The present invention relates to a solid solution semiconductor laser element material which can form a laser element which oscillates in an infrared region of wavelength 0.2-8 .mu.m, varies wavelength and is operable in the vicinity of room temperature, particularly a laser element of a lattice-matching double hetero junction or lattice-matching quantum well structure. The disclosed solid state semiconductor is made of a material selected from a material having the general chemical formula EQU Ca.sub.1-x Pb.sub.x X. where, 0<x<0.5 and X is at least one element selected from S, Se and Te, a material having the general chemical formula EQU Ca.sub.1-x (Pb.sub.1-y Y.sub.y).sub.x X. where, 0<x.ltoreq.0.5, 0<y<1, X is at least one element selected from S, Se and Te and Y is at least one element selected from Zn and Mn, and a material having the general chemical formula EQU Ca.sub.1-x Pb.sub.x S.sub.1-z Se.sub.z. where, <x.ltoreq.0.4 and 0.ltoreq.z.ltoreq.1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solid solution semiconductor laser element material consisting of a solid solution semiconductor having the general chemical formulae Ca.sub.1-x Pb.sub.x X (wherein 0<x<0.5, X is at least one element selected from S, Se and Te) and Ca.sub.1-x (Pb.sub.1-y Y.sub.y).sub.x X (wherein 0<x.ltoreq.0.5, 0<y<1, X is at least one element selected from S, Se and Te), oscillating within a wide region of wavelength 0.2-8 .mu.m and being operable in the vicinity of room temperature, and a laser element with the use of this material. An object of the invention is to provide a laser element which is capable of oscillating within a region of wavelength 0.2-8 .mu.m, varying wavelength and being operable in the vicinity of room temperature, particularly a solid solution semiconductor laser element material which can form a laser element which is capable of having a lattice matching type double hetero junction structure or lattice matching type quantum well structure.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The structure of a semiconductor laser element is explained by referring to FIG. 1. FIGS. 1(A), 1(B) and 1(C) show a lattice matching type double hetero junction structure laser element, a lattice matching type quantum well structure laser element and its partly enlarged view, respectively, and a laser beam is emitted from an active layer 2 sandwiched by cladding layers 1, 1 in the arrow direction by flowing a current through electrodes 3, 3.
In the case of the semiconductor, laser element, a laser beam emitted therefrom is faint is different that emitted from the other gas lasers and the like. Accordingly, to increase luminous efficiency of the laser element a complicated structure has been developed which divides an active layer 2 into a barrier layer 4 and a quantum well 5 as shown in FIG. 1(B).
As a task required for the above-described semiconductor laser, it is important to increase an operating temperature and to have good junction between a cladding layer 1 and active layer 2.
Hitherto, as wavelength variable semiconductor laser element materials within a region of wavelength 0.2-8 .mu.m, there have been known Hg.sub.1-x Cd.sub.x Te where 0<x.ltoreq.1 as a II-VI group compound semiconductor and InAs or InSb as a III-V group compound semiconductor and each kind of IV-VI group compound semiconductors. Among them, the IV-VI group compound semiconductor is noted as the most practically usable material from the point of a high operating temperature and large wavelength variation, and Pb.sub.1-x Cd.sub.x S.sub.1-y Se.sub.y or Pb.sub.1-x Eu.sub.x Te.sub.1-y Se.sub.y as a quaternary lead salt solid solution semiconductor has hitherto been known.
A laser element is usually formed with a double hetero junction structure substantially matching lattice constants of an active layer 2, a charge carrier, and a light beam cladding layer, wherein the cladding layer 1 is made Pb.sub.1-x Cd.sub.x S.sub.1-y Se.sub.y or Pb.sub.1-x Eu.sub.x Se.sub.y Te.sub.1-y, and the active layer 2 is made PbS or Pb.sub.1-x 'Eu.sub.x 'Se.sub.y 'Te.sub.1-y ', respectively. Operating temperatures are 200 K and 270 K, respectively, but only attained by pulse oscillation, and if the pulse oscillation becomes continuous oscillation, operating temperatures are further disadvantageously lowered in the continuous oscillation and cannot practically be used.
Generally, in order to increase the operating temperature of the above injection type semiconductor laser, it is desired to form a laser element with a lattice matching type double hetero junction structure or lattice matching type quantum well structure matching each lattice constant of active layer, a charge carrier and beam cladding layer. It is further greatly desired to make an energy gap of the cladding layer 1 larger than that of the active layer 2 and to make its difference sufficient, but in either one of Pb.sub.1-x Cd.sub.x S.sub.1-y Se.sub.y or Pb.sub.1-x Eu.sub.x Se.sub.y Te.sub.1-y, the difference is small, and as a result, an operating temperature is disadvantageously low.
In case of forming a laser element with a lattice-matching type double hetero junction structure or lattice-matching type quantum well structure, it is necessary to make an energy gap of the cladding layer 1 larger than that of the active layer 2, to make its difference large and to form a laser element with joining materials which crystalline structures and lattice constants are substantially the same. In Pb.sub.1-x Cd.sub.x S.sub.1-y Se.sub.y or Pb.sub.1-x Eu.sub.x Se.sub.y Te.sub.1-y of a quaternary solid solution having a rock salt-type crystalline structure, materials having different energy gaps and substantially equal lattice constants can be obtained by controlling a composition x of Cd or Eu and a composition y of Se, respectively, so that a laser element can be formed by joining them.
However, in case of actually manufacturing a laser element, a large solid solution amount of Pb cannot be expected because of limitations such as a manufacturing condition and the like, and a quaternary solid solution is manufactured by a small amount of solid solution at present. Materials pulse oscillated at 200 K and 270 K as described above are understood that compositions x of Cd and Eu in the above-described quaternary solid solution are 0.05 and 0.018, respectively, and that a solid solution amount to Pb is small. Therefore, in case of using them as a beam cladding layer 1, energy gap difference between the cladding layer 1 and the active layer 2 is at most 0.18 (eV) at 300 K and 0.094 (eV) at 241 K, and a laser element having a high operating temperature could not be obtained.
The demand for high-performance laser elements has recently been increased more and more, particularly the development of solid solution semiconductor laser element material operable in the vicinity of room temperature is important. That is, in order to increase the operating temperature of a semiconductor laser, it is an urgent task to obtain a novel solid solution semiconductor having larger energy gap of the cladding layer than that of the active layer and a sufficiently large difference therebetween.

Solid solution semiconductor laser element material and laser element

The Foundation: The Research Institute of Electric and Magnetic Alloys


An Alarm Clock Remote Control System for assisting an individual in operating an alarm clock without requiring the individual to be removed from a bed. The device includes an encasement, a display within the encasement, a tether secured a swivel, a clamp secured to the tether, a light within the encasement and a keypad within the encasement for allowing programming of the alarm clock.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Alarm Clock Devices and more particularly pertains to a new Alarm Clock Remote Control System for assisting an individual in operating an alarm clock without requiring the individual to be removed from a bed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of Alarm Clock Devices is known in the prior art. More specifically, Alarm Clock Devices heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art Alarm Clock Devices include U.S. Pat. No. 5,379,273; U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,273; U.S. Design Pat. No. 341,332; U.S. Design Pat. No. 354,959; U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,469; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,109.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new Alarm Clock Remote Control System. The inventive device includes an encasement, a display within the encasement, a tether secured a swivel, a clamp secured to the tether, a light within the encasement and a keypad within the encasement for allowing programming of the alarm clock.
In these respects, the Alarm Clock Remote Control System according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of assisting an individual in operating an alarm clock without requiring the individual to be removed from a bed.


An acoustic liner for a duct of an air conditioning and temperature control system including a honeycomb structure having a thickness of about 0.375±0.006 inches (0.953±0.015 centimeters). The acoustic liner is configured to cover an outer surface of a cylinder having a length of about 30 inches (76 centimeters) and an outer diameter of about 8.30 inches (21.1 centimeters).

Embodiments of this invention generally relate to an aircraft air conditioning system, and more particularly, to an acoustic liner within a cabin supply duct of an aircraft air conditioning and temperature control system.
Aircraft include cabin air conditioning and temperature control systems (CACTCS) that provide conditioned air to passenger compartments, cockpits and the like. In many cases, engine compressor bleed air is supplied to the CACTCS. The temperature, pressure, and humidity of the bleed air generally depends upon which compressor extraction location is coupled to the CACTCS. In other cases, air for the CACTCS is provided by electrically driven compressors. In either case, the air is passed to portions of the aircraft through a cabin supply duct fluidly coupled to the compressor. The process of conditioning the air creates vibrations in the air molecules, which generates unwanted noise as the air passes through the cabin supply duct.


