A system and method for assessing the severity of medication errors associated with intravenous administration is provided. A harm index database includes harm index values for various parameters of medication administration. A medication administration device may access this database and assess the overall harm index for particular errors in order to provide appropriate alerts based on the severity of the error. Further, assessment of the harm index value may be used retrospectively to provide reports of event logs that include an overall harm index value associated with each alert.

The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for managing patient care in a health care facility, and more particularly, to systems and methods for assessing the severity of averted medication errors.
Medication errors, that is, errors that occur in the ordering, dispensing, and administration of medications, regardless of whether those errors caused injury or not, are a significant consideration in the delivery of healthcare in the institutional setting. Additionally, adverse drug events ("ADE"), which are a subset of medication errors, defined as injuries involving a drug that require medical intervention, and representing some of the most serious medication errors, are responsible for a number of patient injuries and death. Healthcare facilities continually search for ways to reduce the occurrence of medication errors. Various systems and methods are being developed at present to reduce the frequency of occurrence and severity of preventable adverse drug events ("PADE") and other medication errors. In the administration of medication, focus is typically directed to the following five "rights" or factors: the right patient, the right drug, the right route, the right amount, and the right time. Systems and methods seeking to reduce ADE's and PADE's should take these five rights into consideration.
Delivery, verification, and control of medication in an institutional setting have traditionally been areas where errors can occur. In a typical facility, a physician enters an order for a medication for a particular patient. This order may be handled either as a simple prescription slip, or it may be entered into an automated system, such as a physician order entry ("POE") system. The prescription slip or the electronic prescription from the POE system is routed to the pharmacy, where the order is filled. Typically, pharmacies check the physician order against possible allergies of the patient and for possible drug interactions in the case where two or more drugs are prescribed, and also check for contra-indications. Depending on the facility, the medication may be identified and gathered within the pharmacy and placed into a transport carrier for transport to a nurse station. Once at the nurse station, the prescriptions are once again checked against the medications that have been identified for delivery to ensure that no errors have occurred.
Typically, medications are delivered to a nurse station in a drug cart or other carrier that allows a certain degree of security to prevent theft or other loss of medications. In one example, the drug cart or carrier is divided into a series of drawers or containers, each container holding the prescribed medication for a single patient. To access the medication, the nurse must enter the appropriate identification to unlock a drawer, door, or container. In other situations, inventories of commonly-used drugs may be placed in a secure cabinet located in an area at or close by a nurse station. This inventory may contain not only topical medications but oral, intramuscular ("IM")-, and intravenous ("IV")-delivered medications as well. Nurse identification and a medication order number are typically required to gain access to the cabinet.
The nurse station receives a listing of drugs to be delivered to patients at intervals throughout the day. A nurse or other care-giver or other qualified person reads the list of medications to be delivered, and gathers those medications from the inventory at the nurse station. Once all of the medications have been gathered for the patients in the unit for which the nurse station is responsible, one or more nurses then take the medications to the individual patients and administer the dosages.
Such a system may not be capable of thoroughly verifying that the appropriate medication regimen is being delivered to a patient in the case where IV drugs are being delivered. For example, a nurse may carry an IV bag to a particular patient area, hang the bag, program an infusion pump with treatment parameters, and begin infusion of the medication. However, even where the right medication arrives at the right patient for administration, incorrect administration of the medication may occur where the medication is to be administered using an automated or semi-automated administration device, such as an infusion pump, if the automated device is programmed with incorrect medication administration parameters. For example, even where the medication order includes the correct infusion parameters, those parameters may be incorrectly entered into an infusion pump, causing the infusion pump to administer the medication in a manner that may not result in the prescribed treatment.
One attempt at providing a system with built-in safeguards to prevent the incorrect entry of treatment parameters utilizes a customizable drug library which is capable of monitoring the parameter entry process and interacting with the care-giver should an incorrect entry or an out of range entry be attempted. In such a case, an alert is communicated to the care-giver that the parameter entered is either incorrect or out of a range established by the institution where care is being provided. Even though these customized drug libraries have provided a significant advance in the art for avoiding medication errors, they do not differentiate the alerts based on the severity of the medication error. It would be advantageous to provide an assessment of the severity or the "harm potential" of detected medication errors to enable the care-giver to respond more appropriately to each error.
Additionally, various methods have been used to record all of the activities surrounding the delivery of a treatment regimen, such as providing an infusion pump with a memory dedicated to storing a record of events related to a particular treatment. For example, in one system, an infusion pump has a memory in which treatment information, including treatment parameters, patient identification, care-giver identification and other information, is stored for later retrieval. Alternatively, the infusion pump may be programmed to store information related to only certain events occurring during treatment delivery, such as the occurrence of alarms or other alerts. Reports providing the details surrounding these alerts may be generated for review by the institution in order to assess current practices and identify ways to improve IV medication administration safety. However, these reports generally provide raw data that requires additional analysis before it is useful to an institution. Therefore, it would also be advantageous to provide an assessment of the severity or harm potential of each averted medication error to improve the institution's retrospective analysis of medication errors.
Hence what has been recognized as a need, and has heretofore been unavailable, is a system for managing patient care which includes assessment of the harm potential associated with averted IV medication errors to further improve delivery of health care to patients. The system would further be capable of providing appropriate alerts at the point of care on the basis of severity of the detected medication errors. The invention fulfills these needs and others.

Intravenous medication harm index system


An improved adjustable weightlifting apparatus is provided. The weightlifting apparatus includes a central frame portion that further includes first and second elongated supports. Additionally, the weightlifting apparatus includes one or more elongated handles. In addition, each handle includes a gripping portion and a connecting end that attaches to a corresponding end of one of the elongated supports of the central frame. The weightlifting apparatus further includes an elongated weight support bar that is attached to the lower ends of the first and second supports of the central frame. Weights may be retained by a sliding collar or similar means on the elongated handles, the weight support bar, or both as desired by the user and depending on the exercise chosen. In one preferred embodiment, each connecting end of the handles is pivotally attached to a corresponding top end of one of the supports of the central frame by a pivotable union. In a second preferred embodiment, the weight support bar includes a pair of upwardly extending connectors that are adapted to be removably connected with either a connecting end portion of one of the handles or a corresponding support of the central frame in such a manner so that the weightlifting apparatus may be used either with or without the central frame portion.

In addition to more elaborate weightlifting equipment comprising or including a plurality of levers, pulleys, weight plates, and various types of mechanical linkages, the traditional weightlifting apparatus has been and still remains a single, straight elongated bar fitted with collars near the ends thereof to retain weighted plates on the bar. A typical free-weight exercising barbell may consist of a pair of substantially equal weights spaced apart near the opposite ends of the bar. The center of gravity of a typical barbell is generally located somewhere along the axis of the gripping bar, usually at the midpoint. The standard straight bar has been widely used for many years for a variety of weightlifting exercises, including, by way of example, military and bench presses, curls, upright and bent-over rows and tricep extensions.
During a typical set for a given exercise, an individual performs a series of repetitions by lifting the barbell between lower and upper positions so that targeted muscles will be stressed. The movement of the gripping hands, depending on the exercise, will generally be along a path having a large vertical component. Some exercises, upright rows for example, require substantially straight up and down motion of the barbell. Other exercises, such as curls, require the hands to move along a somewhat arcuate path having both horizontal and vertical components.
One common exercise done with a free-weight barbell is the curl during which an exerciser may stand with the upper body torso generally aligned vertically. Upon executing curls, the exerciser's gripping hands may move along an arcuate path around the elbow in order to stress the biceps. During one curl repetition, the upper arms will preferably be kept generally aligned with and at the sides of the upper body torso. In the lowered position, the arm is substantially straight, so that the lower arms between the elbows and the hands are also generally aligned with and at the sides of the weight lifter. To raise the barbell from the lowered position, the exerciser bends his arms only at the elbows, while the upper arms generally remain at the exerciser's sides. In the raised position, the lower arms are angled upwardly away from the elbows.
The upright row is an exercise used to develop the upper back, shoulders, and trapezius muscles. During a repetition of this exercise, a weightlifter grips the bar with the palms of the hands facing the user in a standard upright position. The spacing between the user's hands may be varied in order to stress the targeted muscles in different ways. From a lowered position, the user then pulls the barbell upward until the hands are approximately parallel with the shoulders. The barbell is then lowered to the starting position and repeated as desired to complete a set. An exerciser bending approximately 90.degree. at the waist may do bent rows, a variation of the upright row. This variation of the upright row exercise is adapted to target the middle and upper back muscles.
Although standard barbells are useful for exercising targeted muscle groups, the standard barbell exhibits a number of shortcomings. For example, because barbells are unrestricted in movement, and because the weights generally lie along the axis of the barbell, a fatigued user may easily use body momentum, rocking, or bouncing of the weight in order to perform a particular exercise. Accordingly, when a user's muscles tire, or when the weight is too heavy to begin with, the weight lifter may break from proper form and start using jerky or bouncing movement. Such bouncing and jerking movements, when used to complete a repetition will not yield the proper exercise results as compared with proper form and may injure the weightlifter. Another disadvantage of standard barbells is that they do not allow a user to significantly vary angle of grip in order to stress muscles from many different angles.


