The present invention is directed to novel compounds, to a process for their preparation, their use in therapy and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the novel compounds.

Glutamate is the major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). Glutamate produces its effects on central neurons by binding to and thereby activating cell surface receptors. These receptors have been divided into two major classes, the ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors, based on the structural features of the receptor proteins, the means by which the receptors transduce signals into the cell, and pharmacological profiles.
The metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are G protein-coupled receptors that activate a variety of intracellular second messenger systems following the binding of glutamate. Activation of mGluRs in intact mammalian neurons elicits one or more of the following responses: activation of phospholipase C; increases in phosphoinositide (PI) hydrolysis; intracellular calcium release; activation of phospholipase D; activation or inhibition of adenyl cyclase; increases or decreases in the formation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP); activation of guanylyl cyclase; increases in the formation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP); activation of phospholipase A2; increases in arachidonic acid release; and increases or decreases in the activity of voltage- and ligand-gated ion channels. Schoepp et al., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 14:13 (1993), Schoepp, Neurochem. Int. 24:439 (1994), Pin et al., Neuropharmacology 34:1 (1995), Bordi and Ugolini, Prog. Neurobiol. 59:55 (1999).
Molecular cloning has identified eight distinct mGluR subtypes, termed mGluR1 through mGluR8. Nakanishi, Neuron 13:1031 (1994), Pin et al., Neuropharmacology 34:1 (1995), Knopfel et al., J. Med. Chem. 38:1417 (1995). Further receptor diversity occurs via expression of alternatively spliced forms of certain mGluR subtypes. Pin et al., PNAS 89:10331 (1992), Minakami et al., BBRC 199:1136 (1994), Joly et al., J. Neurosci. 15:3970 (1995).
Metabotropic glutamate receptor subtypes may be subdivided into three groups, Group I, Group II, and Group III mGluRs, based on amino acid sequence homology, the second messenger systems utilized by the receptors, and by their pharmacological characteristics. Group I mGluR comprises mGluR1, mGluR5 and their alternatively spliced variants. The binding of agonists to these receptors results in the activation of phospholipase C and the subsequent mobilization of intracellular calcium.
Neurological, Psychiatric and Pain Disorders
Attempts at elucidating the physiological roles of Group I mGluRs suggest that activation of these receptors elicits neuronal excitation. Various studies have demonstrated that Group I mGluR agonists can produce postsynaptic excitation upon application to neurons in the hippocampus, cerebral cortex, cerebellum, and thalamus, as well as other CNS regions. Evidence indicates that this excitation is due to direct activation of postsynaptic mGluRs, but it also has been suggested that activation of presynaptic mGluRs occurs, resulting in increased neurotransmitter release. Baskys, Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 15:92 (1992), Schoepp, Neurochem. Int. 24:439 (1994), Pin et al., Neuropharmacology 34:1 (1995), Watkins et al., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 15:33 (1994).
Metabotropic glutamate receptors have been implicated in a number of normal processes in the mammalian CNS. Activation of mGluRs has been shown to be required for induction of hippocampal long-term potentiation and cerebellar long-term depression. Bashir et al., Nature 363:347 (1993), Bortolotto et al., Nature 368:740 (1994), Aiba et al., Cell 79:365 (1994), Aiba et al., Cell 79:377 (1994). A role for mGluR activation in nociception and analgesia also has been demonstrated, Meller et al., Neuroreport 4: 879 (1993), Bordi and Ugolini, Brain Res. 871:223 (1999). In addition, mGluR activation has been suggested to play a modulatory role in a variety of other normal processes including synaptic transmission, neuronal development, apoptotic neuronal death, synaptic plasticity, spatial learning, olfactory memory, central control of cardiac activity, waking, motor control and control of the vestibulo-ocular reflex. Nakanishi, Neuron 13: 1031 (1994), Pin et al., Neuropharmacology 34:1, Knopfel et al., J Med. Chem. 38:1417 (1995).
Further, Group I metabotropic glutamate receptors and mGluR5 in particular, have been suggested to play roles in a variety of pathophysiological processes and disorders affecting the CNS. These include stroke, head trauma, anoxic and ischemic injuries, hypoglycemia, epilepsy, neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and pain. Schoepp et al., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 14:13 (1993), Cunningham et al., Life Sci. 54:135 (1994), Hollman et al., Ann. Rev. Neurosci. 17:31 (1994), Pin et al., Neuropharmacology 34:1 (1995), Knopfel et al., J. Med. Chem. 38:1417 (1995), Spooren et al., Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 22:331 (2001), Gasparini et al. Curr. Opin. Pharmacol. 2:43 (2002), Neugebauer Pain 98:1 (2002). Much of the pathology in these conditions is thought to be due to excessive glutamate-induced excitation of CNS neurons. Because Group I mGluRs appear to increase glutamate-mediated neuronal excitation via postsynaptic mechanisms and enhanced presynaptic glutamate release, their activation probably contributes to the pathology. Accordingly, selective antagonists of Group I mGluR receptors could be therapeutically beneficial, specifically as neuroprotective agents, analgesics or anticonvulsants.
Recent advances in the elucidation of the neurophysiological roles of metabotropic glutamate receptors generally and Group I in particular, have established these receptors as promising drug targets in the therapy of acute and chronic neurological and psychiatric disorders and chronic and acute pain disorders.
Gastrointestinal Disorders
The lower esophageal sphincter (LES) is prone to relaxing intermittently. As a consequence, fluid from the stomach can pass into the esophagus since the mechanical barrier is temporarily lost at such times, an event hereinafter referred to as "reflux".
Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is the most prevalent upper gastrointestinal tract disease. Current pharmacotherapy aims at reducing gastric acid secretion, or at neutralizing acid in the esophagus. The major mechanism behind reflux has been considered to depend on a hypotonic lower esophageal sphincter. However, e.g. Holloway & Dent (1990) Gastroenterol. Clin. N. Amer. 19, pp. 517-535, has shown that most reflux episodes occur during transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations (TLESRs), i.e. relaxations not triggered by swallows. It has also been shown that gastric acid secretion usually is normal in patients with GERD.
The novel compounds according to the present invention are assumed to be useful for the inhibition of transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxations (TLESRs) and thus for treatment of gastro-esophageal reflux disorder (GERD).
It is well known that certain compounds may cause undesirable effects on cardiac repolarisation in man, observed as a prolongation of the QT interval on electrocardiograms (ECG). In extreme circumstances, this drug-induced prolongation of the QT interval can lead to a type of cardiac arrhythmia called Torsades de Pointes (TdP; Vandenberg et al. hERG K+ channels: friend and foe. Trends Pharmacol Sci 2001; 22: 240-246), leading ultimately to ventricular fibrillation and sudden death. The primary event in this syndrome is inhibition of the rapid component of the delayed rectifying potassium current (IKr) by these compounds. The compounds bind to the aperture-forming alpha sub-units of the channel protein carrying this current—sub-units that are encoded by the human ether-a-go-go-related gene (hERG). Since IKr plays a key role in repolarisation of the cardiac action potential, its inhibition slows repolarisation and this is manifested as a prolongation of the QT interval. Whilst QT interval prolongation is not a safety concern per se, it carries a risk of cardiovascular adverse effects and in a small percentage of people it can lead to TdP and degeneration into ventricular fibrillation.
Generally, compounds of the present invention have low activity against the hERG-encoded potassium channel. In this regard, low activity against hERG in vitro is indicative of low activity in vivo.
It is also desirable for drugs to possess good metabolic stability in order to enhance drug efficacy. Stability against human microsomal metabolism in vitro is indicative of stability towards metabolism in vivo.
Because of their physiological and pathophysiological significance, there is a need for new potent mGluR agonists and antagonists that display a high selectivity for mGluR subtypes, particularly the Group I receptor subtype, most particularly the mGluR5.
The object of the present invention is to provide compounds exhibiting an activity at metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs), especially at the mGluR5 receptor. In particular, the compounds according to the present invention are predominantly peripherally acting, i.e. have a limited ability of passing the blood-brain barrier.


