A liquid dispenser having a pumping mechanism for consistent and measured dispensing of an alcoholic liquid into a standard “shot” glass. Specifically, in one aspect of the invention, a liquid dispenser is provided having a central body member, a liquid reservoir within the central body member, and a draw tube associated with the liquid reservoir. The liquid dispenser further includes a pump shaft and a pump top connected to an upper end of the pump shaft. In addition, the dispenser is configured to couple to a vessel having a liquid in order to dispense the liquid in a measured and consistent manner in a “shot” glass, wherein the liquid can be an alcoholic beverage.

This section is intended to introduce the reader to aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present invention or present solution, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present invention. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Liquids are dispensed in a seemingly endless number of contexts. In dispensing liquids, accuracy in measuring the amount of liquid needed in a particular context is desirable. One such context is in the restaurant and bar industry. In the restaurant and bar industry, the success and survival of the restaurant or bar is highly dependent on the sale of liquor. In many jurisdictions, restaurants and bars pay a substantial fee to government regulatory bodies for the right to sell beverages containing liquor. In order for the proprietors of those establishments to receive an adequate return on investment in the establishment and in the corresponding liquor license, it must operate at maximum profitability.
One such area where a restaurant or bar may realize a high volume of revenue is in the sale of cocktails. But selling many cocktails will not necessarily translate into high profits. In fact, operating a bar and serving offering cocktails to patrons may lend itself to financial loss. One example of how a restaurant or bar may incur such losses is in the dispensing of cocktails. While selling cocktails can be a profitable endeavor, over-dispensing liquor to customers can be fatal to business. In preparing cocktails, the recipe for preparing the cocktail must be closely followed. A part of any drink recipe is how much liquor to include in the drink. Traditionally, liquor is applied to a cocktail in a measurement known as a "shot". A shot glass typically refers to a small glass or container that holds approximately 1.5 ounces of liquid. In many cocktail recipes, therefore, a "shot" of liquor refers to one full shot glass of liquor.
Most bars and restaurants use shot glasses in preparing a seemingly endless number of cocktails for customers. Many bars and restaurants use liquor pourers to assist in preparing cocktails. A liquor pourer is essentially a fitted spout that fits into the mouth of a liquor bottle. As most liquor bottles in the liquor industry have spouts of a standard size, liquor pourers are basically a one size fits all products.
The problem with available liquor pourers is that they provide the user with no ability to administer consistently a precise amount of liquor. In some instances, a bartender or user may forego use of a shot glass and simply "eyeball" the necessary amount of liquor to add to a cocktail. In other instances, the bartender may use a shot glass but not fill it properly and over-fill it causing spillage.
The problems caused by such inaccuracies are clear. On the one hand, if one bartender in an establishment that tends to pour less than a necessary amount of liquor in a drink, the drink may be weak or have a less then optimal taste, causing customer dissatisfaction and eventual loss of business. On the other hand, a bartender who tends to add too much liquor to a drink can also negatively impact the taste of the drink, causing customer dissatisfaction. In some circumstances, the dispensing of more than the prescribed amount of liquor may increase the enjoyment of the customer because he or she is given a strong drink. One problem with providing too much liquor to the drink, however, is that it reduces the profit margin of the drink. In cases where a bar or restaurant may be visited by acquaintances of the bartended, the tendency may be for the bartender to be over-inclusive in the dispensing of alcohol. For the establishment owner who often has many urgent matters to tend to during the hours of operation, it is virtually impossible to monitor the amount of liquor administered by the staff. There is a need, therefore, for a dispensing device that provides consistent and repetitive administering of liquor.
While many restaurant and bar owners go to great expense to meet the demands of customers and create the most enjoyable experience possible, there are many inexpensive avenues for the bar or restaurant owner to further enhance the experience. Many of the accessories associated with a bar may be mundane, but nevertheless provide a platform to increase customer enjoyment. Liquor dispensing devices are one such example. Traditionally, liquor pourers are generic items that offer no distinctiveness in terms of the restaurant or bar in which they are used or in expressing the interests of customers. What is needed is a dispensing device that is presents a cost-effective platform for further aligning a restaurant or bars with the interests of its customers.


The present invention provides a charged particle beam irradiating apparatus capable of irradiating a charged particle beam using both a wobbler method and a scanning method. A charged particle beam irradiating apparatus includes: scanning electromagnets that scan a charged particle beam; a wobbler irradiation unit that irradiates the charged particle beam using a wobbler method; a scanning irradiation unit that irradiates the charged particle beam using a scanning method; and a control unit that controls the wobbler irradiation unit and the scanning irradiation unit. In the charged particle beam irradiating apparatus, the control unit operates one of the wobbler irradiation unit and the scanning irradiation unit, and controls the other irradiation unit to be in a withdrawn state so as not to hinder the irradiation of the charged particle beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a charged particle beam irradiating apparatus that irradiates a charged particle beam to an object.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2008-86554, filed Mar. 28, 2008, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A charged particle beam irradiating apparatus has been proposed which includes a scanning electromagnet that performs scanning with a charged particle beam and a wobbler irradiation unit that irradiates the charged particle beam using a wobbler method (for example, see JP-A-11-28252). In the charged particle beam irradiating apparatus using the wobbler method, the charged particle beam is circularly irradiated and diffused by the scanning electromagnet. The diffused charged particle beam is shaped according to the shape of an object and then irradiated.
In addition, a charged particle beam irradiating apparatus has been proposed which includes a scanning electromagnet that performs scanning with a charged particle beam and a scanning irradiation unit that irradiates the charged particle beam using a scanning method (for example, see JP-A-2006-34701). In the charged particle beam irradiating apparatus using the scanning method, the charged particle beam is irradiated to an object by the scanning electromagnet to scan the object.
The above-mentioned charged particle beam irradiating apparatuses are independent apparatuses in terms of functions. They can perform either the irradiation operation using the wobbler method or the irradiation operation using the scanning method. Therefore, the charged particle beam irradiating apparatuses have low flexibility in irradiation.

Charged particle beam irradiating apparatus


In the invention, there is provided a plating treatment technique which permits uniform plating treatment and easy replacement of articles to be plated without the effect of bubbles in a plating solution by improving wet plating apparatuses of the contact type to thereby solve problems such as the removal of bubbles in a plating solution and the removal of an adhering plating solution. Provided is a plating apparatus having a plating tank, which comprises: an opening which has a solution seal to prevent a plating solution from leaking when an article to be plated is placed on the opening; a solution-supply portion which supplies the plating solution; a solution-discharge portion which discharges the plating solution; and an anode which is opposed to the article to be plated that is placed, wherein the plating tank has rotational means for rotating the plating tank itself.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plating treatment technique for performing plating while removing bubbles present in a plating solution and, more particularly, to a plating apparatus and a plating method which are suitable for an article to be plated whose plating property is greatly affected when bubbles in a plating solution adhere to the surface of the article.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wet plating treatment has thitherto been adopted in various kinds of plated articles. In wet plating treatment, it is necessary only that the basic construction be such that an article to be plated is brought into contact with a plating solution and a plating current is given. Therefore, wet plating treatment is used in a huge variety of articles to be plated and various configurations of apparatus for wet plating have been proposed.
Wet plating apparatuses are broadly divided into the following two types. One is called "the immersion type" and plating treatment is performed by immersing an article to be plated in a plating solution. The other is "the contact type," in which an article to be plated is not immersed in a plating solution and instead only a surface requiring plating treatment is brought into contact with a plating solution in order to ensure that only the surface in contact with the plating solution is subjected to plating treatment.
Apparatuses of these two types of "the immersion type" and "the contact type" have their advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, an optimum type of plating apparatus is selected in consideration of various conditions, such as the shape and kind of an article to be plated, the surface of an article to be plated which is subjected to plating treatment, and the type of plating solution.
For example, in the case of a plate-like article to be plated such as a semiconductor wafer and a printed circuit board, a plating apparatus of "the contact type" may sometimes be adopted in consideration of the fact that only one surface is subjected to plating treatment and that automatic plating treatment is performed by continuously replacing articles of the same size to be plated. This is because this plating apparatus of "the contact type" permits easy replacement of articles to be plated and is suitable for a case where the surface of a plate-like article to be plated is only one surface.
In this plating apparatus of "the contact type," it is necessary only that the construction be such that the target plating surface of an article to be plated can be brought into contact with a plating solution. For this reason, there are two types of this plating apparatus. In one type, an article to be plated is placed on a top opening of a plating tank with the target plating surface kept facing downward and plating treatment is performed by supplying a plating solution to the interior of the plating tank. This type can be called "the top placement type." In the other type, an article to be plated is arranged at the bottom of a plating tank with the target plating surface kept facing upward and plating treatment is performed by supplying a plating solution to the top of the article to be plated. The latter type can be called "the bottom arrangement type."
In the "top placement type," it is necessary only that an article to be plated be placed on a top opening of a plating tank. Therefore, the replacement of articles to be plated is very easy and hence suitable for the automation of plating treatment. The "top placement type" is frequently adopted in mass plating treatment of plate-like articles to be plated, such as wafers. In this "top placement type," however, a plating solution is present below an article to be plated. Therefore, this inevitably leads to the occurrence of the phenomenon that bubbles in the plating solution, i.e., bubbles of air generated from an anode during plating treatment, bubbles of air entrapped in the plating solution, etc. ascend toward the target plating surface. For this reason, measures to remove bubbles are required in order to perform uniform plating treatment.
On the other hand, in the case of "the bottom arrangement type," a plating solution is present above an article to be plated. Therefore, bubbles in the plating solution has no effect on the article to be plated and, therefore, uniform plating treatment is possible without measures to remove bubbles. However, in this plating apparatus of "the bottom arrangement type," the target plating surface of an article to be plated faces upward. Therefore, even after removal of the plating solution, a large amount of plating solution adheres to the surface and hence plating solution removal work becomes necessary after plating treatment. Furthermore, replacement of articles to be plated cannot be easily carried out in comparison with "top placement type."
Thus, the conventional wet plating apparatuses of "the contact type" had problems in the removal of bubbles from a plating solution, the removal of an adhering plating solution, the replacement of articles to be plated, etc. and could not be said to be wholly satisfactory as plating apparatuses that can simultaneously meet the requirements for uniform plating treatment and easy plating treatment.