A semiconductor device including, a wiring layer whose main component is copper being formed on a base via a barrier layer of amorphous tantalum carbide.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a manufacturing method thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to a semiconductor device having a wiring layer whose main component is copper and which is suited for micro-processing such as processing in 0.35 or 0.25 micron for example and a manufacturing method thereof.
It is desirable to reduce electrical resistance of a wiring layer used in a semiconductor device when it is to be processed below 0.35 micron (hereinafter referred to as micro-processing). While a wiring layer made of aluminum is used in processing over 0.35 micron, there has been known awiring layer made of copper or mainly made of copper as a wiring material of the next generation which replaces aluminum. However, although electrical resistance of copper is lower than that of aluminum, it is hard to process and can be patterned normally only in high temperature. Accordingly, it is difficult to pattern it by using a resist as a mask like aluminum.
In general, the wiring layer whose main component is copper is formed as follows. That is, a wiring groove is formed on a part of an insulating layer such as SiO.sub.2 formed on the surface of a silicon substrate at first. Then, the wiring layer is formed in the wiring groove by forming a metallic compound film whose main component is copper on the silicon substrate and by processing (polishing) the metallic compound film by a damascene method by means of chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) or the like. Because copper is apt to diffuse on the surface of the silicon substrate and into SiO.sub.2 as compared to aluminum, a barrier layer is used in order to prevent the diffusion. Presently, TiN, WN, TaN and the like are known to be used as a material for forming the barrier layer.
Because the capability of TiN and WN and the like to stop the diffusion of a copper wiring layer is poor, the barrier layer has to be thickened. Therefore, barriers SbTin, WN and the like are not suited for micro-processing. Because an aspect ratio of the wiring groove increases in micro-processing, coverage around an opening wiring groove of the forming a barrier is inferior, and thus it is hard to form the wiring layer.
Further, even if the barrier layer may be formed by TiN, WN and the like, the electrical resistance of the wiring increases even through low resistance copper is used for the wiring layer because the electrical resistance of the barrier layer is higher than that of copper.
Although it is possible to form a thin film of TaN, the specific resistance of TaN is relatively high, e.g., 560 .mu..OMEGA.cm. The finer the micro-processing, the greater the resistance becomes when TaN is used in the wiring groove.
In this area of thin film technology, Japanese Patent Laid-Open publication No. Hei. 5(1993)-291560 describes a compound of titanium (in part or the wholly amorphous) and nitrogen used as the barrier layer. In order to make the barrier layer amorphous, TiN is formed on a silicon substrate by reactive ion beam sputtering, and nitrogen ion beam is irradiated to amorphous TiN. More specifically, TiN is formed by continuously varying an input angle of the nitrogen ion to be irradiated between 10 and 90.degree. with respect to the surface of the silicon substrate and by turning the substrate. Nitrogen must be injected because the TiN layer will not become amorphous just by sputtering. The extra step of injecting nitrogen increases cost. Further, because the aspect ratio of the wiring groove increases in micro-processing, it becomes difficult to inject nitrogen into shadow parts of the wiring groove. Accordingly, it is not suitable to use this barrier layer for micro-processing.
Although aluminum is used in the technology disclosed in this publication, its fusion point is 660.4.degree. C. (the melting point of copper is 1083.4.degree. C.) and heat treatment can be performed only in low temperatures below that melting point after forming the wiring layer. This causes a problem in implementing heat treatments in forming a protection film, multi-layered wiring and the like.
A wiring layer made of aluminum and having a barrier layer made of nitride or carbide whose main component is Ta is described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open publication Nos. Hei. 7(1995)-130849 and Hei. 1(1989)-268025. The thickness of the barrier layer described in those publications is about 100 nm, and therefore, has similar problems with those described above.

Semiconductor device having a copper wiring layer formed on a base via a barrier layer of amorphous tantalum carbide


In connection with a method and a device for the control of the optical alignment of two lightwaves in the course of a coherent superimposed reception a spatial beam regulation is achieved in that the light of a local laser (5) is superimposed on the received light (1), that then the signal obtained in this manner is divided into two identical beam portions (1A, 1B) by means of a beam splitter (2) and that a respective error signal (14, 16) is generated from the two portions by means of a respective detector arrangement (3, 4), so that the two error signal portions result in a spatial error signal. The original data signal (15) is again obtained by the addition with the correct signs of the error signal portions.

The transmission of information in space by means of light is an alternative to microwave connections, which is of interest since improved beam bundling and therefore a considerably increased antenna gain are connected with an increase of the carrier frequency. This advantage can be used to reduce the size of the antennas which are to be used, to reduce the corresponding transmission output or to increase the data rate to be transmitted. By means of this it is possible to reduce the weight and the energy consumption, both of which are criteria which are of decisive importance for satellite systems to be operated in space.
In optical communications both the direct reception which, although uncomplicated, is susceptible to background light, and the highly sensitive superimposed reception, which therefore is particularly suited for space applications, are offered. The gain in sensitivity with superimposed reception in contrast to direct reception, however, results in a considerably more elaborate realization, and furthermore makes greater demands on the components used.
A very narrow divergence angle is connected with the high antenna gain of optical antennas or telescopes, for which reason a very exact alignment of the antennas in respect to each other is necessary. In this case the beam regulation systems must be able to make connections free of disruptions possible, in spite of systematic and stochastic movements of the satellites.
As described in Wittig, M. et al. "In-Orbit Measurement of Microaccelerations of ESA's Communications Satellite OLYMPUS", SPIE Proceedings, vol. 1218 (1990), pp. 205 to 213, it is possible to model and interpret the stochastic movements as two Gaussian-distributed angular fluctuations for a satellite, which have an output density spectrum S.sub..phi. represented below: ##EQU1## wherein the frequency of the angular fluctuations is identified by f.
A part of these angular fluctuations can be controlled by a beam regulating system, and a standard deviation of an uncompensated error signal of each component is obtained (see Hyden, W. et al., "Wide-Band Precision Two Axis Beam Steerer Tracking Servo Design and Test Results", SPIE Proceedings, vol. 1866 (1993), pp. 271 to 279): ##EQU2## wherein the standard deviation of the uncompensated error signal of the two components is identified by .sigma..sub..phi..sbsb.x.sub., Rest, .sigma..sub..phi..sbsb.y.sub., Rest, and the interference signal transmission function of the beam regulating system by G(f). The uncompensated angular fluctuations are connected with a fluctuation of the detected output and result in an increase of the error probability of the compensating system.
It is possible in many cases to describe the interference signal transmission function as a first order high-pass filter with a limit frequency f.sub.g : ##EQU3## Thus, the angular fluctuations are the better suppressed the higher the bandwidth of the beam regulating system.
However, a central problem in connection with beam regulation lies in finding a low-noise error signal suitable for a broad-band regulation.
Usually distinctions between the following concepts are made in optical superimposition systems:
In connection with obtaining an error signal by means of a direct reception, the received light is divided into two partial beams by means of a beam splitter, for example a semipermeable mirror. In this case one portion is usually coupled into a glass fiber, the light of a local laser is superimposed on it in a fiber coupler and is supplied to the coherent receiver of the communication system.
A second portion (partial beam) is supplied to a position detector, a CCD camera or a so-called four quadrant photodiode, and an error signal, in particular two spatial error signals, are generated by means of a suitable evaluation of the quadrants. If, for example, a sum signal is formed from the first two detector quadrants and is subtracted from the sum signal which is formed from the other two quadrants, an azimuthal error signal is obtained. By means of a cyclical exchange of the quadrants it is furthermore possible to obtain an elevation error signal (U.S. Pat. No. 5,030,004).
In this connection a combination of different detectors is also possible and known. The splitting of the beam into two portions can be omitted if, besides the communication laser, an additional laser of a different wavelength (BEACON) is used for beam regulation in the transmitter.
However, obtaining an error signal becomes problematic if the receiving telescope can also catch background light. In this case the signal-to-noise ratio of the error signal and therefore the noise suppression is bad. The portion of the received light possibly split off for the beam regulation is not available to the communications branch. The transmitting output required for a defined error probability is increased by this.
The adjustment of the detectors of the beam regulation system in connection with the communication system furthermore must meet the highest requirements. Because of the long signal processing times in the case of CCD cameras, or because of the bad signal-to-noise ratio because of background light, the attainable bandwidth of the noise suppression is clearly less than 1 kHz as a rule.
With the so-called Nutator principle, the directional characteristic of a receiving telescope is periodically changed, for example by means of a circular movement of the glass fiber of the receiver. Alternatively to this it is possible to deflect the received beam by means of movable lenses, mirrors or also acusto-optically or electro-optically.
If in this case the receiving telescope is not optimally aligned, the light output detected by the receiver fluctuates. It is possible by means of suitable demodulation of this detected output to generate an error signal for beam regulation. Here, too, a CCD camera is mostly used in addition for the acquisition of the received beam.
In connection with the Nutator principle sketched above it is disadvantageous that with such methods the maximally attainable bandwidth of the noise suppression is approximately one tenth of the frequency of the circular movement superimposed on the received beam. For optical satellite communication the rotational frequency in this case must usually be greater than 10 kHz and, in case of a mechanical deflection of the received beam or of the glass fiber of the receiver makes the greatest demands of the components used. For this reason the use of such components in space appears to be not without problems.
This disadvantage is avoided, for example with an electro-optical or acusto-optical beam deflection, wherein as a rule this partially results in considerable optical losses.
In connection with the electro-optical or acusto-optical systems, the error signal for spatial beam regulation is mostly obtained by means of a synchronous demodulation of the detected optical output. In the process it is necessary, for example, to consider and control the temperature-dependent phase shift of the components which are involved in the beam regulation. A remaining error, which is unavoidable in actual use, results in a systematic loss in sensitivity, the same as the circular movement of the receiving characteristic.
A method for obtaining error signals for a spatial beam regulation of an optical superimposition receiver is known from European patent application EP-A2-0 642 236, in which an arrangement of silicon photodiodes is employed for the coherent reception of a data signal and for the direct reception of error signals.

