The present invention relates to a supported chromium-based catalyst titanated under specific conditions and used for the homopolymerisation or the copolymerisation of ethylene. The polyethylene obtained with this catalyst has high shear resirance and environmental stress crack resistance, and can be used for manufacturing films with improved tear properties.

The present invention relates to a catalyst for producing a high density polyethylene having a broad molecular weight distribution, in order to obtain good processability and good physical and chemical properties. In particular, the good physical properties may be improved tear properties when the polyethylene is made into films and/or improved environmental stress crack resistance. The present invention further relates to a process for producing said catalyst and to the use of such a catalyst.
For polyethylene, and for high density polyethylene (HDPE) in particular, the molecular weight distridution (MWD) is a fundamental property which determines the properties of the polymer, and thus its applications. It is generally recognised in the art that the molecular weight distribution of a polyethylene resin can principally determine the physical, and in particular the mechanical, properties of the resin and that the provision of different molecular weight polyethylene molecules can significantly affect the Theological properties of the polyethylene as a whole.
The molecular weight distribution can be completely defined by means of a curve obtained by gel permeation chromatography. Generally, the molecular weight distribution (MWD) is more simply defined by a parameter, known as the dispersion index D, which is the ratio between the average molecular weight by weight (Mw) and the average molecular weight by number (Mn). The dispersion index constitutes a measure of the width of the molecular weight distribution. For most applications, the molecular dispersion index varies between 10 and 30.
Since an increase in the molecular weight normally improves the physical properties of polyethylene resins, there is a strong demand for polyethylene having high molecular weight. These high molecular weight molecules, however render the polymer more difficult to process. On the other hand, a broadening in the molecular weight distribution tends to improve the flow of the polymer when it is being processed at high shear rates. Accordingly, in applications requiring a rapid transformation of the material through a die, for example in blowing and extrusion techniques, the broadening of the molecular weight distribution permits an improvement in the processing of polyethylene at high molecular weight (high molecular weight polyethylenes have a low melt index, as is known in the art). It is known that when the polyethylene has a high molecular weight and also a broad molecular weight distribution, the processing of the polyethylene is made easier as a result of the low molecular weight portion while the high molecular weight portion contributes to a good impact resistance for the polyethylene resin. A polyethylene of this type may be processed using less energy with higher processing yields.
As a general rule, a polyethylene having a high density tends to have a high degree of stiffness. In general, however, the environment stress crack resistance (ESCR) of polyethylene has an inverse relationship with stiffness. In other words, as the stiffness of polyethylene is increased, the environment stress crack resistance decreases, and vice versa. This inverse relationship is known in the art as the ESCR-rigidity balance. It is required, for certain applications, to achieve a compromise between the environmental stress crack resistance and the rigidity of the polyethylene.
Polyethylene is well known in the art for use in making films. Typically, polyethylene films are blown or extruded through a die. The blowing and extrusion of the thin film defines for the film a machine direction in the direction of blowing or extrusion through the die and an orthogonal transverse direction. For many applications, the polyethylene film is required to have a high tear strength, and in particular a high isotropy in the tear strength between the machine and transverse directions. As a result of the blowing or extrusion technique, the polyethylene polymer chains can become substantially aligned in the machine direction of the blowing or extrusion process. This can yield a significantly higher tearing strength in the transverse direction of the film as compared to the tearing strength in the machine direction. There is generally a need for polyethylene films having good tear properties for use in the manufacture of films, and in particular a good isotropy in the tear properties between the machine and transverse directions. A variety of catalyst systems are known for the manufacture of polyethylene. It is known in the art that the physical properties, in particular the mechanical properties, of a polyethylene resin can vary depending on what catalyst system was employed to make the polyethylene. This is because different catalyst systems tend to yield different molecular weight distributions in the polyethylene produced. Thus for example the properties of a polyethylene resin produced using a chromium-based catalyst (i.e. a catalyst known in the art as a xe2x80x9cPhillips catalystxe2x80x9d) tend to be different from the properties of a product employed using a Ziegler-Natta catalyst.
For the manufacture of polyethylene films, it is known that HDPE resins made using Ziegler-Natta catalysts have a good balance in their tear properties between the machine and transverse directions. In particular, such resins made using Ziegler-Natta catalysts, and having what is known in the art as a bimodal molecular weight distribution, have good isotropic tear properties. Such a bimodal HDPE resin has a bimodal distribution of the molecular weight of the high density polyethylene which is represented in a graph of the molecular weight distribution as determined for example by gel phase chromatography. The graph includes in the curve a xe2x80x9cshoulderxe2x80x9d on the high molecular weight side of the peak of the molecular weight distribution. Such a bimodal high density polyethylene consists of high and low molecular weight fractions in which the mixture of those fractions is adjusted as compared to a monomodal distribution so as to increase the proportion of high molecular weight species in the polymer.
The production of high density polyethylene using just a chromium-based catalyst is thus desirable to enable the particular polyethylene product to be manufactured. The Encyclopedia of Polymer Science and Engineering, Volume 6, pages 431-432 and 466-470 (John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1986, ISBN 0-471-80050-3) and Ullman""s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, Fifth Edition, Volume A21, pages 501-502 (VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, 1992, ISBN 3-527-20121-1) each discuss Phillips and Ziegler-Natta catalysts and the production of HDPE.
It is known in the art that in order to obtain the advantages of a broad molecular weight distribution, it is necessary to polymerise an intimate mixture of polyethylene molecules prepared in a common manufacturing process, It is known in the art that it is not possible to prepare a polyethylene having a broad molecular weight distribution and the required properties simply by blending polyethylenes having different molecular weights.
It has thus been proposed to carry out the polymerisation by a two step process, using two reactors connected in series (GB-A-1233599; EP-A-057352; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,414,369 and 4,338,424). In a first step and in the first reactor a fraction of the high density polyethylene is produced under specified conditions and in the following second step in the second reactor a second fraction of the high density polyethylene is produced using a different set of polymerisation conditions. In the two-step process, the process conditions and the catalyst can be optimised in order to provide a high efficiency and yield for each step in the overall process. The currently commercially employed two-step processes suffer from the disadvantage that because two separate serial processes are employed, the overall process has a low throughput.
It has further been proposed to produce polyethylene with a broad molecular weight distribution with a two-catalyst mixture of one supported chromium catalyst and one Ziegler-Natta type catalyst (EP-A-0480376). This process suffers from the disadvantage that the Ziegler-Natta catalyst requires a co-catalyst to give an active catalytic system but the co-catalyst can influence the supported chromium catalyst and in particular can detrimentally affect its activity.
It has also been proposed, for example in EP-A-661299, EP-A-647661 or WO 95/33777 to use chromium-based catalysts for the production of polyolefins.
There is a need in the art for a process for producing polyethylene resins suitable for blow molding having good environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR) and suitable for the manufacture of films having good tear properties, which do not use a Ziegler-Natta catalyst, and in particular which use a chromium-based catalyst.
It is known in the art to provide titanium in a chromium-based catalyst. Titanium can be incorporated either into the support for the chromium catalyst or into the catalytic composition deposited on the support.
Titanium can be incorporated into the support by coprecipitation or terprecipitation as is the case for cogel and tergel type catalysts developed by Phillips Petroleum described for example in EP-A-352715. Cogel and tergel catalysts respectively have binary and ternary supports.
Alternatively, titanium can be incorporated into the support by impregnation of the support as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,402,864 and FR-A-2,134,743 or by chemisorption of a titanium compound into the support as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,016,343.
Titanation of the catalytic composition has been disclosed in earlier patent specifications.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,703 discloses that titanium can be incorporated into the catalytic composition by adding to a composite liquid suspension, of a carrier material (i.e. a support) and chromium trioxide, a titanium compound of the formula Ti(OR)4.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,979 discloses that titanium can be incorporated into the catalytic composition by adding at elevated temperature a titanium compound such as titanium tetraisopropoxide to a chromium-based catalyst which has been heated in a dry inert gas. The titanated catalyst is then activated at elevated temperature.
The ethylene polymers obtained with all the above mentioned processes do not have satisfactory mechanical properties especially with regard to the environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR).
Therefore there exists a need for a chromium-based catalyst capable of producing polyethylene resins for blow molding, having good processability and good physical and chemical properties.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a catalyst for the polymerisation of ethylene to produce polyethylene having good processability.
It is another aim of this invention to provide a catalyst for producing ethylene with high environmental stress crack resistance.
It is yet another aim of the present invention to provide a process for producing polyethylene using a chromium-based catalyst, with the resultant polyethylene resin being suitable for the manufacture of polyethylene films and in particular wherein the films have a good balance in their tear properties between the machine and transverse directions.
It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a catalyst for producing polyethylene having the above described desired properties, said catalyst having a high activity.
These and other aims can be achieved with a supported titanated chromium-based catalyst prepared under specific conditions, said catalyst being used for the production of high density polyethylene with improved processability and physical and chemical properties.
The present invention provides a process for preparing a titanated chromium-based catalyst for the production of high density polyethylene, by polymerising ethylene, or copolymerising ethylene and an alpha-olefinic comonomer comprising 3 to 10 carbon atoms, which comprises the steps of;