In a main memory with arithmetic logic processing capability, k first memories (k is an integer equal to or more than 0) are connected to a memory bus, for storing data. M second memories with arithmetic logic processing capability (m is an integer equal to or more than 1) are also connected to the memory bus. Each of the m second memories includes a memory section for storing data, and an arithmetic logic processing section. The arithmetic logic processing section performs a first processing to at least a part of the data stored in the memory section in response to a first instruction inputted via the memory bus, and allows a result of the first processing to be outputted onto the memory bus in response to a second instruction inputted via the memory bus. The arithmetic logic processing section may further includes a macro code RAM for storing macro codes. The main memory with arithmetic logic processing capability and a memory device with arithmetic logic processing capability used in the same have compatibility with a corresponding main memory and a corresponding memory device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory LSI with arithmetic logic processing capability which is used in a processor system, and a main memory system using the same, and a method of controlling this main memory system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A computer or computer system such as a personal computer and a work station is generally called a processor system. Such a conventional processor system is described in detail in, for example, "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach", by John L. Hennessy and David A. Patterson, (published from Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc.) and "Design of Microprocessor-Based Systems", by Nikitas Alexandridis, (published from the Prentice Hall), and so on.
FIG. 1 shows the general structure of the conventional processor system. Referring to FIG. 1, a processor system is composed of a processor 31 including a primary cache memory 35, a system controller 32, a secondary cache memory 34, a main memory system 9, an I/O subsystem 33.
The processor 31 is usually realized as a microprocessor which is integrated on an LSI. The system controller 32 controls the main memory system 9, the secondary cache memory 34 in response to a main memory access and the I/O subsystem 33 in response to an I/O access from the processor 31. Also, the system controller 32 transfers an interrupt request from the I/O subsystem 33 to the processor 31.
The processor 31 and the system controller 32 are connected by a control signal line 36-1, an address signal line 36-2, and a data signal line 36-3. Also, the system controller 32 and the main memory system 9 are connected by a memory bus 16. In the field of personal computer, the system controller 32 is realized by a plurality of different LSIs. Accordingly, it is generally called a chip set or a peripheral chip set.
FIG. 2 shows a first example of the structure of the conventional main memory system 9. The main memory system 9 is the system which stores an input data used to perform arithmetic logic processing by the processor system, a data during the arithmetic logic processing, an output data of the arithmetic logic processing, a program used to perform the arithmetic logic processing, and so on. A main memory space read/write operation to a memory data in the main memory system 9 is executed by issuing a load/store instruction from the processor 31.
Referring to FIG. 2, the main memory system 9 is composed of plurality of DRAM LSIs 11 and each of the DRAM LSIs 11 contains a memory section 13 which is composed of a DRAM cell array, a sense amplifier, a decoder, and so on. The respective DRAM LSIs 11 are connected to a memory bus 16 composed of a control signal line 16-1, an address signal line 16-2, and a data signal line 16-3. As shown in FIG. 1, the memory bus 16 is used for connection between the main memory system 9 and the system controller 32. The data signal line 16-3 is a bi-directional signal line because it used for both of a read data and a write data.
Also, in order to widen a data band width of the main memory system 9, i.e., a bus band width of the memory bus 16, the data signal line 16-3 has the bit width which is wider than the number of data input/output terminals of each DRAM LSI 11. Accordingly, the structure is generally constructed such that a part of the data signal line 16-3 is connected to each DRAM LSI 11. For example, a structure is often adopted in which eight DRAM LSIs 11 each having the data input/output terminals of 16 bits are used to be connected to the data signal line 16-3 which has a 128-bit band width. As the DRAM LSI 11 which is used in the structure of such a main memory system 9, there is known, for example, a fast page mode DRAM, an extended data out (EDO) DRAM, a synchronous DRAM, and so on.
FIG. 3 shows a second example of the structure of the conventional main memory system 9. Referring to FIG. 3, a memory bus 16 is connected to a memory bus 16 composed of a control signal line 16-1 and a bi-directional data/address signal line 16-4. In this case, the data/address signal line 16-4 is provided to have the same bit width as the bit width of the data/address input/output terminals of each DRAM LSI 11, different from the data signal line 16-3 in the structure example shown in FIG. 2.
Such a structure is devised to solve a problem that a lot of DRAM LSIs 11 must be used for the main memory system 9 in order to widen the memory bus band width in the structure of the main memory system 9 shown in FIG. 2. As the DRAM LSI 11 used in the structure of such a main memory system 9, there are known, for example, a Rambus DRAM and so on.
The structure of the main memory system 9 is aimed at reducing the number of signal lines which constitutes the memory bus 16 and the number of input/output terminals of the DRAM LSI 11. At the same time, the structure is aimed at increasing a bus band width by driving the signal line at high speed. In this case, because the problems such as noise generation due to high-speed drive and distribution of delay times on the signal lines can be reduced by decreasing the number of signal lines, such high-speed drive is made possible.
In the structure of the main memory system 9 shown in FIG. 2, a memory bus band width is provided by arranging the DRAM LSIs 11 in parallel. Accordingly, there is a problem in that a lot of DRAM LSIs 11 must be used for the main memory system 9 to widen the memory bus band width. On the other hand, in the structure of the main memory system 9 shown in FIG. 3, because the memory bus band width is provided by driving the memory bus 16 at high speed, such a problem does not occur. As the DRAM LSI 11 used in the structure of the main memory system 9 shown in FIG. 3, there are known, for example, a Rambus DRAM and so on.
In the Rambus DRAM, specific technique is developed about structuring method and driving method of the memory bus 16 in order to realize the high-speed drive of the memory bus 16. However, because they are not in relation with the present invention, the description is omitted here. Note that the Rambus DRAM is described in detail in Rambus technology guide published from Rambus in USA.
On the other hand, the method is proposed of producing an LSI in which a memory, especially, a DRAM and an arithmetic logic processing circuit are merged on an LSI chip so that a type of arithmetic logic processing can be executed using the memory or DRAM in the chip. Such technique is generally called merged logic-DRAM technique. A typical example of the conventional technique of the merged logic-DRAM technique is described in "A Multimedia 32b RISC Microprocessor with 16 Mb DRAM", by Toru Shimizu et al., (1996 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 216 to 217), or "A 7.68 GIPS, 3.84 GB/s, 1 W, Parallel Image-Processing RAM Integrating a 16 Mb DRAM and 128 Processors", by Yoshiharu Aimoto et al. (1996 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, pp. 372 to 373). These are called merged logic-DRAM conventional technique 1 and merged logic-DRAM conventional technique 2 in the following description, respectively.
In the merged logic-DRAM conventional technique 1, a processor and a part of the main memory system is installed in one LSI chip. The LSI occupies a position of the processor 31 in the processor system shown in FIG. 1. The LSI has an advantage that it does not need any main memory system 9 to be installed outside it at all, when the main memory capacity is sufficient only with the DRAM in the chip.
On the other hand, in the merged logic-DRAM conventional technique 2, parallel processors dedicated to image processing and a DRAM for supplying the parallel processors with an image data are installed into one LSI chip. The LSI occupies a position of the I/O subsystem 33 in the processor system shown in FIG. 1, and it has a function to perform only the image processing at high speed in the I/O subsystem 33.
However, in the conventional technique on the main memory system as described above, there is a problem in that the provision of a necessary memory bus band width is difficult. When it is not possible to provide a sufficient memory bus band width, the effective performance of the processor system is limited by the insufficient memory bus band width, even if the processor has high performance. Also, there is another problem in that the conventional technique on the merged logic-DRAM technique as described above is not an effective solution to the problem on the provision of the memory bus band width of the main memory system. Hereinafter, these problems will be described.
Generally, it is known that the processing capability of the processor 31 is proportional to the data band width of the memory bus 16 of the main memory system 9, that is, the memory bus band width which is required to fully draw out the processing capability. This is because the number of times of access to the main memory system required in the processing of whole of an arbitrary program is determined. If the processing should be executed at higher speed, it is necessary to execute the access to the main memory more times per a unit time. As the semiconductor technology develops, the processing capability of the processor 31 continues improvement in a geometric series manner. However, it is very difficult to provide the memory bus band width so as to correspond to such performance improvement in processing capability.
One of the reasons is that the memory bus 16 is wirings for connecting between the plurality of LSIs on a print circuit board. Therefore, a load capacitor per a wire operation is large so that it is difficult to perform the high-speed operation compared to an internal wiring of the LSI. Also, another reason is that an internal circuit of the LSI is connected through external I/O terminals of the LSI to the memory bus 16 which is wirings on the print circuit board. Therefore, the number of signal lines of the memory bus is limited, compared to the internal wirings of the LSI. In this way, it is a very difficult problem to provide a necessary memory bus band width from the viewpoint of the operation speed of the signal lines of the memory bus 16 and from the viewpoint of the number of the signal lines.
Generally, in case of attempting to increase the data transfer band width between two circuit blocks, the most effective method is to install or merge these circuit blocks on one LSI chip. This is because, inside the LSI, it is possible to expect substantial improvement in both of the operation speed of the signal lines and the number of signal lines, compared to the wiring on the print circuit board. In accordance with, the merged logic-DRAM technique has a possibility to provide a solution in the point of the provision of the memory bus band width of the main memory system 9 as described above. However, because the conventional merged logic-DRAM technique is applied to the inside of the processor 31 or the I/O subsystem 33, it is not a satisfactory solution in the point of the improvement of the memory bus band width of the main memory system 9. This is based on the following reason.
The above-mentioned merged logic-DRAM conventional technique 1 is an effective solution in point of the provision of a memory bus band width, if the capacity of a DRAM merged with the processor 31 is larger than the capacity originally required for the processor 31 or an application program which runs on the processor 31.
However, it is extremely important that the main memory system 9 has extension possibility of the memory capacity. The necessary memory capacity is often larger than the memory capacity of a DRAM which can be merged in the LSI chip. The reason why the extension possibility is necessary is that it is important from the viewpoint of cost that the main memory systems 9 having various memory capacities can be supported because the necessary memory capacity depends on a kind of application. Also, the necessary memory capacity of the main memory system 9 is, for example, from about 16 megabytes to about 256 megabytes. It is larger than the memory capacity of a DRAM which can be merged in the LSI chip. For this reason, it is very difficult to provide the necessary memory bus band width between the processor 31 and an external main memory system 9, when the external main memory system 9 must be connected to the processor 31 which is based on the merged logic-DRAM conventional technique 1.
On the other hand, the merged logic-DRAM conventional technique 2 is the technique which can utilize a high band width data transfer only when specific processing is performed in the I/O subsystem 33. However, the merged logic-DRAM conventional technique 2 is not possible to become a solution in point of provision of the memory bus band width of the main memory system 9. If the specific processing is executed in The I/O subsystem 33 instead of the processor 31, it is possible to reduce the load of the processor 31 and the memory bus band width which is required with the load as the secondary effect. However, there is also a problem in that the superior performance of the processor 31 continuously developed can not be fully utilized.
This is because such a method only means transfer of the processing to be performed by the processor 31 to the I/O subsystem 33. Also, there is a problem in the point of the extendibility of the memory capacity, like the above-mentioned conventional technique 1. This is because a high band width data transfer is not possible, when a memory other than the DRAM within the I/O subsystem 33 which is provided based on the merged logic-DRAM conventional technique 2 is accessed.

