Shielding device for web cameras built into mobile devices such as smart-phones, tablets, netbooks and laptop computers providing such web cameras with a security cover to prevent unintentional or malicious recording of video or images. This security cover or lid allows for parental control through its activation via a driving elements which only the administrator or owner of the device possesses.

Unfortunately, numerous cases of malicious recording of video or images have been reported. This has led to the development of various devices designed to prevent unwanted recording of images or video. On the one hand, several software-based solutions exist although they do not provide sufficient guarantees for end users, since safe operation of the software or of the software-based measures cannot be guaranteed. To solve this problem, several shielding devices that can be attached to the web cameras to obstruct their field of view have been developed. Such shielding devices can be locked in two positions, an open position and a closed position, and some of them are designed to be installed during the device manufacturing process. This is the case, for example, of the Microsoft patent US2005/0068423, "Method and system for capturing video on a personal computer", dated Mar. 31, 2005, in which users may use an actuator for mechanically opening a cover located in front of the camera. The utility model CN200721762, filed by Zhou Y, uses a switch installed in the webcam itself that cuts off the electrical power supply when the camera is not in use. Other devices link the opening of the shielding cover with the start of the recording process, thus offering a shielding device easily controllable by users. This is true of U.S. Pat. No. 7,581,893, "U-cover Camera Phone", dated Sep. 1, 2009. Patent US2011/0115924 "Image pickup device", filed by Primax Electronics, presents a camera shielding device based on a shielding cover in which the driving element is an electromagnet, but control takes place through video monitoring software. Patent CN101980099, dated Feb. 23, 2011, addresses this issue through the monitoring of opacity on a liquid crystal display.
On the other hand, there are other straightforward solutions to cover the lens of web cameras that can be easily incorporated into such devices as shown in patent application PCT WO2009/137600 "Computer, Pda or telephone lens cover", dated May 6, 2009. The utility model ES1077518 U "Web cameras protection device", filed by Longares Monreal on Aug. 3, 2012, presents a device with a sliding or swinging shielding cover. Additionally, the utility model U 2012000157 "Shielding device for web cameras built into desktop computers", filed by Guillermo Olivencia Cerezo on Feb. 20, 2012, simply describes a sliding shielding cover located in front of the camera lens.
There are no known shielding devices for web cameras allowing for parental control by users.

Security cover on web cameras with parental control


A non-alcoholic, aqueous mouthwash composition is provided which contains a dispersion system containing a non-ionic surfactant selected from an hydrogenated castor oil and a polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene block copolymer having about 50% to about 90% ethylene oxide, a humectant and a cationic antimicrobial agent. The composition exhibits a homogeneous, uniform appearance and a high degree of bacterial efficacy.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a non-alcoholic, aqueous mouthwash composition. More particularly, the present invention relates to a non-alcoholic mouthwash composition which exhibits a homogeneous, uniform appearance and a high degree of bactericidal efficacy.
2. Description of the Art
Mouthwashes and oral rinse compositions have been used for many years and the art is replete with various compositions and formulations. Ordinarily, mouthwashes have been designed to clean the oral cavity, provide fresh breath and kill harmful bacteria. It is generally necessary to kill certain oral bacteria that contribute to malodor or secrete acidic residues which are harmful to teeth and aid in the development of gingivitis and periodontal disease.
Conventional mouthwashes contain a fairly high percentage of ethyl alcohol ranging from 10% to 30% by weight of the total composition. This alcohol is used both as a disinfectant and as a solvent in which other additives such as flavoring oils, color additives, fluorides and astringents can be dissolved and then dispersed into the aqueous solution. In fact, more than 95% of commercial mouthwash compositions contain greater that 15% by weight alcohol. These high concentrations of ethyl alcohol are primarily used to kill oral bacteria since lower concentrations are generally adequate to disperse the additives into the aqueous solution.
However, the use of alcohol in mouthwash compositions has detrimental or undesirable side effects for many user groups. For example, many people cannot tolerate alcohol and must, for medical and health reasons, avoid the use of mouthwash compositions containing alcohol. Further, young children and persons over the age of sixty are extremely susceptible to health risks when ingesting large quantities of alcohol. Generally, recovering alcoholics must avoid oral contact with alcohol as well as persons of certain religious beliefs. Last, those persons afflicted by dry-mouth syndrome or using certain medications, often prefer to avoid alcohol containing mouthwash compositions since the alcohol tends to remove moisture from the oral tissues and complicate the dry-mouth syndrome or feeling.
Various attempts have been made at developing non-alcoholic mouthwashes. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,918 to Cole et al and U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,785 to Wilson et al are directed to a non-alcoholic delivery system which can be used in mouthwashes. However, these patents are primarily directed to dry compositions which are dissolved in water immediately prior to use. Dry compositions avoid some of the problems associated with alcohol-free aqueous compositions, namely the inability of the aqueous compositions to form homogeneous and stable products.
While there is clearly a need for a non-alcoholic mouthwash, there are few aqueous, non-alcoholic mouthwashes in ready-to-use form commercially available which can achieve acceptable bactericidal efficacy. One commercial alcohol-free mouthwash is sold under the trademark AL-FREE by Keystone Research and Pharmaceutical, Inc. of Cherry Hill, N.J. This product contains water, glycerin, propylene glycol, polysorbate 20 and 80, cetyl-pyridinium chloride, flavors, sweeteners, and coloring agents. However, this product does not exhibit a high level of bactericidal efficacy.
While surfactants would normally be employed to achieve dispersion of the water insoluble additives, their use is limited in the present application. The use of various surfactants or surface active agents to achieve and maintain sufficient dispersion of the water insoluble components, particularly the flavoring oil, have been found to inhibit the activity of certain antimicrobial agents. Since the use of surfactants is deleterious to the activity of certain antimicrobial agents and thus, to achieving acceptable bactericidal efficacy, there are currently no known commercially available, ready-to-use alcohol-free, aqueous mouthwashes which effectively kill harmful microorganisms.
Accordingly, a significant problem encountered with formulating an alcohol-free mouthwash is that while the use of surfactants are necessary to achieve proper dispersion, these surfactants typically inhibit the activity of the antimicrobial agent. Thus, an alcohol-free mouthwash must have the ability to achieve sufficient bactericidal efficacy while obtaining complete dispersion of the water insoluble components in the aqueous composition. The present invention addresses this problem by the use of a specific dispersion system which results in a stable, homogeneous composition with good bactericidal efficacy. More specifically, it has been surprisingly found that certain surfactants, when used in low concentrations, can provide the necessary dispersing and stability characteristics needed in alcohol-free systems and also which do not adversely affect the activity of the antimicrobial agent employed.