Method and device for obtaining error signals for spatial beam regulation of an optical coherent receiver


A display processing apparatus comprising: a transmission portion for transmitting screen data for operations of the apparatus to a portable terminal apparatus; a receiving portion for receiving operation information indicating an operation by a user on a remote screen from the terminal apparatus and for receiving the operation information and enlargement display information indicating an enlarged display state when a user operation is performed on the screen displayed with some part thereof missing in a state in which the screen is enlarged; a determination portion for determining whether the operation is an operation of displaying a popup portion; and a screen generating portion for adjusting a display position of the popup portion to generate next screen data, so that the popup portion is displayed in an image enlarged state if the operation information and the enlargement display information are received, and the operation is the operation of displaying the popup portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display processing apparatus with which a portable terminal apparatus such as a smartphone or a tablet computer terminal is connectable via wireless communications, an image forming apparatus such as a multi-function peripheral (MFP), i.e., a multifunctional digital machine, including the display processing apparatus; a display processing system of a remote screen and a display processing method of a remote screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following description sets forth the inventor's knowledge of related art and problems therein and should not be construed as an admission of knowledge in the prior art.
In recent years, users can store digital documents on their portable terminal apparatuses such as smartphones and tablet computer terminals, and even view and edit the stored documents anytime and anywhere they like. After editing a document by the portable terminal apparatus, users can transmit the document to an image processing apparatus such as a MFP to have it printed out by or stored on the image processing apparatus. Users also can create a file consisting of image data, for example, by scanning a physical paper document with a scanner of the image processing apparatus, transmit it to their portable information apparatuses to edit the file thereby.
However, users are bothered by operation different screens from the image processing apparatus and the portable information apparatus, back and forth separately, which is quite troublesome.
To solve this problem, there has only recently been proposed a cooperative system including an image processing apparatus and a portable terminal apparatus, which allows a user to access functions of the image processing apparatus from the portable terminal apparatus, by displaying an operation screen of the image processing apparatus to operate the image processing apparatus, as a remote screen on a display portion of the portable terminal apparatus. In such a cooperative system, a portable terminal apparatus displays operation screens of an image processing apparatus as remote screens on its display portion on the basis of screen data received from the image processing apparatus.
That is, information which indicates a user operation is transmitted from a portable terminal to an image processing apparatus, and the image processing apparatus generates next screen data on the basis of received information to transmit generated screen data to the portable terminal. The portable terminal displays updated remote screen based on received screen data.
The touch panel is provided on the portable terminal. A user can scale an image by performing a gesture operation such as a pinch-in operation or a pinch-out operation on a display screen. In other words, the user can enlarge the image of the remote screen displayed on a display of the portable terminal by user's enlarged operation.
The following problem may occur, if an operation performed by the user on the remote screen when the image of the remote screen is displayed in an enlarged state on the portable terminal apparatus is an operation of displaying a popup portion composed of another window.
Specifically, if the user performs an operation of displaying a popup portion on a remote screen when the image of the remote screen is displayed in an enlarged state on the portable terminal apparatus, operation information is transferred from the portable terminal apparatus to the image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus generates next screen data including the popup portion corresponding to the operation information.
However, the arrangement position of the popup portion in the screen is set to a position suitable for display on a display panel of the image forming apparatus. Therefore, if a next screen is enlarged and displayed in the display portion while keeping the position of the popup portion, a part or the entirety of the popup portion may be out of the screen. In this case, the user of the portable terminal apparatus needs to locate the popup portion on the screen by scrolling the screen or dragging the popup portion, which is a cumbersome operation.
In addition, if the entirety of the popup portion is out of the display area, the user may not visually recognize even the presence of the popup portion.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-039469 discloses a display apparatus configured such that an image to be operated is not hidden even if an operation setting button overlaps the image to be operated.
Further, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-244189 discloses a technology of optimally arranging a plurality of windows on one screen without overlapping.
Furthermore, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-005582 discloses a technology of controlling not to transfer, to a slave computer, image information in an area which is not displayed on a master computer, if the display sizes of the master computer and the slave computer are different from each other.
However, the technologies disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2006-039469, No. 2010-244189, and No. 2004-005582 failed to solve the aforementioned problem in the case where a user operation of displaying a popup portion is performed in a state that an image of a remote screen is displayed in an enlarged state on the portable terminal apparatus.
In view of the above, an object of the invention is to provide a display processing apparatus and an image forming apparatus that enable to definitely display a popup portion in a display area of a next screen to be displayed in a display portion of a portable terminal apparatus when a user operation of displaying the popup portion is performed in a state that an image of a remote screen is displayed in an enlarged state on the portable terminal apparatus. Another object of the invention is to provide a display processing system of a remote screen and a display processing method of a remote screen.
The description herein of advantages and disadvantages of various features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed in other publications is in no way intended to limit the present invention. Indeed, certain features of the invention may be capable of overcoming certain disadvantages, while still retaining some or all of the features, embodiments, methods, and apparatus disclosed therein.

Display processing apparatus, image forming apparatus, display processing system of a remote screen, and display processing method


The present invention provides recombinant bovine adenovirus (BAV) vectors and expression systems for introduction and expression of non-BAV sequences in mammalian cells. Methods for the preparation and use of these vectors and expression systems are also provided.

