The optical switch includes: a spectroscopic device which separates wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) light into its component wavelengths; and a plurality of movable reflectors, arranged in a spectral direction at different intervals, for reflecting light of an individual component wavelength separated by said spectroscopic device. With this optical switch, deterioration of the characteristic of the pass band is avoided, so that the pass band characteristic is increased.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical switch which switches paths by wavelengths.
2. Description of the Related Art
For accommodating vastly increasing internet traffic, optical networks, such as WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) communication systems, are rapidly spreading. Although point-to-point networks are the mainstream of the present WDM, ring-type networks and mesh-type networks will be more developed in the near future, and at each node which forms a network, adding/dropping of arbitrary wavelengths and Optical Cross Connect (OXC), in which conversion into electricity is not performed, will be available, and dynamic path setting/release on the basis of wavelength information will also be available.
An optical switch (hereinafter will be also called the "wavelength-selective switch") which the present invention relates to is placed in a node in a mesh-type network as shown in FIG. 10 and in a ring-type network as shown in FIG. 11 (reference character 100 designates an wavelength-selective switch in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11), and assigns input wavelengths to arbitrary output ports. Here, in the mesh-type network of FIG. 10, reference characters 200 and 300 designate a multiplexing unit and a demultiplexing unit, respectively. In the ring-type network of FIG. 11, reference characters 201 and 301 designate a multiplexing unit for add light and a demultiplexing unit for drop light, respectively.
This assignment function is equal to a function of a cross bar switch for each wavelength as shown in FIG. 9. That is, the wavelength selective switch module (hereinafter will be simply called the "wavelength selective switch) 100 of FIG. 9 includes, for example, demultiplexing units 101 according to the number of input ports corresponding to the input optical paths (input fibers), 2×2 switches 102, and multiplexing units 103 according to the number of output ports corresponding to the output optical transmission paths (output fibers). The demultiplexing unit 101 separates WDM light, input from the input port, by wavelength (channel), and each wavelength is switched (cross or bar switching) by any of the 2×2 switches 102 according to the setting, and any of the multiplexing units 103 multiplexes the wavelength of light with other wavelengths of light, and outputs the WDM light to the corresponding output port.
For example, as shown in FIG. 9, WDM light at wavelengths of λ2, λ5, and μ6 is input to input port #1, and WDM light at wavelengths of λ1, λ3, λ4, and λ7 are input to input port #2. Light at wavelengths of λ, λ4, and λ6 is switched by the 2×2 switches 102, by cross or bar switching, to be output to the output port #1, and light at the remaining wavelengths of λ2, λ3, λ5, and λ7 are switched to be output to the output port #2. In FIG. 9, reference character 104 designates a gain equalization (optical attenuator) function. In a wavelength-selective optical switch 100 of a spatial join type, the light is collected onto the output fiber at a position appropriately offset from the center of the core, so that the amount of light coupled to the core is varied.
Specifically, as shown in FIG. 12, a known spatial-join-type wavelength-selective switch 100 has a collimator array 111, which forms an input/output optical system, a spectroscope 112, which forms a spectroscopic optical system for separating input WDM light by wavelength, a collective lens 113, which forms a focusing optical system, and a micro mirror array unit 114, which is a switching device. These elements are formed on a substrate 110.
Here, in the collimator array 111, micro lenses (collimate lens; hereinafter will be simply called the "lenses") are arranged/formed on one side of a glass substrate. On the other side of the substrate, optical fibers are adhered or fused to the positions corresponding to the lenses arranged on the other side so that the optical axes, that is, the centers of the lenses and the centers of the fiber cores, match each other. Light entering a lens from an input optical fiber is converted into collimate light, which is then output to the spectroscope 112. On the other hand, collimate light entering a lens from the spectroscope 112 is focused onto the core of an output fiber. The collimator array 111 of FIG. 12 is a 1-input and 3-output collimator array, which has four optical fibers in total, one input fiber 111-1 which corresponds to an input port, and three output fibers 111-2, 111-3, and 111-4 which correspond to output ports.
The spectroscope 112 reflects incident light in different directions (angles) by wavelength, and it is normally realized by a diffraction grating. FIG. 14 shows a construction of a typical diffraction grating (partially expanded cross sectional view). A diffraction grating is a well-known optical device formed by a glass substrate 120 on which multiple parallel grooves are formed at regular intervals. Utilizing diffraction phenomenon of light, the diffraction grating gives component wavelengths, input at a specific angle (α), different angles of emergence (β). This action makes it possible to separate incident WDM light into its component wavelengths.
The diffraction grating of FIG. 14 has grooves shaped like saw teeth to improve diffraction efficiency, and is called blaze-type diffraction grating. In addition to the diffraction grating of a reflection type of FIG. 14 which reflects incident light, there is another type (transmission-type) of diffraction grating which transmits incident light and realizes a wavelength-separating action equal to the reflective-type diffraction grating. If a transmission-type diffraction grating is employed, collective lens 113 and micro mirror array unit 114 should be arranged after the transmission-type diffraction grating.
The micro mirror array unit 114 functions as a switching device which reflects incident light input from the input fiber 111-1 to any of the output fibers 111-2, 111-3, and 111-4, thereby realizing a port switching function. In the micro mirror array unit 114, micro mirrors (hereinafter will be called "MEMS mirrors") 140 (see FIG. 15), such as MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical Systems), are arranged in array form. Specifically, MEMS mirrors 140 are provided, one for each of the wavelengths separated by the spectroscope (diffraction grating) 112. Tilt angles of the MEMS mirrors 140 are variable as shown in FIG. 13(A) and FIG. 13(B), and an output port of each component wavelength is determined (switched) according to the tilt angle.
The collective lens 113 collects a wavelength of light separated by the spectroscope 112 to a specific MEMS mirror 140, and it also collects light reflected by any of the MEMS mirrors 140 to output to the collimator array 111 via the spectroscope 112.
With such a construction, in the wavelength-selective optical switch 100, WDM light input through the input fiber 111-1 of the collimator array 111 is converted into collimate light by the above lens, and enters the spectroscope 112. The light output from the spectroscope 112 at different angles by wavelength enters the collective lens 113, which collects the light to the corresponding MEMS mirrors 140 of the micro mirror array unit 114.
The light input to the MEMS mirrors 140 and reflected thereby goes through a different optical path, and enters any of the output fibers 111-2, 111-3, and 111-4 via the collective lens 113 and the spectroscope 112. When the output fibers 111-2, 111-3, and 111-4 to which the reflected light is to be coupled are changed, the tilt angles of the MEMS mirrors 140 are changed as shown in FIG. 13(A) and FIG. 13(B). In this manner, output switching for each wavelength is realized. In addition, by adjusting the tilt angles of the MEMS mirrors 140, the amount of light coupled to the cores of the output fibers 111-2, 111-3, and 111-4 is controlled, so that an optical attenuator function 104, as already described with reference to FIG. 9, is realized as well as the output switching function.
The following Patent Document 2 discloses a wavelength-selective switch 100 employing MEMS mirrors used in OADM.
A pass band is one of the parameters of performance of the wavelength-selective optical switch 100. As schematically shown in FIG. 15, the pass band is determined as the ratio of the diameter of a beam entering a MEMS mirror 140 to mirror width W. If the pass band is wider, the following advantages are obtained:
(1) loss due to deviation of the center wavelength becomes smaller;
(2) the upper limit of the bit rate supported is improved;
(3) the number of wavelength-selective optical switches 100 connected is increased. In other words, if the pass band is narrow, deterioration of optical power due to deviation of the center wavelength is large, so that good transmission characteristic cannot be maintained.
As already described, in the wavelength-selective optical switch 100, after WDM light is separated into its component wavelengths, a focusing optical system (collective lens 113) collimates each wavelength of light and makes the light hit the corresponding MEMS mirror 140. Thus, a relationship as shown in FIG. 16 is established between the spectroscopic optical system (spectroscope 112) and the distance (mirror pitch) between MEMS mirrors 140. That is, as shown in FIG. 16, if a wavelength interval of WDM light is Δλ, and a separation angle of WDM light by the spectroscopic optical system is β, the wavelength separation ability of the spectroscopic optical system is expressed by dβ/dλ, and a separation angle β is given by β=Δλ·(dβ/dλ). Thus, between the distance L between the spectroscopic optical system (spectroscope 112) and the focusing optical system (collective lens 113) and the mirror pitch P, the following relation is established:
  L  =      P          Δ                                              λ        ·                              ⅆ            β                    /                      ⅆ            λ
Hence, for obtaining a wide pass band, the beam diameter of the wavelength which hits each MEMS mirror 140 is set as small as possible in comparison with the mirror width W, and the beam should hit the center of the MEMS mirror 140 as much as possible.
As shown in FIG. 14, if an angle (incident angle) formed between the incident light and the diffraction grating normal is α, and an angle (angle of emergence from the diffraction grating) formed between diffraction light and the diffraction grating normal is β, the following relational expression (1) is established:sin α+sin β=Nmλ  (1)where N is the number of grooves/mm of the diffraction grating, and m is the diffraction order, and λ is a wavelength.
Here, assuming that the incident angle is constant, if both sides of the equation are differentiated, the following equation (2) is obtained.
                                          ⅆ            β                                ⅆ            λ                          =                  Nm                      cos                                                                          β                                              (        2        )
The both sides of this equation are multiplied by the focal distance fL, and if fL×dβ=dy,
                    dy        =                              f            L                    ×          Δλ          ×                      Nm                          cos                                                                                β                                                          (        3        )
Here, "dy" is a spatial distance (beam interval) formed by different wavelengths (wavelengths interval Δλ) on the plane of emergence after they pass through the collective lens 113. This equation (3) indicates that the beam interval dy depends on the angle of emergence (diffraction angle β). The appearance of such phenomenon is disclosed in paragraph 0008 through 0010 of the following Patent Document 1.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-294980
[Patent Document 2] Specification of U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,133
Accordingly, considering a case where wavelengths of light with a constant wavelength interval dλ are input to a diffraction grating, and where MEMS mirrors 140 are arranged at constant intervals in the spectral direction, since the beam interval dy output from the diffraction grating depends on the wavelength, if adjustment is performed so that a specific wavelength of beam hits the center of a mirror, beam positions of other wavelengths are deviated from the centers of the corresponding mirrors according to the wavelengths, so that the pass band is deteriorated.
FIG. 17 shows a calculation example where a wavelength range in use is a C band (1528.77 through 1563.05 nm), the wavelength interval (dλ) is 100 GHz, the number of wavelengths is 44, the number (N) of grooves of the diffraction grating is 1200/mm, the diffraction order (m) is 1, the incident angle α is 68°, and a mirror pitch is 250 μm. In FIG. 17, dotted line 400 indicates the position of a MEMS mirror 140 (mm) against the channel number (wavelength), and dotted line 500 indicates the beam position (mm) against the channel number, and reference character 600 indicates the pitch (μm) between adjacent channels against the channel number.
FIG. 17 shows that the center position of a beam at each wavelength output from the diffraction grating gradually deviates from the positions (dotted line 400) of the MEMS mirrors 140 arranged at equal intervals. That is, if the focal distance fL of the collective lens 113 is determined so that the beam interval, after being output from the diffraction grating, between channel number 1 and channel number 2 is 250 μm, the beam interval between channel number 43 and channel number 44 are increased to about 343 μm. In this case, the beam incident position greatly deviates from the center position of the MEMS mirror 140, thereby causing significant deterioration of the pass band.


