An electrostatic discharge ("ESD") protection circuit for use in CMOS I.C. devices provides a low voltage path to and from each input and output ("I/O") pad and power pad by using the wide, low resistance metal VCC and Vss rings and parasitic bipolar transistors configured as three terminal devices at each I/O and power pad. The present invention also provides a clamp, between the VCC and VSS rings, capable of being rapidly switched into the conducting state during an ESD event so as to shunt excess bias current that could otherwise damage reverse biased junctions during an ESD event.

All integrated circuit ("I.C.") devices are sensitive to ESD to some degree. However, as I.C. devices are made smaller, ESD damage is more likely to occur and render the device inoperable in response to an ESD event. Particularly susceptible are MOS and CMOS devices with thin gate oxides.
ESD results when electrostatic charge is collected and then rapidly discharged in a short duration, high voltage pulse. It has been shown that voltage potentials up to 28 kV can be generated and discharged in less than 10 nanosecond through an I.C. device when handled by a person. Electrostatic charge can also be accumulated on pin of the lead frame of a packaged I.C. device during shipping, storage or while being integrated into an electronic system which is discharged when another pin is grounded. The discharge of the high electrostatic voltage can result in a current of about two amperes. The high current must flow through the I.C. device when another pin or pad is grounded. MOS devices are particularly susceptible to discharge of the electrostatic charge because the thin gate oxide can be easily ruptured by the voltage induced by the high current.
The need for ESD protection in I.C. devices that can handle the high current produced by an ESD event has been recognized for many years. However, it is typical that ESD protection circuits are designed to provide protection against electrostatic charge levels of between 500 volts to 3.0 kilovolts because once the I.C. device has been inserted into a system, the need for ESD protection is minimized since most such systems generally incorporate sophisticated ESD protection. However, prior to insertion, I.C. devices are particularly vulnerable to ESD pulses applied to the I.C. device's pins or pads.
In a typical CMOS I.C. device, a supply voltage bus or ring, herein called the VCC ring, and a ground voltage bus or ring, herein called the VCC ring, are routed around the perimeter of the I.C. device. In some I.C. devices, the rings are concentric with one ring within the other although it is possible that the VCC ring is on a different conductive layer than the VSS ring.
One prior art protection scheme provides sufficient ESD protection to dissipate the electrostatic charge typically accumulated by a person which is typically about 2.0 kilovolts (often referred to as the human body model or "HBM"). HBM protection is achieved by placing standard size (W/L.about.150 .mu.m/2 .mu.m) N-channel or P-channel output drivers between every input and output ("I/O") pad and VSS or VCC rings, respectively. On input pads, the gate of each driver is resistively tied to the appropriate body of the semiconductor die.
To discharge accumulated charge between either the VCC or VSS rings, the prior art protection scheme used a passive clamp which is typically a standard size N-channel MOS transistor. The gate of the clamp transistor is connected to an ESD detector which may be either passive or active. The passive detector circuit typically consists of a resistor coupling the gate to VSS. Active clamp circuits consist of digital and analog components such as amplifiers and resistors and capacitors. The drain and source of the MOS transistor are connected to the VCC and VSS rings, respectively.
In order to handle the instantaneous current created by the ESD pulse, the VCC and VSS rings are typically 50 .mu.m wide on the thickest metal layer. This protection scheme is widely used on MOS I.C. devices because the silicon area required for implementation is minimal. However, this protection scheme is effective primarily for CMOS processes with geometries greater than two microns having 400 .ANG. thick gate oxide but is not effective for CMOS processes with smaller geometries and thinner gate oxides.
A circuit schematic of the above ESD protection network is shown in FIG. 1. A pad 12 is coupled to VCC ring 18 through PNP transistor 14 and pad 16 is coupled to VSS ring 22 through NPN transistor 20. The base and collector of transistors 14 and 20 are shorted together and tied to VCC ring 18 and VSS ring 22, respectively, which causes them to function as diodes. A resistor 24 may be coupled in series between the gate of transistor 26 and pad 12.
In the illustrated embodiment, in response to an two ampere ESD pulse, transistors 14 and 20 switch to the on-state in about one nanosecond and have approximately a positive five volt forward voltage drop across the emitter-base junction. As the base of NPN transistor 20 is formed from the P substrate, which is normally tied to the lowest potential (i.e., VSS), it is an obvious design choice to couple it to the VSS ring 22. For similar reasons of efficiency to keep the PNP off during normal operation, the base of PNP transistor 14 is tied to the highest potential (i.e., VCC).
Each I/O pad 12 and 16 also has a second transistor configured as a diodes 15 and 17 coupled between the pad and power rings 18 or 22, respectively. For example, in FIG. 1, diode 15 (an NPN transistor) couples pad 12 to VSS ring 22 and during an ESD event with a positive pulse, diode 15 is reverse-biased. One major design consideration for the ESD protection circuit of FIG. 1 is to avoid forcing ESD current through a device in the reverse direction. In most CMOS processes, a reverse biased PNP transistor has reverse breakdown voltage of about 18 volts and an NPN transistor's reverse breakdown voltage is about 15 volts with a snapback to about 10 volts. In either case, if the transistors of the CMOS device use a polysilicon gate and see a drain to source voltage greater than 10 volts with a simultaneous gate to source voltage greater than 10 volts for more than 50 nanoseconds, sufficient hot carriers (i.e., carriers having an energy higher than that of majority carriers normally encountered in the same material) could be generated which would rupture the gate oxide and short the gate of one or more transistors on the I.C. device. It is well known that N-channel devices are much more susceptible to damage from the application of a high amplitude voltage across its drain and source simultaneous with the application of a high amplitude voltage across its gate and source than are P-channel devices. Thus, a drain to source. V.sub.DS, voltage greater than 10 volts with a simultaneous gate to source voltage, V.sub.GS, greater than 10 volts for more than 50 nanoseconds could easily generate sufficient hot electrons to rupture a 300 .ANG. gate oxide. Even without the simultaneous application of high amplitude V.sub.GS and V.sub.DS, the gate oxide is susceptible to rupture at approximately 17 volts. Such devices would then be inoperative or damaged to the extent that each would soon fail.
In FIG. 2, a functional schematic of the ESD protection network shown in FIG. 1 is provided. A typical ESD event at pad 12 "sees" a voltage rise over the first PNP transistor 14, modeled as a diode, a voltage rise due to the resistance of the VCC ring 18, modeled as a resistor 34, a voltage rise across clamp 32, a voltage rise across the resistance of VSS ring 22, modeled as resistor 36, and a voltage rise across NPN transistor 20 modeled as a diode. During the ESD event, the aggregate voltage rise can be greater than 17 volts which can reverse-biased diodes 15 or 17 (FIG. 1) and stress the gate oxide of the I.C. device. Since any voltage over 17 volts will exceed the reverse breakdown voltage for the NPN diodes, a current path will flow from the I/O pin through the reverse-biased diode and into either the VSS or VCC ring. Thus, the aggregate voltage caused by the ESD event can destroy the gate oxide of the reverse-biased diode.
With typical MOS processes, gate dimensions of two microns, gate oxide thickness of 400 .ANG. and no lightly doped drain (LDD) regions are common design parameters. In such designs, the gate oxide is sufficiently thick such that it will require the voltage across the circuit of FIG. 2 to see at least a 20 volt rise before the oxide will rupture. The prior art protection circuit of FIGS. 1 and 2 was more than adequate because the gate oxide rupture voltage was higher than the sum of the voltage drops across the series elements in the ESD current path.
The prior art protection schemes are sufficient to protect CMOS I.C. devices having the geometries of the typical MOS processes. However, as device geometries are scaled down, gate oxides become thinner and as LDD are now required for many applications, such I.C. devices become susceptible to ESD damage at lower voltages. To rely on the reverse biased diodes of FIGS. 1 and 2 to limit the voltage rise caused by electrostatic discharge is clearly insufficient.
The possibility of such reverse-biasing in the illustrated ESD protection circuit of FIG. 1 is known. One brute force solution to limit the voltage rise is to make each component in the ESD protection circuit larger. However, this approach uses up valuable area on the I.C., making it prohibitively expensive. Moreover, while this solution improves the forward bias component resistance at the expense of a much greater amount of surface area, it only slightly improves the reverse bias breakdown level.
In addition to the above, the circuit of FIG. 1 provides only a path to VCC for positive ESD spikes and a path to VSS for negative ESD spikes. Other paths looking at FIG. 2, must go through clamp 32 usually in the reverse direction. Since clamp 32 requires a voltage in excess of about 15 volts to conduct in the reverse bias state, such paths will degrade or damage the I.C. device. Clearly as CMOS gate oxide become thinner, it is necessary to provide additional paths from one I/O pad to another I/O pad and not just to the VCC and VSS rings.
Other known solutions to this problem have also not been fully satisfactory, leaving a need for an effective ESD protection circuit using minimum I.C. area.

