A CVD diamond layer for use as an insert in an abrasive tool characterized by the following features:. (i) the layer contains boron dopant atoms in a concentration of at least 0.05 atomic percent; PA1 (ii) an average tensile rupture strength of at least 600 MPa with the nucleation phase in tension, and at least 300 MPa with the growth face in tension, both such tensile rupture strengths being measured by a three point bend test on a sample 18 mm long, 2 mm wide and a thickness of 1.4 mm or smaller.

This invention relates to diamond, and more particularly to diamond produced by chemical vapour deposition (hereinafter referred to as "CVD"), which is suitable for use as an insert for abrasive tools.
Methods of depositing material such as diamond on a substrate by CVD are now well established and have been described extensively in the patent and other literature. Where diamond is being deposited on a substrate, the method generally involves providing a gas mixture which, on dissociation, can provide hydrogen or a halogen (e.g. F,Cl) in atomic form and C or carbon containing radicals and other reactive species, e.g. CH.sub.x, CF.sub.x wherein x can be 1 to 4. In addition oxygen containing sources may be present, as may sources for nitrogen, and for boron. In many processes inert gases such as helium, neon or argon are also present. Thus, a typical source gas mixture will contain hydrocarbons C.sub.x Y.sub.y, wherein x and y can each be 1 to 10, halocarbons C.sub.x Y.sub.y Hal.sub.z (e.g. CF.sub.4), or CO.sub.x, wherein x can be 1 to 3 and optionally one or more of the following: O.sub.2, H.sub.2, N.sub.2, NH.sub.3, B.sub.2 H.sub.6, and an inert gas. Each gas may be present in its natural isotopic ratio, or the relative isotopic ratios may be artificially controlled; for example hydrogen may be present as deuterium or tritium, and carbon may be present as .sup.12 C or .sup.13 C. Dissociation of the source gas mixture is brought about by an energy source such as microwaves, lasers, RF energy, a flame, or a hot filament, and the reactive gas species so produced are allowed to deposit onto a substrate and form diamond.
Layers of CVD diamond have been proposed as inserts for abrasive tools, particularly cutting tools. CVD diamond layers have found limited commercial favour for such applications. One of the reasons for this is that CVD diamond layers have poor electrical conductivity making them difficult to cut and shape into a desired form for cutting insert using conventional EDM techniques. It has been proposed to introduce boron dopant atoms into CVD diamond layers to improve the electrical conductivity, but this has led to a deterioration in the strength of the layer.

18 Rutland Park Gardens, Willesden Green


An articulated scraper blade system mounted to a snow plow blade length installed in the front of a vehicle for snow scraping, which comprises a multitude of carbide sections moving independently when they strike an obstacle on a road surface.

1. Field of the Invention
More paticularly, this invention relates to an articulated scraper blade system mounted to a snow plow blade length installed in the front of a vehicle for snow scraping, made up of which comprises a multitude of carbide sections moving independently when they strike an obstacle on a road surface.
2. Description of the Related Art
A search of prior art records has unveiled the following patents:
1. U.S. Pat. No. 2,282,298 issued in 1942 to Vogel;
2. CA 2,242,278 issued in 1998 to Daniels;
3. U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,997 issued in 1997 to Isaacs;
4. U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,577 issued in 1973 to Brucher;
5. FR 2,539,438 issued in 1984 to Kueper;
6. U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,797 issued in 1978 to Mckenzie;
7. WO 9,107,547 issued in 1989 to Turpeinen;
8. WO 9,005,218 issued in 1988 to Andersson;
9. U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,150 issued in 1996 to Davis;
10. DE 4,100,545 issued in 1991 to Nusser;
11. DE 3,937,634 issued in 1991 to Schulz;
12. U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,453 issued in 1994 to Norton;
13. EP 0,846,808 issued in 1997 to Maier;
14. U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,480 issued in 1996 to Fall;
15. EP 0,279,338 issued in 1988 to Hallissy; and
16. U.S. Pat. No. 5,241,763 issued in 1991 to Dynan;
The patents to Vogel and Kueper are probably the most relevant.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a snowplow blade length with an articulated scraper blade system of for snow scraping, which comprises a multitude of carbide sections moving independently when they strike an obstacle on a road surface.


An electrode-built-in susceptor is formed by a susceptor base body which is made of an aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member on one of which surface a plate sample is mounted, an inner electrode which is built in the susceptor member, a power supplying terminal which is disposed in the susceptor base body so as to be attached to the inner electrode, and an insulating layer which is formed mainly by one of a boron nitride, a lithium oxide, an aluminium oxide, or a magnesium oxide is formed between the inner electrode and the mounting surface.

1. Field of the Invention
Present invention relates to an electrode-built-in susceptor. In particular, the present invention relates to an electrode-built-in susceptor which can prevent a leak electricity under s high temperature oxidizing atmosphere condition.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, manufacturing processes such as an etching process, a coating process are performed per a wafer or per a base board uniformly in a production process for a semiconductor device such as an IC (integrated circuit), an LSI (large scale integration), VLSI (very large scale integration). It is the same for manufacturing process for a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and a plasma display (PDP) and an assembly process for a hybrid IC of the like. A sheet-by-sheet process for a plate sample such as a semiconductor device, a glass base board for a liquid crystal, and a printed circuit board is becoming more common.
In such a sheet-by-sheet process, a plate sample is supported in a processing chamber sheet by sheet, or wafer by wafer. The plate sample is mounted on a sample base which is called as a susceptor and processed for a predetermined time.
It is necessary that such a susceptor can be used under a high temperature plasma condition. Therefore, it is required that such a susceptor has a superior plasma characteristics and a larger thermal conductivity.
For such a susceptor, a susceptor which is made of a aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member having superior high temperature anti-plasma characteristics is commonly used.
There is a case in which an electrostatic chucking electrode for fixing a plate sample by generating an electric charge and an electrostatic absorbing force is disposed in the susceptor. Also, there is a case in which a heating electrode for heating the plate sample by an electricity is disposed in the susceptor. Also, there is a case in which an inner electrode for generating a plasma by applying a high frequency electricity is disposed in the susceptor.
FIG. 6 is a cross section showing an example for such an electrode-built-in susceptor. Here, an electrode-built-in susceptor 1 comprises a mounting plate 2 which is formed by an aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member of which upper surface is a mounting surface 2a for mounting a plate sample (not shown in the drawing) thereon, a supporting plate 3 which is formed by an aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member for supporting the mounting plate 2 from therebeneath, a plurality of inner electrodes 4 which are supported between the mounting plate 2 and the supporting plate 3, and power supplying terminals 6, 6 which are disposed in a fixing holes 5 formed in the supporting plate 3 so as to contact the inner electrodes 4. These power supplying terminals 6, 6 are formed by a heat-resistance metal such as a molybdenum (Mo) and a tungsten (W).
In such an electrode-built-in susceptor 1, the mounting plate 2 and the supporting plate 3 for supporting the inner electrodes 4 are formed by an aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member; therefore, such an electrode-built-in susceptor is used preferably in a plasma-etching-apparatus or a plasma CVD (chemical vapor disposition) apparatus in which an anti-plasma characteristics and a thermal conductivity are necessary particularly.
Here, the aluminum-nitride-group-sintered-member which forms the above mounting plate 2 and the supporting plate 3 is very insulating under an ordinary temperature condition. However, the insulating characteristics in the aluminum-nitride-group-sintered-member tends to worsen under a high temperature oxidizing condition such as 400° C. or higher. A resistance value in the mounting plate 2 and the supporting plate 3 become worsened if such an electrode-built-in susceptor 1 is used under a high temperature atmosphere condition; thus, a leak electricity may easily occurs when an electricity is charged to the inner electrodes 4. As a result, there are problems in that the leak electricity damages a plate sample which is mounted on the mounting surface, or it is not possible to control an electric conductivity to the inner electrodes 4 because of such a leak electricity.
Correspondingly, it is proposed recently to use an aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member to which a magnesium compound such as a magnesium oxide (MgO) is doped so as to alleviate a temperature dependency of an initial volume resistance value in the aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member. There is a problem in that a thermal efficiency is reduced because of a reduced thermal conductivity of the aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member in such an electrode-built-in susceptor. In addition, there is a new problem in that a magnesium which is contained in the aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member may be a contamination source for the plate sample.
On the other hand, it is necessary to apply a 20 A electricity when, for example, the inner electrodes 4 are used for a plasma generating electrodes under condition a large amount of electricity is applied to the inner electrodes 4 in the power supplying terminals 6, 6. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the resistance value in the power supplying terminals 6, 6. As a result, it is necessary to increase a diameter of the power supplying terminal 6. Therefore, a stress becomes large which is caused by a difference between a thermal expansion in a heat-resistance metal which forms the power supplying terminals 6, 6 and a thermal expansion in the aluminium-nitride-group-sintered-member which forms the supporting plate 3. Thus, there is a problem in that a crack may occur easily on the supporting plate 3 according to a thermal condition change when such an electrode-built-in susceptor is used.
Here, recently, it is tentatively proposed to form power supplying terminals 6, 6 by a conductive sintered member such as an aluminium-nitride-tungsten-composite-sintered-member. However, such a sintered member does not have sufficient anti-oxidization characteristics. For example, there is a problem in that such a sintered member does not have a durability to a thermal cyclic load in which a heating operation and a cooling operation are repeated under 400° C. temperature oxidizing atmosphere condition.
In order to solve such a problem, it is proposed to cool the power supplying terminals 6, 6 by a cooling section. In such a case, another problem arises in that it takes more time to heat the plate sample at a predetermined temperature and the heat does not distribute in the plate sample uniformly.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: By doing this, it is possible to provide an electrode-built-in susceptor which has a superior durability under a high temperature oxidizing atmosphere condition without a concern in that a thermal efficiency decreases and a plate sample is contaminated.


