A battery charger for fast charging batteries, such as batteries requiring constant current charging, such as lithium ion batteries. The battery charger provides charging voltages across a battery pack having at least one rechargeable cell connected to battery terminals. The battery charger includes a digital to analog converter circuit for controlling a current source for supplying a charging current to the battery pack. The digital to analog converter may provide a constant current or a constant voltage output as a function of the battery characteristics. An analog to digital converter measures a first voltage across the battery pack while the battery pack is being charged and a second voltage across the battery pack while the charging current is interrupted, and a digital processor determines the potential difference between the first voltage and the second voltage to determine a voltage drop across the terminals of the battery pack. A memory stores an optimum voltage level for charging the rechargeable cell, and a digital interface from the processor is used to adjust the setting of the digital to analog converter to provide the optimum voltage level at the rechargeable cell identified from the memory. The battery charger may include dual pockets for charging two battery packs.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery charger and, more particularly, to a battery charger which automatically compensates for the voltage drop across the battery terminals and any battery protection circuitry to optimize the voltage applied to the battery, making it suitable for charging various types of battery packs including Lithium Ion (LiIon) batteries which require both constant current and constant voltage charging.
Constant voltage battery charging as may be required by nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), alkaline, as well as lithium ion batteries and the like, is provided in a battery charger with a regulated voltage source for constant voltage charging in which a first voltage measurement across the battery is taken while the battery is being charged, and a second voltage measurement across the battery is taken while the charging current is interrupted. A determination of the potential difference between the first voltage and the second voltage identifies a voltage drop across the terminals and/or protection circuitry of the battery pack, which is used for adjusting the setting of the voltage source to provide the optimum voltage level at the rechargeable cells of the battery pack. Automatic compensation of the voltage source thus provides battery cells under charge with the optimum constant voltage level for recharging, which is particularly well suited for charging lithium ion batteries.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various portable devices and appliances, such as cellular phones, require rechargeable batteries. Various types of rechargeable batteries are known to be used in such applications. For example, nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), as well as lithium ion batteries are known to be used. Because of the different charging characteristics of such batteries, different battery chargers are required. For example, both nickel-cadmium (NiCd), as well as nickel metal hydride (NiMH), require constant current charging. On the other hand, lithium ion batteries require constant current charging up to a certain voltage value and constant voltage charging thereafter. Because of the different charging requirements, different charging circuits are often required.
Standard battery packs normally consist of one or more battery cells disposed in a modular housing with external contacts for easy and convenient coupling with the portable device in which it is used. Smart battery packs, in addition to the battery cells, normally include a memory storage device which contains information regarding the characteristics of the battery as well as the battery type.
Some smart battery packs are known to include a microcontroller which allows communication by way of a bi-directional communication line with the battery charger regarding various battery characteristics. Examples of such smart battery packs are disclosed in: "Smart Battery Specifications", .COPYRGT.1993 Duracell Inc., Intel Corporation, hereby incorporated by reference. Because of the differences between the standard battery packs and the smart battery packs, different chargers are used for the smart battery packs and the standard battery packs.
Battery chargers for charging batteries which require constant current charging and batteries which require constant current and constant voltage charging, such as lithium batteries, are known in the art. Battery chargers are also known that are adapted to automatically sense the type of battery connected to the battery charger and provide the appropriate charging characteristic. As mentioned above, such battery chargers are used for various portable devices, such as cellular phones. Cellular phone battery chargers are commonly available as single pocket and dual pocket devices. Dual pocket devices are known to be used for charging a spare battery, as well as the battery connected to the cellular phone. Unfortunately, with known dual pocket battery chargers, each pocket is known to be treated independently. In particular, in situations in which batteries to be charged are disposed in both pockets, the battery in the active pocket is normally fully charged before any servicing of the battery in the other pocket is done. Lithium ion batteries are known to take 3-4 hours to charge. Should a second battery be placed in the inactive pocket while a lithium battery is being charged in an active pocket, the second battery could remain in the inactive pocket for 3-4 hours before charging is even commenced. If the second battery also happens to be a lithium battery, it could take from 6-8 hours for the second battery to be charged from the time the second battery is inserted in the inactive pocket. Unfortunately, the end user will normally not be aware of such a limitation in the charging system.
In known lithium ion battery chargers, as discussed above, a constant current and a constant voltage are used for charging. Known battery chargers maintain a pre-determined charging voltage at the charging terminals of the charger and adjust the current in a way that this voltage remains constant. However, between the charging terminals and the battery electrodes are two series impedances: a) the battery pack contact resistance with the charger terminals and b) the protection circuit between the battery pack terminals and the battery electrodes. When voltage measurements of the battery charger and battery pack terminals are compared to the battery cell electrodes, up to several hundred millivolts are known to be lost. This voltage loss results in a significant increase in the charge time of the battery. It would be desirable therefore to provide an improved method for charging lithium ion batteries which would be able to predict or dynamically measure the loss between the charging terminals and the battery electrodes. This loss term would then be added to the prescribed charging voltage of the particular lithium charging system under charge.


A vehicle, method, control arrangement, and autonomous drive arrangement are provided. The control arrangement is for controlling an autonomous drive arrangement in a host vehicle including an autonomous drive arrangement configured to control steering and velocity of the host vehicle up to an autonomous drive maximum velocity of the host vehicle, a speed limit determination unit, and a communication unit arranged to receive, from at least one external source, real time preceding vehicle velocity for one or more preceding vehicles. The control arrangement is configured to control the autonomous drive arrangement in dependence on a difference between the autonomous drive maximum velocity and at least one of a speed limit and at least one preceding vehicle velocity.

Some vehicles today are capable of driving autonomously, i.e. without steering—accelerating—or braking input from a driver. Sensors of the autonomous vehicle continuously monitor the vehicle surrounding. The sensors can detect e.g. road lanes, surrounding traffic and various obstacles on—or in the vicinity of the road. The sensors may detect distance and direction to other vehicles, pedestrians, bicycles etc. Different kinds of sensors may be used, such as cameras, radar and/or lidar. Autonomous vehicles may also comprise communication equipment, such that road and/or traffic information may be sent to the vehicle. A drive arrangement of the vehicle may control drive functions, such as steering, accelerating, braking etc. as a function of the information received from the sensors. Hereby the vehicle can drive autonomously at least along some road sections within a road network.
Some requirements must be met before autonomous driving is possible to initiate. For example, autonomous driving may be enabled only when the sensors provide the drive arrangement with sufficient information on the host vehicle surrounding. Different geographical limitations on where autonomous driving is possible may apply. Further, due to various limitations of sensors of the drive arrangement and/or host vehicle functions, autonomous driving may be activated only in certain velocity intervals. For example, autonomous driving of a host vehicle may be possible only between an autonomous drive minimum velocity and an autonomous drive maximum velocity.
Autonomous drive functions may facilitate for a driver, since he/she may focus on secondary tasks instead of driving when autonomous driving is enabled. However, due to limitations of the autonomous drive arrangement or limitations of autonomous host vehicle functions, the driver may select to drive manually instead of using autonomous drive functions which do not provide autonomous driving in line with the driver's preferences.
Thus, improvements related to autonomous driving and enablement of autonomous drive functions are desirable.

Control arrangement arranged to control an autonomous vehicle, autonomous drive arrangement, vehicle and method


A mechanical energy generating apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a shape changing flexure beam connected at opposing distal ends to first lever arms of a pair of opposing tilt connectors. The apparatus additionally includes a bias beam connected at opposing ends to second lever of the tilt connectors. The tilt connectors are pivotally connected to an adjustable length base such that a distance between the tilt connectors can be adjusted to flex the bias beam and exert a force on the second lever arms of the tilt connectors. The force exerted by the bias beam is transferred to the first lever arms and flexes the flexure beam to approximately a critical buckling stress point of the flexure beam. The flexure beam has a center portion configured to oscillate between a first displacement position beyond the critical buckling stress point, in a first direction, and a second displacement position beyond the buckling stress point, in the an opposing second direction, in response to an oscillating energy field applied across the flexure beam.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Piezoelectric devices are often used in small, compact, light-weight motor applications to provide mechanical energy that can be used to generate mechanical work. Generally, a voltage is applied to a structure, e.g., a beam, comprising a piezoelectric material that causes the piezoelectric structure to flex or bow. For example, a piezoelectric beam can comprise piezoelectric layers formed on opposite sides of a flexible supporting substrate. In such instances, the voltage is applied across one of the piezoelectric layers causing this first layer to elongate, while substantially simultaneously, a reverse voltage is applied across the other piezoelectric layer causing the second layer to shorten. Thus, the beam is caused to bow or flex, resulting in a physical displacement of at least a portion of the beam. This displacement can be utilized to provide mechanical work. For example, the polarity of the applied voltages can be cyclically alternated such that the portion of the piezoelectric beam that is displaced oscillates between displacement in a first direction and displacement in an opposite second direction. This oscillating displacement can be utilized to provide mechanical energy, or work. For example, the oscillating displacement can be used to drive a piston of a pneumatic device.
However, for the typical piezoelectric motor device to work efficiently, the cyclic frequency of the alternating voltage must occur at or above the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric beam that is determined by the material characteristics of the beam. That is, the stiffness of the beam, including the piezoelectric material, and beam length determine how quickly and how much the beam will flex when voltage is applied. Oscillation of the applied voltage, and therefore oscillation of the beam, at frequency below the resonance frequency will produce very little displacement of the piezoelectric beam. Conversely, voltage and beam oscillation at or above the resonance frequency will provide maximum displacement. However, the material characteristics of the beam typically require that a considerable amount of electrical energy be provided to overcome the stiffness of the beam and cause the beam to flex. This typically limits the oscillation frequency at which the beam can efficiently provide mechanical energy to a very narrow bandwidth.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a piezoelectric motor that is capable of efficient operation at beam oscillation frequencies above and below the resonance frequency of the piezoelectric beam.