Memory LSI with arithmetic logic processing capability, main memory system using the same, and method of controlling main memory system


A sorting conveyor including a diverting conveyor and a bidirectional assist roller to help sort articles over the side of the diverting conveyor. The diverting conveyor includes, in one version, a conveyor belt with diverting rollers selectively actuated to push articles toward a side of the diverting conveyor. The bidirectional assist roller rotates on an axis parallel to the main conveying direction. As articles to be diverted reach the side of the diverting conveyor, the bidirectional roller rotates in a direction to assist articles over the side of the diverting conveyor and the bidirectional roller and onto an exit conveyor. When the diverting rollers are not actuated, the bidirectional roller rotates in the opposite direction to prevent articles from exiting the side of the diverting conveyor. In some instances, the bidirectional roller can be raised above the level of the diverting rollers to further block articles not selected for sorting from exiting over the side and onto the exit conveyor.

The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and more particularly to sortation conveyors.
Sorting conveyor systems are used to selectively divert articles traveling along a main conveyor onto an exit conveyor or chute. In one conventional system, the main conveyor includes a conveyor belt having rollers arranged to rotate in a direction transverse to the direction of belt travel to divert articles atop the rollers toward and off a side of the belt and onto an exit conveyor. If the belt rollers are recessed inward of the side of the belt too far or if the bottom surface of the article is not flat and does not make good contact with the rollers in the belt, the force the rollers can provide to transfer an article over the side onto the exit conveyor may not be sufficient, and the article will not transfer off. Sometimes, an article not meant for transfer can coast on the rollers toward the first side. The article's momentum can be great enough to carry it over the side and onto the exit conveyor.

Diverting conveyor with bidirectional assist roller


An adhesion flange structure includes: a first flange extending along and formed to an end portion of a first vehicle body panel with an interposing bend portion; a second flange formed to an end portion of a second vehicle body panel configuring a section of a vehicle body together with the first vehicle body panel, the second flange formed facing the bend portion and the first flange; an adhesive that adheres the bend portion and the first flange to the second flange; a ridge projection portion formed extending along the direction the first flange extends along the end portion of the first vehicle body panel, and formed to at least one portion out of the bend portion and a facing portion of the second flange that faces the bend portion, the ridge projection portion forming a projection towards the opposing side out of the bend portion and the facing portion.

Structures are known that include an upper side metal plate that is curved to form an upper wall portion and an upper side flange, and a lower side metal plate that is curved to form a lower wall portion and a lower side flange. The upper side flange and the lower side flange are joined together using an adhesive (see for example Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2006-167753).


A query of a meta-object facility repository that includes transient data being modified or processed in memory and persisted data can be received. Thereafter, portions of the received query can be executed on partitions associated with the persisted data and other portions of the received query can be executed on partitions of the repository associated with the transient data to generate a combined correct query result set. Related apparatus, systems, methods, and articles are also described.

The Meta-Object Facility (MOF) Specification (Object Management Group standard) defines an abstract language and a framework for specifying, constructing, and managing technology neutral metamodels. A metamodel can be characterized as an abstract language for some kind of metadata. In addition, the MOF defines a framework for implementing repositories that hold metadata (e.g., models) described by the metamodels. This framework uses standard technology mappings to transform MOF metamodels into metadata APIs. This arrangement gives consistent and interoperable metadata repository APIs for different vendor product and different implementation technologies.
For infrastructures adopting an MOF repository, such as the SAP Modeling Infrastructure (MOIN) in which a declarative query language has been developed (MQL), MOIN is hosted on a database, either centrally (server-based) or locally (client Integrated Development Environment). In such arrangements, current data is maintained in memory, in particular when it is being processed or modified. Data being processed is referred to as "dirty" when it only exists transiently (i.e., until it is saved to a database).
One conventional technique for accessing a MOIN repository is via a standardized JAVA API. With this technique, data must be brought into memory, which unnecessarily consumes memory, especially when large amounts of data must be processed.

Handling of queries of transient and persistent data


A safety system for residential and commercial use includes a plurality of sensor modules that may be distributed about the environment, and that are in communication with a remote server environment and with other devices over a wireless communication network (e.g., cellular, Wi-Fi). Each sensor module includes a plurality of sensors that are capable of measuring or detecting characteristics of the environment such as smoke, small particulate, large particulate, chemicals, gasses, temperature, humidity, pressure, geolocation, and other characteristics. Analysis of sensor data is performed locally on the sensor module, as well as remotely on a server, in order to fuse and consider multiple sensor data points to identify emergency and non-emergency scenarios. By fusing and analyzing sensor data emergencies can be detected more quickly, and false alarms can be filtered out and avoided.

Residential and commercial safety systems, such as those for fire and smoke detection, rely on narrow sets of data produced by a single sensor to provide alerts and/or report safety issues to a master system. As an example, an ionization style smoke detector detects the presence of smoke by sensing a change in electrical flow between two plates separated by a small gap. When smoke particles enter the small gap they disrupt and reduce the electrical flow, signaling to a control component of the smoke detector that an audible alarm should sound. While popular due the relative simplicity and affordability, such a sensor may be prone to false alarms due to conditions that do not rise to the level of a true emergency. For example, the presence of dirt, dust, cobwebs, humidity, and particulate matter within an ionization style smoke detector may cause a similar disruption of electrical flow and produce false alarms. False alarms have been shown to cause people to remove or deactivate their smoke alarms creating an unsafe situation.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved system for safety monitoring.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Sensor fusion for fire detection and air quality monitoring


A water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen comprising titanium oxide having an oil absorption of 25 (g/100 g) or less and an average particle diameter of 400 nm or less, a water soluble resin, a thickener, water and a polar solvent, which can provide drawn lines to be excellent in developing colors such as a white color and a poster color regardless of a color tone of writing paper and which can cover or correct drawn lines printed by means of a writing instrument, a type writer and a copying machine.