A filter for a drill string comprises a perforated receptacle having an upper end and a lower end. The upper end of the filter comprises a drilling mud intake, and the lower end of the filter comprises an opening. A displaceable plug is seated on the opening at the lower end.

Oil and gas well drilling operations typically require drilling mud to be circulated throughout the system. As drilling mud is recirculated during downhole drilling operations, debris from earth formations, drill bit cuttings, shavings, and other abrasive articles may damage sensitive downhole equipment. Filters used to collect the debris are known in the art. Often these filters are placed in an uppermost drill pipe of a drill string. As new pipe is added to the drill string, the filter is removed, dumped out and cleaned, hoisted to the top of the derrick, and placed into the newly attached uppermost pipe in the drill string.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,165,633 to Hall et al., which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, discloses a drilling fluid filter for placement within a bore of a tubular drill string component. The drilling fluid filter includes a perforated receptacle with an open end and a closed end. A hanger for engagement with the wall is mounted at the open end of the perforated receptacle. A mandrel is adjacent and attached to the open end of the perforated receptacle. A linkage connects the mandrel to the hanger. The linkage may be selected from the group consisting of struts, articulated struts and cams. The mandrel operates on the hanger through the linkage to engage and disengage the drilling fluid filter from the tubular drill string component. The mandrel may have a stationary portion having a first attachment to the open end of the perforated receptacle and a telescoping adjustable portion having a second attachment to the linkage. The mandrel may also have a top-hole interface for top-hole equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,275,594 to Hall et al., which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, discloses a tool string stab guide for axially aligning first tool string components with second tool string components. The stab guide has a body with an axial length along a longitudinal axis with a first and a second section. The first section of the body is adapted for removable attachment within a bore of a tool string component. The second section of the body has a centering element with a flow channel. The ratio of the axial length to the diameter is at least 2:1.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,303,029 to Hall et al., which is herein incorporated by reference for all it contains, discloses a filter for a drill string comprising a perforated receptacle having an open end, a perforated end, a first mounting surface adjacent to the open end and a second mounting surfaces adjacent to the open end. A transmission element is disposed within each of the first mounting surface and the second mounting surface. A capacitor may modify electrical characteristics of an LC circuit that are a part of the transmission elements. The respective transmission elements are in communication with each other and with a transmission network integrated into the drill string. The transmission elements may be inductive couplers, direct electrical contacts, or optical couplers. In some embodiments, the filter includes an electronic component. The electronic component may be selected from the group consisting of a sensor, a router, a power source, a clock source, a repeater, and an amplifier.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,546 to Herst, which is herein incorporated by reference for all that it contains, discloses a filter system for filtering drill bit cuttings, shavings, and other abrasive articles from a drilling mud that is passed through an oil or gas well drilling system that includes an overhead drilling system, a drill string connected to the overhead drilling system, and a mud filter for filtering the drilling mud, wherein the mud filter is disposed within a drilling mud fluid passage that extends from the entry point of the drilling mud into the overhead drilling system and the entry point of the drilling mud into the drill string.

Displaceable plug in a tool string filter


A drilling machine drills foundation holes known as drilled shafts or bored piles with a drilling tool attached to an end of a kelly. The kelly is rotated with a rotary drive. The rotary drive has a first motor, a final drive gear coupled to the kelly so as to rotate with the kelly and a planetary gear set between the first motor and the final drive gear. A second motor is coupled to the ring gear on the planetary gear set. A clutch can also be connected to the ring gear. The rotary drive allows the drilling tool to be rotated at low drilling speeds and, without stopping rotation or shifting gears, removed from the hole and accelerated to high speeds to discharge spoil. A mid-range is also possible, wherein the drilling tool can process fluids in the hole. Another motor and planetary gear set can be coupled to the final drive gear and to the second motor.

Foundation or pier drilling machines (also known in the industry as bored piling machines) are used to drill holes for the foundations of structures, such as buildings and bridges. The holes drilled may be, for example, up to 12 feet in diameter and up to an average of 120 feet deep. Once the hole is drilled, concrete is poured in to form a pier or footing.
The drilling tool of choice is an auger bit. The auger has helical, spiraling flanges or flights.
In typical drilling operations with an auger bit, the auger is placed onto the desired location in the ground and then rotated. Rotation of the auger occurs by rotating a kelly bar that is inserted into the auger. The kelly is coupled to a stationary mast by way of a rotary drive. The rotary drive rotates the kelly and allows the kelly to move vertically up and down.
In any drilling operation, the process of drilling creates spoil, or cuttings, that must be removed from the hole. In some drilling operations, fluid is circulated in and out to carry the spoil out of the hole. However, in many foundation or pier drilling operations, the spoil is simply lifted out of the hole by way of the auger bit.
The spoil collects on the flights of the auger during drilling. To remove the spoil, the auger is lifted out of the hole and swung over to one side of the hole. The auger bit is rotated and is in fact accelerated to a higher speed than normal drilling speed. This acceleration and high rotational speed flings or discharges the spoil from the flights of the auger.
In the prior art, drilling machines have had difficulty in transitioning the auger bit from drilling speeds to the higher spoil discharge speeds. When drilling, the operator rotates the auger bit at drilling speeds, which speeds are relatively low, using one set of drive gears. This arrangement allows the bit to be turned with high torques. To discharge spoil from the bit, the operator withdraws the bit from the hole and stops rotating the auger bit in order to engage another set of drive gears. This other set of drive gears rotates the bit at high speeds and low torques. Unfortunately, without high torque, bringing the bit, loaded with spoil, from zero to high speeds is time consuming and sometimes ineffective. It is analogous to a car completely stopping and then trying to move forward in a high (4th or 5th) gear. The bit initially rotates very slowly and gradually picks up speed. The slow spin-up time and acceleration of the spoil-laden auger bit adds delay and loss of productivity to overall drilling operations. The required stopping and/or shifting, if not done with careful operator control, is also a potential cause of damage to the prior art rotary drives.

Foundation drilling apparatus and method with continuously variable hydraulic differential rotary table


The invention relates to an osteogenic composite matrix consisting of collagen and non-collagen components of an extracellular matrix (ECM-components), to a method for producing said matrix, to a method for producing an implant or a scaffold for tissue engineering which is provided with a coating formed by said osteogenic composite matrix and is used for stimulating and accelerating a hard tissue formation such as, for example. The implant osseointegration in bones. The inventive osteogenic composite matrix comprises a collagen and at least one non-collagen ECM component or the derivatives thereof, wherein the collagen component consists of non-crosslinked collagen fibers produced by fibrillogenesis and the non-collagen ECM component or the derivatives thereof are integrated into said collagen fibers.