Misalignment errors in a lithographic system resulting from the effect of environmental changes on the lens system itself are detected and corrected. A fiducial on the reticle adjacent to its working area is projected through the lens. A metrology plate carried by the lens holds reference mirrors and detectors. The reference mirrors receive the resultant image and reflect it to detectors in a reflected image plane. This provides feedback to the reticle alignment system as to the extent of misalignment, if any. Correction is made by moving the reticle until alignment is achieved and detected. This motion is achieved by using a reticle chuck with linear motors.

The invention relates to a through-the-lens alignment system for use in lithography. In particular, it relates to a system which corrects for alignment errors occurring in the optical system due to the effect of environmental changes, such as change in temperature or atmospheric pressure.
One problem in lithography is knowing the position relationship between the camera image and the substrate position.
Present lithographic alignment systems achieve alignment by referencing a fiducial in the reticle to a position of the stage. This assumes that the camera remains stable after the alignment and doesn""t drift due to the effect of environmental conditions on the lens system; and, as a result, it provides no assurance that the image doesn""t move between alignments, creating a misalignment.
In the present invention, alignment is through the lens, with fiducials in the reticle being projected through the lens system and being aligned with sensors carried by the lens and using a reflected image plane, not the image plane on the stage or substrate.
This invention is directed to correcting misalignment errors resulting from changes in the lens system itself. These errors can arise from factors such as temperature change or change in atmospheric pressure.
A fiducial on the reticle adjacent to its working area is projected through the lens, using a wavelength of light that is compatible with the lens. A metrology plate carried by the lens itself has fold mirrors to receive the resultant image and reflect it to detectors in a reflected image plane. This provides feedback to the reticle alignment system. Thus, if environmental conditions associated with the lens create a misalignment due to camera problems, the extent of the change is detected and continuously corrected.
Since the misalignment is not related to the stage, and is not detected at the stage, it is not corrected by moving the stage. Rather, correction is made by moving the reticle until alignment is achieved and detected. This motion is achieved by having a reticle stage with linear motors to move the reticle until alignment is achieved.

Reticle alignment system for use in lithography


Various methods and devices are provided to address the need for improved multicast operation. In one method, a feedback mobile device receives (301), from a multicast sender, a multicast transmission for a plurality of mobile devices, the plurality of mobile devices further including a group of non-feedback mobile devices. The feedback mobile device transmits (302) an indication of feedback mobile channel quality observed by the feedback mobile device to the multicast sender and to the group of non-feedback mobile devices. The feedback mobile device receives (303) from at least one non-feedback mobile device, an indication of non-feedback mobile channel quality at the at least one non-feedback mobile device and transmits (304) an indication of the non-feedback mobile channel quality to the multicast sender and to the group of non-feedback mobile devices.