Embodiments of the present invention include an apparatus, method, and system for providing a layered thermal management arrangement. Embodiments of the present invention provide a layered thermal management arrangement, including a plurality of first channels, one or more flow-regulation features having a first and second manifold to provide and regulate at least a portion of a first fluid flow to the plurality of first channels and to drain at least the portion of the first fluid flow from the plurality of first channels. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

The task of thermal management for microelectronic devices has been increasingly challenging, partly as a result of advances in integration and performance of integrated circuits. Thermal management is especially important in the operation of silicon microprocessors as relentlessly increasing frequency targets push power output, and therefore heat generation, to the limits of the cooling capacity of passive air-cooled heatsink technology. Insufficient heat transfer can result in degradation in performance and reliability of those devices or circuits.
Recent focus has turned to thermal management arrangements utilizing fluid flowing through microchannels to dissipate heat. Usually in a closed-loop arrangement, coolant such as water is pumped through the microchannels to take away the heat generated. However, despite the many efforts devoted to develop effective microchannel cooling solutions, there exists a need to improve the current state-of-the-art to achieve smaller pressure drop, and better fluid distribution.

Method and apparatus for a layered thermal management arrangement


A rotary actuator for disk drives includes a carriage rotatable on a vertical axis, and multiple transducing head suspensions extended horizontally away from the carriage in cantilever fashion. Data reading and writing circuitry includes an electrical circuit package mounted at the carriage, and multiple flexible printed circuits extending horizontally away from the circuit package, each for electrical coupling to one of the transducing heads. A series of slots, formed through the circuit package along one edge, support the flexible printed circuits to achieve an electrical and mechanical coupling that orients the flexible printed circuits with their major planes horizontal throughout their respective lengths, avoiding any twists of the flexible circuitry while providing improved damping and electrical performance. Alternative connecting structures, in lieu of the slots, include rigid rails on one or both sides of each flexible printed circuit, and bendable tabs incorporated into the printed circuits.

The present invention relates to magnetic disk drive data storage devices, and more particularly to the circuitry used to transmit signals to and from the magnetic data transducers used in such devices.
Designers of computer data storage products continually seek to improve disk drive performance, in terms of more rapid data transmission, increased reliability, and better use of the limited physical space available for the data storage media, data transducing heads and other components. These considerations arise in connection with the electrical circuitry that interacts with the transducing heads and their support and positioning structure. Such circuitry transmits essential data recording, reading and erasure signals to and from the transducers.
This circuitry can take a variety of forms. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,012,368 (Bosier et al) discloses multiple leads in the form of wires, extending along one side of a transducer support arm from a lead clip to the transducers. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,572 (Kinoshita et al), a flexible printed circuit extends along one side of a stack of transducer support arms towards the magnetic heads supported by the arms. Wires couple individual heads with the flexible printed circuit.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,055,969 (Putnam), assigned to the assignee of this application, discloses a multi-layer flexible circuit, a portion of which is mounted to the transducer support arm parallel to the arm, incorporating a data pre-amplifier 40 and a servo pre-amplifier 42. The circuit further includes a tail portion 32 perpendicular to the arm, requiring EL 90 degree turn or twist in the tail portion.
While these approaches are satisfactory in certain circumstances, present day actuator arrangements featuring thinner, lighter weight planar suspensions for supporting transducers, and frequently involve stacked arrangements of multiple suspensions, and thus raise several needs that remain unmet by presently used circuitry and circuitry support arrangements.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a flexible circuit mounted along a transducer suspension that provides improved reliability, simpler installation and better damping characteristics.
Another object is to provide, in connection with actuators incorporating several data transducing heads, several flexible circuit packages associated individually with different transducing heads and mounted in a side-by-side arrangement that improves impedance matching among the circuit packages.
A further object is to provide an improved structure for electrically and mechanically coupling a rigid circuit and flexible printed circuits that extend from the rigid circuit to data transducing heads, to facilitate a space-saving planar orientation of the flexible printed circuits.
Yet another object is to provide an actuator with multiple transducer suspensions in a parallel, stacked arrangement, in which multiple flexible printed circuits are mounted with their major planes parallel to the major planes of the suspensions, to reduce the physical space requirements for the actuator and improve actuator performance.

Planar flexible circuit package for coupling transducers with carriage mounted circuitry


Disclosed herein is a cell culture apparatus that can achieve appropriate culture conditions. The cell culture apparatus (1) includes: a cylindrical culture vessel (10) that holds a culture liquid containing cells; a supporting column (20) that stands upright in a center of an inner surface of a bottom (12) in the culture vessel; and a stirring device (30) that includes an attaching portion (32) that is attached to an upper portion of the supporting column so as to be rotatable relative to the supporting column and a stirring blade (34) whose upper portion is fixed to the attaching portion so as to rotate around the supporting column.

Pluripotent stem cells, such as embryonic stem cells (ES cells) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells), can differentiate into cells of all tissues and organs of living body, and therefore have been actively researched and developed in recent years. These pluripotent stem cells have potential as a new supply source of cells for cell therapy, and therefore expectations for their clinical applications are increasing. However, since pluripotent stem cells have the ability to differentiate into various tissue cells, it is difficult to culture and amplify a large amount of pluripotent stem cells while maintaining their undifferentiated state. Therefore, pluripotent stem cells need to be cultured by a method different from a conventional culture method.
As a method for culturing and amplifying pluripotent stem cells while maintaining their undifferentiated state, a method is known in which cell aggregates called embryoid bodies (EBs) are formed and cultured. This is a culture method in which cellular aggregates are formed in imitation of the embryo of a vertebrate formed by repeated cleavage after fertilization. Embryo development is imitated by forming embryoid bodies, and differentiation of the embryoid bodies into any cells can be induced by adding various growth factors etc.
In order to induce differentiation of ES cells or iPS cells, embryoid bodies from these cells need to be formed. Various methods are known for forming embryoid bodies (see Non Patent Literature 1). Examples of a method for forming embryoid bodies include: a method using a culture dish having low cell-adhesive properties, a method called "hanging-drop method" in which a culture liquid containing cells is applied to the cover of a culture dish, and a stirred-suspension culture method. Three-dimensional-stirred suspension culture allows process control and is suitable for scale-up. On the other hand, particularly human-derived ES/iPS cells are very sensitive to shear stress, and therefore stirred-suspension culture requires a stirring device that can achieve a low shear stress. For this reason, a measure such as reducing the blade area of a stirring impeller or reducing the tip speed of a blade during stirring is taken. During embryoid body formation, ES cells or iPS cells grow within embryoid bodies while maintaining their undifferentiated state so that the specific gravity of the embryoid bodies increases. Therefore, when such a measure is uniformly taken, desired cells cannot be obtained in good yield due to non-uniform culture. Its major cause is that the embryoid bodies aggregate in an area in a culture vessel where a liquid flow is not uniform, and therefore the specific gravity of the embryoid bodies further increases so that stirred-suspension itself cannot be performed.
Embryoid bodies having too large a particle size bring cells within the embryoid bodies into a state of ischemia (low nutrition, low oxygen), which promotes cell death and interferes with uniform penetration (diffusion) of a differentiation-inducing factor added to a culture medium into the embryoid bodies. It is said that cell aggregates such as embryoid bodies preferably have a diameter of about 200 μm to successfully supply oxygen and nutrients to their central part and to differentiate into any cells. Therefore, it is important for induction of differentiation of cell aggregates such as embryoid bodies into any cells to obtain and culture a population of cell aggregates (e.g., embryoid bodies) having a uniform particle size of 100 to 300 μm in the process of embryoid body formation (see Non Patent Literature 2). When cell aggregates non-uniform in particle size are formed, nutrients, oxygen, differentiation-inducing factors, etc. added to induce differentiation into any cells cannot penetrate into the cell aggregates, which inhibits cell growth and differentiation induction.
From the viewpoint of liquid flow, the following conventional culture methods are generally used: a method (axial-flow culture) in which a vertical flow along a stirring shaft is created using a stirring impeller having two or more blades attached at a given inclination angle with respect to the stirring shaft (see Non Patent Literature 3); and a method (laminar-flow culture) in which a horizontal flow (with a doughnut shape as seen from above) is created by rotating several large paddles that stand perpendicular to the inner surface of bottom of a culture vessel or by rotating a stirring shaft having a thick bulb-shaped tip. FIG. 4 is a schematic sectional view of a cell culture apparatus equipped with a paddle-type stirring impeller as one example of a cell culture apparatus equipped with a stirring impeller having two or more blades attached at a given inclination angle with respect to a stirring shaft. FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of a cell culture apparatus manufactured by INTEGRA as one example of a cell culture apparatus in which a horizontal flow is created by rotating a stirring shaft having a thick bulb-shaped tip. Both the cell culture apparatuses will be described later.
Axial-flow culture requires a stirring impeller having many blades to uniformly stir the entire culture liquid in a culture vessel at a low speed, and therefore there is a fear that shear stress caused by rotation increases. Further, stagnation is likely to occur directly below a shaft because of the structure of the stirring impeller, and therefore there is also a problem that cell aggregates (e.g., embryoid bodies) having an increased specific gravity due to cell growth precipitate and therefore cell aggregates uniform in particle size are difficult to obtain. Laminar-flow culture can easily achieve stirring at a very low shear stress by setting a rotation speed to a level such that a turbulent flow does not occur, but has a problem that stagnation is easily to occur in the center of a doughnut-shaped liquid flow.
Various sensors that measure pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), temperature, etc. are inserted into a culture vessel during culture. However, when pluripotent stem cells are cultured in a small volume of culture liquid of about several tens of milliliters to 100 mL, there is a fear that conventional sensors interfere with uniform stirring because their excluded volumes are too large with respect to the volume of the culture liquid. Therefore, in order to achieve appropriate culture conditions, the shape, structure, or arrangement of various sensors as well as the shape of a culture vessel or stirring blade needs to be devised so that the sensors do not interfere with uniform stirring. The temperature sensor is conventionally inserted into a sheath tube inserted into a culture vessel through the top plate of the culture vessel so that its tip is located several tens of millimeters below the liquid level of the culture vessel to indirectly measure a liquid temperature. The temperature sensor includes a stainless-steel sheath tube having a closed tip, and there is, generally, a temperature-sensitive part for measuring temperature in a position several millimeters away from the tip, in which a resistance temperature detector or the like is embedded. When the temperature sensor has a diameter of 3 mm, the tip of the sensor is usually located 15 mm (five times the diameter of the temperature sensor) below the liquid level. If the depth of the tip of the sensor is less than 15 mm, the liquid temperature cannot be accurately measured, and if the depth of the tip of the sensor exceeds 15 mm, the sensor interferes with uniform stirring. Further, there is trouble that an operator makes the mistake of not inserting the temperature sensor into the sheath tube, which causes overheating of a culture liquid and results in the failure of culture. Even if an operator forgets to connect the pH or DO sensor to a sensor connector, since the value of pH or DO slowly changes, there is a low possibility that culture ends in failure when the operator quickly discovers and addresses the mistake. However, when an operator forgets to insert the temperature sensor, since the cell culture apparatus cannot determine whether a temperature reading is the temperature of the culture liquid or a room temperature, there is a case where the temperature of the culture liquid exceeds 50° C. before the operator discovers the mistake. Culture of pluripotent stem cells uses an expensive culture medium and needs a long period of time, and therefore there has been a strong user demand for measures directed toward elimination of mistakes in the operation of setting a temperature sensor in a culture vessel.