In the tissue, the cells are embedded in the native extracellular matrix (ECM), which is an important part of the cellular environment. The native ECM is a highly ordered, tissue-specific network which consists of collagens, glycoproteins, proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans (GAG). The composition for various tissue and for various stages of development is very different here, such that the respective matrix has specific properties with respect to interaction with cells and growth factors.
The main structural protein of the native bone matrix is collagen type I, but various other matrix proteins such as proteoglycans and glycoproteins can interact with the collagen and influence the structure and function of the matrix. These noncollagenic ECM proteins fulfill specific functions in the matrix. Thus fibronectin, in addition to cell-binding properties, also has collagen- and GAG-binding properties [Stamatoglou and Keller, 1984, Biochim Biophys Acta. Oct 28; 719(1): 90-7], whereas small leucine-rich proteins (SLRPs) such as decorin not only play a role in the organization of the native ECM (decorin modulates fibrilogenesis in vivo), but also bind growth factors such as TGF-β or even play a role as signal molecules [Kresse and Schönherr, 2001, J Cell Phys 189: 266-274].
Proteoglycans and glycoproteins differ by their degree of glycosylation, the sugar content of the particularly highly glycosylated proteoglycans consisting of various glycosaminoglycans. The distribution of these chains can be tissue-specific, as, for example, for decorin (chondroitin sulfate in the bone, dermatan sulfate in the skin). The glycosaminoglycans are large, unbranched polysaccharides which consist of repeating disaccharides, which are composed, for example, of N-acetyl-galactosamine, N-acetylglucosamine, glucuronate or iduronate, which are sulfated to different degrees. The sugar chains are present in vivo bound to the proteoglycans and play an important role in the function of these proteins, i.e. in growth factor binding and modulation [Bernfield et al, 1999, Annu Rev Biochem, 68: 729-777].
Individual ECM constituents, in particular collagen, are already utilized for the biocompatible modification of scaffolds and implants in order to improve cell adhesion and tissue integration. In addition to collagen, further ECM components such as polysaccharides are used in various applications. Thus bone tissue was crosslinked with glycosaminoglycans in order to produce a three-dimensional scaffold for applications in tissue culture (WO 01/02030A2).
A chondroitin sulfate-containing mixture is used for the repair of bone defects; this promotes the healing of the connective tissue, mainly on account of the content of aminosugars and increased matrix production caused thereby (WO 98/27988, WO 99/39757). In combination with collagen, plant polysaccharides are used as wound coverings (EP 0140569 A2), and a combination of chitosan and GAGs is described as an agent for the stimulation of the regeneration of hard tissue (WO 96/02259). Collagen-GAG mixtures are produced here by acid coprecipitation, an unstructured precipitate and no defined collagen fibrils comparable to those in the native ECM being formed (U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,448,718, 5,716,411, 6,340,369).
With progressive availability of recombinant growth factors, those osteoinductive factors which actively influence the interactions between implants and surrounding tissue are increasingly of interest for implant applications [Anselme K (2000). Biomaterials 21, 667-68]. In connection with bone healing, the 'bone morphogenetic proteins' (BMP 2, 4-7) are particularly interesting since they induce the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells in chondrocytes and osteoblasts and the formation of new bone [Celeste A J, Taylor R, Yamaji N, Wang J, Ross J, Wozney J M (1994) J. Cell Biochem. 16F, 100; Wozney J M, Rosen (1993). Bone morphogenetic proteins in Mundy, G R, Martin T J (Ed.) Physiology and pharmacology off bone. Handbook of experimental pharmacology, Vol. 107. Springer Verlag, Berlin, 725-748]. On account of these strong bone-inducing effects, recombinant BMPs are employed in various carrier materials in order to promote and to improve the regeneration of bone. Effective carriers for morphogenetic proteins should bind these, protect against hydrolysis, make possible subsequent, controlled release and promote the associated cell reactions. Moreover, such carriers should be biocompatible and biodegradable. Preferred carrier materials for BMPs are, for example, xenogenic bone matrix (WO 99/39757) or natural tissue subsequently crosslinked with GAGs (WO 01/02030 A2), or HAP, collagen, TCP, methylcellulose, PLA, PGA, and various copolymers (EP 0309241 A2, DE 19890329, EP 0309241 A2, DE 19890906, WO 8904646 A1, DE 19890601). Further applications comprise a crosslinked synthetic polymer which can contain additional components such as GAGs, collagen or bioactive factors (WO 97/22371), or crosslinked collagen mixed with glycosaminoglycans and osteogenic factors (WO 91/18558, WO 97/21447). The collagen-GAG mixture is in this case likewise produced by acid coprecipitation.
The use of recombinant growth factors is associated with great disadvantages. Since the recombinant factors usually have a lower activity than the endogenous factors occurring naturally in the tissue, in order to achieve an effect in vivo unphysiologically high doses are necessary. The administration of recombinant factors can only simulate the action of endogenous factors very incompletely.
By the use of factors which promote the action of the BMPs (Bone morphogenetic protein), or by the use of cells which can express the growth factors in situ, it is attempted to minimize or to circumvent this problem (WO 97/21447, WO 98/25460). Further problems can result from the fact that receptors for BMP occur in many different tissues; the function of these growth factors is thus not limited to the bone.

Osteogenic composite matrix, method for the production thereof and implant and scaffold for tissue engineering provided with a coating formed by said osteogenic composite matrix


A gas generator has a first chamber containing a first amount of substance of a solid propellant providing filling gas and a second chamber containing a second amount of substance providing filling gas. An igniter is associated with the first chamber only. The first chamber has outflow openings providing a flow connection with an environment of the gas generator. After activation of the gas generator, the second chamber is connected with the environment of the gas generator with regard to flow exclusively via the first chamber.

In gas generators, it is desired that the entire quantity of gas for filling a gas bag is not released in a sudden burst, but rather is released distributed over a certain period of time, and the solid propellant is burned as completely as possible. For this, multiple-stage gas generators are known, in which individual propellant charges can be ignited, staggered over time.
It is an object of the invention to provide by simple means a favourably priced gas generator of this type. It is also an object of the invention to realize, by simple means, a gas generator, the performance curve of which corresponds at least approximately to that of a two-stage gas generator with one igniter per propellant chamber.


Provided are an action plan making system and method for an unmanned aerial vehicle, and a storage medium. The action plan making system (1) includes: an unmanned aerial vehicle (10), provided with an aerial shooting device; and a computer (30). A control unit of the computer (30) executes a making module (324), which makes an action plan including a flight plan and a shooting plan of the unmanned aerial vehicle (10) according to a region accepted by executing a region acceptance module (322) and a purpose accepted by executing a purpose acceptance module (323). A control unit (14) of the unmanned aerial vehicle (10) executes a control module (141), and controls the aerial shooting of a camera (17) and flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle (10) based on the action plan made by executing the making module (324) by the control unit (32) of the computer (30).

So far, laver cultivation has been extensively carried out in the sea. It is known that when laver is cultivated, a disease called red rot may occur. In this disease, bacteria parasitizes the laver, generating rust-red spots and causing the laver's thalli to break. In laver cultivation, prevention of laver diseases, especially the red rot, has become an important topic.
Similarly, in fields, preventing pests from attaching to crops leading by soybean plants and rice plants has become an important topic.
In addition, in a case where diseases occur on laver and in fields, in order to prevent the diseases from spreading, it is necessary to quickly grasp places the diseases occur and promptly take appropriate measures to the places. Be that as it may, the scale of laver and crop cultivation is as wide as tens of thousands of square meters, and it takes a lot of labor to quickly and reliably grasp the places the diseases occur.
To reduce labor, an approach is proposed to shoot laver farms and fields from the sky and determine whether there is any disease based on the shot images. Compared with the case of using an actual airplane or helicopter, using aerial shooting of an unmanned aerial vehicle can reduce costs. In addition, the shooting can be performed safely at a low altitude and at a narrow place, and the shooting can be performed close to a shooting target. Therefore, high-quality photos and videos can be obtained, and implementations in various aspects such as confirming a maintenance status of a structure, inspecting from a height and ground observation from a height can be achieved.
For aerial shooting using the unmanned aerial vehicle, a method is proposed, in which a distance between the vehicle body and the shooting target is measured during the flight of the unmanned aerial vehicle, and according to the measurement result, a zoom ratio of a camera is determined to shoot the shooting target (for example, reference may be made to patent document 1). According to this method, the camera mounted on the unmanned aerial vehicle may be used to accurately enlarge an image of the shooting target to a sufficient size in the camera frame, and the image can be captured and recorded as high-precision image data.

Unmanned aerial vehicle action plan creation system, method and program


A deposition apparatus includes: a transfer unit including a first transfer unit and a second transfer unit, wherein the first transfer unit transfers, in a first direction, a moving unit to which a substrate is detachably fixed, and the second transfer unit transfers, in an opposite direction of the first direction, the moving unit from which the substrate is separated, and a deposition unit including a deposition assembly wherein the deposition assembly deposits a material on the substrate spaced apart from the deposition assembly while the first transfer unit transfers the substrate which is fixed to the moving unit, wherein the first transfer unit includes a first support unit that supports both ends of the moving unit in the first direction, and a second support unit that supports a side of the moving unit opposite to a side close to the deposition assembly.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a deposition apparatus, a method of manufacturing an organic light-emitting display apparatus by using the deposition apparatus, and an organic light-emitting display apparatus manufactured by using the deposition apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic light-emitting display apparatus has aspects in that its viewing angle is wide, its contrast is excellent, and its response speed is fast, and thus the organic light-emitting display apparatus is receiving attention as a next-generation display apparatus.
The organic light-emitting display apparatus has a configuration that includes an intermediate layer between a first electrode and a second electrode that face each other, the intermediate layer including a light emitting layer. In this case, the first electrode, the second electrode, and the intermediate layer may be formed in many ways, one of which is an independent deposition method. In order to manufacture the organic light-emitting display apparatus by using a deposition method, a fine metal mask (FMM) with an opening which has the same/similar pattern as that of the intermediate layer is in close contact with a substrate on which the intermediate layer is to be formed, and a material of the intermediate layer is deposited to form the intermediate layer in a given pattern.

