A multiple key depressing device for depressing several spaced apart keys on a keyboard of a computer with one hand. The multiple key depressing device includes a support rod with opposite first and second ends, and a pair of spaced apart bends defining first, second, and third elongate portions. A handle designed for grasping by a hand of a user is upwardly extended from the support rod. A plurality of elongate legs downwardly depend from the support rod. Each leg has a lower end adapted for resting on a key of a keyboard of a computer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to keyboard accessories for computers and more particularly pertains to a new multiple key depressing device for depressing several spaced apart keys on a keyboard of a computer with one hand.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of keyboard accessories for computers is known in the prior art. More specifically, keyboard accessories for computers heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,845; U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,515; U.S. Pat. No. 4,851,618; U.S. Pat. No. 5,574,446; U.S. Pat. No. 5,034,573; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 311,524.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new multiple key depressing device. The inventive device includes a support rod with opposite first and second ends, and a pair of spaced apart bends defining first, second, and third elongate portions. A handle designed for grasping by a hand of a user is upwardly extended from the support rod. A plurality of elongate legs downwardly depend from the support rod. Each leg has a lower end adapted for resting on a key of a keyboard of a computer.
In these respects, the multiple key depressing device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of depressing several spaced apart keys on a keyboard of a computer with one hand.


A method for making a denture comprising a base and a plurality of teeth joined thereto. The method comprises forming a first cavity in a block of a denture base material, the first cavity being formed to match the contour of natural teeth as arranged on maxillae or on a mandible; filling the first cavity with a first fluid synthetic tooth material and solidifying the first fluid synthetic tooth material into a first solid synthetic tooth material; removing a portion of the first solid synthetic tooth material to form the plurality of teeth; and removing a portion of the block of denture base material to form the denture base. The steps of the method may be implemented by a computer. An apparatus for making the denture according to certain embodiments of the method, and a denture comprised of a base and artificial teeth are also disclosed.

1. Technical Field
Dental prostheses and apparatus and methods of manufacturing them. In particular, computer-implemented methods of manufacturing dental prostheses, a computer-aided system for manufacturing dental prostheses, and dental prostheses made by the system and method.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, the manufacturing of dental prostheses has been a highly labor intensive process requiring multiple fittings to a patient in need of them, and many steps that must be performed at the hands of skilled artisans. The dental prostheses may be a complete upper and/or lower set of prosthetic teeth and their mountings, i.e., dentures, or partial dentures, crowns, bridges, and the like.
By way of illustration, the following are the steps currently practiced in many "dental laboratories" for the fabrication of a conventional fixed dental prosthetic known as a crown:                1) A dentist prepares the tooth (or teeth) to be fitted with a fixed prosthetic by removing tooth structure that is decayed or to allow for space needed by the prosthetic device.        2) An accurate impression of the patient's existing gums and prepared teeth is made by the dentist at the dentist's office.        3) Gypsum material is poured into the impression to form a model (replica) of the dentition to be treated.        4) Wax is typically used to make a coping (thin metal substructure) on the model.        5) Using the "lost wax technique", the wax is invested (covered) by a phosphate investment material and then it is heated to burn-out (remove) the wax, leaving a void in its place.        6) Metal is cast into the void created by the loss of wax to create a metal coping.        7) The metal coping is finished with grinding stones and typically heat-treated.        8) Porcelain powder dispersed in water is painted onto the metal coping.        9) The porcelain is fired in a furnace to sinter it into a continuous hard coating, resulting in the finished crown.
It can be seen that in the above highly labor-intensive process, each of these steps introduces a potential for a processing error. Even the slightest error, such as the investment being too cool, or the powder/water ratio of the investment being incorrect may cause the crown to fit too tightly in the patient's mouth, resulting in improper occlusion (upper and lower teeth engagement). The crown may thus have to be scrapped or reworked through at least one iteration of additional process steps at considerable cost to the patient, dentist, and/or manufacturing lab.
Currently, Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) for "fixed" restorative dentistry has evolved to the point where a digital impression can now be made in the dentist's office and the entire process can be computer implemented. However, certain shortcomings still remain in fixed restorative dentistry as presently practiced. For example, subtle irregularities often found in anterior (front) teeth are difficult to replicate using CAD/CAM processes. Manual methods of making anterior fixed prosthetics enable unlimited aesthetic options, only limited by the creativity of the artisan (dental laboratory technician). Some CAD/CAM techniques involve the use of milling a monolithic block of ceramic that does not deliver optimal aesthetics (example: too opaque), especially for anterior applications. For example, most natural teeth exhibit translucency and subtle color variations. A common solution for this problem is for a dental technician to apply a stain and/or glaze of porcelain over the prosthetic made by CAD/CAM. However, this manual step may defeat the primary benefit of CAD/CAM: precise dimensional accuracy.
With regard to the manufacturing of removable dental prosthetics, such as dentures and partials, implementation of CAD/CAM has begun to occur. A key technology that is used in CAD/CAM denture manufacturing is "fused deposition modeling" (FDM). In FDM, a computer-controlled machine builds a three dimensional part by ejecting microscopic droplets of material while repeatedly traversing in an x-y plane, building the part layer-by layer. In a sense, the machine "ink-jet prints" each layer, and hence FDM is also referred to as "3D printing." The physical model is built according to a three-dimensional virtual model that is prepared using CAD software and uploaded to the FDM machine.
CAD/CAM systems have recently been developed and used for the fabrication of partial denture frameworks. One such system uses a "haptic" device, which mimics a waxing tool that is familiar to dental technicians. However, this system generates only a CAD replica in plastic (made by a 3D printer), which requires subsequent extensive processing to obtain a metal partial denture framework. Hence there are still many error-prone steps after the CAD replica is made that can result in a poorly-fitting partial denture framework.
There have been some efforts by major manufacturers of dental materials to make a system to produce a complete (full) denture by 3D printing. The system includes a 3-dimensional scanner for scanning an impression, software for creating a 3-dimensional model of the denture, and the fused deposition modeling equipment for "printing" the denture. However, the materials available to use in 3-dimensional printers are neither as dense nor cross-linked like a normal plastic artificial tooth. Hence a problem remains with the resulting dentures because the denture teeth that are made with available 3D printing plastic materials are not sufficiently wear-resistant.
An alternative approach to denture fabrication is to first make a denture base using a milling machine, which may be computer controlled. Sockets are then milled by the machine into the denture base, and pre-fabricated artificial teeth are placed into the sockets. A problem with this approach is that most of the teeth must be adjusted to some extent to fit within the space required in order for the denture to properly occlude with the opposing arch of the opposing denture or the patients existing opposing teeth. Manual labor is required for the adjustment of teeth; therefore, the potential for errors is introduced into the manufacturing process.
Another problem with this method is that artificial teeth are not consistently sized. They are made from a molding process, with the molds being used for many years. Over the course of use, material from the wall of the mold will wear away, resulting in a mold cavity increasing in size. Hence a tooth made from a mold that has been in service for ten years will be larger than a tooth made when the mold was new. Additionally, molds contain multiple cavities, and the wear is not necessarily uniform. Thus the combination of wear with time and non-uniform wear results in the production of teeth that vary dimensionally within any given tooth size. Moreover, in the denture fabrication marketplace, artificial teeth are returnable for credit. It therefore becomes highly probable that artificial teeth produced 20 years ago from a new mold are in circulation with teeth produced very recently from the same but aged mold having different dimensions.
There is thus a problem in that the dimensional variation of artificial teeth is significant with respect to the dimensions of the sockets formed by the milling machine in which the teeth are to be fitted. The sockets must be milled sufficiently large so as to receive the largest tooth encountered within a given tooth size and shape (i.e. incisor, canine, molar, etc.), and countermeasures taken when the tooth is too small and does not fight tightly into its socket. One countermeasure is to use an acrylic repair resin to secure the teeth into position and to fill the gap(s), of various sizes that may be present around an undersized tooth.
However, this practice is undesirable. Additional labor is required for this step, which is costly and which is likely a manual process which can introduce potential errors to the denture fabrication. The risk of denture tooth "pop-outs" (debonding from the denture base) is more likely because the volume of bonding material is quite small relative to the conventional method of bonding denture teeth, and the bonding surface may be restricted to the circumference of the denture tooth which interfaces with the denture base (and limited bonding of the area of the tooth that opposes the occlusal surface because this area has been adjusted to rest on the "floor" of the socket). In the conventional approach, uncured denture base material surrounds the neck of the teeth and the area of the teeth that oppose the occlusal surface and chemical bonds are formed due to the volume of material and time that the uncured material is allowed to form cross-linked chemical bonds with the artificial teeth.
In addition, like the conventional approach, the patient will not see the final configuration of the denture until the delivery appointment, at which time the patient may reject the denture based on esthetics.
A further reason that "pop-outs" will be more likely with this approach vs. the conventional approach is that the conventional approach relies on a dental technician to adjust each artificial tooth in a way to optimize retention. For example, a dental technician will remove the "glaze" from a denture tooth (shiny and hard surface of the tooth created from a metal mold) to form a better bond with the denture base. Also, "diatoric" holes are often cut into the bottom or side of the tooth, or both, to allow acrylic material to flow in an optimal path to increase the surface area and create mechanical retention in a tooth. The step to provide diatoric holes is yet another processing step that increases cost and introduces the potential for further errors, such as artificial tooth fracture.
Yet another approach to denture fabrication is to mill blocks of polymerized plastic to make a complete denture. This process involves milling a block of pink methacrylate material as the denture base (including the gingiva surrounding the teeth). The teeth are then milled from a single piece of plastic. Lastly, the pink denture base and the milled teeth are cemented together. This technique is useful to make an immediate denture for temporary use, such as after a tooth-extraction for use while the gums heal. However, it is not suitable for long-term dentures because the artificial teeth made in this manner look unaesthetic. Natural dentition has subtle color (hue) variations as well as translucencies, color volume and defects. These effects are built-into most artificial teeth which are generally made in 2 to 4 layers of overlapping material (plastic or porcelain), each layer having different shades and levels of translucency. These layers create a natural effect of tooth structure, especially in anterior (front) teeth which often display "mamelons" and translucent incisal edges.
Artificial teeth that have an aesthetically pleasing appearance are generally made of highly cross-linked polymethylmethacrylate plastic, but may also be made of porcelain. Such artificial teeth are made with a series of metal dies in which the teeth are formed one-layer at a time. When all of the layers are completed, the "green" tooth is then heated to polymerize the plastic (or super-heated in the case of porcelain teeth). The heating process completes the cross-linking process in plastic teeth to make the teeth resistant to wear from the forces of mastication. This process is not compatible with the above overall denture fabrication process in which the full set of teeth are milled from a single piece of plastic and bonded to the milled denture base.
In summary, there remains a need for a method and apparatus for fabricating a denture at low cost in a minimal number of steps and with minimal manual labor, and preferably at a single manufacturing station. A denture made by any such method and apparatus must be made with sufficient precision so as to fit the patient properly, and have teeth that are firmly retained, wear resistant, and aesthetically pleasing.