Cell culture apparatus and cell culture method using the same


The use of XML types can allow the combination of XML and JAVA® type systems, which overcomes many deficiencies in existing marshaling and unmarshaling systems by translating XML schemas which define XML data in an XML document into XML types in JAVA®. Unlike traditional attempts at translating between XML and JAVA®, XML schemas realized as XML types can remain fully faithful to the XML, and are capable of a number of XML data operations. In addition, the XML types can be easily transformed among themselves and JAVA® types, and a lightweight store retaining XML information at tag level allows incremental XML marshaling and unmarshaling.

Certain drawbacks exist in the way data is currently transformed, or marshaled, between data types. In existing systems, a user staffs with an existing Java type and asks the system to generate the XML schema that reflects the JAVA® type, and further to marshal the JAVA® data to the XML that was automatically generated. Most products that marshal XML run through a compiler, such as a JAVA® to WSDL compiler, in order to generate an XML schema. One drawback to such an approach is that only the scenario going from JAVA® to XML is addressed. Current tools are not particularly good at taking an existing XML schema and turning that entire schema into a convenient-to-use JAVA® type.
Another problem with current marshaling technologies appears when a user simply wishes to look at a small piece of XML data. That user may prefer to simply pass on the rest of the XML data without processing that data. Current marshaling technologies are not effective at simply passing on the remainder of the data. Typically, going from marshaling to unmarshaling is complicated, as not all semantics in XML can be easily captured in JAVA®. If a user brings in a message, changes a small portion of the message, and tries to resend the message as XML, portions other than that changed by the user will be different, such that a lot of other information may be lost. If the XML contains wildcard attributes or elements, for example, those wildcards will not be retained. Information about element order may also be lost or scrambled, which is a problem if the schema is sensitive to element order.

Marshaling and un-marshaling data types in XML and Java


Gearwheel pump, having a housing with at least two intermeshing gears with shafts supported by slide bearings lubricated with pumping medium (M) fed from a suction side to a pressure side, a return duct which leads pumping medium which flows outward through the plain bearing back to the suction side, and a valve (5) having a stationary part and a moveable part (20, 21). The valve (5) has a setting characteristic which runs, as a first approximation, linearly at least in one region, wherein the setting characteristic is defined by a differential pressure (Δp) across the valve as a function of a setting path (x) in the valve (5) thereby significantly improving capability for setting the pressure in the transition region between the plain bearing and a dynamic seal of a driveshaft which is guided outward.

Substantially, gear pumps consist of a housing with two intermeshing gears, which are arranged on shafts, at least one of the shafts being connected to a drive. The shafts are supported by slide bearings lubricated with pumping medium, which slide bearings are immediately arranged next to the internal space of the pump. The pumping medium used for the lubrication of the slide bearings gets from the pressure side via the gap of the slide bearing and a return duct into the suction side of the gear pump.
Gear pumps in particular, which are used for the conveying of low-viscous polymers and prepolymers and which comprise a dynamic sealing—in the form of a labyrinth sealing (sealing of threaded mandrel) for example—and subsequent static sealing—a packing sealing with or without sealing medium, for example—, must be ensured that always a positive pressure with respect to the suction side is present ahead of the dynamic mandrel sealing, since otherwise—in using a sealing medium—this can get into the pumping medium, which is highly undesirable. The positive pressure is necessary in order to get a sufficient filling of the sealing gap of the dynamic sealing. Thus, a penetration of sealing medium can be prevented into the main stream of the pumping medium.
On the other side, the pressure should not be too high in front of the dynamic mandrel sealing, since otherwise pumping medium can get outside via the dynamic mandrel sealing or—if a static sealing is present—the pumping medium gets in contact with this sealing, whereby a destruction of the static sealing must be expected.
Furthermore, it must be ensured that the return duct can be closed at the static sealing during maintenance work. For this reason, a valve has been provided in the return duct, by which a penetration of air into the suction side of the gear pump can be cut off.
However, the known valve is not suitable to meet the afore-mentioned conditions for the adjustment of the pressure of the pumping medium in front of the dynamic mandrel sealing. Thus, due to the adjustment characteristic of the known valve, it is uttermost difficult to adjust a pressure of a pumping medium in front of the dynamic sealing in complying with the afore-mentioned pressure conditions, since the range is very small, in which an adjustment must be made.
Therefore, the present invention has the object to provide a gear pump, which does not have the afore-mentioned drawbacks.
This object is solved by the present invention wherein the valve of the gear pump has an adjustment range, in which the pressure difference in function of the adjustment path has a slope between 0.05 and 2.5 bar per percentage of a maximum adjustment path, and wherein the adjustment range is at least 50% of the maximum adjustment path. Further embodiments of the present invention are described below.
The present invention relates to a gear pump consisting of a housing with at least two intermeshing gears, each with a shaft, which is supported by slide bearings lubricated with pumping medium. A pumping medium is conveyed from a suction side to a pressure side, and a return duct is provided, which leads pumping medium flowing to the outside via the slide bearing back to the suction side, and with a valve having a movable and a stationary part for the adjustment of a pressure difference in function of a adjustment path, which indicates a position between the stationary and the movable part. According to the present invention, the valve comprises an adjustment range, in which the pressure difference in function of the adjustment path comprises a slope between 0.05 and 2.5 bar per percentage of a maximum adjustment path. Furthermore, the adjustment range comprises at least 50% of the maximum adjustment path.
It arises as unit for the slope "bar per percentage of the maximum adjustment path xmax". This unit is valid for all values indicated in this description for the slope for the course of the pressure difference in function of the adjustment path.
Therewith, a considerable improvement of the adjustment possibility of the pressure is obtained in the transition range between the slide bearing and a dynamic sealing of a drive shaft directed to the outside. In general, a good-natured adjustment characteristic has been obtained.
An embodiment of the gear pump according to the present invention is characterized in that the pressure difference in function of the adjustment path comprises a slope between 0.05 and 2 bar per percentage of the maximum adjustment path, particularly between 0.05 and 1.75 bar per percentage of the maximum adjustment path.
A further embodiment of the gear pump according to the present invention is characterized in that a closing range is provided, in which the pressure difference in function of the adjustment path is higher than 2.5 bar per percentage of the maximum adjustment path, the closing range comprising preferably 10 to 15% of the maximum adjustment path.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the valve is contained in the return duct.
Alternatively, to the preceding embodiment of the present invention, the valve is contained in a feeding duct, which leads from the pressure side to the region arranged behind the slide bearing, viewed from the gears.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the valve comprises a pressure adjustment section, which mainly serves for the pressure adjustment. Furthermore, the valve comprises a closing section, by which the duct containing the valve can be opened or closed, respectively.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the movable part is insert-able into the stationary part.
In another embodiment, the movable and the stationary part contact each other in the closing section if the duct containing the valve is closed.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the valve comprises a pressure adjustment section, which serves mainly for the adjustment of the pressure, and a closing section, in which the duct containing the valve can be opened or closed, respectively, the adjustment characteristic running linearly in the pressure adjustment section in a first approximation.
In a further embodiment of the present invention, the stationary part is an exchangeable sleeve.
In another further embodiment of the present invention, the valve comprises the following dimensions:                x: 0.5*D . . . 5*D, particularly 3*D;        S1: 0.008*D . . . 0.08*D;        di: di<D, di=D/1.5 . . . D/1.2;x being the adjustment path, D the diameter of the movable part, di the passage opening in the closing section, and S1 the gap width between the stationary and the movable part.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the movable part is merely translatory displaceable.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a mandrel lifting drive is provided in order to displace the movable part in a translatory manner.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the movable part facing the end of the suction side is tapered, globular or flat.
A further embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that the movable part comprises one of the following cross-sections:                Polygon, particularly a triangle, quadrangle or hexagon;        oval;        round.
Finally, a further embodiment of the present invention consists in that the closing section is provided after the pressure adjustment section in flow direction of the pumping medium.
The present invention is further explained with the aid of exemplified embodiments, which are shown in figures.