a) providing a silica-containing support having a specific surface area of at least 400 m2/g;
b) depositing a chromium compound on the support to form a chromium-based catalyst;
c) dehydrating the chromium-based catalyst to remove physically adsorbed water by heating the catalyst at a temperature of at least 300xc2x0 C. in an atmosphere of dry, inert gas;
d) titanating the chromium-based catalyst at a temperature of at least 300xc2x0 C. in an atmosphere of dry, inert gas containing a titanium compound of the general formula selected from RnTi(ORxe2x80x2)m and (RO)n Ti(ORxe2x80x2)m wherein R and Rxe2x80x2 are the same or different and are a hydrocarbyl group containing from 1 to 12 carbon atoms, n is 0 to 3, m is 1 to 4 and m+n equals 4, to form a titanated chromium-based catalyst having a titanium content of from 1 to 5% by weight, based on the weight of the titanated catalyst and
e) activating the titanated catalyst at a temperature of from 500 to 900xc2x0 C.
The present invention further provides a catalyst for the production of high density polyethylene, by polymerising ethylene, or copolymerising ethylene and an alpha-olefinic comonomer comprising 3 to 10 carbon atoms, the catalyst comprising a silica-containing support having a specific surface area of at least 400 m2/g, a chromium compound deposited on the support, and a titanium compound deposited on the support and comprising from 1 to 5% by weight Ti, based on the weight of the titanated catalyst.
The present invention also provides a process for producing polyethylene, in the presence of a chromium-based catalyst for the production of high density polyethylene, by polymerising ethylene, or copolymerising ethylene and an alpha-olefinic comonomer comprising 3 to 10 carbon atoms, the catalyst comprising a silica-containing support having a specific surface area of at least 400 m2/g, a chromium compound deposited on the support, and a titanium compound deposited on the support and comprising from 1 to 5% by weight Ti, based on the weight of the titanated catalyst.
The present invention further provides the use of the catalyst of the invention in the production of high density polyethylene for providing a high environmental stress crack resistance and a low incidence of melt fracture when melted and subjected to rotational shear at varying speeds.
The present invention further provides the use, for increasing the isotropy of the tear properties of films made from polyethylene resins, of the catalyst system of the invention.
The present invention is predicated on the surprising discovery of the present inventor that, in the production of polyethylene resins, a particular chromium-based catalyst having a minimum specific surface area of a silica-containing support and which has been de-hydrated and the surface titanated prior to or during the process of the activation of the catalyst at elevated temperature,can unexpectedly yield high density polyethylene having a very high environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR) and a low melt fracture index and is able to improve the tear balance of a polyethylene film made from the polyethylene resin.
The silica-containing support material used in the catalyst of this invention can be any catalytic support known in the art. The support is an inorganic, solid, particulate porous material inert to the other components of the catalyst composition and to: any other active components of the reaction system. Thus, suitable supports are inorganic materials, such as silica either alone or in combination with other metallic oxides, e.g., silica-alumina or silica-titania.
The support used in this invention has a large surface area of at least 400 m2/g, preferably from 450 to 600 m2/g and more preferably from 475 to 550 m2/g. The support preferably has a pore volume greater than 1 cm3/g, more preferably from 1 to 3 cm3/g, yet more preferably from 1.3 to 2.5 cm3/g. It is preferred that the support be dried prior to any chromium species being deposited onto it.
Known chromium-containing compounds capable of reacting with the surface hydroxyl groups of the silica-containing supports can be utilised to deposit the chromium thereon. Examples of such compounds include chromium nitrate, chromium trioxide, chromate esters such as chromium acetate, chromium acetylacetonate and t-butyl chromate, silyl chromate esters and phosphorous-containing esters. Preferably, chromium trioxide is used.
A preferred chromium-based catalyst may comprise from 0.5 to 3% by weight of chromium, preferably about 1% by weight of chromium, on a catalyst support, such as a composite silica and titania support.
A particularly preferred chromium-based catalyst for use in the present invention comprises the catalyst xe2x80x9ccatalyst 1xe2x80x9d, having a surface area of 450 m2/g, a pore volume of around 1.5 cc/g and a chromium content of around 1 weight % based on the weight of the chromium-containing catalyst. The support comprises a silica support. Other preferred silica-supported catalysts have a specific surface area of 500 m2/g and respective pore volumes of 2 and 3 cc/g. Another preferred catalyst with a silica support has a specific surface area of 450 m2/g and a pore volume of 1.5 cc/g.
The support is dried by heating or pre-drying of the support with an inert gas prior to use thereof in the catalyst synthesis, in the manner known to those skilled in the art, e.g. at about 200xc2x0 C. for from 8 to 16 hours.
The chromium-based catalyst can be prepared by dry mixing or non-aqueous impregnation but is preferably prepared by impregnation of silica with an aqueous solution of a soluble chromium compound such as CrO3.
The supported chromium-based catalyst is subjected to a pretreatment in order to dehydrate it by driving off physically adsorbed water from the silica or silica-containing support i.e. chemically adsorbed water in the form of hydroxide (xe2x80x94OH) groups bonded to the xe2x80x94Sixe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94 framework of the support need not be removed. The removal of physically adsorbed water avoids the formation of TiO2 as a product from the reaction of water with the titanium compound subsequently introduced during the titanation procedure, as described below. The dehydration step is preferably carried out by heating the catalyst to a temperature of at least 300xc2x0 C. in a fluidised bed and in a dry inert atmosphere of, for example, nitrogen. The dehydration step is preferably carried out for 0.5 to 2 hours.
In a next step, the supported chromium-based catalyst is loaded with a titanium compound. The titanium compound may be of the formula RnTi(ORxe2x80x2)m or (RO)n Ti(ORxe2x80x2)m where R and Rxe2x80x2 are the same or different and can be any hydrocarbyl group containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms, n is 0 to 3, m is 1 to 4 and m+n equals 4. Preferably, the titanium compound is a titanium tetraalkoxide Ti(ORxe2x80x2)4 where Rxe2x80x2 can be an alkyl or a cycloalkyl group each having from 3 to 5 carbon atoms. The titanation is performed by progressively introducing the titanium compound into the stream of dry, inert non-oxidising gas described hereabove in the dehydration step. In the titanation step, the temperature is, as for the dehydration step, maintained at at least 300xc2x0 C. Preferably, the titanium compound is pumped as a liquid into the reaction zone where it vaporises. This titanation step is controlled so that the titanium content of the resultant catalyst is from 1 to 5% by weight, and preferably from 2 to 4% by weight, based on the weight of the titanated chromium-based catalyst. The total amount of titanium compound introduced into the gas stream is calculated in order to obtain the required titanium content in the resultant catalyst and the progressive flow rate of the titanium is adjusted in order to provide a titanation reaction period of 0.5 to 1 hour.
After the introduction of the titanium compound has been terminated at the end of the reaction period, the catalyst is flushed under the gas stream for a period of typically 0.75 hours.
The dehydration and titanation steps are performed in the vapour phase in a fluidised bed.
The titanated catalyst is then subjected to an activation step in dry air at an elevated activation temperature for at least 6 hours. The activation temperature preferably ranges from 500 to 900xc2x0 C., and is most particularly around 650xc2x0 C. Improved ESCR is obtained when the activation temperature is around 650xc2x0 C. The atmosphere is progressively changed from nitrogen to air, and the temperature is progressively increased, from the titanation step to the activation step.
The resultant titanated chromium-based catalyst has a very high activity.
In the preferred polymerisation process of the present invention, the polymerisation or copolymerisation process is carried out in the liquid phase, the liquid comprising ethylene, and where required an alpha-olefinic comonomer comprising from 3 to 10 carbon atoms, in an inert diluent. The comonomer may be selected from 1-butene, 1-hexene, 4-methyl 1-pentene, 1-heptene and 1-octene. The inert diluent is preferably isobutane. The polymerisation process is typically carried out at a polymerisation temperature of from 85 to 110xc2x0 C. and at a pressure of from 20 to 45 bars. Preferably, the temperature ranges from 95 to 105xc2x0 C. and the pressure from 40 to 42 bars to produce polymer resins of high ESCR. Preferably, the temperature ranges from 90 to 94xc2x0 C. and the pressure is at a minimum of about 24 bars to produce films with improved tear properties.
Typically, in the polymerisation process the ethylene monomer comprises from 0.5 to 8% by weight, typically around 6% by weight, of the total weight of the liquid phase. Typically, in the copolymerisation process the ethylene monomer comprises from 0.5 to 8% by weight and the comonomer comprises from 0 to 4% by weight, each based on the total weight of the liquid phase.
A chemical reducing agent, such as a metal alkyl, may be introduced into the polymerisation reaction. The metal alkyl may comprise triethyl aluminium (TEAI) in an amount of around 0.5 ppm by weight based on the weight of the inert diluent. This can be used when lower activation temperatures for the catalyst have been employed.
Whilst the operating conditions, such as the temperature and pressure of polymerization in the reactor, and the catalyst""s preparation conditions, such as the surface area of the support, obviously have an influence on the properties of the polymer, titanation of the catalyst under the specific conditions described above improves the ESCR, all other factors being substantially equal.
The titanated chromium-based catalyst is introduced into the polymerisation reactor. The alkylene monomer, and comonomer if present, are fed into the polymerisation reactor. In the preferred process of the present invention, the polymerisation or copolymerisation process is carried out in a liquid-full loop reactor; after a residence time in the reactor of 0.5 to 2 hours, and preferably of about one hour, the polyethylene is recovered and transferred to one or more settling legs where the concentration in solids is increased by gravity. The solid content in a loop reactor is typically 30 to 40% by weight; the concentration in a settling leg can be up to 60% by weight. The polymerisation product of high density polyethylene is discharged from the settling legs and separated from the diluent which can then be recycled.
The polyethylene obtained with the catalyst of this invention has a broad molecular weight distribution (MWD) which is represented by the dispersion index D of typically from 12 to 23 and a high density typically from 0.948 to 0.960 g/cm3.
It is surprisingly observed that the polyethylene obtained with the catalyst of this invention has much higher environmental stress crack resistance (ESCR) and a much lower melt index than those obtained using the processes and catalysts of the prior art as summarised above, while keeping similar melt indices and densities. The polyethylene obtained in accordance with the invention also has a very high shear resistance (SR) defined as HLMI/MI2 where HLMI is the high load melt index measured at 190xc2x0 C. and under a load of 21.6 kg and MI2 is the melt index measured at 190xc2x0 C. under a load of 2.16 kg, both with the ASTM D-1238 standard method. The high shear resistance can result in suppression of the melt fracture phenomenon.
The following Examples are given to illustrate the invention without limiting its scope.