Electrostatic discharge protection for CMOS integrated circuits


A control circuit for a model railroad utilizes a digital counter to control the modes of motor operation. To select a mode of operation a switch is used to repeatedly ground the base of a transistor circuit, causing pulses to be sent to a counter. By using the switch to hold the base of the transistor to ground, the counter sequencing is locked and prevented from further sequencing until the track power is turned off for a defined minimum amount of time. Release of this switched ground places the circuit under track control where short power interrupts cause the counter to sequence to the next count and therefore to sequence the modes of motor operation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to control systems for model railroads, and more specifically to a locomotive motor control.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior motor control circuits are generally exemplified by the electronic control system presented in U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,431, and earlier systems described therein. Particularly, these motor control circuits are carried within the locomotive unit and operate the motor in a sequence of modes; such as forward, neutral and reverse. And a typical locomotive either employs a manual switch on the unit to select the desired mode of operation, or a control circuit in the unit senses a power interrupt on the track to sequence the motor to a different mode of operation.


A system to load data in a data warehouse includes reception of a plurality of records, determination, for each of the plurality of records, of values representing differences between a record and each other of the plurality of records, identification of at least two of the plurality records as duplicates based on a determined value representing a difference between the two records, and storage of the two records in the data warehouse in association with a same identifier. Determination of the values may include determination, for each of a first plurality of data fields of the record, of a first value representing a difference between data specified in the data field and data specified in a respective one of a second plurality of data fields of one of the other of the plurality of records, determination, for each of the second plurality of data fields, of a second value representing a difference between data specified in the data field and data specified in a respective one of the first plurality of data fields, and determination of a third value representing a difference between the record and the one of the other of the plurality of records based on the determined first and second values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems for processing data. More specifically, the present invention concerns systems for identifying duplicate data records and may be used to store such duplicate records in a data warehouse.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Modern businesses rely on computer systems to execute their various business processes. A typical business may operate several different computer systems, with each system addressing a particular need. Each of these systems generates disparate data that is valuable to the business. A data warehouse is commonly used to store, organize, manipulate and retrieve this data.
Generally, a data warehouse is a repository of current and historical data pertaining to any subject, entity, or other focus. Advantageously, a data warehouse may store different types of data from different types of systems in a manner that can be efficiently searched, retrieved and analyzed. A data warehouse operated by a business may, in this regard, receive and store data from several different legacy systems operated by outside vendors, from an external server of an operational system operated by the business, and from an internal server operated by the business. A data warehouse may be used in many different environments, with or without conventional elements such as data marts, archives, and other data warehouses.
Because data warehouses receive large amounts of data from different sources, the received data is often duplicative of other stored or received data. Problems may occur if the duplicative data is not recognized as such. For example, contact information may be stored in a data warehouse in association with a customer ID representing a particular customer. Next, data may be received that includes contact information of the particular customer. The received data may differ from the stored data due to entry errors, changes in contact information (e.g., an address), or the like. However, for the purposes of the present description, the stored data and the received data are consider duplicative because they both represent contact information of the particular customer. Unless the received data is recognized as duplicative, the received data may be associated with a new customer ID and stored in the data warehouse in association therewith. Therefore, in a case that the stored data is used to generate advertising mailings, two sets of mailings and other communications would be sent to the particular customer. Moreover, customer behavior cannot be properly analyzed if actions of one customer are attributed to two or more customers represented by customer IDs maintained by the data warehouse. Of course, problems caused by duplicative data are not reserved to contact information.
Proportions of stored duplicative data, as well resulting problems, increase along with the volume of data stored in a data warehouse. In fact, currently-operating data warehouses include up to 12% duplicate records. Of course, an average percentage of duplicate records may vary across businesses. Systems have therefore been developed that attempt to address the problem of duplicate records. These systems, such as Match IT™, DeDupe™ and TrueMatch™, purport to identify duplicate records, however the present inventor has not found these systems to be satisfactorily efficient, effective, or compatible with existing data warehousing systems.


A network upgrading-adaptive telephone number upgrading method and device for a wireless terminal are provided. The solution relates to the field of wireless communication. An initialization unit of a terminal device acquires telephone numbers to be upgraded, and backs up the telephone numbers for use during recovery of the telephone numbers; the initialization unit of the terminal device acquires storage positions where the telephone numbers to be upgraded are stored; a number upgrading unit of the terminal device acquires number upgrading rules from a network side through the wireless terminal, and upgrades the telephone numbers in the storage positions according to the number upgrading rules; and a number writing unit of the terminal device covers the telephone numbers in the storage positions with the upgraded telephone numbers. The problem that the telephone numbers of the wireless terminal or the terminal device cannot be adaptively upgraded after a network is upgraded is solved, and beneficial effects of adaptively upgrading the telephone numbers, improving user experiences and reducing a risk after the network upgrading of an operator are achieved.

Along with the continuous development of a wireless mobile communication technology, operators pay more and more attention to whether an original data service can be adapted to an upgraded network or not. Voice communication is the most important widely-used service, which inevitably causes the problem whether the network can be compatible with an original telephone number or not after being upgraded. If the network cannot be compatible with the original telephone number after being upgraded, it is necessary to consider whether the telephone number can be automatically upgraded according to network number upgrading rules or not.
At present, wireless data terminal service does not take such a condition into account, and different software services are often provided according to network upgrading rules of different operators, so that good user experiences cannot be provided, increasing requirements of a communication network cannot be met, and abilities of the operators in quickly responding to the market are further influenced.

Network upgrading-adaptive telephone number upgrading method and device for wireless terminal


A process is disclosed for displaying an image on a display screen and recognizing a user's input by the user's finger touch on a touch screen, the process including: a first step of displaying an original image; a second step of forming a screen pad, such that a reference image, which is a reduced duplicate of the original image, is displayed on the screen pad within the display screen, such that the reference image is overlaid with the original image, in a translucent mode that renders the original image visible through the reference image, or an opaque mode where the original image is not visible. The reference image is obtained by reducing the original image with or without image simplification. A third step, in response to the user touching the screen pad, detects finger position on the screen pad, and recognizes the user's input based on the detected finger position.

User interface devices have been widespread, which enable a user's input motion or operation by manipulating a display screen with the user's finger, stylus, etc. Notably, in recent years, an increasing number of mobile information devices typified by such as smart phones, tablet computers, electronic books or PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) have incorporated touch panels serving as a user interface device that receives the user's finger motion as an input signal.
Irrespective of whether a touch panel is incorporated or not, a mobile information device needs to be downsized for a greater mobility. Due to this, in case a mobile information device is equipped with a user interface device in the form of a plurality of physical input keys or buttons, these keys themselves need to be reduced in size, resulting in a risk that the operability of the mobile information device becomes poorer. In contrast, in case a mobile information device is equipped with a user interface device in the form of a touch panel using a plurality of virtual buttons instead of physical buttons, these virtual buttons can be well adjusted in size depending on functions assigned to these buttons, with a greater capability of improving the operability or maneuverability of the mobile information device.
A touch-panel input is created by a pointing action in which a finger is touched to the touch panel and points a given location on the touch panel. For this pointing action to ensure that a desired operation or function is invoked with the aid of a computer connected to the touch panel, correct pointing of a given target region on a display screen is crucial.
To achieve this, correct finger-pointing of a target area is needed, even in an example case in which a correct pointing action is difficult to be created due to the target area being too small on a screen, because, for example, the finger is needed to point a location close to a region of a displayed image on the screen, which is close to edges of the screen, or the finger is needed to point a location on a fine pattern of the displayed image.
To deal with these needs, a technique of allowing a user to enter a cursor-designated coordinate point only using a finger is disclosed in, for example, Patent Document No. 1. This technique allows a user to move a finger-touch position on a screen in order to move a cursor figure which is located at a position opposite to the finger-touch position with respect to a stationary reference point, to thereby enter a cursor-designated coordinate point.
Further, a mobile information communication device has been also proposed, which has a track pad disposed on one of both faces of this device, opposite to the face on which a display unit is disposed (see Patent Document No. 2). This device allows a user to hold a housing of this device with the user's one hand, and allows the user to perform input actions by touching the track pad of this device with a finger of the same hand holding this device. It is said that this allows the user to manipulate this device with the one hand's finger to thereby designate a given target point.

User interface device with touch pad enabling original image to be displayed in reduction within touch-input screen, and input-action processing method and program


A molding device includes a lower mold unit and an upper mold unit. A molding cavity is defined between the mold units. The lower mold unit has a storing chamber connected to the molding cavity. The upper mold unit has a damper chamber connected to the molding cavity. A pressurizing rod is inserted into the damper chamber. The pressurizing rod is actuated by a cylinder. When a pushing rod pushes molten metal in the storing chamber to the cavity, an excess amount of the molten metal enters the damper chamber. Therefore, the molding operation is reliably performed even if an excessive amount of molten metal is injected into the storing chamber. Further, the pressurizing rod pressurizes the excess amount of metal in the damper chamber.