Denture and method and apparatus of making same


A rotor for flotation machines or flotation cells of flotation machines includes blades that are configured to provide improved bubble flow and bubble generation performance while also reducing the power requirements for rotating the rotor to generate bubble flow within a tank of a flotation cell used to generate froth. Embodiments of the rotor may also be configured to be smaller than conventional rotor designs, which may help reduce the costs of manufacturing the rotor or flotation machines using such embodiments of the rotor.

Flotation machines often include a tank that retains a slurry, or pulp. Examples of such machines may be appreciated from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,425,232, 4,800,017, and 5,205,926. The entirety of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,425,232, 4,800,017, and 5,205,926 are incorporated by reference herein. The slurry retained by such tanks may include solid material such as ore or minerals that is mixed in a liquid such as water. For example, the material present in the slurry may include particles of copper bearing minerals, coal, iron minerals, phosphate rock, potash, silica, base metal sulfide or precious metal.
The slurry retained in the tank may be aerated to generate froth to suspend solid particles in the froth. The froth may be a large amount of bubbles formed at the top of the slurry in the tank. For instance, froth may be generated via a forced air technology to create bubbles and generate the froth. Alternatively, bubbles may be generated via a self-aspirated technology to create the froth. The tanks are designed so that the froth, which contains the solid particles, may be passed into one or more launders adjacent to the tank to separate the valuable minerals from the other liquid and other material. It should be understood that after the material is sent to the one or more launders, it may be further processed to recover the desired material.
Rotors may be included in each flotation cell of a flotation machine to agitate the slurry for purposes of forming air bubbles that capture particles and rise to the top of the slurry to form froth. Air may be forced through the rotor and expelled out adjacent blades located at the bottom of the rotor that is rotated so that air is mixed with the slurry to generate bubbles for forming the froth above the slurry retained in the tank. Such a froth so generated, however, may be difficult to maintain unless the rotor is rotated at relatively fast speed and may also require a rotor to be relatively large. Such size and speed constraints increase the cost of fabricating such flotation machines and operating such machines.
Further, such rotors typically include blades that generate a velocity spike in an exit stream of slurry that consumes a relatively significant amount of power used to rotate the rotor but fails to provide any meaningful improvement to froth formation performance. This design feature also increases the costs associated with operating the flotation machines.
A new rotor design is needed for flotation cells of flotation machines. The new rotor design preferably reduces the cost of manufacturing rotors and reduces the operating costs associated with moving of the rotors during operation of the flotation cells. Preferably, such a rotor design also improves the bubble generation performance of the rotors as compared to conventional rotors.

Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc.


A seat having a hinge mechanism and a disabling system enabled to selectively allow and prevent a backrest from pivoting in relation to a seating portion. The hinge mechanism may have a case, a locking system, and a control member. The locking system may be locked and unlocked to prevent and enable pivoting of the backrest. The control member may be moveable between a rest position, locking the locking system, and an actuating position, unlocking the locking system. The disabling system may have a disabling member and a retaining member. The disabling member may have an active position, placing the control member in the actuating position. The retaining member may maintain the disabling member in the active position. The case may contain, in a radial dimension, at least half of both the disabling member and the retaining member.

A vehicle seat of this type providing entire satisfaction is known in FR 2 900 105. In the known vehicle seat, the retaining member has the form of a retaining cam pivotally mounted on the seating portion below one end of the frame of the backrest, and coming into retaining position when the disabling member passes from the inactive position to the active position. A pusher is pivotally mounted on the backrest in order to move the retaining cam during the return of the backrest towards the upright position.
The disabling system has a structure such that mounting it on the frames of the seating portion and of the backrest is imposed by constraints in terms of relative positioning, and can hardly be adapted to place the disabling system in different portions of the seat.


A hydraulic arrangement is provided with at least one pressure accumulator for a hydraulic fluid, a hydraulic cylinder with at least one chamber to which pressure can be applied, a connecting line, on the basis of which the at least one accumulator is connected with the chamber, and a control unit. In order to provide an electronic pipe break safety device, an electronically controlled on-off valve is mounted in the connecting line and coupled for receiving control signals from the control unit, and a signal transmitter, which is coupled for monitoring the pressure in the connecting line is also connected to the control unit. If a pressure drop occurs in the connecting line, a signal change is generated by means of the signal transmitter, whereupon the control unit sends a signal effecting movement of the shut-off valve to its closed position.

Hydraulic arrangements are known in which mechanical pipe break safety valves are applied with which hydraulic cylinders are secured against unintended retraction or extension, in case that one of the connecting lines should break.
The operating principle of these pipe break safety devices consists of the fact that upon a drop in pressure across the valve, a valve slide is forced against a valve seat by a certain spring force so as to seal against any leakage, and thereby a further flow of oil is prevented.
In most hydraulic arrangements, the securing of a chamber of a hydraulic cylinder loaded by pressure is provided in the form of a load holding valve in hydraulic supply lines. However, if additional components are applied, for example, pressure accumulators, that can be used, for example, in hydro-pneumatic spring support systems or load holding systems, it is useful to also provide a pipe break safety valve arrangement in the connecting lines of the chamber of the hydraulic cylinder that is supplied with pressure, since in case of a break of the connecting lines, the hydraulic cylinder could drop abruptly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,491 discloses a hydraulic arrangement for a lifting arrangement of an operating machine in which several hydraulic cylinders, arranged in parallel, can be connected over connecting lines and shut-off valves with several hydro-pneumatic pressure accumulators. Thereby a hydro-pneumatic spring suspension is to be created with which the lifting arrangement can be spring supported and vibrations of the operating machine can be reduced. The disadvantage here is that the connecting lines are not provided with any pipe break safety arrangements so that in the case of a pipe break in any of the connecting lines, the hydraulic cylinder or cylinders could drop abruptly.
A pipe break safety arrangement is applied, for example, in the patent application disclosed by the Japanese patent office in the patent abstract JP 58121305 AA for a pressure holding system of a hydraulic cylinder. This hydraulic circuit arrangement shows a hydraulic cylinder that is connected over a connecting line with a pressure accumulator. When pressures in the chambers of the cylinder change, the pressure accumulator is intended to compensate so that the pressure in the chambers is maintained. In order to provide assurance that the hydraulic cylinder does not drop upon a pipe break or leakage in the supply line to the pressure accumulator, a mechanical pipe break safety arrangement is arranged in the connecting line in the form of a two-pressure valve. Here the disadvantage develops that such mechanical pipe break safety arrangements tend to close when high volume flows are encountered between hydraulic cylinders and pressure accumulators in hydro-pneumatic spring support systems, without the pressure drop associated with an actual pipe break therefore, such a mechanical pipe break safety arrangement is not appropriate as a protection against a pipe break in pressure accumulator lines for a hydro-pneumatic spring support system.
The task underlying the invention is seen in the need to define a hydraulic arrangement of the type defined initially by means of which the aforementioned problems are overcome.