Enhanced displacement piezoelectric motor


A file system that permits predictable accesses to file data stored on devices that may have a variable access latency dependent on the physical location of the file on the physical storage device. A variety of features that guarantee timely, real-time response to I/O file system requests that specify deadlines or other alternative required quality-of-service parameters. The file system addresses needs to accommodate the file systems of storage devices such as disks that have an access time dependant on the physical location of the data within the storage device. A two-phase, deadline-driven scheduler considers the impact of disk seek time on overall response times. Non real-time file operations may be preempted. Files may be preallocated to help avoid access delay caused by non-contiguity. Disk buffers may also be preallocated to improve real-time file system performance.

Online mass storage facilities that provide real-time performance are becoming essential components of emerging safety-critical systems, such as, for example, avionics systems. Such systems typically need to acquire and process large amounts of data. In addition, such systems typically need to decouple the producers and consumers of the information to be processed. These systems have a variety of storage access requirements ranging from guaranteed hard, real-time access to critical data to soft, non-real time access to other, less critical types of stored data.
As embedded safety-critical systems have become increasingly sophisticated and data-intensive, it has becomes necessary for task software system components to access data from bulk storage devices, for example disk drives, CD/DVD drives, flash memory, as well as any other non-volatile storage device. Such exemplary bulk storage devices may be used to store flight data logs in a continuous manner, to hold flight planning information, and to hold map data, to name a few typical applications thereof. Efficient storage and access to data on such bulk storage devices require the use of file system software, analogous to file systems that are found in traditional operating systems (OS). However, unlike these traditional OS file systems, the file systems used in safety critical, real-time embedded systems must guarantee that the file operations, specifically file operations that access data stored on the mass storage devices, be completed by either explicitly or implicitly specified time deadlines for the requested file operation.

File system having predictable real-time performance

The Research Foundation of State University of New York


The grate element (1, 2) is made in three pieces in the sample embodiment, and consists of a central main part (10) and two side parts (11, 12) attached thereto. The main part (10) is pierced by parallel straight-line bores, which form the straight-line conduit sections. These straight-line conduit sections (13) are flow-connected with reversers (14) in the respective side parts (11, 12). The inlet (15) for the coolant fluid is located in the rear part of the grate element, whereas the outlet (16) is located in the head area (7) of the grate element. In the outlet (16) there is a temperature probe (17) for monitoring the temperature of the coolant fluid. The grate element head (7) has recesses (18) in its foot (8) which open downward, serving as air escape orifices for the primary air, which is supplied from beneath.

Grate elements of a grate consisting of grating stages which overlap like roof tiles and which can move relative to each other, which are constructed of one or more grate elements lying adjacent to each other, are subjected to high and widely varying heat demands, a high degree of mechanical abrasion, and chemical attacks. The wearing of a grate element depends to a great degree on the heat demands, so that in recent times fluid-cooled grate elements have been introduced, since fluid cooling is expected to provide better cooling and a more even temperature distribution within the grate element.
From European Patent A-0 621 449 a plate-shaped grate element is known which is executed as a hollow body of sheet metal, and which has an inlet and an outlet for cooling water. With this known grate element it is also possible to provide baffles in the hollow body in order to force the cooling water to flow through the grate element in an indirect path. The inlet and outlet are placed in the area of the attachment or drive end of the grate element. With a grate element constructed in this way there are very large flow profiles and associated dead spaces, flow interruptions, and irregular distributions of the cooling fluid. In addition, such grate elements cannot be adequately vented, so that rather large accumulations of air can form, which lead to significantly poorer cooling in this area and hence to overheating of the grate element. This is particularly detrimental when the grate elements are deployed in a reverse pusher grate, where the grate element heads are located at a higher position than the respective attachment or drive end of the grate element due to the inclined installation position. With such an installation position, the air which is present in the grate element then collects in the head area of the grate element, which is in principle subjected to greater heat demands, independently of the type of grate, so that in combination with the poorer cooling effect brought about by air bubbles the wearing of the grate element rises sharply. Furthermore, the grate elements which are in the form of hollow sheet metal bodies can warp under uneven cooling and thereby lead to malfunctions in the operation of the grate. The deployment of the inlet and outlet for the cooling fluid in the rear area of the grate element, i.e. in the vicinity of the attachment or drive end, leads to unsatisfactory reading of the coolant temperature, since the inlet and outlet locations are in the cooler area and it is practical to apply temperature probes to the outlet. The problems of overheating due to air bubbles, explained earlier, especially in the area of the head, can therefore not be recognized adequately.
From German Patent C-44 00 992 a fluid-cooled grate bar is known which has at least one conduit, the sections of which run parallel to each other in the longitudinal direction of the grate bar and are connected with a reverser in the head area of the grate bar. The inlet and outlet for this conduit are in the rear area for this known grate bar as well, i.e. in the area of the attachment or drive end, so that here again basically similar disadvantages occur as in the case of the plate-shaped grate element which was mentioned first. With this known grate element too, which has a conduit with a substantially rectangular cross section and a folding course for changing the direction in the area of the head, flow interruptions or eddies and air accumulations cannot be avoided with certainty. Since in addition to the inlet the outlet is also deployed in the rear area of the grate bar, not only is the reading of the temperature inadequate, as already described, but also venting, that is the removal of any bubbles which may have formed in the head area, turns out to be extremely difficult.
The object of the invention is to design a grate element with fluid cooling of the type indicated above in such a way that an intended cooling of the grate element, adapted to the particular circumstances, can be achieved with little engineering effort and expense for control technology.

Grate element and grate with fluid cooling


There is disclosed chuck configurations for internally engaging the hollow core element of a roll of packaging or printing sheet or other web material in which a generally cylindrical chuck body insertable in a web core has at least one hole through the chuck body at an acute angle with the tangent to the chuck body at the outer entrance point of the hole and at an acute angle with the plane perpendicular to the chuck cylindrical axis. At least one elongated element is configured to engage rotatably in each of the holes and having on a distal end thereof one or more pointed or toothed extensions for engagement with the interior of a hollow web whereby chuck engagement with a hollow core may be made by manipulating such elongated elements to extend outside the periphery of said chuck body. The chuck may also be provided with means for securing it on a spindle or shaft for rotation therewith which is separate and independent of the holes and elongated elements for engaging the hollow core.

The present invention relates to an improved core chuck for hollow roll cores, particularly as used with rolls of packaging films, paper and other web material, but not limited thereto.
In the paper, plastic, printing and related industries, paper, plastic or other sheet material in web form is often handled in the form of rolls of the material wound onto hollow paperboard, fiber or plastic cores. Although some cores may have a notch or key opening in one or both ends for engagement by a key. Such a notch or key opening is not required for chucks which fit into and engage the hollow interior of the core. In any case, cores secured in a core can be suitably driven for winding or unwinding the material. With keyed web cores, often core ends are damaged or key slots are mutilated which renders a key of a core chuck unsatisfactory for keeping the core firmly secured for winding and unwinding. The core chuck of the present invention does not rely on the presence or absence of a notch in the core.
Different keyless chuck expedients have been proposed including expanding chucks, tapered chucks with fluted surfaces and chucks with internal core restraints which tilt, expand or extend into position. However, these expedients have provided core chucks that are quite expensive, difficult to maintain and use, and often unsatisfactory in performance.
Some of the prior art core chucks are exemplified in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,402,060; 2,922,592; 3,368,769; 3,704,837; and 4,045,038.
The above noted U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,402,060, 2,922,592 and 3,704,837 each work on the principle whereby internal core restraining devices are forced into position automatically by mechanical action as the core is inserted on the chuck, while prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,368,769 uses a floating key arrangement for accommodating different sized cores. Later U.S. Pat. No. 4,045,038 utilizes chuck dogs that are normally spring biased into a retracted condition, but which can be engaged into the hollow core by a separate mechanical action not inherent with the placing of the core on the chuck.
In contrast, it will be seen that the core chuck of the present invention provides at least one elongated element residing in an angularly situated hole extending into the core enclosed chuck portion and which can be manipulated to extend outside the chuck periphery to engage positively with the core interior. Thus rotational unity between chuck and core is secured by a simple and reliable mechanism overcoming disadvantages of the prior chuck devices. The core of the present invention is particularly useful with damaged or poorly made cores, and commendably satisfies a need for a simple, easy-to-employ device of rugged construction.


A digital wireless communications device enabling call distance to be increased while avoiding mute processing as far as possible, even if code error occurs in an ADPCM code. The digital wireless communications device may be configured to include: an error detector for detecting code error in an ADPCM code received via a wireless circuit; an ADPCM decoder for generating a PCM signal by decoding the ADPCM code; and a substitution unit for determining that a click noise is generated if the high-speed scale factor and the low-speed scale factor determined by the ADPCM decoder within a predetermined time period after the error detector has judged that there is a code error in the ADPCM code, and the received ADPCM code itself, respectively exceed prescribed threshold values, and for substituting the ADPCM code with a predetermined prescribed code.