The adenoviruses cause enteric or respiratory infection in humans as well as in domestic and laboratory animals.
The bovine adenoviruses (BAVs) comprise at least nine serotypes divided into two subgroups. These subgroups have been characterized based on enzyme-linked immunoassays (ELISA), serologic studies with immunofluorescence assays, virus-neutralization tests, immunoelectron microscopy, by their host specificity and clinical syndromes. Subgroup 1 viruses include BAV 1, 2, 3 and 9 and grow relatively well in established bovine cells compared to subgroup 2 which includes BAV 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8.
BAV3 was first isolated in 1965 and is the best characterized of the BAV genotypes and contains a genome of approximately 35 kb (Kurokawa et al (1978) J. Virol. 28:212-218). The locations of hexon (Hu et al (1984) J. Viol. 49:604-608) and proteinase (Cai et al., (1990) Nuc. Acids Res., 18:5568), genes in the BAV3 genome have been identified and sequenced. However, the location and sequences of other genes such as early region 1 (E1) and 3 (E3) in the BAV genome have not been reported.
In the human adenovirus (HAd) genome there are two important regions: E1 and E3 in which foreign genes can be inserted to generate recombinant adenoviruses (Berkner and Sharp (1984) Nuc. Acid Res., 12:1925-1941 and Haj-Ahmad and Graham (1986) J. Virol., 57:267-274). E1 proteins are essential for virus replication in tissue culture, however, conditional-helper adenovirus recombinants containing foreign DNA in the E1 region, can be generated in a cell line which constitutively expresses E1 (Graham et al., (1977) J. Gen. Virol., 36:59-72). In contrast, E3 gene products of HAd 2 and HAd 5 are not required for in vitro or in vivo infectious virion production, but have an important role in host immune responses to virus infection (Andersson et al (1985) Cell 43:215-222; Burgert et al (1987) EMBO J. 6:2019-2026; Carlin et al (1989) Cell 57:135-144; Ginsberg et al (1989) PNAS, USA 86:3823-3827; Gooding et al (1988) Cell 53:341-346; Tollefson et al (1991) J. Virol. 65:3095-3105; Wold and Gooding (1989) Mol. Biol. Med. 6:433-452 and Wold and Gooding (1991) Virolology 184:1-8). The E3-19 kiloDalton (kDa) glycoprotein (gp19) of human adenovirus type 2 (HAd2) binds to the heavy chain of a number of class 1 major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens in the endoplasmic reticulum thus inhibiting their transport to the plasma membrane (Andersson et al. (1985) Cell 43:215-222; Burgert and Kvist, (1985) Cell 41:987-997; Burgert and Kvist, (1987) EMBO J. 6:2019-2026). The E3-14.7 kDa protein of HAd2 or HAd5 prevents lysis of virus-infected mouse cells by tumor necrosis factor (TNF) (Gooding et al. (1988) Cell 53:341-346). In addition, the E3-10.4 kDa and E3-14.5 kDa proteins form a complex to induce endosomal-mediated internalization and degradation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) in virus-infected cells (Carlin et al. Cell 57:135-144; Tollefson et al. (1991) J. Virol. 65:3095-3105). The helper-independent recombinant adenoviruses having foreign genes in the E3 region replicate and express very well in every permissive cell line (Chanda et al (1990) Virology 175:535-547; Dewar et al (1989) J. Virol. 63:129-136; Johnson et al (1988) Virology 164:1-14; Lubeck et al (1989) PNAS, USA 86:6763-6767; McDermott et al (1989) Virology 169:244-247; Mittal et al (1993) Virus Res. 28:67-90; Morin et al (1987) PNAS, USA 84:4626-4630; Prevec et al (1990) J. Inf. Dis. 161:27-30; Prevec et al (1989) J. Gen. Virol. 70:429-434; Schneider et al (1989) J. Gen. Virol. 70:417-427 and Yuasa et al (1991) J. Gen. Virol. 72:1927-1934). Based on the above studies and the suggestion that adenoviruses can package approximately 105% of the wild-type (wt) adenovirus genome (Bett et al (1993) J. Virol. 67:5911-5921 and Ghosh-Choudhury et al (1987) EMBO. J. 6:1733-1739), an insertion of up to 1.8 kb foreign DNA can be packaged into adenovirus particles for use as an expression vector for foreign proteins without any compensating deletion.
It is assumed that an indigenous adenovirus vector would be better suited for use as a live recombinant virus vaccine in different animal species compared to an adenovirus of human origin. Non-human adenovirus-based expression vectors have not been reported so far. If like HAds E3, the E3 regions in other adenoviruses are not essential for virus replication in cultured cells, adenovirus recombinants containing foreign gene inserts in the E3 region could be generated.
BAV3 is a common pathogen of cattle usually resulting in subclinical infection though occasionally associated with a more serious respiratory tract infection (Darbyshire et al., 1966 Res. Vet Sci 7:81-93; Mattson et al., 1988 J. Vet Res 49:67-69). BAV3 can produce tumors when injected into hamsters (Darbyshire, 1966 Nature 211:102) and viral DNA can efficiently effect morphological transformation of mouse, hamster or rat cells in culture (Tsukamoto and Sugino, 1972 J. Virol. 9:465-473; Motoi et al., 1972 Gann 63:415-418; M. Hitt, personal communication). Cross hybridization was observed between BAV3 and human adenovirus type 2 (HAd2) (Hu et al., 1984 J. Virol. 49:604-608) in most regions of the genome including some regions near but not at the left end of the genome.
The E1A gene products of the group C human adenoviruses have been very extensively studied and shown to mediate transactivation of both viral and cellular genes (Berk et al., 1979 Cell 17:935-944; Jones and Shenk, 1979 Cell 16:683-689; Nevins, 1981 Cell 26:213-220; Nevins, 1982 Cell 29:913-919; reviewed in Berk, 1986 Ann. Res. Genet 20:45-79), to effect transformation of cells in culture (reviewed in Graham, F. L. (1984) "Transformation by and oncogenicity of human adenoviruses. In:The Adenoviruses." H. S. Ginsberg, Editor. Plenum Press, New York; Branton et al., 1985 Biochim. Biophys. Acta 780:67-94) and induce cell DNA synthesis and mitosis (Zerler et al., 1987 Mol. Cell Biol. 7:821-929; Bellet et al., 1989 J. Virol. 63:303-310; Howe et al., 1990 PNAS, USA 87:5883-5887; Howe and Bayley, 1992 Virology 186:15-24). The E1A transcription unit comprises two coding sequences separated by an intron region which is deleted from all processed E1A transcripts. In the two largest mRNA species produced from the E1A transcription unit, the first coding regions is further subdivided into exon 1, a sequence found in both the 12s and 13s mRNA species, and the unique region, which is found only in the 13s mRNA species. By comparisons between E1A proteins of human and simian adenoviruses three regions of somewhat conserved protein sequence (CR) have been defined (Kimelman et al., 1985 J. Virol. 53:399-409). CR1 and CR2 are encoded in exon 1, while CR3 is encoded in the unique sequence and a small portion of exon 2. Binding sites for a number of cellular proteins including the retinoblastoma protein Rb, cyclin A and an associated protein kinase p33.sup.cdk2, and other, as yet unassigned, proteins have been defined in exon 1 encoded regions of E1A proteins (Yee and Branton, 1985 Virology 147:142-153; Harlow et al., 1986 Mol. Cell Biol. 6:1579-1589; Barbeau et al., 1992 Biochem. Cell Biol. 70:1123-1134). Interaction of E1A with these cellular proteins has been implicated as the mechanism through which E1A participates in immortalization and oncogenic transformation (Egan et al, 1989 Oncogene 4:383-388; Whyte et al., 1988 Nature 334:124-129; Whyte et al, 1988 J. Virol. 62:257-265). While E1A alone may transform or immortalize cells in culture, the coexpression of both E1A and either the E1B-19k protein or the E1B-55k protein separately or together is usually required for high frequency transformation of rodent cells in culture (reviewed in Graham, 1984 supra; Branton et al., 1985 supra; McLorie et al., 1991 J. Gen Virol. 72:1467-1471).
Transactivation of other viral early genes in permissive infection of human cells is principally mediated by the amino acid sequence encoded in the CR3 region of E1A (Lillie et al., 1986 Cell 46:1043-1051). Conserved cysteine residues in a CysX.sub.2 CysX.sub.13 CysX.sub.2 Cys sequence motif (SEQ ID NO:30) in the unique region are associated with metal ion binding activity (Berg, 1986 supra) and are essential for transactivation activity (Jelsma et al., 1988 Virology 163:494-502; Culp et al., 1988 PNAS, USA 85:6450-6454). As well, the amino acids in CR3 which are immediately amino (N)-terminal to the metal binding domain have been shown to be important in transcription activation, while those immediately carboxy (C)-terminal to the metal binding domain are important in forming associations with the promoter region (Lillie and Green, 1989 Nature 338:39-44; see FIG. 3).
The application of genetic engineering has resulted in several attempts to prepare adenovirus expression systems for obtaining vaccines. Examples of such research include the disclosures in U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,245 on an adenovirus major late promoter for expression in a yeast host; U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,209 on a live recombinant adenovirus type 7 with a gene coding for hepatitis-B surface antigen located at a deleted early region 3; European patent 389 286 on a non-defective human adenovirus 5 recombinant expression system in human cells for HCMV major envelope glycoprotein; WO 91/11525 on live non-pathogenic immunogenic viable canine adenovirus in a cell expressing E1a proteins; French patent 2 642 767 on vectors containing a leader and/or promoter from the E3 of adenovirus 2.
The selection of a suitable virus to act as a vector for foreign gene expression, and the identification of a suitable non-essential region as a site for insertion of the gene pose a challenge. In particular, the insertion site must be non-essential for the viable replication of the virus and its effective operation in tissue culture and also in vivo. Moreover, the insertion site must be capable of accepting new genetic material, whilst ensuring that the virus continues to replicate. An essential region of a virus genome can also be utilized for foreign gene insertion if the recombinant virus is grown in a cell line which complements the function of that particular essential region in trans.
The present inventors have now identified suitable regions in the BAV genome and have succeeded in inserting foreign genes to generate BAV recombinants.


A tactical portable solar control system which can be modular, extremely resistant to destruction, capable of being assembled by a person without instructions, and which creates a small footprint when assembled.

A need has existed for a recharging station in the field of combat that is quiet, easy to install, and extremely tough, if not literally indestructible.
A need has existed for a recharging station, particularly for walkie-talkies used in the field, which can be quickly assembled, quickly dissembled, and creates a small footprint when in use.
The present embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.


A molding apparatus including at least two mold parts movable relative to each other between an open position and a closed position, the mold parts defining, when in the closed position, a mold cavity having the shape of an object to be molded, and an expandable and contractible core member for molding the object with a zero-draft opening.

The invention relates to molding apparatus, and more particularly to such apparatus including means for forming a hole or opening in the object being molded.
It is known to use a core to form a hole or opening in an object being molded. The core usually has one or two degrees of draft to allow removal of the core without damaging the molded object. It is also known to use an expandable and contractible core in some molding applications to produce a zero-draft opening.
Attention is directed to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.:
839,818 PA0 1,047,102 PA0 859,681 PA0 1,246,532 PA0 948,540 PA0 1,586,603 PA0 1,023,429 PA0 1,624,712

Molding apparatus including core for molding zero-draft hole


A method for controlling a switching power converter which includes a central capacitor exchanges charge between the capacitor and plural nodes of a first terminal, and then transfers the charge between the capacitor and plural nodes of a second terminal. The charge interchanged between the capacitor and the nodes establishes the amount of power transferred during each cycle. The charge which is interchanged is controlled by selecting the electrical phase between the currents drawn from the nodes and the voltages at the nodes.