The present invention relates to a molding device for molding various types of products in a cavity.
A conventional molding device as shown in FIG. 12 has been proposed. The molding device comprises a fixed mold 113 and a mold-holding member 115. The fixed mold 113 is detachably mounted to a mold-holding member 112 that is fixed to a bed 111. The mold-holding member 115 is mounted so as to reciprocate along guide rails 114 in the front and rear direction (left and right direction as viewed in FIG. 12) with respect to the mold-holding member 112. A movable mold 116 is detachably mounted to the mold-holding member 115. An injection mechanism 117 is arranged at the right side of the bed 111. Molten metal such as aluminum is fed via the injection mechanism 117 into a cavity that is defined by the fixed mold 113 and the movable mold 116 that are closed to mold a product. The injection mechanism 117 comprises a sleeve 118. The sleeve 118 includes a storing chamber 119 for molten metal that extends through the mold-holding member 112 to be connected to the fixed mold 113. An injection opening 120 for molten metal is formed at an outer edge of the sleeve 118. An injection rod 121 is inserted in the storing chamber 119 and is reciprocated by a cylinder 122.
In the above molding device, molten metal is injected into the storing chamber 119 from the injection opening 120 while the movable mold 116 is closed relative to the fixed mold 113. Then, the injection rod 121 is moved forward by the cylinder 122 so that the molten metal in the storing chamber 119 is pressed into the cavity. However, when the amount of the molten metal stored in the storing chamber 119 is excessive, an excess amount of the molten metal leaks to the outside through the die faces of the molds 113, 116, which can spoil the appearance of the product. To eliminate the problem, the amount of molten metal injected into the storing chamber 119 must be accurately calculated in advance. In this case, however, the efficiency of the molding operation is reduced.


An appliance or light assembly may include a bulb bracket within which a light bulb is receivable and a wall panel. The bulb bracket may include a cylindrical base defining a base radius and a plurality of resilient tabs. The plurality of resilient tabs may be selectively deflectable inward. The wall panel may define an assembly aperture. The assembly aperture may include a plurality of arc segments and a plurality of expanded notches. The plurality of arc segments may be spaced apart from an aperture axis. The plurality of expanded notches may be circumferentially spaced apart by the plurality of arc segments. The plurality of expanded notches may extend outward from the plurality of arc segments. Each expanded notch may define an angular distance. Each expanded notch may include a curved segment and a blunt segment.

Domestic appliances, such as oven appliances, range hoods, dryer appliances, etc., often include a cabinet that defines one or more chambers. Such chambers may receive certain items or cover a set region. As a result, it is often desirable to provide one or more light assemblies to illuminate the chamber or adjacent region.
In order to mount a light assembly, many domestic appliances include wall that defines a generally circular hole or opening into which a light source (e.g., bulb) can be inserted. In the past, brackets have been provided to hold the light source within the circular opening, such as by one more spring-loaded tabs. One of the difficulties that can arise with such arrangements, though is the difficulty of assembly (e.g., during manufacture). For instance, in order to ensure sufficient clamping force is maintained for the assembled appliance, a large amount of force may be required to insert the light source and depress the spring-loaded tabs before they may expand or otherwise hold the light source in place. Assembly workers must, in turn, push the light source with a great amount of force. Many light sources are difficult to hold or repeatedly insert (e.g., on an assembly line), so specialized tools may be required to ensure an assembly worker can insert the light source through the generally circular opening (e.g., without risking damage or injury). This can complicate the manufacturing process or lead to difficulties in maintaining the appropriate fit and finish of the appliance. In extreme cases, the specialized tools may be considered cumbersome, leading some workers to expend excessive energy inserting the light source by hand.
As a result, it would be useful to provide an appliance or assembly addressing the above issues. In particular, it may be advantageous to provide an appliance or assembly for mounting a light that can be easily assembled (e.g., without the need for specialized tools or excessive force by an assembly worker).


The present invention relates to a power-off brake circuit for a DC fan, which comprises a control unit, a motor driver unit, a switch unit, a power-off protection unit, and a brake unit and a brake unit. The control unit is coupled to the motor driver unit, the switch unit, the power-off protection unit. The brake unit is coupled to the motor driver unit and the power-off protection unit. By means of the circuit design of the present invention, the independent brake loop is used to achieve the effects of power-off brake and of the accurate control of rotating speed is improved.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a circuit for a DC fan and in particular to a power-off brake circuit for a DC fan, which achieves the effect of power-off brake by means of an independent brake loop and effectively improves the accurate control of rotating speed.
Description of Prior Art
In many customer products, the fan is a main heat-dissipation tool. When the temperature of a system is too high, the fan will operate to reduce the temperature of the whole system to achieve the effect of heat dissipation. When the temperature of the system decreases to a specific value, the fan will stop operating.
In the traditional design, to prevent the whole system from burning up due to excessive temperature, the system is usually equipped with a cooling fan for protection. However, the requirement of rotating speed of the fan is getting stricter to effectively dissipate the heat generated by the increasing complex devices. Thus, after the fan powers off, the fan still keeps rotating for a period of time and then stops totally.
As for the traditional power-off brake technology for the DC fan, it uses an H-bridge of the motor driver circuit in a capacitive energy storage device such that when power-off occurs, two PMOS transistors on upper arm of the H-bridge or two NMOS transistors on the lower arm of the H-bridge are conducted to make two ends of the motor coil connected to the H-bridge be shorted, resulting in no change in the magnetic poles of the motor and thus the braking effect. Though the fan can be braked using the above traditional technology, it incurs another problem which is that the MOS transistors (e.g., NMOS transistors or PMOS transistors) used in the actuation of power-off brake in the fan are common to those (i.e., two PMOS transistor on the upper arm or two NMOS transistors on the lower arm) used in the H-bridge of the motor driver circuit in the fan. For the traditional fan to control the rotating speed or brake, it needs to use a front driver to control the actuation of the PMOS transistors on the upper arm of the H-bridge and the NMOS transistors on the lower arm of the H-bridge, but such a control method will cause signal distortion during the PMOS transistors in PWM (pulse width modulation) width chopping process and fail to achieve accurate control of rotating speed. Also, the signal distortion can cause a low-voltage-turn-on problem regarding MOS transistors and generate waste heat, which results in a temperature increase in the devices.
Therefore, how to overcome the above problems and disadvantages is the focus which the inventor and the related manufacturers in this industry have been devoting themselves to.


The preferred embodiment described in this application is a forced-steam cooker/blancher (100) for cooking or blanching a depth of bulk food particles by supporting the food particles on an extended perforated particle support surface (122) and by forcing steam through said depth of bulk food particles and through perforated particle support surface (122). The cooker/blancher includes walls (138) extending upwardly from particle support surface (122). Particle support surface (122) is perforated to allow fluid passage therethrough. Pressure means is included for forcing steam through a depth of food particles (141) contained within walls (138) on support surface (122) and through perforated particle support surface (122).

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a prior art continuous process steam cooker and blancher, generally designated by the reference numeral 10. Cooker/blancher 10 is capable of cooking or blanching a continuous flow of bulk food particles such as diced potatoes or other vegetables. Cooker/blancher 10 includes a frame 12, an outer cover 14, and a lower drip pan 16. Outer cover 14 seals over lower drip pan 16 to form a steam housing 18. Steam housing 18 rests atop frame 12. Outer cover 14 and lower drip pan 16 are insulated to conserve heat within steam housing 18. Drains 19 are provided in lower drip pan 16 to allow condensed water to escape steam housing 18.
An endless belt conveyor 22 is mounted in housing 18 and extends from an infeed end to an outfeed end. A conveyor drive motor 32 is connected to a set of drive rollers 30 by a conveyor drive belt (not shown) to drive belt conveyor 22. A conveyor support rail 36 runs longitudinally beneath the upper run of belt conveyor 22 at its lateral edges to provide vertical support to belt conveyor 22 along its length.
Outer cover 14 includes opposed inner sidewalls 38 which extend longitudinally above the lateral edges of belt conveyor 22. Sidewalls 38 extend within steam housing 18 along the entire length of belt conveyor 22 and outer cover 14 to contain a depth of bulk food particles 41 on belt conveyor 22 between sidewalls 38 and to seal between the inner sidewall and the belt conveyor.
Infeed and outfeed rotary airlock valves 42 and 44 are attached to the extreme longitudinal ends of steam housing 18 to allow food particles 41 to enter and exit steam housing 18 while maintaining a sealed atmosphere within steam housing 18. Each of rotary valves 42 and 44 contains a lateral shaft to which a plurality of radially extending blades are attached. The shaft and attached blades rotate to transfer food particles through the rotary valve without allowing steam to escape from steam housing 18.
Infeed rotary valve 42 has an upper hopper 48 which funnels food particles into rotary valve 42. A lower chute (not shown) directs food particles from rotary valve 42 onto belt conveyor 22 at its infeed end. Outfeed rotary valve 44 at the outfeed end has an upper mouth 52 which receives food particles as they fall from the end of belt conveyor 22 and which funnels the food particles into outfeed rotary valve 44 for transfer from steam housing 18.
Rotary valve 42 feeds a continuous flow of bulk food particles 41 onto belt conveyor 22. The particles accumulate to a desired depth and travel through steam housing 18 between sidewalls 38 on belt conveyor 22, eventually falling off belt conveyor 22 and into upper mouth 52 of outfeed rotary valve 44 for transfer from steam housing 18.
Steam manifold elements 80 within steam housing 18 above belt conveyor 22 spray steam onto food particles 41 as they pass through steam housing 18. The steam maintains a constant temperature within steam housing 18 of about 212 degrees Fahrenheit. This temperature is sufficient to cook or blanch the bulk food particles within steam housing 18. Cooking duration can be varied by controlling the speed of conveyor 22 and the corresponding time required for the food particles to travel the entire length of steam housing 18.
A problem with the continuous process steam cooker and blancher described above is that the depth of product on belt conveyor 22 must be limited to insure even heat distribution from top to bottom of the product depth. If the food particles on the belt conveyor have too great a depth, the uppermost particles will achieve much greater heating and cooking than the lower particles.
The invention described below overcomes this problem, providing even heating and cooking throughout a much greater depth of food particles without increasing retention time within the cooker/blancher. In fact, retention time can often be decreased, even with a greater product depth. In either case, the invention result in greater product capacity in comparison to the prior art apparatus described above.