Electroplating Engineers of Japan Limited


In an apparatus for embedding digital watermarks into an image, a watermark embedding region extraction unit extracts an image region to contain watermarks from a wavelet transformed entire image. A watermark generation unit generates a watermark data row to be embedded according to a user's private key. A normalization operation unit normalizes the quantized data value by using a quantization unit into a normalized data value. An inverse quantization inversely quantizes and outputs the normalized data value. A watermark embedment unit embeds a watermark-embedded data value as a corresponding pixel data value into the watermark embedding region, wherein the watermark-embedded data value is obtained by subtracting, from the inversely quantized data value, the watermark data value added prior to the quantization.

Recently, a digital media and an electronic publishing business have been popularized and dramatically developed. Further, the rapid growth of the Internet makes communication easier and more extensive than before, while the advent of digital multimedia enables the creation and dissemination of products quickly via electronic means.
Since the digital data has no difference in quality between an original and a copy thereof, it is impossible to distinguish the original from the copy thereof. Accordingly, it is needed to protect Intellectual-property rights for audio, video, images and other documents and perform authentication, especially against an illegal copying, distribution and modification of the digital data.
To that end, information protecting methods, such as an encryption, a Firewall or the like, are conventionally employed. However, the methods have a drawback in that there is no solution to prevent users who are allowed to access data from illegally copying and modifying the data.
To solve these problems, in recent days a digital watermarking technique, which is known for its effectiveness to prevent the illegal copying of the digital data, is being widely used. The technique is used for hiding copyright information or user information so as to keep digital contents from being copied. To be specific, signals that are imperceptible under normal viewing conditions, i.e., specific data rows called as watermarks, are embedded into multimedia contents, e.g., audio, video, image and text contents, created by a copyrighter in order to protect copyrights thereon.
There have proposed several watermarking methods in a transform-domain Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) based on a frequency domain. For example, in a method suggested by I. J. Cox, an N×N DCT is performed on an original image. Then, a real number sequence is added to upper DCT coefficients except DC components, wherein the number of the DCT coefficients is n, n being a positive integer. In another method, it is determined whether watermarks are embedded into an image or not, based on a Just Noticeable Difference (JND) value by using a Human Visual System (HVS). Then, the JND is included in image into which a watermark is embedded. Further, in a recent method, watermarks are invisibly embedded into the DC components in a DCT region.
However, as a highly efficient compression is required for image and video data, a great deal of development has been devoted to the image data compression using a wavelet transform. A compression standard, JPEG2000, is an image compression method based on the wavelet while a conventional JPEG standard is based on the DCT, so that various watermarking techniques employing the JPEG 2000 are being developed.
The watermark embedding method based on the wavelet transform is categorized into several methods. For instance, there is a method for embedding a watermark signal having a different length into every high frequency domain except a lowest frequency domain. Further, there is another method for embedding a watermark signal into a large coefficient. In most watermark embedding methods, however, it is considered that the HVS is sensitive to changes in low frequency components rather than those in high frequency components. Thus, after the wavelet and the frequency transform is performed, it is widely carried out to embed watermarks into remaining frequency components except the lowest frequency component, i.e., the DC component. However, in case a high compression rate generated by embedding the watermarks into the images is applied to the high and middle frequency components or in case an intentional attack occurs to remove the watermarks, it is impossible to detect the watermarks. As a result, a blind type watermarking method based on the wavelet, which is able to trade off distortion and robustness, has been required.

Apparatus and method for embedding and extracting a digital watermark based on a wavelet

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A photomask includes a transparent substrate, a predetermined pattern of a light blocking member disposed on the transparent substrate, and a phase member formed along a peripheral edge of the light blocking member and exposed by a predetermined width. The photomask manufacturing method includes forming a transparent film on a surface of a transparent substrate, forming a predetermined pattern of a light blocking member on the transparent film, forming an etching mask layer on the transparent film and light blocking member, anisotropically etching the etching mask layer to leave the etching mask layer on the transparent film and along a peripheral edge of the light blocking member, and selectively etching the transparent film with the light blocking member and the remaining etching mask layer as a mask to form a phase member of the transparent film along the peripheral edge of the light blocking member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photomask employed in the lithographic process when semiconductor devices or the like are manufactured and a method of manufacturing a photomask.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, the lithographic process employs photomasks having the portions which are transparent to an illumination light and those which do not allow light to pass therethrough, both portions forming a predetermined transfer pattern. Such a photomask is projected on a layer of photosensitive material formed on a substrate by a lens system, by which the pattern on the photomask is transferred to the substrate.
FIG. 1A is a section of a conventional photomask. A light blocking member 2, made of Cr or MoSi, is formed on the surface of a transparent substrate 1 made of glass or the like. The light blocking member 2 forms a pattern to be transferred.
The photomask of the above-described type is conventionally manufactured in the manner described below: First, a thin film 3 of Cr is formed on a transparent substrate 1, and an electron beam resist layer 4 is then formed on the thin film 3 of Cr, as shown in FIG. 2A. Next, a pattern transfer is conducted on the electron beam resist layer and the electron beam resist layer 4 is thereby patterned, as shown in FIG. 2B, by drawing a predetermined pattern on the electron beam resist layer 4 with an electron beam 5 and by developing the electron beam resist layer 4. Thereafter, the thin Cr film 3 is etched using the pattern of the electron beam resist layer 4 as a mask to obtain a pattern of light blocking member 2, as shown in FIG. 2C. Finally, the electron beam resist layer 4 is stripped, as shown in FIG. 2D.
In an image of the photomask manufactured in the manner described above which is projected onto the substrate, the light which passes through the transparent substrate 1 bends around the light blocking member 2 due to diffraction, as shown by the amplitude distribution graph of FIG. 1B. The intensity of light obtained in an actual operation is the square of the amplitude, and the light arrives under the light blocking member 2, as shown in FIG. 1C and, reducing the resolution of the pattern transferred and making transfer of a fine pattern with a high degree of accuracy difficult.
Reduction in the resolution due to diffraction is prevented by the phase shifting method. In this method, in the case of a photomask on which transparent portions T1, T2 . . . and light blocking portions S1, S2, S3 . . . are alternately disposed, a phase member 13 is disposed on every other transparent portion. More specifically, in the transparent portion T2, the phase member 13 is formed on the transparent substrate 11 between the adjacent light blocking members 12, as shown in FIG. 3. The phase member 13 has a thickness which ensures that the phase of the light which passes through the phase member shifts by 180.degree. from that of the light which does not pass through it.
Hence, the light which passes through the transparent portion T1 and bends around the light blocking portion S2 and the light which passes through the transparent portion T2 and arrives under the light blocking portion S2 interfere with each other and thereby cancel each other, resulting in improvement in the resolution.
The photomask shown in FIG. 3 is manufactured in the manner described below. First, a light blocking member 12 having a predetermined pattern is formed on a transparent substrate 11 in the same manner as that shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D, as shown in FIG. 4A. Next, a transparent film 14 is formed on the transparent substrate 11 and on the light blocking member 12, as shown in FIG. 4B. Thereafter, a resist layer is formed on the transparent film 14, and a pattern transfer is then conducted on the resist layer and a resist pattern 15 is thereby formed by drawing a pattern on the resist layer with an electron beam or the like and by developing the resist layer, as shown in FIG. 4C. In this resist pattern 15, the resist layer is left behind alternately on the transparent portions where no light blocking member 12 is provided. Thereafter, the transparent film 14 is etched using the resist pattern 15 as a mask to form a pattern of phase members 13 shown in FIG. 4D. Finally, the resist pattern 15 is stripped.
However, in the photomask shown in FIG. 3, since interference of the light which passes through the transparent portion T2 where the phase member 13 is disposed and of the light which passes through the transparent portion T1 located adjacent to the transparent portion T2 is utilized, the phase shifting method is adopted only for a repetitive pattern in which the transparent portions and the opaque portions are alternately formed.
Furthermore, manufacture of the photomask shown in FIG. 3 includes two pattern transfer processes, one for patterning the resist layer 4 shown in FIG. 2A and the other for forming the resist pattern 15 shown in FIG. 4C. In consequence, the manufacturing method is made complicated, and generation of defective patterns is facilitated. Furthermore, a highly accurate registration of the pattern is required.