Gear pump with a valve arranged between a suction side and a pressure side of the gear pump


A piezoelectric ultrasonic motor and a method of manufacturing the piezoelectric ultrasonic motor. The piezoelectric ultrasonic motor includes: a piezoelectric body that generates a traveling wave according to an applied voltage signal; a vibrator that is attached to the piezoelectric body and vibrates; and a rotator that contacts the vibrator and is rotated by friction with the vibrating vibrator, wherein the rotator includes a plate spring member having a contact portion that contacts the vibrator, a support member that is coupled to the plate spring member and supports the plate spring member, and a buffer space defined by the plate spring member and the support member.

1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to a piezoelectric ultrasonic motor having a driving force due to friction between a vibrator and a rotator, and a method of manufacturing the piezoelectric ultrasonic motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A piezoelectric ultrasonic motor is a motor that is rotated by friction between a vibrator and a rotator and is driven by applying an ultrasonic driving voltage at a frequency of 20 kHz or greater, which humans cannot detect. Unlike a high speed and high torque electromagnetic motor, the piezoelectric ultrasonic motor has a low speed and a high torque, and may be driven without any additional deceleration gear. Further, the piezoelectric ultrasonic motor has a self-braking function due to frictional force, and does not generate electronic waves since coils or magnetic bodies are not used. Further, precision control may be conducted by using the piezoelectric ultrasonic motor, and the piezoelectric ultrasonic motor may be easily applied to systems, such as precision machines, due to the compact size of the piezoelectric ultrasonic motor. The piezoelectric ultrasonic motor can be used in fields such as robots, medical equipment, cameras, semiconductor testing equipment, building automation equipment, etc. which use super-precision position control.
A rotator and a vibrator of a general piezoelectric ultrasonic motor are manufactured using a metal cutting process, and include a spring structure in contacting bodies where the flatness of a frictional surface of the vibrator is not uniform, in order to maintain uniform friction by pressing the vibrator against the rotator. However, the spring structure of the rotator formed by a cutting process has a complicated shape and a small thickness, and thus, it is difficult to manufacture the spring structure and to control the flatness of the rotator.
Further, in order to increase the resistance of the rotator to abrasion, a thin anti-abrasion coating layer may be formed on surfaces of the vibrator and the rotator. However, when metal is cut to form the spring structure, a burr is generated, and if the anti-abrasion layer is formed without post-process to remove the burr, it is difficult to form the anti-abrasion layer with a uniform thickness. Thus, the anti-abrasion layer can be partially damaged and the anti-abrasion characteristics of the rotator are deteriorated, thereby increasing driving noise and decreasing the efficiency of the piezoelectric ultrasonic motor.

Piezoelectric ultrasonic motor and method of manufacturing the same


A resin composition containing a binder resin (A), alkoxysilyl group-containing (meth)acrylate compound (B), tetrafunctional or higher functional (meth)acrylate compound (C), and photopolymerization initiator (D), wherein a total content of the alkoxysilyl group-containing (meth)acrylate compound (B) and the tetrafunctional or higher functional (meth)acrylate compound (C) is 0.5 to 10 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the binder resin (A) is provided.

A touch pallet or flexible organic EL display or other display device which is provided with a touch panel structure or an integrated circuit device, solid state imaging device, color filter, black matrix, or other electronic device is provided with a protective film for preventing deterioration or damage, a flattening film for flattening the device surface or interconnects, an electric insulating film for ensuring the electrical insulation property, etc. constituted by various types of resin films.
In the past, as the resin materials for forming such resin films, epoxy resins and other heat curable resin materials have been generally used. In recent years, along with the higher density of interconnects and devices, development of new resin materials excellent in low dielectric constant and other electrical characteristics has been sought for these resin materials as well.
To deal with such demands, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a radiation-sensitive resin composition containing a cyclic olefin polymer which has a protonic polar group, unsaturated group-containing compound, silane-modified organic-inorganic hybrid compound, and radical-generating photopolymerization initiator.

Resin composition, resin film, and electronic device


In a method and a magnetic resonance system to acquire MR data in a predetermined region within an examination subject, a first three-dimensional volume segment is selectively excited with an RF excitation pulse, this first volume segment including the predetermined region and having a first thickness along a first thickness direction. A selective refocusing pulse is activated in order to selectively refocus a second volume segment. The second volume segment likewise includes the predetermined region and has a second thickness along a second thickness direction orthogonal to the first thickness direction. The following sub-steps are implemented repeatedly in succession: a non-selective refocusing pulse is activated. Two phase coding gradients and an additional magnetic field gradient are activated for spatial coding, and the MR data are read out while the additional magnetic field gradient is activated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a method and a correspondingly designed magnetic resonance (MR) system for acquiring MR data in a predetermined region, in particular in a (three-dimensional) cuboid of an examination subject.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,592 describes a method to acquire MR images based on a spectral chemical shift in an internal volume of a subject. An RF excitation pulse is radiated during a switched (activated) Gy gradient, and subsequently a refocusing pulse is radiated during a switched Gz gradient.
According to the prior art, in the acquisition of MR data of a predetermined region (under the circumstances that the subject is not completely covered in the phase coding direction), aliasing artifacts occur because signals from adjacent regions are not correctly associated with their location due to aliasing.

Method and magnetic resonance system for acquiring magnetic resonance data in a predetermined region of an examination subject


A method and an apparatus for autonomous movement of a parked motor vehicle out of a parking space in which it is blocking an entranceway to a facility such as private driveway. A method has the following steps: is parked in a blocking position blocking relative to an entranceway, detecting that a second vehicle requires passage through the entranceway, and operating a parking assistance system to autonomously remove the vehicle from the blocking position to permit passage of the second vehicle. The parking assistance system returns the vehicle to the original parking position after passage of the second vehicle through the entranceway is complete. The requirement for a second vehicle to pass through the entranceway may be detected using wireless vehicle-to-vehicle communication, or using a remote sensing system on-board the vehicle to detect the second vehicle.