Titanated chromium-based catalysts to produce polyethylene


The technical solutions disclose a data card software updating method, a data card, and a personal computer. In the method, a mapped interface is switched first, and then an existing data card updating method is adopted to update a data card that provides only a remote network driver interface specification (RNDIS) interface through mapping. The technical solutions can conveniently achieve compatibility with the existing data card updating method, and can be implemented simply and efficiently.

A data card (also called a wireless network card), as one of the fast and convenient communications products, gets more and more popular among people. Therefore, it is particularly important to timely and securely update internal software of the data card. For a category of data cards, a personal computer user interface (PCUI) and a diagnose (DIAG) interface may be directly mapped during an updating process, and an updating tool may install software in the data card directly through the two interfaces for a purpose of updating.
However, for another category of data cards, the PCUI and the DIAG are not mapped, and instead, a network card interface, that is, a remote network driver interface specification (RNDIS) interface is only virtualized. In this case, if a method for updating the former category of data cards is still used, a failure in interface searching may occur, or a failure in interface opening may occur, so that an updating program is directly exited, resulting in that software cannot be installed in the data card.

Data card updating method, personal computer, and data card


Lossless, near-lossless, and lossy compression and decompression of digital image data, whereby the image data can be compressed and decompressed on-the-fly with no need for external RAM resources for temporary data storage while compressing/decompressing image data. Implementing the algorithm only requires a very limited amount of silicon and yields very high performance in relation to very low power consumption. The described implementation is optimized for raw image data from a sensor with a Bayer filter pattern but can be used on data from image sensors with ay color filter. The compression algorithm contains a line indexing formation which enables very fast subsampling of an already compressed image and the possibility to decompress only parts of an image—this improves performance and reduces the need for temporary RAM storage greatly when zooming and in postprocessing.

Image resolution is ever increasing and so are the accompanying frame rates. All in all this results in increasing demands to system bandwidths, transporting media bandwidth as well as storage capacity of both temporary storage (e.g. RAM) and permanent storage (e.g. HDD (Hard Disc Drive)). The strains on all these function blocks will be reduced if image data is compressed. Historically memory and permanent storage media bandwidths have not been increasing as rapidly as data processing means, which indicates that using on-the-fly image compression will yield much higher system performance than just adopting technological improvements in memory and permanent storage bandwidths. The higher performance can also be traded in for lower system costs, as less memory and permanent storage is required. Along with this, lower performance memory and storage means can be used. Another benefit, particular in portable products, is the ability to reduce power consumption as the power needed for the image compression can be much less than that required by additional memory and additional permanent storage.
Prior solutions based on industry standards like JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group), require a lot of silicon to be implemented in hardware and are often too slow when implemented in software—this is particular the case if the bit-depth of pixels increase from the traditional 8 bits per color to e.g. 16 bits per color. Today the higher bit-depths are a natural thing in high-end digital imaging. This improves the color fidelity and enables more advanced image processing to be applied in order to obtain more satisfactory results than previously accepted. If JPEG or similar compression algorithms are used, the RAW image data must be fully calibrated, interpolated, and enhanced prior to the compression itself, this is outlined in the block diagram of FIG. 1. This increases the complexity and cost of the system and reduces the ability to generate high-quality images, as a lot of image enhancement is required for optimum results, sometimes in combination with user interaction. Vast amounts of processing resources are normally not present in portable devices like digital cameras. Accordingly, improvements are needed in the processing of image data.
EP 1 173 005 describes a method for compressing raw color image data by mapping different color planes into square sections and compressing these independently. The decompressed file must then be re-mapped to restore the original pattern of the color image data.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,483 describes a method for providing a simple lossy image compression. The method compresses image data in a lossy manner by dividing down pixel values by a loss factor and thereby creating an evenly distributed linear loss in the pool of image data. From an image-quality point of view, it is a disadvantage that this approach will increase the amount of digital noise in the darker areas of the resulting decompressed image as presented on either paper or a computer monitor. The reason being that image processing for preparing data for a more appropriate appearance requires multiplying image data with a gamma function.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,483, the described algorithm also needs data to be handled by a color extraction unit prior to the actual compression. This color extraction unit performs a very simple pixel interpolation to generate red, green, and blue values for each pixel. This instantly reduces the possibility of generating a high quality image at a later stage.
The variable length (VL) encoding described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,483 is based on a combination of 1's complement VL encoding with leading "zero" and "one" detection. This form of encoding works well with image data with low color bit-depth (e.g. 8 bits), but often yields poor results when used with image data with high color bit-depth (e.g. 16 bits) and a relatively high amount of entropy, which are all characteristics for high-quality imaging.
Another limitation of the implementation described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,614,483 is that it requires an external or internal buffer to hold at least two adjacent lines of image data to be able to do simple color interpolation. With high resolution image sensors, the required amount of temporary storage can be quite high and thereby increase system cost if the buffer is implemented together with the block that carries out the compression itself. Using cheaper external storage (e.g. Dynamic RAM, DRAM) will often be unacceptable from a performance point of view.

Image compression for rapid high-quality imaging


In an automotive pedal support system, an operating member is supported for operation by a support member, and a return spring member is operable to apply a force to the operating member in a direction opposite to the direction in which the operating member can be depressed. A projecting portion is formed on one of the support member and the operating member, and a receiving portion is formed on the other of the support member and the operating member. The projecting portion and the receiving portion are coupled to each other to permit operation of the operating member, and constitute a holding mechanism which is constituted of only two members selected among the support member, the operating member, and the spring member.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automotive operating pedals such as accelerator pedals, brake pedals and clutch pedals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To obtain the function of this type of operating pedal, at least three elements are necessary. These elements are a support member, an operating member and a return spring. However, actual operating pedals employ, in addition to these three elements, other auxiliary members such as a shaft member for coupling the operating member to the support member for pedal operation (rotary operation) and holding members such as nuts and E rings for holding the shaft member, the support member and the operating member in an assembled state.
Because the auxiliary members as noted above are used in addition to the three elements, the prior art operating pedal requires considerable assembling time. In addition, the management of the component parts involved is complicated.


A device to wind and unwind a textile web onto and from a spool, when it comes into or out of a wet-processing group is disclosed. The device includes a guide and tension roll supported at the free ends of winding arms and resting on the spool. A moisture-extraction device in the form of a suction pipe is mounted immediately upstream of the guide and tension roll. The web may thus be wound onto the spool with a relatively low moisture content.

Devices are known for winding a textile web coming from a wet treatment jig onto a spool. Devices for winding a textile web onto a spool may include, for example, a winding frame having a width greater than a width of the web and a spool carrier adjacent to the winding frame for supporting the spool on a spindle. Winding arms may be mounted by their first end on the winding frame on both sides of the web at the approximate height of the spool. The winding arms at their opposite or free ends may support a guide and tension roll so that it rests on the spool approximately parallel to the spindle of the spool. The web loops from a top side of the guide and tension roll around a side of the guide and tension roll facing away from the winding frame and winds onto a top side of the spool, toward the winding frame.
German patent 32 39 450 A1, incorporated herein by reference for these teachings, discloses a device for winding a textile web onto a spool which does not operate with a guide and tension roll mounted on swivelling winding arms and resting on the spool. Rather, the device of German patent 32 39 450 A1 comprises a suction/roll-out fabric spreader arranged a short distance before the wind-up of the web onto the spool. The suction/roll-out fabric spreader is partially looped by the web. Provided in the looping area is a suction slit through which moisture in the web can be suctioned off. It is known from German patent 36 05 994 A1 to arrange a suction slit, extending transversely over the web, in the region of the entrance of a web in a tenter drier.
German patent 35 46 414 A1, incorporated herein by reference for these teachings, concerns the adjustment of uniform applications of treatment agents on running webs such as textile webs and paper webs, the webs being subjected, after the treatment-agent application, to a controlled and regulated suction operation for excess quantities of treatment agent.
A device for winding wet-treated textile webs is known from the article of Vernazza "Warenfuhrungsprobleme in der Textilveredlung" translated "Cloth-Guiding Problems in Textile Finishing"! in Melliand Textilberichte Melliand Textile Reports! (1972), pages 819 to 826, which is incorporated herein by reference for these teachings, and particularly page 823, illustration 37, and from the European patent 144 818 A1, which is incorporated herein by reference for these teachings. The wet treatment is usually a washing operation, followed by squeezing in a squeezing apparatus, after which the winding operation is carried out with the known winding mechanism. However, it can also be a wet treatment in a jig. The spool carrier is usually a customary spool carriage upon which the spool can be transported in the shop. The winder can be a center wind in which the spool spindle is driven, or a surface-driven winder in which the tension roll is driven, which drives the spool at its periphery at the same time.
One object of the invention is to reduce the equipment expenditure of such a device. This object is achieved by adapting a known winding device as described above with a suction device arranged at the free ends of the winding arms a short distance before the guide and tension roll as viewed in a direction of travel of web. The suction device includes a suction slit which extends over the width of the web.
Due to the moisture extraction of the suction device, the otherwise necessary squeezing apparatus, which includes at least two rolls, as well as the usually necessary compensator, may be eliminated. The web can be reeled and let stand without water pockets forming and without having to constantly turn the spool in order to avoid the formation of water packets.
The suction device is expediently mounted in the space under the web at the winding arms.

