are expected including not only office automation equipment, home-use printer, and office printer including facsimile but decoration on indoor and outdoor poster, large signboard, automobile, glass, elevator, wall and building, and also printing on cloth.
With a method where a recording liquid is hardened by exposure to light such as ultraviolet light, it is possible to print on a recording medium with no ink absorptivity. However, so far as an inkjet recording method that employs recording liquid which uses pigment but does not practically contain, in particular, water and organic solvent, and hardens the liquid by light such as ultraviolet light is concerned, there has never been reported of any example that is capable of very fine printing with controlled dot sizes as described in the present invention. For very fine printing, it is very important that sizes of the dots to be generated are controlled smaller. When special inkjet print paper is used, sizes of the dots to be generated can be controlled only by the amount of ink particles. In case of inkjet printing on a printing medium with no ink absorptivity, however, it is difficult to control the dot sizes only by the amount of ink particles. It is particularly difficult to control the dot sizes that comprise small particles.


A two stage reaction platform is provided to produce a pollen-based extract material, comprising the steps of a first stage including: opening and/or germinating pollen grains, reacting the treated pollen grains with one or more beehive components, selected from beeswax, honey, or enzyme-containing material, and stirring to form a jelly; and a second stage including heating the jelly in a closed container to product an extract. The extract may be a fermented extract. An aqueous skin cream includes the pollen-based extract and one or more of glycerine, natural oils, emollients, preservatives, vitamins, fragrance, emulsifiers, or waxes. The skin cream may be used for treatment of skin conditions or inflammation. In another embodiment a method of treating eczema or psoriasis is provided, comprising administering to the individual in need of such treatment a therapeutically effective amount of an aqueous skin cream.

Beehives in the natural state comprise interesting chemistry including release of valuable bioactive components of pollen that is transported into the hive, by the action of certain enzymes. However, use of the raw materials or mixtures of the beehive presents problems including separation of components, contamination by microbial flora, and/or exposure to pesticides used to eradicate pests such as mites. Thus, a method is needed to economize yet streamline production using the desired beehive components in synergistic combinations.
The present inventor (Weir, formerly known as O'Brien) has shown that plants possess internal genetic mechanisms to control the process and progression of apoptosis, also known as programmed cell death (PCD). In one instance, chromatin condensation, which is a hallmark of PCD in mammalian cells, may be reversible in plant cells during the early stages of apoptosis (O'Brien, et al., The Plant Journal (1998) 13(6): 803-814).
Pollen has a hard shell known as the sporopollenin which is very resistant to chemical degradation. Also on the surface of the pollen are proteins which cause known allergies. In one method a reaction is used to "explode" or "crack" the pollen grains under pressure followed by a protease to hydrolyse and deactivate the allergy producing proteins.
In another possible two-step reaction, pollen may be manipulated to begin germination and thus release the bioactive contents of the pollen more gently and naturally.
Therefore, if a way could be found to first open or germinate pollen grains to release beneficial components in a biotic manner, followed by addition of other beehive components, this would mimick a natural process, yet provide a novel way to obtain nutraceutical or cosmetic products.
Atopic dermatitis, commonly known as eczema, is a complex skin disease that is characterized by pruritus, disrupted epidermal barrier function, and immunoglobulin sensitization to various food and environmental allergens (Sohn, A., et al., "Eczema," Mt. Sinai J. Med. (2011) 78:730-739). Inflammation of the skin appears like erythema, which may include scaling and crusts (Krafchik, B. R., "Eczema," Paediatr. Child Health (2000) 5:101-105). It usually occurs due to the interaction of the genes with the environment. Patients with eczema develop a higher risk for skin infections. Skin care products including moisturizing creams are being used to treat dry and scaly skin (Loden, M., et al., "A double-blind study comparing the effect of glycerine and urea on dry, eczematous skin in atopic patients," Acta Derm. Venereol. (2002) 82:45-47). Effectiveness of such creams indicated a positive effect on the quality of life of the patients who tried the products (Eberlein, B., et al., "Adjuvant treatment of atopic eczema: assessment of an emollient containing N-palmitoylethanolamine (ATOPA study)," J. Eur. Acad. Dermatol. Venereol. (2008) 22:73-82).
If a way could be found to use plant-based materials to affect or control immune or PCD signaling pathways in mammalian cells, this would constitute a valuable contribution to the nutraceutical and medical arts.
Further, if a way could be found to use plant-based materials including pollen-based extracts for treating inflammatory or skin conditions, this would constitute a valuable contribution to the nutraceutical, cosmetic, and medical arts.