The provision of parking space, in particular in city centers, constitutes an increasing challenge. At specific busy times the number of available parking spaces is frequently not sufficient, wherein the time wasted by road users to find a suitable parking place entails considerable stress, additional air pollution and the waste of energy and fuel. On the other hand, the respective city administration only has a limited area available as parking space and is often subjected to ever higher costs to provide new parking places.
When roads within a city center are considered more closely it can frequently be found that some locations are never used as a parking place because, for example, parking is prohibited owing to regulations and laws. These include, for example, locations which form the access to a facility such as, for example, a private garage, a large door of a building, a fire service entrance etc. Such locations are often identifiable for road users by the curbs at these locations being lowered to permit better access for vehicles. Such locations are referred to here and below as entranceway parking places (EPP). If a third person were to park their vehicle there, the entranceway to the respective facility would therefore be blocked for other road users. If someone parks, for example, before the entrance to a private garage, the garage owner is no longer able to park his vehicle therein or remove his vehicle therefrom and under certain circumstances informs the police.
DE 10 2009 057 647 A1 discloses, inter alia, a method and an apparatus for arranging waiting positions for at least two motor vehicles, one of the motor vehicles having an interface for communicating with another motor vehicle which has another corresponding interface. In addition, in the respective motor vehicle a unit is provided for autonomously maneuvering the motor vehicle. In reaction to the reception of, for example, a request of the other motor vehicle for parking at the location or removal from the location via the interface, a maneuver is carried out as a function of the maneuvering request, and therefore a contribution to cooperative optimization of a parking space is made.

Method and apparatus for autonomous movement of a parked motor vehicle


A magnetic rotor includes a soft ferrite substrate and a plurality of central conductors. The magnetic rotor is provided inside a casing. A permanent magnet is provided inside the casing, and disposed to overlap the magnetic rotor so as to apply a DC magnetic field to the magnetic rotor. The casing includes a magnetic metal material. The casing is coupled with the permanent magnet so as to form a yoke. A coupling portion is formed in a direction crossing a magnetic circuit of the yoke. The casing is coupled in a direction of the magnetic circuit through the coupling portion. The coupling portion includes a single plate capacitor having a high impedance in response to a DC current and has low impedance in response to a high frequency current.

The present invention relates to a non-reciprocal circuit element such as an isolator or a circulator.
Non-reciprocal circuit elements such as isolators or circulators are used in mobile wireless equipments such as cellular phones. Such a non-reciprocal circuit element is constituted by accommodating magnetic parts and electric parts in a magnetic metal casing serving as a yoke. The magnetic parts include a magnetic rotor constituted by a soft ferrite substrate, a central electrode, etc., a permanent magnet, and so on. The electric parts include a matching capacitor, a terminating resistor, and so on.
The soft ferrite substrate is combined with the central electrode so that a DC magnetic field is applied from the permanent magnet to the soft ferrite substrate. The central electrode includes a plurality of central conductors. One end of the central electrode is disposed on one surface of the soft ferrite substrate so as to be grounded as a ground portion on the metal casing. The central conductors are disposed on the other surface of the soft ferrite substrate so as to be insulated from one another while crossing one another at a predetermined angle. The front end of each central conductor is connected to an electric part such as a matching capacitor or a terminating resistor, and extracted to the outside of the metal casing so as to serve as an external terminal.
The market demands to miniaturize such a non-reciprocal circuit element infinitely. The present dimensions of the non-reciprocal circuit element have been reduced to be 4 mm square or smaller. With this miniaturization, the magnetic rotor or the permanent magnet constituting the non-reciprocal circuit element has been improved to be smaller in size and lower in profile. Thus, those parts have been mounted in high density in the metal casing. In addition, recently, the operating frequency band of such a non-reciprocal circuit element has reached a GHz band. When the non-reciprocal circuit element mounted thus in high density is operated by a high frequency signal, there occurs a problem that a high frequency current is generated in the metal casing.
That is, in the aforementioned non-reciprocal circuit element, a magnetic metal material forming the casing is disposed around the magnetic rotor and the permanent magnet and in close contact. Therefore, when a high frequency signal is supplied to the central conductors constituting the magnetic rotor, a high frequency current is induced in the casing due to an inductance component of the central conductors and an inductance component of the casing. This high frequency current is wasted as Joule loss. On the other hand, the high frequency current orbiting the casing acts to cancel the signal flowing in the central conductors. Thus, the high frequency magnetic field of the magnetic rotor is weakened to degrade the electric characteristic of the non-reciprocal circuit element.
In order to solve such a problem, for example, JP-A-2001-177308 discloses a technique in which ferrite and a gap for blocking an orbiting current (high frequency current) flowing around a central electrode are provided in a metal casing. Further improvement in the characteristic is, however, desired.


A method for manufacturing an organic device includes the steps of applying a photoresist onto at least an active first region arranged on a substrate of the organic device, and removing the photoresist from the substrate in a second region adjacent to the active first region. Additionally, the method includes the steps of applying a passivation layer onto the first and second regions and removing the photoresist and the passivation layer in the active first region.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for manufacturing an organic device, to an organic device, to an optical display comprising such a device, and to the usage of the optical display as an optical viewfinder.
Organic devices are exemplarily used as organic transistors (OFETs) or organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). OLEDs exhibit low a current consumption and high flexibility with regard to the field of application. OLEDs may be miniaturized to a degree such that same may be used for display purposes, exemplarily in optical viewfinders of cameras.
Special or specially adapted manufacturing methods are used for manufacturing the very small structures or patterns which are frequently necessitated here, exemplarily in the micrometer range, many of these manufacturing methods being based on classical lithographic processes.
An example of such an adapted manufacturing method is producing a so-called electrode edge protection, exemplarily when producing passive matrix displays. Producing the electrode edge protection takes place by means of lithographic processes. Feed lines and/or edges of electrodes here are covered by an insulating resist which may be patterned lithographically so as to provide a kind of protective film for subsequent manufacturing processes. Examples of resists of this kind are polyamide photoresists, such as, for example, TORAY and photoneece, or conventional photoresists. Of disadvantage in this method is the long-term stability of the passivation and stability towards cleaning procedures, such as, for example, ultrasonic cleaning. Another disadvantage is the fact that water is released as a consequence of temperature influence and/or storage. Additionally, photoresists are only suitable to a limited degree for applications necessitating high transparency, since photoresists are optically visible and typically exhibit a thickness of several micrometers.
A method for connecting microscopic OLEDs in series is described in a patent document (WO 2010/1005844 A2). Here, an insulator is applied in between electro regions produced on a substrate in order to allow edge insulation. A sputtering process performed on a microscopic scale, with the aid of shadow masks, may be employed for this process. Applying the insulator here, however, may take place before applying active layers or connecting structures. However, depositing through a shadow mask is not sufficiently precise for producing small (microscopic) OLED areas, in particular those of special geometries. This is why there is the need for an improved approach.
The object underlying the present invention is providing a concept for manufacturing an organic device which is optimized with regard to manufacturing cost, shaping, electrical and optical characteristics, in particular as regards transparency.

Organic device and manufacturing method thereof

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.


A drip irrigation emitter includes an elastomeric membrane formed on one side with a recess having a flat bottom to define a thin wall section of substantially smaller thickness than the remainder of the elastomeric membrane, and with a flow-restrictor orifice centrally through the thin wall section and of much smaller cross-sectional area than that of the recess to produce a pressure drop in the fluid flowing therethrough to the emitter outlet opening. The membrane is deformable to enlarge or restrict the flow to the outlet opening in response to changes in the inlet pressure to thereby regulate the flow through the outlet opening.

The present invention relates to drip irrigation emitters, and particularly to regulated emitters for supplying irrigation water at a relatively constant rate irrespective of fluctuations in the water supply pressure.
A number of regulated drip irrigation emitters have been described in the patent literature. One type, called an "off-line" emitter, is attachable as an off-line branch to a water supply pipe; examples of such emitters are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,209,133, 4,384,680, 4,718,608, and 4,307,841. Another type, called an "in-line" emitter, is fixed to the inner face of the water supply pipe so as to be connected in-line with respect to the water flowing therethrough; an example of such a regulated emitter is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,143).


Technology for improving performance of a personal display device by variably controlling the emission divergence and/or the emission direction of light from the pixels of the display as a function of the location of the pixel within a display.

A Head Mounted Display is a device, worn on the head, that includes one or more displays positioned in front of one or more eyes of a user. HMDs can be used in Virtual Reality (VR) or Augment Reality (AR) applications for gaming, manufacturing, engineering, medicine, aviation and the like. HMDs are typically constrained by cost, size, weight, power consumption, Field of View (FOV), resolution and other similar criteria. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for improved HMDs.

Head mounted display including variable beam divergence and/or beam direction


An integrated circuit (IC) can include a processor system configured to execute program code, a programmable logic, and a platform management controller coupled to the processor system and the programmable logic. The platform management controller is adapted to configure and control the processor system and the programmable logic independently.

A programmable integrated circuit (IC) refers to a type of device that includes programmable logic. An example of a programmable device or IC is a field programmable gate array (FPGA). Some modern programmable ICs have evolved to include programmable logic as a subsystem in combination with one or more other subsystems. For example, some programmable ICs include programmable logic in combination with a hardwired processor. These types of programmable ICs may also be referred to as System-on-Chips or "SoCs."