Photomask and method of manufacturing a photomask


Without significantly impacting monomer conversion, the cis-1,4 mer content of conjugated diene mer in polymers can be increased by adding one or more Lewis bases to a catalyst composition that includes a Group 3 metal atom-containing carboxylate. This effect can be seen even at above average monomer concentrations.

Various natural and synthetic elastomeric materials are used in the manufacture of vulcanizates such as, e.g., tire components. Some of the most commonly employed synthetic materials include high-cis polybutadiene, often made by processes employing catalysts, and substantially random styrene/butadiene interpolymers, often made by processes employing free radical or anionic initiators.
Cis-1,4-polydienes having very high cis contents give a greater ability to undergo strain-induced crystallization and lower hysteresis. Vulcanizates made from these polymers tend to exhibit superior physical properties such as higher tensile strength, higher abrasion resistance, better cold weather performance, etc. The best properties tend to result from cis-1,4-polydienes having very high cis contents, particularly those which also have narrow molecular weight distributions, i.e., Mw/Mn.
Group 3 (including lanthanides) metal complexes can be used in conjunction with, inter alia, an alkylating agent and a halogen source to provide catalyst compositions. Such compositions are known to be useful for producing polymers having high amounts of cis-1,4 linkages, i.e., above 95% but less than 99%, typically less than 98% and often less than 97%.
The use of Lewis bases to assist in solubilizing Group 3 metal-containing complexes, particularly Nd, while also increasing monomer conversion and cis-1,4 linkage content has been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,461,883, 4,533,711, 4,906,706, 5,064,910, etc., while the use of that same class of materials to modulate bulk polymerizations has been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,741,418, 7,825,201, 7,902,309, 9,353,205, etc.
The catalytic activity (toward olefins) of Nd complexes which include "a ligand containing an acidic proton" has been taught as having been improved by the presence of organic bases such as primary, secondary or tertiary amines; see U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,538.
The use of morpholine compounds to impact cis-1,4 linkages in polymers made using in catalysts based on Group 3 metal-containing complexes has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,902,309 and U.S. Pat. Publ. No. 2017/0291977.
Lanthanide-based catalyst systems, especially those which include an aluminoxane compound as a component, can give excessively fast polymerization rates when applied to bulk polymerization of conjugated dienes. This issue was substantially overcome in a process described in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 9,796,800, albeit at a significant detriment to conversion.
Being able to increase the cis-1,4 linkages in polymers made by processes employing lanthanide complex-containing catalyst compositions remains desirable. Compositions and techniques employing compounds that meet regulatory requirements and that provide predictable, controllable conditions and commercially acceptable polymerization rates are particularly desirable.

Polymerization catalyst composition and method of employing same

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC


Process for polarizing at least a part of a ferroelectric material in a cylindrical shape having a longitudinal axis, and having an internal conductor inside the cylinder disposed along the longitudinal axis. At least part of said cylinder is placed in a conductive liquid with the cylinder being free from any stresses other than pressure exerted by the conductive liquid. A low frequency AC voltage is then applied between an electrode in contact with the conductive liquid and the internal conductor, and the amplitude of the voltage is increased progressively up to a value such that an electrical field is created having an amplitude greater than a coercive field of polarization Ec of the ferroelectric material.

The invention concerns a process and a device for polarizing at least one part of a cylinder-shaped ferroelectric material.
Most often, besides ceramics, the ferroelectric materials that are polarized are VDPF vinylidene polyfluoride or the copolymer VDPF-TFRE (trifluorethylene). More generally this involves polymers or copolymers.
After having been polarized, these materials have residual polarization and, as a result, have piezoelectric or pyroelectric properties allowing them to be used more particularly in sensors.
Processes and devices are already known for polarizing sheets of ferroelectric material, described by the applicant in the documents FR-2 538 157, FR-2 700 219, FR-2 700 720 and FR 2 270 863. These processes include the following steps:
an external electrode is placed on each face of the sheet of ferroelectric material to be polarized, so that the area to be polarized occupies the interval between these two electrodes;
this unit is highly compressed using a press;
high voltage is applied to the material, according to a predetermined cycle, using electrodes; polarization is then accomplished in the area of coverage between the two electrodes.
Compressing the sheet-electrode unit makes it possible to limit the possible local variations in volume due to the high values of the electrical field during the polarization phase, these variations in volume being likely to cause dielectric breakdowns or to affect the reproducibility of the features of the sensors. In practice, the pressure that can thus be exerted on the sheet of ferroelectric material is around 200 bars.
These processes allow one to obtain a known, predetermined level of polarization and to guarantee homogeneous and reproducible polarization through compression of the sheet-electrode unit. Furthermore, piezoelectric performance levels are much higher than with other processes such as the Corona process, for example.
However, these processes do not allow polarization of ferroelectric materials in non-pellicular form, for example, cylinders. In effect, these processes involve placing the materials undo flat table presses at pressures that can reach several hundreds of bars. Applying these processes to cylindrical-shape components would therefore result in the distortion and crushing of these components. Furthermore, in this way, the polarization process is not accomplished correctly.
The invention seeks to mitigate or eliminate the limitations of polarization processes known in the state of the art by proposing a solution that makes it possible to apply the polarization process described in the documents cited above to components made of a ferroelectric material with a cylindrical shape.
According to a first aspect, the invention regards a process for polarizing cylinder-shaped ferroelectric material, an internal conductor being placed inside and in the axis of said cylinder.
Since a cylinder possesses rotational symmetry, it is not necessary to place it under stress during the polarization phase to obtain homogeneous and reproducible polarization.
The process according to the invention includes the following steps:
at least one part of said cylinder is placed in a conductive liquid, said cylinder being free of any stress other than the pressure exerted by the conductive liquid;
a low frequency, AC voltage is applied between an electrode in contact with the conductive liquid and the internal conductor positioned inside and in the axis of the cylinder, which is increased progressively in amplitude until a value such that the electrical field thus created has an amplitude greater than the coercive field of polarization Ec of said material.
This process can be used more particularly to polarize flexible or stiff ferroelectric cables. After the polarization step, these cables can be covered with a braiding or conductive paint.
This process can also be used to polarize cylinders of ferroelectric polymers or copolymers.
According to one mode of embodiment, several parts of the same very long cylinder can be polarized successively: once the desired polarization is achieved for a first part of the cylinder, said cylinder is moved by pulling on internal conductor in order to remove said first part of the cylinder from the conductive liquid and to immerse a second part of the cylinder in order to polarize said second part.
According to a variant of this mode of embodiment, successive parts or the ferroelectric material in cylinder form an be alternately polarized positively and negatively.
According to another variant, only certain parts of the cylinder of ferroelectric material can be polarized.
According to a second aspect, the invention concerns a device for implementing this process, said device comprising a vessel containing a conductive liquid, an electrode in contact with the conductive liquid, means for inserting the cylinder-shaped ferroelectric material into the conductive liquid and means for applying low frequency AC voltage whose amplitude is increased progressively to a value such that the electrical field thus created has a higher amplitude than the coercive field of polarization Ec of said material between the electrode in contact with the conductive liquid and the internal conductor positioned in the axis of the cylinder.
According to one embodiment, the device also comprises means for rolling up the cylinder of ferroelectric material so that one can, for example, polarize long lengths of flexible ferroelectric cable made of a ferroelectric material in whose axis an internal conductor is positioned.
The process according to the invention may be used, among other uses, to produce an acoustical antenna or a polarized component for a piezoelectric sensor.
As when it is applied to sheets of ferroelectric material, polarization is controlled in level and may be accelerated in time.

Process for polarizing a ferroelectric material in the shape of a cylinder

Institute Franco-Allemand de Recherches de Saint-Louis


Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed for sensing RIG positioning and vehicle restraint movement. An example method includes determining a presence of a RIG and enabling a barrier to move to an operational position when the RIG is present.