A hybrid marine vessel is provided with a system that inhibits the movement of the marine vessel under its own power when the marine vessel is connected or recharging to a stationary source of energy on shore. This avoids significant damage that could otherwise occur if the marine vessel moves away or attempts to move away from the dock when connected by a cable or other device to a stationary structure. The system detects a potential connection between the boat and a stationary shore component, such as a source of energy, and inhibits the transmission from being placed in a forward or reverse gear position under those conditions. Similarly, if the boat is already in a forward or reverse gear position, the system inhibits its being placed into a battery recharging mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a method for operating a propulsion system of a watercraft and, more particularly, to a technique for controlling the relationship between the connecting and disconnecting of an energy recharging system for the watercraft and how that system interrelates with the control of various components on the watercraft that allow it to move in response to changes in the condition of its transmission and changes in the operating status of its engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
The basic problem toward which the preferred embodiments of the present invention are directed is the avoidance of accidents that can occur if a watercraft is moved relative to a dock while it is physically connected to a recharging system. At a minimum, some connective device can be severely damaged. Since the recharging of the energy storage components (e.g. flywheel, fuel tanks, capacitors, rechargeable batteries) requires some physical interconnection between an onshore energy source and a mechanism on a watercraft and, in turn, between the mechanism and the energy storage device on the watercraft requires a physical connection that is relatively sturdy, movement away from the dock or marina will tear or destroy the energy transfer connection device or the components to which it was attached. The basic cause of this damage can be identified very simply. It is the simultaneous occurrence of two situations. One situation is the movement or potentially imminent movement of the marine vessel. The other situation is the recharging operation or imminent beginning of a recharging operation or the continued attachment of an energy transfer device after the completion of a recharging operation. Stated even more simply, if the watercraft is connected to some stationary device on shore and the marine vessel is able to move relative to the dock, very serious problems can occur and significant damage is likely to result. Most systems developed to date have relied on some type of switch which represents the position of a component, such as a door covering an electric socket on a car. Some of the known devices which address this issue are described below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,547, which issued to Poole on Aug. 5, 1975, describes an electric vehicle charger shutoff interlock system. It prevents a vehicle from being driven while the batteries are being charged and prevents activation of the charger until the direct current connection of the battery charger to the electric vehicle is completed. This is accomplished by using standard, low cost readily available solenoid relay switches and a three point connector and plug assembly. Two of the points of the connector and plug assembly provide direct current connection to the batteries of the electric vehicle. The third contact completes a series circuit through two relays one of which is located on the electric vehicle to prevent operation of the vehicle when activated, and the other relay which is connected to permit energization of the battery charger when activated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,578, which issued to Nor on Apr. 27, 1993, describes a monitoring system for batteries during charge and discharge. The batteries are monitored while they are being charged or discharged, where the batteries comprise a series of modules or cells that are connected in series. A terminal is placed between each adjacent pair of modules and at each end of the battery, so that voltage across each module may be measured at the pair of terminals that define the module.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,268, which issued to Rose et al. on Jun. 15, 1993, describes a battery charging system and connection apparatus therefore. Connectors are adapted for mating in electrical contact. A bracket is provided for mounting the first connector to the vehicle. The second connector is mounted on the digital end of cables leading from the battery charger. The apparatus also includes a switch for interrupting the electrical circuit between the battery and the drive motor prior to mating of the first and second connectors. The invention also relates to a battery charging system incorporating a battery charger, a charger receptacle mounted on the vehicle and a plug for operatively connecting the battery charger to the charger receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,344,330, which issued to Hoffman on Sep. 6, 1994, describes an electrical connector assembly, especially for an electric vehicle. The electrical connector assembly includes a male connector or plug with electrical contacts and a female electrical connector or receptacle with mating electrical contacts. Both the receptacle and the plug have a cover for selectively covering and uncovering its electrical contacts to prevent inadvertent contact with the electrical contacts and to protect the electrical contacts from the environment. In the preferred embodiment, the covers of the plug and receptacle are automatically uncovered and the receptacle contacts are moved transversely to the plug insertion direction and into contact with the plug female contacts only after full insertion of the plug into the receptacle. The plug can be inserted into the receptacle with little or no force by the user since the contacts of the plug and receptacle are not electrically coupled together until after full insertion of the plug into the receptacle.
Japanese patent application 05-278871, which was filed on Oct. 13, 1993, describes an interlock apparatus of a vehicle carried charger. A vehicle carried charger charges a vehicle carried battery by connecting a charging cable in external power supply to a charging plug receptacle of a charger accommodated in a charging box providing a cover which can be opened or closed freely. An interlock switch for detecting opening or closing condition of the cover is provided near the cover and this interlock switch is connected to a key switch circuit. Thereby, when the cover is closed the interlock is released.
Japanese patent application 05-181796, which was filed on Jul. 23, 1993, describes a control device for an electric vehicle. It makes a connector connection detecting signal from a detection switch for a charging connector valid when a vehicle velocity signal is in a vehicle stop state, it turns off a relay by a relay control signal, and it cuts off electrification of a motor.
Japanese patent application 07-333934, which was filed on Nov. 28, 1995, describes a power supply unit for an electric car. A switch movable contact of a charging terminal cover switch comes to one position when the charging terminal block of a connector is closed and comes to another position when the charging terminal cover is open.
Japanese patent application 08-140450, which was filed on Jun. 3, 1996, describes an electric motor car. The car is equipped with a casing for charge connection which has a built-in connector where the output terminal of a charger to charge a storage battery for driving itself is to be connected and which is selectively covered by a charge lid, the casing for connector is opened to enable it to charge by exciting a charge lid solenoid when a charge lid open request is made by a charge lid open request switch and besides the mobile contact of a shift position detection switch is in contact with the parking position contact.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,757,595, which issued to Ozawa et al. on May 26, 1998, describes an apparatus for displaying battery charging of an electric vehicle. An apparatus for displaying the charging of the battery of an electric vehicle has a charging connector mounted on an outer panel of a vehicle body of the electric vehicle, a lid openly mounted on the panel in covering relation to the charging connector and a cavity defined in the outer panel, and a display panel disposed in the cavity for displaying a period of time required until the battery is fully charged and/or a charged capacity of the battery is exceeded. The driver of the electric vehicle can easily recognize the remaining time required until the battery is fully charged and a percentage of the fully charged capacity of the battery to which the battery is presently charged, from outside of the electric vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,799, which issued to Forrester on Jul. 13, 1999, describes an electrical receptacle with releasable locking mechanism. A body formed from upper and lower body portions encloses line and neutral contact assemblies and a ground contact assembly. The line and neutral contact assemblies carry a latching mechanism which releasably and automatically engages the holes in the line and neutral prongs of a standard electrical plug. A collar, carried by the body slides between a forward position and a rearward position. The collar is biased to the forward position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,781, which issued to Isella et al. on Aug. 17, 1999, describes as floating piling attachment device with shock absorbing capability. A watercraft mooring device is described which permits the watercraft to rise and drop vertically with the water level and which provides both direct shock absorption between the watercraft and the fixed mooring point, such as the pier or piling, and protection against scraping between the watercraft and the fixed mooring point. A floating tube is provided, which is designed to loosely fit over and around the fixed mooring point and which provides one or more attachment grooves for holding an attachment rope, cord or cable in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,965,997, which issued to Alwardi et al. on Oct. 12, 1999, describes a battery monitoring circuit with storage of charge and discharge accumulation values accessible therefrom. The monitor circuit is operable to be connected to an external CPU or similar system through a single wire communication port for transferring information back and forth. There is also provided an external signal on a line for indicating charge or discharge activity in the monitoring circuit. The monitor circuit is operable to collect information regarding the amount of charge input to the battery and the length of time that the charge is input to the battery and also the amount of charge that is removed from the battery and the length of time that the charge is removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,057,667, which issued to Mills on May 2, 2000, describes a booster with switch actuated cable decoupler. It is provided for applying electrical power to a device in which a power source having positive and negative terminals is disposed in a housing, with electrical cables extending from their respective positive and negative or grounded terminals to exterior of the housing, with an electrical switch interposed in one of the electrical cables interior of the housing manually actuable from outside of the housing, with an electrical circuit operatively coupled to one of the cables and the electrical switch, whereby the electrical circuit effects automatic closing of an electrical switch upon imposition of a predetermined minimum voltage to the cables, and effects opening of the electrical switch upon the second cable having a voltage less than the predetermined minimum voltage, and with a voltage comparator and its associated circuitry to indicate a level of charge for the power source.