Standard AC-to-DC rectification apparatus using non-linear devices, for example, diode or thyristor bridges, cause harmonics and reactive power on a three-phase AC power supply providing electrical power to the apparatus. The harmonics and reactive power are caused by the uneven loading of the input phases. That is, current is drawn from the phase when the input AC phase voltage is greater than the output DC voltage, and no current is drawn from a phase when the input AC phase voltage is less than then the output DC voltage.
With the proliferation of variable-speed motor drives and back-up power sources, which typically require an AC-to-DC then DC-to-AC conversion to obtain the desired AC motor voltage and frequency, further distortion of the waveform of the AC power supply arises. As the waveform of the power supply, such as the electric utility grid or a generator on a marine vessel, deteriorates, malfunctions can occur to equipments that depend on a "clean" source of power for proper operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,678, issued Sep. 12, 2000 in the name of Limpaecher et al. describes a power conversion apparatus, and a method therefore, that reduces distortion of the waveform of the AC power supply. The Limpaecher et al. patent describes a system which tends to address this need. The Limpaecher et al. system includes a resonant charge-transfer apparatus (RCTA), and a differential and sequential resonant charge-interchange (DSCI) method therefore. The RCTA and DSCI method of Limpaecher et al. is said to provide advantages over known power-conversion apparatus, in that it reduces distortion of the waveform of the AC power supply, among other things. The RCTA reduces this problem by drawing charge from all phases of a multi-phase power supply in proportion to the ratio of the current of the input phases. This yields harmonic-free power, draws power at unity power factor, and does not introduce reactive power into the AC power supply. Furthermore, because the RCTA can be bi-directional, it can inject harinonic-free current at the fundamental frequency into the multi-phase AC power supply, as well as synthesize a sinusoidal current waveform with a desired frequency and phase into a load such as a motor.
According to the Limpaecher et al. patent, the RCTA operates in two cycles. First, a desired charge is drawn from each phase of a power supply to charge an energy storage device. Second, the charge on the energy storage device is discharged through the output of the RCTA. Through many cycles of operation per second, the RCTA can extract charge from the power source and inject the charge through the output of the RCTA to construct a desired output waveform. The cyclic transfer of charge may or may not provide a net energy transfer to or from the source power supply. With repeated charge interchanges, a net and controlled power flow can occur from an input terminal of the RCTA to an output terminal; or the repeated charge interchange can provide controlled reactive power of an AC power supply. The power applied to the RCTA may be either multi-phase AC or DC. The output waveform which is produced can be either multi-phase AC having a desired voltage and frequency or DC having a desired voltage level and polarity. Conversion can be from AC to AC or to DC, or from DC to AC or to DC. For power flow control, the charge interchange occurs, in most applications, by a charge interchange between the power source and the charge storage device followed by a charge interchange between the charge storage device and the output or load. However, a direct power flow between the input terminal and the output terminal can be provided. By controlling the charge interchange process, current can be drawn from, or injected into, a terminal; and, if averaged with a low-pass filter, yield practically ripple-free current flow.
According to the Limpaecher et al. patent, an advantage of this RCTA apparatus and method is that it can utilize high-power thyristors (when unidirectional, also known as Silicon Controlled Rectifiers or SCRs, and when bidirectional, also known as triacs) that operate or perform switching in a self- or natural-commutation mode. Thus, it does not require the opening or rendering nonconductive of switches, such as occurs in pulse-width modulator (PWM) inverters using insulated-gate bipolar transistors or gate turn-off devices. Consequently, a circuit to control the opening of switches is not required. The arrangement of the Limpaecher et al. patent can use conventional thyristors, which have been in use for about 35 years. Unlike many conventional power electronic circuits, the power electric components utilized in the Limpaecher et al. patent are currently available and need not be developed. Also, these thyristors tend to have the highest voltage rating, highest current rating, and/or one of the lowest forward voltage drops of any power electronic switch. These devices also have low losses, are inexpensive, and are available with both high-voltage and high-current ratings. Thus, the Limpaecher et al. RCTA can be scaled up with present technology for high-power and high-voltage applications. There are many applications for the RCTA and DSCI method. For example, the RCTA can be utilized in an AC-to-AC converter with power transfer occurring without the typical intermediate DC link. It can also be utilized as an AC-to-DC rectifier, DC-to-AC inverter, DC-to-DC converter, multi-port converter, harmonic compensator, VAR compensator, and electronic transformer.
A feature of the RCTA, as stated in the Limpaecher et al. patent, is the harmonic-free conversion of multi-phase AC power to either multi-phase AC or DC. This is achieved by extracting charge from all of the phases in proportion to ratio of the current of the input phases by differentially charging the charge storage device from two input phases, followed by the replacement of one of the two phases by a third phase (referred to as "differential and sequential resonant charge-interchange" (DSCI)). Performing the charging at controlled intervals loads the multi-phase AC power supply to the desired power level at any part of the AC cycle. Uniform loading of the multi-phase AC power supply maintains a balanced and constant power. Through controlled charging, current can be drawn from the input that is in-phase with the input voltage, and thus the input power has a unity power factor. This, in turn, eliminates the requirement for phase-angle corrections or VAR capacitors at the input of the RCTA. This technique is not restricted to a three-phase AC power system, but may be extended to any multi-phase system.
According to Limpaecher et al., the AC-to-AC converter can synthesize the output frequency and phase by controlled discharging. Further, the AC-to-AC converter can transfer energy from the AC power supply to an AC terminal that has its frequency and phase determined by another AC power source, such as a generator. The injected charge can be in phase with the voltage of the other AC power source to transfer real AC power. As an alternative, the injected charge can contain a fraction of charge that is out-of-phase with the voltage of the other AC power source, such that the power transfer contains reactive power. This operating mode permits controlled power transfer from one AC power source to another AC power that have different phase, voltage, and frequency. According to Limpaecher et al., an application of the AC-to-AC converter is the controlled operation of power transfer between systems of (at) different voltages. This permits controlled power flow to a system that may experience voltage, phase, and frequency instability. For example, the AC-to-AC converter may be used on the electric utility grid as a gateway controller to control the desired power flow. The gateway controller can control the power flow through an AC transmission line and limit the power flow to lie within the thermal limit of the transmission lines. The gateway controller can also be used to transfer power from one regional AC power system to an adjoining AC power system. This could replace the utilization of DC link between the Eastern, Western, Texas, Mexican, and Canadian regional grids. In another application, the gateway controller can control the power flow to damp the sub-harmonic instability of a regional AC grid. Yet another application of the AC-to-AC converter is to convert the frequency of the AC power supply to a different output frequency. This feature has many possible applications, one being for the use of variable speed motor drives. The AC-to-AC converter can dynamically control the voltage, frequency, phase, real power, and reactive power to the motor on a continuous basis over a specified range. Since the AC-to-AC converter can be controlled for bi-directional power flow, the motor can be also controlled for dynamic braking for full four-quadrant operation.
In a still further possible application mentioned by Limpaecher et al., the RCTA can be an electronic transformer with output voltage regulation, frequency change, and phase control capabilities with a single-phase transformer inserted into either the charge or discharge cycle. The input and output may be either DC or AC. In this mode, the single-phase transformer provides a greater input-to-output voltage ratio change over a large range than the prior AC-to-AC power converter. The single-phase transformer can be used to step-up or step-down the input voltage. Further, the single-phase transformer can be used to obtain full galvanic (conductive) isolation between the input and output terminals or ports. Because the single-phase transformer is located in the high frequency section of the electronic converter, the magnetic core size can be reduced by comparison with operation at a lower frequency. Further, a typical AC transformer is energized all the time independent of the load factor, significantly reducing the efficiency at low and average loads. In the present invention, the efficiency is relatively constant because the core of the transformer is only energized when throughput power is required. In this arrangement, the transformer may be part of the charging circuit, inserted between the input switches and the charge storage device, or it may be part of the discharge circuit, inserted between the charge storage device and the output switches. Insertion of a single-phase transformer permits the RCTA to be utilized as a regulated electronic transformer. When an AC power supply for a facility needs to be stepped down in voltage, the electronic transformer not only performs the voltage transformation, output voltage regulation, and VAR neutralization, but also acts as the electronic circuit breaker, eliminating the need for mechanical switchgear. Another possible application for the electronic transformer as set forth by Limpaecher et al. is as an interface between an AC power source and the AC grid. The power can be stepped up from the generator voltage to the transmission voltage. Because the generator does not have to operate at the AC grid power frequency, greater flexibility is obtained. For example, the power source may be a turbine, a wind power generator, or a hydroelectric power plant. It is well known that a significantly higher fraction of the power can be captured for both the wind and hydroelectric power plant if the generator is not forced to operate at a constant frequency. Still other possible implementations of the electronic transformer include an AC-to-DC step-down configuration for DC industrial processes and an AC-to-DC step-up of the output of an AC generator to DC for direct DC transmission.
According to Limpaecher et al., use of the DSCI technique for AC-to-DC power rectification allows the power throughput to be fully regulated to yield a highly regulated output with minimum DC output-voltage ripple. The energy in the charge storage device is resonantly discharged into the DC output terminal. In a preferred embodiment of Limpaecher et al., a three-phase AC power supply is applied to the input terminal of the RCTA and a DC output that is positive, negative, or bi-polar is outputted. Unlike standard bridge rectification techniques, no transformer isolation is required for a grounded system. In addition, several rectification modules may be operated in parallel with full individual power throughput control.
According to Limpaecher et al., a feature of the AC-to-DC rectifier is that the output polarity can be operated over a large DC-voltage range with nearly instantaneous polarity reversal. Also, unlike standard rectification processes in which the output voltage is limited to a maximum value depending on the AC-input voltage, the output of the RCTA can be significantly boosted, being limited only by the selection of the active and passive components. The boost capability is said to suggest that, for many operations, a constant output can be maintained even with a significant droop of the AC power source, even if the droop is on the order of one cycle in duration or exists over a prolonged period of time.