A tuner of a digital television signal translator tunes to receive an RF digital television signal on a first selected television channel. A demodulator provides a baseband digital television signal from the RF digital television signal to which the tuner is tuned. The baseband television signal includes a data component identifying the first selected channel. A data replacer replaces the data component identifying the first selected channel with a data component identifying a second selected channel different from the first selected channel. The output of a modulator is modulated by the baseband television signal including the data component identifying the second selected channel for transmission as a digital television signal on the second selected channel.

The United States has adopted a digital television standard for the transmission of digital television signals. This standard specifies that data is to be transmitted in the form of packets to digital television receivers. For example, video data are transmitted in video packets, audio data are transmitted in audio packets, and certain data including, inter alia, the physical, virtual, and NTSC channels of the corresponding digital television signal are transmitted in packets containing program system information protocol data tables (PSIP data tables). There are several types of PSIP tables, each containing specific information as set forth in ATSC document A/65. The table relevant to this invention is referred to as the virtual channel table (VCT) which normally occupies between one and three packets.
The physical channel corresponds to the carrier frequency that is being used to transmit the digital television signal. The virtual channel is typically, although not necessarily, the channel number over which the corresponding analog television signal is received in the receiving area covered by the digital television signal. For example, the source of a particular digital television signal may be associated with analog channel number 7 in that source's coverage area but may actually be transmitting on a carrier corresponding to channel 30. In this example, channel 7 is the virtual channel and channel 30 is the physical channel. The virtual channel number is frequently displayed by a television such as when a channel change is effected. The NTSC channel is identified by an analog NTSC carrier and is the analog channel assigned to the corresponding source of the digital television signal.
Digital television signals are typically transmitted over the air, over cable, by way of satellites, etc. In some cases, certain impairments may be present which make good reception at particular receiving locations difficult. For example, a hill may interfere with or block the broadcast of a digital television signal from a transmitter to a receiver so that the digital television signal cannot be adequately received by the receiver.
The present invention is directed to a digital television translator which receives the digital television signal, appropriately processes the digital television signal, and forwards the processed digital television signal on so that the digital television signal may be adequately received by a receiver. For example, the translator may be positioned at the impairment, such as on top of the aforementioned hill, so that the harmful effects of the impairment are avoided.


One embodiment of a method of calculating an optical surface comprises calculating a meridional optical line of the surface. A ray is selected that passes a known point defining an end of a part of the optical line already calculated. The optical line is extrapolated from the known point to meet the ray using a polynomial with at least one degree of freedom. The polynomial is adjusted as necessary so that the selected ray is deflected at the extrapolated optical line to a desired target point. The polynomial is added to the optical line up to the point where the selected ray is deflected. The point where the selected ray is deflected is used as the known point in a repetition of those steps.

The design of imaging optics is a centuries-old art with literally thousands of inventions in the prior art. Nearly all of these are combinations of flats and spherical surfaces, due to their relative ease of manufacture. Surfaces with substantial departure from sphericity are known as aspherics, but aside from known quartic shapes such as the ellipsoid and the paraboloid there was little use of aspheres until the twentieth century, when advances both in theory and fabrication technology brought them into prominence. Aspheric surfaces can advantageously substitute for multiple spherical surfaces, resulting in less costly devices, even if a single asphere is more costly than a sphere. With the advent of injection-molded plastic optics and precision molded glass optics, aspheres entered the optical-technology mainstream.
Applications of aspheric optics fall into two categories, imaging and non-imaging. Non-imaging optics is concerned with illumination and the distribution of optical power, with the defining constraint being the behavior of only the outermost rays (called edge rays) of a flux distribution. Imaging optics, however, is concerned with the spatial modulation of flux, with the goal of reproducing a particular flux distribution (the object) at another location (the image). Nonimaging optical design need only take care of the edge rays, a relatively small portion of all rays, but an imaging system must send all rays to their appropriate destination, parameterized by the system magnification m. A ray originating at coordinate point (x,y) on the object must arrive at the image coordinate (mx, my), known as the image-mapping requirement. In the real world of imaging each point on the object typically radiates flux in all forward directions (i.e., nearly hemispherically) and practicality demands that a significant percentage of this flux reach the proper image point, with little or none going anywhere else on the image plane, once it enters the optical system aperture. In the world of theory, however, many aspheric design procedures hold only when rays hitting a surface subtend only a small solid angle, near the surface normal, and relatively parallel to the optical axis. This enables approximate aberration coefficients to be rapidly calculated for aspheric surfaces in design optimization.
Attaining perfect image mapping for every object point would theoretically require an infinite number of surfaces, but with a limited number of surfaces, state of the art techniques define a merit function to evaluate deviations from ideal imaging in order to minimize loss of image formation over sampled points of the image plane.
A general difficulty with aspherics is that they generally do not have a closed form solution for ray intersections, unlike the algebraic ease with which intersections are calculated for flats, spheres, and the other quadric surfaces (torus, cylinder, ellipsoid, paraboloid, hyperboloid), enabling optimal designs to be derived just with a formula. Aspheres in general, however, generally require a computationally intense iterative search that closes in on the precise intersection.
State of the art imaging optics design is done via optimization techniques using a parametric representation of a selected group and type of optical surfaces. A merit function of those parameters is defined and the search for the optimum of the merit function is done by a computer-aided multiple-parameter algorithm. The implementation of this algorithm may be based on different techniques, as binned least-square methods, simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, etc. However, the differentiation between local and global optimum is not guaranteed, and the optimization depends for its success upon the particular mathematical representation chosen to specify the surfaces. Moreover, usually the optimum found is not too far from the initial guess of the designer, so solutions far from that guess are not accessible in practice. In this application some of the embodiments refer to wide angle projection optics using one mirror. Devices for such an application also including mirrors are disclosed in prior art patents as U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,771,427 and 6,612,704 and US Patent Application No. 2001/0050758 A1. All of them have been obtained by the use of standard optimization procedures.
The only cases in prior art where no optimization is done are based on problems stated in terms of ordinary differential equations. This is the case of the single surface designs to provide axial stigmatism (that is, correction of spherical aberration of all orders), as Cartesian ovals or Schmidt correctors, and the case of the two aspheric surface aplanatic designs, as those by Schwarzschild in 1905 for 2 mirrors (see Born & Wolf, Principles of Optics, p. 168).
Earlier versions of a simultaneous multiple surface (SMS) method for designing optical devices were disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,639,733 and 6,896,381 and US Patent Application No. 2005/0086032. This design method generates surfaces locally, based on their refraction of the relevant rays incident upon them. However, the earlier versions of the SMS method disclosed in those patent documents were directed to non-imaging optics and for rotationally symmetrical optics they are restricted to the use of meridional rays, while the present application discloses constructive methods using skew rays.
SMS methods for designing imaging optics were discussed in published reports on two projects: "Televisión por proyección ultra-delgada de pantalla grande y alta resolución" (Television by ultra-thin, high-resolution projection on a large screen) (Financer Entity: Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología [Ministry of Science and Technology of the Kingdom of Spain] referencia TIC2001-3617-C02) and "Sistemas ópticos avanzados para displays de proyección (Advanced optical systems for projection displays)" (Financer Entity: Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología [Ministry of Science and Technology of the Kingdom of Spain] referencia TEC2004-04316), as well as the doctoral thesis "Sistemas ópticos avanzados de gran compactibilidad con aplicaciones en formación de imagen y en iluminación" (Ultra-compact advanced optical systems for image formation and illumination applications), all by: Fernando Muñoz and Pablo Benítez. These concepts comprise procedures to design optical devices for imaging applications, particularly wide angle projectors.
However, those previous publications by Dr. Muñoz and Benitez do not disclose good calculation procedures for the application of the SMS-imaging design method, particularly no constructional algorithm for skew rays has hitherto been published. Therefore, a skilled person in the field cannot reproduce the designs from the aforementioned publications by Dr. Muñoz and Pablo Benitez. Additionally, the designs in those previous publications did not consider the possibility of both the object and the input pupil being decentered relative to the optical axis of the optical surfaces to be designed, while the present application does address that possibility. This case is valuable, particularly in mirror based designs, to solve problems of shading and obstruction in practical cases.