The present invention relates to a digital wireless communications device, and more particularly, to an improvement technology for increasing call distance, while avoiding mute processing as far as possible, even if a code error occurs in the ADPCM code.
The ADPCM (Adaptive Differential Pulse Code Modulation) method is commonly used as a voice encoding method for digital cordless telephones. One characteristic of the ADPCM encoding method is that, if a coding error occurs in the voice data due to the effects of weak field strength, fading, electromagnetic interference, or the like, then a sudden clicking noise which is disturbing to the ear is generated, and hence the voice quality is markedly degraded. In Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-006890 and Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2002-006891, the present applicants have proposed a voice quality improvement device for correcting encoding by monitoring internal variables of the ADPCM decoder, predicting the occurrence of click noises, and estimating the bit error position of the ADPCM code.
FIG. 12 is a functional block diagram of a conventional voice quality improvement device. If the occurrence of an error is detected in the reception signal by means of a frame error check, such as a Cyclic Redundancy Check, or the like, then a substitution unit 45 predicts the occurrence of clicking noise if the short term average dms(k) of the absolute value of the ADPCM code l(k) exceeds a prescribed threshold value within a data section previously determined by the judgment time adjusting section 44. In this case, the substitution unit substitutes the ADPCM code l(k) with the code l′(k) which produces a minimum change in the short term average of the absolute value of the ADPCM code l(k). The codes l(k) or l′(k) are input to the ADPCM decoder 46 and are converted into a PCM signal so(k). An F[l] converter 41 converts the code l(k) to the code F[l(k)], in accordance with the correspondence relationships illustrated in FIG. 13, and it outputs same to a short term average calculating section 42. In the short term average calculating section 42, dms(k) is calculated by means of the calculation dms(k)=(1-2−5) dms(k−1)+2−5F[l(k)]. dms(k−1) is obtained by passing the output dms(k) of the short term average calculating section 42 through a delay unit 43. Here, the value of F[l(k)] is defined as shown in FIG. 13.


A method of a manufacturing a semiconductor device whereby a layer of insulating material and a layer of polycrystalline silicon are provided on a surface of a monocrystalline wafer. A window is then provided in the layer of polycrystalline silicon and a protective layer is formed on the wall of this window. Then the layer of insulating material is removed within the window and below an edge of the layer of polycrystalline silicon adjoining the window. Subsequently, silicon is selectively grown on the mono- and polycrystalline silicon exposed in and adjacent the window from a vapor comprising chlorine as well as silicon at low pressure. The silicon wafer is cleaned before the selective deposition through heating in an atmosphere comprising hydrogen at a pressure of at least 1 atmosphere. This cleaning safeguards that the deposited monocrystalline silicon will always be connected to the layer of polycrystalline silicon by the deposited polycrystalline silicon.

The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device whereby a layer of insulating material and a layer of polycrystalline silicon are provided on a surface of a monocrystalline silicon wafer, whereupon consecutively the layer of polycrystalline silicon is provided with a window, a protective layer is provided on the wall of said window, the layer of insulating material is removed from the surface of the silicon wafer within the window and below an edge of the layer of polycrystalline silicon adjoining the window, and silicon is selectively deposited from a vapor at reduced pressure on the monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon exposed in and adjacent the window.
During the deposition of the silicon, this semiconductor material grows epitaxially in monocrystalline form on the exposed monocrystalline silicon and in polycrystalline form on the polycrystalline silicon exposed adjacent the window. The grown monocrystalline silicon forms a semiconductor zone which together with the monocrystalline silicon of the wafer forms a semiconductor junction. This semiconductor zone is connected to the layer of polycrystalline silicon situated adjacent the window by the grown polycrystalline silicon.
Since the selective deposition of silicon is carried out at a reduced pressure, a smooth layer of homogeneous thickness is obtained. The method may be used for forming semiconductor devices with sub-micron dimensions.
The method may be used, for example, for making a bipolar transistor with an emitter formed by polycrystalline silicon. Such a transistor is sometimes called "poly-emitter transistor". The grown monocrystalline silicon then forms the base of the transistor which is contacted by the grown polycrystalline silicon and the layer of polycrystalline silicon. The wafer forms the collector of the transistor. The grown monocrystalline silicon then forms the collector-base junction together with the wafer. After the selective deposition, a further layer of polycrystalline silicon is deposited which forms the emitter of the transistor. This further layer of polycrystalline silicon forms the base-emitter junction together with the layer of selectively deposited monocrystalline silicon in the window. Dopants required in the base and the emitter may be provided either after the deposition thereof or during the deposition thereof in the manufacture of the transistor. The wafer may be provided with the required dopant before the deposition of the layers of insulating material and polycrystalline silicon.
The method may also be used for making a MOS transistor. In that case a layer of gate dielectric is provided on the grown monocrystalline silicon within the window, for example by oxidation. Subsequently, a further layer of polycrystalline silicon is again deposited, in this case forming the gate electrode of the transistor.
A method of the kind mentioned in the opening paragraph is known from "A Self-Aligned Selective MBE Technology for High-Performance Bipolar Transistors", F. Sato et al., Proceedings IEEE, 1990, 25.7.1-4, whereby the silicon is selectively deposited from a vapor comprising disilane (Si.sub.2 H.sub.6) at a pressure of 2.times.10.sup.-5 torr and a temperature of 560.degree. C.
The selective deposition of silicon is carried out at a very low pressure in the known method. When silicon is deposited from a vapor of disilane at a higher pressure, the process is non-selective and silicon is deposited also on the insulating layer. A very complicated and expensive equipment is necessary for carrying out a deposition at said low pressure.

Manufacture of a semiconductor device with selectively deposited semiconductor zone


The subject invention relates to methods for post-primary oil recovery that utilize multiple mechanisms of action, wherein biochemical-producing microbes are injected into an oil well in a certain predetermined order, based on, for example, the metabolites and by-products they are capable of producing. Preferably, gas-, acid- and/or solvent-producing microbe such as a Clostridium bacterium, is injected into the well first, followed by a biosurfactant and/or biopolymer-producing microbe, such as Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus licheniformis and/or a combination thereof.

The high demand for fossil fuels necessitates efficient production of oil. As oil wells mature, it becomes more difficult and costly to continue to pump oil at an economically viable rate. Therefore, there is a continuing need to develop improved methods of oil recovery.
Oil exists in small pores and narrow fissures within the body of reservoir rocks underneath the surface of the earth. Natural pressure of the reservoir causes the oil to flow up to the surface, thereby providing primary production; however as oil production progresses, the reservoir pressure is depleted to a point at which artificial lift or pumping is required to maintain an economical rate of oil production.
When it is necessary to provide external energy for the reservoir to achieve additional oil recovery (secondary oil recovery), there exist technologies for increasing pressure in a reservoir to "push" the remaining oil to the surface. One method involves injecting gas, e.g., carbon dioxide or nitrogen into an oil reservoir, while another method involves injecting water (waterflooding). The effect is a repressurization of the reservoir, causing oil displacement from trapped capillaries and enhancing mobilization of the oil to the producing wells. While these methods can be useful for producing a certain amount of additional oil, the methods often must overcome the challenges of, for example, low or variable permeability within a formation.
With waterflooding, for example, injected fluids flow preferentially along highly permeable layers, by-passing oil-saturated areas, or oil "islands," in the reservoir. Therefore, an increasing quantity of water rises with the oil and, by decreasing the ratio of oil to water, it eventually becomes uneconomical to continue the process.
Primary recovery generally results in an average recovery of only a fraction of the oil originally present in an oil bearing formation. Secondary recovery, e.g., water flooding, generally recovers another 10% by the time it becomes uneconomical to continue. It is not unusual, then, for 60 to 70% of the oil originally in the formation to remain, even after secondary recovery reaches is economical limit. In this situation, a third stage of oil recovery/EOR, so-called tertiary production, can be considered.
At this tertiary stage, technically advanced methods are employed to either modify the properties of reservoir fluids or the reservoir rock characteristics. In general, the methods can be classified into four main categories as thermal methods, chemical methods, miscible or solvent injection, and microbial methods.
Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR) is a multidisciplinary field incorporating, among others: geology, chemistry, microbiology, fluid mechanics, petroleum engineering, environmental engineering and chemical engineering. The microbial processes proceeding in MEOR can be classified according to the oil production problem in the field: well bore clean-up removes mud and other debris blocking the channels where oil flows; well stimulation improves the flow of oil from the drainage area into the well bore; and enhanced water floods increase microbial activity by injecting selected microbes and sometimes nutrients.
Thus, MEOR uses microorganisms and/or their metabolites to enhance the recovery of residual oil. With MEOR, nutrients and microorganisms, which preferably grow under the anaerobic reservoir conditions, are injected into the reservoir. Microbial by-products, which can include biosurfactants, biopolymers, acids, solvents, gases, and enzymes, for example, can modify the properties of the oil and the interactions between oil, water, and the porous media, alter the permeability of subterranean formations, and ultimately increase the mobility and recovery of oil.
Interest in microbial surfactants, for example, has been steadily increasing in recent years due to their diversity, environmentally friendly nature, possibility of large-scale production, selectivity, performance under extreme conditions, and potential applications in environmental protection. Microbially produced surfactants, i.e., biosurfactants reduce the interfacial tension between water and oil and, therefore, a lower hydrostatic pressure is required to move the liquid entrapped in the pores to overcome the capillary effect. Secondly, biosurfactants contribute to the formation of micelles providing a physical mechanism to mobilize oil in a moving aqueous phase.
In addition to microbial surfactants, microbially produced polymers, a type of biopolymer, are also becoming increasingly important in the oil and gas industry. Polymers can be used in enhanced water flooding operations, particularly in cases where formation permeability has becoming highly heterogeneous and selective plugging is necessary to alter permeability levels. In microbial enhanced water flooding, biopolymer-producing microbes are injected into a well. Their biopolymer growth byproducts, as well as the biomass, can then act to selectively plug the high permeability zones of the formation. This then allows for the injected flood water to by-pass the high permeability zones, where there is no longer oil, to reach the low permeability zones, where oil is still present.
There is a continuing need for improved methods of oil recovery, including methods of post-primary oil recovery, that can activate multiple mechanisms of wellbore stimulation. These mechanisms include, for example, enhancing the properties of crude oil, enhancing the flow of oil from an oil-bearing formation, and enhancing the pressurization of a formation.