Eduard Kusters Maschinefabrik GmbH & Co. KG


A surgical implant assembly includes a surgical implant, a bone plate, and fixation devices. The surgical implant includes a top surface, a bottom surface disposed in opposed relation relative to the top surface, first and second surfaces interconnecting the top and bottom surfaces, and a front surface. First ends of the first and second side surfaces define a back surface extending across a first end of the surgical implant, and the front surface extends across a second end of the surgical implant and interconnects second ends of the first and second side surfaces. At least one cavity is defined in the surgical implant. The bone plate includes an elongate body extending between first and second end portions. The elongate body is positionable adjacent the front surface of the surgical implant. The fixation devices are configured to secure the surgical implant or the bone plate to osseous tissue.

Patients may undergo surgical procedures, including implanting hardware, to correct various spinal deformities. Despite the implanted hardware, the patient may not regain full balance of their spine and pelvis. Balance parameters of the spine and pelvis have an impact on diagnosis and strategy of spinal pathology treatment. Some of the balance parameters include pelvic parameters, such as pelvic incidence, pelvic tilt, and sacral slope; spinal parameters, such as lumbar lordosis and thoracic kyphosis; and other parameters, such as C7 positioning and sacro-spinal angle.
One approach to correct these balance issues is to completely correct the spinal parameters or revise the original implantation surgery. However, this can be complex, expensive, and time consuming in terms of the surgery and the recovery. Pelvic osteotomy is an alternative surgical procedure that can aid in restoring the balance parameters of the spine and pelvis. There are several types of known pelvic osteotomies, including the Salter procedure, the double or triple innominate, the spherical acetabular procedure, the periacetabular procedure, and the Chiari's procedure. Thus, surgical implants and surgical implant systems for use in osteotomy to treat imbalance of the pelvis and the spine are desirable.


A network system connected with a plurality of clients over a network, and having process executing means for executing processing requested from each client, comprises process request controlling means, and load distributing means for selectively connecting a client that requested processing with process executing means or process request controlling means, based on the processing situation in the process executing means or the usage situation of the network circuits connected with the process executing means. The process request controlling means indicate to the client re-request timing for the client to make the request again based on predetermined conditions, while rejecting requests for processing from the client.

Before now, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) servers have been used to store data and deliver (download) that data over a network to clients when the clients request a download of that data.
When many clients request, to the FTP server, downloads of data on the FTP server within a certain period of time, a load in excess of the processing capacity of the FTP server is applied to the FTP server for the provision of the data to the clients; and sometimes the FTP server is unable to deliver the data in response to the data download requests from the clients.
As a result, for the FTP server to be able to transmit data in response to data download requests from many clients, resources on the FTP server side are expanded and the processing capacity thereof increased by techniques such as augmenting the CPU, memory, and the like comprised by the FTP server, or by distributing the requests from the clients and providing the data using a multiplicity of FTP servers.
However, no matter how greatly the FTP server resources are expanded and the processing capacity of the FTP server increased, the problem remains of the load becoming high due to a temporary spike in requests from clients. Moreover, during the execution of download processing from a server to many clients, it will sometimes happen that, depending on the capacity of the network circuits to which the server is connected, this capacity will form a bottleneck and good downloads to clients cannot be performed, no matter how great the processing capacity of the server.
Meanwhile, in recent years, the number of clients requesting data downloads from FTP servers has been increasing with the growth of the Internet and the spread of high speed communications means. The capacity of data provided by FTP servers has also been increasing. For this reason, the load on FTP servers is rapidly becoming high. Under such conditions, if data download requests from clients are concentrated at an FTP server beyond the processing capacity of the FTP server or the capacity of the network to deliver data to the clients, the FTP server will become unable to deliver data in response to these client requests.
This problem is not limited to the case of clients downloading data from FTP servers, and similarly occurs, for example, when clients request processes such as calculations from a server and the server executes the processes in response to these requests.

Network system, network control method, and program


A unit part mounting structure in which mounting legs are soldered onto soldering lands at a side of the printed board to which the unit part is mounted, so that mounting of the unit part to the printed board is made easier, and repairing and replacement of the unit part can be performed without removing the printed board, thereby making it easier to perform the repairing and replacement. In conventional unit part mounting structures, the unit part is mounted to a side of the printed board not having a conductive pattern, connecting portions of a housing are inserted into holes in the printed board, and the printed board is turned upside down to solder the connecting portions. Thus, it takes time and effort to insert and solder the unit part P. The unit part mounting structure of the invention overcomes such a problem.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a structure for mounting a unit part, such as a transceiver RF unit, to be incorporated into an electronic device, such as a portable telephone.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in a conventional structure for mounting a unit part to be incorporated into an electronic device (such as a portable telephone), the solderable, metallic housing 30 has mounting legs 31 extending downward from four corners thereof, with connecting portions 32 formed at the lower ends of the mounting legs 31.
The housing 30 contains a printed board (not shown) for mounting various electrical parts thereto. A unit part P, being a transceiver RF unit in this case, has a male connector 33 mounted thereto.
As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the printed board 35 mounted in a case 34 of an electronic device K, such as a portable telephone, has a conductive pattern (not shown) formed at the lower surface thereof, with various electrical parts (not shown) connected to the conductive pattern to form a desired circuit.
Holes 36 are formed in the printed board 35 at locations opposing the connecting portions 32 of the housing 30 of the unit part P. A female connector 37 is disposed on the side of the printed board 35 not having the conductive pattern. A terminal of the connector 37 is connected to the conductive pattern.
The unit part P is mounted to the printed board 35 in the following way. While the male connector 33 is being inserted into the female connector 37, the connecting portions 32 of the housing 30 are aligned with their respective holes 36 in the printed board 35. Then, the connecting portions 32 are inserted into their respective holes 36, after which the printed board 35 is turned upside down in order the solder the connecting portions 32 to the conductive pattern on the printed board 35, whereby the unit part P is mounted to the printed board 35.
As shown in FIG. 5, the printed board 35, having the unit part P mounted thereto in the above-described way, is placed on a mounting base 34b of the case 34, with its conductive pattern side opposing the side wall 34a of the case 34. Then, it is secured to the case 34 with a screw 38.
When the unit part P becomes defective as a result of, for example, peeling of the solder on the unit part P, while the electronic device K is being used, so that the unit part P needs repairing or replacement, the screw 38 is removed in order to take the printed board 35 out of the case 34.
Thereafter, the connecting portions 32 of the housing 30 are desoldered from the printed board 35 in order to take out the unit part P from the case 34 and repair it.
Then, as mentioned above, while inserting the male connector 33 of the repaired or replaced unit part P into the female connector 37, the connecting portions 32 thereof are inserted into their respective holes 36, and the printed board 35 is turned upside down for soldering the connecting portions 32.
Afterwards, the printed board 35 is secured to the case 34 using screw 38.
In the conventional unit part mounting structure, however, the unit part P is mounted to the side of the printed board not having the conductive pattern, the connecting portions 32 of the housing 30 are inserted into their respective holes 36 in the printed board 35, and the printed board 35 is turned upside down for soldering the connecting portions 32. As a result, it takes time and effort to insert and solder the unit part P.
In addition, in the mounting structure using the connectors 33 and 37, the mounting location of the connectors 33 and 37 is often shifted from the normal mounting location. Therefore, when the connectors 33 and 37 are aligned, the connecting portions 32 and their respective holes 36 are not aligned with respect to each other. As a result, the connecting portions 32 must be forcefully inserted into the holes 36, thus preventing easy insertion of the connecting portions 32 into their respective holes 36.
In the conventional method of repairing or replacing the unit part P, the printed board 35 must be removed for mounting the unit part P, which is troublesome to perform. In addition, after dismounting of the unit part P from the printed board 35, the solder blocks the holes 36, making it difficult and troublesome to re-insert the unit part P therein.


This catalyst includes a lower catalytic layer 2 having catalytic ability to oxidize HC and CO and an upper catalytic layer 3 having catalytic ability to reduce NOx. The lower catalytic layer 2 contains Pt and Pd acting as catalytic metals, zeolite, a Ce-containing oxide, and activated alumina, and the upper catalytic layer 3 contains activated alumina loading an Rh-doped Ce-containing oxide and an NOx storage material.