Subsystem for configuration, security, and management of an adaptive system


A power generation control apparatus to be used for a motorcar power distributor can effectively prevent any excessive charging current from flowing into the battery and consequently protect the battery against degradation. Additionally, it can minimize fluctuations in the supply voltage and functional failures in the loads of the electric equipment of the motorcar. The power generation control apparatus to be used for a motorcar power distributor comprises an alternator for generating an alternating current to be subjected to full-wave rectification by means of a rectifier to produce a direct current, said alternator being connected to the power supply route from the battery by way of an alternator supply line at a point immediately upstream relative to the branch point for branching the power supply so that the battery may be charged with power generated by the alternator and the loads may be fed respectively with the branched power supply. A power supply control means determines the relationship between the current detected by a load feeding current sensor and the current detected by a generated current sensor by comparing their intensities and controlling the rate of power generation of said alternator according to the determined relationship.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a power generation control apparatus to be used for a motorcar and, more particularly, it relates to a motorcar power generation control apparatus for controlling the power output of the alternator of a motorcar for electrically charging the battery and supplying the electric equipment with power in the motorcar.
2. Prior Art
FIG. 7 of the accompanying drawings is a schematic circuit diagram of a known arrangement for controlling the power output of the alternator of a motorcar. Referring to FIG. 7, there is shown an alternator comprising an AC generator 11, six rectifiers (diodes) 12 and an IC regulator 13, which are housed in a common case.
The AC generator 11 comprises a stator coil 11a having star-connected three-phase windings and a field coil (rotor coil) 11b. As the electric magnet carrying the field coil 11b as part thereof is driven to rotate, the generator produces from its stator coil 11a a three-phase electric current due to the alternating voltage generated in the stator coil 11a and having three phases that are shifted by 120.degree. from each other. The alternating current generated in the stator coil 11a is then subjected to full-wave rectification by means of a full-wave rectifier 12 comprised of a total of six diodes to give rise to a direct current, which is subsequently used to electrically charge a battery 2 by way of a fusible link 3 for protecting the battery and/or feed the electric equipment (not shown) of the motorcar. The electric current for energizing the rotor to make it operate as an electric magnet is fed to the field coil 11b as an excitation current by way of a brush and a slip-ring (not shown) under the control of an IC regulator 13.
If a constant excitation current is fed to the field coil 11b, the electromotive force generated by the AC generator 11 is proportional to the number of revolutions per unit time of the field coil 11b so that the generated voltage has to be regulated. Thus, the IC regulator 13 regulates the excitation current flowing to the field coil 11b in order to maintain the generated voltage to a constant level.
On the other hand, the battery 2 is connected to the alternator 1 by way of a FL 3 for protecting the battery. Each of the loads of the electric equipment of the motorcar is also fed with electricity from the alternator 1 also by way of the FL 3 and the supply line L1 of FIG. 7.
Referring to FIG. 7, the IC regulator 13 is not a relay-based regulator but an IC-based voltage regulator for controlling the output voltage of the AC generator 11 so that it may be housed in the case 1 of the alternator 1. It uses a power transistor for the final regulating stage to raise the intensity of the electric current flowing to the field coil 11b in order to improve the performance of the alternator 1 and also the accuracy of voltage regulation.
When, the ignition switch (not shown) of the motorcar is turned on, the IC regulator 13 operates to cause an excitation current to flow from the battery 2 to the field coil 11b by way of a brush and a slip-ring (not shown) in order to start the AC generator. As the field coil 11b is driven to rotate, an induced electromotive force is generated in the stator coil 11a and the produced electric current is rectified by the rectifier 12 and then electrically charge the battery 2 by way of the FL 3 for protecting the battery. As the voltage generated by the AC generator 11 rises, the voltage at the voltage detection input of the IC regulator 13 connected to the load side terminals of load FLs 41, . . . also rises so that the IC regulator 13 reduces the excitation current flowing to the field coil 11b to maintain the voltage generated by the AC generator 11 to a predetermined constant level.
With the above described known arrangement, wherein the voltage applied to the loads is monitored at the voltage detection input of the IC regulator 13 to control the level of power generation, only the supply voltage is held to a constant level and the intensity of the electric current flowing from the alternator 1 is not controlled while the loads of the electric equipment of the motorcar may be independently turned on and off.
Thus, if the electric charge of the battery 2 has been significantly discharged and the battery 1 shows a reduced voltage, an excessive electric current may flow into the battery 2 in order to electrically recharge it until it is unusually heated to become degraded and/or the FL 3 for protecting the battery is fused, if partly.
As for supplying power to the loads of the electric equipment, the above arrangement modifies the power generated by the alternator 1 by detecting the fall of the voltage that appears when the alternator 1 starts feeding the loads so that there occurs a time lag for the operation of controlling the voltage, leading to significant fluctuations in the supply voltage and, in some cases, functional failures on the part of some of the loads.

Power generation control apparatus for motorcar power distributor


The image recording method and image recording apparatus synchronize phase of a light deflector with rotation of a drum in response to the drum start point detection signal generated each time the drum rotates once, expose the two-dimensional image of one frame formed by a group of light sources disposed two-dimensionally onto the recording medium while causing the image at rest on the recording medium relatively thereto, thereafter move the optical system in the auxiliary scanning direction by an integral multiple of a pixel pitch forming one frame as well as deflect an angle of the light deflector in the main scanning direction by one frame so as to expose the next frame and on for one rotation of the drum. When the position is dislocated in the auxiliary scanning direction at the time the recording medium is to be exposed in a subsequent one rotation of the drum, the method and apparatus correct the dislocation of the position in the auxiliary scanning direction by changing an auxiliary scanning movement speed in a non-exposure time zone between the previous and subsequent rotations of the drum.

The present invention relates to the technical field of an image recording method and an image recording apparatus, and more particularly, to an image recording system using a light modulator of two-dimensional arrangement (two-dimensional spatial light modulator) such as a micro mirror array (hereinafter, referred to as "MMA") or a two-dimensional mirror array device.
Mainly used in a digital image exposing system utilized in various types of printers is a so-called laser beam scan exposure (raster scan) for two-dimensionally exposing a recording medium with a laser beam modulated in accordance with an image to be recorded by deflecting the laser beam in a main scanning direction while relatively moving the recording medium and an optical system in an auxiliary scanning direction perpendicular to a main scanning direction.
In contrast, recently, various types of digital image exposure systems have been proposed which use two-dimensional spatial optical modulators such as a liquid crystal display (hereinafter, referred to as "LCD") and the digital micromirror device™ (hereinafter, referred to as "DMD") that are utilized as a display unit in a display, a monitor and the like. In the exposure systems, a recording medium is basically exposed by forming an image displayed by the two-dimensional spatial optical modulator on the recording medium.
In particular, the MMA is advantageous in exposure at high speed because the MMA has a modulation speed (response speed) faster than that of the LCD and moreover utilizes light more effectively than the LCD.
A so-called outer drum type image recording apparatus is known as an image recording apparatus using the two-dimensional spatial optical modulator. As shown in FIG. 8, for example, the outer drum type image reading apparatus is arranged such that an image formed by the two-dimensional spatial optical modulator (MMA) 94 is exposed on a recording medium 92 wound around the outer surface of a rotary drum 90 so as to record an image.
In the image recording apparatus, light from a light source (not shown) is reflected by the MMA 94, and the image carried by the reflected light (the image within the range that can be recorded by the MMA 94 at a time, which is referred to as the image of one frame) is formed on the recording medium 92 through an imaging lens 96, thereby the image 98 of the one frame is recorded.
The MMA 94 is composed of minute mirrors (micro-mirrors) disposed two-dimensionally in longitudinal and lateral directions in a rectangular shape, wherein each micro-mirror corresponds to one pixel, and the image of the one frame described here is composed of the number of pixels as many as the number of the micro-mirrors constituting the MMA.
At this time, the rotary drum 90 rotates in the direction shown by an arrow T in the figure at a constant speed and the recording medium 92 is also rotated in the same direction as that of the rotary drum 90. Thus, the image 98 of the one frame is sequentially recorded on the recording medium 92 from a lower side to an upper side as shown by an arrow M in the figure. The direction M is referred to as a main scanning direction in image recording.
An optical system composed of the MMA 94, the imaging lens 96, and the like is placed on an auxiliary scanning/transportation unit 100 and moved at a predetermined speed in the direction shown by an arrow S that is approximately perpendicular to the (above-mentioned) main scanning direction M. The direction S is referred to as an auxiliary scanning direction.
In the illustrated image recording apparatus, images are recorded on the recording medium 92 by a so-called spiral exposure system as shown by slanted lines in the figure by moving the optical system in the auxiliary scanning direction S in synchronism with the rotation of the rotary drum 90 and by controlling image data to be supplied to the MMA 94.
However, in the image recording system for executing spiral exposure while carrying out areal exposure (exposure of the image of the frame) using the conventional two-dimensional spatial optical modulator described above, frames cannot be aligned with each other when the circumferential length of the drum is not an integral multiple of the size of an image recorded on one frame in the main scanning direction. Accordingly, when images have been recorded by rotating the drum once and then images begin to be recorded in a subsequent one rotation of the drum, the image of one frame recorded in the subsequent one rotation of the drum cannot be located exactly adjacent to the image of one frame recorded in the previous one rotation of the drum, that is, the frame of the former image overlaps the frame of the latter image or a gap is formed therebetween, on the contrary, thereby a problem arises in that streaked unevenness is produced in the main scanning direction.