Two-step process for microbial enhanced oil recovery


An outboard motor control system can have a first PTT switch and a second PTT switch in a first steering station and in a second steering station respectively, and a third PTT switch in a location outside of a boat hull. Operation instruction given by each PTT switch can be input to a first microcomputer of a first ECU. The first microcomputer can determine if the inputted operation instruction is to be sent to the outboard motor, based on which PTT switch the operation instruction came from, whether the main switch is ON or OFF, and which steering station has precedence in boat control.

1. Field of the Inventions
The present inventions relate to boats having boat propulsion units, such as outboard motors, and more specifically to control of boat propulsion units in accordance with control signals transmitted by an onboard device or devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Outboard motors mounted on the outside of boats are used for providing propulsion and steering functions for boats. In recent years, onboard LAN systems have been developed to replace outboard motors' throttle control mechanism operated via the cables installed onboard. An example of such a system is disclosed in Japanese Patent Document JP-A-2003-146293. The onboard LAN system connects the outboard motor and the hull by means of a LAN (Local Area Network), and controls the outboard motor by control signals transmitted by an onboard device. The onboard LAN system allows connection of many devices to one cable, simplifying the wiring between the hull and the outboard motor. A PTT (Power Trim and Tilt) switch is also connected to the onboard LAN to control the trim and tilt angles of the outboard motor.


According to the invention, a changer with a tray loading mechanism, wherein a tray holding a recording medium is transported from a storage position to a playback position and vice versa with a transport hook, which engages a recess of the tray, has a transport hook which is provided with a torsion spring for rotating the transport hook from a tray grabbing position into a tray transport position, wherein the transport hook can be rotated into the tray grabbing position in mid-travel.

Changers for optical recording media like CD, DVD, or the like generally consist of a main chassis including the drive elements and the electrical modules for processing the signals for the recording and/or playback operation. Within the chassis a number of trays is arranged one above the other, each tray being capable of holding an optical recording medium. For the playback and/or recording operation, the trays can be moved from a storage position to a playback position. For this purpose, the respective tray holding the recording medium which is to be played back or recorded, is usually grabbed by two hooks engaging with corresponding recesses of the tray, one hook at each side of the tray. Since the hooks have to catch and to release the trays in the storage position, a rotation mechanism is provided for rotating the hooks from their tray transport position to the tray grabbing position. Such a rotation mechanism can, for example, be realised using hooks provided with two studs and cam grooves having a bent part at one end. When the hooks are moved along the cam grooves they are forced into rotation as soon as the first studs arrive at the bent parts of the cam grooves (cf. FIG. 1).
For very compact changers, due to space requirements very often only a single hook is used for tray transport. In this case, however, it can occur that the hook accidentally releases the tray due to vibrations or a canting of the tray. If this happens, the tray has to be moved back into the storage position before it can be grabbed again.
The document JP 08-161813 discloses a changer using a single transport hook, wherein the rotation mechanism is realised using a coil spring and a salient pin. When the hook is moved to the storage position of the tray, part of the hook abuts the salient pin and the hook is rotated into a tray grabbing position. At the same time, the coil spring is strained, forcing the hook back into the tray transport position when the hook is retracted from the storage position of the tray. To prevent that the hook accidentally releases the tray during transport, the hook is provided with a pin contacting a guide shaft during tray transport. This contacting limits any rotation of the hook during tray transport to such an amount that the tray is not released under normal conditions. However, in case of strong vibrations or a canting of the tray, it can still occur that the tray is released during transport. In this case it has to be brought back into the storage position before it can be grabbed again.
It is an object of the invention to improve a known changer with a tray loading mechanism.


In a complex signal receiver, quadrature imbalances in phase angle and amplitude are detected and compensated. A known signal is applied to a quadrature receiver and converted into inphase and quadrature baseband signals. A signal processor determines an imbalance between the inphase and quadrature signals of the known signal and generates one or more correction factors in response to the determined imbalance. The correction factors are applied to subsequently received inphase and quadrature baseband signals to minimize the imbalance between the subsequently received inphase and quadrature baseband signals. The imbalance compensation and correction technique is also useful to quadrature transmitters that employ feedback control. The quadrature imbalance detection and correction circuitry may be integrated on the same integrated circuit chip as the receiver circuitry to provide a single, universal receiver chip.

In practice, its very difficult to receive a complex signal and accurately demodulate the complex signal into its inphase and quadrature components. Consider for example a radio frequency (RF) sinusoidal signal, e.g., an RF carrier. In theory, a complex receiver should be able to represent such a sinusoidal signal by its inphase, real component and its quadrature, imaginary component. The magnitude of the inphase and quadrature components should be the same, and they should always be separated by a constant 90.degree. phase difference.
The sinusoidal signal may be defined mathematically by v=V cos (.omega.t+.phi.), where if the frequency .omega. is known, then v is specified by its magnitude V and by its phase .phi. in the complex domain, i.e., v=Ve.sup.j.phi.. The complex term, e.sup.j.phi., may be expanded as e.sup.j.phi. =cos .phi.+j sin .phi. using Euler's equation. Euler's equation reveals the ideal balance between inphase and quadrature components of a complex signal. The magnitude of both the cosine and sine terms is exactly the same, i.e., "1", and the cosine and sine terms are exactly 90.degree. out of phase.
The difficulty is trying to achieve the theoretical--Euler's formula--in an imperfect real world. In practice, the phase difference between the inphase and quadrature components is something other than 90.degree., and the magnitudes of the real and imaginary components of the complex signal are not the same. As a result, a demodulated complex signal is no longer accurately represented by its inphase and quadrature components. For ease of reference, the amount by which the phase difference between the inphase and quadrature components is something other than 90.degree. and/or the amount by which the magnitudes of the real and imaginary components of the complex signal are not the same are (is) referred to either in combination or alone as "quadrature imbalance". To date, there is has not been any satisfactory practical implementation in a radio transceiver which would detect and compensate for such undesirable quadrature imbalances.

Method and apparatus for compensating for imbalances between quadrature signals


A personal care composition includes a structured cleansing phase; a benefit phase including triglycerides, a cationic deposition polymer, and anionic microcapsules; and a carrier; and methods relating thereto.

Cleansing the skin is an activity that has been done for millennia. Skin cleansing and methods therefore have involved the utilization of soaps, body washes, and other personal care compositions. Personal care compositions can be structured to suspend and stabilize dispersions of benefit agents while maintaining physical integrity of the compositions, and there are many ways to provide such structure. The ability to provide structure can be an important property for such compositions, but it is also important for personal care compositions to have the ability to rapidly become micellar upon dilution to clean the skin and to deposit benefit agents. Having too much structure in a composition can result in poor performance, but not having enough structure in a composition can cause the product to be unstable. Further, achieving a balance between these two properties can be a difficult task. Furthermore, such personal care compositions also often include fragrances. Such fragrances may delight the user by providing a freshness feeling and may serve as a signal to the user that the product may still be working or that the product is still present. Yet because of the volatility of many fragrances and/or habituation, a consumer may be unable to notice the fragrance shortly after using/applying the personal care composition. Consequentially, it may be desirable to have technologies than improve the noticeability of fragrances in personal care compositions while also providing structure to the personal care composition.