The present invention relates to a water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen which can provide drawn lines to be excellent in developing colors such as a white color and a poster color regardless of a color tone of writing paper and which can cover or correct drawn lines printed by means of a writing instrument, a type writer and a copying machine, more specifically to a water based white pigment ink for a ballpoint pen which inhibits titanium oxide from settling even in storing over a long period of time and which has a good follow-up property and makes it possible to write continuously.
An ink using a compound of silicic acid and aluminum as a dispersant has so far been known as a water based ink using as a colorant titanium oxide, which is a white pigment. Further, described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 7-62281 is a water based white pigment composition containing at least titanium oxide having an oil absorption of 30 or more and an isoelectric point of pH 7 or less, a water soluble (meth)acryl base resin and water, which is used for a correction fluid and an ink for a writing instrument.
However, since these inks do not inhibit titanium oxide from settling, they have to be stirred again before use and have had the inconvenience that a ball for stirring has to be put in a tank for storing ink.
In contrast with the inks described above, as a water based white color pigment ink for a ballpoint pen in which titanium oxide does not settle, an ink containing a white pigment, tabular silicate, a water soluble resin, a water soluble organic solvent and water and having a viscosity of 6000 to 100,000 mPaxc2x7s is described in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 6-287499. However, this ink has the problem that it has a high viscosity and is inferior in a follow-up property in writing.
Further, described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 7-216283 is an ink containing a white pigment, a nonionic surfactant having an HLB of 17.0 or more, a water soluble resin and water and having a viscosity of 6,000 to 50,000 mPaxc2x7s. However, this ink also does not solve the problem that the follow-up property in writing is not good because of the high viscosity.
Further, described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 8-12916 is an ink containing titanium oxide, a thickening water-soluble resin, a binder, sugar alcohol and water and having a viscosity of 6,000 to 50,000 mPaxc2x7s and a viscosity index of 2 or more which is obtained from a revolution difference of a viscometer. However, even if this viscosity index is met, the inferior follow-up property of the ink in writing quickly and splitting of the drawn lines are not solved. In addition thereto, since only a white pigment is added as a coloring material, the ink has the problem that the marking performance is inferior on writing paper having a white ground.
On the other hand, described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 4-258677 is a water based ink for a marking pen or for correction which contains hollow particles having two or more pores in the inside thereof in place of titanium oxide in order to avoid coagulating and settling of titanium oxide and can display a covering effect.
However, the hollow particles used in this water based ink have a covering effect but have the problem that the covering effect is still lower than that of titanium oxide and that when the adding amount of the hollow particles is increased, inferior dispersion thereof is caused.
In light of the conventional technical problems described above, an object of the present invention is to solve them and to provide a water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen which is improved in water resistance and weatherability of drawn lines by enhancing dispersibility of titanium oxide that is an excellent white covering agent and can provide vivid drawn lines having a good poster color tone even on writing paper having a dark color, which is inhibited from deterioration such as coagulation and settling/separation of titanium oxide particles even in storing over a long period of time and which has a good follow-up property and makes it possible to write continuously.
Intensive investigations repeated by the present inventors regarding the conventional technical problems described above have resulted in successfully obtaining a water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen which meets the object described above by adding titanium oxide having specific physical properties and specific ink components, and thus coming to complete the present invention.
That is, the water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen according to the present invention comprises the following items (1) to (4):
(1) A water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen comprising titanium oxide having an oil absorption of 25 (g/100 g) or less and an average particle diameter of 400 nm or less, a water soluble resin, a thickener, water and a polar solvent.
(2) The water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen as described in the above item (1), containing at least one complementary colorant selected from a pigment, a resin emulsion, a hollow resin emulsion and a pseudo pigment obtained by dyeing these resin emulsions.
(3) The water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen as described in the above item (1) or (2), wherein the ink has a viscosity of 500 to 5000 mPaxc2x7s.
(4) The water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen as described in any of the above items (1) to (3), wherein the water soluble resin comprises a polymer and/or a copolymer of at least one monomer selected from acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, styrene, acrylic ester and methacrylic ester.
The embodiment of the present invention shall be explained below in detail.
The water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen according to the present invention is characterized by comprising titanium oxide having an oil absorption of 25 (g/100 g) or less and an average particle diameter of 400 nm or less, a water soluble resin, a thickener, water and a polar solvent.
Titanium oxide used in the present invention is used as a white pigment for providing the drawn lines with a covering property.
Uniformly and finely dispersed particles of titanium oxide make it possible to improve a covering property, a white color property, water resistance and light fastness of the drawn lines and an aging stability of the ink itself. The dispersibility of titanium oxide particles is affected largely by a treating condition of the surface of the particles, and inorganic adsorbing treatment with silica or alumina and organic coating treatment are usually carried out for easier treatment for enhancing the dispersibility.
The condition of the particle surface made by this treatment exerts a large influence on the oil absorption. For example, when a silica or alumina-adsorbed coating layer grows large to form a porous layer, the large oil absorption value is exhibited. When the oil absorption value is large, the particles coagulate each other due to adsorption and degradation of the dispersibility caused by releasing the coating layer are brought about. Accordingly, such treatment is not suitable for maintaining the dispersibility over a long period of time.
If titanium oxide particles are finely crushed to primary particles and the primary particles have a small particle diameter, they are less liable to settle down. However, if the particles themselves are smaller than the wavelength of visible rays, the covering power is reduced, and the capacity as a white pigment is lowered.
In the present invention, in relation to the preceding dispersibility and covering power of titanium oxide, the surface condition of the particles and the particle diameter have been investigated in further details, and as a result, it has been confirmed that use of titanium oxide having such physical properties as an oil absorption of 25 (g/100 g) or less and an average particle diameter of 400 nm or less solves the preceding problems of the dispersibility and the covering power and provides the intended ink.
That is, in titanium oxide having such a physical property as an oil absorption of 25 (g/100 g) or less, the adsorbed coating layer is stabilized, and the particles is prevented from coagulating each other due to adsorption. In addition thereto, degradation of the dispersibility caused by releasing the coating layer is not brought about, and the dispersibility over a long period of time becomes good. Further, use of a water soluble resin as a dispersant, which shall be described later, makes it possible to enhance the dispersibility to a large extent.
Further, titanium oxide having an average particle diameter of 400 nm or less has a covering power as a white pigment and has an effect of inhibiting settling. It has preferably a particle diameter of minimum 100 nm or more in order to obtain the covering power.
Titanium oxide satisfying such physical properties include, for example, Tipure R-706 (oil absorption: 13, particle diameter: 260 nm), Tipure R-700 (oil absorption: 13, particle diameter: 270 nm) and Tipure R-902 (oil absorption: 16, particle diameter: 320 nm) each manufactured by Du Pont and Co.; KR-270 (oil absorption: 21, particle diameter: 300 nm) and KA-30 (oil absorption: 23, particle diameter: 300 nm) each manufactured by Titan Ind. Co., Ltd.; JR-300 (oil absorption: 18, particle diameter: 290 nm), JR-603 (oil absorption: 21, particle diameter: 280 nm) and JR-809 (oil absorption: 22, particle diameter: 230 nm) each manufactured by Tayca Corporation; A-100 (oil absorption: 22, particle diameter: 150 nm), R-580 (oil absorption: 19, particle diameter: 280 nm), R-830 (oil absorption: 21, particle diameter: 250 nm), CR-50 (oil absorption: 18, particle diameter: 250 nm) and CR-97 (oil absorption: 19, particle diameter: 250 nm) each manufactured by Ishiwara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd.; TA-100 (oil absorption: 22, particle diameter: 300 nm), TR-600 (oil absorption: 19, particle diameter: 300 nm) and TR-900 (oil absorption: 18, particle diameter: 300 nm) each manufactured by Fuji Titan Co., Ltd.; R-310 (oil absorption: 21, particle diameter: 200 nm) and R-61N (oil absorption: 22, particle diameter: 260 nm) each manufactured by Sakai Chemical Industry Co., Ltd.; and FR-22 (oil absorption: 24, particle diameter: 250 nm) and FR-88 (oil absorption: 24, particle diameter: 190 nm) each manufactured by Furukawa Kikai Kinzoku Co., Ltd.
They can be used alone or a mixture of two or more kinds.
The using amount of titanium oxide shall not specifically be restricted and is preferably 10 to 50% by weight, more preferably 15 to 30% by weight base on the total amount of the ink composition.
The ┌oil absorption┘ prescribed in the present invention is a value obtained by converting the added amount of linseed oil relative to 100 g of titanium oxide, wherein 2 g of titanium oxide is weighed on a glass plate and linseed oil is dropwise added thereto little by little, followed by being uniformly mixed by means of a metal spatula, and the amount of linseed oil added until the mixture of linseed oil and titanium oxide becomes a lump to be molded is determined.
The ┌average particle diameter┘ is a value determined by a method in which the actual particles are observed under an electron microscope and the measured diameters are converted or by a method in which titanium oxide particles suspended in water are measured by means of a particle size distribution analyser according to a photon correlation method.
The water soluble resin used in the present invention is used as a dispersion-stabilizing agent for titanium oxide.
Titanium oxide having a small oil absorption is liable to adsorb a hydrophilic water soluble resin, and the titanium oxide particles adsorbing it are further improved in prevention of settling and coagulation in an ink system provided with a viscosity by a thickener.
In the present invention, acryl base resins out of the water soluble resins used are preferred, and among them, preferred is the water soluble resin comprising at a polymer and/or a copolymer of at least one monomer selected from acrylic acid, methacrylic acid, maleic acid, styrene, acrylic ester and methacrylic ester.
Specific examples of such resins include Joncryl J61J (aqueous ammonia solution of styrene-acrylic ester-acrylic acid copolymer), Joncryl J62 (aqueous ammonia solution of styrene-acrylic ester-acrylic acid copolymer), SMA-1440H (aqueous ammonia solution of styrene-maleic acid copolymer) and Julimer AT-210 (methacrylic esters copolymer). At least one resin selected from them can be used.
The using amount of the water soluble resin for dispersion is preferably 60% by weight or less, more preferably 0.1 to 20% by weight based on the weight of titanium oxide added.
The thickener used in the present invention is used for inhibiting titanium oxide from settling and providing an ink for a ballpoint pen with suitable fluidity, and the thickener has to be selected from ones having a property that they are not reduced in the effect when used in combination with titanium oxide and a complementary color pigment such as a resin emulsion, which shall be described later, in a water based ink.
To be specific, they include seed polysaccharides such as guar gum, locust bean gum, galactomannan, pectin and derivatives thereof, psyllium seed gum and tamarind gum; microbial gums such as xanthan gum, rheozan gum, rhamsan gum, welan gum and gellan gum; sea weed polysaccharides such as carrageenan, alginic acid and derivatives thereof; resin polysaccharides such as tragacanth gum; cellulose and derivatives thereof, all of which are a natural polysaccharide, and synthetic polymers such as polyacrylic acid and cross-linking type copolymers thereof, polyvinyl alcohol, polyvinylpyrrolidone and derivatives thereof, polyvinyl methyl ether and derivatives thereof.
The microbial gums are characterized by a strong viscosity-providing effect and physical properties which are stable even after storing over a long period of time but tend strongly to have properties of propagating miscellaneous germs and coagulating fine powder pigments. Polyacrylic acid and cross-linking type copolymers thereof are characterized by stability against coagulation of fine powder pigments and propagation of miscellaneous germs but tend to be inferior in a viscosity-providing property to natural polysaccharides.
Accordingly, at least one thickener selected from the thickeners described above can be used depending on the adding amounts and the kinds of titanium oxide and a complementary color pigment contained in the ink components, which shall be described later.
The adding amount of the thickener is preferably 0.1 to 1.5% by weight based on the total amount of the ink composition. The adding amount is varied depending on the kind of the thickener. It is preferably 0.1 to 0.8% by weight in the case of natural polysaccharides and preferably 0.1 to 1.5% by weight in the case of synthetic polymers.
The amount of the thickener of less than 0.1% by weight is liable to cause settling of the titanium oxide particles, and the amount exceeding 1.5% by weight reduces the fluidity of the ink and therefore tends to be liable to cause inferior writing due to the inferior follow-up property of the ink.
The fluidity can be judged by the viscosity of the ink. For example, judging from a value determined by means of an E type viscometer (25xc2x0 C.), which is a conventional rotational viscometer, the viscosity at 1 rpm has to be 500 mPaxc2x7s or more for inhibiting the titanium oxide particles from settling. In order to provide the viscosity falling in this range of viscosity, the foregoing amount of the thickener has to be added. Further, if the viscosity exceeds 5,000 mPaxc2x7s, the fluidity of the ink is reduced, and the follow-up property of the ink and the feeding of the ink from the pen tip of the ballpoint pen to writing paper are deteriorated. Accordingly, the adding amount of the thickener has to be controlled.
The complementary color pigment used in the present invention is used for further strengthening a white color which is a ground color of a titanium oxide particle and/or toning and preparing a color other than a white color. A pigment itself is excellent in water resistance and weatherability and can provide semi-permanent drawn lines.
Examples of the pigments to be used include inorganic pigments such as carbon black, titanium black, zinc oxide, red iron oxide, chromium oxide, black iron oxide, cobalt blue, yellow iron oxide, viridian, zinc sulfide, lithopone, cadmium yellow, vermilion, cadmium red, chrome yellow, molybdate orange, zinc chromate, strontium chromate, white carbon, clay, talc, ultramarine, precipitated barium sulfate, baryte powder, calcium carbonate, white lead, Prussian blue, manganese violet, aluminum powder and bronze powder.
Further, included are organic pigments such as C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 34, C. I. PIGMENT RED 104, C. I. PIGMENT BLUE 27, C. I. PIGMENT BLUE 17, C. I. PIGMENT RED 81, C. I. PIGMENT VIOLET 1, C. I. PIGMENT BLUE 1, C. I. PIGMENT VIOLET 3, C. I. PIGMENT RED 53, C. I. PIGMENT RED 49, C. I. PIGMENT RED 57, C. I. PIGMENT RED 48, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 3, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 1, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 74, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 167, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 12, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 14, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 17, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 13, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 55, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 83, C. I. PIGMENT ORANGE 16, C. I. PIGMENT ORANGE 13, C. I. PIGMENT ORANGE 5, C. I. PIGMENT RED 38, C. I. PIGMENT RED 22, C. I. PIGMENT RED 5, C. I. PIGMENT RED 146, C. I. PIGMENT RED 245, C. I. PIGMENT VIOLET 50, C. I. PIGMENT BLUE 15, C. I. PIGMENT GREEN 7, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 95, C. I. PIGMENT YELLOW 166, C. I. PIGMENT VIOLET 19 and C. I. PIGMENT VIOLET 23. Further, included are a resin emulsion obtained by polymerizing styrene, acrylic acid, acrylic ester, methacrylic acid, methacrylic ester, acrylonitrile and an olefinic monomer, a hollow resin emulsion which is swollen in an ink to become indefinite form or various colored organic pigments comprising dyed resin particles obtained by dyeing these emulsions themselves with a colorant.
In the present invention, at least one pigment selected from these complementary color pigments can be used. The using amount of the complementary color pigment is preferably 0.5 to 10% by weight based on the total amount of the ink composition.
Further, the preceding resin emulsion and hollow resin emulsion which are white pigments for further strengthening a white color that is a ground color of titanium oxide particles have preferably an average particle diameter of 200 to 800 nm, and the using amount thereof is preferably 5 to 25% by weight based on the total amount of the ink composition.
The polar solvent used in the present invention can be used for the purpose of providing various qualities as a water based ink for a ballpoint pen, for example, preventing dry-up of the ink at a pen tip and freezing of the ink at a low temperature.
To be specific, the desired water content is 10% by weight or more, preferably 40% by weight or more on the whole ink composition.
The polar solvent includes water-soluble organic solvents having a moisture holding property such as ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, propylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, polypropylene glycol, thiodiglycol, glycerin, diglycerin, 2-pyrrolidone, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone, dimethylformamide and dimethylimidazolidinone. They are used preferably alone or in combination of plural kinds thereof.
Water used in the present invention is used as a solvent and includes purified water.
Further in the present invention, there can be added, if necessary, as other additives, for example, pH adjusting agents such as ammonia, urea, monoethanolamine, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, alkali metal salts of carbonic acid and phosphoric acid such as sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium carbonate, and hydroxides of alkali metals such as sodium hydroxide; preservatives or fungicides such as phenol, sodium omadine, sodium pentachlorophenol, 1,2-benzisothiazoline-3-one, 2,3,5,6-tetrachloro-4-(methylsulfonyl)pyridine, alkali metal salts of benzoic acid, sorbic acid and dehydroacetic acid such as sodium benzoate, and benzimidazole base compounds; rust preventives such as benzotriazole, dicyclohexylammonium nitrite, diisopropylammonium nitrite and tolyltriazole; lubricants and wetting agents such as derivatives of polyoxyethylene, polyoxypropylene or polyoxyethylenepolyoxypropylene such as polyoxyethylene lauryl ether, derivatives of glycerin, diglycerin or polyglycerin such as tetraglyceryl distearate, sorbitan derivatives such as sorbitan monooleate, surfactants having fluorinated alkyl groups such as perfluoroalkylphosphoric acid esters, polyether-modified silicone such as polyethylene glycol adducts of dimethylpolysiloxane, potassium linoleate, sodium ricinolate and potassium oleate. At least one of these additives can be added and used.
These surfactants given as examples of lubricants and wetting agents have also a function for stabilizing dispersion of pigment and titanium oxide particles. However, preferably used as dispersants are anionic surfactants such as alkylated sulfonic acid salts of higher fatty acid amides and alkylarylsulfonic acid salts, and water soluble polymers such as polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinyl alcohol, polyacrylic acid, acrylic acid copolymers, acrylic-methacrylic acid base resins, styrene-acryl base resins, maleic acid resins and styrene-maleic acid base resins.
Various methods which have so far been publicly known can be used for producing the water based white color tone pigment ink for a ballpoint pen according to the present invention. It can readily be obtained, for example, by blending the respective components described above, and then mixing and stirring them by means of a stirrer such as a dissolver or crushing and mixing them by means of a ball mill or three rolls, followed by removing coarse particles of the pigment particles and the titanium oxide particles, undissolved substances and contaminated solid substances by centrifugation and filtration.