Reaction platform and method for making pollen based materials in combination with beeswax and uses thereof


Apparatuses and methods thereof for employing impact resistant materials, pads, and layers are disclosed. Aspects of the invention include, an impact resistant material including an elastomer material having a base layer and a plurality of raised portions extending upward from the base layer, wherein each of the plurality of raised portions has a top surface and at least three primary sides. Each of the at least three primary sides having a middle region positioned closer to a center of the respective raised portion than either end region of the respective primary side.

Conventionally, participants in sports (e.g. football, rugby, baseball, lacrosse, field hockey, etc.) wear protective gear to cushion the force of impacts that are regularly received during those events. In recent years, the dangers of high-force impacts during such contact sports have been a matter of focus. The dangers of these impacts can be diminished or minimized by effectively cushioning participants from the forces of impacts.
In general, protective pads have been configured from continuous layers of uniform materials to avoid gaps or areas of reduced protection. As a result, many pads fail to provide sufficient comfort while maintaining high levels of protection. Improved structures, such as impact-resistant pads, are desired to better protect and lessen the impact forces experienced by those participants, while providing a high level of comfort.


A rotary drill bit comprises a bit body having a shank for connection to a drill string, a plurality of cutter assemblies mounted on the bit body, and a passage in the bit body for supplying drilling fluid to the surface of the bit. Certain cutter assemblies on the bit body are adapted to exhibit a volume factor which is significantly greater than the volume factor of other cutter assemblies on the bit body, with increase of rate of penetration, and at least the majority of said cutter assemblies of higher volume factor are better adapted for cutting softer formations than at least the majority of said other cutter assemblies. The bit therefore tends to act as a "heavy set" drill bit at lower rates of penetration in hard formations, and as a "light set" drill bit at higher rates of penetration in softer formations, and therefore tends to drill each formation more efficiently.

The invention relates to rotary drill bits for drilling or coring holes in subsurface formations, and of the kind comprising a bit body having a shank for connection to a drill string, a plurality of cutter assemblies mounted on the bit body, and a passage in the bit body for supplying drilling fluid to the surface of the bit for cleaning and/or cooling the cutters. The invention also provides methods of designing such bits.
In a common form of such drill bits, each cutter assembly comprises an elongate stud which is received in a socket in the surface of the bit body, the stud having mounted at one end thereof a preform cutting element. The preform cutting element may be of the kind comprising a tablet, often circular or part-circular, having a thin hard cutting layer of polycrystalline diamond bonded to a thicker, less hard substrate, for example of cemented tungsten carbide.
In such a drill bit it is possible to calculate the volume of material removed from the formation by each cutter, per revolution, at any given rate of penetration. For example, computer systems are in use which allow such volumes to be calculated both in respect of existing manufactured drill bits as well as theoretical designs for such bits. The volume of material removed by each cutter is known as the "volume factor" and is subject to a number of variables. For example the volume factor of a particular cutting element will vary according to its axial or radial position relative to other cutting elements. Thus, if a cutting element is radially located on the bit so that its path of movement partly overlaps the path of movement of a preceding cutting element, as the bit rotates, it will remove a lesser volume of material than would be the case if it were radially positioned so that such overlapping did not occur, or occurred to a lesser extend, since the leading cutting element will already have removed some material from the path swept by the following cutting element.
Similarly, a cutting element which is axially positioned so that it projects further than another similar cutter from the surface of the bit body (or corresponding surface of rotation) may remove more material per revolution than said cutter.
Graphs may be plotted showing the volume factor of each cutting element against the radius of cutting, i.e. the distance of the centroid of the cutting from the central axis of the bit, (the "cutting" being the formation material removed by the cutting element). Such graphs may be comparatively smooth or may be "spiky", the presence of spikes indicating one or more cutters which are removing a greater volume of material per revolution than cutting elements at slightly lesser and slightly greater radii.
The actual volume of material removed by each cutter increases with increased rate of penetration of the drill bit and different graphs can therefore be drawn for different rates of penetration. Generally speaking, the "spikiness" of a graph will increase with increase in the rate of penetration.
Hitherto, it has been considered desirable for such graphs to be as smooth as possible so that each cutting element removes a similar volume of material to cutting elements at slightly lesser and slightly greater radii. (It will be appreciated that such cutting elements will not necessarily be adjacent one another on the actual bit body and may well be angularly displaced from one another by a considerable distance). It has been believed that a drill bit exhibiting a spiky volume factor graph is likely to suffer uneven wear, and thus premature failure, as a result of some cutting elements removing a greater volume of material per revolution and thus doing a greater share of the work.