An exhaust gas treatment system for diesel engines generally includes a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and a diesel particulate filter (DPF) which is arranged downstream of the DOC. The DOC oxidizes and purifies hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) in exhaust gas, and oxidizes, among nitrogen oxides (NOx), nitrogen monoxide (NO) into nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The heat of catalytic reaction generated by the DOC increases the temperature of the DPF, and the high oxidizability of NO2 promotes combustion of particulate matters (PMs) deposited on the DPF. Since activity of the DOC is low immediately after start-up of the engine, zeolite is provided for the DOC as an HC trapping material to prevent HC from being exhausted without being purified.
On the other hand, a lean NO trap catalyst (LNT catalyst) is also utilized in lean-burn gasoline engines or diesel engines to purify NOx. An NO storage material in the LNT catalyst stores NOx when the air-fuel ratio of an exhaust gas is lean. A rich purge changes the air-fuel ratio in the engine to rich, and releases NOx and reduces NOx with unburned gas. An alkali metal or an alkali earth metal may be used as the NOx storage material. However, an alkali metal forms a glass phase on the grain boundaries of cordierite forming a catalyst substrate to reduce strength of the substrate. Therefore, an alkali earth metal is actually adopted in general, because it will not cause such a problem.
As disclosed in Patent Document 1, in an exhaust gas purification catalyst for gasoline engines which has been proposed, an HC adsorbent layer containing zeolite and a catalytic metal layer containing an NOx storage material are stacked one upon the other on a monolithic support. The catalytic metal layer contains Pd-loading alumina, Pd-loading cerium oxide, Rh-loading alumina, and Pt-loading alumina.
Regarding an LNT catalyst, Patent Document 2 teaches providing a lower layer containing activated alumina and CePr composite oxide (complex oxide) in mixture, and an upper layer containing Rh-loading alumina and Rh-doped CeZr composite oxide in mixture, and impregnating both of these layers with Pt, Rh, and an NOx storage material to load them into both of the two layers.

Exhaust gas purification catalyst and production method thereof


A coaxial twin variable field permanent magnetic dynamoelectric machine comprising first and second stators displaced from each other and first and second permanent magnet rotors. The rotors comprising hydraulic actuators mounted within the rotors for axially displacing the outer and inner surfaces of the first and second rotors, respectively, with the inner and outer surfaces of the first and second stators, respectively, in order to change magnetic flux interaction between the first stator and rotor and the second stator and rotor. Both stators have magnetic shields covering outer and inner surfaces of the first and second stators, respectively. The first axial hydraulic actuator displaces the first rotor outer surface within the second stator magnetic shield and the second axial hydraulic actuator displaces the second rotor inner surface over the first stator magnetic shield with reduced first rotor-second stator and second rotor-first stator magnetic flux interaction.

Ordinary dynamoelectric machines of the permanent magnet type have a rotor assembly comprising a plurality of permanent rotor magnets arranged radially around a drive shaft that rotate with the drive shaft about a stator assembly that comprises a plurality of stator poles and a stator winding. The rotor magnets have a fixed axial alignment that generally coincides with the axial position of the stator poles. The rotor magnets have a fixed radial alignment that is inside the radial position of the stator poles for machines of the conventional type or outside the radial position of the stator poles for machines of the "inside out" type.
Since the rotor magnets have a fixed radial and axial alignment with respect to the stator poles, when used as a generator the electrical potential that the dynamoelectric machine generates is primarily proportional to the rotational speed of the rotor assembly and the power consumed by an electrical load. As a generator, a primary problem with this class of machines is that there is no convenient way to regulate the generated electrical potential that may vary with rotational speed and load variations, unlike dynamoelectric machines with a rotor winding that may control rotor winding current from an exciter for regulation.
Similarly, when used as a motor driven by source of electric power, the back electromotive force (EMF) that the dynamoelectric machine generates subtracts from the electrical potential of the power source. The power source must supply increasing electrical potential for increasing speed at constant torque. Eventually, the power source cannot supply additional potential and then the output torque of the dynamoelectric machine falls with increasing speed until no further torque is achievable.
As a motor, a primary problem with this class of machines is that there is no convenient way to regulate the generated back EMF that increases with rotational speed, unlike dynamoelectric machines with a rotor winding that may control rotor winding current from an exciter to reduce back EMF at high speeds and thereby achieve high speed output torque.
Consequently, ordinary dynamoelectric machines of the permanent magnet type used as a generator may produce a lower electrical potential than required when operated at a slower rotational speed than a desired operational speed and produce too much potential when operated at a faster rotational speed than the desired operational speed. Such variations in potential can cause hazardous conditions or damage to electrical components that comprise the electrical load. Ordinary dynamoelectric machines of the permanent magnet type used as a motor have poor torque characteristics at high speeds when they have a design that requires high torque at low speeds.
U.S. Ser. No. 11/405,743, filed 17 Apr. 2006 by Himmelmann et al., owned by the assignee of this application and incorporated in this application by reference, describes a new type of permanent magnet dynamoelectric machine that has at least one permanent magnet rotor that is axially displaceable by hydraulic means to achieve a variable rotor field characteristic. An active or passive control system may control the rotor displacement of this variable field permanent magnet (VFPM) machine to regulate the output potential in generator service or torque in motor service. U.S. Ser. No. 12/034,759, filed 21 Feb. 2008 by Himmelmann et al., owned by the assignee of this application and incorporated in this application by reference, describes an example of an active control system for such a VFPM machine.
Some applications may require a pair of such VFPM machines to drive a single drive shaft, either in a direct-coupled torque summing mode or a speed-summing mode by way of a gearbox, such as an epicyclic gear train. In either case, the minimum length of the entire assembly would be twice the length of each machine at maximum rotor displacement plus the length of a coupling gearbox, if any. Unfortunately, such an assembly may be too long for certain applications, such as part of a power drive train for a tracked vehicle wherein each track may have one machine as a propulsion motor and the other machine as a steering motor.

Coaxial twin variable field permanent magnetic dynamoelectric machine


An elongate flexible band may be formed into a self-adjusting closed loop for insertion into an opening in a garment. The loop expands against the sides of the garment opening, holding the garment open to enhance airflow into the garment. A loop connector limits the closed loop to a maximum preferred diameter. The flexible band includes an accessory connector for attaching accessories such as a scent container, holder, or electric fan. The accessory connector may include retaining posts or may alternatively include flanged retaining blocks. A scent container or other accessory may optionally include flanges, flanged retaining blocks, or other attachment means. An optional timer controls discharge from a spray container into a garment. An embodiment of the invention may optionally be provided together with garment such as a glove for a hand.

Drying a garment promptly and thoroughly after it becomes damp may prevent mildew or unpleasant odors from developing in the garment and may prevent the garment from stretching, shrinking, or wrinkling. Various supports, forms, hangers, and racks have been proposed for holding a garment in a preferred shape and for improving airflow around and into a wet garment to enhance drying. For example, devices referred to as glove forms or glove stretchers include elongate members for insertion through the wrist opening and into the fingers and thumb of a glove for a hand, shaping the glove and holding the glove open to improve drying. Hangers or racks may be shaped fit into openings on other types of garments, for example a wrist opening in a glove, a cuff or collar on a shirt or sweater, a waistband on a skirt or trousers, the opening for a head in a hat, the opening for a foot in a boot or shoe, etc., holding the garment open so that air flows into the inside of the garment.
Although forms, racks, and the like may facilitate efficient drying while holding the garment in a preferred shape, such devices may suffer from several problems. Some forms fit into only one type of garment and are not useful with other types of garments without substantial modification of the form. For example, a shoe form may be of little use for drying a stocking cap. Other devices fit within a narrow range of sizes for a garment. For example, a form for an adult's glove may not fit into a child's glove. Other devices are too large to fit into a pocket or purse or would take up too much room in a suitcase, making it difficult to carry such devices when travelling. Some devices require complicated bending, forming, or joining of separate parts, making them expensive to manufacture. Some devices have one shape for a glove for a right hand and another shape for a glove for a left hand, possibly doubling manufacturing tooling, assembly labor, and inventory costs. Other devices may damage a garment if inserted into the garment incorrectly or if the wrong size device is inserted into the garment.


Construction of a double-row tapered-roller bearing unit that is able to improve the contact state between the rolling contact surfaces of plural tapered rollers and a first inner-ring raceway (7) and second inner-ring raceway (8), and a method of manufacturing the same are provided. The inclination angle θ1 of the first inner-ring raceway (7) and the inclination angle θ2 of the second inner-ring raceway (8) in a state before the first inner ring (10) and the second inner ring (11) are press-fitted onto the fitting surface section (13a) of the hub main body (12a), the amount of decrease δθa in the inclination angle of the first inner-ring raceway (7) and the amount of decrease δθb in the inclination angle of the second inner-ring raceway (8) occurring due to press-fitting of the first inner ring (10) and the second inner ring (11) onto the fitting-surface section (13a), and the amount of increase δθk in the inclination angle of the first inner-ring raceway (7) occurring due to formation of the crimped section (15) are adjusted, so that the inclination angle φ1 of the first inner-ring raceway (7) and the inclination angle Θ2 of the second inner-ring raceway (8) in a state after the crimped section (15) has been formed are kept within respective proper ranges.