This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the inventions. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is prior art or what is not prior art.
In recent years, there has been a rapid growth of smart mobile devices (i.e. smart-phones) that among other things, allow the users to browse the web and watch video clips. These new capabilities open up a new and untapped market with sizable revenue opportunities for various stakeholders by enabling rich multimedia content delivery to mobile users. Today, the vast majority of the smart-phones are equipped with Wi-Fi and cellular radios, and both interfaces can be used for content delivery. However, using existing technologies, rich multimedia content such as video streams cannot be provided in crowded areas due to the high bandwidth requirements of delivering such content and the shortage of wireless resources in both the cellular and the Wi-Fi networks.
Thus, new solutions and techniques that are able to address these issues and support rich multimedia content delivery in crowded areas would meet a need and advance wireless communications generally.
Specific embodiments of the present invention are disclosed below with reference to FIGS. 1-4. Both the description and the illustrations have been drafted with the intent to enhance understanding. For example, the dimensions of some of the figure elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements, and well-known elements that are beneficial or even necessary to a commercially successful implementation may not be depicted so that a less obstructed and a more clear presentation of embodiments may be achieved. In addition, although the logic flow diagrams above are described and shown with reference to specific steps performed in a specific order, some of these steps may be omitted or some of these steps may be combined, sub-divided, or reordered without departing from the scope of the claims. Thus, unless specifically indicated, the order and grouping of steps is not a limitation of other embodiments that may lie within the scope of the claims.
Simplicity and clarity in both illustration and description are sought to effectively enable a person of skill in the art to make, use, and best practice the present invention in view of what is already known in the art. One of skill in the art will appreciate that various modifications and changes may be made to the specific embodiments described below without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the specification and drawings are to be regarded as illustrative and exemplary rather than restrictive or all-encompassing, and all such modifications to the specific embodiments described below are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Method and apparatus for improved multicast service using negotiated feedback