Imaging optics designed by the simultaneous multiple surface method


The engine operational region in which the cylinder deactivation operation is performed in the cylinder deactivation control is switched between the cylinder deactivation region AP1 and the cylinder deactivation region AP2 depending on whether a variable valve timing mechanism is in an operation allowed state and control of the valve timing of an intake valve is being performed, or the variable valve timing mechanism is in an operation inhibited state and the control of the valve timing of the intake valve is stopped. In this way, depending on whether the variable valve timing mechanism is in the operation allowed state or in the operation inhibited state, the engine operational region in which the cylinder deactivation operation is performed can be set so that the engine operational region is made suitable for each of these state.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a controller for an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
An internal combustion engine mounted on a vehicle, such as an automobile, has been available that performs cylinder deactivation control in which switching between all cylinder operation and cylinder deactivation operation is performed according to operating conditions of the engine. In the all cylinder operation, all the cylinders are operated, and in the cylinder deactivation operation, operation of part of the cylinders is stopped.
In Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-163971 (JP-A-5-163971) (in particular, paragraphs [0035] and [0036], FIG. 3), in such cylinder deactivation control, the all cylinder operation is performed when the engine is in high load operation, and the cylinder deactivation operation is performed when the engine is in low load operation. This is because in an internal combustion engine, there is a tendency that the fuel economy is good when the engine is in high load operation, that is, when an operation is performed in which the amount of aft (mixture) taken into the operating cylinder per cycle is large, and it is intended to improve the fuel economy of the engine in consideration of such fuel economy characteristics of the internal combustion engine.
When the engine is in low load operation in which the fuel economy of the internal combustion engine is not good, that is, there is a fear that the amount of air (mixture) taken into the operating cylinder per cycle falls short, the operation of part of the cylinders is stopped by the cylinder deactivation operation, so that the amount of air (mixture) taken into the remaining operating cylinders per cycle is increased. As a result, the amount of air (the amount of mixture) taken into the operating cylinder per cycle in the cylinder deactivation operation becomes closer to the amount of air (the amount of mixture) taken into the operating cylinder per cycle when the engine is in high load operation in the all cylinder operation. Thus, the fuel economy of the internal combustion engine when the engine is in low load operation is improved.
In order to improve the fuel economy of the internal combustion engine, it is preferable that the engine operational region in which the cylinder deactivation operation is performed in the cylinder deactivation control be maximally broadened. However, if the engine operational region in which the cylinder deactivation operation is performed is excessively broadened, depending on the engine operating conditions, combustion conditions can be deteriorated in the operating cylinder that is operating in the cylinder deactivation operation. If the engine operational region in which the cylinder deactivation operation is performed is excessively broadened to the high load side, for example, combustion conditions in the operating cylinder that is operating in the cylinder deactivation operation are deteriorated when the engine operating conditions are in a high load side of such an engine operational region. It is presumed that such deterioration in the combustion conditions in the operating cylinder occurs because the amount of air taken into the operating cylinder per cycle exceeds the amount of air that can be actually taken in when the cylinder deactivation operation is performed under above-described conditions, which influences the combustion of the mixture.
Thus, in the cylinder deactivation control, the engine operational region in which the cylinder deactivation operation is performed is determined in consideration of the above-described circumstances, the cylinder deactivation operation is performed only in the thus determined region, and the all cylinder operation is performed in other region. Thus, the fuel economy is maximally improved by the cylinder deactivation operation, and the deterioration of the combustion conditions caused by performing the cylinder deactivation operation in an inappropriate engine operational region is suppressed.
Meanwhile, some internal combustion engines mounted on vehicles are provided with a variable valve timing mechanism that continuously varies the open/close characteristics of the engine valves, such as intake valves and exhaust valves. In the internal combustion engine provided with such a variable valve timing mechanism, the variable valve timing mechanism is switched between the operation allowed state and the operation inhibited state according to the engine operating conditions. When the variable valve timing mechanism is in the operation allowed state, an operation command value of the variable valve timing mechanism is calculated based on the engine operating conditions, and by operating the variable valve timing mechanism based on the operation command value, the open/close characteristics of the engine valves are made suitable for the current engine operating conditions. On the other hand, when the variable valve timing mechanism is in the operation inhibited state, the variable valve timing mechanism is controlled so that the open/close characteristics of the engine valves are fixed to be the predetermined characteristics.
When an internal combustion engine in which the cylinder deactivation control is performed is provided with the variable valve timing mechanism, if the engine operational region in which the cylinder deactivation operation is performed in the cylinder deactivation control is determined without taking account of the control of engine-valve open/close characteristics that is performed by the variable valve timing mechanism, there is a fear that the following problem concerning the fuel economy and the combustion conditions of the internal combustion engine occurs.
When the variable valve timing mechanism is in the operation allowed state and the engine-valve open/close characteristics are controlled so as to be suitable for the current engine operating conditions, the combustion conditions are kept in good conditions, and it is therefore possible to perform the cylinder deactivation operation in the cylinder deactivation control in a broad engine operational region. When the engine operational region is determined without taking account of such a thing, however, there is a fear that the determined engine operational region is too narrow. In this case, despite the fact that the engine is in operating conditions in which it is possible to perform the cylinder deactivation operation while keeping the combustion conditions at allowable levels, the cylinder deactivation operation is not performed even when the engine is in such operating conditions, which can accordingly reduce the degree of improvement of the fuel economy of the internal combustion engine.
When the variable valve timing mechanism is in the operation inhibited state and the engine-valve open/close characteristics are fixed to be the predetermined characteristics, the engine-valve open/close characteristics are not always suitable for the engine operating characteristics and it cannot be said that the combustion conditions under such a situation is kept in good conditions. For this reason, it becomes difficult to perform the cylinder deactivation operation in the cylinder deactivation control in a broad engine operational region. When the engine operational region is determined without taking account of such a thing, there is a fear that the determined engine operational region becomes excessively broad. In this case, a situation occurs in which the cylinder deactivation operation is performed despite the fact that the engine operating conditions are such that combustion conditions are deteriorated by performing the cylinder deactivation operation, and combustion conditions are therefore deteriorated.

Controller for internal combustion engine


Compositions and methods for treating a contact lens very effectively and conveniently provide enhanced contact lens wearability by reducing the actual or perceived ocular sensitivity which results from exposing a contact lens to non-oxidative antimicrobial components. The present system takes advantage of inactivating or deactivating a non-oxidative antimicrobial component located on or in a contact lens to reduce the ocular sensitivity caused by placing the lens in the eye.

This invention relates to compositions and methods useful for enhancing the wearability of contact lenses. More particularly, the invention relates to compositions and methods in which contact lenses on or in which are located non-oxidative antimicrobial components are treated to inactivate such antimicrobial components.
Various compositions, such as solutions, are used in association with contact lenses to ensure that the lenses may be safely, comfortably and conveniently worn. Contact lens care compositions often utilize at least one antimicrobial component, for example, for disinfecting contact lenses after wear.
A contact lens disinfecting composition generally has sufficient antimicrobial activity so that when the composition is contacted with a contact lens to be disinfected, microorganisms associated with the lens are killed or otherwise removed and the contact lens is effectively disinfected within a reasonable time, for example, in the range of about 0.1 hour to about 12 hours. A contact lens disinfecting composition may be termed a microbicidal composition. In contrast, a preserved contact lens care composition has sufficient antimicrobial activity, often less of such activity than is present in a contact lens disinfecting composition, so that when the composition is contacted with a contact lens substantially no increase in the microorganism population on the lens or in the composition is obtained. A preserved contact lens care composition may be termed a microbiostatic composition.
Non-oxidative antimicrobial components have been suggested for use in disinfecting contact lens. One advantage of such non-oxidative materials is that they lend themselves quite well to a one step approach to disinfecting contact lens. For example, the non-oxidative antimicrobial component can be included in a multi-purpose contact lens care solution which is used to disinfect the lens. The disinfected lens is then taken directly from the solution and placed in the eye. No rinsing or other processing is required. As the name implies, such multi-purpose solutions can be used for purposes other than disinfecting contact lenses, such as rinsing, storing and rewetting contact lenses.
Although this approach to contact lens care has proven to be quite effective and very convenient, some degree of ocular sensitivity to non-oxidative antimicrobial components has been experienced, or at least perceived, by contact lens wearers. Even when such non-oxidative materials are used as preservatives, some degree of actual or perceived ocular sensitivity may occur. Such non-oxidative antimicrobial components tend to accumulate on or in contact lenses over time (and repeated treatments with multi-purpose solutions), resulting in increased ocular sensitivity.
It would be advantageous to provide a contact lens care system in which the ocular sensitivity to non-oxidative antimicrobial components is reduced or even eliminated and contact lens wearability is enhanced.