FIG. 9 illustrates a double-row tapered-roller bearing unit that is used in comparatively heavy automobiles such as small trucks or large passenger vehicles for rotatably supporting the wheels with respect to the suspension. This double-row tapered-roller bearing unit includes an outer ring 1 that is an outer-diameter-side bearing ring member, a hub 2 that is an inner-diameter-side bearing ring member, and plural tapered rollers 3.
The outer ring 1 includes double-row outer-ring raceways 4, 5 that are formed on the inner circumferential surface thereof, and a stationary-side flange 6 that is formed on the outer-circumferential surface thereof for joining and fastening the outer ring 1 to the knuckle of a suspension. Of the double-row outer-ring raceways 4, 5, the first outer-ring raceway 4 that is located on the inside in the axial direction, which is one side in the axial direction, and the second outer-ring raceway 5 that is located on the outside in the axial direction, which the other side in the axial direction, have partial conical surfaces that are inclined in directions so that the diameters become larger going in directions going away from each other in the axial direction. The "inside" in the axial direction is the center side in the width direction of the vehicle when assembled in an automobile, and is the right side in FIG. 1 and FIG. 9, and is the top side in FIG. 3 and FIG. 8. On the other hand, the "outside" in the axial direction is the outside in the width direction of the vehicle, and is the left side in FIG. 1 and FIG. 9, and is the bottom side in FIG. 3 and FIG. 8.
The hub 2 is concentrically arranged with the outer ring 1. The hub 2 includes double-row inner-ring raceways 7, 8 that are located on the inside-end section and the middle section in the axial direction of the outer-circumferential surface thereof, and a rotating-side flange 9 that is formed in the portion near the outside end in the axial direction that protrudes in the axial direction from the inner-diameter side of the outer ring 1 for supporting and fastening a wheel. Of the double-row inner-ring raceways 7, 8, the first inner-ring raceway 7 that is located on the inside in the axial direction and the second inner-ring raceway 8 that is located on the outside in the axial direction have partial conical surface that are inclined in directions so that the diameters become larger going in directions away from each other in the axial direction.
The hub 2 includes a circular ring-shaped first inner ring 10 with the first inner-ring raceway 7 formed on the outer-circumferential surface thereof, a circular ring-shaped second inner ring 11 with the second inner-ring raceway 8 formed on the outer-circumferential surface thereof, and a hub main body 12 that is a shaft member and that is integrally formed with the rotating-side flange 9. The first inner-ring raceway 7 and the second inner-ring raceway 8 are respectively provided between a small rim section that is provided on the small-diameter-side end section and a large rim section that is provided on the large-diameter-side end section of the outer-circumferential surface of each of the first inner ring 10 and the second inner ring 11. The second inner ring 11 is press-fitted with an interference fit onto the outside half section in the axial direction of a cylindrical-shaped fitting surface section 13 that is provided so as to extend from the inside end section to the middle section in the axial direction of the outer-circumferential surface of the hub main body 12. The first inner ring 10 is press-fitted with an interference fit onto the inside half section in the axial direction of the fitting surface section 13. The large-diameter-side end surface of the first inner ring 10 is held by a crimped section 15 that is formed by plastically deforming the cylindrical section 14 that is provided on the inside end section in the axial direction of the hub main body 12 outward in the radial direction. Therefore, the first inner ring 10 and the second inner ring 11 are held on both sides in the axial direction by a step side surface 16 that exists on the outside end section in the axial direction of the fitting surface section 13 and the crimped section 15, and in this state, are joined and fastened to the hub main body 12.
Plural tapered rollers 3 are located between the first outer-ring raceway 4 and first inner-ring raceway 7, and between the second outer-ring raceway 5 and the second inner-ring raceway 8, and are rotatably held by the cage 17. Combined seal rings 18 are assembled between the inner-circumferential surface of the inside end section in the axial direction of the outer ring 1 and the outer-circumferential surface of the large-diameter-side end section of the first inner ring 10, and between the inner-circumferential surface of the outside end section in the axial direction of the outer ring 1 and the outer-circumferential surface of the large-diameter-side end section of the second inner ring 11; and these seal rings 18 cover the openings on both ends in the axial direction of the cylindrical-shaped space where the tapered rollers 3 are located. A spline hole 19 is provided in the center section in the radial direction of the hub main body 12 for receiving the tip-end section of the drive shaft and forming a spline engagement with the drive shaft.
When assembling the hub 2, as the crimped section 15 is formed, the inner ring 10 is elastically deformed so that the large-diameter-side end section of the first inner ring 10 is elastically expanded radially more than the small-diameter-side end section, which changes the inclination angle of the first inner-ring raceway 7. Therefore, as disclosed in JP 4,019,548 (B2), taking the change in the inclination angle of the first inner-ring raceway 7 into consideration, it is necessary to adjust the inclination angle of the first inner-ring raceway 7 in the state before forming the crimped section 15. When this kind of adjustment is not performed, there is a possibility that the contact state between the rolling contact surfaces of the tapered rollers 3 and each of the raceways 4, 5, 7, 8 will become improper, and that maintaining the durability of the double-row tapered-roller bearing unit will become difficult. The inclination angle of the first inner-ring raceway 7 is the inclination angle of the first inner-ring raceway 7 with respect to the center axis of the first inner ring 10, and the inclination angle of the second inner-ring raceway 8 is the inclination angle of the second inner-ring raceway 8 with respect to the center axis of the second inner ring 11.
However, taking the change in the inclination angle of the first inner-ring raceway 7 into consideration, and adjusting only the inclination angle of the first inner-ring raceway 7 in the state before forming the crimped section 15, is not sufficient for placing the inclination angles of both the first inner-ring raceway 7 and the second inner-ring raceway 8 within the proper range, and particularly, is not sufficient for making these inclination angles the same after the hub 2 has been assembled. Therefore, from the aspect of improving the durability of a double-row tapered-roller bearing unit, there is still room for improvement.

Double-row tapered roller bearing unit and method for manufacturing same


The present invention is a high capacity, non-drum magazine. The high capacity magazine comprises a broad general storage area capable of holding four staggered stacks of ammunition, a unified follower on a spring system biasing the follower and associated ammunition, a central partition a barrier separating two dual staggered round stacks and around which the follower will pass, and a transition area between the feed end of the magazine and the storage area. The spring may be a composite spring system, made of two springs joined in series, or a single, variable constant, spring.

The present invention is a high capacity magazine utilizing four staggered stacks of ammunition with a single follower and it represents a departure from the prior art in that the high capacity magazine of the present invention allows for four staggered stacks of ammunition to be simultaneously fed through the magazine as each round is sequentially loaded into the firearm. Most high capacity magazines in the prior art are "drum" magazines, where the ammunition is stored in a round chamber. Others are made of a number of pieces that require assembly before use. The present invention also utilizes a simple spring drive system, similar to lower capacity magazines, where other prior art high capacity magazines tend to utilize more complicated systems

Ammunition magazine with four ammunition stacks


An apparatus is capable of switching between a mode in which a first resistance heating element and a second resistance heating element are connected in series and a mode in which they are connected in parallel. When a temperature increase rate detected by a temperature detection unit is smaller than a threshold rate although a current detected by a current detection unit is greater than a threshold current, a notification of a failure is issued.

1. Field of the Invention
One of the aspects of the present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a laser beam printer and the like, and for example, to an image forming apparatus including an endless belt, a heater in contact with an inner surface of the endless belt, and a nip forming element that forms a fixing nip together with the heater via the endless belt.
2. Description of the Related Art
When an image forming apparatus is originally designed for use in an area where a commercial power supply has a voltage in a 100-V range (for example, 100 V to 127 V), if this image forming apparatus is used in an area where a commercial power supply with a voltage in a 200-V range (for example, 200 V to 240 V) is supplied, maximum electric power available to a heater of a fixing unit increases by a factor of 4. The increase in maximum available power to the heater can cause a significant increase in a high-frequency current or flicker generated during a process of controlling power of the heater by means of a phase control, a wavenumber control, etc. Besides, if thermal runaway occurs in the fixing unit, electric power associated with the thermal runaway is 4 times greater, and thus circuits used need to be capable of quickly responding. Therefore, the most common way to allow a single image forming apparatus to be used in both 100-V and 200-V power supply areas is to select a heater with a proper resistance depending on the area and install the selected heater.
A technique has been proposed to realize an apparatus for universal use in both 100-V and 200-V commercial power supply areas by switching the resistance of the heater using a relay or other switching devices. More specifically, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-199702 discloses an apparatus in which first and second resistance heating elements are formed on a heater substrate, and the apparatus is adapted to be capable of switching between a first operation mode in which the first and second resistance heating elements are connected in series and a second operation mode in which the first and second resistance heating elements are connected in parallel whereby it is possible to switch the resistance of the heater depending on the commercial power supply voltage such that the apparatus can be used regardless of where the commercial power supply voltage is 100 V or 200 V. In the technique in which the first and second resistance heating elements are connected in series or in parallel depending on the commercial power supply voltage, it is possible to switch the resistance of the heater without changing the heating area of the heater. In other words, the two resistance heating elements generate heat regardless of whether the apparatus is used in the 100-V area or 200-V area, and thus a fixing nip has a constant temperature distribution in a recording sheet conveying direction regardless of the area in which the apparatus is used. As a result, the performance of fixing toner images does not depend on the area in which the apparatus is used.
However, in this technique, if a failure occurs in a relay for switching the resistance of the heater, a situation can occur in which electric power is supplied only to one of the two resistance heating elements. Hereinafter, such a state will be referred to as a partially powered state. The partially powered state can produce a problem such as a reduction in durability life of the fixing unit or degradation in the performance of fixing compared with that in the normal state. Thus, it is necessary to detect whether the apparatus is in the partially powered state.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and compounds for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) including flooding of a mixture of water and one or more of the compounds in a geological formation. The compounds have a fluoroalkyl group.