Deposition apparatus, method of manufacturing organic light-emitting display apparatus by using same, and organic light-emitting display apparatus manufactured by using deposition apparatus


The present invention relates to a pneumatic tire with a rubber lump applied to the bead part, and more particularly, to a pneumatic tire wherein the bead part is reinforced by applying a rubber lump on the side surface of the lower portion of the bead with a carcass ply. A flipper, which provides reinforcement, can also be used. The carcass play is spirally wound through the upper, side and lower portion of said rubber lump to an arbitrary point of the upper portion of said bead so that by minimizing the movement of the bead by way of the carcass ply or the flipper, the bead portion of the tire is not easily broken away from the rim when air is evacuated from the tire which is installed on a special rim that does not have a flange, or while driving with a tire with low air pressure.

In conventional pneumatic tires, a wedge is installed at the side of the bead so that the bead portion of the tire is not released from the rim when the tire is deflated or at low air pressure. As one example of prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,047 is illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in the figure, the upper part of carcass ply 3 winds a wedge 2 and is turned up, and then spherical bead 1 is installed wound on the carcass ply. This art requires many manufacturing steps and has many problems as described below.
First, the process of installing the bead and the wedge is very complicated, and there is a possibility that the bead is released from the rim due to the movement of the spherical bead applied when the tire is deflated. Moreover, since the hardness of the wedge 2 used is low, a shore hardness of about 95 or lower, the wedge 2 can be deformed partially on the portion suppressed by the bead 1, and cannot perform the desired role.

Pneumatic tire with reinforced bead part


An apparatus for delivering bone cement into a vertebra includes a cannula and a syringe pivotally coupled to the cannula. Preferably, the syringe is pivotally coupled to the cannula by a pivot fitting that may be detachable from one or both of the cannula and the syringe. The syringe includes a piston slidable in a barrel for advancing the bone cement through an outlet communicating with the cannula. A shaft and cable arrangement or a fluid-driven system may be used to advance the piston within the syringe. The cannula is inserted into a vertebra, and is connected to the syringe. The syringe is pivoted to a desired position, and bone cement is delivered from the syringe through the cannula and into the vertebra.

Vertebroplasty is a procedure during which bone cement, biomaterials, and/or other flowable compounds are delivered into a vertebra. A syringe or other delivery device is generally provided within which the bone cement to be delivered is stored shortly before the bone cement is to be delivered. For example, the delivery device may include a barrel or housing including an open inlet end and an exit end with a narrow outlet. A plunger or threaded driver may be advanced into the inlet end to force bone cement within the barrel out the outlet in the exit end.
A cannula may be inserted percutaneously through the cutaneous layers of tissue above a hard tissue structure being treated and into the hard tissue structure. For example, the hard tissue structure may be a vertebra, and the cannula may include a sharpened tip to penetrate through cortical bone and into the cancellous bone within the vertebra. Alternatively, the hard tissue structure may be exposed using conventional surgical procedures before inserting the cannula and/or the cannula may be inserted over a needle previously placed or simultaneously advanced into the vertebra.
A semi-rigid or flexible tube, e.g., twenty to fifty centimeters long, may be connected between the proximal end of the cannula and the outlet of the delivery device to deliver bone cement via the tube into the hard tissue structure. The tube may be bent slightly during the procedure, e.g., to keep the user's hands and/or the delivery device out of the field of an imaging device, such as a fluoroscope, that may be used to monitor the procedure.
Alternatively, the syringe may be connected directly to the proximal end of the cannula. Such a rigid connection, however, requires a user to support the syringe/cannula combination, which may expose the user to x-ray radiation, e.g., from a fluoroscope used to monitor the injection of the material as it is being injected, requiring the user to wear appropriate additional x-ray protection, which may be cumbersome and inconvenient.
In addition, because of the high viscosity of bone cement, high pressures are generally required to inject bone cement from the delivery device, through the tube and cannula, and into the hard tissue structure. For example, pressures of up to one to three thousand pounds per square inch (1,000–3,000 psi) may be required to inject bone cement from the delivery device. This requires the user to apply substantial force, while simultaneously supporting the weight of the delivery device and its contents. This may cause fatigue of the user and/or undesired movement of the cannula delivery device during the procedure.
Accordingly, apparatus and methods for delivering bone cement or other compounds into vertebrae would be useful.

Apparatus and methods for delivering compounds into vertebrae for vertebroplasty


Various embodiments crowd source images to cover various angles, zoom levels, and elevations of objects and/or points of interest (POIs) while under various lighting conditions. The crowd sourced images are tagged or associated with a particular POI or geographic location and stored in a database for use by an augmented reality (AR) application to recognize objects appearing in a live view of a scene captured by at least one camera of a computing device. The more comprehensive the database, the more accurately an object or POI in the scene will be recognized and/or tracked by the AR application. Accordingly, the more accurately an object is recognized and tracked by the AR application, the more smoothly and continuous the content and movement transitions thereof can be presented to users in the live view.

Users are increasingly utilizing electronic devices to obtain various types of information. For example, a user wanting to learn the name of a song playing in the background can cause a sample of that song to be recorded by an electronic device and uploaded to a song identification service for analysis. Likewise, a user wanting an answer to a question can use his voice to ask his device the question, such that the device will process the user's voice and retrieve the answer to the question. In a similar fashion, a user wanting to determine the availability of a book can capture an image of the book and upload that image to a book identification service for analysis. Accordingly, automated object recognition systems to recognize and track objects in an image or multiple frames of an image are ever becoming more sophisticated. Conventional systems have utilized feature-based object tracking algorithms, such as Scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) or Speeded Up Robust Feature (SURF) algorithm, to identify distinguishing features (which are usually corners) and calculate descriptors (unique fingerprints) for each feature point. These systems identify hundreds of feature points and their corresponding descriptors are computed for each frame in a sequence of video, for example, and a computationally intensive algorithm, such as brute force matching or Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) algorithm, is used to track these points from frame to frame. This has enabled various augmented reality applications to identify objects and points of interest within a live view and provide information about objects or points of interest in an overlay. In order to match the feature points identified by these algorithms to real-world objects, a computing device, or system in communication therewith, must compare the feature points to images stored for these real-world objects. Since there are so many objects and points of interest, image databases often lack images from all possible angles and under various types of lighting conditions. This often leads to unrecognized or misrecognized information and additionally leads to the misplacement of overlay information. This is particularly bothersome when panning across a scene since the misplaced and misrecognized information often leads to an erratic and discontinuous display of augmented reality information. Therefore, as technology advances and as people are increasingly using portable computing devices in a wider variety of ways, it can be advantageous to adapt the ways in which these image databases are populated to ensure they contain sufficient image coverage of objects and points of interest from various angles, zoom levels, elevations and under various lighting conditions for the accurate recognition and overlay placement of information to provide users with a smooth and continuous viewing experience.

Graphical refinement for points of interest


The various embodiments herein provide a method and system for building a relationship hierarchy from big data. The method comprises extracting a plurality of relationships defined between entities from a big data, building relationship recognition models adapted to identify different forms of generic relationships, resolving the relationships by grouping the similar relationships together and separating the relationships which are syntactically and semantically dissimilar and reconciling the resolved relationships to build the relationship hierarchy. The relationship hierarchy comprises groups and subgroups of relationships created based on generic relationship similarity based on a contextual aspect and a specialization aspect using a Language and Domain model. The method of extraction of plurality of relationships from the unstructured data is a self-learning process which uses open information extraction techniques for learning new relationships.

1. Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to data mining and particularly relates to extracting and resolving relationships from a large collection of data. The embodiments herein more particularly relates to a method and system for building a relationship hierarchy from the extracted relationships.
2. Description of the Related Art
The big data is a large collection of information which derives its data content from a plurality of structured, unstructured and semi-structured data sources. The big data calls for paradigm shift in the way the data is looked at in the past. Data cannot anymore reside in pockets and cannot talk to each other. It is imperative that data should be processed by considering all of it as one. Recognizing the entities and the relationships the entities share is a first step toward understanding big data.
An entity is an unit of data which has an independent existence and is also referred as an object that makes an independent sense. A relationship describes an association between two or more entities. The relationship between two or more entities helps in understanding the characteristics and behavior of the entities. In a database context, the entities and relationships help in structurally storing the contents of data. While relationships are rather explicit in structured data, it is much implicit in unstructured data.
Identifying relationships in text data itself is a fairly complex problem and requires multi stage resolution techniques to come-up with fairly semantically resolved relationships. These resolutions can be at the grammar level such as resolution of anaphora or even at a contextual level specific to domain. However, these relationships need to be further resolved into generic groups of similar relationships and a hierarchy among relationships must be established in order to bring out the implied inferences while querying.
The existing technology discusses relationship extraction by either Natural language processing (NLP) techniques or by Machine Learning (ML). Both of the NLP and ML techniques are not self-learning and require human intervention. The ML models require preparation of tagged data for training. Ideally separate models need to be built for identifying each type of relationships. This necessitates that the number and types of relationships are first zeroed-in and work within that limited space. The open information extraction models on the other hand find infinite number of relationships where different segments of the sentences are parsed and the involved entities are identified along with suggesting relationship between them. However, this leads to many forms of the same relationships and so in-numerous unresolved relationships.
Hence, there is a need for a system and method for building a relationship hierarchy which provide accurate response to a query from a big data. Further, there is a need for a method and system for relationship extraction and resolution without any human intervention. Moreover there is a need for a method and system for resolving relationships using NLP techniques.
The above mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.