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,203,355, which issued to Neblett et al. on Mar. 20, 2001, described a universal charge port connector for electric vehicles. A connector assembly has a male and female connector. The male connector has a housing with electrical contacts to conduct AC or DC current. The female connector also includes a housing to couple with the male housing. The female housing includes electrical contacts to electrically couple with male electrical contacts. A latch mechanism is associated with the male or female connector housing to releasably couple the male and female connectors together.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,330, which issued to Wasilewski on Nov. 25, 2003, discloses a storage battery monitoring system with automatic electrical load shedding. A method for controlling the electrical system of a marine vessel comprises the steps of measuring a battery potential, comparing the battery potential to a threshold voltage magnitude, and then disconnecting one or more of a plurality of electrical power consuming devices when the voltage potential is less than the threshold voltage magnitude. This is done to avoid the deleterious condition wherein an engine of the marine vessel is operating at idle speed and attempting to charge the battery while a plurality of electrical power consuming devices are operating and drawing sufficient current from the alternator to prevent the proper charging of the battery. In these circumstances, the battery potential can actually be depleted as the battery attempts to provide the additional required electrical current for the loads.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,802,749, which issued to Justus on Oct. 12, 2004, is describes a marine vessel trolling and battery recharging system. It includes an electric generator/trolling device having a propeller. The device is electrically coupled to a battery and extendable downwardly from the marine vessel into the water. When electrical power is supplied to the generator/trolling device in a first orientation, the propeller turns and serves as a trolling motor. However, when the generator/trolling device is positioned in a second orientation and the main engine of the marine vessel is powered, the propeller spins freely and serves to recharge the battery of the marine vessel.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,834,688, which issued to Ono et al. on Dec. 28, 2004, describes a fuel gas filling system for a vehicle having a supply section and a fuel lid, which includes an opening operation section to which an opening operation for the fuel lid is applied, an operation wire, which is provided between the opening operation section and the fuel lid, for making the fuel lid respond to the opening operation applied to the opening operation section, and a locking device having a movable element, a fixed element, a lock pin, and an actuator.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,905,362, which issued to Williams on Jun. 14, 2005, describes an electric vehicle battery rapid charging connector. It includes a connector plug that is attached to an electrical cable at one end that is, in turn, connected to a charging system at the remaining end of the cable. The connector plug is adapted to fit into a mating receptacle that is attached to the electric vehicle. A pair of cavities in the connector plug are adapted to receive any combination of modules that includes switches, lights, or blank filler plugs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,964,821, which issued to Hirakata on Nov. 15, 2005, describes a fuel cell fuel supply system and a mobile body. An electric vehicle with fuel cells mounted thereon has a fuel tank that stores a fuel therein and a connector receptor that is connected to the fuel tank and is open to the surface of the vehicle body. A connector of a predetermined hydrogen supply device is fitted in and attached to the connector receptor so that a supply of fuel is fed from the hydrogen supply device to the electric vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,205,747, which issued to Wu on Apr. 17, 2007, describes a system and method for monitoring a charging period in a battery charger. It describes a method and apparatus for disabling a charging counter circuitry within a battery charger. The apparatus includes circuitry connected to a pin associated with the charging counter circuitry of the battery charger, the circuitry receiving a signal from a device connected to the battery charger. The circuitry disables the charging counter circuitry responsive to a signal from the device at a first level and enables the charging counter circuitry responsive to the signal from the device at a second level.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,218,118, which issued to Gonring on May 15, 2007, discloses a method for monitoring a condition of a battery. It provides the measuring of a voltage characteristic of the batter, comparing the voltage characteristic to a preselected threshold value, and a evaluating the condition of the battery as a function of the relative magnitudes of the voltage characteristic and the threshold value. The voltage characteristic of the battery is measured subsequent to a connection event when a connection relationship between the battery and an electrical load is changed. The electrical load is typically a starter motor which is connected in torque transmitting relation with an internal combustion engine. The voltage characteristic is preferably measured at its minimum value during the inrush current episode immediately prior to cranking the internal combustion engine shaft to start the engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,410,395, which issued to Kawai et al. on Aug. 12, 2008, describes a parent child type boat with a generator. The boat has an electrical power generating device, such as a fuel cell. The boat includes a parent boat and at least one child boat which is smaller than the parent boat. The parent is boat is equipped with a generating device. The child boat is equipped with a battery and an electric propulsion device. When the child boat is docked with the parent boat and electrically connected thereto, power can be supplied to at least one of the battery and the electric propulsion device of the child boat from the generating device of the parent boat.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/230,675, which was filed on Sep. 3, 2008 by Kamaga, describes an electric powered vehicle chargeable by external power supply. An open/closed detection unit detects whether a lid covering a charge connector is closed or opened and outputs the results of the detection to a vehicle control unit. A connection detection unit receives a first signal and detects whether a plug and the charge connector are connected or not based on the voltage of the first signal. The vehicle control unit determines, based on the result of the detection by the connection detection unit and information about an external power supply indicated by a second signal, whether the first signal is normal. When the first signal is abnormal, the vehicle control unit determines based on the result of detection by the open/close detection unit, whether the lid is closed. When the lid is closed, the vehicle control unit controls the vehicle state to be in the travel-enabled state.
The patents described above are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in the description of the present invention.
Those skilled in the art of marine vessel design are aware of the many functional and structural differences between a watercraft and an automobile or land-based vehicle. One example of these differences is the fact that it is rather easy to construct a recess in the outer surface of an automobile and provide a lid, or door, which makes closure available over the recess where a cable would normally be inserted to connect the automobile to a source of energy, such as electrical power or hydrogen gas. Marine vessels are quite different in that most external surfaces of a boat become significantly wetted or submerged during normal use of the boat. In addition, the visible surfaces that do not become directly submerged or significantly wetted during normal use of the boat are subject to frequent exposure to splashing during normal use of the marine vessels, particularly pleasure craft. Although lids and covers can be provided with seals, maintaining the integrity of the seals over time can be quite difficult, particularly in view of the fact that the seals would be required to protect electrical contacts from contamination with the water in which the watercraft is operated. This water, located at or near the many miles of shoreline of the United States, is very likely to be seawater which is highly conductive and likely to subject the associated circuitry to potentially damaging contact and corrosion. Therefore, providing a switch associated with a lid or cover as described in many of the patents and publications described above is impractical when proposed in conjunction with hybrid marine vessels. This is particularly relevant in view of the severely high voltage magnitudes proposed for use in recently developed hybrid boats. Allowing seawater to migrate into a switch or female receptacle that is expected to then carry 300 volts DC can subject the marine vessel to potential damage.
Due to the limited amount of exposed surface area on a watercraft which is not subject to frequent and significant wetting, it is difficult to identify adequate locations for receptacles where a cable can be plugged into a location on the boat where the receptacle is not likely to be wetted, potentially with saltwater. If an appropriate location is found within the structure of the marine vessel where wetting is unlikely, it can present difficulties in locating the connector and it could require a relatively long cable to reach from that position within the structure of the watercraft and also reach a power source on shore.
It would therefore be significantly beneficial if a methodology could be developed which avoids the need for switches associated with lids that cover the electrical receptacle on the boat while also avoiding the potential simultaneous recharging of batteries while the boat moves relative to an energy source located on shore.