In an image processing apparatus, color balance adjustment information are inputted on the basis of a user instruction, and the brightness of RGB image data having red, green, and blue components is detected. A generation portion maps the image data on a two-dimensional space represented by red and green components and generates rg image data. A target value and a moving factor on the two-dimensional space are set on the basis of the color balance adjustment information and the brightness. A color balance adjustment of the rg image data are performed on the basis of the target value and moving factor. And then the rg image data, which has undergone color balance adjustment, are converted into image data having red, green, and blue components on the basis of the brightness information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and method of adjusting color balance, and a storage medium.
2. Related Background Art
Conventional methods of adjusting a color balance shift of a color image or a color input/output device are roughly classified into two methods. In one method, when a color image is represented by the RGB or CMY color space, the color balance is adjusted on the RGB or CMY color space. In the other method, the RGB or CMY color space is temporarily converted into color spaces expressing certain brightness and chromaticity, and the color balances for brightness and chromaticity are independently adjusted in the corresponding color spaces. The adjusted brightness and chromaticity are converted back into the original color space. The first and second methods associated with RGB image data will be described below.
The first adjustment method is expressed by:R′=R+α  (1)G′=G+β  (2)B′=B+γ  (3)where α, β, and γ are arbitrary positive or negative values.
By changing the values α, β, and γ, the color balance of an object image can be adjusted.
In the second method, for example, the RGB color space is converted into the L*a*b* color space defined by CIE:RGB→L*a*b* (where L* represents brightness and a* and b* represent chromaticity) and adjusted. The following conversion processing is performed on the L*a*b* space:L*′=L*+α  (4)a*′=a*+β  (5)b*′=b*+γ  (6)where α, β, and γ are arbitrary positive or negative values.
By converting L*′ a*′ b*′ back into R′ G′ B′, L*′ a*′ b*′→R′ G′ B′
color balance adjustment processing can be realized.
However, in prior art 1, since appropriate adjustment amounts are added to or subtracted from R, G, and B, respectively, the brightness and chromaticity are simultaneously adjusted.
Even when the operator wants to adjust only the chromaticity, the brightness is also adjusted. In addition, in color balance adjustment on the RGB color space, the operator cannot intuitively recognize the destination and amount of color balance adjustment for the entire image, so color balance adjustment directly reflecting the operator's intention for adjustment cannot be performed. Furthermore, since predetermined RGB color balance adjustment is performed on the RGB color space, which is not a uniform color space, independently of the brightness value of object pixel data, the apparent adjustment amount changes depending on the brightness.
In prior art 2, since color balance is adjusted after the RGB color space is converted into spaces expressing the brightness and chromaticity, the brightness and chromaticity can be independently adjusted. This allows direct reflection of the operator's intention for adjustment. However, conversion from the RGB color space into the color spaces expressing the brightness and chromaticity requires a long time.
In prior arts 1 and 2, since the operator cannot recognize the position of a set adjustment amount in the entire adjustment space, he/she cannot know the degree of adjustment based on the adjustment amount defined by himself/herself.

Image processing apparatus and method and storage medium


A multi-channel wireless network acquires reference time information that is commonly applied to all multi-channels and acquires packet receiving time information of a received packet on each channel basis based on the reference time information by spreading and applying the reference time information to each channel.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for processing a packet in a multi-channel wireless network.
(b) Description of the Related Art
In general, a packet that is forwarded through an existing wireless network is communicated through a predetermined channel, and in most cases, a packet is transmitted/received using only one channel or a packet is independently analyzed in each channel.
However, there is now a case of allocating and using a plurality of physical channels to one logical channel like a channel jump media access method. In this case, because a channel is allocated based on time division characteristics, a relative time difference between channels is important. However, when an existing apparatus simultaneously transmits/receives a packet using at least one channel, it is difficult to adjust a corresponding time reference on a channel basis. Further, when analyzing a packet, a relative time difference of each packet cannot be analyzed or only time difference analysis of limited accuracy is available.

Method and apparatus for processing packet in multi-channel wireless network

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A construction, such as a pallet, provided inter alia with plate-like components of nailable material, for instance of wood and/or wood fibers, plastic and the like which are pressed together with glue under pressure and/or with addition of heat, wherein at least two plate-like elements, each of random thickness, are joined together on the mutually facing surfaces using one or more, whether or not spatial nail elements, in order to increase the carrying capacity of the pallet construction. If desired the space between the deck plates can be filled with a material of a low specific gravity, like foam.

The invention relates to a construction, such as a pallet, provided with plate-like components of nailable material, for instance of wood chips, wood parts and/or wood fibers, plastic and the like which are pressed together with glue under pressure and/or with addition of heat to form such a plate-like component. At least two of said plate-like components, each of random thickness, are joined together on mutually facing surfaces using one or more nail elements to form a plate-like element. The nail element is embodied as a spatial body provided with nail-like fixing elements for connection to the surfaces of the upper and lower plate-like components.
Due to its composition and method of production, the plate material has a sufficiently high modulus of elasticity and sufficient capacity to withstand shear, pressure and tensile stresses and distribute them while being loaded for instance perpendicularly to the surface of the plate-like element.
Such a construction is disclosed in DE-U-8702655.4.
An object of the invention is to further improve the carrying capacity of such a construction and provides a construction which is distinguished in that the spatial body is formed as a framework from a flat wire mat which is folded along predetermined lines A, B, C parallel to the surfaces.
Since the nail element is a spatial body which is arranged between the upper and lower plate-like components of the construction, a good resistence against shearing of the assembly is achieved.
According to a main feature of the invention, a wire mat can be folded along predetermined lines to form the spatial construction. The nail-like fixing elements can be fixed to the spatial body in random manner but in case of a wire mat the invention further proposes cutting through predetermined wires of the flat mat. The cut parts are arranged to protrude outside of the spatial body after a folding of the mat, thus forming the nails of the fixing elements.
For some applications it is advantageous to fill the assembly with a foam material in a space formed between the upper and lower plates which embed the spatial body.
In order to optimize resistance against the nails being pulled out of the nailable material, the ends of the nails are given a chamfering, such that, during a pressing in, they preferably assume a so-called open-tulip position in the nailable material.
The invention further provides incorporating a nail element known from the Netherlands patent application number 9101725 on the joint face of the two nailable components, both having equal thicknesses to form a plate-like component being able to withstand a load perpendicularly to the surface which is four times the load which a component used singly can withstand.
In order to enable a still better absorption of pressure load, the plate-like body of a nail element can have a minimum of one reinforcing rib rolled-therein. The form of the rib can be a milled recess for a good fit in the nailable component.
In the case of nailable elements joined together from a minimum of three parts with nail elements, a nail element can also be arranged adjacent the lower element being the tensile zone of the plate-like component.
It is also possible to fix a nail element both in the assembly of at least three nailable elements on the joint face in the middle of the constituent parts and in the tensile zone of the assembly. Withstanding of a compression and a tensile stress can hereby be optimized.
As a result of the two described nailable components, when joined together the components are capable of withstanding a minimum of four times a pressure load, it is also possible to reduce the thickness dimension of the nailable plate material to a thickness sufficient to withstand a load suitable for a single nailable element. On the other hand, due to the ability to withstand a higher load, the option is present of allowing a heavier load on an identical surface.
A practical use of the assembly of the present invention is for the deck of a loading platform (pallet). In current practice standard pallets are usually constructed from wooden parts having a small width wherein the so-called top deck is first fixed to a so-called intermediate deck. This assembled pallet deck is then fixed with nails to wooden or plastic spacers. The number of spacers amounts to nine in order to make the pallet construction sufficiently rigid and stable. These spacers are placed such that each side of the rectangular form contains three spacers with one placed in the center of the pallet construction. At a prescribed length, the spacers leave space allowing access for forks of (internal) transport material such as fork-lift trucks from the ground or a substructure of the pallet. This known pallet construction having nine spacers allows fork access on each rectangular side and is called a four-way pallet. Pallet constructions are also known which have both a top deck and a bottom deck, so-called double-decker pallets. The spacers are then arranged between the intermediate decks.
The pallet construction according to the invention allows the nail element to join together the joint face of two nailable components of, for instance, rectangularly shaped plate material, along the diagonals of the rectangle. The nail elements, which may or may not be provided with reinforcing ribs, allow the utilization of a metal bush, which is pre-fixed to the nail element and has an internal screw thread to enable, for instance, a cylindrically formed spacer to be screwed on.
Since the joined together nailable components have such a great capacity to withstand pressure load, it is possible to fix only five spacers to the pallet deck, i.e. one on each of the four corners and one in the center of the pallet construction. This gives fork access to (internal) transport material on eight sides of the pallet, i.e. on the four rectangle sides in addition to the diagonal directions. It is then possible to speak of an eight-way pallet. The advantage of an eight-way access is that it achieves time-saving because, for instance, a pallet truck or fork-lift truck does not have to take an angle of 90xc2x0 in all cases.
Should still more rigidity be required of the pallet construction, a nail element can then also be pressed on the joint face on each rectangle side.
The pallet construction according to the invention can likewise be provided with a bottom deck. The spacers can be screwed in a simple manner to the bushes by giving them opposing threads.
Because the spacers are screwed onto a bush fixed to the nail element and are provided with a screw thread, it is also possible to couple these to, for instance, a rod of vibration-damping or vibration-absorbing material, consisting, for instance, of rubber and/or plastic. Instead of a rubber/plastic rod, it is also possible to couple to, for instance, a double-action hydraulic cylinder and, although this is not immediately obvious, to a construction with a gas spring. Since coupling to the bottom deck of a pallet is possible in a manner identical to coupling to the top deck of a pallet, the pallet can also be employed upside down while retaining vibration-damping and vibration-absorbing properties. The advantage of a thus constructed pallet is the possibility of, for instance, being able to adjust the rupture value of carton constructions which permit a lighter gram weight per unit. Since the construction of the spacer likewise has a good capacity to withstand shocks, also in horizontal direction, which may occur during use in a transport path, it will be possible to reduce the consequences of subsequent damage.
The invention will be further elucidated in the figure description hereinbelow of a number of embodiments.