A method of shaping a semisolid metal comprising pouring a molten aluminum or magnesium alloy which contains a crystal grain refiner and which is superheated to less than 50° C. above a liquidus temperature of aluminum or magnesium, directly into a vessel without using a cooling jig, maintaining the alloy in the vessel for 30 seconds to 30 minutes as a resultant melt is cooled to a temperature where a specified liquid fraction is established such that a temperature of the poured alloy which is liquid and superheated to less than 10° C. above the liquidus temperature or which is partially solid, partially liquid and at a temperature of less than 5° C. below the liquidus temperature decreases from an initial level and passes through a temperature zone 5° C. below the liquidus temperature within at least 10 minutes, whereby fine primary crystals are generated in the alloy, recovering the alloy from the vessel, supplying the alloy into a mold, and shaping the alloy under pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of shaping semisolid metals. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of shaping semisolid metals, in which a liquid alloy having crystal nuclei at a temperature not lower than the liquidus temperature or a partially solid, partially liquid alloy having crystal nuclei at a temperature not lower than a molding temperature is fed into an insulated vessel having a heat insulating effect, holding the alloy for a period from 5 seconds to 60 minutes as it is cooled to the molding temperature where a specified liquid fraction is established, thereby generating fine primary crystals in the alloy solution and the alloy is shaped under pressure. The invention also relates to an apparatus for implementing this method.
More particularly, the invention further relates to a method of shaping semisolid metals, in which a liquid alloy having crystal nuclei and at a temperature not lower than the liquidus temperature or a partially solid, partially liquid alloy having crystal nuclei and at a temperature less than the liquidus temperature but not lower than the molding temperature is poured into a holding vessel, cooled at an average cooling rate in a specified range and held as such until just prior to the start of shaping under pressure, whereby fine primary crystals are generated in the alloy solution and the alloy within the holding vessel is temperature adjusted by induction heating such that the temperatures of various parts of the alloy fall within the desired molding temperature range for the establishment of a specified fraction liquid not later than the start of shaping and the alloy is recovered from the holding vessel, supplied into a forming mold and shaped under pressure.
The invention also relates to a method of shaping semisolid metals, in which a molten aluminum or magnesium alloy containing a crystal grain refiner which is maintained superheated to less than 50° C. above the liquidus temperature is poured directly into a holding vessel without using any cooling jig and held for a period from 30 seconds to 30 minutes as the melt is cooled to the molding temperature where a specified liquid fraction is established such that the temperature of the poured alloy which is either liquid and superheated to less than 10° C. above the liquidus temperature or which is partially solid, partially liquid and less than 5° C. below the liquidus temperature is allowed to decrease from the initial level and pass through a temperature zone 5° C. below the liquidus temperature within 10 minutes, whereby fine primary crystals are generated in the alloy solution, and the alloy within said holding vessel is temperature adjusted by induction heating such that the temperatures of various parts of the alloy fall within the desired molding temperature range for the establishment of a specified fraction liquid not later than the start of shaping and the alloy is recovered from the holding vessel, supplied into a forming mold and shaped under pressure.
2. Background Information
Various methods for shaping semisolid metals are known in the art. A thixo-casting process is drawing researchers' attention these days since it involves a fewer molding defects and segregations, produces uniform metallographic structures and features longer mold lives but shorter molding cycles than the existing casting techniques. The billets used in this molding method (A) are characterized by spheroidized structures obtained by either performing mechanical or electromagnetic agitation in temperature ranges that produce semisolid metals or by taking advantage of recrystallization of worked metals. On the other hand, raw materials cast by the existing methods may be molded in a semisolid state. There are three examples of this approach; the first two concern magnesium alloys that will easily produce an equiaxed microstructure and Zr is added to induce the formation of finer crystals [method (B)] or a carbonaceous refiner is added for the same purpose [method (C)]; the third approach concerns aluminum alloys and a master alloy comprising an Al-5% Ti-1% B system is added as a refiner in amounts ranging from 2–10 times the conventional amount [method (D)]. The raw materials prepared by these methods are heated to temperature ranges that produce semisolid metals and the resulting primary crystals are spheroidized before molding. It is also known that alloys within a solubility limit are heated fairly rapidly up to a temperature near the solidus line and, thereafter, in order to ensure a uniform temperature profile through the raw material while avoiding local melting, the alloy is slowly heated to an appropriate temperature beyond the solidus line so that the material becomes sufficiently soft to be molded [method (E)]. A method is also known, in which molten aluminum at about 700° C. is cast to flow down an inclined cooling plate to form partialy molten aluminum, which is collected in a vessel [method (F)].
These methods in which billets are molded after they are heated to temperatures that produce semisolid metals are in sharp contrast with a rheo-casting process (G), in which molten metals containing spherical primary crystals are produced continuously and molded as such without being solidified to billets. It is also known to form a rheo-casting slurry by a method in which a metal which is at least partially solid, partially liquid and which is obtained by bringing a molten metal into contact with a chiller and inclined chiller is held in a temperature range that produces a semisolid metal [method (H)].
Further, a casting apparatus (I) is known which produces a partially solidified billet by cooling a metal in a billet case either from the outside of a vessel or with ultrasonic vibrations being applied directly to the interior of the vessel and the billet is taken out of the case and shaped either as such or after reheating with r-f induction heater.
However, the above-described conventional methods have their own problems. Method (A) is cumbersome and the production cost is high irrespective of whether the agitation or recrystallization technique is utilized. When applied to magnesium alloys, method (B) is economically disadvantageous since Zr is an expensive element and concerning method (C), in order to ensure that carbonaceous refiners will exhibit their function to the fullest extent, the addition of Be as an oxidation control element has to be reduced to a level as low as about 7 ppm, but then the alloy is prone to burn by oxidation during the heat treatment just prior to molding and this is inconvenient in operations.
In the case of aluminum alloys, about 500 μm is the size that can be achieved by the mere addition of refiners and it is not easy to obtain crystal grains finer than 100 μm to 200 μm. To solve this problem, increased amounts of refiners are added in method (D), but this is industrially difficult to implement because the added refiners are prone to settle on the bottom of the furnace; furthermore, the method is costly. Method (E) is a thixo-casting process which is characterized by heating the raw material slowly after the temperature has exceeded the solidus line such that the raw material is uniformly heated and spheroidized. In fact, however, an ordinary dendritic microstructure will not transform to a thixotropic structure (in which the primary dendrites have been spheroidized) upon heating. According to method (F), partially molten aluminum having spherical particles in the microstructure can be obtained conveniently but no conditions are available that provide for direct shaping.
Moreover, thixo-casting methods (A)–(F) have a common problem in that they are more costly than the existing casting methods because in order to perform molding in the semisolid state, the liquid phase must first be solidified to prepare a billet, which is heated again to a temperature range that produces a semisolid metal. In addition, the billets as the starting material are difficult to recycle and the liquid fraction cannot be increased to a very high level because of handling considerations. In contrast, method (G) which continuously generates and supplies a molten metal containing spherical primary crystals is more advantageous than the thixocasting approach from the viewpoint of cost and energy but, on the other hand, the machine to be installed for producing a metal material consisting of a spherical structure and a liquid phase requires cumbersome procedures to assure effective operative association with the casting machine to yield the final product. Specifically, if the casting machine fails, difficulty arises in the processing of the semisolid metal.
Method (H) which holds the chilled metal for a specified time in a temperature range that produces a semisolid metal has the following problem. Unlike the thixo-casting approach which is characterized by solidification into billets, reheating and subsequent shaping, the method (H) involves direct shaping of the semisolid metal obtained by holding in the specified temperature range for a specified time and in order to realize industrial continuous operations, it is necessary that an alloy having a good enough temperature profile to establish a specified liquid fraction suitable for shaping should be formed within a short time. However, the desired rheo-casting semisolid metal which has a fraction liquid and a temperature profile that are suitable for shaping cannot be obtained by merely holding the cooled metal in the specified temperature range for a specified period.
In method (I), a case for cooling the metal in a vessel is employed but the top and the bottom portions of the metal in the vessel will cool faster than the center and it is difficult to produce a partially solidified billet having a uniform temperature profile and immediate shaping will yield a product of nonuniform structure. Furthermore, considering the need to satisfy the requirement that the partially solidified billet as taken out of the billet case has such a temperature that the initial state of the billet is maintained, it is difficult for the liquid fraction of the partially solidified billet to exceed 50% and the maximum that can be attained practically is no more than about 40%, which makes it necessary to give special considerations in determining injection and other conditions for shaping by diecasting. If the liquid fraction of the billet has dropped below 40%, it could be reheated with a r-f induction heater but is is still difficult to attain a liquid fraction in excess of 50% and special considerations must be made in injection and other shaping conditions. In addition, eliminating any significant temperature uneveness that has occurred within the partially solidified billet is a time-consuming practice and it is required, although for only a short time, that the r-f induction heater produce a high power comparable to that required in thixo-casting. In addition it is necessary to install multiple units of the r-f induction heater in order to achieve continuous operation in short cycles.
Another problem with the industrial practice of shaping semisolid metals in a continuous manner is that if a trouble occurs in the casting machine, the semisolid metal may occasionally be held in a specified temperature range for a period longer than the prescribed time. Unless a certain problem occurs in the metallographic structure, it is desired that the semisolid metal be maintained at a specified temperature; in practice, however, particularly in the thixo-casting process where the semisolid metal is held with its temperature elevated from room temperature, the metallographic structure becomes coarse and the billets are considerably deformed (progressively increase in diameter toward the bottom) and, in addition, such billets are usually discarded, which is simply a waste in resources, unless their temperatures are individually controlled.
The present invention has been accomplished under these circumstances of the prior art and has an object is to provide a method that does not use billets or any cumbersome procedures, but which ensures convenience and ease in the production of semisolid metals having fine primary crystals and shaping them under pressure.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus that can implement this method.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method to produce semisolid metal (including those which have higher values of liquid fraction than what are obtained by the conventional thixo-casting process) which are suitable for subsequent shaping on account of both a uniform structure containing spheroidized primary crystals and uniform temperature profile in a convenient and easy manner with such great rapidity that the power requirement of the r-f induction heater is no more than 50% of what is commonly expended in shaping by the thixo-casting process, the semisolid metals being subsequently shaped under pressure.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A thermoplastic composite material includes a thermoplastic polymer matrix component, a microparticle component, a nanoparticle component, and a compatibilizing agent component, at least a portion of the microparticle component and/or nanoparticle component is a natural fiber.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
Composite materials are used in a variety of applications, ranging from body panels and interior trim to structural components of motor vehicles, as well as in a wide range of componentry in other fields. Typical composites include long and short glass fiber filled thermoplastics. Glass being a denser material than thermoplastics, the overall density of a glass fiber composite is higher than the thermoplastic it fills. Increased overall density leads to increased weight which, in vehicle applications can result in reduced fuel efficiency and increased emissions per mile. Long fiber composites, at high loadings, may cause excessive wear to processing equipment, causing increased production costs over time. Additionally, many glass fiber composite materials require significant energy for their preparation and production.
Thus, while current composite materials achieve their intended purpose in motor vehicle applications, there is a need for new and improved methods for producing composite materials that support growing efforts to develop more environmentally friendly or sustainable materials, that improve the mechanical properties and reduce the weight of the composite materials, and that reduce the concentrations of long fibers to reduce abrasion wear on equipment.