Oil production may be separated into at least the three phases of primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary recovery (for example, via pressure depletion) and secondary oil recovery (for example, via water injection) in combination generally recover about 20% to 50% of original oil in place (OOIP). Therefore, a large amount of oil (for example, at least 50% of the crude oil in the reservoir) typically remains in the reservoir or geological formation after these conventional oil-recovery processes of primary recovery and secondary recovery. Primary and secondary recovery of production can leave up to 75% of the crude oil in the well. Primary oil recovery is generally limited to hydrocarbons that naturally rise to the surface or recovered via artificial lift devices such as pumps. Secondary recovery employs water and gas injection to displace oil to the surface.
A way to further increase oil production is through tertiary recovery also known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR). EOR or tertiary oil recovery increases the amount of crude oil or natural gas that can be extracted from a reservoir or geological formation. Although typically more expensive to employ on a field than conventional recovery, EOR can increase production from a well up to 75% recovery or more. For example, EOR may extract 30% to 60% or more of reservoir oil compared to 20% to 40% recovery of reservoir oil employing primary and secondary recovery. EOR or tertiary recovery can extract crude oil from an oil field that cannot be extracted otherwise. There are different EOR or tertiary techniques.
Polymer flooding (also called polymer waterflooding) is an EOR technique. In a polymer waterflood, a viscosity-enhancing polymer is added to the water of the waterflood to decrease the mobility of the flood water and thus improve the sweep efficiency of the waterflood. A purpose of adding polymer to a waterflood may be to increase the viscosity of the flood water. Polymer waterflooding may be beneficial where the reservoir is heterogeneous. Polymer in waterflooding generally promotes improved sweep efficiency by decreasing the mobility ratio. Improved sweep efficiency imparted during polymer waterflooding may be experienced due to the polymer increasing the viscosity of the waterflood drive fluid.
The mobility ratio may describe the waterflooding displacement efficiency. The mobility ratio may be defined as the ratio of the mobility of the displacing fluid to the mobility of the displaced fluid. If the mobility ratio is greater than one, the flood may be unstable. In contrast, a flood may be deemed stable and displacement efficient for a mobility ratio of less than one. When polymer in solution flows through reservoir matrix rock, the polymer may impose a mobility reduction that is typically the primary conformance-improvement benefit of polymer waterflooding.
Polymer retention during flow through reservoir matrix rock is a variable in polymer waterflooding. During a polymer flood, polymer retention can have an impact on the rate of polymer propagation through a reservoir and thus impact the crude oil recovery. The manner in which polymer solution flows through porous rock and the associated polymer interaction with the pore walls of matrix reservoir rock may affect the technical and economic results of a polymer flood. In some applications, the amount of crude oil recovered per pound of polymer injected may be inversely related to polymer retention.


A calcium supplement for animals comprising one or more coatings over a calcium-containing core. The coatings provide additional nutrients as well as providing a moisture-resistant outer coating to reduce the hygroscopic effects of the calcium-containing core. The supplement comprises calcium-containing core particles, calcium chloride for example, each particle having an animal nutrient coating over an outer surface of the core particles. The supplement further comprises a second coating, urea, deposited over the nutrient coating, and a final outer coating comprising one or more fatty acids or paraffinic hydrocarbons that are agreeable to animals. The method for making a calcium supplement for animals comprises coating calcium-containing granules with a layer of nutrients and then spraying molten soluble urea onto the previously coated calcium-containing granules which are sufficiently cool to solidify the molten material into second coating on the granules. A third coating of one or more fatty acids or paraffinic hydrocarbon is sprayed onto the urea coating.

Calcium is a ubiquitous element that occurs commonly in nature both in soluble (calcium chloride, sea water) and insoluble (gypsum, limestone) forms. It is a macronutrient essential to all life forms.
Apart from calcium being vital for proper bone and teeth formation (approximately 99% of calcium found in the animal are in bones and teeth), it also functions in transmission of nerve impulses and contraction of muscle tissue. Because of its importance in bone structure, deficiency of calcium in young animals leads to skeletal deformation. In older animals, similar to older human beings, fragile bone can result from extended periods of dietary calcium deficiency. Calcium is also needed for the blood clotting process for animals; and many enzymes present in an animal's body require calcium for their activities. Age, size, sex and physiological state of the animals determine their calcium requirement.
Comprising about 1.5% of a bird's weight, calcium is the predominant mineral in its body. Similar to other animals, calcium in a bird's body is used for bone formation, blood clotting, muscle and nerve function, and for the activation of enzymes. It also effects the formation of eggshells.
For animals, critical times to ensure that diets contain adequate calcium are during pregnancy (for proper growth of the fetus) and during lactation (to prevent excessive calcium mobilization from the bones of the lactating animals). Animals in full lactation draw on the calcium reserves in bone for manufacturing of milk. During this period, a tremendous amount of calcium is drawn into colostrums and milk. As a result, the animal's blood can become deficient in calcium and onsets Milk Fever.
The chick's requirements for calcium constitute only a small percentage of the total diet (0.6%). The growing chicks, unlike young mammals that receive their calcium from milk, are most sensitive to low levels of calcium up to 3 weeks of age. After this, their tolerance to the low levels of calcium increases. However, too little calcium can cause demineralization of bone (fracturing), soft eggshells, and inadequate calcium levels in the blood. Diets that are deficient in calcium are supplemented with calcium in drinking water or mixed with the seeds. When the bird enters egg production, her need for calcium more than triples in order to support shell formation. Clearly, at this time a source of calcium supplement is needed.
The soluble calcium salts, including calcium chloride which is the most prominent, present problems: liquid forms of these salts create bulk for shipping and storage purposes because of their high water content (65% to 70% H2O). Anhydrous soluble calcium salts (90% to 95% CaCl2), however, are hygroscopic and deliquescent, i.e. they absorb water to the point that the salts dissolve, creating even more long term shipping, storage and handling problems. Commercial solutions of calcium chloride and urea, the urea added to provide nitrogen in the conditioning process, are also available. Disadvantages of these solution products include their high water content, which increases weight and therefore increases the cost of transportation, and storage per unit of calcium. Extra equipment and costs are necessary because solutions require that liquid application devices be used.
The problem associated with providing dry, granular soluble calcium-containing products is the moisture-absorbing characteristics of these products. As mentioned above, the hygroscopic and deliquescent properties associated with the anhydrous soluble calcium salts and some of their hydrates create storage, handling and usage problems. Frequently, moisture is absorbed by the stored salt and converts the initially free-flowing salt to a solid rock-like mass. This severely limits the shelf life, creates handling and disposal problems that often lead to damaged goods, extra expenses, and sometimes-total loss of the product.
Unfortunately, admixtures of hygroscopic calcium salts with nutrients do not avoid the moisture uptake problem. For example, calcium chloride and urea form an adduct that is at least as or even more hygroscopic than calcium chloride itself.
Holladay, U.S. Pat. No. 5,733,590, teaches a slow release non-protein nitrogen liquid feed supplement that is made by mixing a 38 wt. % calcium chloride solution with dry urea. Liquids are expensive to ship and require greater care in handling and packing.
Watkins et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,423 discloses a homogeneous urea containing composition as an animal feed supplement. Urea and particular forms of calcium sulfate are mixed and pelletized by compression compaction. In other embodiments, the urea-calcium sulfate constitutes animal feed supplements to be blended with non-hygroscopic nutrients such as calcium phosphate.
Calcium Sulfate and Calcium Phosphate are not as readily soluble and therefore not an easily available source of calcium.
In a promotional paper written by the SODA Company out of Monaco, a feed supplement is disclosed that is a dry calcium chloride using a coating agent of fatty acids.
None of these references, however, teach or suggest a core of a calcium-containing material, which is hygroscopic or deliquescent, combined with other nutrients and protected from moisture intake by a less hygroscopic, soluble non-calcium coating material.