Compositions and methods for enhancing contact lens wearability


A light-emitting device includes a light-emitting layer capable of generating light by electroluminescence, a pair of electrodes applies an electric field to the light-emitting layer, and a substrate having a depression in a surface, and the light-emitting layer is disposed within the depression of the substrate.

The present invention relates to a light-emitting device using electroluminescence (EL) and to an electronic instrument.
For example, a surface emission type EL light-emitting element using electroluminescence (EL) emits light isotropically, and the element is formed on a flat substrate. Therefore, a surface emission type EL light-emitting element is susceptible to losses from light emitted from the lateral surface of the light-emitting layer. When a surface emission type EL light-emitting element is considered in respect of a particular direction, the light intensity is weak, and it is difficult to exploit the emitted light efficiently.

Light-emitting device and electronic instrument


A material level detecting mechanism of three-dimensional system includes a bracket, a printing head, first piston, a second piston, a first detecting unit and a second detecting unit. The bracket includes an aligner holder and a supporter. The printing head detachably located in the aligner holder, and including a nozzle with an outlet for extruding the modeling material. The first piston includes a piston rod attached to a piston head, and the second piston slidably located inside the cartridge is adapted to be pushed by the first piston toward the direction of the outlet. The first detecting unit is adapted to detect the home position of the first piston and the second detecting unit is adapted to detect the touching of the first piston and the second piston which provide the initial amount of material present in the cartridge which is subject to print.

1. Technical Field
The technical field relates to a three-dimensional system, and more particularly to a material level detecting mechanism having detection units for obtaining the dispensing amount of the modeling material.
2. Description of Related Art
With advancement in computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), a three dimensional printing technology (3-D printing technology) has been developed in the manufacturing industry, thereby rapidly fabricating products from an original design concept. The 3-D printing, in fact, is a general term of a series of rapid prototyping (RP) techniques, and the basic principle thereof, and the concept thereof is a laminate manufacturing, wherein a rapid prototyping machine is used to form cross-sectional shapes of a workpiece in the X-Y plane through scanning, shift intermittently at a layer thickness in the Z coordinates, and ultimately form 3-D objects. The 3-D printing technology is unrestrictedly applicable for the geometric shapes and the RP technology produces excellent outputs in particular for complex parts, which saves efforts and processing time significantly. As a result, the digital 3-D printing technology is capable of presenting an object of a digital 3-D model designed by means of computer-aided design (CAD) software under a shortest time requirement for the user to touch and actually feel the geometry of the model, or even to do possible functional test thereof.
However, in the current 3-D printing apparatuses which uses refillable cartridges, the usage or remaining amount of the modeling material of the printing apparatus is often hard to be detected or defined or not being detected at all. Moreover, there were not a system or apparatus existed to inform the usage or remaining amount of the modeling material of a 3D printing apparatus simultaneously. Therefore, the printing heads need to be detached from the printing head module each time of the operations to ensure the sufficient amount of the modeling material inside thereof for usage or to detect the dispensing or remaining amount of the modeling material. The detachment processes of the current printing heads are often time consuming, manpower intensive, and costly. As a result, to some extent, the current 3-D printing process is still inconvenient and expensive in terms of maintenance and cost of the equipment operation.

Material level detecting mechanism of three-dimensional system

Cal-Comp Electronics & Communications Company Limited


The invention improves a combustion at a starting time by refining a fuel at a time of starting the engine so as to minimize an amount of the fuel attached to a wall surface and appropriately form an air-fuel mixture. When the engine starts, a control apparatus executes a control of increasing a fuel pressure supplied to a fuel injector in comparison with a normal operating time just after the engine start, and a divisional injection control of divisionally injecting the fuel injection for one cycle of the engine by the fuel injector at a plurality of times.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control apparatus of a fuel injection type internal combustion engine, and more particularly to a control apparatus of a fuel injection type internal combustion engine which executes an improvement of a combustion at an engine starting time (a cold engine time).
2. Description of Related Art
In a fuel injection type internal combustion engine in which a fuel injection is executed in each of cylinders by a fuel injection valve, there is a structure in which a fuel injection for one cycle of the engine is executed divisionally by a plurality of times (for example, patent document 1 (JP-A-2004-52660)).
The fuel injection type internal combustion engine corresponds to an internal combustion engine structured such as to directly inject a fuel into a combustion chamber (a cylinder) and ignite by a spark. Since both of a cylinder temperature and a cylinder pressure in the combustion chamber are in a low state at a time point of executing a premixed fuel injection, in comparison with a time of executing a main fuel injection, it is necessary to refine the fuel so as to set to an easily vaporized state.
Accordingly, there is executed a matter of enlarging an angle of diffusive injection of the injected fuel for improving a mixture between the fuel and the air by using a fuel injection valve with a swirl nozzle. In this case, if the angle of diffusive injection of the fuel is made too large, the injected fuel comes into collision with a side wall within the cylinder of the combustion chamber and an amount of attached fuel is increased.
In relation to this matter, there is executed a matter of judging by a contact judging means whether or not the fuel injected from the fuel injection valve in a suction stroke is brought into contact with the inner surface of the cylinder, at a time of a high load of the internal combustion engine, executing a compensation by increasing or decreasing the amount of the injected fuel and increasing or decreasing an injection frequency of the fuel during the suction stroke, in the case that it is judged that the fuel is brought into contact with the inner surface of the cylinder.
With regard to the divisional injection of the divided amount, there is additionally a cylinder injection system in which the injection is executed at two times comprising a suction stroke and a compression stroke, thereby suppressing a generation of a black smoke or the like (for example, patent document 2 (JP-A-2003-328816) and patent document 3 (JP-A-2004-28031)).

Control apparatus of fuel injection type internal combustion engine


There is provided a refuse-trapping cover for a portable working machine, which is capable of reducing the deterioration of the engine-cooling performance of the cooling fan that may be caused by the fibrous sawdust of a palm tree. The refuse-trapping cover includes a frame (40) having a plurality of open windows (40a-40j) and attached to the outer casing (20) of a chain saw (1) to thereby cover the air inlet slits (22), and a mesh member (50) integrally fixed to the frame (40) to thereby cover open windows (40a-40j). The frame (40) is constructed to have predetermined dimension and configuration, and the mesh member (50) is fixed to a predetermined location of the frame (40) to thereby provide a sufficient space (S) between the mesh member (50) and the outer casing (20) to avoid the mesh member (50) from being adsorbed onto the outer casing (20).

As depicted in FIG. 5, a chain saw 1 representing one example of the portable working machine is designed such that a guide bar 11 and a saw chain 12 slidably hanged around the guide bar 11 are disposed, as a working member, on the right side of the fore portion of main housing 2. The saw chain 12 is designed to be driven by an internal combustion engine (such as an small air-cooled two-stroke gasoline engine) which is disposed inside the main housing 2.
A rear-handle 14 including a throttle trigger 15 and is attached to a rear portion of the main housing 2. A front-handle 17 having a nearly C-shaped or loop-like configuration is attached to an outer periphery of a central portion of the main housing 2 in such a manner that the front-handle 17 is extended from the left side of the main housing 2. Further, a hand guard 19 is attached to an upper fore-portion of the main housing 2.
On the left side of the main housing 2, there are a cooling fan for cooling the internal combustion engine and a recoil starter (only a starter handle 18 is shown in FIG. 5). An outer casing (fan casing) 20 with a large number of air inlet slits 22 is attached to the left side of the main housing 2 so as to cover the cooling fan as well as the starter.
This chain saw 1 constructed as described above is suitable for cutting and pruning trees and branches. However, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,689, this chain saw 1 may also be used in the pruning work of a palm tree.
However, the following problems can occur if the chain saw 1 constructed as described above is to be employed in the pruning work of a palm tree. Namely, not only powdery sawdust but also fibrous sawdust such as cloth scrap-like or waste thread-like sawdust is generated in the pruning work of a palm tree. As a result, this fibrous sawdust gets sucked into the main housing 2 through the air inlet slits 22 of the outer casing 20, thereby clogging the space between the cylinder cover and the cooling fan. As a result of this clogging, the flow of the cooling air is obstructed which greatly deteriorates the performance of cooling fan (air volume) to cool the engine. In order to remove the fibrous sawdust trapped in the space between the cylinder cover and the cooling fan, the outer casing, cylinder cover, and other parts must generally be removed.
With a view to overcome these problems, U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,689 proposes the employment of a mesh member which is designed to be attached to the outer casing so as to cover the air inlet slits thereof.
The idea to directly attach a mesh member to the surface of the outer casing as described in the aforementioned U.S. Patent, however, still has the following problems: (1) the mesh member can be clogged with fibrous sawdust that has been trapped by the mesh member, thereby making it difficult to secure a sufficient performance (air volume) to cool the engine; (2) due to external factors such as the collision of the mesh member with branches of tree, the mesh member may be easily torn or damaged; and (3) it takes time in mounting or exchanging the mesh member.
The present invention is intended to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a refuse-trapping cover for a portable working machine, which is capable of reducing the deterioration of the engine-cooling performance of the cooling fan that may be caused by the fibrous sawdust of a palm tree.