To restrain a vehicle from accidentally moving too far away from a loading dock during loading and/or unloading a vehicle (e.g., a truck, trailer, etc.) parked at a loading dock, a hook-style vehicle restraint is often employed to engage an Interstate Commerce Commission bar (ICC bar) or rear impact guard (RIG) of the vehicle. An ICC bar or RIG includes a bar or beam that extends horizontally across the rear of a vehicle, below the bed of the truck or trailer. To release the vehicle, the restraint moves to a lowered position clear of the RIG. Sometimes, however, forward pressure from the vehicle can cause the hook to catch on the RIG and prevent the hook from retracting to a position (e.g., a fully stored position) that is clear of the RIG. Such a condition, if recognized by the driver of the vehicle, is remedied by what is known as a "bump-back," a process during which the vehicle backs up slightly toward a dock face of the loading dock to release the pressure from the hook and, thus, allow the hook to retract to a position clear of the hook.
The figures are not to scale. In general, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying written description to refer to the same or like parts.

Apparatus and methods for sensing vehicle positioning and vehicle restraint movement


A power-branched transmission having a plurality of transmission ratio ranges and having a continuously variable transmission ratio. The transmission includes at least one drive shaft operatively connected to an engine with a rotationally fixed connection, a power divider, a variable speed drive, and an output shaft. The power divider is a planetary gear train and the drive shaft is directly coupled with the internal ring gear of the planetary gear train. Also disclosed is a shift system for such a transmission and a variable speed drive unit clutch arrangement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power-branched transmission having a plurality of transmission ratio ranges and a continuously variable transmission ratio.
2. Description of the Related Art
Automatic transmissions having a continuously variable transmission ratio are gaining in interest due to the higher driving comfort and convenience, and particularly because of lower fuel consumption as compared with conventional stepped automatic transmissions in motor vehicles that operate with planetary gear trains. Such continuously variable transmissions typically contain a variator, or variable speed drive, which is formed by two parallel pairs of spaced conical disks around which an endless torque-transmitting means passes, and wherein the spacing between the conical disks of the respective conical disk pairs is variable in opposite directions to change the transmission ratio.
One problem with such variable speed drives is their limited transmission ratio variation range and their limited torque transmitting capacity. In order to increase the transmission spread, i.e., the transmission ratio variation range and the torque transmitting capacity, power-branched automatic transmissions have been created, with which the variable speed drive is connected to a gear train via at least one clutch in various ways. The variation range of the variable speed drive is traversed depending on the clutch position, while changing the ratio of the transmission as a whole in one direction or the other, so that an enlarged overall transmission ratio spread results while the variable speed drive ratio spread remains the same or is even reduced. Furthermore, at least in a power-branched transmission in which part of the drive torque is transmitted parallel to the variable speed drive through the clutch directly to the gear train or the take-off, a variable speed drive does not have to transmit the entire drive torque, as a result of which the torque transmitting capacity of the transmission is increased.
Such power-branched continuously variable transmissions have also become known as hybrid machines, i.e., with an integrated electrical machine.
Power-branched, continuously variable transmissions, so-called CVT transmissions, that have a planetary gear train in addition to the variable speed drive are known from U.S. Pat. No. 3,340,749 and from DE 12 32 834. The planetary gear train is integrated into the transmission in such a way that it is positioned between the take-off and the variable speed drive. The drive of the transmission is connected to one of the variable speed drive shafts in a rotationally fixed connection, but none of the rotary shafts has a rotationally fixed connection to the take-off.
From published German applications DE 102 47 174 A1 and DE 103 58 114 A1 transmission structures with a variable speed drive and a planetary gear train are known in which the planetary gear set is installed in such a way that it is positioned between the variable speed drive and the drive engine. That means that none of the variable speed drive shafts has a rotationally fixed connection to the drive engine, but one of the variable speed drive shafts has a rotationally fixed connection to the take-off from the transmission. In particular, in those structures the drive engine is connected to the planet pinion carrier of the planetary gear train, and the planetary gear train is executed as a negative gear train. Those structures are therefore favorable in terms of uniform division of power, a fact that is attributable to the planet pinion carrier being connected to the transmission input. On the other hand, it is relatively complicated to implement a reverse gear, so that an additional shaft is usually necessary to reverse the direction of rotation at the output side.
Starting from that as a basis, an object of the present invention is to provide a power-branched transmission having a plurality of transmission ratio ranges with continuously variable transmission ratio, wherein the power division is matched to the utilization of the various transmission ratios in a passenger car transmission.
Those problems are solved with a power-branched transmission in accordance with the invention as herein described and claimed.

Power-branched transmission having a plurality of transmission ration ranges with continuously variable transmission ratio

LuK Lamellen und Kupplungsbau Beteiligings KG


A method and apparatus for a wireless communication system having a plurality of terminals is provided. At least one quality requirement defining a minimum quality of communication service threshold for receiving information by at least one terminal over a communication channel is determined. At least one quality parameter of the communication channel is also determined, where the quality parameter defines a degree of quality in which communication is received by the terminal over the communication channel. The quality parameter is compared to the quality requirement, and the terminal is prevented from tuning to the communication channel providing that the quality parameter is lower than the quality requirement. In another embodiment, the at least one quality requirement is associated with a service threshold indicator (STI) value, and the STI value is communicated to the terminal for comparison of the quality requirement to the quality parameter.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to communication systems, and, more specifically, to a method and apparatus for providing a service threshold indicator in a wireless communication system employing a broadcast and multicast communication service (BCMCS).
2. Background
Broadcast and multicast services provide point-to-multipoint communication service in a wireless communication system between at least one base transceiver site and a plurality of access terminals that receive the broadcast data within the communication coverage area of the base transceiver site. The broadcast data (i.e., content) transmitted by the base transceiver site to the plurality of access terminals may include, but need not necessarily be limited to, news, movies, sporting events, and the like. The content is typically generated by a content server and is broadcast to the access terminals that subscribe to the service over a forward broadcast shared channel (F-BSCH).
To authenticate the access terminal for receiving the particular content subscribed to, a Broadcast Access Key (BAK) is usually used. The BAK serves as a security association between the content server and the group of access terminals that subscribe to certain services provided by the content server. Typically, a system operator of the wireless communication system will charge the access terminal's user upon obtaining the BAK. If the BAK has a relatively short lifetime (e.g., a few minutes), the access terminal will typically tune to the content on the F-BSCH subsequent to receiving the BAK. In some cases, however, the access terminal may move to a coverage area of the wireless communication system where the radio reception of the access terminal is poor for receiving the content albeit the access terminal may have successfully obtained the BAK over a TCP/IP session. As a result, the access terminal may experience an unacceptable service quality for receiving the content when the access terminal has tuned to the F-BSCH.
In another scenario, the lifetime of the BAK may be longer (e.g., for a month or more) to provide the access terminal with content received from the content server. As long as the BAK is obtained, the access terminal may receive the content over the F-BSCH. Although the access terminal may obtain the content over the F-BSCH, however, the content may become corrupted when the radio reception for the access terminal is deemed poor. As a result, the access terminal may try to decode the corrupted content, thus causing an unnecessary drain on the access terminal's battery.
In yet another scenario, the content may be delivered to a group of access terminals that may "playback" the content at a later time. If an access terminal resides in an area with poor radio reception of the wireless communication system, the received content may become corrupted when being received over the F-BSCH. The access terminal may subsequently request retransmission of the corrupted content at a later time. In such a case, a unicast (i.e., point-to-point) transmission of the content will serve to retransmit the particular content that was not properly received by the access terminal initially. However, if the number of access terminals that desire retransmission of the particular content becomes large, such unicast transmission may undesirably increase the load of the wireless communication system, thereby consuming the system's available resources significantly.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more problems indicated above.

Method and apparatus for providing a service threshold indicator in a wireless communication system


Disclosed is a single flux quantum circuit that uses a flux quantum as an information carrier, which generates a SFQ clock signal with little clock jitter and supplies the SFQ clock signal to a SFQ function circuit of the SFQ circuit, the SFQ function circuit is configured to include a current steering type single flux quantum circuit that is capable of concurrently achieving both a conversion function of converting a current signal into a SFQ signal and a comparator function of outputting a SFQ data signal in response to the amount of a to-be-compared current. At the same time, a SFQ clock signal oscillation circuit for generating a SFQ clock signal in response to the amount of DC voltage is formed.