Hydraulic arrangement and process for its use


There is disclosed a semiconductor device including a plurality of memory cell transistors, each memory cell transistor including a floating gate electrode isolated from each other via an isolation insulating film every memory cell transistor, an inter-electrode insulating film comprising a HfxAl1-xOy film (0.8≦x≦0.95) formed on the floating gate electrode, and a control gate electrode formed on the inter-electrode insulating film, wherein the memory cell transistors are arrayed to form a memory cell array.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to various semiconductor devices that use a capacitor or gate insulating film as a high relative dielectric constant insulating film, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a capacitor insulating film and a gate insulating film are thinned more and more with high density of a LSI. In order to prevent a leak current from increasing with the foregoing thinning, a three-dimensional structure is changed, and thereby, the way to solve the problem is found. On the other hand, a high relative dielectric constant insulating film is used, and thereby, a physical film thickness is increased to prevent an increase of the leak current.
In particular, an inter-poly dielectric film (inter-electrode insulating film) is formed between a charge storage layer and a control gate electrode in a non-volatile semiconductor memory device such as flash memory. For example, an ONO film (three-layer stacked film, that is, silicon oxide film/silicon nitride film/silicon oxide film) is used as the foregoing inter-poly dielectric film. By doing so, a relative dielectric constant is improved, and three-dimensional structure is employed. However, the distance between cells is reduced; for this reason, interference between neighboring cells remarkably increases, and this is a factor of worsening device characteristics. As a result, there is a problem that it is difficult to employ the three-dimensional structure to increase an area.
For example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2003-7861 discloses the following technique in order to realize a next-generation non-volatile semiconductor memory device. According to the technique, a high relative dielectric constant insulating film having a relative dielectric constant ∈r larger than conventionally is used as the inter-poly dielectric film. Specifically, the relative dielectric constant ∈r is larger than a relative dielectric constant ∈r=3.8 to 4 of the conventionally used silicon oxide film (SiO2 film). The foregoing high relative dielectric constant insulating film is used, and thereby, a capacity is made large without increasing the area. Therefore, there is no need of giving the three-dimensional structure, so that the manufacturing process is simplified. As a result, an element has high performance, and the method of manufacturing the device is made easy; therefore, a manufacturing process having high yield is realized.
A composite oxide such as hafnium aluminate (HfxAL1-xOy) is used as the foregoing high relative dielectric constant insulating film. The high relative dielectric constant insulating film is formed via a CVD process such as ALD process resulting from the following reasons of uniformity, mass production and low damage.
The following problem arises if the foregoing film is used as an inter-electrode insulating film of a semiconductor memory device, in particular, non-volatile semiconductor memory device. In this case, an applied electric filed is high; for this reason, leak current is not sufficiently restricted.
In the foregoing description, a problem in the prior art is described giving the inter-electrode insulating film of the non-volatile semiconductor memory device. In this case, the problem of the leak current of the high relative dielectric constant insulating film is not limited to the non-volatile semiconductor memory device. The same problem arises in the case of using the high relative dielectric constant insulating film as a capacitor insulating film of a storage (accumulation) capacitor. Further, the same problem exists in various insulating gate transistors employing a MOS capacitor using the high relative dielectric constant insulating film as the capacitor insulating film. Furthermore, the same leak current problem by high electric field exists in the following insulating gate transistors. One is an insulating gate transistor used as super high-speed switching element for logic integrated circuits. Another is an insulating gate transistor operating in a high frequency band such as terahertz. In particular, in an insulating gate transistor having a gate length of about 60 nm or less, the field strength of the high relative dielectric constant insulating film used as a gate insulating film becomes large. As a result, the leak current by high electric filed becomes a big problem.

Semiconductor device and method of manufacturing the same


A semiconductor laser that is monolithically integrated on a substrate and whose cavity has a branched structure that is simply contiguous in a topological sense, and which includes a plurality of regions that enclose the cavity, is operated as a mode-locked semiconductor laser, with an alternating current flowing through at least one region in addition to a direct current. The frequency of the alternating current is related to the reciprocal of the round-trip time or an integral multiple of this reciprocal of light pulses generated by the alternating current in the semiconductor laser.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of operating a semiconductor laser as a mode-locked semiconductor laser and to devices for implementing the method.
2. Background Information
A semiconductor laser is disclosed, for example, in Electronics Letters 26 (1990), No. 4, pages 243-244. The semiconductor laser described there is monolithically integrated on an n-doped indium phosphide substrate. It includes a cavity that is disposed on the substrate above a plane that is coplanar to the base face of the substrate and forms a branched, linearly contiguous structure in that plane. The underside of the substrate is called the base surface. Above the indium phosphide substrate, there extends a likewise n-doped buffer layer of indium phosphide. The cavity composed of indium gallium arsenide phosphide (InGaAsP) is disposed on the planar surface of this buffer layer. The cavity is considered to be a "linearly contiguous" region in the sense of a topological definition since it is composed of a single piece having a single edge. In this case, the cavity has the shape of a "Y". Above the cavity further layers are provided. Together with the cavity they form a "Y" shaped mesa structure formed by etching above the buffer layer.
In addition, the phenomenon of mode locking is also known per se. Mode locking is understood to be a resonance-like phenomenon in which a semiconductor laser is modulated with an alternating current of a frequency that corresponds to the reciprocal of the round-trip time of a light pulse in the semiconductor laser. The active mode locking of semiconductor lasers is a technique which permits the generation of light pulses of very short duration. Such light pulses are significant for communication transmission systems operating in the gigahertz range. Mode-locked semiconductor lasers make it possible to transmit data at speeds which lie noticeably above the highest frequencies at which semiconductor lasers could be modulated directly according to prior art techniques.
For the transmission of communications, light pulses or trains of light pulses are delayed by different times in delay lines, are then modulated in modulators and combined into a multiplex frame. The light pulses of such semiconductor lasers can also be employed for measuring particularly if frequencies are to be measured that lie above 20 GHz. Moreover, such semiconductor lasers serve to actuate optical correlators for coding the addresses of individual bits or for coding bit groups (header coding).
The publication Appl. Phys. Lett. 57 (1990), pages 759-761, discloses an actively mode-locked semiconductor laser which is provided with a simple, unbranched cavity for propagation of the light pulses generated within it. The cavity is composed of layers composed alternatingly of indium gallium arsenide phosphide and indium gallium arsenide (that is, a quantum well layer sequence). The cavity is divided into five regions; two regions adjacent the resonator end faces serve as modulators through which flows an alternating current; one region in the middle of the cavity serves as a saturable absorber; and two regions between the modulators and the absorber serve as active waveguides.

Method of operating a semiconductor laser as a mode-locked semiconductor laser and devices for implementing the method


There is provided a storage control grid capable of controlling at least one service provided in the storage system and a method of operating thereof. The storage control grid comprises at least one service dispatcher operatively coupled to at least one service requestor and to a plurality of service providers. The method comprises requesting by service requester a service, thus giving rise to at least one service request; enabling, using said at least one service dispatcher, delivery of the service request to at least one service provider among said plurality of service providers, said service provider configured to provide said at least one service, wherein the delivery is enabled in accordance with data comprised in a service data structure handled by said at least one service dispatcher and indicative, at least, of association between said at least one service and service providers among said plurality of service providers.

Modern enterprises are investing significant resources to preserve and provide access to data. Data protection is a growing concern for businesses of all sizes. Users are looking for a solution that will help to verify that critical data elements are protected, and storage configuration can enable data integrity and provide a reliable and safe switch to redundant computing resources in case of an unexpected disaster or service disruption.
The need for large data storage motivates the building of grid storage systems. Grid architecture can include modular storage arrays having a common virtualization layer enabling organization of the storage resources as a single logical pool available to users and a common management across all nodes. Grid storage systems often use a server cluster for implementing the common management of the storage resources. A server cluster consists of multiple interconnected servers that can be viewed as a single server. The cluster is deployed to improve performance, reliability and availability over that of a single server. Optionally, grid architecture can be implemented in a cloud model of networked online storage where data is stored on multiple virtualized storage systems rather than being hosted on dedicated systems. Physical storage resources can span across multiple systems, while cloud storage enables presenting to a user a logical space for data storage and itself handles the process of mapping the logical space to the actual physical location.
Grid storage architecture needs to support manageability, scalability, load balancing, availability and fault tolerance of provided storage services.

Storage control grid and method of operating thereof


A continuous baling method comprising conveying crop material on a rotating conveyor toward a baler while the baler is traversing a field, the conveyor comprising a conveying surface having an entire crop material-carrying width of a first distance; narrowing the flow of the crop material to transition the crop material flow from the conveyor to the baler; and receiving the narrowed flow at an inlet to a baling chamber of the baler, the inlet comprising a width having a second distance smaller than the first distance.