Refuse-trapping cover for use in portable working machine


A switched reluctance machine controller derives an error signal from the difference between a current reference and the phase winding current. The error signal is applied to a pair of hysteresis circuits which define adjacent hysteresis bands above and below the reference current. The magnitude of the hysteresis bands may vary as a function of the current reference. The outputs of the hysteresis circuits are received by control logic which permits current to be applied to the phase winding when the current is below the hysteresis bands, removes current from the phase winding when the current is above the hysteresis bands and allows the phase winding current to freewheel when the current is between the upper and lower hysteresis limits. The power device used for freewheeling alternates between an upper power device and a lower power device.

A switched reluctance motor is an example of an electrical load in which the inductance is not constant with time or machine operation, i.e., rotor angle. FIG. 1(a) illustrates a typical three-phase switched reluctance (SR) machine and FIGS. 1(b) and (c) illustrate well-known examples of electronic switching circuits which may be used to control an SR machine. The SR machine essentially consists of a stator s defining stator poles 1, 1', 2, 2', 3, 3' on which are wound phase windings w, of which only one is shown in association with a set of poles 2, 2'. The machine also has a rotor with salient poles 4, 4' and 5, 5'. The electronic circuits are arranged to supply unidirectional currents to the phase windings w.
In the control circuits of FIGS. 1(b) and (c), each phase winding of the machine in FIG. 1(a) is associated with a circuit leg comprising at least one electronic switch t in series with each winding across a dc supply Vs. A general treatment of the principles of SR machines is given in the paper `The Characteristics, Design and Applications of Switched Reluctance Motors and Drives` by Stephenson et al. presented at PCIM '93 Conference and Exhibition at Nurnberg, Germany, Jun. 21st-24th 1993.
Proposed means for controlling an SR machine to run at different speeds include operation in three characteristic regions which can be designated as `low-speed`, `medium-speed` and `high-speed` regions. For background and explanation on this see `Variable-Speed Switched Reluctance Motors` by Lawrenson et al. IEE Proceedings Part B, Vol. 127, No. 4, Jul. 1980. In the low-speed region the current is controlled by the well-known method of `chopping`. The present invention relates to improvements in the means of implementing chopping control of the phase current. FIGS. 2(a), (b) and (c) represent one phase leg of the circuit shown in FIG. 1(b) redrawn for clarity with the phase leg in three possible states, here referred to as `ON`, `FW` (`freewheeling`) and `OFF`. The circuit is in the ON state when both power switches are closed and the full dc bus voltage Vs is applied to the phase winding w, increasing the magnetic flux F at the maximum possible rate (see FIG. 2(a)).
When flux has been established in the winding in this way and either one of the switches is open, the current is said to freewheel (see FIG. 2(b)), i.e. the circuit is in the FW state with only one switch closed, the current flowing through this switch and one diode. The effective winding voltage under these conditions is determined by the small voltage across the switch, the diode and the winding resistance. The flux F thus falls relatively slowly, as shown in FIG. 2(b).
The circuit is in the OFF condition when both switches are open and the phase current is carried by the diodes. The winding then has the full dc bus voltage applied in reverse so that the flux F will fall until the current is zero and the diodes become non-conducting (see FIG. 2(c)).
The simplest method of current chopping is to alternate between ON and OFF states to maintain the mean current level near a desired value. This is shown in FIG. 3(a). Chopping between the ON and OFF states is acceptable at low power levels where the switches (e.g. semiconductor switches such as metal oxide silicon dioxide field effect transistors or insulated gate bipolar transistors) can switch at ultrasonic frequencies. This is advantageous in terms of limiting acoustic noise.
At higher power levels however, the losses (both in the semi-conductor switches and other components) associated with ultrasonic switching become large and it is usually necessary to reduce the switching frequency. If the ON/OFF strategy were used the current (and the flux) excursions at these reduced frequencies might be large, resulting in a rise in objectionable acoustic noise and, possibly, control problems as well. For these reasons the FW state is often incorporated into the switching pattern, enabling retention of relatively small current excursions even though the switching frequency is reduced. This is shown in FIG. 3(b) for a `motoring` mode and in FIG. 3(c) for a `generating` mode.
The behaviour of the winding current in a reluctance motor during freewheel (FW) is determined not only by the applied voltage but also by the variation of the phase inductance which is a function of the rotation of the machine. Inductance is defined as flux linkage per unit current so that L=F/I, hence I=F/L. If the effective winding voltage during freewheeling is small, the flux can be considered constant over a short period and the current during that period will therefore follow the reciprocal of the inductance profile, i.e. the freewheeling current will reduce when the load inductance rises and increase when it falls. At low rotational speeds, however, the rate of change of inductance with time (dL/dt) is small and the reduction in flux with time during freewheeling becomes significant over a machine phase period. At very low speeds, the freewheeling current will fall even when the inductance is decreasing, because a small winding voltage causes the flux to fall faster than the inductance. The behaviour of the freewheeling current under these differing conditions has important consequences for the current control system, as the controller has to be able to function correctly in all these different conditions. In a typical control system for a switched reluctance motor, the phase windings W will be energised whilst their inductance is increasing with respect to rotor angle (the motoring mode) or when the inductance is falling with respect to rotor angle (the braking or generating mode).
In the prior art, the control considerations described above have been implemented in a variety of ways, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
One of the simplest methods is to use one comparator for each phase, the current feedback being compared directly with the reference (demand) value. A hysteresis band separates the switching points. The width of this band is usually varied to provide a suitable compromise between current excursions, switching frequency and acoustic noise. A typical circuit is illustrated in FIG. 4.
In a motoring mode (i.e. in which the net power flow is from the source to the load), the controller regulates current by alternating between the ON and FW states, with both switches switched off at the end of the phase period. FIG. 5(a) shows a typical current waveform. The change from motoring to a generating mode requires the MOT/GEN logic signal shown in FIG. 4. In the generating mode (i.e. in which the net power flow is from the load to the source), the controller chops by alternating between FW and OFF, though the ON state must first be used to build up flux (and hence phase current) to the required working value. FIG. 5(b) shows a typical current waveform.
While this system has the advantages of using only one comparator and only one hysteresis band, it has a number of disadvantages. These are particularly apparent at low-speeds whilst generating. Because the generating freewheel current rises only if the speed is high enough, at low speeds (particularly at high currents when the effective freewheel winding voltage is greatest) the current decays below the required value, as illustrated in FIG. 5(c). The output of the generator is then reduced. A further drawback is the dependence on a logic signal for switching between motoring and generating modes. This signal may be difficult to generate reliably, especially during transient conditions. This may lead to loss of control of the current, resulting in nuisance tripping or even switch failure.
A second proposed system seeks to overcome these difficulties by using two comparators. The two comparators have the same reference, but the hysteresis band of one spans that of the other, as shown in FIG. 6(a). Essentially, the `outer` comparator is used to modify the behaviour of the circuitry controlled by the `inner` comparator so that, for most of the time, chopping occurs between the switching points of the inner comparator only. The power switches are switched off at the end of the phase period as before. In the motoring mode, this system behaves like the single comparator case and chopping is controlled by the inner hysteresis band only, as shown in FIG. 6(b).
In the generating mode, the controller starts in the same mode with both switches closed until the current reaches the upper level of the inner comparator, whereupon one switch is opened and the phase freewheels. The freewheel current rises further (because the system is generating) until the upper level of the outer comparator is reached whereupon the second switch is also opened. The inner comparator now operates in the generating mode, selecting either FW or OFF. Chopping between FW and OFF continues on the inner band unless the current fails to rise while the circuit is in the FW state. If the current falls to the lower level of the outer comparator, both switches are closed, and the resulting ON state raises the current into the control band of the inner comparator. This is illustrated in FIG. 6(c).
This system has some advantages. For example, it keeps control of the current at all times, irrespective of whether the drive is motoring or generating and avoids the problems of decaying currents at low speeds associated with the single comparator solution.
However, it has disadvantages which may render it of little value in some applications. It suffers from relatively large transient excursions of current to the outer hysteresis bands which may be objectionable in some applications. This is made worse by the fact that the outer band must generally be wide so as to keep it reliably distinct from the inner one over the full working range of current despite noise, drift or other possible sources of signal corruption.