Limpaecher et al. mention several possible modes of voltage regulations, including (a) pulsed density modulation, by increasing or decreasing the number of charge and discharge cycles per selected time interval, (b) residual voltage regulation of the charge storage device, typically controlled as part of the discharge cycle of the charge storage device, (c) control of the charging energy of the charge storage device during the charging cycle, and (d) control of the discharge energy of the charge storage device during the discharging cycle. An important feature of the RCTD apparatus is that in all regulation options the majority of the regulation does not require the opening of electronic switches under load and falls under the category of "soft switching" operation. The RCTA can also be utilized in a DC-to-AC inverter by reversing the AC-to-DC operation. The DC-to-AC inverter retains the benefits set forth above for the AC-to-DC converter.
The DC-to-AC inverter, according to Limpaecher et al., can synthesize an AC power source with controlled voltage amplitude, constant or variable frequency, and selected phase angle. As an alternative, energy can be transferred from the DC power source to an AC terminal that has its frequency and phase determined by an AC power source. The DC-to-AC inverter can simultaneously deliver not only the real power, with the injected current being in phase with the voltage, but can also simultaneously generate reactive power, with the current either leading or lagging the AC voltage wave form.
One possible application mentioned by Limpaecher et al. that takes advantage of the dual modes of AC-to-DC rectification and DC-to-AC inversion is energy storage in a battery. Energy can be extracted from the AC input during AC power availability on an electric grid, and the stored energy can returned to the AC grid when power is required. Another possible application is for use with variable speed motors. The DC-to-AC operation can supply both the real and reactive power demand of the motor. The AC-to-DC operation would be applicable during the controlled dynamic breaking with the inverter delivering the real power to the DC power source.
The RCTA of Limpaecher et al. is said to be usable to connect more than two power terminals to the charge storage device to form a multi-port inverter. All of these ports may be conFIGUREd to have bi-directional power flow, and the ports can be or carry combinations of AC or DC, thereby permitting transfer of electric charge or energy from any of the ports to any other port. A transformer can be integrated into such a multi-port inverter, which could permit the connection of power terminals that are at different voltage levels. The multi-port inverter may have a large number of practical applications. Two input AC power buses may be used to provide a redundant power source, or a similar three-port configuration can be combined with a charge storage device to yield an uninterruptible power supply. Further, the RCTA is said to be useful as a static volt-ampere-reactive (VAR) controller, harmonic compensator, voltage regulator, or flicker controller.
FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of the physical structure of a charge transfer apparatus 10 such as that described at length in Limpaecher et al., incorporated herein by reference. In FIG. 1, apparatus 10 includes three input terminal connections 121, 122, and 123 of input terminal 12. The term "input" will be used to refer to the end of the converter with terminal 12, although the bi-directional power flow capability of the converter makes such a label arbitrary. Between input terminal 12 and a switching section 18 of FIG. 1 is input filter inductor section 14, consisting of input filter inductors 141, 142, and 143, and input filter capacitor section 16, consisting of input filter capacitors 161, 162, and 163. The switching section 18 of controllable input switches includes switches Si1p, Si1n, Si2p, Si2n, Si3p, and Si3n. Among the switches of section 18, Si1p, Si2p, and Si3p conduct current in a first direction, and have their cathodes connected together at a first node 19a. Similarly, controllable switches Si1n, Si2n, and Si3n conduct current in the opposite direction, and have their anodes connected to a second node 19b. A "central" capacitor 22 is connected between nodes 22a and 19b. A charging inductor 20 is connected between nodes 19a and 22a. A "freewheeling" diode or rectifier designated 24 has it anode connected to central capacitor terminal or node 22a, and its cathode connected to a node 25a. A freewheeling switch 26 has its anode connected to node 19b and its cathode connected to node 25a. A discharging inductor 40 is connected between nodes 25a and 27a. An output switch set 38 including controllable switches So1p, So2p, So3p, So1n, So2n, and So3n connects nodes 19b and 27a to a set 36 of output filter capacitors 361, 362, and 363 and through a set 34 of output filter inductors 341, 342, and 343 to a three-phase load or voltage source 32, having terminal connections 321, 322, and 323.
A specific example of typical operation of the apparatus of Limpaecher et al., as described in Limpaecher et al., is useful for understanding the present invention. In Limpaecher et al. the apparatus is said to be able to converter power from AC to AC, AC to DC, DC to DC, or DC to AC, where the AC power can be of variable voltages and frequencies and the DC power can be of variable voltage and polarity. The specific example that follows here will take the AC-AC case, converting power between different voltage and frequency levels. In the example, the apparatus of Limpaecher et al. is used to draw power from a three-phase 60 Hz 480V voltage source on its input and inject power into a three-phase 50 Hz 240V voltage source on its output, according to the methods of Limpaecher et al. One skilled in the art will know that these voltages signify the root mean square (RMS) voltage differential between any two of the three phases of the given three-phase source. The device might be used to perform this power conversion for a variety of reasons, including drawing power from a utility grid to supply power to a smaller grid of lower voltage and different frequency, or drawing power from a generator voltage source such as a wind turbine generator and supplying power to a utility grid.
FIG. 2 shows an apparatus similar to the apparatus of FIG. 1, with a three-phase 60 Hz 480V voltage source connected to its input and a three-phase 50 Hz 240V voltage source connected to its output. According to the methods of Limpaecher et al., power is transferred between the input and the output of the apparatus through pulses of charge that are drawn from the input phases through switching section 18 to charge up the central capacitor 22 and then are injected into the output phases through switching section 38 to discharge the central capacitor. The charge is drawn from the input phases such that the charge drawn from each input phase during a pulse is proportional to the current desired on that input phase at the time of the pulse, and the charge is injected into the output phases such that the charge injected onto each output phase during a pulse is proportional to the current desired on that output phase at the time of the pulse.
For the example of FIG. 2, for power to be drawn at unity power factor from the input voltage source the desired currents on the three input phases must have a frequency of 60 Hz and be in phase electrically with the voltages on each of the three input phases, respectively. FIG. 3 shows a plot of the three voltages of the three-phase 60 Hz 480 V voltage source in Plot 3A, and possible desired currents in Plot 3B. According to Limpaecher et al., to get the desired currents on each phase pulses of charge are drawn from each phase at some pulse frequency that is significantly greater than the fundamental frequency of the desired currents and the pulses of charge are drawn from the three phases such that the ratio of charge drawn from each phase by a given pulse is the same as the ratio of the desired currents on that phase at the time that the given pulse occurs. For example, one such charge pulse might occur at the time tc shown in both plots of FIG. 3. As stated above, a charge pulse draws charge from the input phases onto the central capacitor 22 of FIG. 2 through the switching section 18 of FIG. 2, drawing the charge in such a way that it is distributed among the input phases in proportion to the desired current on those phases. At time tc of FIG. 3 the electrical phase angle of the three-phase voltage and desired current waveforms is approximately 101 electrical degrees (where for the purposes of this patent zero degrees is the positive zero crossing of the phase 1 waveform). The desired input phase currents, which will be referred to as Ii1, Ii2, and Ii3, are in a ratio of 1 to −0.33 to −0.67 respectively, and therefore, according to Limpaecher et al., the charge that flows onto the central capacitor must be drawn from the input phases such that phase 2 receives −0.33 times the charge of phase 1 and phase 3 receives −0.67 times the charge of phase 1. The voltages on phases 1, 2, and 3 at time tc are 385V, −128V, and −257V respectively, and they will be referred to as Vi1, Vi2, and Vi3, respectively. If the input filter inductor and filter capacitor sections 14 and 16 are small, they do not cause large magnitude or phase changes in voltage across the filter, and three approximately equal voltages to Vi1, Vi2, and Vi3 appear on phase legs 151, 152, and 153 at the input to the switching section 18. According to Limpaecher et al., the central capacitor begins a charge cycle at some voltage, known as the residual voltage Vr, which will be taken here to be −500V. The switches of switching section 18 must be triggered in a way such that charge flows onto the central capacitor while being drawn in the correct ratios from the input phases. This is accomplished in the present example, according to the methods of Limpaecher et al., by first firing positive switch Si1p of phase 1 and negative switch Si2n of phase 2 at a time to, shown on FIG. 4. The closing of these switches applies the voltage Vi1-Vi2, equal to 513V, to the central resonant loop consisting of the charging inductor 20 and the central capacitor 22 of FIG. 2. The resulting voltage across the charging inductor 20 causes current to flow in the loop defined by the charging inductor 20, the central capacitor 22, the switch Si2n, the filter capacitors 162 and 161, and the switch Si1p. In Plot 4A of FIG. 4, the waveforms designated 4c and 4d represent the currents flowing in the direction of the arrows at 151 and 152 respectively on FIG. 2. The waveform designated 4arepresents the voltage of the central capacitor. During the period from to to t1, charge flows onto the central capacitor and in input phase legs 151 (positively) and 152 (negatively). The central capacitor current is shown by current 4b of Plot 4B. The central capacitor voltage increases as shown by voltage 4a. At some time t1, the switch Si3n is fired. The firing of this switch causes the voltage V3-V2, equal to −129V, to reverse bias the closed switch Si2n, and the current in switch Si2n and phase leg 152 is driven to zero, as shown by waveform 4d of FIG. 4. The current in the charging inductor 20 and the central capacitor 22 continues to flow in a new resonant loop that includes said inductor and central capacitor as well as switch Si3n, input filter capacitors 163 and 161, and switch Si1p. The voltage applied by the input filter capacitors to the central resonant section is now Vi1-Vi3, equal to 642V. During the period from t1 to t2, charge flows onto the central capacitor and in input phase legs 15, (positively) and 153 (negatively). The current that was flowing in switch Si2n has been replaced by current flowing in switch Si3n, represented by the current 4e of FIG. 4. When the voltage on the central capacitor becomes greater than the voltage Vi1-Vi3 applied by the filter capacitors, the current in the charging inductor 20 begins to decrease, and is eventually driven to zero as a time t2 shown in FIG. 4. The central capacitor reaches an approximate voltage of 1700V.
This completes the charge process. The result of the charge process is that the central capacitor has been charged from some low voltage to some higher voltage, and the charge that flowed onto the central capacitor also flowed partially on each of the lines 151, 152, and 153 of FIG. 2, drawing charge from the input phases. The time t1 can be selected correctly, according to the methods of Limpaecher et al., such that the charges flowing from each of the three input phases are in the same ratio as the desired current on those phases at the time tc of FIG. 3.