An electrocatalytic cathode that will allow hydrogen peroxide, H.sub.2 O..2, to behave electrochemically within an Al-H.sub.2 O.sub.2 battery system is provided. The electrocatalytic cathode is comprised of nickel specially coated with one or a combination of the following six metals: platinum, ruthenium, rhodium, osmium, palladium, and iridium. The use of nickel coated with the appropriate combination of metals reduces the problems of excessive peroxide decomposition, thereby producing a battery that can operate efficiently by producing a high voltage at a high current density. The electrocatalytic cathode is produced by pretreating a nickel electrode with a hydrochloric acid bath and then by applying the metal coating by plating methods.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the production of electrodes and, more particularly, to electrocatalytic cathodes for use in aluminum hydrogen peroxide (Al-H.sub.2 O.sub.2) batteries.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Al-H.sub.2 O.sub.2 batteries in the current art comprise an aluminum anode and an electrocatalyzed hydrogen peroxide cathode which react together to produce electrical energy. The electrocatalytic cathode is placed next to the aluminum anode and the electrolyte completes the internal circuit. Ideally, a quantity of electrons equivalent to that generated by the oxidation of the aluminum anode is consumed by the reduction of H.sub.2 O.sub.2 at the electrocatalytic cathode. Limited power is produced in this reaction due to the inefficiency of the interaction of the H.sub.2 O.sub.2 with the electrocatalytic cathode. Hydrogen peroxide, being relatively unstable, decomposes easily as a result of the heat, contaminants or other stimuli. The instability of hydrogen peroxide permits the decomposition of excessive quantities of peroxide; that is, the breakdown of H.sub.2 O.sub.2 without electrochemical action, at the same time that the reduction, or electrochemical process, is taking place. Prior art electrocatalytic cathodes have been constructed of silver foil or plain nickel foil. Both of these foils cause a condition of either excessive peroxide decomposition or excessive overpotential. Either condition results in a reduction of net cell voltage as current density increases.

Preparation of an electrocatalytic cathode for an aluminum-hydrogen peroxide battery

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


An end effector for installing pre-molded seal caps onto fasteners comprises a cap-dispenser assembly and a cap-placement assembly. The cap-placement assembly comprises a main housing and a plunger mechanism, comprising an outer plunger housing and an inner gripper. The inner gripper is rotatable relative to the outer plunger housing between a cap-retaining configuration and a cap-releasing configuration. The plunger mechanism is selectively translatable from an extended position to a retracted position and from the retracted position to the extended position. The main housing is selectively rotatable from a cap-receiving position, in which the plunger mechanism is aligned with the seal-cap-delivery-sleeve central axis, to a cap-installing position, in which the main housing is angularly displaced from the cap-receiving position, and from the cap-installing position to the cap-receiving position.

During assembly of a structure, such as an aircraft or a component thereof, pre-molded seal caps must often be installed onto fasteners, extending from a surface of the structure. It is desirable to fully automate such installation of the pre-molded seal caps to reduce cost and manufacturing lead time. However, complex movements, related to retrieving a pre-molded end cap from a supply of end caps, positioning the pre-molded end cap over the fastener, and installing the pre-molded end cap on the fastener, make automating the installation of pre-molded end caps difficult. In some applications, the pre-molded end cap is filled with a sealant prior to installation, further increasing the complexity of automating installation.

Apparatuses and systems for installing pre-molded seal caps onto fasteners


A movable contact mechanism of a double-breakpoint circuit breaker comprises a front static contact having a first contact point at the rear end, a rear contact assembly having a connecting plate with a rear static contact at the front end, and a movable contact which are placed in the horizontal direction, wherein an insertion slot is formed in the front end of the rear static contact the front contact end of the movable static is equipped with a second contact point matched with the first contact point, and the rear insertion end of the movable contact is inserted into or separated from the insertion slot and the opening or closing stroke of the first contact point and the second contact point is greater than the stroke that the rear insertion end of the movable contact is inserted into or separated from the insertion slot.

There are many kinds of circuit breakers with the same basic working principles. Under abnormal conditions, the power supply lines can be quickly cut off to ensure the safety of electrical equipment and the power supply lines in a circuit system. The movable contact, as the core component of the circuit breaker, is used to divide and combine the power supply lines. When the power supply lines or the electrical equipment has overloaded or short-circuit fault, the movable contact is automatically opened and separated from the static contact, thereby quickly cutting off the power supply lines. And the electric arc generated between the moving and static contacts is rapidly elongated and then enters the arc extinguishing chamber.
At present, there are mainly two kinds of double-breakpoint circuit breakers on the market. The first one is to add a breakpoint in series or parallel on the movable contact of the original single-breakpoint circuit breaker, and form two electric-arc regions on one loop; although this structure can effectively improve the short-circuit breaking capacity, yet a larger electric arc will be generated between the moving and static contacts during separation as a result of the addition of the breakpoint, and the arc extinguishing chamber needs to be introduced to extinguish the electric arc. The production cost of the circuit breaker is increased as one arc extinguishing chamber is accordingly increased to double drive force of an operating mechanism of the product, and the outline size of the whole product is also increased (due to the presence of two arc extinguishing regions).
The second one includes a movable contact, a static contact, a flexible wire resistor and a conductive plate, where a first silver contact point is arranged below the head of the moving static, a second silver contact point is arranged above the head of the static contact, a third silver contact is arranged below the tail of the static contact, a fourth silver contact point is arranged above the tail of the conductive plate, the first silver contact point and the second silver contact point are in contact connection to form a first breakpoint of a break-way circuit, and the third silver contact point and the fourth silver contact point are in contact connection to form a second breakpoint of the break-way circuit. Although one resistor can be in series connected between the static contact and the conductive plate to form a high-resistance adsorption loop, the circuit breaker with the structure cancels one arc extinguishing chamber in comparison with other double-breakpoint structures. The flexible wire resistor (braided wire) is connected to the conductive plate by a welding way, so that a welding spot of a welded part is liable to drop; and after long-time use, the service life of the circuit breaker is affected by circuit breaker burning loss caused by too great temperature rise of the flexible wire resistor when the flexible wire resistor of the circuit breaker is liable to have a partial fracture phenomenon to result in the section of the flexible wire resistor to reduce.
In view of this, it is urgent to improve the structure of the current movable contact of the circuit breaker, so as to reduce the number of arc extinguishing chambers, improve the breaking capacity of the circuit breaker, reduce the cost, and prolong the service life of the circuit breaker.

Movable contact mechanism of double-breakpoint circuit breaker


A hydrodynamic torque converter (1) with a lock-up clutch (6) in the form of a disk clutch in a clutch space (9) and with a piston (7) for actuating the lock-up clutch (6). The lock-up clutch (6) has an end disk (63) and a first disk carrier (61), on which the end disk (63) is radially and axially supported. The end disk (63) is arranged on the side of the lock-up clutch (6) remote from the piston (7). The lock-up clutch (6) has a second disk carrier (62). A sealing element (64) is provided, on the second disk carrier (62), a sealing gap (12) is formed between the end disk (63) and the sealing element (64).

Hydrodynamic torque converters are clutches that work in accordance with the Fottinger principle. Thanks to their virtually wear-free mode of operation, they are used in numerous technical fields for the transmission and/or translation of rotary movements. These torque converters often have a converter lock-up clutch, also called a lock-up clutch for short. This serves, among other things, to enable the otherwise hydrodynamic coupling of the converter to be bridged across by a mechanical coupling, if need be. In that way, power losses in the converter can be minimized.
In automotive technology, hydrodynamic torque converters are often used as a wear-free starter clutch and/or as an integral transmission shifting element. In this context the torque converter is provided, in particular, on the input side or as a central shifting element of a multi-gear motor vehicle transmission. Thus, the torque converter is connected to the transmission in a torque-transmitting manner. In the hydrodynamic operation of the torque converter, drive power is transmitted in it by means of a hydraulic fluid. This takes place virtually without any wear, and, for the most part, the hydraulic fluid absorbs the produced heat losses. Accordingly the torque converter is often connected to a cooling system of the transmission and/or the motor vehicle. Heat energy is produced in particular in the hydrodynamic torus of the converter and, as frictional loss, at the lock-up clutch.
From DE 10 2005 051 739 A1, a hydrodynamic torque converter with a lock-up clutch and a torsion damper is known. The lock-up clutch is designed to show constant behavior over a very long lifetime. For this, direct cooling of the clutch disks of the lock-up clutch by way of an axial piston of the converter and the torsion damper is proposed.