A single flux quantum (SFQ) circuit in which a single flux quantum (Φ0=h/2e=2.05×10−15 Weber) is used as an information carrier is a superconducting circuit that is characterized by: ultrahigh-speed operation whose speed is in the order of several tens of gigahertz (109 Hz) or higher; and low-power property whose level is in the order of several microwatts (μW) per gate or lower. On the basis of the principles shown in IEEE Transaction Applied Superconductivity, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1991) p. 3, various kinds of logic gates have been developed so far, and circuits for practical use for which these logic gates are used in combination are widely being developed.
Applications of the SFQ circuit include an analog-to-digital converter. In order to make full use of high speed that is an advantage of the SFQ circuit, an oversampling method is adopted as a conversion method. Specifically, an analog signal is sampled with the frequency that is sufficiently higher than a band width, and the low bit accuracy (oversampling). Next, a sampling data signal is subjected to signal processing by use of a decimation filter, so that a digital signal with high accuracy is acquired in a required frequency band width.
As regards the oversampling method based on the SFQ circuit, the sigma-delta modulation is disclosed in the specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,324 and in IEEE Transaction Applied Superconductivity, Vol. 3, No. 1, (1993), pp. 2732. In addition, the delta modulation is disclosed in IEEE Transaction Applied Superconductivity, Vol. 5, No. 2, (1995), pp. 2252.
In general, a SFQ circuit propagates a SFQ clock signal in the form of a SFQ pulse train to each SFQ function circuit so that the operation timing of the SFQ function circuit forming the SFQ circuit is aligned. Here, the SFQ function circuit is one of circuit elements constituting the SFQ circuit. The SFQ function circuit is a circuit having a unified series of workings, such as a comparator circuit, a reset-set flip-flop circuit, and an analog-to-digital converter, which will be described later. Each SFQ function circuit makes use of the supplied SFQ clock signal as a trigger signal so as to synchronize circuit operation with the SFQ clock signal. The same SFQ clock signal is supplied to a plurality of SFQ function circuits from one clock signal source and thereby it is possible to synchronize the operation of each SFQ function circuit with one SFQ clock signal.
Also in the case where the SFQ circuit is applied to the A/D converter, a SFQ clock signal having a frequency of several tens of gigahertz or higher is supplied, as an oversampling clock signal, to an analog-signal sampling circuit and a modulator, each of which includes a SFQ circuit.
To generate a SFQ clock signal, two kinds of methods have been proposed so far: a method that uses a semiconductor oscillator located outside a SFQ circuit; a method that uses a ring oscillator located inside a SFQ circuit.
FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating a clock-signal supply circuit based on the former method; and FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating as an example a dc-to-SFQ converter circuit used in the clock-signal supply circuit. In addition, FIG. 1C is a diagram illustrating each waveform in the circuit.
First of all, a semiconductor oscillator 101 generates a current clock signal 110 that is a sine wave or a rectangular wave. FIG. 1C shows a trapezoidal wave as an example. The generated current clock signal is transmitted through a coaxial cable, a microstrip line, or the like, to a SFQ circuit 102 kept in a cold-temperature environment. In the SFQ circuit 102, the current clock signal is converted into a SFQ clock signal 111 by a dc/SFQ converter 103.
In the dc/SFQ converter 103 shown in FIG. 1B, the current clock signal 110 is induced into a quantizing inductor 125 coupled magnetically to an input inductor 122. This causes a circular current 126 to flow clockwise through a superconducting loop that is formed of the quantizing inductor 125, a Josephson junction 123 and a Josephson junction 124. With the increase in current level of the inputted current clock signal 110, the circular current 126 induced on the superconducting loop side also increases in like manner. When the total amount of this circular current 126 and an electric current from the bias current source 121 becomes greater than a critical current value of the Josephson junction 123, the Josephson junction 123 changes to a voltage-state. As a result, an electric current flows from the Josephson junction 123 to the Josephson junction 124, and also flows to the output end of the converter. The electric current flowing toward the Josephson junction 124 becomes a counterclockwise circular current 127 permanently flowing through the superconducting loop that is formed of the Josephson junction 123, the Josephson junction 124 and the inductor 125. Because this circular current 127 flows in a direction opposite to the direction of the circular current 126 induced by the input current clock signal, the circular current 126 is lost in appearance, and accordingly an electric current flowing through the Josephson junction 123 becomes smaller than the critical current value. Therefore, the Josephson junction in a voltage-state returns to a zero-voltage-state again. The operation in which the Josephson junction changes from the zero-voltage-state to the voltage-state before returning to the zero-voltage-state again is hereinafter expressed as "a junction is switched". This switching of the junction is performed in several picoseconds, causing a SFQ pulse, which is a voltage pulse, to be generated at a node 128 connecting with the bias current source 121.
On the other hand, when a level of the input current clock signal turns from increasing to decreasing, the circular current 126 flowing clockwise decreases and the circular current 127 flowing counterclockwise begins to increase. If this circular current 127 exceeds the critical current value of the Josephson junction 124, the Josephson junction 124 is switched and consequently the circular current 127 is lost. At this point of time, the circuit returns to an initial state.
To be more specific, at the moment when a current level at the rising edge of the inputted current clock signal exceeds the threshold value of the converter, one SFQ pulse is generated. Accordingly, if the current clock signal 110 is inputted into the dc/SFQ converter 103, a SFQ pulse train whose interval is the same as a period of the inputted current clock signal is obtained. This SFQ pulse train is used as the SFQ clock signal 111.
The generated SFQ clock signal 1111 is transmitted to a splitter circuit 105 through a Josephson transmission line 1041, and is then copied to two SFQ clock signals 1112, 1113, which are transmitted to SFQ function circuits 1061 and 1062 through Josephson transmission lines 1042 and 1043, respectively. FIG. 1A is based on the assumption that the SFQ clock signal is divided into the two SFQ function circuits 1061 and 1062.
On the other hand, FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating a clock-signal supply circuit based on the latter generation method for generating a SFQ clock signal; and FIG. 2B is a diagram illustrating each waveform in the circuit.
As shown in FIG. 2A, a dc/SFQ converter 201 converts a current trigger signal 220 supplied from the outside into a SFQ trigger signal 2211 formed of one SFQ pulse. The SFQ trigger signal 2211 is propagated through a Josephson transmission line 202, and is then supplied to a ring oscillator circuit 200 as a SFQ trigger signal 2212. The ring oscillator circuit 200 starts oscillation operation by the SFQ trigger signal 2212. The SFQ trigger signal 2212 inputted from a confluence buffer 204 passes through a Josephson transmission line 2031 as a SFQ trigger signal 2213. When a SFQ trigger signal 2214 output from the Josephson transmission line 2031 passes through the splitter circuit 205, one SFQ clock signal 2221 is newly copied, and the copied signal is then output from the ring oscillator circuit 200. The original SFQ trigger signal 2214 is output from the splitter circuit 205 as a SFQ trigger signal 2215, and passes through a Josephson transmission line 2032, and is then output as a SFQ trigger signal 2216. The SFQ trigger signal 2216 returns to the confluence buffer 204, and is output as the SFQ trigger signal 2213 again. Accordingly, the SFQ trigger signal 2212 inputted into the ring oscillator circuit 200 passes around the Josephson transmission lines 2031, 2032, each of which is located in a ring shape. As a result, a SFQ pulse train is obtained from the splitter circuit 205. The SFQ pulse train obtained by the ring oscillator circuit 200 is used as the SFQ clock signal 2221; and a SFQ clock signal 2222 is transmitted to a splitter circuit 207 through a Josephson transmission line 2061. In the splitter circuit 207, two SFQ clock signals 2223, 2224 are obtained. These SFQ clock signals 2223 and 2224 are supplied to SFQ function circuits 2081 and 2082 as SFQ clock signals 2225 and 2226 through Josephson transmission lines 2062 and 2063, respectively. An interval of the SFQ pulse train coincides with a period during which a SFQ passes through the Josephson transmission line 203. Accordingly, the length of the Josephson transmission line 203 is adjusted so as to generate a SFQ clock signal whose frequency is in the order of several tens of gigahertz.

Current steering type single flux quantum circuit


Packing container made of foldable packaging material, especially cardboard.. The packing container consists of two parts, namely a container-like base part (10), open at the top, and a covering part (11) which can be placed on same. The base part (10) forms folds, namely folding units (30, 31) in the region of end walls (17, 18). Cover flaps (20, 21) of the upper covering part (11) enter the folding units in such a way that the folds of the end wall (17, 18) are fixed in the folded position by the insertion tabs (20, 21). Pulling out the insertion tabs (20, 21) frees the folds and thus the base part (10) can be shaped into a flat position.

The invention relates to a packing container made of foldable packaging material, especially cardboard, comprising a base part and an upper covering part which can be inserted into tile base part, the base part having packing walls formed by upright folding tabs.
Folding containers, especially folding cardboard boxes are known in different designs. Usually, two packing walls, lying opposite one another, namely side or end walls, consist of folding tabs which partially overlap one another. These are connected to one another by gluing and/or by stapling. This makes the manufacture of packaging of this type labour-intensive.