The discharge process is very similar to the charge process. During the discharge process the central capacitor, which begins at some high voltage, in this case 1700V, must be discharged into the output phases in a way such that the charge flowing onto each of the output phases is proportional to the desired current on each of the output phases. The output voltages in the given example are determined by the 50Hz 240V voltage source connected to the output phases, and for unity power factor output the output currents on each phase will be at a 50 Hz and in phase with the output voltages. FIG. 6 shows the voltages and possible desired currents on the output phases. If the discharge pulse happens at the time td of FIG. 6, the output voltages Vo1, Vo2, and Vo3 will have the values 120V, −190V, and 70V respectively. The desired output currents Io1, Io2, and Io3 are 90A, −143A, and 53A respectively. At the time t3, the switches So1p and So2n are fired. The closing of these switches applies the voltage Vo1-Vo2, equal to 410V, to the central resonant loop consisting of the discharging inductor 40 and the central capacitor 22. The resulting voltage across the discharging inductor 40 causes current to flow in the loop defined by the discharging inductor 40, the central capacitor 22, the switch So2n, and filter capacitors 362 and 361, and the switch So1p. In Plot 4A of FIG. 4, the currents designated 4g and 4f show the currents flowing in the direction of the arrows at 351 and 352. During the period from t3 to t4, charge flows onto the output phases 1 and 2 from the central capacitor, causing the central capacitor voltage to decrease as shown by voltage 4a. At some time t4, the switch So3p is fired. The firing of this switch causes the voltage Vo3-Vo1, equal to −60V, to be applied across the closed switch So1p from anode to cathode such that the switch is reverse biased, and the current in switch So1p is driven to zero, as shown by current 4g of FIG. 4. The current that was flowing in So1p is replaced by current flowing in So3p, represented by the current 4h of FIG. 4. The voltage now applied to the central resonant section of the discharging inductor 40 and central capacitor 22 by the phase voltages is Vo3-Vo2, equal to 260V, and the loop through which current is flowing now includes the discharging inductor 40, the central capacitor 22, the switch So2n, the filter capacitors 362 and 363, and the switch So3p. When the voltage on the central capacitor becomes less than the voltage Vo3-Vo2 applied by the filter capacitors, the current in the discharging inductor 40 begins to decrease. At some time t5, before the current in the discharging inductor goes to zero but after the central capacitor voltage has gone below zero, the "freewheeling" switch 26 is fired. The negative voltage on the central capacitor reverse biases the freewheeling diode 24, causing the current in the central capacitor to go to zero, as shown by central capacitor current 4b of FIG. 4. The current is rerouted through the switch 26, and the current in switch 26 is shown by current 4i of FIG. 4. The resonant current loop now includes the discharging inductor 40, the switch 26, the switch So2n, the filter capacitors 362 and 363, and the switch So3p. The voltage Vo3p-Vo2n applied by the filter capacitors to the discharging inductor causes the current to continue decreasing in the loop until it reaches zero. At time t6, the currents have dropped to zero amplitude, all switches are or become nonconductive, and the apparatus has returned to the starting condition, ready for another cycle. The effect of firing the freewheeling switch 26 is to lock the central capacitor at whatever voltage it was at when the switch 26 was fired, while allowing the current in the resonant loop to continue flowing onto the output phases. The residual voltage Vr of the central capacitor for the next charge pulse is controlled in this way.
It should be understood that the described operation of the arrangement of FIG. 2 is but one possible mode of operation, namely AC-to-AC conversion, among many possible modes of operation described by Limpaecher et al., which include alternating-current to direct-current (AC-to-DC) rectification, DC-to-AC inversion, DC-DC power conversion, and volt-ampere-reactive (VAR) control. It should be further understood that the description of the operation of the arrangement of FIG. 2 is an example, for only a single cycle among cycles which occur recurrently, preferably at a rate which is much in excess of the cyclic rate of the underlying alternating voltage, as described at length by Limpaecher et al., and further that the timing parameters and the resultant current and voltage magnitudes change during the progress through the underlying cyclic rate of the alternating voltage.
A single charge-discharge cycle has been described, similar to those described by Limpaecher et al., among many such pulse cycles which would occur in typical AC-AC conversion as described in Limpaecher et al. To demonstrate the need for improvement in the Limpaecher et al. method, it is first helpful to show how the method of Limpaecher et al. can result in AC current waveforms on the input or output when many such pulse cycles are performed recurrently.
If the pulse cycles are varied over time such that the amounts of charge drawn into the input switching section 18 of FIG. 2 from each of the individual phase legs 151, 152, and 153 approximate sinusoidal currents on those phase legs, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that a correctly chosen input filter of inductive section 14 and capacitive section 16 can result in near-sinusoidal currents flowing on the three phase inputs to the device 121, 122, and 123, depending on the values of the filter components chosen. For example, if the sinusoidal currents 61a, 62a, and 63a shown in plots 6b, 6c, and 6d of FIG. 6 are desired to be drawn from the power source through 121, 122, and 123 of FIG. 2, it would be sufficient to a good approximation to draw the pulsed currents 61b, 62b, and 63b also shown in plots 6b, 6c, and 6d of FIG. 6, through the switching section phase legs 151, 152, and 153. If the inductive and capacitive filters 14 and 16 are chosen correctly to damp out the switching frequency components of the harmonic spectrum of the current, the currents drawn from the power source will closely resemble the ideal currents 61a, 62a, and 63a. Slight changes in phase or amplitude might result from the filter, but these can be anticipated by one skilled in the art and the currents 61a, 62a, and 63a that are to be approximated by the pulsed currents can be chosen accordingly to compensate. The challenge inherent in control of the switching section is to correctly approximate the desired sinusoidal currents 61a, 62a, and 63a with a train of individual pulses. The correct amount of charge that an approximating pulse on a given phase should contain at a given time should be equal to the amount of charge that would have flowed from the desired sinusoidal current on that phase at that time during the time period of one pulse. Therefore it is not enough to ensure, as was illustrated by FIG. 4, that the charge distribution between the phases during a pulse is equal to the ratio of the current distribution between the desired phase currents. To control the magnitudes of the desired currents the magnitude of charge drawn from each phase during the time period of a pulse must be controlled. This time period will be referred to as the "pulse period". A typical numerical example could involve the ideal sinusoidal currents 61a, 62a, and 63a having frequency 60 Hz and peak amplitude of 141A, corresponding to an RMS current per phase of 100A. If at the time that a given example pulse occurs the three desired currents have the values I61a=20A, I62a=111A, and I63a=−131A, representing a phase angle in the three-phase current waveform of 172 degrees, and the pulses are being executed at a frequency of 2000 Hz with a pulse period of 500 us, then the charges that should be drawn in each pulse at that time should be the charges that would flow from the currents I61a, I62a, and I63a during the 500 us pulse period, or:Q61b=20A* 500us=0.010C (C stands for coulombs)Q62b=111A* 500us=0.056CQ63b=−131A* 50us=−0.066CThese Q's represent the charge the must flow on each phase during the individual pulse in the example. The next pulse could occur at a phase angle of 185 degrees, in which case the ideal currents I61a, I62a, and I63a would be different, and so too the ideal Q's for that pulse would be different.
In Limpaecher, et al. the amount of charge that flows onto the central capacitor at each pulse is controlled with the use of the freewheeling switch mentioned above. This control is possible because the size of charge pulse depends in part on the residual voltage Vr of the central capacitor at t0, and as described above the freewheeling switch arrangement 24 and 26 of FIG. 2 can be used to leave the central capacitor at some desired Vr at the end of a discharge pulse. The amount of charge Q that flows onto the central capacitor during a charge pulse can be determined using energy calculations. If the central capacitor begins the charge at a voltage Vr, and the three filter capacitor voltages Vi1, Vi2, and Vi3 are, for example, 300V, −100V, and −200V, representing a phase angle of 101 degrees, to approximate the phase currents the charges Q1, Q2, and Q3 drawn from each phase must be in the same ratios to the voltages. Thus the energy drawn from the three phases is:Ein=Q1V1+Q2V2+Q3V3where Q1 is positive charge drawn from V1 and Q2 and Q3 are negative charges drawn from Vi2 and Vi3, and these charges Q2 and Q3 have a sum equal in magnitude but opposite to Q1. The energy that passes onto the central capacitor after it reaches a final voltage Vf after the charge pulse is:Ein=½(CcVf^2−CcVr^2)where Cc is the capacitance of the central capacitor. The charge that passes onto the central capacitor must equal the positive charge Q1 that flowed (also equal to −Q2−Q3), or:CcVf−CcVr=Q1.It is then possible to solve for Vf in terms of Vi1, Vi2, Vi3, and Vr, as:Vf=2[(Vi1−Vi2)(−Vi2/Vi1)+(Vi1−Vi3)(−Vi3/Vi1)]−Vr.Because Vf is a function of the input voltages (as they exist after the inductive filter) and the initial voltage Vr of the central capacitor, and it is not possible to alter the input voltages coming from the fixed power supply 12, the amount of charge flowing onto the central capacitor each pulse must be controlled with Vr via the freewheeling switch according to the methods described above and in Limpaecher et al.
The freewheeling switch has disadvantages. One disadvantage is simply the additional two more components: the freewheeling switch and the necessary freewheeling diode. These add cost, size, and complexity to the system, and each has thermal losses contributing to system energy inefficiency. A second disadvantage is that the freewheeling switch cannot always be fired at the end of a discharge pulse such that the current in the discharge inductor 40 is driven to zero. If the discharge pulse is flowing into a negative voltage on the output capacitors, and the central capacitor must resonate to a lower voltage than is seen on the output in order to differentially drive the current to zero in inductor 40, then eliminating the central capacitor from the circuit with the freewheeling switch will cause the current in inductor 40 to increase indefinitely while the voltage on the output capacitors is negative. This is because, with the freewheeling switch replacing the central capacitor in the loop, the current flow in the resonant loop no longer builds up voltage in the central section on the central capacitor which opposes the current flow.
In general, Limpaecher et al. describes a method by which a resonant charge transfer apparatus (RCTA) is used along with a differential and sequential resonant charge-interchange (DSCI) method to convert power from AC to DC, DC to DC, DC to AC, or AC to AC. The apparatus contains a "central" capacitor that is charged by drawing charge from input power terminals and then discharged by injecting charge into output power terminals. For AC three-phase power conversion the charge drawn from the input power terminals is drawn from each phase such that the charge drawn from a given phase is proportional to the current desired on that phase at the time the charge pulse occurs, and the charge injected into the output power terminals is injected into each output phase such that the charge injected into a given output phase is proportional to the current desired on that phase at the time the discharge pulse occurs.
During many of the charge and discharge cycles of the central capacitor the amount of charge flowing during each charge and discharge cycle can be controlled, according to Limpaecher et al., by the use of a freewheeling switch arrangement that allows a controller to select the voltage at which the central capacitor remains after a discharge cycle, and thus the voltage at which it begins each charge cycle. The freewheeling switch arrangement has disadvantages in cost, efficiency, and versatility.