System and method for building relationship hierarchy


The phase mask comprises binary square wave gratings which deflect light away from the collecting aperture of the projection system and binary phase gratings which deflect the incident light into a fan of rays to fill the collecting aperture. In the transmissive regions, the mask consists of randomly-placed squares etched to a depth corresponding to a half wave retardation and filling approximately fifty percent of the area within the transmissive region. The "blocking" regions consist of a binary grating etched to the same depth as that of the transmissive region but having sufficiently high spatial frequency to deflect the incident light to points outside of the collecting aperture.

Projection imaging systems are widely used in photolithographic steps of semiconductor fabrication and in laser machining of metals, ceramics and polyimide. A conventional projection system includes a light source, a mask consisting of transmitting and blocking regions, and projection optics. When the light source is a laser, the additional element of a diffuser is included to make the light spatially incoherent to minimize the occurrence of standing waves resulting from interference fringes. Diffusers can typically be a fly's eye beam scrambler or a cloud-like scattering element, and must be capable of handling high power illumination.
Imaging system masks modulate light by selectively reflecting and/or absorbing the light at the blocking regions. Three commonly used mask types are metal, chrome on glass and dielectric.
Metal masks are formed by cutting or etching holes in sheet metal. The blocking mechanism is partial reflection and absorption of the incident light. At high powers and/or extended exposures, absorption of light heats the mask and distorts it from its intended shape. As a result, metal masks for use with high power lasers generally require active cooling.
Chrome-coated glass masks use reflection as the blocking mechanism. However, enough incident light is still absorbed by the blocking portion that, especially at ultraviolet wavelengths, over time the thin chrome film erodes, generating mask defects. It is known that bridged areas on chrome masks can be corrected by burning off the defect with a laser, so it is clear that chrome masks are severely limited in their use with high power lasers of at least certain wavelengths.
Dielectric masks use reflection as a blocking mechanism and exhibit negligible absorption. However, for pulsed operation in the ultraviolet range, the damage threshold of a dielectric mask is typically 1-3 Joules/cm.sup.2 due to the fragile nature of the reflective coating on the mask.
From diffraction theory, it is known that binary phase plates will modify the wavefront of incident light which is coherent and has a narrow bandwidth by using steps proportional to one-half the wavelength of the incident light to advance or retard phase or to scatter the light exiting from the phase plate.
Phase plates are relatively easy to manufacture in that common lithographic techniques can be used. Phase plates also have the advantage that, since they are diffractive elements, there is no significant absorption and, therefore, no heat-induced distortion or erosion of the pattern. Since they do not rely on reflection of any kind, optical coatings are not required. Thus, a phase mask possesses none of the negative qualities of the above-described mask types.
It would be desirable to provide a mask for use in high power laser processes which possesses the advantages of phase plates while still allowing the same or better masking of the pattern to be projected upon the workpiece as can be accomplished using conventional masking techniques. It is to such an objective that the present invention is directed.

High power phase masks for imaging systems


An apparatus for mounting a lighting fixture is provided having a mount housing with at least one pivot portion and a support panel with at least one hook portion, the support panel being attached to the mount housing in a manner where the hook portion can slide and pivot with respect to the pivot portion. The pivot portion includes a rail, a tab-slot and a tab-rest, the tab-slot and tab-rest being adjacent to the rail and the hook portion has a hook member and a tab-stand adjacent to the hook member. The support panel is free to move between an open and a closed position and, preferably, detachable from the mount housing. A method for mounting a lighting fixture is also disclosed.

A wide variety of flood and area lighting fixtures exist to provide illumination of buildings, parking lots, walkways and the like. Such fixtures are frequently mounted high in the air on the walls of buildings where they can only be installed with the assistance of a ladder or aerial lift. Of particular concern, however, is that most lighting fixtures of this type are unwieldy in size, shape and weight, making them extremely difficult to handle when installed. These fixtures also often use mounting brackets that are either unattractive or clash with the appearance of the lighting fixture or its surrounding building.
Installation of a flood or area lighting fixture requires that it first be properly connected electrically to the wiring needed to power the fixture before it is mechanically fastened to the supporting wall mount. Both of these operations can be dangerous, however, when the installation is performed high above the ground from oftentimes only the top of a ladder. Since either operation demands the use of two hands, the installer must find a way to support the fixture upon the ladder near him and yet leave unobstructed the needed workspace. As a result, given the dimensions and weight of the lighting fixture, installation is usually accomplished in a manner contributing undue risk to the worker.
It would be highly desirable therefore to have a mounting apparatus that first fastens the lighting fixture to the apparatus in an easy and efficient manner and afterwards elevates the fixture such that it is above yet adjacent to the workspace needed by the installer for completing the remaining electrical connections. This invention meets these needs and overcomes other problems and shortcomings found in the prior art.

Wall mount with detachable support panel


A compact, energy efficient image sensor which enables transfer of images to an external system is made compact in size and low in power consumption comprises an image sensor control circuit 20 which operates to drive a CCD image sensor 4 and stores horizontal lines of image data in a line memory 30. An HREF signal is raised in association with the storing operation. The external system monitors the HREF and supplies an external clock EXCLK to an image sensor 2 during an H level period according to its convenience. A memory control circuit 34 sequentially outputs image data from the line memory 30 to a data bus 10 in pixel units and in synchronization with the EXCLK.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image sensor which relays image information to an external device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a known conventional system in which an image sensor such as a digital camera, a scanner, or the like connected to an external device, such as a computer, relays information collected by the image sensor to the external equipment which operates asynchronous to the image sensor.
In one known structure for such a system, image information is transferred from the image sensor to external equipment while the image sensor captures images and outputs image data obtained by the image pickup based on a control timing generated by the image sensor. In this structure, the image sensor outputs digital image data in units of frames or horizontal lines. Specifically, the image sensor continuously outputs a single frame or a single horizontal line of image data according to a self-generated clock. With this configuration, although the external equipment can instruct the start of reading of image data from the image sensor, once the image sensor has started to output image data, the external equipment cannot readily halt or otherwise control the output of data.
Here, the external equipment, often a device such as a computer, may perform other processing while it receives image data from the image sensor. For example, the device may perform priority processing such as interruption processing or the like. Also, the image sensor is generally configured to be connected to a common bus for the external equipment, and this bus might be used for transmission of data other than that for the image information. Therefore, the structure of an image sensor which unilaterally outputs image data is not preferable for the external equipment. Of special note is the fact that, in this system, the image sensor always outputs image data in frame or line units, even when all that is desired is retrieval of a partial region of data from among the data for a single frame of an image. As a consequence, the external equipment can only send a data reading trigger to the image sensor when its CPU (Central Processing Unit) or bus is free, which occurs only at a certain times, such as after a single frame period or a single horizontal scanning period or more.
In an attempt to solve this problem, there has been proposed a structure in which a frame memory is mounted on the image sensor to temporarily store a single frame of image data obtained by a solid-state image sensor. In this structure, an operation to read an information charge from the solid-state image sensor to store in the frame memory can be performed according to the control timing and control clock generated by the image sensor independent of the state of the external equipment, while the external equipment can access the frame memory of the image sensor according to its own processing stat and the state of usage of the bus, and can read just a desired region of data from a single frame of an image.
However provision of a frame memory is disadvantageous in that the cost of the image sensor increases. There are also problems that it is difficult to reduce the size and the power consumption of the image sensor.