Device and method for controlling a time variable inductive load


Discharge ports of liquid floor finish applicators are known to clog if proper steps are not taken immediately after use. Complicating this clogging problem are the facts that floor finishes are formulated to dry quickly when exposed to air and applicator cleaning creates waste and takes considerable time and effort. Accordingly, applicant's invention addresses the problem of clogging by using a liquid reservoir to enclose the applicator's discharge port thus preventing it from clogging when not in use. To illustrate applicant's invention, a backpack floor finish applicator system dispenses liquid floor finish through a hose and a pump that forces the finish through a nozzle onto the floor. The invention uses a non-contact switch that activates a light which alerts the operator when the nozzle is exposed to air which will cause clogging thereby reminding the operator to position the nozzle within the liquid reservoir when not in use.

1 Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a floor finish applicator for applying floor finish to a floor. More particularly, it relates to fields of applicators which have a tank and means for causing floor finish to be dispensed from the tank to the floor whereupon a fibrous mop pad is used to further distribute or smooth out the applied liquid.
2. Description of Related Art
Traditionally, the application of floor finish to floors has been done using the mop and bucket approach—a slow, laborious and environmentally unfriendly method. Floor finish applicators of the pull-behind type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,979,756; 3,457,015; 3,981,596; 4,124,315; 4,471,713; 8,246,263. These applicators have the advantage of being able to cover large areas in shorter amounts of time than their manually operated wanded counterparts. However, the pull-behind applicators are bulky and lack the flexibility of being able to access tight corners or work around corners or obstructions. Additionally the pull-behind applicators taught in the aforementioned patents are complicated systems with numerous components. Manually operated wand-type floor finish applicators are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,152,084; 6,799,916; 8,782,843. Some of these wand-type applicators utilize a backpack tank for the floor finish. These manually operated wand-type applicators require considerable physical labor to apply floor finish, especially to large areas.
Floor finishes have the dominant characteristic of quickly drying very hard when exposed to ambient conditions. A shared characteristic of all these applicators, whether pull-behind or manual wand-type, is that they require a clean out procedure when the floor finishing task is completed to rid the applicator passages of floor finish which upon drying will clog the system thus requiring special, additional, intensive, time-consuming cleaning. In addition, the expensive and wasted floor finish resulting from flushing the apparatus ends up as an environmental pollutant.
Alternatively, some pull-behind applicator designs involve a separate holding tank containing a clean-out liquid such as water, additional valving and tubing, an auxiliary pump, and a switching mechanism to accomplish the clean-out process automatically or semi-automatically, usually at considerable additional cost of complexity and implementation.
The prior art does not provide for a floor finish applicator with a minimum number of parts which allows floor finish to be applied rapidly to very large areas such as is possible with pull-behind applicators and simultaneously to small areas with obstructions such as is possible with the wand-type applicators, requires no cleaning whatsoever after each use, and provides a visual indicator to the operator for clog preventive purposes.


The invention relates to a photosensitive resin composition, and it has the advantages of a high development speed and good compatibility. The invention also provides a method for manufacturing a color filter, color filter and liquid crystal display device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a photosensitive resin composition for a color filter of a liquid crystal display device; particularly, to a photosensitive resin composition for a color filter having a high development speed and good compatibility.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a color filter has been applied widely in a color liquid crystal display device, color fax machine, color camera and other office equipments in the field. With the ever expanding market demand, the production technology of the color filter also tends to diversify. A dyeing method, a printing method, a plating method, and a dispersion method for the production have been developed, and wherein the dispersion method is a mainstream method.
In the dispersion method, a coloring pigment is first dispersed in a photosensitive resin, and then the photosensitive resin is coated on a glass substrate. After the steps of exposure and development, a specific pattern can be obtained. Such process is repeated three times, and a red (R), green (G) and blue (B) pattern of a colored pixel layer can be prepared thereby. Thereafter, a protective film is applied onto the pattern of the colored pixel layer as needed.
A photosensitive resin used in the dispersion method is as disclosed by Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 6-95211 and 8-183819. For example, a copolymer polymerized by (meth)acrylic acid monomer is applied as the photosensitive resin of an alkali-soluble resin.
However, the manufacturing process of the color filter comprises multiple heat treatment steps, such as a post-bake step after forming the red (R), green (G) and blue (B) pattern of the colored pixel layer, and a forming step of a transparent conductive film (ITO film). Such steps are generally operated at a high temperature of above 200° C. However, if the above mentioned conventional photosensitive resin is heated at 180° C. for about 1 hour, agglomerates of the pigment easily occur in the colored pixel layer (the particle sizes of the agglomerates of the pigment usually ranging from 1 to 10 μm), and the heat resistance of the colored pixel layer is also poor.
In order to resolve the above problems, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2010-145437 discloses a photosensitive resin composition comprising a polysiloxane as the alkali-soluble resin of the photosensitive resin. However, if using the polysiloxane as the alkali-soluble resin solely, the development property is not satisfactory.
In another aspect, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2012-027480 discloses a photosensitive resin composition, and a polysiloxane and an acrylic-based polymer are applied together to improve the adhesion between the photosensitive resin composition and the substrate, but the poor development property persists. Moreover, the poor compatibility between the resins is easily observed, and a satisfactory product is still absent.
Therefore, improving the development property and compatibility at the same time to meet the modern requirements is a target remained to be achieved in the technical field of the present invention.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Photosensitive resin composition for a color filter and uses thereof


A method for modifying a fault-tolerant processing system (FTS) including a pair of partner sets of two processors (PA1/PA2; PB1/PB2) operating in microsynchronization at a first or low processing frequency (FL) and connected to a respective system bus (BA; BB) operating at a bus clock frequency (FB) lower than the first processing frequency (FL). The method consists in:. selecting the system bus (BA) associated to one of the sets of "slow" processors (PA1/PA2); PA1 replacing the other set of "slow" processors (PB1/PB2) by a set of "fast" processors (PB1'/PB2'); PA1 synchronizing the operation of the remaining "slow" set with that of the "fast" set by:. executing by each set (PA1/PA2; PB1'/PB2') one processor cycle during a first cycle (T1) of the bus clock frequency (FB) and generating a synchronization signal (SA1; SB1) at the end of this first bus clock cycle; PA2 executing during each following bus clock cycle (T2-T6) an additional processor cycle and generating a synchronization signal (SA1; SB1) until one of the sets, i.e. the slowest, fails to generate the latter synchronization signal.. In case of upgrading of the system, similar steps are executed for replacing the remaining slow set (PA1/PA2) by another set of fast processors (PA1'/PA2').

Such a fault-tolerant processing system is already known in the art, e.g. from the general information pamphlet of "STRATUS--CONTINUOUS PROCESSING" published by "Stratus Computer, Inc.", 55 Fairbanks Boulevard, Marlboro, Mass. 01752, USA. Therein is disclosed a fault-tolerant computer with a printed circuit board carrying duplicated components, say a set of processors. Each board is further duplicated to provide together with the other board a pair of partner sets of processors, the four processors operating simultaneously with the same data. Furthermore, on each processor board the results of the operations of the two processors thereof are permanently compared. If a processor fails, i.e. when the results do not match, the system continues its processing with the set of processors of the other (partner) processor board without missing a step and with no degradation of performance, the processor board carrying the failing component being immediately removed from service, i.e. the faulty processor board is disconnected from the system.
The present invention more particularly relates to a method which consists in replacing at least said second set of processors by a third set of processors operating at a second processing frequency relatively higher than said bus clock frequency.
When, e.g. as a result of a failing processor, a processor board has to be replaced in the fault-tolerant processing system, it may occur that a new identical processor board is not immediately available. In that case it may be useful to allow the system to operate, at least temporarily, with a compatible processor board, e.g. carrying a set of processors of another type and which operate at another or second processing frequency.
A problem to modify in this way the hardware configuration of the system is that the two sets of processors have to operate in the same way as the above pair of partner sets of processors, i.e. in microsynchronization, to obtain a fault-tolerant processing system. This microsynchronization gives rise to a complex microsynchronization of the processing clock especially when it has to be done in a "non-stop" (on-line) environment, i.e. without interrupting the operation of the system.