Water based white color tone pigment ink for ball point pen


Provided herein is a carbon based coating and methods of producing the same. The carbon based coating comprising an amorphous carbon thin film deposited on a substrate, the carbon based coating characterized in that the carbon based coating imparts enhanced surface durability properties.

Surfaces that require precision tolerance and/or that are subjected to high contact stresses under dry or starved lubrication conditions often require surfaces that are durable. Wear improvements for such surfaces have traditionally been limited to anodizing and plating operations. These processes can be environmentally hazardous and produce surface having dimensional inconsistencies, limited adhesion, and non-uniform thickness across complex geometries. Further such surfaces cannot maintain high tolerances and, when in dry contact with a static partner, produce aggressive wear and material loss to a mating surface. Moreover, biomedical metallic materials, when used in mechanical interfaces such as clamps, screws and threads, tend to have poor tribological performance which leads to limited repositioning, uneven torque parameters, and even stuck or stripped mechanical junctions.

Carbon based coatings and methods of producing the same


A lockable, slammable rotationally actuated latch assembly for use as a latching and locking mechanism on a door or panel of an enclosure or compartment has a mounting pan with a recessed draw and peripheral mounting flange. A rotatable cam shank intersects the mounting pan and has a handle attached to an end of the cam shank on the exterior side of the pan. A latch is rotationally mounted on a latch shank located on the interior side of the mounting pan and is biased into the latched position by a torsion spring. A cam is attached to an end of the cam shank on the interior side of the pan and the cam has a contact edge positioned to contact and rotate the latch upon rotation of the cam shank. An optional latch guide can also be mounted on a latch shank for guiding a striker into a striker receiving cavity formed between the latch and latch guide. A lock assembly may be mounted on the flange of the mounting pan or inside the recessed draw of the pan. The handle may also have a lock cover with a sealing gasket mounted on the interior portion of the handle so that when the handle is folded relative to the mounting pan the lock assembly is covered.