Rotary drill bits and methods of designing such drill bits


A data recording apparatus provided with a setting device that separately sets first data item that is related to the photographic image recording medium and second data item that is related to photographic images of a plurality of frames to be recorded on the photographic image recording medium, a drive device that drives the data recording medium so that data can be recorded on the data recording medium, a recording device that records the data on the driven data recording medium, and a control device that controls the drive device and the recording device in such a manner that the data related to the first data item set by the setting device is recorded in a first recording area of the data recording medium and the data related to a second data item set by the setting device is recorded in a second recording area of the data recording medium for each photographic frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data recording apparatus that is capable of recording photographic data on a data recording medium like a film.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the known art, there are cameras that are capable of imprinting data, including the film number and the like, at a location ahead of the first photographic frame of a film (hereafter referred to as film leader portion) as well as imprinting data such as the photographing date within the exposure area of each photographic frame of the film for photography. With this type of camera, when new film is loaded, the film is wound up to the point where a specific area on the film leader portion faces opposite the aperture and the film stops at that position. Then, in this state, data are imprinted by an imprinting apparatus. After that, the film is wound up again until the photographic frame at the front end of the film faces opposite the aperture and each time a photograph is taken, data are imprinted within the exposure area of each photographic frame. Normally, the data that are imprinted on the film leader portion represent information that is inherent to the film, including the film number mentioned above, while the data that are imprinted on each photographic frame represent information that is inherent to that particular frame, including the photographing date and the exposure value.
However, the camera in the prior art is structured in such a manner that switching between the data item for imprinting on the film leader portion and the data item for imprinting on individual photographic frames is handled through manual operation of an operating member for switching. Because of this, if the photographer fails to perform the data switching operation with the operating member after the data inherent to the film are imprinted on the film leader portion and before data imprinting on individual photographic frames is started, the data that are inherent to the film and which are meaningless for individual photographic frames will, nevertheless, be imprinted on the photographic frames.


A device for removing a cork from a bottle opening. This is achieved by a cork retriever. The cork retriever has two components, a sleeve and a plunger. The sleeve is adapted to be driven through the cork member while the plunger is adapted to be driven into the sleeve to thereby lock the sleeve in the cork. The cork can then be removed by way of a pull ring which is positioned at the upper end of the sleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new and improved stopper for use in conjunction with a bottle opening and, more particularly, pertains to a system for removing a cork from a bottle opening.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of bottle caps is known in the prior art. More specifically, bottle caps heretofore devised and utilized for the purpose of providing devices for releasably closing a bottle opening are known to consist basically of familiar, expected, and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which has been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
The prior art discloses a large number of devices for releasably closing a bottle opening. By way of example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,574,662; 4,798,106; 5,086,675; 5,134,906; and 5,257,565 each disclose bottle closure members.
In this respect, the stopper for use in conjunction with a bottle opening according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing a system for removing a cork from a bottle opening.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new and improved stopper for use in conjunction with a bottle opening which can be used as a system for removing a cork from a bottle opening. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


An underwater pipe and connector assembly includes an underwater pipe having a pipe body and an annular connecting end section, a connector fixed in the connecting end section, and at least one reinforcing layer having a first fixed cover section fused to and fixedly covering the connecting end section, and a second fixed cover section fused to and fixedly covering an outer circumferential surface of the pipe body immediately adjacent the connecting end section. An outer coil is embedded between the first fixed cover section and the connecting end section and between the second fixed cover section and the outer circumferential surface of the pipe body immediately adjacent the connecting end section.