Hybrid thermoplastic composites with long and short fiber materials and natural nanoparticles


A door light frame assembly adapted for use with any of three different types of door construction includes a universal outer frame structure, attachable by screws to any one of three different inner frame structures, depending upon the type of door construction with which the frame assembly is to be used, for securely gripping the inner and outer sides of the door construction around the perimeter of an opening therethrough. The inner and outer frame structures, when assembled, also cooperate to define two separate peripheral channels of different widths for respectively clamping two different-thicknesses of window pane units. The outer frame structure also includes a peripheral groove cut away at two spaced-apart locations therein to define access openings for receiving therein peripheral edge portions of a flexible insert.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to window frame assemblies and, in particular, to frames for door lights.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known to provide door light frame assemblies, i.e., assemblies for installing a glass or other type glazing member in an opening in a door. Typically, such frame assemblies may comprise inner and outer frame structures which are shaped to fit in the opening and respectively engage the inner and outer sides of the door around the perimeter of the opening for cooperation to clamp therebetween a window pane unit. Such frame assemblies are typically specifically designed for the particular type of door construction in which the door light is to be mounted. The frame assembly may also be specifically designed to accommodate a particular thickness of window pane unit.
It is also known to provide frame assemblies with an adjustable-width channel for accommodating different thicknesses of window pane unit, such as a single strength non-insulated window pane or an insulated double pane unit, but this usually requires adjustment of the separation between the inner and outer frame structures.
Door light assemblies are sometimes provided with decorative inserts in the nature of a covering for the window pane unit which is provided with one or more openings therein to expose predetermined portions of the pane unit and give the appearance of a different-shaped window. Commonly, such inserts are clamped between the window pane unit and the frame assembly. This, however, necessitates disassembly of the door light unit if the insert is to be removed for cleaning, replacement with a different type insert, or the like.