Method for modifying a fault-tolerant processing system


The device for sampling and vaporizing liquefied natural gas includes a circuit provided at one end with a device for collecting a sample of liquefied gas and conveying the sample to a measurement device. The circuit includes and passes through a device for vaporizing the sample. The device for vaporizing includes at least one vaporization chamber having a first convergent section portion and a second divergent section portion and shaped so as to vaporize the sample under supercritical conditions at a pressure of greater than 80 bar without fractionating. The vaporization chamber includes, at the entrance of the first convergent section portion, a port with a variable opening. The port is sized so as to limit the vaporization pressure to a maximum of 90 bar in conjunction with a fixed opening at the outlet of the second divergent section portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of sampling liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The invention relates in particular to a sampling device.
Such a device will find a very particular application in the loading and unloading of methane carriers, the liquefaction trains, the re-condensers and any sampling device or method representative of LNG. Said device will be used for measuring the upper calorific value (by means of an in-line chromatograph or calorimeter), its Wobbe index, its composition for calculating the density of the liquid and gaseous states and for detecting eventual pollutants. In brief, the invention permits to take a sample of gas in order to check the quality and to calculate the energy in-line during the transactional transfers.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98.
In a known way, the natural gas is condensed, for its transport, to the liquid state through a cryogenic method at a temperature in the range of −160 degrees Celsius.
Under such circumstances, heat-insulation problems arise. The known devices possess insulation means that are generally used in cryogenics. A known example of insulation consists in wrapping the sampling device in a glass-wool sheathing having a thickness of several millimeters, namely 160 mm for a K factor of 18.7 milliwatt per Kelvin-meter. Such an insulation is however not fully satisfactory.
In order to improve it, it has also been devised to exert a vacuum at the level of the sheathing of the sampling probe. Thus, putting this sheathing of the probe under vacuum permits an enhanced heat insulation, in order to reduce the risks of fractioning of the gas. Such a solution does however not completely avoid the losses due to conduction and convection. In addition, this technique does not avoid at all the losses due to radiation.
Furthermore, this degree of heat insulation is not sufficient within the framework of LNG sampling, so that it entails a risk of fractioning of the gas in the sampling line, namely because of an enthalpy absorption inducing a temperature of the sample higher than the temperature of under-cooling of the LNG. In brief, the existing devices have trouble in vaporizing the gas molecules in a complete bond, resulting into an erroneous representativity of the samplings being made and a random error beyond limits during the calculations of the upper calorific value and the densities of the liquid and gas phases based on the chromatograms being obtained.
Indeed, in the existing devices, the sampled gas is conveyed, at the outlet of the probe, through a heated coil, inside and alongside which it is suddenly vaporized. Therefore, it is not possible to accurately control the vaporization and to limit the risks of fractioning.
In addition, such a coil does not ensure a control of the change from liquid phase into gas phase of the sampling under complete vaporization conditions. A mixed phase can be present at the outlet of the coil, which also does not guarantee a complete vaporization of the sample and the performances required by the standards in force, namely EN 12838: i.e. a random error lower than 54 16.4561 Kj/Kg for the upper calorific value, 18×10−4 Kg/m3 for the density of the sample in gas phase and 0.9 Kg/m3 for the density of the sample in liquid phase.
An example of an existing device for sampling and vaporizing Liquefied Natural Gas is described in US 2009/151427 and comprises a sampling probe located at an end of a circuit conveying the sampled gas to measuring means through a vaporization chamber. The gas sample taken is then evaporated directly at its inlet pressure into the vaporization chamber, without further energy transformation. This vaporization unavoidably causes a fractioning. The presence of this fractioning is explicitly shown by the presence of an accumulator capable of storing the natural gas vapors. Such an accumulator is aimed at mixing the gas vapors at the vaporization outlet with the existing and already stored gas vapors. This is a homogenization intent in order to limit the fractioning that took place during the vaporization.
Let's remind here that when a fractioning occurred there is a presence of mixed gas and liquid phases. These phases will circulate at different speeds. In particular, nitrogen and methane will evaporate first, producing gas pockets in the stream of the liquid phase. Therefore, the evaporation of the still liquid residue generates a higher measure of the other, heavier, components with intermittent bubbles of nitrogen (N2) and methane (CH4).
Therefore, such a device results into a non-uniformity of the measurement of nitrogen, which is one of the main pollutants looked for and the content of which must be obtained accurately. On the other hand, methane is the main component, the rate of which must also be obtained with certainty.
The accumulator thus intervenes for homogenizing the gas phases after vaporization and fractioning. However, the extreme difference between the molecular masses of the various components limits the possible homogenization of nitrogen and cannot achieve a 100% efficiency for methane. Finally, the vaporized gas sampling is unavoidably dissociated, even after passing through this accumulator.
In addition, a flow reducer is provided for, followed by releasing means, but causes a gradual pressure reduction, but weakens the liquid phase and causes the fractioning. It is then not possible to achieve a vaporization free of any fractioning.
Furthermore, the circuit passes through two check valves and is surrounded by a metallic partition without heat-insulation surrounding the explosion-proof box, inside which the heating cartridges are mounted in order to vaporize the sample. Such an arrangement unavoidably generates heat bridges upstream of the vaporization, causing an uncontrolled enthalpy absorption. These thermal losses induce a temperature of the sample higher than the temperature of the under-cooling of the LNG, causing inexorably a fractioning of the sample.

Device for sampling and vaporizing liquefied natural gas


An optical disk reading device has a lid having a catch hole provided along an edge, and a locking element having a catch part that removably engages the catch hole, and a push rod directing part. The locking element is pivotable to cause the catch part to engage and disengage the catch hole to close and open the lid, respectively. The optical disk reading device further includes a push rod having a tab provided at the bottom end, the push rod assuming an unlocked position when the catch part disengages the catch hole, and assuming a locked position when the catch part engages the catch hole. The optical disk reading device further includes a guide track having a stop edge, with the tab traveling along the guide track and secured at the stop edge when the push rod is in the locked position. The push rod directing part contacts the tab to cause the tab to be disengaged from the stop edge when the locking element is pivoted to disengage the catch part from the catch hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk reading device, and in particular, to a device for latching and forcibly releasing the lid of a portable compact disk player.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The latching and release device for the lids of conventional portable compact disk players is generally designed to have a release spring that pushes against the lid when it is in a latched position. When the lid is about to be popped open, the normal bias (which acts as a restoring force) of the compressed release spring can be used to overcome the holding force of the compact disk holding device, and together with the torque applied at the pivot axle, causes the lid to be released. However, the normal bias of the release spring constantly acts on the lid when the lid is in the latched position. In addition, in order to overcome the holding force of the holding device when the lid is released, the force of the normal bias must be, in general, quite large. If the lid is made of a plastic material, when the compact disk player is stored or used in a high-temperature environment, the lid may be subjected to heat such that the rigidity of the material is reduced. As a result, the force of the normal bias of the release spring can easily cause the lid to deform, which will affect the overall appearance of the compact disk player and may cause abnormal playback, among other disadvantages.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional compact disk player system, which comprises at least a lid seat (not shown in the figure), a lid 1a, a solenoid base 2a, a solenoid 3a, a catch 4a and a torsion spring 5a (which functions as the release spring), among other components. When the lid 1a covers the lid seat, the catch at the upper end of the catch 4a hooks into the latching hole 10a at the front edge of the lid 1a, while at the same time, the end of the torsion spring 5a pushes against the contact part at the front edge of the lid 1a to provide a normal bias that acts as a restoring force. When the lid 1a is to be opened up from its seat, an extension plunger 30a at the front end of the solenoid 3a retracts when the coil is energized. This causes the catch part of the catch 4a to rotate and withdraw from the latching hole 10a, which allows the normal bias (restoring force) of the torsion spring 5a to pop the lid 1a open.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 2(a), when the release spring is in an unstressed state (i.e., when no external force is applied), the free length of the release spring is l0. However, when the lid is in a latched state as shown in FIG. 2(b), the release spring is subjected to a predetermined compression force such that the length of the spring is l1 and the velocity of the lid is v1s=0, while a gap h remains between the lid and the spring. In the instant when the lid is about to be popped open as shown in FIG. 3(c), the lid has an initial velocity v2s, and l2=l1+h, and in this manner, an applied force is generated:F=impact force+restoring force,with the formula calculated as follows, where the mass of the spring is m and the spring constant is k:                (a) when the lid is in a latched state,        Kinetic energy T1=(½)*ms(v1s)2=0        Potential energy V1=(½)*k(l0−l1)2         (b) In the instant when the lid is about to be popped open        Kinetic energy T2=(½)*ms(v2s)2         Potential energy V2=(½)*k(l0−l1)2         (c) Using the law of conservation of energy T1+V1=T2*V2
      v    2    s    =                              k                                (                                          2                                                  l                  0                                            -                              2                                                  l                  1                                            +              h                        )                                  h                    m        3                            (4) Applied force F=impact force+restoring force
                    =                                                            m              s                                                                  Δ                                                                                v                                            Δ                                                                                t                                              +                      k                                      (                                                l                  0                                -                                  l                  2                                            )                                                              =                                                            m              s                                                                  v                2                s                                            Δ                                                                                t                                              +                      k                                      (                                                l                  0                                -                                  l                  2                                            )
Thus, there remains a need for a device for latching and forcibly releasing the lid of a portable compact disk player which overcomes the drawbacks described above.