Image recording method and image recording apparatus

Abstract: Accordingly, the method and apparatus can prevent the occurrence of streaked unevenness in the surface exposure and spiral exposure.


A two-ply flooring plank is disclosed having two layers or “plies” with a bottom layer having a grain that runs generally transverse to a top layer or “cross-ply” to provide dimensional stability to the plank. The bottom layer includes a number of strips secured to the bottom of the top layer. The bottom layer strips are also placed with gaps between the individual strips of the second layer to allow flexibility of the flooring plank, which allows the flooring to more easily conform to irregularities in a subfloor upon which the flooring plank is mounted.

The present invention relates to a flooring product having a two-ply construction that is mounted to a base subfloor and, more particularly, to a bamboo or wood flooring plank with a bottom ply having a grain direction transverse to a grain direction of the top ply.
Various wood and bamboo flooring products are known in the art. Typically, wood flooring products, for example, are constructed of strips or planks that are either glued or nailed to a subfloor. The planks are typically constructed with a tongue on one side and a groove on an opposite side. When the flooring product is installed the tongue of one plank is mated with a groove on an adjacent plank to lock the planks together side-by-side to form an assembled floor.
Problems that may arise in such flooring products include warping, twisting and buckling of the flooring planks. For example, when the subfloor has irregularities and unevenness, the planks, having little flexibility, do not entirely conform to the irregularities and uneven portions of the subfloor, thus contributing to the above enumerated problems. Furthermore, flooring planks having longer lengths are more prone to warping, cupping and twisting not only after installation on the subfloor, but also prior to installation, thereby rendering the plank unusable. Thus, if the flooring plank has little or no flexibility, planks may be unusable for installation.
Previous attempts to create a flexible flooring plank have included a three-piece laminated wood floor having top, intermediate and bottom layers. The top and bottom layers have the same grain orientation while the intermediate layer located between the top and bottom layers has a grain orientation perpendicular to the grain orientation of the surrounding layers. The bottom layer includes a multiplicity of closely spaced-apart, cross-cut scores that extend across the width of the flooring plank and allow a degree of flexibility of the flooring plank. However, the cross-cut scores of this prior art flooring plank do not extend completely through the entire depth of the bottom layer to maintain a degree of rigidity of the overall flooring plank. Furthermore, since the top and bottom layers have the same grain orientation the additional third intermediate layer needs to have a perpendicular grain in order to provide stability in the transverse direction. Accordingly, the prior art utilizes a higher amount of material to construct the flooring plank while still possessing a significant degree of inflexibility of the bottom layer contacting the subfloor because the cut scores do not extend entirely through the bottom layer.
Other disadvantages of existing flooring include but are not limited to waste of materials, difficulty in materials selection, low yield, complicated processing technology, high consumption of adhesive, adjustable and/or detachable form of floor block and easy deformation.
Wu, U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,575, issued Sep. 30, 1997, entitled "Flooring Assembly", discloses a flooring assembly comprising a required number of bottom foundation elements and top flooring elements having the same grain orientation. The top side of each foundation elements and the bottom side of each flooring elements contain corresponding grooves and face projections for joining the flooring elements and the foundation elements. The corresponding grooves and face projections on each flooring elements and foundation elements have a vertical surface at one side and inclined surface at the other side. A drawback of such arrangement is that the foundation elements extend completely throughout the entire flooring surface, thus requiring a higher amount of material to construct the flooring assembly. Another drawback of such arrangement is that the corresponding grooves and face projections, which contain vertical surface at one side and inclined surface at the other side, located on the bottom side of each flooring elements or on the top side of each foundation elements are rigidly joined or fixed, thus causing the flooring assembly to be rather inflexible, which tend to create problems including but not limited to warping, twisting, twisting, cupping and bucking of the flooring elements and/or foundation elements when, for example, the flooring surface contain irregularities or uneven portions.
Penland, U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,944, issued Oct. 20, 1998, entitled "Double Locking Flooring System for a Construction Site", discloses a method and apparatus for constructing a two-layer flooring system for use at a construction or oil well drilling site by interlocking "mat units" having locking tabs and corresponding end locking slots. Penland only discloses a flooring system that should be "strong and sturdy enough to support heavy equipment, yet easily installed and removed," but Penland does not teach how to use or construct a flooring system which conforms to or compensates for the irregularities or uneven portions on the flooring surface to create a floor with a relatively leveled or flat surface, nor does Penland teach how to minimize or prevent deformations including but not limited to shrinkage, expansion, warping, twisting and buckling, which frequently occur in commercial or home-use wood or bamboo flooring products as a result of changing weather conditions or frequent use.
Accordingly, there is a need for a flooring product having increased flexibility that also utilizes less material as well as possessing dimensional stability in both the longitudinal and traverse directions of the flooring plank. It is an objection of this invention to overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages by providing improved two-layer staggered combined flooring and a two-ply flooring having a cross-grain bottom ply.

Youcheqiao, Linpu, Xiaoshan, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, Hangzhou


In an x-ray examination apparatus, a film holder is mounted on a frame, which itself is connected to the carrier, notably a C-arm, for the x-ray source and the image intensifier. When not in use, the film holder can be placed in a park position against the inner circumference of the C-arm, such that the film holder neither obscures, nor impedes access to the patient (region). The frame with the film holder can be rotated to a standby position next to the image intensifier, such that the film holder can be conveniently reached for preparation for exposure. Finally, the film holder can be rotated with respect to the frame into an exposure position in front of the image intensifier. The C-arm remains balanced for all three positions of the film holder; this is achieved by two counterweights that move along the outer circumference of the C-arm, just under its outer enclosure. Consequently, the C-arm can be moved manually without considerable effort. Because in its park position the film holder does not protrude beyond the outer circumference of the C-arm, the motion of the C-arm is not restricted by the film holder.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to an x-ray examination apparatus that includes a carrier supporting an x-ray source for generating an x-ray beam, an x-ray detector facing the x-ray source, and a film holder, the film holder being displaceable between an exposure position in front of the x-ray detector and a standby position outside the x-ray beam path.
2. Description of the Related Art
An x-ray examination apparatus having the possibility of optionally employing either an x-ray detector, notably an x-ray image intensifier, or a film holder has been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,736.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,736 the film holder is pivotable from a standby position to an exposure position, the film holder remaining attached to the image intensifier. The film holder is mounted on a bearing surrounding the image intensifier, so that it can be displaced between various standby positions around the image intensifier. The apparatus described in the cited Patent Specification is not balanced. Consequently, a powerful system of motors and brakes is needed for displacing the film holder between its standby and exposure positions and for moving the carrier; therefore the carrier having the form of a C-shaped support cannot be moved manually without considerable effort.
It is inter alia an object of the invention to provide an x-ray examination apparatus in which alternatively an x-ray detector or a film holder can be used, such that the film holder neither obscures, nor impedes access to the patient when not in use.
To achieve this, an x-ray examination apparatus in accordance with the invention is characterised in that the film holder is mounted movably on a frame which itself is movably connected to the carrier, the film holder with the frame being displaceable between a park position against an inner circumference of the carrier and a standby position next to the x-ray detector, and the film holder being displaceable between the standby position and an exposure position located in front of the x-ray detector.
The film holder can by choice be positioned either in a park position where the frame is positioned against an inner circumference of the carrier, or in a standby position, in which the film holder is positioned next to the x-ray detector, notably an x-ray image intensifier, and an input screen of the image intensifier and an image recording plane in the film holder are preferably situated substantially in a common plane perpendicular to the central ray, or the film holder an be positioned in an exposure position in which it is orthogonal to a central ray and the image recording plane in the film holder is situated at a distance to the x-ray source which is equal to the distance between the x-ray detector to the x-ray source when the film holder is in its standby position.
Because in its park position the film holder and the frame supporting it are positioned against the inner circumference of the carrier and near a suspension of the carrier from its vertical support, it is achieved that the patient region is vacated by the film holder and that, moreover, vision and access to the patient (region) are not impeded by the film holder when it is not being used. Furthermore, the film holder in its park position does not protrude beyond an outer circumference of the carrier, so that even in its park position the film holder does not restrict the motion of the carrier.
The frame supporting the film holder is mounted pivotably about an axis perpendicular to the plane of the carrier. The film holder can be moved to its standby position by rotation of the frame around this axis. In this standby position the film holder is next to the image intensifier and in the same plane as the input screen of the image intensifier. In this standby position, the film holder is approximately level with the connection of the carrier to its vertical stand. In this position the film holder is situated next to the patient region and preferably so high above the floor that it is conveniently reached by a person standing next to the x-ray examination apparatus. Consequently, in the standby position the film holder can be conveniently prepared for exposure, i.e. installing or removing film cassettes, positioning the patient or collimating the x-ray beam, without disturbance to the patient or life support systems.
The film holder is mounted pivotably on the frame such that it can be rotated about an axis orthogonal to the frame so as to reach the exposure position. In the exposure position the film holder and the x-ray detector have a common image axis, so that x-radiation transmitted through the film holder can be employed, using the x-ray detector, to monitor the image formed on the film.
It is to be noted that the balancing of the motion of the film holder by means of a counterweight which moves in the opposite direction is known per se from U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,856.