A process for multistage regeneration of spent FCC catalyst in an "Orthoflow" or stacked FCC unit having a stripper mounted over the regenerator. Spent catalyst is discharged into a fast fluidized bed coke combustor heated by direct contact heat exchange with catalyst and large particles or beads of CO combustion promoter. The large particle CO combustion promoter is trapped in the coke combustor, to permit complete CO combustion, with limited coke combustion.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process and apparatus for stripping and regenerating fluidized catalytic cracking catalyst.
2. Description of Related Art
In the fluidized catalytic cracking (FCC) process, catalyst, having a particle size and color resembling table salt and pepper, circulates between a cracking reactor and a catalyst regenerator. In the reactor, hydrocarbon feed contacts a source of hot, regenerated catalyst. The hot catalyst vaporizes and cracks the feed at 425.degree.-600.degree. C., usually 460.degree.-560.degree. C. The cracking reaction deposits carbonaceous hydrocarbons or coke on the catalyst, thereby deactivating the catalyst. The cracked products are separated from the coked catalyst. The coked catalyst is stripped of volatiles, usually with steam, in a catalyst stripper and the stripped catalyst is then regenerated. The catalyst regenerator burns coke from the catalyst with oxygen containing gas, usually air. Decoking restores catalyst activity and simultaneously heats the catalyst to, e.g., 500.degree.-900.degree. C., usually 600.degree.-750.degree. C. This heated catalyst is recycled to the cracking reactor to crack more fresh feed. Flue gas formed by burning coke in the regenerator may be treated for removal of particulates and for conversion of carbon monoxide, after which the flue gas is normally discharged into the atmosphere.
Catalytic cracking has undergone progressive development since the 40s. The trend of development of the fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) process has been to all riser cracking and use of zeolite catalysts. A good overview of the importance of the FCC process, and its continuous advancement, is reported in Fluid Catalytic Cracking Report, Amos A. Avidan, Michael Edwards and Hartley Owen, as reported in the Jan. 8, 1990 edition of the Oil & Gas Journal.
Modern catalytic cracking units use active zeolite catalyst to crack the heavy hydrocarbon feed to lighter, more valuable products. Instead of dense bed cracking, with a hydrocarbon residence time of 20-60 seconds, less contact time is needed. The desired conversion of feed can now be achieved in much less time, and more selectively, in a dilute phase, riser reactor.
Although reactor residence time has continued to decrease, the height of the reactors has not. Although the overall size and height of much of the hardware associated with the FCC unit has decreased, the use of all riser reactors has resulted in catalyst and cracked product being discharged from the riser reactor at a fairly high elevation. This elevation makes it easy for a designer to transport spent catalyst from the riser outlet, to a catalyst stripper at a lower elevation, to a regenerator at a still lower elevation.
The need for a somewhat vertical design, to accommodate the great height of the riser reactor, and the need to have a unit which is compact, efficient, and has a small "footprint", has caused considerable evolution in the design of FCC units, which evolution is reported to a limited extent in the Jan. 8, 1990 Oil & Gas Journal article. One modern, compact FCC design is the Kellogg Ultra Orthoflow converter, Model F, which is shown in FIG. 1 of this patent application, and also shown as FIG. 17 of the Jan. 8, 1990 Oil & Gas Journal article discussed above. The compact nature of the design, and the use of a catalyst stripper which is contiguous with and supported by the catalyst regenerator, makes it difficult to expand or modify such units. The catalyst stripper design is basically a good one, which achieves some efficiencies because of its location directly over the bubbling bed regenerator. The stripper can be generously sized, does not have to fit around the riser reactor as in many other units, and the stripper is warmed some by proximity to the regenerator, which improves stripper efficiency slightly.
Although such a unit works well in practice, the regenerator operates with a relatively large catalyst inventory, a much larger catalyst inventory than would be required in a high efficiency regenerator. The long residence time, and relatively high steam partial pressure associated with single stage bubbling bed catalyst regeneration causes an undesirable amount of catalyst deactivation. We realized that it would be beneficial if the regenerator environment could be made drier, and/or if catalyst regeneration in such a regenerator could be conducted in stages, rather than in a single dense bed.
Some or our recent work has been directed to achieving multi-stage regeneration in such bubbling dense bed regenerators, such as our U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,032,251, 5,034,115 and 5,047,140 which are incorporated by reference.
Although all of the improvements listed above were in the right direction, they were not the complete solution. The approaches discussed above generally led to higher particulate loading than was desired in the dilute phase region above the bubbling dense bed. The approaches did not permit as much control as was desired in regard to the amount of catalyst recirculation to the coke combustor. Finally, we wanted to be able to achieve true multi-stage regeneration of catalyst, with complete CO combustion in the first stage, but only partial coke combustion. We had three goals:
1. Provide a simple and reliable way to control regenerated catalyst recycle to a fast fluidized bed coke combustor in an Orthoflow regenerator.
2. Have the benefits of high superficial vapor velocity first stage regeneration in a coke combustor immersed in a bubbling dense bed, without undue increase in dust loading in vapor space above the dense bed.
3. Incorporate a relatively fail safe method for achieving complete CO combustion, with only limited coke combustion, in the first stage of such a regenerator, without adding large amounts of Pt to the FCC catalyst inventory.
We developed several designs or modifications which reached the above goals.