Image sensor with designatable read-out range


An organic light emitting display device. The organic light emitting display device includes a first substrate, a second substrate overlapping with at least one region of the first substrate and a sealing agent attached between the first substrate and the second substrate to seal a display unit therebetween. A conductive wire on the first substrate overlapping with at least a portion of the sealing agent includes a first conductive layer and a second conductive layer having at least one region formed at different levels to be electrically coupled to each other through contact holes. The first conductive layer and the second conductive layer are configured to reduce a resistance of the conductive wire and improve an adhesive force of the sealing agent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting display device, and more particularly, to a conductive wire and a sealing agent of an organic light emitting display device.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, there have been developed various flat panel displays that are light-weight and small-sized as compared with cathode ray tubes. Among the flat panel display devices, the organic light emitting display device has excellent luminance and color purity by using an organic compound as a light emitting material.
An organic light emitting display device includes a display unit including a large number of pixels disposed at crossing regions between scan lines and data lines, and a drive circuit for driving the display unit.
Here, each of the pixels includes an organic light emitting diode, each of which includes an anode electrode, a cathode electrode and an organic light emitting layer formed therebetween.
Since the organic light emitting layer deteriorate when exposed to moisture and oxygen, the display unit of the organic light emitting display device is generally sealed with an encapsulation member. That is to say, a display panel of an organic light emitting display device in which the display unit is formed includes a first substrate having the display unit formed thereon and a second substrate attached to the first substrate by a sealing agent for sealing the display unit. Further, a pad unit for receiving power from drive power sources and/or drive signals from an outside source is formed on one side of the first substrate.
In the organic light emitting display device, conductive wires for supplying power from drive power sources and/or drive signals to the display unit are formed between the display unit and the drive circuit, and/or between the display unit and the pad unit.
For example, scan lines and/or data lines for supplying a scan signal and/or a data signal may be formed between the display unit and the drive circuit. Power lines for supplying power from first and second power sources (ELVDD and ELVSS) to the display unit may be formed between the display unit and the pad unit.
However, when the power and/or the drive signals are transmitted through conductive wires, a voltage drop (IR drop) occurs due to the resistance of the conductive wires. Therefore, the characteristics of the organic light emitting display device may be deteriorated, such that non-uniform image quality may result, for example.
For example, when the power sources (ELVDD and ELVSS) supply a DC type power through the conductive wires, a relatively high voltage drop may occur along the conductive wires. Therefore, the pixels may be supplied with various voltages from the power sources (ELVDD and ELVSS), which leads to non-uniform image quality.
In some display panels, at least some of the conductive wires may be disposed to be overlapped with a sealing agent so as to reduce a dead space and the like.
Here, an adhesive force of the sealing agent may be changed according to the characteristics of materials used as the sealing agent and the configuration of the conductive wires disposed at a lower portion of the sealing agent. Therefore, it is desirable to improve reliability of the organic light emitting display device by configuring the conductive wires so as to provide a uniform adhesive force of the sealing agent.


A graphical user interface for guiding a user through the planning of an income stream includes one or more user input fields for receiving data from the user, where the data relates to user preferences regarding the income stream. Additionally, the graphical user interface includes at least one graph region for graphically displaying to the user the likelihood that the user will achieve a desired outcome based on the data provided to the user input fields. The graphical user interface thus assists the user in making informed decisions regarding his or her retirement goals and the necessary investments he or she must make in order to meet those goals.

Most working individuals have retirement plans in place to support themselves financially when they retire from the workforce. Such plans generally manage and/or invest the employee's assets (sometimes including at least a portion of the employee's regular income) in order to provide financial security when the employee retires and no longer receives a regular income.
Recently, many retirement plans have shifted from defined-benefit type plans, in which a plan sponsor controls investment risk and portfolio management to minimize investment risk, to defined-contribution type plans, which give the individual more control and discretion in the investment of funds but come with increased investment risk. Unfortunately, typical defined contribution type plans often fail to provide the individual with the resources and knowledge necessary to make informed investment decisions.
Many individuals can easily visualize their desired standard of living upon retirement, but are unsure of the necessary steps to take in order to secure this desired standard. Moreover, many individuals find available investment products, such as investment contracts and annuities, complicated and intimidating, making retirement planning a daunting task.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a graphical user interface for retirement income planning.

Graphical user interface for retirement income planning


A pump impeller and associated cutting elements are disclosed which are especially designed and positioned near the periphery of the impeller to reduce the size of entrained solids in a pumped fluid, or slurry, and to expel such solids from the impeller, drive shaft and associated sealing mechanisms.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to centrifugal pumps of the type known as chopper pumps, which are structured to process fluids containing large-sized solids that must be cut or chopped by the pump. Specifically, this invention relates to an impeller and associated cutting elements which are configured to process entrained solids and exclude them from the area of the seal of the pump.
2. Description of Related Art
Centrifugal pumps of the chopper type are used in many and varied industries to process fluids that contain larger-sized solids, such as plastics or animal byproducts. Chopper pumps are typically characterized by having an impeller that is structured to contact a cutting element positioned adjacent the vanes of the impeller to exert a cutting or chopping action on the solid material entering the pump. The impeller and cutting structures positioned on the suction side of chopper pumps processes the majority of the solids content to a size that can be moved through the pump. However, some solids tend to also move toward the drive side of the impeller and may move inwardly toward the drive shaft of the pump.
When solids move toward the drive side, or back, of the impeller and inwardly toward the drive shaft, debris can become wrapped around the drive shaft and impede the operation of the pump. This is especially the case with fluids containing stringy solids. Debris behind the impeller can cause a build up in heat and wear on the impeller and can impede the cooling and lubrication of the seal elements. Solid material may infiltrate the seal and cause further problems with pump operation. Thus, some known chopper pumps have employed flushing mechanisms to clean behind the impeller.
Other known chopper pumps have used impellers designed with cutting elements located on or near the back side of the impeller and about the drive shaft to chop solid material in the location of the drive shaft. An example of an impeller and cutting element of the type described is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,460,482 to Dorsch. Some chopper pumps also use restrictor bushings around the shaft to keep larger solids away from the seal, as described in the '482 patent to Dorsch. Yet other chopper pumps use an open impeller design to reduce pressure behind the impeller so that solids are not drawn toward the back side of the impeller.
Prior art chopper pumps which employ a cutting element on the back side of the impeller require that the cutting element be positioned adjacent the impeller hub and/or in very close proximity to the drive shaft. As such, debris in the fluid, especially stringy material, can infiltrate all the way to the drive shaft and seal assembly before any chopping or cutting of the material takes place.
Thus, it would be advantageous in the art to provide an impeller and cutting element configuration in a centrifugal chopper pump that processes and excludes debris from behind the impeller before the debris can reach the drive shaft and seal assembly, thereby improving pump operation and the life of the pump.

Impeller and cutting elements for centrifugal chopper pumps


Methods and apparatus for treatment of patent foramen ovale (PFO) generally involve use of a catheter having at least one closure device at its distal end. In some embodiments, the catheter also includes one or more energy transmission members for delivering energy to the closure device(s) and to the tissue adjacent the PFO to induce closure of the PFO. Closure devices may comprise, for example, a bioresorbable matrix or a non-resorbable matrix. In some embodiments, the closure device contains particles dispersed within the closure device to increase conductance and/or to reduce resistance and/or impedance. An exemplary method involves advancing a catheter to position its distal end into the tunnel of the PFO and fixing the closure device within the tunnel of the patent foramen PFO.