A continuously operating, round baler is designed with a front feeding accumulating chamber and a bale formation chamber (also, baling or bale chamber). The baler forms a round bale in the bale formation chamber, and then wraps the round bale and ejects it from the bale formation chamber. While the round baler is undergoing the wrapping and ejecting cycles for the bale from the bale formation chamber, crop material gathers at the accumulator to enable the baler to maintain forward travel (hence the description, continuous round baler). One or more challenges to conventional, continuous round balers may result from the accumulating process, particularly given the differences in crop materials and/or conditions.

Round baler accumulation area of width greater than bale chamber


An air vent has at least one first control lamella that is pivotably mounted in a housing, and a second lamellae extending orthogonally to the first control lamella. For controlling the amount and direction of outflowing air, an operating element is pivotable mounted about an axis that extends parallel to the pivot axis of the second lamellae, and which is coupled to a first adjustment element and to the first control lamella. The first adjustment element has a toothed segment, which is in engagement with a first gearwheel that is rotatably mounted on the housing. The first gearwheel is in engagement with a second adjustment element that is arranged on a second control lamella of the second lamellae, wherein the second control lamella is coupled with the other second lamellae by way of at least one connection rod, and the second gearwheel is of spring-mounted design.

An air vent with a control device for controlling the direction and the amount of air flowing out of an air vent is described. In particular, an air vent with a control device constructed as a so-called one-knob control is described. The air vent has at least one control slat, which is pivotably mounted in a housing, and second slats extending orthogonally to the control slat and pivotably mounted in the housing, wherein the direction of the air flow exiting the housing is settable by way of the control slat and the second slats and in addition the amount of outflowing air is settable by way of the second slats.
Various devices for controlling an air flow are known from the prior art, in which both the direction of the outflowing air and the amount of the outflowing air are settable by way of vertical slats arranged behind a control slat.
DE 10 2013 100 534 A1 discloses a device for controlling an air flow, wherein a front horizontal slat constructed as a control slat has a mount in which a circular control element is mounted. A change in the orientation of vertical slats can be effected by way of the control element by a rotational movement. The vertical slats can be pivoted by way of the control element to such an extent that they prevent the air flow through the air vent.
A device for controlling an air flow is disclosed in DE 20 2012 100 980 U1. The device comprises at least one first control slat, and second slats mounted orthogonally to the first control slat. Also present is a control element, by means of which the orientation of the at least one first slat and of the second slats is made possible.
DE 298 14 953 U1 discloses a fresh-air nozzle device for a motor vehicle, in which control of the quantity of outflowing air is similarly settable by way of the vertical slats. Adjusting devices arranged outside the housing and in the form of control wheels are provided for swivelling or pivoting or pivotation of the slats.
However, the devices known from the prior art have the disadvantage that only an inadequate closure of the air feed shaft is possible by way of the rear vertical slats. In particular, in the case of devices for control of an air flow with control elements arranged in the region of the slats it is not possible to transmit to the rear vertical slats by way of the control element a sufficient force to make a sealed closure possible. In addition, the devices known from the prior art with substantially centrally arranged control elements have the disadvantage that these comprise a plurality of components which intrude into the flow channel of the air vent and thus produce an additional, but undesired, deflection of the air. A sealed closure is therefore often not possible in the prior art, notwithstanding sealing means, since the components of the air vents have dimensional differences (tolerances) and in the case of repeated actuation the play of the components further increases.
It is therefore the object to indicate a device for controlling an air flow, which eliminates the disadvantages of the prior art and provides an economic, simple and reliable control of the air outflow direction and the amount of outflowing air.


The present process relates to a formulation for a food product and preparation of a pre-formed filling unit for the provision of a consumable food product containing eggs, which may be refrigerated and/or frozen for future heating within a microwave oven for consumption by an individual. The process involves the initial step of acquisition of liquid eggs which may be scrambled. The liquid eggs are cooked whereupon the cooked liquid eggs are combined with other ingredients. The temperature of the combined ingredients is regulated and/or controlled during processing. The combined and mixed food product may then be inserted into a mold to provide a desired shape. After cooking the consumable food product may be separated from the mold whereupon the consumable food article may be refrigerated and/or frozen for future reheating as a portion of a breakfast or other consumable food article.

The present invention is directed to a formulation and process to prepare a pre-cooked, pre-formed filling unit for a consumable food product preferably including eggs as a principal component. It is anticipated that the consumable food product will be refrigerated and/or frozen for future heating within a microwave oven, convection oven or griddle for consumption as a portion of a food article. The consumable food product may be used as an ingredient within a food product such as a breakfast burrito, wraps, stuffed potatoes, and frittatas.
The pre-cooked, pre-formed filling unit reduces labor required by quick serve restaurants, and most other food service providers to prepare burrito's and other similar foods containing scrambled eggs, cheese, sausage, ham, vegetables and other similar ingredients.
In the past, consumable food has been formed by the filling of a mold with a liquid egg mixture and cooking the liquid egg within the mold. Alternatively, a liquid egg mixture may be pumped onto a flat cooking belt for cooking within an oven. Consumable food articles formed of eggs which have been produced according to the above identified methods unfortunately have the appearance and taste of commercial processing. Frequently these food articles after cooking are extremely dense and have the appearance of a cheese product. Consumable food articles including eggs formed through the use of a mold and/or cooking through use of a flat cooking belt frequently have undesirable sensory perceptions related to taste, texture, and taste differentiation between components included within the food article. A need therefore exists to eliminate the dense commercial processing appearance for consumable food articles including eggs which have been formed within a mold or upon a flat cooking belt and as cooked within an oven without rigorous control of processing and cooking parameters. A need also exists to form a consumable food article which is more appealing in appearance for use within a breakfast food product heated in a microwave oven for consumption by an individual.
Generally, it has been difficult to initially incorporate independent flavors into a food item to be refrigerated and/or frozen for future unthawing and heating at a desired time for consumption by an individual. Freezing and/or extended refrigeration of combined ingredients having distinct flavors exhibit the tendency for the flavors to blend into a composite taste. In the past, the individual components of the composite food product have not retained an individual taste. In addition, the freezing and/or extended refrigeration of a composite food article frequently leads to loss of texture, loss of cohesive texture, and the degradation of other sensory perceptions such as mouth feel, rubberiness, and/or the food product not being tender or appealing to an individual.
In the past, in order to obtain a desired homemade perception with respect to texture, taste, and other sensory perceptions, a food item was required to be consumed within a short period of time following cooking where no freezing and/or refrigeration of the food product has occurred. No techniques were known to extend the life and/or shelf life of the cooked food product under known refrigeration and/or freezing techniques.
Another common problem encountered during delayed consumption, extended refrigeration and/or freezing of a food product containing eggs following cooking, is that syneresis occurs which is the loss of water when frozen and reheated, or when stored for an extended period of time.
In the past, it has also been difficult to control proportions of individual ingredients for a food product to establish a uniform consumable food item. For example, a slight increase in the volume of onions may cause a significant variation in the taste for the composite food product. It is desirable to provide standardized consumable food products, having minimal taste variation between individual portions.
In the past, temperature variations of ingredients during processing have caused degradation in the sensory perceptions associated with the composite food article. Further, the over mixing of individual ingredients may also cause the degradation in the texture, mouth feel, and taste for the composite food article.

Formulation and process to prepare a pre-formed filing unit


Contamination of LPCVDBP TEOS films is reduced by preventing volatile compounds, resulting from reactions of the residue in the outlet of the furnace from reaching the deposition portion of the furnace where they would otherwise react with the deposition gases to produce chemically generated particles which contaminate the dielectric film.

As integrated circuit features continue to decrease in size and the number of components of an integrated circuit continues to increase, the requirements imposed upon the dielectrics commonly used in integrated circuit manufacture become more stringent. A dielectric is commonly deposited on the surface of a wafer and patterned to selectively expose portions of the surface. A metal or other conductive material, deposited on the surface of the dielectric, provides contacts to and between the individual devices. The surface of the dielectric must be reasonably planar so that the metal, typically aluminum, can be deposited without any electrical discontinuities. Such metal deposition becomes more difficult to perform as horizontal distances between devices decrease and the as deposited dielectric has a non-planar surface. Methods have been sought which planarize the dielectric surface. A typical method of planarizing a dielectric surface heats the dielectric and causes it to flow. However, the maximum temperature to which a circuit can be heated is lowered as, e.g., movement of dopants in the semiconductor must be restricted as junctions become shallower. The dielectric is typically SiO.sub.2 to which minor amounts of dopants, such as boron and phosphorus, are added to reduce the temperature at which the glass flows. Phosphorus also getters sodium and prevents its diffusion into junctions.
Several techniques, including chemical vapor deposition, have been used for dielectric deposition. One commonly used technique oxidizes, with oxygen, hydrides such as SiH.sub.4, B.sub.2 H.sub.6 (diborane) and PH.sub.3 (phosphine). This dielectric is typically referred to as BPSG (borophosphosilicate glass). Another technique decomposes an organo-silicon compound, such as tetraethylorthosilicate which is commonly referred to as TEOS. Other compounds, e.g., phosphine and trimethyl borate, are typically present as dopant sources. See, for example, Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, B4, pp. 732-744, May/June 1986. This paper reports the low pressure deposition of borophosphosilicate glass using TEOS. The authors reported particle densities that were less than 0.2 per cm.sup.2. Later reports deal with the atmospheric pressure deposition of the dielectric. See, for example, NEC Research and Development, 94, pp. 1-7, July, 1989. The authors, who used ozone rather than oxygen, reported no measurable amounts of any unwanted impurities in the dielectric although surface particle concentrations were not reported.
We have found that TEOS films deposited at low pressure are preferable to those deposited at atmospheric pressure because they are smoother and have lower particulate counts. Also, TEOS films with both boron and phosphorus present in minor amounts, commonly referred to as BPTEOS, are preferred to BPSG films because they have better step coverage and a reduced tendency to flake off reactor surfaces. However, we have found that BPTEOS films have an unwanted tendency to accumulate particles during deposition.