A discharge valve system of a scroll compressor comprises: a fixed scroll having a discharge hole and discharge bypass holes; a discharge valve assembly mounted at the fixed scroll, for opening and closing the discharge hole by a pressure difference; and an integral bypass valve assembly mounted at the fixed scroll, for opening and closing the bypass holes and interworking the discharge valve assembly. According to this, a discharge amount of gas is maximized in a low pressure ration driving of the scroll compressor thereby to enhance a discharge efficiency. Also, the number of components is greatly reduced thus to reduce a fabrication cost. Also, the number of assembly processes is greatly reduced thereby to enhance an assembly productivity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scroll compressor, and more particularly, to a discharge valve system of a scroll compressor capable of maximizing a discharge amount of gas compressed in a low pressure ratio operation and capable of minimizing the number of assembly processes by simplifying components.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
Generally, a compressor converts electric energy into kinetic energy, and compresses refrigerant gas by the kinetic energy. The compressor is a core component constituting a refrigerating cycle system, and includes various kinds such as a rotary compressor, a scroll compressor, a reciprocal compressor, etc. according to a compression mechanism for compressing a refrigerant. The compressors are used in a refrigerator, an air conditioner, a showcase, etc. The scroll compressor is divided into a motor part for generating a rotational force; and a compression part for sucking, compressing, and discharging gas by receiving a driving force of the motor part while an orbiting scroll is orbit-motioned with being engaged with a fixed scroll.
FIGS. 1 and 2 are sectional views showing a compression part of a scroll compressor in accordance with the conventional art.
As shown, the compression part of the scroll compressor includes: a fixed scroll 30 mounted in a hermetic container with a certain gap from an upper frame 20 mounted in the hermetic container 10; an orbiting scroll 40 positioned between the upper frame 20 and the fixed scroll 30 to be orbiting-movably engaged with the fixed scroll 30; an oldham ring 50 positioned between the orbiting scroll 40 and the upper frame 20, for preventing a rotation of the orbiting scroll 40; a high/low pressure division plate 11 coupled to the hermetic container 10 with the fixed scroll 30, for dividing inside of the hermetic container 10 into a high pressure region and a low pressure region; and a discharge valve assembly 60 mounted at an upper surface of the fixed scroll 30, for opening and closing a discharge hole 31 formed at the fixed scroll 30.
The orbiting scroll 40 is connected to an eccentric portion 71 of a rotation shaft 70 inserted into the upper frame.
A suction pipe 12 for sucking gas is connected to one side of the hermetic container 10 positioned at the low pressure region, and a discharge pipe 13 for discharging gas is connected to one side of the hermetic container 10 positioned at the high pressure region.
An unexplained reference numeral 32 denotes a wrap of the fixed scroll 30 protruded as an involute curve shape, 41 denotes a wrap of the orbiting scroll 40 protruded as an involute curve shape, and B are bushes.
An operation of the compression part of the scroll compressor will be explained as follows.
First, when the rotation shaft 70 is rotated by receiving a rotational force of the motor part, the orbiting scroll 40 coupled to the eccentric portion 71 of the rotation shaft is orbitingly-moved by having the rotation shaft 70 as a center axis. The orbiting scroll 40 performs an orbiting movement while a rotation thereof is prevented by the oldham ring 50.
As the orbiting scroll 40 performs an orbiting movement, the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll 40 performs an orbiting movement with being engaged with the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll 30. According to this, a plurality of compression pockets P formed by the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll 40 and the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll 30 move towards center portions of the fixed scroll 30 and the orbiting scroll 40, and at the same time, volumes of the compression pockets P are varied thereby to suck gas, compress the gas, and discharge the gas through the discharge hole 31 of the fixed scroll 30.
The gas of a high temperature and a high pressure discharged through the discharge hole 31 of the fixed scroll 30 passes through the high pressure region, and is discharged outside the hermetic container 10 through the discharge pipe 13.
The scroll compressor is mainly mounted at an air conditioner with a refrigerating cycle system. At this time, the scroll compressor is operated in a low pressure ratio or a high pressure ratio by considering an efficiency of the scroll compressor according to an installation condition or a driving condition of the air conditioner.
In case that the scroll compressor is operated in a low pressure ratio, gas compressed in the compression pocket P formed by the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll 30 an the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll 40 is discharged as a middle pressure state through a bypass hole 33 formed at a middle region of the fixed scroll 30. Also, in case that the scroll compressor is operated in a high pressure ratio, gas compressed in the compression pocket P formed by the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll 30 an the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll 40 is discharged as a high pressure state through the pass hole 31 of the fixed scroll 30.
In case that the scroll compressor is operated in a low pressure ratio or a high pressure ratio, a discharge valve system for discharging gas of a middle pressure state and a high pressure state is provided at the fixed scroll 30.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a discharge valve system of a scroll compressor in accordance with the conventional art, and FIG. 4 is a front sectional view showing a part of the discharge valve system.
As shown, in the discharge valve system, the discharge hole 31 is penetratingly-formed in the middle of the fixed scroll 30. A first double bypass hole 33 having two through holes adjacent to the fixed scroll 30 is formed at one side of the discharge hole 31, and a second double bypass hole 33 having two through holes adjacent to the fixed scroll 30 is formed at another side of the discharge hole 31.
A discharge valve assembly 60 for opening and closing the discharge hole 31 is mounted at an upper surface of the fixed scroll 30. The discharge valve assembly 60 is composed of: a discharge valve 61 formed as a thin plate of a certain shape, for opening and closing the discharge hole 31; a retainer 62 for supporting the discharge valve 61; and a fixing bolt 63 for fixing one side of the discharge valve 61 and the retainer 62.
A first bypass valve assembly 80 for opening and closing the first double bypass hole 33 is mounted at an upper surface of the fixed scroll 30. The first bypass valve assembly 80 is composed of: a bypass valve 81 for opening and closing the first double bypass hole 33; a retainer 82 for supporting the bypass valve 81; and a fixing bolt 83 for fixing one side of the bypass valve 81 and the retainer 82.
A second bypass valve assembly 80 for opening and closing the second double bypass hole 33 is mounted at an upper surface of the fixed scroll 30. The second bypass valve assembly 80 is composed of: a bypass valve 81 for opening and closing the second double bypass hole 33; a retainer 82 for supporting the bypass valve 81; and a fixing bolt 83 for fixing one side of the bypass valve 81 and the retainer 82.
Valve seats 34 protruded by grooves formed as a certain shape with a certain depth are respectively formed at an upper surface of the fixed scroll 30 positioned around the discharge hole 31 and the first/second double bypass holes 33. The valve seats 34 has a constant height.
An unexplained reference numeral 35 denotes a starting bypass hole for discharging liquid refrigerant at the time of introducing liquid refrigerant, and 90 denotes a starting bypass valve assembly for opening and closing the driving bypass hole.
In the discharge valve system, in case that the scroll compressor mounted at an air conditioner, etc. is operated in a high pressure ratio, the orbiting scroll 40 performs an orbiting movement. As the orbiting scroll 40 performs an orbiting movement, a plurality of compression pockets P formed by the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll 40 and the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll 30 move towards a center portion of the fixed scroll 30, and at the same time, volumes of the compression pockets P are gradually decreased thereby to compress gas. The compressed gas is discharged through the discharge hole 31 positioned in the middle of the fixed scroll 30 while the discharge valve 61 is opened. At this time, since the high pressure region of the hermetic container 10 maintains a high pressure state, the first and second bypass valve assemblies 80 block the first and second double bypass holes 33.
In the discharge valve system, in case that the scroll compressor mounted at an air conditioner, etc. is operated in a low pressure ratio, the orbiting scroll 40 performs an orbiting movement. As the orbiting scroll 40 performs an orbiting movement, a plurality of compression pockets P formed by the wrap 41 of the orbiting scroll 40 and the wrap 32 of the fixed scroll 30 move towards a center portion of the fixed scroll 30, and at the same time, volumes of the compression pockets P are gradually decreased thereby to compress gas. The compressed gas does not move up to the discharge hole 31 positioned in the middle of the fixed scroll 30, but is discharged through the first and second double bypass holes 33 of the fixed scroll 30 while the first and second bypass valves 80 are opened. At this time, the discharged gas has a pressure relatively lower than that of the gas discharged through the discharge hole 31. Since the high pressure region of the hermetic container 10 maintains a low pressure state, the first and second bypass valve assemblies 80 are opened.
However, in the conventional discharge valve system of a scroll compressor, the size of the first and second double bypass holes 33 can not be increased. According to this, gas compressed in a low pressure ratio can not be sufficiently discharged through the first and second bypass holes.
Also, since components constituting the discharge valve system are relatively much required, the number of assembly processes is increased. According to this, there is a difficulty in mass-producing the discharge valve system, an assembly productivity is lowered, and a fabrication cost is increased.