The invention generally relates to medical apparatus and methods. More specifically, the invention relates to apparatus and methods for treatment of patent foramen ovale.
Fetal blood circulation is much different than adult circulation. Because fetal blood is oxygenated by the placenta, rather than the fetal lungs, blood is generally shunted away from the lungs to the peripheral tissues through a number of vessels and foramens that remain patent (i.e., open) during fetal life and typically close shortly after birth. For example, fetal blood passes directly from the right atrium through the foramen ovale into the left atrium, and a portion of blood circulating through the pulmonary artery trunk passes through the ductus arteriosus to the aorta. This fetal circulation is shown in attached FIG. 1.
At birth, as a newborn begins breathing, blood pressure in the left atrium rises above the pressure in the right atrium. In most newborns, a flap of tissue closes the foramen ovale and heals together. In approximately 20,000 babies born each year in the US, the flap of tissue is missing, and the hole remains open as an atrial septal defect (ASD). In a much more significant percentage of the population (estimates range from 5% to 20% of the entire population), the flap is present but does not heal together. This condition is known as a patent foramen ovale (PFO). Whenever the pressure in the right atrium rises above that in the left atrium, blood pressure can push this patent channel open, allowing blood to flow from the right atrium to the left atrium.
Patent foramen ovale has long been considered a relatively benign condition, since it typically has little effect on the body's circulation. More recently, however, it has been found that a significant number of strokes may be caused at least in part by PFO. In some cases, stroke may occur because a PFO allows blood containing small thrombi to flow directly from the venous circulation to the arterial circulation and into the brain, rather than flowing to the lungs where the thrombi can become trapped and gradually dissolved. In other cases, thrombi might form in the patent channel of the PFO itself and become dislodged when the pressures cause blood to flow from the right atrium to the left atrium. It has been estimated that patients with PFOs who have already had cryptogenic strokes have a 4% risk per year of having another stroke.
Further research is currently being conducted into the link between PFO and stroke. At the present time, if someone with a PFO has two or more strokes, the healthcare system in the U.S. may reimburse a surgical or other interventional procedure to definitively close the PFO. It is likely, however, that a more prophylactic approach would be warranted to close PFOs to prevent the prospective occurrence of a stroke. The cost and potential side-effects and complications of such a procedure must be low, however, since the event rate due to PFOs is relatively low. In younger patients, for example, PFOs sometimes close by themselves over time without any adverse health effects.
Another highly prevalent and debilitating condition—chronic migraine headaches—has also been linked with PFO. Although the exact link has not yet been explained, PFO closure has been shown to eliminate or significantly reduce migraine headaches in many patients. Again, prophylactic PFO closure to treat chronic migraine headaches might be warranted if a relatively non-invasive procedure were available.
Currently available interventional therapies for PFO are generally fairly invasive and/or have potential drawbacks. One strategy is simply to close a PFO during open heart surgery for another purpose, such as heart valve surgery. This can typically be achieved via a simple procedure such as placing a stitch or two across the PFO with vascular suture. Performing open heart surgery purely to close an asymptomatic PFO or even a very small ASD, however, would be very hard to justify.
A number of interventional devices for closing PFOs percutaneously have also been proposed and developed. Most of these devices are the same as or similar to ASD closure devices. They are typically "clamshell" or "double umbrella" shaped devices which deploy an area of biocompatible metal mesh or fabric (ePTFE or Dacron, for example) on each side of the atrial septum, held together with a central axial element, to cover the PFO. This umbrella then heals into the atrial septum, with the healing response forming a uniform layer of tissue or "pannus" over the device. Such devices have been developed, for example, by companies such as Nitinol Medical Technologies, Inc. (Boston, Mass.) and AGA Medical, Inc. (White Bear Lake, Minn.). U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,720 describes a method and apparatus for thoracoscopic intracardiac procedures which may be used for treatment of PFO.
Although available devices may work well in some cases, they also face a number of challenges. Relatively frequent causes of complications include, for example, improper deployment, device embolization into the circulation and device breakage. In some instances, a deployed device does not heal into the septal wall completely, leaving an exposed tissue which may itself be a nidus for thrombus formation. Furthermore, currently available devices are generally complex and expensive to manufacture, making their use for prophylactic treatment of PFO impractical. Additionally, currently available devices typically close a PFO by placing material on either side of the tunnel of the PFO, compressing and opening the tunnel acutely, until blood clots on the devices and causes flow to stop. No presently known methods or devices close a PFO by inserting a device primarily into the tunnel of the PFO to cause closure.
Research into methods and compositions for tissue welding has been underway for many years. Of particular interest are technologies developed by McNally et. al., (as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,391,049 and Fusion Medical (as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,156,613, 5,669,934, 5,824,015 and 5,931,165). These technologies all disclose the use of energy delivery to tissue solders and patches in order to join tissue and form anastomoses between arteries, bowel, nerves, etc. Also of interest are a number of patents by inventor Sinofsky, relating to laser suturing of biological materials (e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,725,522, 5,569,239, 5,540,677 and 5,071,417). Other references, such as PCT Patent Application Publication No. WO 03/0534493, describe devices for closing PFOs involving bioresorbable materials. While these basic technologies may be applicable to the closure of PFOs, however, none of them show methods or apparatus suitable for positioning the tissues of the PFO for welding or for delivering the energy to the site to be welded.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have improved methods and apparatus for treating a PFO. Ideally, such methods and apparatus would help seal the PFO while leaving only a harmless repair material, or possibly very little or no foreign material, in the body. Also ideally, such methods and apparatus would be relatively simple to manufacture and use, thus rendering prophylactic treatment of PFO, such as for stroke prevention, a viable option. It would also be advantageous to have a device which could effect closure of a PFO without requiring insertion of a catheter through the PFO. At least some of these objectives will be met by the present invention.