Rotary operated latches which have a latching arm attached to a rotatable shaft or cam shank are widely used to latch closures such as doors and cabinet or box covers. The cam shank of the latch intersects a pan, with a handle such as a "T" handle attached to one end of the cam shank on the exterior of the pan, and a latch attached to the opposite end on the interior of the pan. Brackets are commonly welded to the interior side of the pan to support both the cam shank and a locking slide which the cam shank also intersects. The locking arm of a lock cylinder actuates the slide relative to the cam shank to control rotation of the cam shank and the latch, by holding a flattened segment of the cam shank in a narrow channel in the slide. With this type of lock mechanism, the latch cannot be moved until the locking slide is retracted by the locking arm. Thus the latch cannot be closed when in the locked condition.
Another disadvantage associated with all types of exterior mounted locking latches is the corrosive effects of exposure to weather elements. The lock cylinder is particularly vulnerable through the exposed key hole.

Lockable slammable cam latch with handle key hole cover


Methods, systems, and apparatus are disclosed for utilizing a universal serial bus (“USB”) transport as a system interface to transmit and receive IPMI commands and responses. An intelligent platform management interface (“IPMI”) transport library is provided that receives IPMI commands from IPMI client applications executing on a host. The IPMI commands are encapsulated into vendor specific small computer systems interface (“SCSI”) commands and transmitted over the USB transport to a virtual mass storage device provided by a management device. In response to receiving the vendor specific commands, IPMI firmware executing on the management device extracts the IPMI commands and executes them. A response may be returned to the host by encapsulating the IPMI response into a vendor specific SCSI response and transmitting the response to the host.

Computers are often linked together through networks to allow the resources of a computer at one location to be utilized by users located at a different location. In a distributed environment such as this, computers known as servers perform various tasks for client computers that communicate with the servers over a network. Servers enable sharing of files and other resources between client computers and the server. As an example, a world wide web ("web") server may provide text, graphics, and other resources to client computers over the Internet.
It is often necessary to manage the operation of a server computer. For instance, it is often desirable to view information regarding the relative health of a server computer. This is especially true for server computers that maintain resources that are utilized by a large number of client computers, such as within a corporate network or the internet. For many conventional systems, the technician that needs to view the screen displays and interact with the server being managed is required to be physically located at the site of the server. However, it is not always feasible for a technician to be physically present at the location of the server computer.
For example, a system administrator of a corporate network may be present at one location while the servers of the corporate network may be spread around the country or even the globe. To effectively manage the servers on the corporate network, the system administrator must be able to monitor each of the server computers, regardless of their location. Because the system administrator cannot be physically present at each server to be managed, effective management of the server computers becomes very difficult if not impossible. As a result, it can be very costly to maintain servers located in disparate physical locations.
Some systems for remotely administering server computers utilize an integrated or add-in management device. Such a management device can provide remote access to detailed information regarding the health and status of a managed server computer. In some cases, the management device can also redirect the video output from the server computer to a remote location and allow keyboard and mouse input to be provided to the server from the remote location. In some implementations, the management device may also include a baseboard management controller ("BMC"). In general, a BMC is a microcontroller that monitors the health and operation of the computer. In one implementation, a BMC monitors health-related aspects associated with the computer such as the temperature of components within the computer, the speed of rotational components (e.g., spindle motor, CPU fan, etc.) within the system, the voltage across or applied to one or more components within the system, and the available or used capacity of memory devices within the system. Other parameters may also be monitored.
In order to make the data gathered by the BMC available to programs and to other computer systems, a standard called the Intelligent Platform Management Interface ("IPMI") has been created. IPMI is an industry standard for system monitoring and event recovery. The IPMI specification provides a common message-based interface for accessing all of the manageable features in a compatible computer. IPMI includes a rich set of predefined commands for reading temperature, voltage, fan speed, chassis intrusion, and other parameters. System event logs, hardware watchdogs, and power control can also be accessed through IPMI. In this manner, IPMI defines protocols for accessing the various parameters collected by a BMC through an operating system or through an external connection, such as through a network or serial connection.
In order for an IPMI client application to transfer IPMI messages to a BMC, one of several system interfaces must be utilized. For instance, if an IPMI client application executing on a managed server desires to transmit information to a BMC regarding current CPU usage, the IPMI client application must utilize a system interface to do so. IPMI, however, defines only three possible system interfaces: a keyboard controller style ("KCS") interface; a system management interface chip ("SMIC") interface; and a block transfer ("BT") interface. Each of these interfaces, however, requires that additional hardware be present on the management device or within the monitored computer system. This hardware adds to the cost of the computer system or management device. Additionally, these interfaces can be very slow. In particular, KCS interfaces are based on a legacy keyboard controller interface that is extremely slow. Unfortunately, no other communications channels are supported by IPMI for use as a system interface.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the present disclosure has been made.

Universal serial bus system interface for intelligent platform management interface communications


A novel composition and method for solubilizing amphiphilic drugs in a small amount of organic solvent for use in improved liposomes is disclosed. A phosphatidylglycerol is acidified in a small amount of organic solvent. The amphiphilic drug, such as Amphotericin B, suspended in organic solvent is then added to the acidified phosphatidylycerol and a soluble complex is formed between the phosphatidylglycerol and the amphiphilic drug. When the liposome composition incorporating the soluble complex is hydrated, the final pH of the hydrating aqueous buffer is carefully controlled. The Amphotericin B liposomes formed have markedly reduced toxicity.