Calcium supplement for animals and method for making same


The multipolar electrical connector according to the present invention is adapted to give a pleasant click feel when a memory card C set in the connector is pushed out by a card ejecting mechanism, and also adapted to prevent the component elements of the card ejecting mechanism from being freely moved to prevent an unpleasant collision noise from being produced while no memory card is being set in the connector. The card ejecting mechanism comprises (i) a projecting piece 84 having a mountain-shape expanding portion 85, which is formed at a lever 8 connected to a cam 7, and (ii) a portion to be engaged 54a formed at the side of the connector body 1, the portion to be engaged 54a being adapted to overlap or be engaged with the mountain-shape expanding portion 85 when the lever 8 is moved. When the lever 8 is moved in the rearward direction B, the portion to be engaged 54a overlaps the mountain-shape expanding portion 85, and when the lever 8 is moved in the forward direction A, the mountain-shape expanding portion 85 is moved forward of the portion to be engaged 54a so that the projecting piece 84 is momentarily resiliently reset and engaged 25 with the portion to be engaged 54a.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multipolar electrical connector (hereinafter referred to as multipolar connector) for connecting multipolar contacts of a card which belongs to the field of IC memory cards or the like, to multipolar contacts of a computer or the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, it is increasingly demanded to miniaturize a computer and its relevant device using a card of the type above-mentioned. In this connection, the multipolar connector is also required to be as thin as 5 to 6 mm. In such a thin multipolar connector, a card ejecting mechanism is often disposed to enhance the maneuverability for rearwardly pushing and removing the card which has been set in the connector.
A thin multipolar connector having a card ejecting mechanism is known in U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,435. The multipolar connector in U.S. Pat. No. 5,139,435 comprises: a connector body having a contact-piece group; guides rearwardly extending from the connector body at the ends of both lateral sides thereof; a reinforcing plate-like frame extending between the left- and right-hand guides at the undersides thereof; a lever disposed along one of the guides and movable in the back to forth direction of the connector; and a card pushing cam pin-connected to the connector body, a predetermined portion of the cam being relatively rotatably connected to the front end of the lever.
In this multipolar connector, the card ejecting mechanism comprises the lever and the cam. This ejecting mechanism is operated in the following manner. When the lever is forwardly pushed to rotate the cam, a card pushing portion of the cam is rearwardly moved. Accordingly, the front end of the card which has been set in the connector, is rearwardly pushed by the card pushing portion, so that a contact-piece group of the card is separated from the contact-piece group of the connector body, causing the card to be rearwardly pushed out.
In a portable electronic device such as a portable personal computer on which such a thin multipolar connector is mounted, when a card is not being set to the connector (when a card is not yet inserted thereinto), the lever forming the ejecting mechanism is movable in the back and forth direction of the connector and the cam is swingable around the pin-connection part thereof. Accordingly, while the user carries the electronic device, the device may be vibrated so that the lever is freely moved in the back and forth direction of the connector or the cam is freely swung. This disadvantageously produces an unpleasant clacking noise.
Further, when the lever is forwardly pushed with the hand to push out the card rearwardly, only a dull feel is transmitted to the hand through the cam and the lever at the time when the contact-piece group of the card is separated from the contact-piece group of the connector body. This presents the problem that the ejecting mechanism cannot meet the requirement for a cheerful click feel at the time when the card is pushed out.
In a multipolar connector to be used for a card such as an IC memory card, it is desired to take a measure for preventing the electronic parts mounted on the card from being damaged by static electricity. Such trouble can be solved by discharging static electricity charged on the card from the earth terminals thereof to the printed circuit board or the like through the earth terminals of the multipolar connector. In order to provide the thin multipolar connector discussed in the opening paragraph with such static electricity discharging function, the plate-like frame extending between the left- and right-hand guides at the undersides thereof, is provided on the flat-plate portion thereof with earth contact pieces, and these earth contact pieces are adapted to come in contact with earth-terminal corresponding portions of the card at the underside thereof.
However, when there is adopted, as a measure for providing a thin multipolar connector with a static electricity discharging function, the arrangement that the earth contact pieces formed at the flat-plate portion of the plate-like frame are adapted to come in contact with the earth-terminal corresponding portions of the card at the underside thereof, the following problem is presented. That is, when the card is inserted in or removed from such a multipolar connector, the underside of the card is rubbed against the earth contact pieces of the multipolar connector, so that the coating of the underside of the card may come off.


A pivoting wire deflection and severance (PWDS) system that provides protection against wire/cable strikes for aircraft, especially helicopters, having external, belly-mounted gun systems that are pivotable in the elevational plane. The PWDS system is operative to protect against wire/cable strikes with the gun system in a forward stowed flight position and with the gun system pivoted to any position within the predetermined elevation angle of the gun system. The PWDS system includes a hard mounted wire cutter and a pivotable deflector member. The wire cutter includes upper and lower cutting jaws disposed in a housing and operative to sever wires/cables. The wire cutter housing is mounted in combination with the gun system so that the wire cutter provides protection against wire/cable strikes with the gun system in the forward stowed flight position. The deflector member is an elongated structure having first and second ends. The first end of the deflector member is affixed in pivotable combination with the wire cutter housing. The second end of the deflector member is mounted in translational and rotational combination with the gun system. The deflector member is operative for synchronized movement with the elevational movement of the gun system to provide protection from wire/cable strikes within the critical strike zone defined by the predetermined elevation angle of the gun system by deflecting incident wires/cables within the critical strike zone into the wire cutter.

Aircraft flight operations may involve flight patterns that occur in close proximity to the ground. Helicopter flight operations, in particular, typically involve a significant amount of flight time in close proximity to the ground. This is particularly true of military helicopters with the advent of more sophisticated avionics and flight equipment that make nap-of-the-earth flight operations feasible as a routine tactical flight philosophy.
Helicopter flight operations in close proximity to the ground are subject to two serious types of ground threats: gun fire (active); and wire/cable strikes (passive). These ground threats have become a serious concern with the increasing emphasis on nap-of-the-earth helicopter flight operations.
During the Vietnam War, many helicopters were neutralized or destroyed as a result of encounters with steel cables stretched between trees. Such cables were purposely positioned to wrap around the helicopter rotor head to disable the helicopter, or, if the speed of the helicopter was sufficiently high, to tear through the helicopter fuselage for complete destruction thereof.
To mitigate this liability in low level helicopter flight operations, wire cutter systems were developed and incorporated into the basic helicopter configuration. Such wire cutter systems are operative to deflect wires/cables encountered during low level flight operations into the throat of a wire cutter. The momentum of the helicopter, in combination with the sharpness of the cutter blades, is sufficient to sever wires/cables before damage can be inflicted upon the helicopter.
Wire cutter systems are currently utilized on helicopters engaged in low level flight operations where there is a high probability of encountering wires/cables. For example, almost all military helicopters incorporate wire cutter systems. In addition, federal and state helicopters utilized in illegal alien operations typically incorporate wire cutter systems. It is not uncommon for such helicopters to strike numerous telephone and/or power lines while engaged in illegal alien flight operations. Telephone and/or power lines in themselves are not the primary concern, but rather the steel cables (up to three eights inch diameter) that are disposed in combination with such lines for the support thereof. These steel cables are similar to the type encountered by helicopters during the Vietnam War.
Wire cutter systems must be effectively designed and utilized to sever such support cables. One limitation of prior art wire cutter systems is that each cutter system is fixedly mounted in combination with the helicopter. Hence, each cutter system is only effective in protecting helicopters from wire/cable strikes over a limited strike zone.
To overcome this limitation, many wire cutter systems incorporate a deflector member that is operative to direct/deflect encountered wires/cables into the jaws of the cutter. The placement of these deflector members, therefore, is extremely critical if the wire cutter system is to have the capability to provide maximum protection for the helicopter.
A special problem arises for helicopters having external, belly-mounted gun systems. The gun system and the belly of the helicopter in combination form a crevice that defines a critical strike zone capable of entrapping wires/cables that may severely damage the belly-mounted gun system and/or the helicopter. If the gun system is capable of pivoting motion in the elevational plane, the critical strike zone defined by the helicopter and the gun carriage in combination becomes extremely large. For example, the AH-64 Apache helicopter incorporates an external, belly-mounted gun system having the capability of pivoting motion in the elevational plane. In consequence, the Apache helicopter employs multiple fixed cutters and deflector members to protect the critical strike zone defined by the external, belly-mounted gun system and the lower fuselage of the helicopter from wire/cable strikes.
More specifically, the Apache helicopter requires two wire cutter systems just to protect the belly-mounted gun system: one belly-mounted wire cutter system and one wire cutter system fixedly mounted on the gun. The belly-mounted wire cutter provides effective protection against incident wires/cables that slide along the lower fuselage of the helicopter. The gun-mounted wire cutter provides effective protection against incident wires/cables that impact the gun below the mounted wire cutter. Thus, while these wire cutter systems are generally effective in protecting the gun system and helicopter from wire/cable strikes under certain conditions, a large unprotected strike zone still exists if the gun system is pivotally positioned in other than the stowed flight condition, i.e., the gun system is in a depressed position. In addition, the need to provide multiple wire cutter systems results in a system weight penalty.
A need exists to provide a lightweight wire cutting system for helicopters (and other types of low flying aircraft) that embody external, belly-mounted gun systems, especially those having guns capable of pivoting motion in the elevational plane. Such a lightweight wire cutting system should be configured to minimize the number of individual wire cutters and deflector members while concomitantly providing maximum protection from wire/cable strikes for the critical strike zone defined by the pivotal range of the external, belly-mounted gun system.

Pivoting wire deflection and severing system


A robotic system may include an incremental encoder coupled to a joint of the system. The robotic system may include a memory configured to store representations of angular positions of the joint. The robotic system may include a motor coupled to the joint, where rotation of the joint while the motor is powered off (i) causes rotation of the motor such that electric power is generated, and (ii) updates the angular position of the joint. The robotic system may use the electric power to power on the incremental encoder and the memory while the robotic system is powered off. One or more processors may obtain, when the robotic system powers on after being powered off, the updated angular position of the joint from the memory, where the incremental encoder provides the updated angular position to the memory while the robotic system is powered off.

Robotic systems may be used for applications involving material handling, welding, assembly, and dispensing, among others. Over time, the manner in which these robotic systems operate is becoming more flexible and adaptable. As robotic systems become increasingly prevalent in numerous aspects of modern life, the desire for efficient robotic systems has become apparent. Consequently, a field of innovation in power systems, actuators, sensing techniques, as well as component design and assembly has been opened.

Encoder update by using regenerative power