Discharge valve system of scroll compressor


A magnet controller supplied by a DC generator controls a lifting magnet. Four transistors, forming an H bridge, allow DC current to flow in both directions in the lifting magnet. During “Lift”, full voltage is applied to the lifting magnet. During “Drop”, reverse voltage is applied briefly to demagnetize the lifting magnet. At the end of the “Lift” and the “Drop”, most of the lifting magnet energy is returned to the DC generator. A transient voltage suppressor protects against voltage spike generated when current reverses in the generator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a lifting magnet of a materials handling machine for which the source of DC electrical power is a DC generator. It finds particular application in conjunction with lifting magnets used on crawlers in the scrap metal industries.
2. Prior Art
Lifting magnets are commonly attached to crawler booms to load, unload, and otherwise move scrap steel and other ferrous metals.
While lifting magnets have been in common use for many years, the systems used to control these lifting magnets remain relatively primitive. During the "Lift", a DC current energizes the lifting magnet in order to attract and retain the magnetic materials to be displaced. At the end of the "Lift", when the materials need to be separated from the lifting magnet, most of the controllers automatically apply a reversed voltage across the lifting magnet for a short period of time to allow the consequently reversed current to reach a fraction of the "Lift" current. This phase is known as the "Drop" phase, during which a magnetic field in the lifting magnet of the same magnitude but in an opposite direction of the residual magnetic field is produced that the two fields cancel each other. When the lifting magnet is free of residual magnetic field, all scrap metal detaches freely from the lifting magnet. This is known as a "Clean Drop".
Some known control systems operate to selectively open and close contacts that, when closed, complete a "Lift" or "Drop" circuit between the DC generator and the lifting magnet. At the end of the "Lift", which is called the "discharge" and at the end of the "Drop", which is called the "secondary discharge", these systems generally use either a resistor or a varistor to discharge the lifting magnet's energy. The higher the resistor's resistance value or varistor breakdown voltage, the faster the lifting magnet discharges, but also the higher the voltage spike across the lifting magnet. High voltage spikes cause arcing between the contacts. In addition, fast rising voltage spikes also eventually wear out the DC generator collector and its winding insulation, the lifting magnet insulation, and the insulation of the cables connected to the lifting magnet and the generator. To withstand these voltage spikes, generally in the magnitude of 750 V DC with systems using DC generators rated 240 V DC, the lifting magnet, cables, and the control system contacts and other components must be constructed of more expensive materials, and must also be made larger in size. These systems waste lifting magnet's energy. Lifting magnet's energy is transformed into heat, dissipated through a voltage suppressor or resistor bank. This results in poor system efficiency and oversized components to dissipate the heat.
To avoid these issues, some other known control systems connect directly to DC generator excitation shunt field. They eliminate arcing across contacts and minimize voltage spikes in the lifting magnet circuit but at the expense of a slower response time, caused by the induced DC generator time constant.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for controlling a lifting magnet of a materials handling machine

The Electric Controller & Manufacturing Company, LLC


A system for moving a pallet is provided. The system provides for a pair of pallets each having means for inducing movement in relation to an other pallet. Further, logic is provided for calculating a movement instruction to move the pallets relative to each other. Additionally, the present invention provides for means for communicating the movement instruction to the movement means on the pallets to prompt movement of one of said pair of pallets relative to the other pallet. As no special floor surface or configuration is necessary, the present invention described herein may be readily adaptable for utilization within existing storage and inventory facilities.

Traditionally, the storage and transportation of various materials in an inventory warehouse utilized the conventional wooden pallet. These conventional wooden pallets are usually transported by the use of either a hand truck or a conventional forklift. In either case, an operator moves the fork beneath the pallet, lifts the pallet and then physically moves the pallet to the desired location.
Conventional wooden pallets have many disadvantages. For instance, wooden pallets are subject to breakage, exposing sharp wooden edges, corners and nails, which can cause damage to both materials and to persons.
Additionally, the conventional pallets themselves are relatively heavy and cumbersome to maneuver even when utilizing the hand truck or forklift. Because of their weight and bulk, pallets are difficult for an individual person to carry from point to point. Pallets must frequently be moved from flatbed trucks onto loading docks, and vice versa. Therefore, when utilizing the conventional pallet, a hand truck or forklift must be present at every location.
In an effort to address some of the disadvantages previously described, pallets have been designed to incorporate an air bearing, film or cushion between the bottom of the pallet and the floor supporting the pallet. This design feature greatly eliminates friction between the pallet and the underlying floor enabling the pallet, along with its load, to be moved along the floor or other ground surface with relative ease.
In known warehouses, pallets and their loads are arranged side by side on one or more levels. The displacement of loaded pallets requires bulky, slow-acting and expensive transporting and lifting equipment that requires relatively broad access passageways to access the pallets. These access passageways involve a considerable loss of useful space in the warehouse. Furthermore, labor and maintenance are added costs that can be high utilizing traditional storage techniques.
The current invention provides a system and apparatus that is modular in design and able to automatically store, handle, retrieve and deliver bulk material inventory. The invention provides for aisle-less warehouses with the ability to automatically deliver palletized or other packaged goods and containers from the cargo bed of trucks, trains, planes, ships and the like directly onto the smooth floor of a warehouse. Additionally the invention can be used to move objects to any designated point in or out of the facility without manual human intervention.

System and apparatus for materials transport and storage


An open end rotor spinning machine with plural workstations each having a yarn spinning device, a yarn take-off mechanism loaded by a reversibly driven single drive and a winding device for producing a cross-wound bobbin. The spinning device has a spinning rotor, a fiber band opening roller and a single motor-driven fiber band feed cylinder. Each workstation (2) has a mechanism (10) for cutting to length a yarn (30) retrieved from the bobbin (22), a yarn storage mechanism (37) and a drive mechanism (7) for lifting the bobbin (22) from its drive roller (23). During the piecing process, a manually activatable control mechanism (9) activates the drive (19) of the yarn take-off mechanism (18), the drive (15) of the fiber band draw-in cylinder (14) and the drive mechanism (7) to lift the bobbin (22) according to a predetermined piecing program.

The invention relates to an open end rotor spinning machine with plural workstations each having a spinning device for producing a yarn, a yarn take-off mechanism and a winding device for producing a cross-wound bobbin rotatably held in a creel. More particularly, the spinning device has a spinning rotor circulating in a spinning housing at a high speed, a fiber band opening roller and a fiber band draw-in cylinder driven by a single drive, and the yarn take-off mechanism is loadable by a single drive.
Open end rotor spinning machines of this type, as known and described, for example, in German Patent Publication DE 198 36 065 A1, have a plurality of similar workstations arranged next to one another in a row, on which a fiber band preferably presented in a spinning can is spun to form a yarn and then wound to form a cross-wound bobbin. The individual workstations, in each case, for this purpose have a spinning device and a winding device, both the working members of the spinning device and the working members of the winding device generally being loaded via drive means along the length of the machine. In other words, arranged in the region of the spinning devices, are tangential belts to drive the spinning rotors and the fiber band opening rollers as well as a drive shaft along the length of the machine for loading the fiber band draw-in cylinder. The drive of the bobbin drive roller arranged in the region of the winding devices is also implemented via a drive shaft along the length of the machine. A yarn guide rod going back and forth is also present, which is loaded by a traversing gearing arranged at the end of the machine, and on which the yarn guides are fixed.
Furthermore, yarn take-off mechanisms are present, the driven take-off rollers of which are a component of a continuous drive shaft.
The workstations of such open end rotor spinning machines are attended to by service units, which patrol and automatically intervene, for example, along the workstations when a failure, for example, a yarn break, has occurred at one of the workstations. In such a case, the service unit runs to the relevant workstation, is locked thereat and with a pivotably mounted suction nozzle, which can be vacuum-loaded, seeks the yarn which has run onto the cross-wound bobbin after a yarn break. Apart from the suction nozzle, such service units also have a series of further yarn handling elements, which allow the yarn taken up by the suction nozzle, after a corresponding preparation in the open end rotor spinning device of the relevant workstation, to be repieced on a fiber ring circulating there with the spinning rotor. The individual yarn handling elements of the service unit, including the suction nozzle, are preferably driven by an electric motor which drives a cam disc pack which is connected via special lever rods to the yarn handling elements.
Service units of this type, which are described in relative detail, for example in German Patent Publication DE 198 27 605 A1, are relatively complicated, however, with respect to their design structure and therefore relatively cost-intensive.
Rotor spinning machines, which were still driven without such moveable service units, are also known from the past from German Patent Publications DE-OS 22 03 198 or DE-OS 25 34 816.
In the region of the yarn take-off tubes of their spinning devices, these open end rotor spinning machines, in each case, have a piecing aid, which makes it possible to shorten a yarn retrieved from a cross-wound bobbin to a specific length, to prepare it, convey it back to the rotor groove of a spinning rotor rotating in a spinning housing which can be loaded with a vacuum and to piece it there on a circulating fiber ring.
However, it is disadvantageous in these mechanisms that piecing a new yarn on the fiber ring circulating in the rotor groove takes place in a substantially uncontrolled manner. In other words, in these known mechanisms, there is neither an exact matching of the yarn feed into the spinning rotor nor an exact time matching of the yarn take-off to the speed of the spinning rotor and this leads to the fact that the yarn splices or piecings generated with these known mechanisms do not at all correspond to current quality standards.
Furthermore, open end rotor spinning devices are known which have various single drives in the region of their workstations.
Open end rotor spinning devices are described, for example in German Patent Publication DE 43 09 947 A1, in which the fiber band draw-in cylinder and/or the fiber band opening roller are driven, in each case, via a single drive.
An open end spinning machine is also known from German Patent Publication DE 100 62 096 A1, in which various single drives are arranged, in each case, in the region of the workstations. The workstations of this rotor spinning machine, for example, have an open end rotor spinning device with a single motor-driven fiber band draw-in cylinder, a single motor-driven yarn take-off mechanism and a single drive for the bobbin drive roller.
Furthermore, an open end rotor spinning machine, the workstations of which are configured such that they can automatically eliminate failures, in particular yarn breaks, is described in European Patent Publication EP 1 283 288 A2. The very substantially self-sufficient workstations of this known open end rotor spinning machine, apart from the spinning station's own suction nozzle, also inter alia have single drives for the bobbin drive roller and the yam take-off mechanism. The workstations also, in each case, have a piecing aid device which is arranged in the region of the open end rotor spinning device and in which the yarn provided by the suction nozzle is prepared for re-piecing.