Method of integrated circuit manufacturing using deposited oxide


An actuator includes an apex section which can make a contact with a paper, a thin plate which has two inclined sections each extending from the apex section, a piezoelectric layer which is arranged on each of the inclined sections, and an individual electrode which is provided to each of the piezoelectric layers. The piezoelectric layer between the individual electrode and the inclined section is deformed by being applied with a voltage selectively to the two individual electrodes by a driving circuit. By deforming the piezoelectric layer, the apex section can be displaced and thus the paper can be transported. A movable apparatus which is supported on the floor by the apex section is also provided. A micro device in which an element is provided to the apex section is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an actuator which is displaceable by a very small amount by using a piezoelectric element; and a transporting apparatus, a movable apparatus, and a device which include the actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
A transporting apparatus which includes a transporting roller and a drive motor which drives the transporting roller has been hitherto used for transporting a paper to be recorded in a recording apparatus. However, in recent years, a technology for applying a piezoelectric actuator, having a piezoelectric element made of a ceramics material such as lead zirconate titanate (PZT), to a variety of usages has been studied, and in particular, a technology for transporting an object to be transported by using a deformation which is developed when a voltage is applied to the piezoelectric element has been proposed. For example, a piezoelectric actuator which has a plurality of piezoelectric elements each including a substrate in the form of a plate, piezoelectric elements provided to both surfaces of the substrate, and a plurality of electrodes formed on surfaces of the piezoelectric elements, is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2003-111456. This piezoelectric actuator is structured such that a front tip portion of the substrate is caused to be deformed due to bending deformation of the piezoelectric element, and an object to be transported is transported by being moved by a very small amount in a longitudinal direction of the object by a ciliary movement of a plurality of substrates arranged in a circumferential direction of the object to be transported which is cylindrical or tubular in shape.

Actuator, and transporting apparatus, movable apparatus and device provided with the actuator


Betaine is produced by the oxidation of a choline salt in the presence of a supported noble metal catalyst at temperatures from about 20.degree. C. to 100.degree. C. and pressures from atmospheric to about 100 psi. This process is advantageous over prior processes for the production of betaine in that no amine halocarboxylate contaminants are produced by this reaction.

This invention deals with a process to prepare aqueous solutions of betaine. This product is of value both as an animal feed and in the personal hygiene sector as a skin cleanser. The most common method for the preparation of betaine is by the reaction of trimethylamine with an alpha-halocarboxylic acid in the presence of an alkali metal hydroxide (for example see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,497,825 and 5,292,942). There are several disadvantages to this method. For example, sodium chloride is always a co-product, and has to be removed(see U.S. Pat. No. 3,480,665). In addition to this, there is the concern of having the starting materials trimethylamine and halocarboxylate as contaminants, and the process has to be modified to achieve low levels of trimethylamine.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,191 teaches a method for the combined synthesis of betaine and choline chloride from monochloroacetic acid, trimethylamine and ethylene oxide by first reacting trimethylamine with monochloroacetic acid and then reacting ethylene oxide with the reaction product of the previous step. As with the previously described processes, contaminants from the reaction are a problem. Other synthetic methods for the production of betaine are described in Gekkan Fudo Kemi Karu (1991), 7(6), 112-20.
Another route to prepare betaine is by the oxidation of choline Me.sub.3 NCH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 OH!.sup.+ using oxygen and an enzyme choline oxidase(see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,187,088, 4,245,050, and 4,135,980). The oxidation produces 2 moles of hydrogen peroxide for each mole of betaine produced. Consequently, this method is not used to manufacture betaine, but is useful as an analytical technique to detect choline by measuring the generated hydrogen peroxide.
The oxidation of primary alcohols to the carboxylic acid salts using alkali metal hydroxide in the presence of precious metals such as Pd, Pt, Rh, Ru, Ir, Os, Re is well known(see Catalysis Today 19 (1994), 247-284). Japanese Patent No 50-96516A discloses a process for the preparation of carboxylic acid salts by the liquid phase dehydrogenation of alcohols with caustic alkali in the presence of precious metals such as Pd. This process uses a high temperature, 100.degree. C.-270.degree. C., and uses alcohols such as diethylene glycol. The inherent disadvantage in this process is that high temperatures.gtoreq.100.degree. C. must be used and that the alkali metal salt of the desired acid is produced. There is literature, see Kirk Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, Vol. 6, p 9, showing concentrated solutions of choline as the free base decompose at 100.degree. C. to give trimethylamine ethylene glycol and poly(ethylene glycol). Therefore one skilled in the art would expect such a molecule to degrade under the conditions of oxidation, high temperatures and alkaline solutions.

Process for the preparation of aqueous solutions of betaine


A cap assembly for a container that holds a perishable product. The cap assembly defines an opening through which the perishable product inside the container can be accessed. At least one obstruction plate is present within the cap assembly. Each obstruction plate is positionable between an open position, where the obstruction plate is clear of the opening, and a closed position where the obstruction plate obstructs the opening. A mechanism is provided within the cap assembly that automatically moves each obstruction plate from its open position to its closed position when the shelf life of the perishable product has expired. Optionally, the cap assembly may also include at least one condition sensor for detecting a condition harmful to the perishable product in the container. The mechanism also closes each obstruction plate if such a harmful condition is detected by the condition sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
In general, the present invention relates to the structure of pharmaceutical vials and especially the structure of caps for such vials. The present invention also relates to electronic devices that monitor the viability of the contents of a pharmaceutical vial.
2. Prior Art Description
Many pharmaceutical products are administered by injection. In many instances, the pharmaceutical product is packaged in a vial by the manufacturer. To prevent contamination of the pharmaceutical product, the vial is sealed with a piercable cap. In order to access the contents of the vial, a needle from a hypodermic syringe must be driven through the structure of the cap. Once the tip of the needle is inside the vial, the pharmaceutical product can be drawn out of the vial by the operation of the syringe.
Some vials contain enough pharmaceutical product for a single dose to a single patient. Other vials contain enough pharmaceutical products for multiple patients. Vials that contain enough pharmaceutical product for multiple patients have a cap structure that will be pieced by multiple hypodermic syringes at various times. When the needle of a hypodermic syringe pierces a cap, it creates a hole. If this hole is not closed, the hole leaves a passage for bacteria, air, and moisture to contaminate the contents of the syringe. In order to prevent such contamination, many pharmaceutical manufacturers utilize safety caps on vials that automatically reseal each time they are pierced by a needle. Such safety caps are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,619 to Turner, entitled Medicament Vial Safety Cap. Additionally, industry utilizes single/multiple use pre-filled syringes for pharmaceutical product distribution to patients.
Many pharmaceutical products, such as vaccines, can be compromised not only by contamination but also by variations in temperature and the passage of time. Many pharmaceutical products have a posted shelf life. If the pharmaceutical product stands unused for longer than its shelf life, the pharmaceutical product loses potency and may no longer be effective. Furthermore, many pharmaceutical products are highly sensitive to temperature. If the temperature of a pharmaceutical product is too high, molecules within the product may break down. Likewise, if a pharmaceutical product becomes too cold, emulsions may separate into component ingredients. In either case, the pharmaceutical product may be rendered useless.
In order to monitor the temperature and shelf life of pharmaceutical products, electronic devices have been created that are packaged with the pharmaceutical products. Such electronic monitoring devices are exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 6,810,350 to Blakely, entitled Determination Of Pharmaceutical Expiration Date. Such electronic devices produce an audible alarm if the pharmaceutical product is expired or has been temperature compromised. However, such prior art electronic monitoring devices have many disadvantages. Since such prior art monitoring devices are units that are separate and distinct from the vials/prepackaged syringes that hold the pharmaceutical product, the electronic devices are often attached to the packaging of the vial/prepackaged syringes or the shipping container of the vial. Once individual vials/prepackaged syringes are removed from their shipping containers, they become separated from the electronic monitoring device. The individual vials/prepackaged syringes may then become compromised without detection. Furthermore, prior art electronic monitoring devices are battery operated. If the battery dies, the electronic monitor stops working. A person may then think that a very old vial is good. The same situation may occur if the electronic monitoring device becomes damaged during shipping or accidentally gets wet and stops working.
A need therefore exists for an improved monitoring device that monitors the age and temperature history of a pharmaceutical product in a vial/prepackaged syringe, yet cannot be separated from the pharmaceutical vial/prepackaged syringe. A need also exists for a monitoring device that prevents a compromised pharmaceutical product from being used, even if the monitoring device itself is damaged. These needs are met by the present invention as described and claimed below.