Disclosed is a composite composition obtained by polymerizing a radical-polymerizable vinyl compound (a) in the presence of a silicic acid oligomer (b) and, if desired, colloidal silica (c). This composite composition has high transparency, thermal resistance, rigidity and toughness and is hence useful in applications where inorganic glass has heretofore been used.

a. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to composite compositions having high transparency, rigidity, toughness and thermal resistance.
b. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, organic polymers have low rigidity, hardness and thermal resistance. In an attempt to overcome this disadvantage, many investigations have heretofore been made on the formation of composite materials consisting of organic polymers and inorganic substances. For example, there have been proposed a number of methods in which a dispersion of a silica compound (formed by polycondensation of an alkoxysilane) or colloidal silica in an acrylic resin solution is used as a coating film for hardening the surfaces of plastic substrates (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 11952/'78 and 11989/'78).
However, when such a composite material is coated on general-purpose plastic substrates, a coating film having high hardness and high wear resistance is obtained, but no substantial improvement in rigidity can be expected. Moreover, good transparency is obtained at coating film thicknesses of the order of several tens of microns, but a marked reduction in transparency results at greater coating film thicknesses.
On the other hand, it is described in J. Mater. Res., Vol. 4, p. 1018 (1989) that a silica gel-polymethyl methacrylate composite material having high transparency is obtained by impregnating porous silica gel having a controlled pore diameter with methyl methacrylate monomer and then polymerizing the latter. However, this method has the disadvantage that it involves troublesome steps and is not suitable for industrial purposes.

Composite composition having high transparency and process for producing same


An exhaust system, for a vehicle driven by an internal combustion engine, has a system for removing condensate (141) that includes a first line section (110) for fluid connection with exhaust gas (160), at least one second line section (120) for fluid connection with exhaust gas (160), and at least one suction line (130; 131; 132; 136; 137; 138). The suction line (130; 131; 132; 136; 137; 138) is disposed between the bottom (124) of the at least one second line section (120) and the first line section (110), and includes an opening (135) configured to be passed over by exhaust gas (160) passing through the first line section (110).

Exhaust system are conventionally constructed with passive components, with the exhaust gas flowing through all of them in all operating situations, and with the components together forming the exhaust system. Aside from exhaust gas lines, these components may be a turbocharger, a catalytic converter or a muffler, for example.
In recent times, systems to actively manipulate exhaust noise caused by operating an internal combustion engine and propagating through an exhaust system have been added to such exhaust systems. Such systems impart a characteristic noise to the exhaust noise generated by the internal combustion engine and propagating through the exhaust system. The imparted characteristic noise shall fit the image of a respective manufacturer and be popular with customers. Sound waves produced artificially inside the exhaust system are for this purpose superposed onto sound waves originating in the operation of the internal combustion engine and propagating through the exhaust system (exhaust noises).
This is achieved by providing a sound generator that is in fluid communication with the exhaust system and introduces sound into the interior of the exhaust system. The artificially produced sound is mixed with the sound produced by the internal combustion engine before they exit together through the tailpipe of the exhaust system. Systems of this kind may also be used for sound attenuation. To achieve a complete destructive interference between the exhaust noise sound waves propagating through the exhaust system and the sound produced by the sound generator, the sound waves originating from the loud speaker have to match the sound waves propagating through the exhaust system in magnitude and frequency and show a relative phase shift of 180 degrees. If the anti-noise sound waves generated at the loudspeaker match the sound waves propagating through the exhaust system in frequency and have a phase shift of 180 degrees relative thereto, but do not match the sound waves in amplitude, only an attenuation of the sound waves of the exhaust noise propagating through the exhaust system results.
A respective exhaust system according to the state of the art is described below referencing FIGS. 1A and 1B:
An exhaust system featuring a sound system 1 comprises a sound generator 2 in the form of a soundproofed housing containing a loudspeaker 3 and being connected to an exhaust system 6 in the region of a tailpipe 4 via a sound line 13. Referencing FIG. 1A, a bottom of the sound generator 2 and a bottom of the sound line 13 are disposed above a bottom of the tailpipe 4. The tailpipe 4 has a discharge opening 5 for discharging exhaust gas passing through the exhaust system 6. An error microphone 7 in the form of a pressure sensor is provided at the tailpipe 4. The error microphone 7 measures the pressure variations and thus the noise inside the tailpipe 4 in a section downstream of a region where the sound line 13 enters the exhaust system 6. The region where the sound line 13 enters the exhaust system 6 provides a fluid connection between the exhaust system 6 and the sound generator 2. The term "downstream" hereby relates to the direction of the exhaust gas flow. The direction of the exhaust gas flow is indicated by arrows in FIG. 1B. Between the internal combustion engine 10 and the region providing the fluid connection between the exhaust system 6 and the sound generator 2, a catalytic converter 11 and a muffler 12 are also provided. The loudspeaker 3 and the error microphones 7 are electrically connected to a controller 8. Further, the controller 8 is connected to an engine control unit 9 of an internal combustion engine 10 via a CAN data bus. The controller 8 calculates a control signal for the loudspeaker 3 based on the sound measured with the error microphone 7 and based on the operating parameters of the internal combustion engine 10 received via the CAN data bus in a way that the control signal is adapted to cause a desired overall sound when superposing with the sound propagating inside the exhaust system 6, and outputs the control signal to the loudspeaker 3. The controller may hereto use for instance a Filtered-x Least Means Squares (FxLMS) algorithm, and may try to turn an error signal measured with the error microphone down to zero (in the case of sound cancellation), or to a preset threshold (in the case of sound manipulation) by outputting sound using the loudspeaker.
There is a disadvantage with conventional exhaust systems that corrosive condensate may form and accumulate in the sound generator, sound line or other components of the exhaust system like the catalytic converter or the muffler. The sound generator as well as the sound line are particularly prone to a formation of condensate, since they are usually colder than those components of the exhaust system passed through by hot exhaust gas. Furthermore, the flow rate of the exhaust gas in the sound line and the sound generator is almost zero.
With an accumulation of corrosive condensate in the sound generator or another component of the exhaust system there is a risk of destroying at least one of the sound generator and the sound line and the other component from inside to outside.
To solve this problem, it is known to arrange critical components like sound generator and sound line at a raised level with respect to the exhaust system so that the condensate is enabled to drain. This is also illustrated in the example of FIG. 1A. The possibilities of arranging the sound generator with respect to the exhaust system are hereby considerably limited.
In addition it is known to provide openings on the bottom face of components of the exhaust system, allowing the condensate to drain. Respective openings are, however, only permitted to a very limited degree, since in addition to the condensate also non-treated exhaust gas may escape. Furthermore, the edges of such openings are themselves particularly susceptible to corrosion.

Exhaust system having a system for removing condensate

Eberspächer Exhaust Technology GmbH & Co. KG