A throttle valve system for a percussive, fluid-activated apparatus includes an inlet port in a backhead, a backhead bore in the backhead, fluid passageways through the backhead to a central bore of the apparatus, a removable seal elastically mounted in the backhead bore for opening and closing the backhead bore and a throttle lever having a cam detent surface thereon for opening and closing the seal, as the lever is moved.

This invention relates generally to a percussive, fluid-activated apparatus, and more particularly to a throttle valve system for a percussive, fluid-activated jackhammer. Typical throttle valve arrangements for jackhammers often consist of a single, rotary-type of valve. The clearance between the valve and surrounding housing demands extremely tight tolerances in order to prevent leakage past the valve. Leakage across the valve would result in uncontrolled operation of the tool. Such valves are relatively insensitive and nonresponsive to flow of fluid, and, therefore, do not provide the operator with good "feel" for best control of the tool.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present devices and methods. Thus, it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.
FIG. 3 is view, partially in cross section, with some parts shown in elevation, along A--A of FIG. 2.

Throttle valve system for a percussive fluid-activated apparatus


The invention comprises an electrical connector for providing connection for a plurality of coaxial cable disposed in a shielded cable. The connector includes a contact housing having a plurality of signal and ground contacts mounted therein. The contact housing has an outer periphery. The signal and ground contacts are disposed about the outer periphery of the contact housing. The signal and ground contacts each have contact sections and connection sections for forming an electrical connection with the signal and ground from a coaxial cable.

Typical circular connectors have pins mounted into an insert within the connectors. Disposed around the insert is a movable coupling nut which can be twisted to allow the coupling nut to threadedly engage the mating receptacle connector. The inserts can have various types of pins received therein to allow connection of both signal, power, and coaxial cables. The mating receptacle connector has a series of socket contacts to engage the pin contacts. These electrical connectors provide a wire to wire connection.
What is needed is a connector which can accommodate a higher density of coaxial signal contacts. What is also needed is an connector system that allows coaxial cable to be connected to a circuit board.


A universal joint includes first and second parts interconnected by a coupling element, and a coupling mechanism for detachably engaging tool attachments such as sockets. The disclosed coupling mechanisms include an engaging element and an actuating element. The engaging element can include a pin, and the pin can be oriented either obliquely or longitudinally in the drive stud of the universal joint. The actuating element can include a collar and a central portion that crosses the central longitudinal axis of the drive stud. The central portion can be offset along the longitudinal axis toward the coupling element, and the actuating element can be configured to extend into an aperture formed by the coupling element and the second part of the universal joint.

Universal joints have in the past been provided with mechanisms for detachably engaging tool attachments. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,660,491 (Roberts, et al.) and 5,433,548 (Roberts, et al.), assigned to the assignee of the present invention, disclose several versions of such mechanisms. Other mechanisms for universal joints are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,614,457 (Sammon, see column 3, line 32), and 5,291,809 (Fox, III), as well as in US published patent application 2005/0229752 A1 (Nickipuck).
In addition, many mechanisms have been described for detachably engaging tool attachments to an extension bar, and extension bars are on occasion connected to universal joints. See, for example, the mechanisms disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,848,196 (Roberts, et al.), 5,214,986 (Roberts, et al.), 5,233,892 (Roberts, et al.), 5,501,125 (Roberts, et al.), and 5,644,958 (Roberts, et al.), all assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Other such mechanisms are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,781,085 (Fox, III) and 4,768,405 (Nickipuck).

Universal joint with coupling mechanism for detachably engaging tool attachments


An asymmetrical hub bearing assembly for the wheel of a motor vehicle provides a flanged hub rotatable around an axis of rotation (x), a flange transversal to the axis (x), an outer ring with raceways axially spaced from one another, and two rows of balls, of which the axially outer row has a pitch circle with a diameter greater than that of the axially inner row. The flanged hub includes a tubular portion which protrudes in the axially outer direction beyond the flange and provides a thread for a single central threaded fastener adapted to releasably lock a wheel on the hub.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,104,695 B2 discloses an asymmetrical hub bearing assembly, comprising a hub with a flange extending radially outwardly from an axial end for mounting the wheel of a vehicle, an outer ring with axially spaced raceways, and a plurality of rolling elements arranged in two rows in the annular space between the outer ring and the hub. The pitch circle diameter of the row of rolling elements arranged at the axially outer side (outboard), adjacent to said flange, is greater than the diameter of the pitch circle of the rolling elements of the row on the axially inner side (inboard). Due to this arrangement, the distance between the pressure centers where the contact angle of the two bearing rows intercept the hub axis can be increased; this provides a higher camber stiffness. The outboard row intercepts the hub axis outboard of the hub flange, which balances the loads on the system more evenly between the inner and outer bearing rows. As an effect of the asymmetric arrangement, the outboard row can accommodate more rolling elements, and thus increase the load capacity of the bearing, at equal size of a symmetric unit. The asymmetric design allows to place the pressure center farther outboards than a symmetric unit, without having to increase the contact angle and without reducing the bearing capacity of the bearing in a radial direction. The asymmetrical arrangement, finally, increases the load bearing capacity without requiring modifications to the suspension strut of the vehicle.
The radial flange of the hub provides a number of holes to allow mounting of the vehicle wheel by means of bolts. The flange also has a flat radial surface, at the axially outer side, which defines a precise reference surface against which the brake disc and the wheel may rest. The hub also forms a centering annular projection which extends in the axially direction beyond the radial flange. This projection is designed to enable a preliminary support and centering of the wheel, before it is fixed, in a perfectly centered position, via the fastening bolts that are inserted through the holes of the flange.
With sports cars, a need is felt to have a single central threaded fastener to quicken the assembly and disassembly of the wheel. It is an object of the invention to provide an integrated hub-bearing unit assembly being compact, lightweight, allowing the wheel to be quickly mounted or removed that meets the needs of the industry.

Integrated hub-bearing assembly for the wheel of a motor vehicle


Apparatuses, memories, and methods for facilitating splitting of internal commands using a shared signal path are described. In an example shared signal path, a command circuit is configured to receive a command and an indicator signal. A lockout circuit is coupled to the command circuit and configured to give precedence to a chosen command type by masking the indicator signal. In another example, a counter circuit is coupled to the lockout circuit and configured to force the lockout circuit to sample the indicator signal at regular intervals.

In many memory systems, such as in synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), it may be advantageous to have a cloned delay line to shift commands in the system clock time domain to a delay locked loop (DLL) time domain. The DLL time domain represents the time domain for various clock and control signals internal to a memory. To save layout area, this cloned delay line may be a combined command line, that is, it may carry both read and write commands. The read and write commands may be extended over multiple clock cycles in order to reduce the power requirements of the memory system. The extended read and write commands may be separated at the output of the DLL for subsequent use by components of the memory system. The layout and power conservation advantages of the above configuration may be negatively impacted by the inability to separate read and write commands properly when a read command is followed closely by a write command in memory systems with tight timing specifications.