Multi-stage regeneration of catalyst with trapped CO combustion promoter


A magnetically-driven centrifugal blood pump includes a housing and an impeller mounted for rotation within. The impeller includes a generally disk-shaped base plate and a plurality of curvilinear vanes extending axially upward therefrom. The vanes project radially outward from the base plate approximately one-third of their curvilinear length. The housing includes a rear wall spaced from the impeller base plate across a constant gap, with a sloped transition wall surrounding the rear wall and joining it to a peripheral wall. A tangential outlet is provided in the peripheral wall. A front wall extends inward from the peripheral wall with a slight conicity to an axial inlet. The vanes each have a front edge which slopes away from the front wall in the radially outward direction to provide a widening gap therebetween. The vanes have inner ends which together define a vane-free inner region below and slightly larger than the inlet. The curvature of each vane changes along its length, and a tangent angle progresses from the inner end to the outer end according to a preferred formula. Desirably, the impeller includes a pair of low magnetic retentivity plates, such as steel, which are driven by an external drive which sets up a rotating magnetic field.

A blood pump disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,507,048 comprises an impeller being supported in the pump housing between two tip bearings, the blades of the impeller being arranged at the front of a central cone. On the back side of the central cone, there is a plate having a constant distance from the back wall of the pump housing. The profiling of the blades is similar to that of aircraft wings, and they have an angle of contact of about 15.degree.. The blades are covered by a cone envelope in which another cone envelope is arranged so that the impeller forms an altogether rotating partially hollow body wherein the blades are arranged.
From EP 0 451 376 A1, a blood pump is known wherein the impeller comprises a plane plate from which the blades project to the front, towards the inlet. The blades are slightly bent and their height decreases linearly outward. The impeller is attached to a shaft one end of which is supported in an extension of the pump housing. The front wall of the pump housing has a truncated configuration, and, with increasing radius, the back wall is set back.
Further, a blood pump is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,822, wherein the impeller is fastened to a shaft which is also supported outside the pump housing. The impeller comprises linear blades whose height decreases linearly outwards. The front wall of the pump housing has a truncated configuration and, with the radius increasing, the back wall is set back. The blades only have an angle of contact of about 60.degree.. Outwards, they project beyond the plate.
From U.S. Pat. No. 4,984,972, a blood pump is known in which an impeller consisting of a plate with a plane upper surface and a conically extending lower surface is oscillatingly supported on a tip bearing. The height of the blades of the impeller linearly decreases radially outward, the blades terminating at the outer plate edge.
Centrifugal pumps for industrial applications are configured such that they have a high pump rate with low delivery pressure. On the contrary, blood pumps have to be configured for low pump rates and relatively high pressures. A problem with blood pumps is that they are subject to considerably varying operational conditions and that it has to be ensured that harm to blood is avoided. A blood pump, for example, is used for taking over the pump function of the heart of a patient during an operation. When a vasodilative medicine is administered to the patient, the fluid resistance of the patient body decreases and the pressure against which the blood pump has to feed decreases. Further, blood pumps can be used for fully taking over the heart function or for exerting a heart-supporting function only. Accordingly, a blood pump has to be capable of delivering varying quantities (by means of different speeds). Furthermore, a blood pump has to be configured such that it operates in the occurring wide application ranges with minimum blood disintegration. Blood disintegration happens, e.g., by local temperature rises of the blood pump in the support region of the impeller, but particularly by transverse stresses and shearing stresses to which the blood is exposed in the centrifugal pump. Such effects cause a disintegration of the blood due to hemolysis, thrombocytes being activated and aggregating. This may lead to perilous clot formations. Clot formations also form in dead water zones of insufficient flow through the pump housing.
An optimization of the flow conditions in blood pumps with the target to avoid any harm to blood cannot be achieved at present on the basis of calculations and theoretical considerations due to the various operational conditions to which a blood pump may be exposed. When designing a blood pump, the engineer is dependent, to a great extent, on empiric research.


Disclosed here is a method for solving a conventional problem that no spherical aberration signal can be detected from any push-pull signal that is easy to adjust an object photodetector when a differential push-pull signal is obtained. To achieve the above object, sub-beams used to detect a differential push-pull signal are defocused from the main beam and spherical aberration signals are detected and the compensation of the spherical aberration is started while tracking controlling is off and detection of spherical aberration signals is held while the tracking controlling is on. The present invention can thus obtain both of the spherical aberration signal and the differential push-pull signal at the same time with use of the conventional detection system.