Device and method for preventing the use of a compromised pharmaceutical that is stored in a vial or similar container


An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for detecting cracking in a particulate filter. The method may include providing an apparatus comprising an aftertreatment device with a substrate and a substrate surface, a conductive material forming a conduction path bonded to the surface of the substrate surface, and access points configured to allow a resistance measurement of the conduction path. The method may include measuring the resistance of the conduction path, and determining if one or more cracks have occurred on the substrate surface based on the resistance measurement. The method may further include labeling the degradation level of the aftertreatment device based on the indicated amount of cracking, and replacing the aftertreatment device with an equivalent aftertreatment device, based on the degradation level, after a service event.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to aftertreatment devices for treating engine exhaust streams, and more particularly relates to detecting physical failures in aftertreatment devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Emissions regulations for internal combustion engines have changed rapidly in recent years. To meet the new regulations, many engine manufacturers have had to install aftertreatment devices to reduce emissions in the exhaust gases, or to condition the exhaust gases to assist other aftertreatment devices. For example, particulate filters remove soot from the exhaust gases of a diesel engine, and diesel oxidation catalysts are sometimes used to generate temperature in the exhaust gas to assist a particulate filter in oxidizing the soot off of the filter.
Most aftertreatment devices experience thermal cycles during the operations of the engine. The thermal cycles may be intentional, for example during the removal of soot from a particulate filter, or unintentional such as when the engine experiences large changes in the required workload for the engine. As the aftertreatment devices experience thermal cycles, they generate a temperature gradient within the device. The temperature gradient within the device may cause stresses and over time can cause the aftertreatment device to fail.
A stress related failure within an aftertreatment device, such as a crack in the wall of the aftertreatment device, can be particularly difficult to detect. There are no direct measurements routinely used in real-time for applications to detect such failures. Even when an aftertreatment device is being serviced, it is difficult for a service technician to detect such a failure even if the technician has a reason to look for it.
The aftertreatment device typically comprises a core—such as cordierite or silicon carbide—wrapped in a mesh that fixes the core in place, and the whole device is typically covered by a sheet metal and/or stainless steel "can." A stress failure on a device occurs in the core, typically as radial cracking around the surface of the core, and is not visible to a technician merely handling the device. Therefore, the current detection failure schemes rely on either ultrasound or special visual inspection to determine whether an aftertreatment component has failed.
Ultrasound detection schemes are problematic because of the intentional porous nature of the aftertreatment devices, and the gaps in the surrounding mesh. The ultrasound frequency must be so low (causing a low resolution image), and the aftertreatment devices are so poorly configured for ultrasound analysis, that often only the most catastrophic failures can be detected. However, some aftertreatment devices are no longer design compliant—which can mean regulatory emissions thresholds are not being met—with only a few moderate cracks around the device.
Special visual inspections require optic tools allowing the technician to view the interior of channels within the aftertreatment device. The channels of the device may be packed with soot and/or debris, rendering the inspection difficult or impossible. A minimal check of the device may require checking hundreds of channels around the perimeter of an aftertreatment device by repeatedly inserting a tool designed to go into channels packed in at 200-300 cells per inch. The inspection procedure can damage the aftertreatment device, and is time consuming and costly under the best of circumstances.
These limitations in the current technology result the discovery of aftertreatment device failures only when a technician has a specific reason to suspect a failure, only at considerable expense, and often only after a device has failed far beyond a threshold of design compliance. These limitations also introduce the risks attendant with aftertreatment devices with hidden defects. For example, a service company may clean aftertreatment devices and swap them out for a dirty aftertreatment device in a customer vehicle. Under the current state of technology, there is a significant risk that one of the swapped aftertreatment devices may have a stress failure, penalizing either the customer or the service company according to which device has failed.

Apparatus, system, and method for detecting cracking within an aftertreatment device


Disclosed herein are systems and methods for attitude insensitive flow devices. The system can include a flow device having a processor and a computer readable medium accessible by the processor that stores a set of computer instructions executable by the processor. The computer instructions can include instructions executable to receive an orientation signal, receive a sensed flow signal, and determine a flow through the flow device based on the sensed flow signal and the orientation signal.

The manufacture of semiconductors typically requires precise control of fluids (e.g., gasses, liquids, gas-vapor mixes) through the process path to a process chamber. Regulation of mass flow is often achieved through the use of a thermal mass flow controller. These mass flow controllers generally operate by directing fluid flow through a capillary tube path that runs parallel to a bypass area of the main flow path. Two thermally sensitive resistors are wound around the capillary tube. As fluid travels through the capillary tube, heat is conducted away from the resistors, or imparted to the fluid, causing the resistance of each of the resistors to change and the temperature of the fluid to change. Based on the difference in resistance between the two resistors, a controller, executing a control algorithm can determine the flow through the mass flow controller. Many mass flow meters work on a similar principle.
Thermal mass flow controllers and meters, such as those described above, are subject to a phenomenon known as "thermal siphoning" wherein heated fluid in the capillary tube initiates convective flow with the cooler fluid in the main flow path. While this flow may be small, it can cause measurable changes in the zero of the mass flow controller. This problem is exacerbated if the attitude (i.e., angle from the horizontal of the main flow path) changes. Because of thermal siphoning, prior art mass flow controllers must typically be calibrated on a controller-by-controller basis for the orientation in which each mass flow controller will be installed.
Several schemes for attitude compensation have been developed to try to offset the effects of thermal siphoning. U.S. Pat. No. 5,763,774 describes a system for minimizing thermal siphoning by reducing the internal volume of the capillary tubes and bypass area. While this method reduces the effects of thermal siphoning, a small amount of thermal siphoning remains.
Another prior art system for addressing thermal siphoning is to increase the flow restriction in the bypass area and/or the capillary tube area, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,763,774. This method can adversely affect sensing in some applications because it increases the differential pressure required across the sensing element.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,701 describes another prior art method for addressing thermal siphoning. In this scheme, the capillary tube is orthogonal to the main axis of flow through the flow measurement/control device. This method requires a complicated flow path that is difficult to manufacture. Moreover, this method simply reorients the axis of the capillary tube ninety degrees and will experience the same difficulties as other flow measurement devices if installed in an orientation that is rotated ninety degrees around the main axis of flow relative to the intended installation orientation.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,100,801 and 4,956,975 describe a method for reversing the flow path. While this system acts to reduce the effects of thermal siphoning, mass flow measurement/control devices incorporating this system can be more expensive to manufacture. Moreover, reversing the flow path, or even making the flow path orthogonal to the main flow path through the thermal mass flow sensor, can increase the internal volume of the thermal mass flow sensor. The increase in internal volume can make the device unsuitable for use in systems with low vapor pressure.

Attitude insensitive flow device system and method


The invention concerns an assembly comprising a piezoelectric resonator and a case, said case including a main part with a bottom and sides, in which said resonator is mounted and a cover fixed to said main part, said resonator including a tuning fork shaped part with two parallel vibrating arms connected to each other by a linking part, and a central arm protruding from said linking part and located between both vibrating arms carrying at least two electrodes to make them vibrate, these two electrodes being connected respectively to at least first and second connection pads located on a back face of said central arm oriented toward the bottom of the case, said case further comprising at least one support secured to its bottom on which said central arm of the resonator is fixed by means of at least first and second connection elements located on said support and electrically connected respectively to said first and second connection pads by a conductive adhesive, wherein guiding means are provided at least with either said first connection pad or element being located on the linking part side in order to flow excess of said conductive adhesive away from the second electrode being not electrically connected to said first connection pad or element with said guiding means.