Method for operating a propulsion system of a watercraft


The present invention generally relates to a method for controlling the temperature of a substantially flat object and to a temperature-controlled chuck comprising a chuck body (20) having an object support side (21) and a back side (22). Said object support side (21) holds a substantially flat object (1) having a front side (2) and a back side (3) on said back side (3) of said object (1). A plurality of temperature sensing elements (4) is distributed on said object support side (1) to measure the temperature distribution of said flat object (1). A plurality of individual temperature influencing elements (6; 8; 9) is distributed on said object support side (21) to face said back side (3) of said flat object (1), each of said temperature influencing elements (6; 8; 9) being arranged to influence the temperature of a partial area of said object""s back side (3) as desired.

The present invention generally relates to controlling the temperature of partial areas of a substantially flat object. More particularly, the present invention relates to a temperature-controlled chuck to hold a substantially flat object. With such a temperature-controlled chuck the temperature distribution of the substantially flat object can be sensed or measured, and due to temperature influencing elements the temperature of partial areas of said object""s back side can be altered to obtain a more uniform temperature distribution. Furthermore, the present invention relates also to a temperature-controlled wafer chuck and a method for controlling the temperature of a substantially flat object such as a wafer. Finally, the invention relates also to a pre-align station of an exposure tool for wafers comprising a temperature-controlled wafer chuck, and relates to an exposure wafer chuck in an exposure tool for wafers comprising a wafer chuck with which the temperature of a wafer can be measured and influenced as desired.
Integrated circuits are typically constructed by depositing a series of individual layers of predetermined materials on a wafer-shaped semi-conductor substrate, or xe2x80x9cwaferxe2x80x9d. The individual layers of the integrated circuit are in turn produced by a series of manufacturing steps. For example, in forming an individual circuit layer on a wafer containing a previously formed circuit layer, an oxide such as silicon dioxide is deposited over the previously formed circuit layer to provide an insulating layer for the circuit. A pattern for the next circuit layer is then formed on the wafer using a radiation alterable material, known as photoresist.
Photoresist materials are generally composed of a mixture of organic resins, sensitizers and solvents. Sensitizers are compounds such as diazonaphthaquinones, that under go a chemical change upon exposure to radiant energy, such as visible and ultraviolet light. The irradiated sensitizer material has different solution characteristics with respect to various solvents than the non-irradiated material allowing for selective removal of the photoresist. Resins are used to provide mechanical strength to the photoresist and the solvents serve to lower the viscosity of the photoresist so that it can be uniformly applied to the surface of the wafers.
After a photoresist layer is applied to the wafer surface, the solvents are evaporated and the photoresist layer is hardened, usually by heat treating the wafer. The photoresist layer is then selectively irradiated through the use of a radiation opaque mask. The mask contains transparent portions that define the pattern for the next circuit layer. The mask is placed over the photoresist layer and the photoresist covered by the transparent portion is irradiated. The wafer is removed and the photoresist layer is exposed to a process liquid, known as developer. The developer selectively solubilizes and removes either the irradiated or the nonirradiated photoresist exposing portions of the underlying insulating layer.
The exposed portions of the insulating layer can be selectively removed using an etchant to expose corresponding sections of the underlying circuit layer. In this process, the photoresist should be more resistant to the etchant than the insulating layer to limit the attack of the etchant to only the exposed portions of the insulating layer. Alternatively, the exposed underlying layer(s) can be implanted with ions which do not penetrate the photoresist layer thereby selectively penetrating only those portions of the underlying layer not covered by the photoresist. The remaining photoresist is then stripped using either a solvent, or a strong oxidizer in the form of a liquid or a gas in the plasma state. The next layer is then deposited and the process is repeated until fabrication of the semiconductor device is complete.
Thermal gradients in wafers during lithography exposure create linear pattern transfer effects due to expansion or contraction. Wafers can have temperature instability due to previous processing from a photoresist track hot plate. If this bake is non-uniform or the cooling prior to wafer transfer into the exposure tool is not complete, non-linear effects will occur. During the transfer from the track to the exposure tool there may not be adequate time for the wafer to thermally stabilize prior to exposure. This effect causes pattern transfer errors, seen as overlay or grid distortion and chip magnification errors. Other sources of non-linear errors can occur outside of lithography processing. These sources include rapid thermal processing such as anneal (RTA), film deposition processing (such as diffusion or chemical vapor deposition-CVD), and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP). These non-linear errors are variable across the wafer and are difficult to correct when severe.
A temperature difference as small as 0.1xc2x0 C. can affect overlay. Wafers can only equilibrate through conduction with the exposure tool environment or contact with non-temperature regulated surfaces, so-called chucks. There are defects during lithography processing known as xe2x80x9cbanana effectxe2x80x9d problems due to wafer contact non-uniformity on the track hotplate that cause significant temperature gradients over the wafer that result in overlay issues in these areas. Banana effect non-linear errors typically occur on the edge regions of the wafer in a semicircle pattern that resembles a banana shape. The magnitude of these non-linear errors varies significantly across the effected region, and therefore are difficult to correct using normal lithography processing.
Thus, it is apparent that a need exists for an improved chuck to hold a substantially flat object such as a wafer and a method for controlling the temperature of a wafer in a pre-align station or an exposure tool, which overcomes, among other things, the above-discussed problems to produce a more uniform temperature distribution over the surface of the wafer.
Furthermore, it is an object to provide an improved chuck with which the temperature of localized areas of a generally flat object, particularly a wafer, can be influenced in a desired manner to reduce significant temperature gradients over the wafer or to use defined temperature peaks or temperature depths in localized areas of a wafer to reduce or eliminate distortions of the wafer grid.
The above objects and others are accomplished by a temperature-controlled chuck and a method for controlling the temperature of a substantially flat object such as a semiconductor wafer, in accordance with the present invention. The temperature-controlled chuck according to the invention comprises a chuck body having an object support side and a back side, said object support side holding a substantially flat object having a front side and a back side on said back side of said object. A plurality of temperature sensing elements is distributed on said object support side to measure the temperature distribution of said object. A plurality of individual temperature influencing elements is distributed on said object support side to face said back side of said flat object, each of said temperature influencing elements being arranged to influence the temperature of a partial area of said object""s back side as desired.
A temperature-controlled chuck according to the invention provides the possibility to influence the temperature of a wafer, particularly the back side of a wafer, in a partial area in a manner as desired. For example, by use of an inventive temperature-controlled chuck the temperature can be varied precisely in tenths of a degree centigrade and be controlled overall to xc2x11xc2x0 C. Hence, a good temperature uniformity across the whole wafer would be provided. It is also possible to provide local modification to correct process distortions on a wafer. If, for example, the temperature in partial areas of the wafer can be precisely controlled, then it is also possible to use a variation of the chuck temperature to adjust for chip magnification error, instead of changing lens, housing pressure or having an extra field lens for magnification adjustment. It could also be used in conjunction with current lens magnification correction systems, so that a coarse chip mag correction would be done using temperature adjustment while the fine correction will be still done as of today. With such a preferred embodiment of the invention, a simpler lens design for an exposure tool is possible, and hence such an exposure tool can be constructed more cheaply.
A preferred embodiment of an inventive temperature-controlled chuck comprises a plurality of piezoelectric elements, each piezoelectric element being individually controllable, such that each piezoelectric element is able to influence a localized area or a partial area of the object""s back side. Due to a variation of the current and/or the voltage applied to the piezoelectric elements, the temperature of the object""s back side can be controlled in a desired manner.
A further embodiment of an inventive temperature-controlled chuck comprises the above-mentioned temperature influencing piezoelectric elements. At least some of these piezoelectric elements are arranged such that they are able to contact the back side of a flat object such as a wafer. Due to the contact of the piezoelectric elements with said back side of said flat object, influencing of the temperature of the back side of said flat object is improved.
In an alternate embodiment of the invention a plurality of support pin elements are distributed on said object support side and arranged to contact said back side of said flat object. In such an embodiment of the invention, the wafer is held on the support pin elements and piezoelectric elements also distributed between the support pin elements serve to measure or sense the temperature and serve to influence the temperature in a desired manner.
Another embodiment of the invention comprises individual fiber optics being illuminated with infrared radiation to influence the temperature of localized areas of the object""s back side.
If fiber optics as mentioned above are used to influence the temperature of localized areas of the object""s back side, in a referred embodiment of the invention the tops of these temperature influencing fiber optics are arranged such that they are spaced from the object""s back side.
A further preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a plurality of fiber optics illuminated with infrared radiation and a plurality of piezoelectric elements as temperature influencing elements. Due to the combination of fiber optics and piezoelectric elements a better temperature distribution of the object""s back side and a better influence of the temperature distribution can be achieved.
An alternative embodiment of the invention comprises also heat sink pins and heating elements as temperature influencing elements. Hence, in such an embodiment localized areas of the object""s back side can not only be heated but also be cooled.
Due to the use of temperature influencing elements which are selectively movable in close proximity with and away from said back side of said flat object, a better influence of the temperature of a localized area of the object""s back side is achievable.
Another embodiment of the invention comprises a temperature controller connected to that plurality of individual temperature influencing elements to control the temperature distribution of said flat object in a desired manner.
A preferred embodiment of the invention refers to a temperature-controlled wafer chuck comprising a chuck body having a wafer support side and a back side opposing said wafer support side, said wafer support side being adapted to hold a wafer having a front side and a back side on the object""s back side. A plurality of temperature sensing elements is distributed on said wafer support side, each of said temperature sensing elements being arranged to sense the temperature of a partial area of said wafer back side. A plurality of individual temperature influencing elements is distributed on said wafer support surface, each of said temperature influencing elements being arranged to influence the temperature of a partial area of said wafer back side. A temperature controller is connected to said plurality of temperature sensing elements and said plurality of individual temperature influencing elements to control and/or regulate the temperature distribution of said flat object in a desired manner.
A preferred embodiment of such a temperature-controlled wafer chuck comprises a temperature controller including at least one temperature detector and a control unit connected with said at least one temperature detector and controlling said temperature influencing elements.
A preferred inventive method for controlling the temperature of a substantially flat object having a front side and a back side and being supported on said back side comprises the method steps of sensing the temperature of partial areas of the back side of said flat object, determining the object""s temperature distribution on the basis of the temperatures measured in said temperature sensing step, and changing the temperature in at least some of said partial areas of said back side of said flat object in a desired manner.
The method is particularly for controlling the temperature of a wafer held on a wafer chuck.
In a preferred method according to the invention, the temperature of a partial area of said flat object is measured by a temperature sensing element of a plurality of temperature sensing elements distributed over the back side of said flat object.
In a preferred embodiment these temperature sensing elements consist of a piezoelectric element.
In a preferred method according to the invention the temperature of a partial area of said flat object is influenced by a temperature influencing element of a plurality of temperature influencing elements distributed over the back side of said flat object.
In a preferred embodiment each temperature influencing element is an IR-optical fiber.
In another preferred embodiment of the inventive method each temperature influencing element is a heat sink pin.
In an alternative embodiment of the inventive method a piezoelectric element is used as a temperature influencing element.
Another embodiment of the inventive method includes IR-optical fibers and piezoelectric elements and heat sink pins as temperature influencing elements.
A preferred embodiment of a pre-align station of an exposure tool for wafers comprises:
chuck body having a wafer support side and a back side opposing said wafer support side, said wafer support side being adapted to hold a wafer having a front side and a back side on the object""s back side. A plurality of temperature sensing elements is distributed on said wafer support side, each of said temperature sensing elements being arranged to sense the temperature of a partial area of said wafer back side. A plurality of individual temperature influencing elements is distributed on said wafer support surface, each of said temperature influencing elements being arranged to influence the temperature of a partial area of said wafer back side. A temperature controller is connected to said plurality of temperature sensing elements and said plurality of individual temperature influencing elements to control the temperature distribution of said flat object as desired.
A preferred embodiment of an exposure chuck in an exposure tool for wafers comprises
a chuck body having a wafer support side and a back side opposing said wafer support side, said wafer support side being adapted to hold a wafer having a front side and a back side on the object""s back side. A plurality of temperature sensing elements is distributed on said wafer support side, each of said temperature sensing elements being arranged to sense the temperature of a partial area of said wafer back side. A plurality of individual temperature influencing elements is distributed on said wafer support surface, each of said temperature influencing elements being arranged to influence the temperature of a partial area of said wafer back side. A temperature controller is connected to said plurality of temperature sensing elements and said plurality of individual temperature influencing elements to control the temperature distribution of said flat object as desired.