Systemic fungal infections are a major cause of mortality in cancer patients and other immunocompromised individuals. Unfortunately, fungal infections very often defy treatment because the few drugs that destroy fungi are extremely toxic to the host. Because of the drugs' toxicity, the lowest possible effective doses should be given. Unfortunately, because the drugs are diluted in the blood, and because large amounts of the drugs are degraded, or excreted or taken up by uninfected tissue, large doses actually are and must be given if the treatment is to be effective.
The preferred treatment for systemic fungal infections is primarily limited to two groups of drugs: the polyene antibiotics such as Amphotericin B and nystatin, and the imidazoles, such as ketaconazole and miconazole. The polyene antifungal antibiotics readily bind to sterol components of host cells causing disruption of the membrane, cell permeability and lysis. Amphotericin B has thus been associated with acute hemolytic crisis. Further, because it is particularly toxic to kidney tissue, it has been associated with irreversible renal damage and even kidney failure, at therapeutic dosage levels. Medoff, G., Kabayashi, G. (1980) Strategies in treatment of systemic fungal infections. New England Journal of Medicine 302: 145-55; Cohen, J. (1982) Antifungal chemotherapy. Lancet ii: 532-37; Graybill, J. R., Craven, P. C. (1983) Antifungal agents used in systemic mycosis: activity and therapeutic use. Drugs 25: 41-62.
It is a major goal of medical research to overcome the problems presented by the need for compromise between dosages high enough to control infection on the one hand, and unacceptable damage to healthy tissues on the other. Recently it has been discovered that needed doses of medicine can be delivered to diseased tissue while bypassing healthy tissue using certain liposomal formulations. Additionally, it has been recognized that medication can be incorporated into liposomes, microscopic delivery vesicles made, in part, of phospholipids. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,167--Composition and Method for Treatment of Disseminated Fungal Infections in Mammals, incorporated here by reference, and pending Vestar Research Inc. application Ser. No. 899,064, entitled "Improved Treatment of Systemic Fungal Infections With Phospholipid Particles Encapsulating Polyene Antifungal Antibiotics", also incorporated here by reference, which discloses liposomal delivery vesicles made, in part, from phospholipids.
Phospholipids form closed, fluid filled spheres when mixed with water. Phospholipid molecules are polar, having a hydrophilic ionizable head, and a hydrophobic tail consisting of long fatty acid chains. Thus, when sufficient phospholipid molecules are present with water, the tails spontaneously herd together to exclude the water while the hydrophilic phosphate heads form bonds with the water.
The result is a bilayer in which the fatty acid tails point into the newly formed membrane's interior and the polar heads point toward the aqueous medium. The polar heads at one surface of the membrane point toward the liposome's aqueous interior and those at the other surface point toward the aqueous exterior environment. It is this chemical tendency to form liquid filled spheres that allows the liposome to be loaded with medication. As the liposomes form, water soluble molecules will be incorporated into the aqueous interior, and lipophilic molecules will tend to be incorporated into the lipid bilayer. Liposomes may be either multilamellar, like an onion with liquid separating many lipid bilayers, or unilamellar, with a single bilayer surrounding an entirely liquid center.
In studies of mice, Amphotericin B incorporated into liposomes has been shown to treat systemic fungal infections more effectively than when given as the free drug. Liposomes are not themselves toxic, and they protect their loads from being degraded or diluted. Thus, liposomes are thought to deliver concentrated doses of antifungal antibiotic at the diseased tissue without the toxicity that would otherwise be associated with freely circulating drug. Therefore, liposomal Amphotericin B drug doses can exceed the maximum tolerated dose of free Amphotericin B. Mehta, R. (1982). Liposomal Amphotericin B is toxic to fungal cells but not to mammalian cells. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 770: 230-34. Liposomal encapsulated Amphotericin B has also been shown to be an effective treatment for murine systemic fungal infections, including Candidiasis, Cryptococcosis, and Histoplasmosis. Graybill, J. R. et al (1983) Treatment of murine cryptococcosis with liposomal associated Amphotericin B. Journal of Infectious Diseases 145: 748-52; Taylor, R. L. et al (1982) Amphotericin B in liposomes: A novel therapy for histoplasmosis. American Review of Respiratory Diseases 125: 610-611.
Liposomal Amphotericin B has also shown effectiveness in human patients, life saving when other treatments have failed, including freely circulating Amphotericin B. Systemic fungal infections are seen most commonly in people whose immune systems are compromised by disease or immunosuppressive drug therapy. As previously mentioned, these infections are a common cause of death to victims of acquired immune deficiency syndrome and to cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. The causative agents of these fungal infections are often endogenous fungi that would be rendered harmless but for the patient's impaired resistance. Lopez-Berestein, G. et al (1987) Treatment of hepatosplenic Candidiasis with liposomal Amphotericin B. Journal of Clinical Oncology 5: 310-17.
Unfortunately, because of the chemical properties of the polyene antifungal antibiotics, it has heretofore not been possible to produce liposomal Amphotericin B in commercial quantities. These antifungal agents are called polyenes because they contain three to seven conjugated double bonds in the aliphatic chain making up a large lactone ring. The double bonds are incorporated into one side of the ring of 26 to 44 carbon atoms and along the opposite side of the ring 6 to 12 hydroxyl groups are present. Additionally, these molecules contain specific carboxylic acid groups and amine groups. Amphotericin B and nystatin, for example, possess both an aminosugar and a carboxylic acid group. The polyene regions of the molecules are of course hydrophobic and lipophilic while the polyol and ionizable regions are hydrophilic and lipophobic. As such, these molecules are called amphiphilic. Additionally, because of the carboxylic group and the amine group, Amphotericin B can act as a Lowry-Br.o slashed.nsted acid or proton donor, or as a Lowry-Br.o slashed.nsted base or proton acceptor. The combination of these functionalities makes polyenes very poorly soluble in water and most organic solvents. Bennett, J. E. (1974) Chemotherapy of systemic mycoses. New England J. Medicine 290: 320-23.
It has been the persistent problem of insolubility of the polyene antifungal antibiotics in general and of Amphotericin B in particular that has previously limited the prior art. Liposomal Amphotericin B formation was heretofore limited to generally two methods, described below, neither feasible for commercial scale production and neither showing long-term stability or as great a reduction in toxicity as the preparations herein described.
One prior method requires that the Amphotericin B be first dissolved in large volumes of volatile organic solvent such as methanol. To that solution would then be added the lipid mixture dissolved in a volatile organic solvent such as methanol and/or chloroform. The solvents would then have to be removed from the mixture to form a lipid-Amphotericin B film. Removal of solvents could be accomplished by a variety of methods but usually by evaporation to dryness in a round bottom flask under vacuum or nitrogen. Taylor, R. L. (1980) Amphotericin B in liposomes: A novel therapy for histoplasmosis. Am. Review Respiratory Disease 125: 610-11; Graybill, J. R. et al (1982) Treatment of murine crytococcosis diseases. J. Infectious Diseases 145: 748-52; Lopez-Berestein, G. (1983) Treatment and prophylaxis in disseminated infection due to Candida albicans in mice with liposome-encapsulated Amphotericin B. J. Infectious Diseases 147: 939-45; U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,167--Composition and method for treatment of disseminated fungal infections in mammals. The prior art methods thus required removal of large volumes of organic solvent, and preparation of a lipid-Amphotericin B film, an extra step eliminated by the present invention. Moreover, the prior art methods were thus practicable only in discrete batches and were not amenable to the continuous flow process of the current invention. These are two disadvantages which the industry has long attempted to overcome.
In another method of forming liposomal Amphotericin B, the lipid mixture is dissolved in chloroform or another solvent and deposited and dried on the sides of a round bottom flask or vesicle surface. A solution of Amphotericin B dissolved in a small amount of dimethyl sulfoxide would then be added to the previously deposited lipid film. The resulting preparation would thereafter have to be dialyzed against a buffered saline or other solution to remove the dimethyl sulfoxide and non-intercalated Amphotericin B. The procedure was extremely time consuming and expensive, and typically resulted in incorporation of only 70% of the initial Amphotericin B. Tremblay, C. et al (1984) Efficacy of liposome-intercalated Amphotericin B in treatment of systemic Candidiasis in mice. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy 26: 170-73.
Prior to the present invention, it was not possible to dissolve Amphotericin B in small quantities of volatile solvent, such that scaled-up production could be commercially feasible. The present invention also enables the dissolved Amphotericin B--phospholipid liposomal solution to be spray dried, thus making commercial quantities practical by elimination of the elaborate and time consuming steps detailed above.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide an improved process for the solubilization of amphophilic drugs.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved process for the encapsulation of polyene antifungal antibiotics into liposomes.
More specifically, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved process for the formation of liposomal Amphotericin B.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a commercially feasible process for the production of liposomal Amphotericin B.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a process for the formation of liposomal Amphotericin B with reduced toxicity.
A further object of the present invention is to provide new methods of treatment with Amphotericin B.
The manner in which these and other objects are realized by the present invention will be apparent from the summary and detailed description set forth below.


A fluid flow duct such as the jet pipe of an aircraft gas turbine powerplant has alternatively selectable outlets so that thrust may be directed through either an axial discharge nozzle or through vectorable lift nozzles. Side outlets in the jet pipe leads to lift nozzle on port and starboard sides of the aircraft. Nozzle selection is made by means of a composite diverter valve comprising a sleeve valve to cover the side outlets and a segmented blocker valve to close the jet pipe and deflect engine exhaust through the side outlets. The blocker valve segments are carried on the sleeve valve for simultaneous deployment. The segments are adapted to delay the opening of the side outlets as the sleeve valve translates axially. Specially extended segments co-operate with a shaped duct wall adjacent the outlets to delay their uncovering.

An engine of this type is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,280,560. Essentially it is a by-pass type engine which has a conventional axial type discharge nozzle for normal forward propulsive thrust in wing-borne flight. For jet-borne flight the by-pass and exhaust flows are selectively diverted. The cold by-pass flow is discharged through a pair of forward mounted vectorable nozzles on port and starboard sides of the engine. The hot turbine exhaust is also blocked by a diverter valve, in this case of the "clamshell" type. The valve members divert the axial flow to discharge through rearward mounted, also port and starboard, vectorable nozzles. The clamshell valves each comprise a fragment of a cylinder with oblique upstream and downstream edges. The valve members are mounted on vertical trunnions so they can be swung between a first position in which each blocks a side exit aperture in the jet pipe wall and a second position in which they come together to block flow to the axial nozzle.
A drawback with this type of arrangement arises due to area mismatching. During transition between operating modes the total effective outlet area, immediately downstream of the turbine section, undergoes a substantial although temporary increase even if the jet pipe and side outlet areas are closely matched. This occurs as the clamshell valves begin to uncover the side outlets and to block the jet pipe. Unfortunately the initial effect of the latter is overwhelmed by initial effect of opening the side exits.
A different type of valve arrangement which may be adapted to divert gas flows is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,803. The engine described therein has a tandem fan arrangement with a changeover valve between the fans to selectively divert flow from the front fan either through an axial duct leading to the second fan or through side exits exhausting to atmosphere. A sleeve valve blocks or uncovers the side exits by moving axially. Pivoted to the sleeve valve are a plurality of valve segments which are restrained by a fixed length link thereby causing the segments to pivot inwardly to block the axial duct as the sleeve is translated rearwards. This arrangement may be adapted for hot exhaust gas flows by the use of suitable materials to construct the clamshell valve members described above.
Both valve arrangement suffer from the same drawback of area mismatch. The present invention has for its primary objective to provide a solution to this problem.

Fluid flow duct with alternative outlets


A lamp assembly has an elongate source of radiation and an elongate reflective surface partly surrounding the source for reflecting radiation from the source onto a substrate for curing a coating on the substrate. The reflective surface has a profile which is substantially continuously concave curved and is shaped with respect to the source such that less than 10% of the radiation emitted from the source is reflected back onto the source.