Hydrodynamic torque converter with a lock-up clutch


An accessory for a writing board, a file or the like, characterized in that it at least consists of a holder (4) which can be provided to a file or the like (3) whereby this holder (4) works in conjunction with or can work in conjunction with a binding mechanism (5) of the type comprising elements over which documents (8) that are provided with openings (9) can be threaded on the one hand, and whereby this holder (4) can be manually attached to a file or the like (3) on the other hand.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an accessory for a writing board, a file or the like, as well as a writing board, file or the like which is equipped with such an accessory or which is fit, in other words comprises special provisions, to be equipped with such an accessory.
For clarity's sake, we will only mention a file in what follows, by which is meant, as if it were, every support upon which the accessory can be provided.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
It is known that, in order to keep loose documents together, use can be made of a file consisting of a front wall part, a rear wall part connected to it by means of a back part, and at least one inwardly folded flap formed on one of the aforesaid wall parts which is held at a distance from the accompanying wall part via side pieces. When the file is folded open, the loose documents can be slid in the space situated between the flap and the wall part onto which said flap is fixed. By folding up the file, the loose documents are prevented from leaving the space.
It is also known that such files with separate side pieces can be commercialized, which side pieces will have to be mounted later on by the consumer or retailer. This offers the advantage that the whole, formed of the above-mentioned wall parts, the back part and the flap, can be made flat, such that, in view of its commercialization and distribution, the volume to be packed and transported can be reduced to a minimum.
It is also known to mount a binding mechanism with rings on the flap, near its free end, in the factory, so that documents can be stored loosely in the file in the above-mentioned space on the one hand, and documents can also be fixed in the file by means of the binding mechanism on the other hand.
A disadvantage of such a binding mechanism which is permanently fixed on the flap consists in that it takes up a lot of space and that one cannot always be sure that the selected binding mechanism is the right one. Another disadvantage consists in that the fixed binding mechanism on the flap forms an obstacle, so that parcels containing such files are more difficult to pack and to distribute. Especially in the case of files whereby, as mentioned above, use is made of separate connecting pieces to keep said flap at a distance from the accompanying wall part, the major advantage that such files could be packed with a minimum of lost space, is undone so to say by the presence of the binding mechanism.

Accessory for a writing board, file or the like which is equipped with such an accessory


A method for monitoring and controlling a plurality of series-connected capacitance, wherein at least during the discharge of the capacitances, there is determined a voltage of every capacitance, and in the instance of a drop-off of a voltage of one of the capacitances below a first threshold voltage of this capacitance, the capacitance is bridged over to at least the end of the discharge. Also provided are devices for determining every voltage of every capacitance, devices for symmetrizing voltages among the capacitances, and devices for the deactivation of at least one of the capacitances.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an arrangement and to a method for monitoring and controlling a plurality of capacitances, which are connected in series.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
A method for symmetrizing or balancing the condensers or capacitors of a condenser battery and a possible arrangement for that purpose are disclosed in European Patent Publication EP 1 406 143 A2. The condenser battery consists of a plurality of parallel-connected rows of presently individual condensers, which can be the so-called ultra-condensers. In order to be able to store the greatest possible amount of energy in such a condenser battery, it is important to uniformly charge all condensers of the battery; in effect, to charge uniformly and fully. This process is referred to as "symmetrizing", or essentially balancing. In the event that there is applied to individual condensers, even if only for a short period of time, a condenser voltage which is in excess of a rated value, this will lead to a more rapid aging of this condenser. In an extreme case, this condenser must then be prematurely removed, which is complicated procedure.
Differing voltages which are applied to the individual condensers or capacitors which render the energy storage device inefficient, can be essentially traced back to the condenser properties; for example, to the replacement-series resistance and/or to the capacitance of the condenser. Moreover, parallel resistances can also be significant in that connection.
Accordingly, for this purpose, it becomes necessary to charge each individual condenser of a condenser battery to an upper voltage limit, and to protect it from an overload, which can lead to a destruction of the condenser. At an excessively high applied voltage, this can lead to a blowing-off of the electrolytes, which signifies a destruction of the condenser. However, by means of a diagnosis, it should be possible to early recognize as to whether a condenser is not capable of being fully operationally capable.
In the disclosure of EP 1 406 143 A2, for a monitoring of the charge condition of the condensers, there are prepared three voltage levels by means of a reference voltage source. At every condenser there is determined the condenser voltage and compared with the voltage levels. A correct charge of a condenser is indicated when the condenser voltage lies between the two lower voltage levels. A disorder of the condenser is indicated when the condenser voltage is greater than the highest voltage level. It is then only symmetrized or balanced when neither a correct charge nor a disorder is indicated. Through the intermediary of a bus system, there can, however, an evaluating unit can also be informed with regard to the error, so as to facilitate an immediate diagnosis of the failed condenser.
Similarly, EP 1 406 143 A2 discloses an arrangement, in which arranged in parallel with respectively two or more of the condensers of the condenser battery is a series circuit consisting of an ohmic resistance and a first transistor. Connected in parallel with the first transistor is at least one further transistor. The transistors are connected with an evaluating unit, whereby voltage tap-offs from the condensers are connected with the evaluating unit. The ohmic resistance of the series circuit, which is necessary for the symmetrizing serves as a discharge resistor, and, for example, can be a large wire-wound resistance. It can also have or also be a flat-bottom or surface resistance, an HSA resistance, or also a cement resistance. The transistors are, as a rule, so-called field-effect transistors. If required, upon occasion these field-effect resistors can be equipped with cooling elements.

Arrangement and method for monitoring and controlling a plurality of series-connected capacitors


An apparatus for protecting structural supports from damage when impacted by an object such as a moving vehicle is provided. The apparatus has a shaped component which in the preferred embodiment is a semi-cylindrical component having a body defined by a wall, a top, and a base. The wall has at least one flat wall face and surrounds a hollow interior. An indentation for receiving a structural support is present in at least one flat wall face. A means for securing the shaped component to the structural support and for firmly seating one component at its flat wall face against the second component at its flat wall face when two components are present. Preferably, each component has a plurality of impact absorbing indentations, each having an aperture, a base and a wall extending from the base to an aperture mouth. These indentations function to re-distribute the energy of impact when a collusion occurs between the apparatus and a moving object. Preferably, each component is formed by rotational molding from a plastic resin.

An apparatus for protecting structural columns and supports from damage resulting from impact from a moving vehicle while preventing or reducing damage to that vehicle and its driver is provided. The inventive apparatus finds use in aquatic and in industrial settings such as in a warehouse where loaders and tow motors impact structural supports or at a wharf where small boats are docking. The apparatus also finds use as a safety device to reduce and prevent damage to vehicles and their drivers during collisions with stationary objects such as poles, posts, and the like.
Accidental collisions between vehicles such as cars, trucks and boats and support structures such as poles or columns occur frequently. When vehicles are backing, limited visibility adds to the problem of safely avoiding the structural supports. If the area is crowded with other vehicles or with materials to be moved such as in a warehouse, backing of a vehicle can be especially problematic. Accidental acceleration or poor traction due to spills or wet surfaces often also results in collisions between vehicles and structural supports such as light poles, telephone poles, traffic lights, and the like. Accidental acceleration or poor judgement of the distance between a boat and a supporting structure also occur resulting in damage. warehouses, previous attempts to protect a structural support or a vehicle and its driver from damage suffered due to collision have tended to protect one or the other, but not both. Further, such devices have been complicated or messy to install or both. Devices which partially enclose a structural support are known. One device to protect people who collide with I-beams from the impact, is the Soft-Post(trademark) Urethane Pad. Such a pad is substantially C-shaped and clips around the upper and lower extensions of the I beam while failing to cover the body of the I. Partial enclosure of a structural support is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,925 (Vargo), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, a three quarters surround post protector which is bolted to the floor. Devices which surround a support thereby providing a greater protection and re-enforcement to the support are known. For example, to protect structural supports, especially those in warehouses, the structural supports have been encased in concrete or such supports have been provided by a hollow cylindrical device filled with concrete or gravel such as the Column Cushion available from Ancon Building Services Div. Goshen, Ind. 46526. Another example of protective apparatus, the pieces of which are connected by a tongue and groove system, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,006,386 (Menichini), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Protective devices also are known and used in aquatic environments such as at the base of a bridge support, on the supporting structures of an oil rig in the ocean and on the posts supporting a wharf. Such devices include encasing the supporting structure in concrete as above and providing a cushioning fender such as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,364 (Darder-Alomar), the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
None of the aforementioned provides the combined properties of impact absorption, protection of the structural support, cost effectiveness in manufacturing, and ease of installation which are provided by the inventive apparatus.
It is an object of this invention to provide a protective apparatus which is resilient and absorbs and redistributes impact.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a protective apparatus which is easy to install and economical to manufacture.
An apparatus for protecting a structural support and absorbing impact is provided. The apparatus for protecting a structural support includes a shaped component for receiving a structural support and a means for securing the shaped component to the structural support. In the preferred embodiment, the apparatus is comprised of two shaped components which are mirror images of one another and a means to secure one component to the other component. Most preferably, each is a semi-cylindrical component having a top, a base, and a wall. Each top, base and wall has an exterior face, an interior face. A hollow interior is defined by the wall, top and base, thus providing a body. Each semi-cylindrical component has a flat exterior face and a rounded exterior face. An indentation for receiving a supporting structure is present at the flat exterior face and extends from the top to the base. Preferably, indentations for absorbing impact are present at the rounded exterior face.
The body wall of each semi-cylindrical component has a thickness and is comprised of a plastic material which may be a vinyl, a polyethylene, a polypropylene, or a polyurethane. Preferably, the body is comprised of a UV stabilized polyethylene which is shaped by rotational molding. Each semi-cylindrical component is highly resilient, stress crack resistant, a semi-flexible. Preferably, each body of the two semi-cylindrical components has a vent hole. Advantageously, due to the flexibility of the body material, the semi-cylindrical components conform to the shape of the structural support at their respective flat faces when the two semi-cylindrical components are placed face to face and are stabilized in position by the means for securing the shaped component to the structural support, thus slippage around the support is minimized.
In the preferred embodiment, at the exterior rounded face of each of the semi-cylindrical components, are a plurality of discontinuous indentations for absorbing impact. Each has an aperture mouth, an aperture base and a plurality of aperture walls extending from the aperture base to the aperture mouth. The aperture walls and aperture base are continuous with the wall of the semi-cylindrical body. The discontinuous indentations function to deflected impact energy away from the structural support. The discontinuous indentations at their respective aperture bases terminate in the hollow body interior at a distance from the interior flat face of the wall. Thus, a hollow region remains between the aperture base and the interior surface of the flat wall face to protect, cushion and redistribute the energy of the impact traveling towards the structural support. Preferably, the aperture walls form an angle at their respective aperture bases. Most preferably, each aperture base has a smaller area than that of the aperture mouth.
Also present at the exterior face of the rounded wall of the body is a continuous indentation for receiving a means for securing the shaped components to the structural support. The continuous indentation is seated at approximately the same position on each of the two semi-cylindrical components so that when the means for securing the shaped components to the structural supports secured at a circumference, the semi-cylindrical components are positioned on the structural support. Preferably, the means for securing the shaped components to the structural support is a belt or a strap having a hooked surface at one end and a napped surface for mating to the hooked surface at the opposite end.