Such a resonator of small dimensions has been disclosed in the prior art document U.S. Pat. No. 6,700,313 filed in the name of the name Assignee, which is enclosed herewith by way of reference. Resonator 10 represented on FIG. 12, which is intended to be mounted in a case, includes a tuning fork shaped part with two parallel arms 12, 14 connected to each other by a linking part 16 and carrying electrodes 20, 22 to make them vibrate, these electrodes being connected to connecting pads 28, 30 intended to be electrically connected to the exterior of the case. Resonator 10 also includes a central arm 18 attached to linking part 16 and located between arms 12, 14 of the tuning fork shaped part, substantially equidistant from them, this central arm 18 having a greater mass than that of the arms of the tuning fork shaped part and connected pads 28, 30 are carried by this central arm. This resonator is mounted in a case of parallelepiped shape by fixing its central arm 18 to at least one support secured to the bottom of the case.
The above described kind of resonators, called hereinafter three arm resonators, allows breaking away from many problems encountered with conventional tuning fork resonators.
One of these problems is that the dimensional and functional features of the conventional tuning fork resonators are optimised for mounting them in metallic cases and not in ceramic cases. For example, the ratio between their length and their width is ill suited to the manufacture of such cases, in particular when the cases are of the SMD (Surface Mounting Device) type, i.e. meant to be automatically mounted on hole-free printed circuit boards. Because of this, a conventional tuning fork resonator and its connection to the case do not have very good resistance to shocks.
Further conventional tuning fork resonators are liable to tip towards the bottom of the case when it is fixed onto a step of the case.
Furthermore, since the thermal expansion coefficients of ceramic material and quartz are different enough to create mechanical stresses in the resonator which can not only be felt in the arms of the tuning fork and disturb the working of the resonator when the temperature changes but can also break the solder or detach connection pads of the resonator from those of the case and alter or even cut the electric connection between the resonator electrodes and the external contact pads of the case.
For the same reason, if there is an incipient fracture on the side of base of the tuning fork where connection pads are situated, a significant temperature variation can even break the tuning fork.
Finally, when the resonator is vacuum packed, the vacuum is never perfect and the stirring of the atmosphere by the tuning fork arms when the resonator vibrates can modify the operating parameters of the resonator when its arms come close to each other, more so than in the case of a metallic case.
Thus, three arm resonators enable satisfactory solutions to be brought to the various problems posed by conventional tuning fork resonators. Nevertheless although these three arm resonators have proved to be advantageous, it implies a permanent concern for one skilled in the art for accurately mounting the resonator inside its packaging in order to prevent any leakage when gluing said resonator to the support provided on the bottom of the case which may cause short-circuit between electrodes arranged on the central arm. As shown on FIG. 9, which is an enlarged cut view of the "gluing zone" between conductive pads 28 and 30 and corresponding conductive elements 108 and 110 of the package. Conductive adhesive 136 leaks under pressure when mounting the resonator inside the package and may provoke short-circuit between the electrodes (not shown) located on the back face of central arm 18.

Piezoelectric resonator and assembly comprising the same enclosed in a case


A standby redundancy system comprising a control CPU unit for controlling controlled machines and a standby CPU unit capable of controlling the controlled machines instead of the control CPU unit, characterized by tracking unit for temporarily storing a command consisting of a statement and data entered from a peripheral machine, processing the data based on the statement in the command, and transferring the temporarily stored command to the associated CPU unit.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a standby redundancy system of a programmable controller used with industrial machines, etc., the standby redundancy system being made up of a control CPU unit for actually controlling controlled machines and a standby CPU unit for controlling the controlled machines successively when the control CPU unit goes down for some reason so that the control and standby CPU units can be made the same in files, control information, and the operation mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 10 is a block diagram to show the configuration of a conventional standby redundancy system shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 2-81101, for example.
In the figure, numeral 10 is a control CPU unit for controlling controlled machines online. Numeral 110 is a standby CPU unit for controlling the controlled machines instead of the control CPU unit 10 when the control CPU unit 10 fails, etc. Numeral 5 is a switch for switching the lines connecting input/output of the CPU units and the controlled machines, and numeral 6 is a transmission line for transferring information required for backup.
Input/output of the two CPU units is connected to the controlled machines through the switch 5.
The standby CPU unit 110 serves the feed of the backup function of the control CPU unit 10 although it does not execute actual control. Therefore, the standby CPU unit 110 has the same hardware configuration as the control CPU unit 10 and the CPU units are also have the same in data contained in the internal programs, etc.
Thus, the standby CPU unit 110 always receives tracking information from the control CPU unit 10 over the transmission line 6.
The tracked information includes input information indicating the controlled machine state, control output information, standard programs, intermediate result and result data of calculation of control algorithms executed by application programs, application programs, parameters used in control operations, etc.
Next, a general tracking technique will be discussed with reference to a flowchart in FIG. 11.
First, at step S1100, system information of the control CPU unit and device information of the control CPU unit having a range preset by the user before running are extracted and control goes to step S1101.
At step S1101, the information extracted in the control CPU unit is transferred to a tracking memory in the standby CPU unit.
At step S1102, the information transferred to the tracking memory in the standby CPU unit is reflected in either a device memory or a system memory.
However, the tracking shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 2-81101 is only a technique for holding the identity of the data changed after the system is started up, namely, between the operating control CPU unit and the standby CPU unit.
Thus, the programs, data, etc., required when the system is started up cannot be tracked and their identity cannot be held between the control and standby CPU units.
Generally, data in a preset range of a memory area according to a parameter set by the user is to be tracked, thus data, etc., stored in areas different from the memory area storing the tracked data is not tracked as tracking data and the data identity cannot be held between the control and standby CPU units.
Thus, from the viewpoint of tracking reliability, a method described below is used to set programs and data between the control and standby CPU units.
A setting method of programs, data, etc., for executing communication functions such as file batch write means and device batch write means for the control and standby CPU units in the standby redundancy system will be discussed with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13A to 13C.
As described above, in the standby redundancy system, both the control and standby CPU units need to be made the same in programs and data.
Thus, in a STOP mode, a peripheral device is connected to the target CPU unit by a communication line and the file batch write means and the device batch write means in the CPU unit write the file contents and device information transferred from the peripheral device into the target memory, namely, either the device memory or program memory in response to a batch write request of programs, data, etc., from the peripheral device. At the write time, the CPU unit checks the controlled area, etc., of the written programs, data, etc. (Steps S1200 and S1201).
Upon normal completion of batch write command execution from the peripheral device, response data is prepared at step S1202 and a response indicating the completion is returned to the peripheral device at step S1203 (FIG. 13A).
Then, connection of the peripheral device is changed to the standby CPU unit (FIG. 13B) and the same write processing is executed for the standby CPU unit based on FIG. 10 (FIG. 13C).
Next, transfer of the file contents in the program memory, the device memory, and an external memory of the control CPU unit to the corresponding memories of the standby CPU unit (program memory, device memory, and external memory) will be discussed.
First, from the peripheral device, the file batch write means and the device batch write means are executed for the control CPU unit based on FIG. 12 (FIG. 13A) for once reading data in the control CPU unit into the peripheral device.
After this, connection of the peripheral device must be changed to the standby CPU unit (FIG. 13B) for writing the information read from the control CPU unit into the target memory of the standby CPU unit by the file batch write means and the device batch write means of the communication service functions (FIG. 13C).
To write the program files into the program memory of the target CPU unit in batch from the peripheral device, if the CPU unit operation mode is RUN, it needs to be changed to STOP.
The operation mode change from RUN to STOP or from STOP to RUN is made by manually changing an operation mode changeover switch of the standby CPU unit matching change in the control CPU unit operation mode to make the standby CPU unit operation mode the same as the control CPU unit operation mode in the standby redundancy system.
As described above, to provide the identity of data that cannot be tracked between the control and standby CPU units, a peripheral device needs to be connected separately to both the CPU units for holding the data identity; it is extremely intricate to provide the data identity.
Generally, to change a part of a program, the changed program is written from a peripheral device at the END processing time in the RUN mode. However, the capacity of the program that can be written from the peripheral device over a communication line is limited within the limited time of the END processing.
Further, due to recent trends in modular programming, if programs are put into modules and are associated closely with each other to form a larger program, it is often efficient from the viewpoint of work efficiency and program reliability to change the entire program part in one module block rather than a part of the program in the block.
Further, at the END processing time in the RUN mode, the RUN mode is changed to the STOP mode in which programs are written in batch from a peripheral device. Therefore, the controlled machines must be stopped and the work efficiency is lowered.
The tracking, which recognizes all the data in the setup range as tracking data, also recognizes unchanged data as tracking data, prolonging the time taken for the tracking.


The method is for the preparation of kraft pulp with increased pulping yield from lignin-containing cellulosic material using polysulfide cooking liquor. In order to increase carbohydrate stabilization and hence the yield from a kraft cooking process a first impregnation stage using polysulfide cooking liquor is implemented at high alkali and polysulfide concentration and at a low temperature. Knots are added to a high-pressure conduit extending between an impregnation vessel and a digester.