This invention relates to lamp assemblies, and more particularly to lamp assemblies for use in the printing and coating industry for the fast curing of inks and the like on a large variety of substrate materials. During the curing process, the substrate is moved in a path beneath an elongate lamp assembly so that a coating on the substrate is irradiated by radiation from the lamp to cure the coating in a continuous process. The substrate may be continuous or comprise multiple sheets which are fed past the lamp in succession.
It is well known to cure inks on a substrate by application of ultra-violet radiation from one or more medium-pressure mercury vapor ultra-violet lamps. It is also well known to provide each lamp in an assembly with a reflector which includes a reflective surface partly surrounding the lamp for reflecting radiation therefrom onto the substrate. The reflective surface has a concave profile which is commonly elliptical or parabolic, the lamp being mounted on the symmetrical center line of the profile and adjacent the apex.
The reflector increases the intensity of the radiation received by the curable material. The penetration of the radiation into the material is an important factor in curing and, whilst penetration varies with different colors and materials, the higher the intensity the better the penetration.
A problem which arises with known arrangements is that part of the radiation is reflected back onto the lamp itself, which reduces the amount of radiation energy available for curing and leads to heating of the lamp which can adversely affect lamp operation and increase the already large amount of heat given off by the assembly which may cause warping and distortion of the coating and/or the substrate.
This problem has been recognized in French Patent 2334966 which describes a reflector in the form of two half-shells, each of which is pivotal about a longitudinal axis within the cavity to the sides of the symmetrical center line thereof. The French Patent proposes deforming the top region of the reflector to give it, externally, a generally concave shape across the width of the lamp by bending the top edge of each half-shell down towards the lamp.
The apparatus disclosed in French Patent 2334966 has disadvantages as a result of its basic form in that a complicated system will be necessary to achieve the desired pivoting action and space has to be provided to accommodate the half-shell pivoting which is inconsistent with the current industry desire for smaller curing assemblies. Cooling of the half-shells will be difficult, again because of the need to accommodate the pivoting action. Problems will also arise as a result of the solution proposed in the French Patent to the problem of lamp self-heating. The distortion of the reflector towards the lamp will lead to excessive heating of the distorted portion and will make cooling of the adjacent region of the lamp much more difficult.
The efficient and effective cooling of lamp assemblies has been a constant problem which has become even more important as ever increasing lamp powers have been employed to give faster curing such that substrate speeds can be increased. For example, at the date of the French Patent, 1975, lamp powers were only in the region of 250 Watts per inch (100 Watts per cm). Lamp powers of 200-400 Watts per inch (80-160 Watts per cm) are now common and lamps of even higher powers, 500-600 Watts per inch (200-240 Watts per cm) are increasingly being used. Furthermore, the advantages of UV curing, including cleanness and quality, have led to a demand for curing systems capable of operating with a wide variety of substrates, including substrates which are very vulnerable to heat damage.
Earlier assemblies were generally cooled by air alone. In the first air-cooled systems, air was extracted from within the reflector through one or more openings provided above the lamp to draw out the heat. In later systems, cooling air was blown into the assembly and onto the lamp, again through openings located adjacent the lamp. A problem with air cooling is that the blowers required increase the size of the assembly making it difficult to install between the stands of a multi-stand press.
This, and the increasing cooling requirements due to higher lamp powers, led to the use of water cooling alone or in conjunction with air cooling. The cooling water is fed through tubes attached to or integrally formed in the reflector. In addition, a number of designs have been proposed with filters comprising one or two tubes of quartz provided between the lamp and the substrate through which liquid is passed, typically distilled de-ionized water. As well as contributing to the cooling, the filters have the primary effect of filtering infra-red radiation, which tends to heat the substrate, and focusing the light from the lamp onto the substrate. The liquid coolant is circulated to and from all the tubes through cooling or refrigerating means.
As lamp powers increase, ever more efficient and effective cooling systems are required to keep temperatures within acceptable limits, not only to prevent damage to the substrate, but also to prevent harm to adjacent equipment and to operators of the printing system.
One known design of lamp assembly has a reflector in the form of a block with a cavity on the surface of which the reflective surface is provided. The reflective surface may be formed by polishing the cavity surface or a specific reflector member can be attached thereto. In either case it is known to provide coatings on the reflective surface of heat-absorbing material. To allow air cooling when a separate reflector member is employed, it is necessary to punch one or more holes through the member to provide a connection to the air flow passage or passages. With an integral reflector on the other hand, damage--to the reflective surface requires replacement of the block with consequent disconnection and reconnection to the cooling fluid supplies.


A terminal-implemented method, a server-implemented method and a terminal for acquiring a certification document are provided. The terminal-implemented method includes: determining a target application for providing the certification document according to a user-input identification of a legal source of the certification document; acquiring page contents of the target application, the page contents containing the certification document; and sending document contents including the page contents or the certification document to a certification-document extracting server to enable certification-document extracting server to extract the certification document from the document contents.

A certification document is a document for certifying a particular attribute of a citizen, which is frequently required in many fields, in particular for financial credit. Generally, a certification document may refer to a citizen identity certification, an income certification document, a bank operation flow certification, a profession certification, and the like.
Typically, users are generally required to provide a paper certification document with an official seal to an authorized person to verify the authenticity of the certification document. Alternatively, a particular organization may acquire corresponding certification document from its network system. For example, a bank can acquire a bank operation flow certification of a user in the bank network system.

Terminal-implemented method, server-implemented method and terminal for acquiring certification document


A method for reducing the tensile stress of a low-k dielectric layer includes depositing an organosilicate layer on a substrate, the layer having an initial tensile stress value associated therewith. The layer is annealed in a reactive environment at a temperature and for a duration selected to result in the layer having a reduced tensile stress value with respect the initial tensile stress value following the completion of the annealing.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor device processing techniques, and, more particularly, to a method for reducing film stress for SiCOH low-k dielectric materials.
The continuous shrinking in dimensions of electronic devices utilized in ultra large scale integrated (ULSI) circuits in recent years has resulted in increasing the resistance of the back end of line (BEOL) metallization as well as increasing the capacitance of the intralayer and interlayer dielectric materials. This combined effect increases signal delays in ULSI electronic devices. In order to improve the switching performance of future ULSI circuits, low dielectric constant (low k) insulators (particularly those insulators with k values significantly lower than silicon oxide) are needed to reduce capacitances. One such commercially available, low-k dielectric material is polytetrafluoroethylene ("PTFE"), which has a k value of 2.0. However, this dielectric material is not thermally stable when exposed to temperatures above 300-350° C. Because dielectric materials used in ULSI chips need to have a thermal stability of at least 400° C., such dielectrics are rendered useless during integration.
Accordingly, some of the low k materials that have been considered for applications in ULSI devices include polymers containing elements of Si, C, O and H, such as, for example, methylsiloxane, methylsilsesquioxanes, and other organic and inorganic polymers. One problem with the use of such polymer low k films is that when the films are integrated in ULSI device processing, they exhibit poor mechanical properties such as, for example, a low elastic modulus, hardness, cohesive strength, as well as tensile stresses that result in cracking that is accelerated in the presence of water.
In view of the above drawbacks with prior art low-k and ultra low-k films, there remains a need for utilizing low-k, SiCOH dielectrics that have a desirable dielectric constant value (e.g., about 2.8 or less), but that also have improved mechanical properties such as reduced film stress.

Method for reducing film stress for SiCOH low-k dielectric materials

International Business Machines Corporation


A resistor assembly and method of assembling a resistor to a coupling, comprises providing a resistor having a first end and a second end, the resistor being tubular in shape and providing a coupling housing having an open end for receiving the first end of the resistor, the coupling housing including a sealing member, a retainer, and a support washer. The retainer is interposed between the support washer and sealing member. The first end of the resistor is inserted into the open end of the coupling housing. The tube is rotated within the coupling housing so that the resistor is in sealing engagement with the sealing member and retained by retaining member.

Resistors are electronic components used in various applications. Three prevalent types of resistors are: wire wound, film, and bulk. A wire wound resistor comprises a spiral of conductive material (normally metal wire or metal strip) wrapped around a ceramic rod or tube. A film resistor comprises a film of resistive material (normally carbon based or metallic oxide film) formed around a ceramic rod or tube. A bulk resistive resistor comprises a mixture of non-conductive ceramic material and conductive material.
Bulk resistive resistors are used in various high performance applications. Bulk resistive resistors may take the form of tubular, axial leaded, slab, and disc and washer resistors. With regard to tubular resistors, these typically include a bulk resistive material such as ceramic, having metal terminals or sleeves disposed at its end. Ceramic resistors are able to withstand short-time overloads and high peak power. They are chemically inert and thermally stable.
Difficulties arise when attempting to join the resistor to a coupling, which is typically metal. To solve this problem, metal ends are attached to the tube by etching off a portion of the tube, and attaching a metal sleeve. The coupling and tube are then soldered together. However, soldering is time-consuming and expensive. In addition, if the coefficient of thermal expansion differs between the tube and coupling, the joint will not be reliable and may result in cracking.
Another method includes attaching the coupling to an end of a tube with bonding material, such as epoxy or adhesives. A bonding material is interposed between the coupling and the tube. Like soldering, this method is time-consuming and expensive. In addition, the epoxy may deteriorate over time, possibly compromising the joint.
Additional problems are present with the use of resistors that are liquid-cooled. Liquid-cooled resistors are capable of dissipating more power in a smaller package. For example, air-cooled resistors dissipate approximately 370 watts of power whereas liquid-cooled resistors dissipate approximately between 3,000-4,000 watts of power. However, other problems may arise when joining the resistor in the liquid containing network. In particular, manufacture and use of a liquid-cooled resistor is difficult, particularly when making a joint. Because of the liquid factor, the coupling must be adequately sealed or leakage will occur.
To solve the problems of leakage, complicated mechanical couplings are used as an alternative to the soldering and bonding processes. For example, plastic ends of a liquid connection are held in compression with tie rods and an O-ring. An O-ring creates a liquid tight seal while the tie rods hold the plastic ends in compression. However, this type of mechanical connection is rather complicated and expensive.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a connection between a coupling and a resistor that is simple, inexpensive, reliable and easy to assemble.