Temperature-controlled chuck and method for controlling the temperature of a substantially flat object


The application provides a method for preparing rubusoside comprising steps of raw material crushing, flash extraction, double centrifugations, macroporous resin purification, desorption, enzymatic hydrolysis, organic film decoloring, concentration, crystallization and drying. The application optimizes the quality control of key process such as extraction, separation, purification and decolorization, and can obtain the rubusoside product with purity more than 99%, and the product is white, no bitterness, less solvent residue, no pesticide residue, and stable quality.

Sweet tea (Rubus suatrssimus S. Lee) is one of the four famous products in Guangxi, and is also grown in Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi and other provinces. It contains a large amount of bioflavonoid. In addition to the effect of ordinary green tea, it also has the effects such as preventing and treating cardiovascular diseases, preventing stroke, preventing cancers, and preventing dental diseases, and thus it has extremely high medicinal value.
Rubusoside is the main ingredient in Sweet tea that contributes to the sweetness and health effects. The previous method for extracting rubusoside is simple by the use of hot water extraction. Although the method is simple, the extraction rate is often very low, resulting in great resource waste. In order to improve the extraction rate and product quality, some studies have been done in recent years on the improvement of the rubusoside extraction process.
For example, CN106243165A discloses a method for extracting rubusoside from leaves of Sweet tea, comprising the following steps: 1) crushing leaves of Sweet tea, extracting using ethanol, filtering the extract solution, and recovering ethanol from the filtrate under reduced pressure to obtain a crude extract; 2) dissolving the crude extract in water, filtering, and taking the filtrate for use; 3) passing the filtrate of step 2) through high-molecular filtration membrane with the molecular weight cutoff of 1000 for separation, and collecting the effluent; 4) adding to the effluent EuAlO3 at a ratio of 1000 ml:0.2 to 1 mg, precipitating for 30 to 50 s, removing precipitate via filtration, and drying the filtrate to obtain rubusoside.
CN104926892A discloses a method for extracting rubusoside from Sweet tea, comprising the following steps: (1) crushing leaves of Sweet tea; (2) pretreating by ultrasonic crushing; (3) extracting at a constant temperature; (4) filtrating and collecting filtrate; (5) flocculating the obtained filtrate at pH 10 and 60° C. using FeSO4 as the flocculating agent; (6) eluting on a macroporous adsorption resin using distilled water as the eluent, and collecting the effluent; (7) concentrating the effluent; (8) adding methanol into the concentrate solution obtained in step (7), crystallizing at a low temperature, and centrifuging to recover methanol; (9) drying the solid material isolated after centrifugation under vacuum at 45° C. to 50° C. to a constant weight to obtain rubusoside.
The common problems met in the practical production of the domestic rubusoside extraction industry including those mentioned above, are the complex process, poor control of the key production processes and the introduction of harmful chemical components, making the product having different degrees of bitterness, not white enough, and unstable quality.


In an exemplary embodiment, a mechanical seal for sealing a fluid flowing outwardly radially from sliding surfaces S where a stationary ring 221 and a rotating ring 211 slide against each other, includes: a bellows 222 interposed between the stationary ring 221 and a stationary wall 226; a case member 223 for holding an outer cylindrical part 222c of the bellows 222 to the stationary ring 221; and a holding member 224 fitted to an inner cylindrical part 222a of the bellows 222, and having an axial length substantially equal to a length fitted to the inner cylindrical part 222a, wherein the bellows 222 has a curved part 222b between the outer cylindrical part 222c and the inner cylindrical part 222a, and the case member 223 is provided with a wall part 223a covering the entire periphery of the radial outer side of the curved part 222b.

Hitherto, a device that cools a rotor with a liquid in a totally-enclosed-type rotating electrical machine has been known (refer to, for example, Patent Literature 1). In a liquid-cooling-system rotor 4, a cooling liquid supplied to a hole 5a, provided in a hollow shaft 5, from a liquid entering port 6c of a liquid entering pipe 6a, attached to a cooling liquid box 6, is reversed at an end face 5b of the hole, flows backward through a gap 5c between the hole 5a of the hollow shaft and an outer periphery of the liquid entering pipe 6a, flows out of a liquid discharge port 6b, provided in the cooling liquid box 6, from an opening part 5d of the hole, and a rotor 130 is cooled. In addition, a thrust-direction sliding ring 7b and a rotating ring 7c of a mechanical seal unit 7 slide mutually at contact seal surfaces B and prevent leakage of the cooling liquid flowing through the hole 5a of the hollow shaft 5.
Further, as a device that cools a rotor with a liquid in a totally-enclosed-type rotating electrical machine, a device in Patent Literature 2 exists. In Patent Literature 2, by disposing a mating ring 41 of a mechanical seal at an inner peripheral part of a hollow shaft 5 and making this an outside-type mechanical seal that limits leakage of a fluid moving from an inside-diameter side towards an outside-diameter side of sliding faces, the diameters of the sliding faces between the mating ring 41 and a seal ring 42 are reduced and the peripheral speeds at the sliding faces are suppressed, thereby realizing a high-speed and large-capacity liquid-cooling-system rotor.
In Patent Literature 2, the seal ring 42 is fixed in a sealed manner to a carrier 37 with an elastic bellows 44 having a plurality of turn-back parts and made of rubber interposed therebetween, and is urged in an axial direction by a spring 45. In this way, since the elastic bellows 44 is capable of absorbing the relative displacement between the hollow shaft 5 and the carrier 37 by being provided with the plurality of turn-back parts, even if the hollow shaft 5 is greatly stretched or contracted due to temperature changes, the seal ring 42 follows the movement of the mating ring 41 to make it possible to seal a fluid.


A seismic vibrator has a base plate with at least four isolators isolating a frame from the base plate. Each of these isolators is offset from the plate's footprint on shelves to free up area on the plate's top surface. An accelerometer disposed directly on the base plate detects the acceleration imparted to the plate. To reduce flexing and bending, the plate has an increased stiffness and approximately the same mass of a plate for a comparably rated vibrator. The accelerometer disposes at a particular location of the plate that experiences transition between longitudinal flexing along the plate's length. This transition location better represents the actual acceleration of the plate during vibration and avoids overly increased and decreased acceleration readings that would be obtained from other locations on the plate.