Method for use of charge-transfer apparatus


A method, system, module, apparatus, use, and computer program product are shown for determining a supply voltage level for operating an integrated circuit. To allow exact voltage level calibration, a high load condition is provided to the integrated circuit, a first voltage level of the integrated circuit is adjusted to provide a stable operation of the integrated circuit in the high load condition, a temperature of the integrated circuit in the high load condition is measured, the measured temperature in the high load condition is stored along with the adjusted first voltage level in the high load condition.

The invention relates in general to a method, a system, a module, a computer program product and a use of such systems or modules for determining a supply voltage level for operating an integrated circuit.
Operating speed of integrated circuits, in particular based on silicon technology, depends on silicon process variations, voltage variations, and temperature variations. These variations may influence the integrated circuit also in terms of operating and processor speed. In integrated circuits with a frequency of about 400 to 500 MHz, the voltage dependency may be about 1 MHz/mV. From these values, it is apparent that feeding the integrated circuit with the correct voltage may be a crucial task in operating integrated circuits. For instance, a 100 mV voltage change may cause 100 MHz difference in CPU maximum operating frequency.
Besides the variations in processor speed due to voltage variations, the silicon technology has the drawback of a variance caused by process tolerances, in particular during silicon manufacturing. Variations in the material may cause about 30% speed variation, independent of voltage. This means that the weakest integrated circuits, with materials which provide the weakest performance, may be 30% slower than the strongest circuits, with materials which allow high performance.
Besides the voltage dependency, and the material variation, temperature variations may also cause processor speed variations. In 1V technology, temperature variations may cause more than 5% of processor speed variation. In addition, rising temperature may cause rising resistance in the integrated circuit. The voltage drop (IR-drop) inside the integrated circuit increases with increasing temperature. Therefore, temperature variation may weaken the computation speed by two mechanisms. This is the intrinsic variation due to temperature variation as well as the extrinsic variation due to the IR-drop. The IR drop may be caused due to temperature variation in the integrated circuit itself, in bonding pads, bonding wires and within the printed wiring board. The higher the supply voltage, the higher the power consumption within the processor. In particular with processors running at low voltages, a small reduction of the supply voltage results in a significant reduction in relative power consumption within the processor.
During operating of an integrated circuit, a controller for regulating the voltage of the integrated circuit is required to provide the integrated circuit with voltages enabling reliable operation in all conditions. These conditions may be characterized by two extreme points. One extreme may be detected for integrated circuits fed by low voltage, having weak silicon and running with high temperature. Accumulation of these factors leads to weakest performance in terms of processor speed. On the other hand, best performance in terms of processor speed may be achieved with high voltage, strong silicon and low temperature. Current design rules require integrated circuits to work reliably within these extreme conditions.
To provide reliable operation, safety margins are introduced. These safety margins are needed to guarantee reliable operation in different operation conditions and with different silicon. The safety margins are applied to the supply voltages applied to the integrated circuits.
It has already been proposed to track process variations and other variations and to compensate these by applying variable voltage to the integrated circuit. However, the suggested methods require a voltage margin to account for transient conditions in the integrated circuit. The changes in operation conditions are too fast to compensate for without safety margins.
In particular in high load conditions, where many operations within the integrated circuits are processed, power consumption in the integrated circuit is high. In high load conditions, the integrated circuits consume a few hundred milliamperes, for instance 500 mA. During stand-by mode, in low load conditions, where only few operations within the integrated circuit are processed, power consumption in the integrated circuit is low. It may in low load mode be in the order of a few tens of milliamperes.
In particular the high load condition, for instance, a high speed data call of a mobile phone or an operation mode for video, audio or any other multimedia application consumes the most energy. A decrease in energy consumption in high load conditions may provide the best results in terms of power consumption.
Therefore, one object of the invention is to reduce power consumption in high load conditions. Another object of the invention is to reduce power consumption in integrated circuits. A further object of the invention is increasing operation time of electronics or mobile communication devices. Another object of the invention is to account for dynamic changes in processor speed and system load. Also system variations, silicon variations, temperature variations, and IR-drop variations should be compensated for.


A latching sense amplifier (10) has sensing circuitry (12 and 14), latching circuitry (16) and switching circuitry (18). The sense amplifier operates between a first and a second voltage supply level and receives two input voltage levels. In a first mode, the sensing circuitry (12 and 14) generates two AC symmetric outputs representative of the voltage differential between the two input voltages. In a second mode, the latching circuitry (16) receives the two AC symmetric outputs and generates a second pair of outputs. The second pair of outputs is also representative of the voltage differential between the two input voltages. The voltage differential between the second pair of outputs is generally equal to the voltage differential between the first and second voltage supply levels. The switching circuitry (18) configures the sensing circuitry (12 and 14) to operate in conjunction with the latching circuitry (16) to form a cross coupled latch in the second mode. The switching circuitry is responsive to a timing signal.

Advances in semiconductor products are continually requiring smaller and faster devices. Smaller device size allows more functions to be integrated into a single device. Faster devices result in higher throughput for a given system. Unfortunately, these goals are often mutually exclusive given standard circuit designs.
Sense amplifiers are devices particularly driven by technology to smaller and faster implementations. Sense amplifiers detect small voltage differences between two input signals and generate an output representative of which of the two inputs is greater. Sense amplifiers are widely used in memory systems to determine what logic level a memory cell represents given the two output voltages from the cell. Sense amplifiers are also difficult to design both smaller and faster. Faster sense amplifiers may be designed with an associated latch to increase the speed of combination of the latch and amplifier. The combination circuit, however, requires additional layout space. Conversely, small sense amplifiers typically do not meet very high speed performance criteria.


Information security may include defending information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, destruction, and so forth. Described herein are systems, methods and devices for enabling a user device to implement functions for dynamically identifying and reacting to potentially malicious activity. In one example, a user device configures a sentinel node to identify potentially malicious behavior by causing the sentinel node to analyze data from selected emitter nodes and selected algorithms. The user device may also specify how the sentinel node reacts to potential malicious activity.

Information security may include defending information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, modification, destruction, and so forth. As information processing systems continue to grow in size and complexity, identifying and reacting to malicious acts associated with secure information has become challenging.
Certain implementations and embodiments will now be described more fully below with reference to the accompanying figures, in which various aspects are shown. However, various aspects may be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the implementations set forth herein. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

Systems and methods identifying and reacting to potentially malicious activity


According to one embodiment, a liquid crystal device includes a first liquid crystal cell and a second liquid crystal cell bonded to the first liquid crystal cell. The first liquid crystal cell and the second liquid crystal cell each include a first substrate including first electrodes formed in a strip shape, a second substrate including second electrodes formed in a strip shape, and a liquid crystal layer held between the first substrate and the second substrate. An angle of intersection of the first electrodes and the second electrodes is less than 90° in each of the first liquid crystal cell and the second liquid crystal cell.

Recently, a light control device using a liquid crystal cell has been proposed. Such a light control device mainly focuses or diverges a polarized light component. In one example, a liquid crystal lens comprising a plurality of ring strip electrodes has been proposed. In another example, a liquid crystal lens comprising transparent electrodes disposed in a plurality of divided areas spreading like a fan has been proposed.


Hydrogen gas at a hydrogen refueling site is cooled below liquid nitrogen temperature (e.g., about 80K) for more efficient adsorption of hydrogen on hydrogen adsorbent particles in the fuel storage of a hydrogen powered vehicle. When compressed hydrogen gas is available it may be cooled with liquid nitrogen and then sub-cooled below about 70K by a Joule-Thompson expansion. When liquid hydrogen provides hydrogen gas it may be cooled below liquid nitrogen temperatures by mixing with liquid hydrogen or by heat exchange with liquid hydrogen.

Adsorbent particles with nanometer-size pores (nanoporous particles) like metal-organic framework (MOF) materials, exhibit a capacity to store hydrogen at cryogenic temperatures and moderate pressures (e.g., 20 bar). Members of this family of materials have pore sizes in the mesoporous range (greater than twenty angstroms) and low densities for crystalline materials. Metal-organic framework materials are often characterized by metal-oxygen clusters connected by molecular struts such as multifunctional organic moieties. For example, zinc-oxygen clusters may be connected in a three dimensional network with 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate groups (available as MOF-5). Such crystalline materials usually don't have molecular walls that impede diffusion of guest molecules such as hydrogen. The pore size of the metal-organic framework materials may be varied by selection of the wire-like molecules interconnecting the metal-oxide clusters.
Hydrogen gas under pressure and at a suitably cold temperature may be brought into contact with the adsorptive particles and stored under pressure in the porous material. The hydrogen storage may be maintained at a suitable storage temperature and pressure until there is a need to withdraw hydrogen for a fuel cell or other hydrogen-consuming power plant or device. Such an adsorption-desorption process is reversible.
Metal-organic framework materials and other solid adsorbents thus provide a basis for on-board storage of hydrogen at temperatures at or below that of liquid nitrogen (about 80K) and pressures of about 20 bar. A volume of adsorbent particles contained in a vessel adapted to maintain the specified temperature and pressure of the hydrogen-containing material would provide the basis for a fuel tank for a vehicle. The tank would have openings for storage and withdrawal of hydrogen.
Hydrogen could be made available at fixed, geographically located "hydrogen stations" in the form of compressed hydrogen gas (CGH2) or as liquid hydrogen (LH2). Hydrogen gas would then be prepared at the hydrogen-fuel station for passage into contact with the adsorptive contents of a hydrogen-fuel tank of a vehicle brought to the station for re-fueling. Desirably, the hydrogen is passed into contact with the adsorbent particles at pressure and temperature conditions that permit rapid refilling of the adsorbent materials and that can be readily attained at the fuel station.

Preparing hydrogen for cryo-adsorber storage