Device for latching and releasing the lid of a portable compact disk player


An NOX sensor control apparatus (10) is connected to an NOX sensor (100) which includes a first pumping cell (110) and a second pumping cell (130) through which a second pumping current flows corresponding to an NOX concentration in a to-be-measured gas. The NOX sensor control apparatus (10) includes a first pumping current detection unit; a second pumping current detection unit; an oxygen concentration calculation unit (60) for calculating oxygen concentration on the basis of the first pumping current and corrected in accordance with the pressure of the to-be-measured gas, oxygen (first) pressure correction information set for the NOX sensor, and pressure information; and an NOX concentration calculation unit (60) for calculating NOX concentration on the basis of the first pumping current and corrected in accordance with pressure of the to-be-measured gas, NOX (second) pressure correction information set for the NOX sensor, and pressure information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an NOX sensor control apparatus (e.g., controller) which is connected to an NOX sensor and which controls the NOX sensor, and to a vehicle control apparatus (e.g., ECU) connected to the NOX sensor control apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known gas sensor for measuring the concentration of a specific gas component in the exhaust gas of an automobile includes at least one cell composed of a solid electrolyte member and a pair of electrodes provided thereon. The gas sensor is configured such that one electrode of the cell faces a measurement chamber into which the exhaust gas flows. In such a gas sensor, the gas concentration is measured based on an output from the electrode pair of the cell, and the measurement is stabilized by limiting (controlling) the amount of the gas which flows into the measurement chamber under a predetermined diffusion resistance. However, this conventional gas sensor poses a problem in that the amount of gas which flows into the measurement chamber changes in accordance with a change in pressure of the exhaust gas in the vicinity of the attached gas sensor. Further, the output changes even when the concentration of the specific gas remains unchanged, such that the measured gas concentration is subject to measurement error.
In view of the above, a technique has been developed for an air-fuel-ratio sensor which includes an internal space into which the gas to be measured is introduced under a predetermined diffusion resistance, and first and second electrochemical cells each composed of a solid electrolyte member and a pair of electrodes. According to this technique, when a sensor output y0 indicating oxygen concentration is corrected on the basis of the detected pressure Pg of the gas to be measured, a gas pressure variation index B, previously measured for an individual air-fuel-ratio sensor, is taken into consideration (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In recent years, NOX sensors have been developed for detecting the NOX concentration of a to-be-measured gas by use of a solid electrolyte member. Further, an NOX sensor has been developed which can measure both NOX concentration and oxygen concentration (i.e., which can function as the above-described air-fuel-ratio sensor) and a control apparatus for controlling this type of sensor (see, for example, Patent Documents 2 and 3). In this NOX sensor, a to-be-measured gas is introduced into a first measurement chamber under a predetermined diffusion resistance, and the oxygen concentration of the to-be-measured gas is adjusted to a predetermined concentration by means of a first pumping cell composed of a solid electrolyte member and a pair of first electrodes. The to-be-measured gas having the adjusted oxygen concentration flows from the first measurement chamber into an NOX measurement chamber. Further, NOX contained in the to-be-measured gas is decomposed by means of a second pumping cell composed of a solid electrolyte member and a pair of second electrodes, whereby a second pumping current corresponding to the NOX concentration flows between the pair of second electrodes. In this manner, in the technique described in Patent Documents 2 and 3, the NOX concentration is calculated based on the second pumping current flowing through the second pumping cell, and the oxygen concentration is calculated based on the first pumping current flowing through the first pumping cell. Notably, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 3, in order to correct the oxygen-concentration dependency of the second pumping current, the NOX concentration is finally determined in consideration of the first pumping current (oxygen concentration) and the second pumping current.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent No. 2846735 (claim 2)
[Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 10-142194 (abstract, claim 1)
[Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 11-304758
3. Problems to Be Solved by the Invention
However, a technique has not yet been developed for correcting both NOX concentration information and oxygen concentration information obtained by use of an NOX senor, in accordance with the pressure of a to-be-measured gas. Further, the pressure dependency of the sensor output (first pumping current and second pumping current) varies among individual NOX sensors. Therefore, if a pressure-dependent variation in the sensor output or a concentration value calculated on the basis of the sensor output is corrected uniformly, the degree of correction varies among the individual NOX sensors. Finally, the NOX concentration information and the oxygen concentration information may vary among the individual NOX sensors. Notably, the reason why the pressure dependency of the sensor output or the concentration value varies among the individual NOX sensors is that the magnitude of the diffusion resistance, which acts on oxygen introduced into the first measurement chamber, varies due to changes in production conditions (hereinafter referred to as production variations).
Further, since the second pumping current used for calculating the NOX concentration has an oxygen concentration dependency, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 3, the second pumping current is corrected based on the oxygen concentration (oxygen concentration calculated on the basis of the first pumping current). However, the gas pressure dependency of the oxygen concentration itself, which is used for making the correction, is not taken into consideration.


A hypoallergenic wetsuit and material is described that uses closed cell acrylonitrile butadiene rubber. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) may also be blended with the acrylonitrile butadiene rubber. The density of the closed cell acrylonitrile butadiene rubber may vary depending on the hypoallergenic wetsuit application. Low densities such as less than 70 kg./m3, and preferably 50 to 61 Kg./m3, are desirable in many applications.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to apparel, and more specifically to a hypoallergenic wetsuit and hypoallergenic material.
2. Description of Related Art
Wetsuits are used by SCUBA divers, surfers and bodyboarders, snorkelers, water skiers, wake boarders, windsurfers, kayakers, jet skiers, and whitewater rafters to allow for comfortable and safe activities in cool or cold water. Wetsuits are essentially a form of thermal apparel that allows for a thin layer of water to form under an insulating material and be warmed by body heat. The insulating material in common use for wetsuits is neoprene, a product of natural rubber. Unfortunately, there are currently more than 25 million adults in the U.S. that have Type I rubber/neoprene allergy, and 15% of the world's population is allergic to neoprene, which is a product of natural rubber. Symptoms of rubber allergy may include skin rash and irritation, itching, hives, blistering of the skin, dermatitis, swelling, tears, difficulty breathing, dizziness, faintness, and nausea. In more severe allergic reactions, symptoms may include shock, low blood pressure, swelling of the throat and constriction of the airways.
The symptoms of rubber allergy are made worse when a garment such as a wetsuit fully covers most of the surface area of the skin. In addition, the symptoms of rubber allergy can become dangerous or deadly when they appear during activities such as SCUBA diving. The current techniques to deal with rubber allergies that occur while wearing wetsuits include the use of spandex rash guards, the application of a plastic wrap (such as SaranWrap®) around the skin, the use of hydrocortisone creams, and other home brewed solutions. Unfortunately, none of these solutions work effectively.
Thus, there exists an unmet need for a wetsuit material that is not based on natural rubber, and does not have the allergen potential of neoprene, which is based on natural rubber.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a wetsuit and a wetsuit material that is hypoallergenic. It is another object of the present invention to provide a wetsuit and a wetsuit material that is not based on neoprene. It is another object of the present invention to provide a wetsuit and a wetsuit material that contains hypoallergenic material such as hypoallergenic rubber. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a wetsuit and a wetsuit material that is hypoallergenic and insulates as well or better than neoprene. It is another object of the present invention to provide a wetsuit and a wetsuit material that is hypoallergenic and does not support fungal or bacterial growth. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a wetsuit and a wetsuit material that is hypoallergenic and withstands tearing, rough handling and severe conditions. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a wetsuit and a wetsuit material that is hypoallergenic and is inherently flexible. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a wetsuit and a wetsuit material that is hypoallergenic and is inert to most chemical agents. It is still another object of the present invention to provide a wetsuit and a wetsuit material that is hypoallergenic and is CFC, asbestos, chlorine and fiber-free.


The present invention relates to granulated particles with improved attrition and a method for producing granulated particles by fluidized bed granulation of inorganic particles wherein particles of reduced particle size are fed into a fluldized-bed granulation reactor thereby producing granulated particles with improved attrition.

Certain chemical processes utilize chemical reactors where catalysts are kept in motion. Examples of such reactors include moving-bed reactors which are well known in the field of hydroprocessing, fluidized-bed reactors used for various heterogenic catalytic gas phase reactions and slurry phase reactors used for the Fischer-Tropsch process. Most of the catalysts used in these processes are supported catalysts. These supported catalysts include carrier materials comprising solid inorganic oxides or mixed oxides like alumina, silica, silica-alumina, zeolites, titania or mixtures thereof. There are a number of processes for the preparation of these carriers including spray-drying, agglomeration, extrusion, spheronization, granulation or sol-gel dropping techniques, and compaction. The processes described produce catalyst carriers having particles with typical particle diameters in the range between 50 μm and 5000 μm.
Fluidized bed granulation is a very versatile method for preparing carrier materials having a median particle size between 100 μm and 1000 μm. This method has been described in various prior art documents including EP 0163836 B1 and EP 0611593 B1, which teach processes for the continuous production of granules using fluid-bed granulation. DE 19629690 A1 teaches that alpha-alumina particles are agglomerated using an organic binder for use as abrasives. DD 274980 teaches a process for the production of spherical granulates based on alumina that may be used as adsorbents, catalysts components or catalysts. DE 274980 describes that the granulation dispersion is prepared by stirring a boehmite rich compound in a dilute nitric acid with a HNO3/Al2O3 ratio of 0.08.
Due to the motion of the catalyst particles in such reactors, attrition stability is an important characteristic of these catalyst particles as it directly influences the economics of these processes.
The granulated particles obtained by the prior art methods are characterized by a rather rough surface which affects the attrition stability in a negative way. It is therefore an object of the invention to improve this specific characteristic.

Process for production of attrition stable granulated material