In a geophysical survey, a seismic source can be carried by a truck and positioned at a predetermined location in an area of exploration. The seismic source can be a single axis vibratory source and can impart compressing P-waves into the earth once coupled to the earth and operated.
A vibrator 10 according to the prior art is illustrated in FIGS. 1A-1C and is diagrammatically illustrated in FIG. 2. The vibrator 10 transmits force to the ground using a base plate 20 and a reaction mass 50. As is typical, the vibrator 10 is mounted on a carrier vehicle (not shown) that uses a mechanism and bars 12/14 to lower the vibrator 10 to the ground. With the vibrator 10 lowered, the weight of the vehicle holds the base plate 20 engaged with the ground so seismic source signals can be transmitted into the earth.
The reaction mass 50 positions directly above base plate 20 and stilts 52 (FIG. 2) extend from the base plate 20 and through the mass 50 to stabilize it. Internally, the reaction mass 50 has a cylinder 56 formed therein. A vertically extending piston 60 extends through this cylinder 56, and a head 62 on the piston 60 divides the cylinder 56 into upper and lower chambers. The piston 60 connects at its lower end to a hub in a lower cross piece 54L and extends upward through cylinder 56. The piston 60's upper end connects to a hub on an upper cross piece 54U, and the cross pieces 54U-L connect to the stilts 52.
To isolate the base plate 20 from the bars 14, the bars 14 have feet 16 with isolators 40 disposed between the feet 16 and the base plate 20. As shown, three isolators 40 are disposed under each foot 16. In addition, the feet 16 have tension members 42 interconnected between the edges of the feet 16 and the base plate 20. The tension members 42 are used to hold the base plate 20 when the vibrator 10 is raised and lowered to the ground. Finally, shock absorbers 44 are also mounted between the bottom of the feet 16 and the base plate 20 to isolate vibrations therebetween.
FIGS. 3A-3C show the base plate 20 for the prior art vibrator 10 in plan, side, and end-sectional views. The top of the plate 20 has stilt mounts 24 for the stilts (52; FIG. 2), and a reinforcement pad 21 surrounds these mounts 24. Retaining ledges 26 are provided for the isolators (40). The long edges near the corners have forked hangers 28 to which ends of the tension members (42) connect, and reinforcement pads 27 are provided around the outside edges of the plate 20 for connecting the shock absorbers (44) to the base plate 20.
Overall, the base plate 20 can have a height H1 of about 6.9-in., a width W1 of about 42-in., and a length L1 of about 96-in., and the plate 20 can weight approximately 4020-lbs. As shown in the end section of FIG. 3C, the plate 20 has four internal tubes or beams 30 that run longitudinally along the plate's length. The beams 30 are hollow tubes with rectangular cross-sections and have a height of about 6-in., a width of about 4-in., and a wall thickness of about ⅜-in. Interconnecting spacers 32 position between the beams 30 and between the long cap walls of the base plate 20.
During operation, a controller 80 as shown in FIG. 2 receives signals from a first sensor 85 coupled to the upper cross piece 54U and receives signals from a second sensor 87 coupled to the reaction mass 50. Based on feedback from these sensors 85/87 and a desired sweep signal for operating the vibrator 10, the controller 80 generates a drive signal to control a servo valve assembly 82. Driven by the drive signal, the servo valve assembly 82 alternatingly routes high pressure hydraulic fluid between a hydraulic fluid supply 84 and upper and lower cylinder piston chambers via ports in the mass 50. As hydraulic fluid alternatingly accumulates in the piston's chambers located immediately above and below the piston head 62, the reaction mass 50 reciprocally vibrates in a vertical direction on the piston 60. In turn, the force generated by the vibrating mass 50 transfers to the base plate 20 via the stilts 52 and the piston 60 so that the base plate 20 vibrates at a desired amplitude and frequency or sweep to generate a seismic source signal into the ground.
As the moving reaction mass 50 acts upon the base plate 20 to impart a seismic source signal into the earth, the signal travels through the earth, reflects at discontinuities and formations, and then travels toward the earth's surface. At the surface, an array of geophone receivers (not shown) coupled to the earth detects the reflected signal, and a recording device records the signals from the geophone receivers. The seismic recorder can use a correlation processor to correlate the computed ground force supplied by the seismic source to the seismic signals received by the geophone receivers. The seismic source has a hydraulic pump subsystem with hydraulic lines that carrying hydraulic fluid to the servo valve assembly 80, and a cooler may be present to cool the hydraulic subsystem.
When operating such a prior art vibrator 10, operators experience problems in accurately determining the ground force that the vibrator 10 is applying to the earth and in accurately correlating the vibrator's operation with the generated source signal. Ideally, operators would like to know the actual ground force applied by the base plate 20 to the ground when imparting the seismic energy. Unfortunately, the base plate 20 experiences a great deal of vibration and flexure that distorts readings that can be obtained from the base plate 20. Moreover, the isolators 40, shock absorbers 44, and other components required to isolate the base plate 20 from the supports 14 and feet 16 limit what free and unencumbered space is available on the base plate 20 to obtain acceleration readings.
For these reasons, a local sensor (e.g., accelerometer or geophone) is typically positioned on the upper cross piece 54U of the vibrator 50, which positions above the reaction mass 50 as best shown in FIG. 1C. Affixed at a location 55 on the upper cross piece 54U, the accelerometer (85; FIG. 2) couples to the base plate 20 via the stilts 52. In this location on the upper cross piece 54U, the accelerometer (85) can avoid the flexure, undesirable noise, distortion, and the like that occurs at the base plate 20, while still measuring acceleration for the base plate 20. For this reason, typical work in the prior art to improve performance of such a vibrator 10 has focused on optimizing the location of the local sensor (85) on the upper cross piece 54U to avoid issues with noise, flexure, and other problems.
In operation, the controller 80 shown in FIG. 2 measures the signal imparted into the earth using the local sensor 85 located on the upper cross piece 54U and the sensor 87 located on the reaction mass 50. The measured signals are transmitted to a correlation processor, which also receives the signals from geophones or other sensors making up the seismic spread. The correlation processor uses various algorithms to distinguish wave signal data from distortions and other spurious signals. A problem with this method is that the original source signal distortion may vary making correlation difficult. Thus, the cleaner the source signal imparted into the earth the easier the correlation at the recording end of the seismic acquisition process. Also, the more accurate the source signal is, the more energy the source vibrator 10 can impart to the earth.
Because the vibrator 10 works on the surface of the earth, which can vary dramatically from location to location due to the presence of sand, rock, vegetation, etc., the base plate 20 is often not evenly supported when deployed against the ground at a given location. In addition, the base plate 20 will flex and directly affect the control system during operation. As a result, the radiated energy produced can vary from location to location depending on where the vibrator 10 is deployed. Therefore, the vibrator's source signature is not the same (or nearly the same) from location to location and is not characteristically repeatable, which is desirable when performing seismic analysis.
When calculated ground force signals at the vibrator 10 are cross-correlated with far-field signals measured in the field, it has been recognized in the art that locating an accelerometer on a base plate can cause errors in the arrival time of the seismic waves. One theoretical approach proposed in the prior art for reducing the time shifts caused by the phase lag in the oscillations of the base plate 20 relative to the actuator force from the piston 60 suggests locating the accelerometer on the base plate at a radius that is approximately 68% of the plate's total radius. See A. Lebedev and I. Beresnev, "Radiation from flexural vibrations of the baseplate and their effect on the accuracy of traveltime measurements," Geophysical Prospecting, 2005, 53, 543-555. Yet, it has also been recognized that it may be practically difficult to find the exact location of the base plate for the accelerometer to improve the time shifts so that a more practical solution would be to modify the resonance of the base plate 20 so that problematic modes of this resonance would lie above an upper frequency of a sweep signal used during seismic survey. Although this approach may be affective, the subject matter of the present disclosure is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more of the problems set forth above.

Seismic vibrator controlled by directly detecting base plate motion


A separator provides peak value data and distance value data, a pair of registers respectively store multiple peak values and distance value data between peak values, a subsequent stage subtracts the series of multiple successive peak values to provide difference data, and divides the difference data by the distance value data to provide quotient data representative of a step size, and an interpolator provides a reproduced waveform by interpolating the peak value data and the quotient data.

The present invention concerns an apparatus for encoding/decoding an analog signal and method thereof, wherein an analog signal such as an audio and video signal is compressed to reduce the transferred data stored in a memory.
The Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) which, is typically known as a method of encoding a waveform, employs a communications system comprising a sampler, an analog-to-digital(A/D) converter of a transmitter and a digital-to-analog(A/D) converter of a receiver. The A/D converter comprises a quantizer and an encoder, while the D/A converter comprises a quantizer and a decoder. In such PCM communications system, a waveform is modulated as follows:
An input analog signal is firstly sampled by the sampler, and the sampled portions are quantized. Namely, the signal of a limited frequency band which has no frequency components exceeding the maximum frequency fm(Hz) is sampled at the sampling interval T(Nyquist sampling interval 1/2 fm sec).
The sampled signal is divided into several steps quantized to a constant value at the center of each step. The quantized signal at each step has a quantized level approximating the original signal. Thus the pulses are quantized according to their sizes encoded by the encoder into the effective combination of the pulses for each sample.
The signal which is encoded into digital is separated from the noise added in the transference, and detected by the quantizer for the existence of the pulses in each pulse interval, where two voltage level differences are compared so as to transfer the result as a series of the reproduced pulses to the decoder. In contrast to the encoder, the D/A converter of the decoder produces the quantized sample pulses array of multiple levels, which is filtered to remove the frequency components except the base band providing a reproduced waveform as shown in FIG. 1.
Such PCM communication system requires a plurality of pulses for transmitting a sampled signal and thus a greater amount of data than the other pulse modulation systems in transmitting the same data. This system most approximately reproduces the original signal, but requires the data according to the number of the bits to quantize the value of each sampling, thus increasing the amount of data. Namely, 64 Kbits per second are needed in order to quantize a speech signal in 8 bits by sampling at every 8 KHz.
In view of the above fact, there has been proposed an adaptive delta Modulation (ADM) in order to reduce the amount of the data within the range not to considerably distort the original signal. This modulation system adaptively varies the step size of the reproduced waveform according to the variation of the original waveform, so that the required amount of the step size is added or subtracted in order to reconstruct the original signal waveform from the signal waveform obtained by ADM. Namely, the step size is increased by the base step size when the step direction of "k" th clock waveform edge (where the waveform changes to "high" or "low") is the same as in the edge(k-1), reduced by the basic stepsize when the step direction is opposite, and maintains the base step in the direction of approximating the original signal, as shown in FIG. 2.
This ADM system makes it possible to compress the data by 1 bit quantization with sufficiently short sampling period because the samplings are very closely interrelated. Hence, there is needed 1 bit per 1 sample, so that 32 k samplings require 32 k bits per second, thereby reducing the amount of the data to a half of that required for the PCM system.
However, this system is not accommodated to the abrupt changes of the original signal so as to produce the slope-over load distortion and granular noise which causes the reproduced waveform to repeat 0,1,0,1 even in a slight change of the original signal, thus making it difficult to reproduce the original signal waveform.