A soft-switching DC to DC power converter which minimizes switching losses from a no load condition to a full load condition while operating at fixed frequency. Output voltage control is achieved by controlling the phase angle between the two switching networks. High frequency transformer primaries are always excited with a square wave input voltage equal to ##EQU1## The power converter can be implemented with a single transformer. Moreover, the switch voltage never increases the input DC voltage from no load to full load. The power converter can be used in both low voltage high current applications and high voltage low current applications.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally concerns power conversion, and specifically concerns a fixed frequency DC to DC power converter operating with zero voltage switching (turn-on and turn-off) from a no load operation to a full load operation while electrically isolating the input stage from the output stage for safety and load voltage matching.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Power converters are used in numerous industrial and consumer applications to convert a first (input) DC voltage into a required (output) DC voltage. These power converters typically use on or more switching networks, known as inverters. Each of the inverters has one or more switching transistors for chopping the input DC voltage into a high frequency square wave. The high frequency square wave is then fed into a power isolation transformer where it is stepped up or down to a predetermined value. The resulting waveform is then rectified and filtered to produce the required DC output voltage.
A controller may be used to compare the output voltage to a desired (i.e., setpoint) output voltage and to adjust the gain of the inverter(s) based on the comparison until the actual output voltage is substantially equal to the desired (setpoint) voltage. The gain of an inverter may be defined as the ratio of the AC output voltage to the DC input voltage.
The controller adjusts the output voltage of the power converter by varying the switching frequency (i.e., frequency modulation) or duty cycle (i.e., pulse width modulation or PWM) of the control signals applied to the switching transistors of the switching network(s). In the PWM control scheme, a square wave pulse is generated to turn the switching transistor(s) on or off. By varying the width of the pulse with respect to a fixed wave period, the conduction time of the transistor can be increased or decreased, thereby regulating the output voltage. Typically, the generated pulses are derived from a square wave having a duty cycle below 50 percent, which allows a certain amount of "deadtime" to prevent simultaneous conduction (and consequent short circuiting) by multiple switching transistors of a switching network due to non-ideal (i.e., non-instantaneous) switch state transitions. A disadvantage of this type of duty cycle control (i.e., PWM) is that during the half load period, or when the duty cycle is less than 50 percent, the high frequency voltage across the primary winding of the transformer is undefined and depends upon the circuit topology. This may cause high frequency ringing and oscillations.
To overcome these disadvantages, a wide variety of circuit topologies have been devised to improve the power density and/or efficiency of power converters. Power density, measured in Watts per unit volume, is one of the most important considerations in high power DC to DC power converter design. Passive elements, such as inductors and transformers, can be reduced in size by increasing the frequency of the signals passing through these elements. Unfortunately, as the switching frequency increases, the performance of the power converter is limited by losses in the switching devices and by parasitic losses associated with components and circuit layout.
Transistor switching losses occur during the finite amount of time required to turn the transistor "on" or "off". The type of power converter described above is known as a "hard switching" power converter since the transistors are turned off and on regardless of the energy they must dissipate during the switching transition.
Under ideal switch-off (opening) conditions, the current through a transistor would instantaneously drop to zero while the voltage across the transistor would instantaneously jump to the DC Supply (input) voltage. Under ideal switch-on (closing) conditions, the voltage across the transistor would instantaneously drop to zero. Under these ideal conditions, the power dissipation (P=iV) during switching transitions would always be zero, since either the voltage or current would equal zero. However, transistors have finite (i.e., non-instantaneous) switch-on (closing) and switch-off (opening) times and maximum ratings for current and voltage changes over time (di/dt and dv/dt, respectively). Switching losses in excess of the maximum ratings impair the reliability and performances of the transistor (due to heat generation, for example).
Since power converters typically have switching transistors connected in series with a transformer, the leakage inductance of the transformer is charged while the transistor is conducting. When the base or gate of the transistor receives a turn-off signal and the transistor begins to cease conduction (initiates opening), the voltage across the transistor begins to rise. Unfortunately, the current through the transistor is sustained by the collapsing field of the charged leakage inductance of the transformer. The switch-off (opening) switching interval losses are due to the temporal overlap of falling current through the transistor and rising voltage across the transistor. The average of this (switching) loss over multiple switching cycles can be two to four times as large as the power dissipated (due to parasitics) during the transistor conduction time. This switching loss is an AC power dissipation which increases as the switching frequency increases. During the switch-on interval (closing) of the transistor, the large instantaneous impedance of the transformer leakage inductance slows the current rise time and reduces the voltage across the transistor to close to zero.
One prior art method to reduce such switching losses and the associated stress to the switch is to use a "snubber circuit" connected across the transistor to keep the dv/dt value within the maximum allowable rating of the transistor. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, an RCD (Resistor-Capacitor-Diode) snubber has a series connected resistor R and capacitor C coupled across the current carrying path of the transistor Q. A diode D is connected in parallel with the resistor and biased to conduct during transistor switch-off (open) when the leakage inductance of the transformer is releasing its energy as discussed above. During this switch-off transition, the capacitor C absorbs the leakage current of the inductor and the resistor R dissipates the energy that would otherwise be dissipated within the transistor. Upon transistor switch-on (closing), the charged capacitor C will release its stored energy as a current. Unfortunately, the RCD snubber does not reduce net switching losses. Instead, it merely shifts the power dissipation from the transistor Q to the snubber resistor R. Thus, the RCD snubber merely reduces switching stresses on the switch. Moreover the resistor R dissipating the power loss must be of sufficient size and power rating.
As with the RCD snubbers, prior art circuits for non-dissipatively snubbing switching transistors use a capacitor to slow the dv/dt value of the switching transistor. However, the energy stored in the capacitor has to either be dissipated in the switch during turn-on or converted into electromagnetic energy in the form of stored current in an inductor. This stored current is later discharged back into the inverter's DC source. The non-dissipative snubber technique, while utilizing energy which would otherwise be lost, disadvantageously increases the design complexity and cost of the inverter by adding inductive elements to the circuit. In addition, use of these non-dissipative techniques in "totem-pole" circuits, such as half-bridge and full-bridge inverters for example, is not feasible because these circuits use more than one switching element and therefore need more inductors to implement the above concept.
Other prior art techniques used to decrease switching losses include Zero Voltage Switching (ZVS) and Zero Current Switching (ZCS) in which the transistors are only switched between their conducting (closed) and non-conducting (open) states when there is substantially zero voltage across (or current through) the transistor. An example of these techniques is the resonant power converter (series or parallel) (see FIG. 2), in which a resonant tank circuit having an inductive element L and capacitive element C is placed in series or in parallel with the output of the switching network(s) to form an underdamped circuit. Accordingly, the current through the transistors of the switching network has a sinusoidal waveshape and predictably falls to zero due to the natural (i.e., inherent) characteristics of the circuit, at which time the transistors may be safely switched off or on. The output of a resonant power converter is adjusted by varying the switching frequency of the switching network(s). Specifically, as the switching frequency approaches the resonant frequency of the resonant tank circuit, the gain of the power converter increases toward its maximum. Unfortunately, variable frequency control and operation necessitates a more complex filter design which results in increased cost and decreased reliability. Another disadvantage with resonant power converters is that they produce a sinusoidal wave output. As a consequence, with resonant power converters, relatively large passive components are required to form the resonant elements compared with the passive components of inverters having a square wave output. Specifically, to deliver the same amount of energy to the load, the magnitude of the peak current level of a sinusoidal current waveform must be greater than the peak current level of a square-shaped current waveform.
Soft switching power converters overcome the need for higher peak currents by utilizing predominantly square switching waveforms with resonant transitions. These power converters are characterized by intrinsic modes of operation which allow an automatic and lossless resetting of snubber elements by appropriately recirculating stored energy. The energy may be stored by the snubber elements or any of the parasitic elements, such as the leakage inductance or interwinding capacitance of the power transformer or the stored charge in any of the semiconductor devices. A ZVS soft switching converter will use purely capacitive snubbers while a ZCS soft switching converter will use purely inductive snubbers.
As shown in FIG. 3, a standard full bridge hard switching power converter with a transformer-coupled output may be modified to operate as a ZVS soft switching power converter by adding an individual control means to each switch of a switching network. In this mode of operation, each switching transistor (Q.sub.A, Q.sub.B, Q.sub.C, Q.sub.D) will be snubbed by a capacitor (C.sub.A, C.sub.B, C.sub.C, C.sub.D) and an anti-parallel diode (D.sub.A, D.sub.B, D.sub.C, D.sub.D). When either of the diagonal pairs of transistors of the bridge (Q.sub.A and Q.sub.D, or Q.sub.B and Q.sub.C) are conducting, current flows through the primary of the power transformer (T.sub.p), charging the leakage inductance of the transformer and magnetically coupling power to the load. Between these "power" modes, the switching transitions are sequenced to allow the energy stored in the leakage inductance of the transformer to circulate to discharge the snubbing capacitors of the next transistors to be turned on. When these capacitors are discharged, the snubbing diodes become forward biased and the transistors may be turned on without significant switching stresses. The pulse width of the output of the power converter is adjusted by a controller (not shown) in response to the required output level.
If the output voltage is initially too high, the pulse width of the control signals applied to the switching transistors responsively decreases as the output voltage approaches (decreases to) the desired (setpoint) voltage. At low output levels, the pulse width may be very narrow, resulting in shorter pulses of charging current applied to the leakage inductance and correspondingly lower energy storage. ZVS is maintained only as long as the energy stored in the leakage inductance is greater than that required to discharge the snubbing capacitors of the next transistors to be turned on. Unfortunately, at low output levels, the energy stored in the leakage inductance may be insufficient to maintain ZVS (i.e., to discharge the snubbing capacitors of the next transistors to be turned on). Consequently, switching losses and possible transistor damage may occur.
To prevent this possible loss of ZVS at low output levels, prior art circuits inserted an additional inductor (L.sub.1) in series with the transformer primary T.sub.p (see FIG. 4). This improvement provided additional energy storage and allowed ZVS operation at lower output power levels than before. Unfortunately, the series inductor added cost and only succeeded in lowering, not eliminating, the minimum output level for ZVS. That is, ZVS operation can not be maintained at no load conditions in the power converter of FIG. 4.
The energy stored in the transformer (and in the series inductor) leakage inductance during the power mode may also be increased by increasing the peak current through these elements during the power mode of operation. Unfortunately, increasing the primary current has several negative effects, including increasing the size of the primary conductor means and increasing I.sup.2 R power losses.
In view of the above mentioned problems with existing DC to DC power converters, a need exists for a soft-switching DC to DC power converter which allows zero voltage switching (ZVS) from no load operation to full load operation. Such a power converter should operate at a fixed frequency above the audible range. The power converter should also minimize Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) and Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) without requiring complicated filtering and shielding.

Full range soft-switching DC-DC converter


An optical network communication system utilizes a passive optical network including an optical hub having an optical line terminal, downstream transmitter, an upstream receiver, a processor, and a multiplexer. The upstream receiver includes a plurality of TWDMA upstream subreceivers. The system includes a power splitter for dividing a coherent optical signal from the optical hub into a plurality of downstream wavelength signals, a long fiber to carry the coherent optical signal between the optical hub and the power splitter, and a plurality of serving groups. Each serving group includes a plurality of optical network units configured to (i) receive at least one downstream wavelength signal, and (ii) transmit at least one upstream wavelength signal. The system includes a plurality of short fibers to carry the downstream and upstream wavelength signals between the power splitter and the optical network units, respectively. Each upstream subreceiver receives a respective upstream wavelength signal.

The field of the disclosure relates generally to fiber communication networks, and more particularly, to access networks capable of transmitting coherent optical signals.
Fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) based access networks have been widely deployed in many regions of the world. Increasing demand for high-speed data and video services is presently driving growth in access bandwidth requirements, up to gigabits per second (Gb/s) for residential offerings and multi-Gb/s for business. Conventional FTTP network architectures utilize a passive optical network (PON), for example, a Gigabit passive optical network (GPON) within ITU-T, or an Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) within IEEE. PON can be point-to-multipoint, and is often an economical alternative to point-to-point Ethernet for moderate to large populations. Recent GPON and EPON networks realize 2.5/1.25 Gb/s data rates for downstream and 1.25 Gb/s upstream, respectively, and more recently includes 10-Gb/s PON (XG-PON or IEEE 10G-EPON) for high-bandwidth applications. GPON and EPON have some technical differences in terms of signal encapsulation and dynamic bandwidth allocation, but both PON types are capable of carrying data over fiber through a passive optical network all the way from an optical hub to a customer premise. Both PON types use baseband digital signaling over the fiber to carry information.
Cable operators now regularly offer Gb/s service to residential offerings, and access bandwidth requirements therefrom are expected to grow to multi-Gb/s speeds in response to increasing 4K/8K video streaming, proliferation of cloud computing, "big data," social media, Internet of Things (IoT), and mobile data delivery. Conventional wired networks that are based on PON access technologies have become a dominant architecture to meet such high-capacity demand for end users. Increasingly, PONs are expected to evolve to provide higher per-subscriber data rates and wider coverage of services and applications, while at the same time minimizing capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX) costs, and also increasing reconfigurable capability for scalable solutions.
However, conventional PON architectures that use direct detection schemes are unable to address these technological support requirement challenges because of the low receiver sensitivity and limited upgrading options in such architectures. Conventional PON architectures are limited in their distance reach, and also in the split ratio they are able to maintain. Conventional PON architectures are also not configured to sufficiently employ upcoming technologies such as next-generation PON (NG-PON, NG-PON2) based on time and wavelength division multiplexing (TWDM), which deploys at 40-Gb/s or more, or 100G-EPON, which are multi-wavelength PON systems.

System and methods for coherent PON architecture and burst-mode reception