In conventional kraft cooking implemented in the 1960-1970-ies in continuous digesters was the total charge of white liquor added to the top of the digester. It soon emerged that the high alkali concentrations established at high cooking temperatures were detrimental for pulp viscosity.
Cooking methods were therefore developed in order to reduce the detrimental high alkali peak concentrations at start of the cook, and thus were split charges of alkali during the cook implemented in cooking methods such as MCC, EMCC, ITC and Lo-Solids cooking.
Other cooking methods were implemented using black liquor impregnation ahead of cooking stages where residual alkali in the black liquor was used to neutralize the wood acidity and to impregnate the chips with sulfide. One such cooking method sold by Metso is Compact Cooking where black liquor with relatively high residual alkali level is withdrawn from earlier phases of the cook and charged to a preceding impregnation stage.
One aspect of alkali consumption during the cooking process, i.e. including impregnation, is that a large part of the alkali consumption is due to the initial neutralization of the wood acidity, and as much as 50-75% of the total alkali consumption is occurring during the neutralization process. Hence, a lot of alkali is needed to be charged to the initial neutralization. This establish a cumbersome problem as high alkali concentrations had been found to be detrimental for pulp viscosity when charged to top of digesters in conventional cooking. One solution to meet the high alkali consumption and necessity to reduce alkali concentration in top of digester was to charge large volumes of alkali treatment liquors, preferably black liquor having a residual alkali content, but having low alkali concentration, which resulted in presence of relatively large amount of total alkali per kg of wood material but still at low alkali concentration.
IN U.S. Pat. No. 7,270,725 (=EP1458927) Metso disclosed a pretreatment stage using polysulfide cooking liquor ahead of black liquor treatment. In this process was the polysulfide treatment liquor drained after the pretreatment stage and before starting the black liquor treatment. The polysulfide treatment stage was also preferably kept short with treatment time in the range 2-10 minutes.
In a recent granted U.S. Pat. No. 7,828,930, is shown an example of a kraft cooking process where 100% of the cooking liquor, in form of polysulfide liquor also named as orange liquor, is charged to top of digester and start of an impregnation stage. Here is also the temperature raised from 60° C. to 120° C. at start of the polysulfide treatment stage. However, as shown in example 1 is a liquor to wood ratio of about 3.5 established in the top of the digester by adding a proper amount of water. This order of liquor/wood ratio is often perceived as a standard liquor/wood ratio in continuous cooking necessary for a steady process. According to this proposal is a part of the residual polysulfide treatment liquor at relative high alkali concentration withdrawn and replaced with cooking liquor at relative low alkali concentration at start of the cooking stage, and the withdrawn residual polysulfide treatment liquor is added at later stages of the cook.
There has thus been an ongoing development of cooking methods where both alkali concentrations at start of cook were reduced, and increased yield from the cooking process is sought for using among others addition of polysulfide cooking liquor that stabilize the carbohydrates.
The present invention is based upon the surprising finding that concentration of polysulfide should be kept high in a low temperature pretreatment stage at relatively long retention time before cooking, using liquor-to-wood ratios (L/W ratios) well below that were commonly used. The stabilization effect of carbohydrates, the major objective for polysulfide addition, has shown to be improved dramatically if using a liquor-to-wood ratio of about 2.9 instead of the conventional liquor to wood ratio of about 3.5, and all other conditions equal. This non-proportional effect of low liquor to wood ratio has not been disclosed or realized before despite the numerous proposals for improving cooking yield using polysulfide cooking liquor.
One object of the present invention is to provide an improved method for the preparation of kraft pulp with increased pulping yield from lignin-containing cellulosic material using polysulfide cooking liquor, wherein the lignin-containing cellulosic material is heated to a temperature in the range 50-100° C. followed by adding polysulfide cooking liquor to a first impregnation stage which in turn is followed by cooking stages resulting in a kraft pulp with a kappa number in the interval of 15 to 50, and more preferred in the interval of 17 to 40, and most preferred in the interval of 20 to 40. For some applications, for example when polysulfide cooking liquor is added to a first impregnation step, which is followed by a cooking stage and a refining step, to produce kraft liner, the kappa number can be higher, for example in the interval of 40 to 120, and more preferred in the interval of 70-110, and most preferred in the interval of 80 to 110. The impregnation stage of the improved method of the present invention is conducted at high alkali concentration, low temperature and high polysulfide concentration using polysulfide cooking liquor at a liquor-to-wood ratio in the range 2.0 to 3.2, and that the temperature is between 80-120° C. during a retention time resulting in a h-factor in the range 2-20 and preferably 2-10 of the impregnation stage. This low h-factor is indicative for that no cooking or delignification effect is obtained in the first impregnation stage, and hence is no reduction in pulp viscosity seen as could be the case if high alkali concentrations are at hand in cooking stages at higher temperatures.
According to one preferred embodiment of the method is the effective alkali concentration during the impregnation stage above 60 g/l when adding the polysulfide cooking liquor.
According to another preferred embodiment of the method is the polysulfide concentration during the impregnation stage above 3 g/l, or above 0.09 mol/l, when adding the polysulfide cooking liquor.
According to a further embodiment of the method is more than 90% of the total charge of cooking liquor needed for completion of the cooking stages to the intended kappa number below 40 charged to the first impregnation stage, and that at least 175 kg of alkali (EA as NaOH) per ton of chips is charged for softwood and at least 160 kg of alkali per ton of chips for hardwood.
According to yet another embodiment of the method is the alkali concentration reduced by at least 8 g/l by adding additional cooking liquids having less alkali concentration than the alkali concentration prevailing at end of the first impregnation stage when increasing the temperature to cooking temperature, said cooking liquids in at least part thereof include black liquor.
In a most preferred embodiment of the method is no black liquor added to the first impregnation stage.
When using the inventive method has also preferably the white liquor added to the first impregnation stage an alkali concentration above 100 g/l and a polysulfide concentration above 4 g/l.
The lignin-containing cellulosic materials to be used in the present process are suitably softwood, hardwood, or annual plants.

Kraft cooking method using polysulfide cooking liquor


An integrated electro-optical circuit board comprises a first flexible substrate having a top side and a bottom side, at least one first optical circuit on the bottom side of the first flexible substrate connected to the top surface through a filled via, at least one first metal trace on the top side of the first flexible substrate, an optical adhesive layer connecting the bottom side of the first flexible substrate to a top side of a second flexible substrate, and at least one second metal trace on a bottom side of the second flexible substrate connected by a filled via through the second flexible substrate, the optical adhesive layer, and the first flexible substrate to the at least one first metal trace.

To support future devices of high speed and high volume data transmission such as high performance computing (HPC), optical interconnect is the technology of choice. The conventional electrical circuit with copper interconnect is no longer viable due to its data bandwidth limitation and signal integrity issue. Optical interconnect offers numerous advantages for high performance devices. It enables a massive data transmission rate at lower attenuation/loss, latency, and power dissipation while being virtually immune to electromagnetic interference and noise. Meanwhile, electrical interconnect is more suitable for power distribution and signal processing and control. Electrical interconnect is also a mature technology with well-established infrastructure in the industry, hence it offers a significant cost advantage.
In recent years, flexible electronics have emerged as a promising solution for device miniaturization as it provides numerous advantages including higher circuitry density, thinner profile, lighter weight, and shape conformance capability (foldable and bendable) as compared to its rigid counterpart of printed circuit board (PCB). For even higher circuit density, multi-layer circuitry are utilized in which the circuits between layers are connected through via holes filled with signal carrying material.
By integrating optical interconnect with electrical interconnect into in a single package, advantages of both system can be realized. This is an attractive solution to accommodate complex and demanding technical requirements of high performance devices such as supercomputers, internet of things (IoTs), telecommunication networks, image detection, smart display, etc.
However, combining both interconnect systems to achieve a compact packaging module poses enormous challenges from a material and processing perspective. In optical circuits, the optical signal is transmitted through a core material that has to be fully enclosed by a cladding material. As the optical signal is transmitted based on the principle of total internal reflection, the refractive index of the core material has to be higher than the refractive index of the cladding material. The core, which acts as a waveguide to carry the optical signal, is typically made of silicon, III-V, glass or other polymer materials. In the electrical circuit, the electronic signal is typically transmitted through copper traces in between insulating dielectric material. As previously mentioned, the formation of an electrical interface has been well established in which copper is deposited, patterned, and etched on top of a dielectric surface which is typically flexible polyimide material to form the circuitry. With the significantly different requirements on each interface, a novel combination of material stack up is the key to achieving the integrated electro-optical flexible circuit board module. In this regard, glass emerges as an attractive material that is applicable for both optical and electrical interconnects due to its various unique properties. In an optical interface, glass is suitable as a cladding material for a wide range of core material owing to its relatively low refractive index. In an electrical interface, glass provides a superior insulation property with practically no dielectric loss for the copper trace and via interconnection. Glass also possesses excellent thermal stability with a coefficient of thermal expansion close to a mainstream semiconductor material such as silicon.
Various U.S. Patents discuss opto-electronic integration, optical adhesives, and cyclic olefin polymer. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,910,812 (Pommer et al), 9,130,254 (Izadian), 9,110,200 (Nichol et al), and 10,089,516 (Popovich et al) and U.S. Patent Applications 2018/0138346 (Simavoryan et al) and 2018/0226014 (Komanduri et al).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Integrated electro-optical flexible circuit board