Referring to FIG. 1, an existing large-diameter underwater pipe assembly for pumping seawater is composed of a plurality of interconnected pipes 101. Each pipe 101 includes a pipe body 101, and two connectors 102 respectively fixed to two opposite ends of the pipe body 101. By interconnecting the connectors 102 of two adjacent pipes 10, the length of the underwater pipe assembly can be prolonged. To facilitate the production, the pipe body 101 and the two connectors 102 are separately produced, after which the connectors 102 are welded to the two opposite ends of the pipe body 101.
However, a welded junction between the pipe body 101 and a corresponding one of the connectors 102 has an uneven shape, so that turbulence and resistance during pumping of the seawater are prone to occur. Furthermore, the structural strength of the welded junction between the pipe body 101 and the corresponding connector 102 is insufficient, so that it is susceptible to torque and pressure, thereby generating breakage.

Underwater pipe and connector assembly and method of assembling an underwater pipe and a connector


An optical information recording medium is composed of a substrate and a recording layer which includes a diarylpolyene compound of formula (I): ##STR1## wherein A.sup.1 and A.sup.2 each independently represent an aryl group which may have a substituent; R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each represent hydrogen, a halogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and n is an integer of 2 or more.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical information recording medium capable of recording and reproducing information on an optical disk or card or the like by using a focused laser beam.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, as organic recording materials for use with a semiconductor laser, which can be used in practice, those for use with a laser beam having a wavelength of 750 to 850 nm are commonly known. Representative examples of such recording materials comprise a substrate and a thin film layer of a polymethine dye such as a cyanine dye, a phthalocyanine dye, a naphthoquinone dye, a naphthalocyanine dye, or a squarylium dye, formed on the substrate, as described in "Organic Recording Materials for Optical Disks" by M. Abe, one of the inventors of the present invention, compiled by the Japanese Research Association for Organic Electronics Materials, published by Bunshin Publishing Company (1989). However, these dyes lack in the light absorption or light reflection properties in the short wavelength region of 400 to 500 nm, so that there is a limitation in utilizing these dyes for high density recording.


The disclosure relates to a magnet track braking device comprising a magnetic base and/or support body and a pole shoe section containing a magnetic flow guiding area and a magnetic flow separating area. The disclosure is characterized in that the magnetic base and/or support body is made from materials having different magnetic characteristics, so that an increase in induction in the gap between the magnet track brake and the rail head is reduced when erosion occurs in the pole shoe section.

The disclosure relates to an electromagnetic rail braking device having a magnetic base body and/or support body, a pole shoe section, the pole shoe section comprising a magnetic-flux-guiding area as well as a magnetic-flux-cutting area.
In principle, electromagnetic rail brakes involve an electromagnet consisting of a coil extending in the rail direction and horseshoe-like magnetic cores. The direct current flowing in the magnetic coil causes a magnetomotive force which generates a magnetic flux in the magnetic core, which magnetic flux path is closed by the rail head. The amount of the braking force of an electromagnetic rail brake depends on the magnetic reluctance of the magnetic circuit. That is, the geometry and permeability, the electric flux, the coefficient of friction between the magnetic shoe and the rail as well as the rail condition.
In principle, a differentiation can be made between two different types of magnets based on the construction of the brake magnets. In a first embodiment, the magnetic core consists of two steel cheeks which are firmly screwed to the coil body on both sides. As an alternative, the brake magnet can also be constructed as a link magnet. In the case of such an embodiment, the magnetic core is divided into two end pieces and several connecting links. The end pieces are firmly screwed to the coil body, and the links can move freely in the coil box opening and follow the unevenness of the rail.
Concerning the construction of electromagnetic rail brakes, reference is made to the publication "Brakes for Rail Vehicles", Manual of Brake-Related Terms and Values, Page 45, by Knorr-Bremse AG, München, 1990.
In the case of electromagnetic rail brakes according to the state of the art, St37 steel is preferably used for friction materials in the pole shoe section. The use of a St37 friction layer has the disadvantage that buildups occur increasingly which considerably reduce the braking force of the brake. In order to restore this braking force, it was necessary to manually remove the buildup, which caused high maintenance costs. Although the use of GGG40 cast steel resulted in less buildup, only low braking forces could be applied by such friction layers.
A friction material which is distinguished by a low buildup tendency and permits a sufficient service life is, for example, a sintered material as a friction material for the pole shoe section. The sintered material contains at least one fraction of pulverized wear inhibitor and one fraction of a protective-layer-forming powder.
A disadvantage of the use of sintered materials as the friction material was the problem that, as the wear of the pole shoes increased, the holding force and therefore also the braking forces to be generated increased considerably. These braking forces rose to twice to three times the forces in the worn condition.

Knorr-Bremse Systeme fur Schienenfahrzeuge GmbH