Apparatus for protecting structural supports


A VCSEL device includes a polyimide having a larger thickness (d1) on the surface of a semiconductor layer structure in a peripheral area 54, which is separated from a mesapost by an annular groove 52. The top surface of the central mesapost 30 is located at a lower position compared to the top surface of the peripheral area 54. A structure is obtained wherein the mesapost is not contacted by a jig or probe during handling the device in the test or assembly thereof.

Vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL which is referred to as simply surface-emitting laser device or VCSEL device hereinafter) is a semiconductor laser device which emits laser in the direction perpendicular to the substrate surface thereof. The surface-emitting laser device is such that a large number of VCSEL devices can be arranged in a two-dimensional array on a common substrate, and now attracts an attention as a light source in the field of communication as well as a specific device for a variety of applications.
The VCSEL device has a resonator structure, wherein a pair of semiconductor distributed-Brag-reflector mirrors (DBR mirrors) are formed on a semiconductor substrate such as GaAs or InP, and an active layer configuring an emission region is provided between the pair of DBR mirrors. For example, a GaAs-group VCSEL device can be formed on a GaAs substrate, and AlGaAs-based DBR mirrors (such as including AlAs/AlGaAs layer pairs) having an excellent heat conductivity and a higher reflectance can be used. Thus, the GaAs-group VCSEL device is expected as a promising laser device emitting a light having a wavelength range between 0.8 μm and 1.0 μm. In addition, a VCSEL device including an active layer configured by GaInNAs-based materials is expected as a promising laser device which emits laser of a longer wavelength range between 1.2 μm and 1.6 μm.
As a VCSEL device, an oxide-confinement-type surface-emitting semiconductor laser device is proposed which has a structure wherein an Al-oxidized layer confines the current injection area for improving the current efficiency and reducing the threshold current thereof.
With reference to FIG. 10, the configuration of a conventional surface-emitting semiconductor laser device used in a 850-nm-wavelength range and having an oxide-layer-confinement structure will be described hereinafter. FIG. 10 is a perspective sectional view depicting the configuration of the conventional 850-nm-range surface-emitting semiconductor laser device having the oxide-layer-confinement structure. The surface-emitting semiconductor laser device 100 has on a p-type GaAs (p-GaAs) substrate 62, a layer structure including a buffer layer 63, a bottom DBR mirror 64 including 35 pairs of p-Al0.9GaAs/p-Al0.2GaAs layers each having a layer thickness corresponding to λ/4n (λ and n are emission wavelength and refractive index, respectively), a lower cladding layer 66, a quantum-well active layer 68, an upper cladding layer 70, and a top DBR mirror 72 having 25 pairs of n-Al0.9GaAs/n-Al0.2GaAs layers each having a layer thickness corresponding to λ/4 n.
In the bottom DBR mirror 64, one of the Al0.9GaAs layers disposed in the vicinity of the quantum-well active layer 68 is replaced by an AlAs layer 74, and the Al in an area of the AlAs layer 74 other than the central current-injection area thereof is selectively oxidized to configure an Al-oxidized layer 75 as the current-confinement layer. A part of the layer structure disposed between the top portion thereof and a portion of the bottom DBR mirror is configured as a mesapost 80, on which a ring electrode 82 is formed. The conventional VCSEL device 10A having the above structure is manufactured by a process as described below.
First, semiconductor layers configuring the layer structure are deposited using an epitaxial-growth technique.
Subsequently, a portion of the layer structure disposed between the top DBR mirror 72 and a portion of the bottom DBR mirror 64 is subjected to an etching treatment using a photolithographic and etching process, to configure a cylindrical mesapost 80 having a diameter of 30 μm, for example. In the step of forming the mesapost 80, a configuration may be employed wherein a semiconductor layer portion other than the mesapost 80 is removed by etching in its entirety, or an annular groove is formed by the etching to configure the mesapost inside the annular groove and a peripheral area surrounding the annular groove. The example shown in the figure is such that the portion of the semiconductor layers other than the mesapost 80 is removed by etching in its entirety.
An oxidation process is conducted wherein the layer structure configured as the mesapost 80 is maintained in a steam atmosphere at a temperature of about 400 degrees C., to thereby selectively oxidize the Al in the AlAs layer 74 from outside of the mesapost 80, whereby a current confinement layer including the Al-oxidized layer 75 is formed within the AlAs layer 74.
Subsequently, a SiNx passivation layer 76 is formed over the entire area of the wafer including the top surface and side surface of the mesapost 80 and a portion of the p-type bottom DBR mirror 64 near the mesapost 80. Thereafter, a polyimide film 78 is formed on the entire area of the wafer by coating, followed by curing the polyimide film 78 in a three-step heat treatment wherein temperatures of 200 degrees C., 300 degrees C. and 400 degrees C. are maintained for 40 minutes, 60 minutes and 60 minutes, respectively. Subsequently, a photolithographic process is conducted to remove a portion of the polyimide film 78 on the top surface of the mesapost 80, thereby exposing the SiNx passivation layer 76. The polyimide film 78, which is formed by coating to have a substantially uniform thickness, is subjected to the influence by the contraction etc. of the polyimide due to the post-coating heat treatment, thereby assuming a shape wherein the polyimide film is highest at the mesapost area and gradually reduces the height in the peripheral portion.
Subsequently, an RIE system is used to etch a portion of the SiNx passivation layer 76 exposed on the mesapost 80 by using CF gas as an etching gas, thereby forming a window for forming therethrough an n-side electrode. Thereafter, a metallic film is formed by evaporation to form a ring-shaped n-side electrode 82. After forming the n-side electrode 82, the bottom surface of the p-GaAs substrate 62 is polished to adjust the substrate thickness to 200 μm, followed by forming a metallic film on the bottom surface of the substrate by evaporation to form a p-side electrode 86. Subsequently, an electrode anneal is conducted at an anneal temperature of 400 degrees C for 3 minutes. After those steps as recited above, the wafer process is finished. Subsequently, the wafer is subjected to dicing using a dicing machine to formulate devices, whereby surface-emitting semiconductor laser devices 10A such as shown in FIG. 10 can be obtained. Those devices manufactured in the manner as described above are subjected to measurement tests such as for electric characteristics thereof, and mounted on an optical module etc. after the assembly steps. Conventional VCSEL devices are described in JP-2003-69150 A1 and JP-2000-68604 A1, for example.
As described above, the VCSEL device is embedded within the polyimide film in its entirety, and then subjected to the polishing process for the bottom surface of the substrate, testing process and assembly process, after the portion of the polyimide film on the top surface of the mesapost is removed. In those processes, handling of the VCSEL device causes a contact with respect to a variety of testing equipments and jigs, or applies a mechanical pressure etc. thereon.
In the testing process, as shown in FIG. 11(a), a measurement probe 40 is shifted on the surface of the wafer on which the mesapost 80 is formed, in order to contact the measurement probe 40 with the ring electrode 82 of the VCSEL device. Thus, the measurement probe 40 is likely to contact the mesapost 80. In addition, as shown in FIG. 11(b), if the measurement probe 40 contacts the pad electrodes 42 which is formed on the polyimide film 78 in the peripheral area outside the mesapost 80 and electrically connected to the ring electrode 82, a stress caused by the measurement probe 40 is applied to the mesapost 80 through the polyimide film 78.
During the polishing process for the bottom surface of the substrate, as shown in FIG. 11(c), a portion of the top surface of the mesapost 80 of the VCSEL device is attached onto a polishing jig 44, and the polishing is performed in this state. In this case, the attachment of the polishing jig 44 onto the portion configured by the bay window of the mesapost 80 for emitting therethrough the laser beam is likely to cause a defect on the mesapost 80. In the assembly process to the optical module, the VCSEL device is likely to contact an optical fiber on the top surface of the mesapost upon coupling thereof to the optical fiber. Further, before and after the testing process or assembly process, the VCSEL device is likely to be damaged also by a jig such as a pincette upon holding the same by the jig.
As described above, there is a problem in the process for handling the VCSEL device that the mesapost 80 of the VCSEL device is likely to be damaged on the surface of the mesapost 80 by a contact with respect to a variety of testing equipments or jigs due to a protruding structure thereof protruding from the peripheral area, or that the VCSEL device is damaged on the mesapost 80 having therein the resonator structure due to a stress applied thereto.