Consumer use optical disk drives are getting to be expanded in capacity by using 4.7 GB DVD media instead of the conventional 120 mm one-sided CD media having a capacity of 650 MB. And recently, the DVD media are getting to be replaced with 23 GB Blue-ray Disks (BD). The BD can record information for two hours in digital high vision quality while the DVD media can record information only for about two hours in NTSC image quality. This long-hour recording is realized by some technical improvements such as employment of shorter wavelength for semiconductor laser and high numerical aperture for objective lens. The laser wavelength is 780 nm for the CD and 650 nm for the DVD. And, for the BD, the laser wavelength reduction jumps to 405 nm (when a blue violet ray is used). Similarly, the NA is improved to as high as 0.45 for the CD and 0.6 for the DVD, and up to 0.85 for the BD in resolution. If the wavelength is assumed to be λ, the condensing spot size is proportional to λ/NA. And, when compared with the inverse number ratio of the spot area squared by the spot size, the capacity of the DVD will become 2.6 times that of the CD and the capacity of the BD will become 4.2 times that of the DVD. Actually, the capacity of the DVD is 7 times that of the CD and the capacity of the BD is 4.9 times that of the DVD. The signal processing technique such as error correction makes up for the shortage.
However, employment of such a high NA value for an objective lens to increase the capacity of the object media significantly comes to arise a side effect, that is, aberration occurrence. The aberration then causes degradation of the condensing spot due to a so-called spot fade and an increase of the spot size, which then causes the quality of recording/reproducing signals to be degraded. The objective lens is designed to condense lights optimally under fixed conditions. And, when any actual condensing state cannot satisfy the conditions, such aberration comes to occur. For example, disk inclination, improper thickness of both disk substrate and cover layer are such conditions. Of course, when the disk inclination is 0, the optimum condensation is assured. If the disk inclination is not 0, so-called coma occurs almost in proportion to the inclination angle and the substrate thickness. And, if the thickness of the disk substrate and the thickness of the cover layer are out of predetermined optimal values, aberration referred to as spherical aberration occurs in proportion to the deviation from the predetermined values. When such aberration occurs, the larger the NA value is, the more the sensitivity increases. The coma increases in proportion to the cube of the NA while the spherical aberration increases in proportion to the biquadrate of the NA. In other words, generally, the larger the NA is, the narrower the tolerance of disk inclination/thickness deviated from their predetermined values becomes.
In order to suppress the generation of such aberration partially, the disk substrate is made thin when high NA values are to be employed for the DVD and BD media. While the disk substrate is 1.2 mm for the CD media, the DVD disk substrate is reduced to 0.6 mm and the BD disk substrate is further reduced to 0.1 mm. (Actually, however, if the disk substrate is 0.1 mm, it does not function as a disk supporting member any longer. This is why, for DVD and CD media, the laser beam is not passed through the substrate to be condensed on the recording film from the back side of the substrate; the laser beam is condensed on the recording film through a 0.1 mm thick cover layer of the 1.1 mm thick substrate, which is coated at the recording film side of the substrate.) Consequently, the tolerance of BD/DVD inclination that causes coma as described above has been kept almost at the same level as that of the CD. And, because such spherical aberration often occurs in proportion to a substrate thickness deviation from its best thickness regardless of its initial substrate thickness, an increase of the NA value leads directly to the strangulation of the range of the tolerance of the substrate thickness deviation. This is why the tolerance range of the substrate thickness deviation of the BD is 3 μm, which is about 1/10 of that of the DVD, which has been 30 μm. If the BD has only one recording film layer, therefore, the BD is required to be manufactured so as to limit the cover layer thickness deviation within 3 μm. It is expected that the technical progress in recent years can satisfy the requirement, however. If a disk comes to have two recording layers formed with an interval of 20 μm and over therebetween to realize a large capacity, it is required to correct the spherical aberration to occur because of the thickness of the layer between those two recording layers (first and second) when the first layer is changed over to the second layer. In that connection, it is also required to correct the inter-layer deviation from its predetermined value, which is caused by uneven coating in a resin spinning coating process of the inter-layer film and an uneven thickness of the adhesive layer to occur in a film laminating process of the inter-layer.
A conventional technique for correcting detected spherical aberration is disclosed, for example, in WO2002/021520 (PCT application/No.JP01/007422, patent document 1). This patent document 1 discloses two methods for detecting spherical aberration. One of the methods detects a focal point at two places separately; a focal point of a beam detected around its beam axis and a focal point of a beam detected in the periphery of the beam axis. And, spherical aberration is detected from a deviation from each of the focal points. The essence of the spherical aberration is that the focal points of a beam close to the beam axis and a beam away from the beam axis are deviated from the beam axis in the front and rear direction. The conventional method detects such a deviation directly. This method can detect both of defocus error signals and spherical aberration signals in real time, so that the method can realize dynamic servo compensation of such spherical aberration.
The second method makes good use of a phenomenon that a focal point that gives the maximum amplitude to a tracking error signal (hereinafter, to be referred to as a push-pull signal) changes due to a value of such spherical aberration. A detecting method referred to as a push-pull method is used for detecting tracking error signals. The detecting method is also described in the above patent document 1. In the case of tracking error signal detection by the push-pull method, the following effect is used; the effect means that the reflection light from the disk is separated into a 0th order beam and a ±1st order diffracted beam due to a guiding groove formed cyclically on the disk and those separated beams interfere each other, thereby the interference intensity changes according to a tracking error. In other words, a two-divided photodetector is used to receive the intensity of the interference between the ±1st order beam and the 0th order beam and the intensity of the interference between the −1st order beam and the 0th order beam separately and a tracking error signal is obtained from a differential output of the photodetector. If the beam spot is positioned just on the track, those two beams are balanced, thereby the error signal takes a value of 0.
The JP-A No.351255/2001 discloses the third method. According to the method, in order to obtain push-pull signals of which focal points are defocused from the best focal point in the front and rear direction at the same time, three beams (one main beam and two sub-beams) are injected into the disk and a focus error is set in each of the two sub-beams beforehand so as to defocus it from the best focal point in the front and rear direction. And, when those sub-beams are deviated from the main beam just by ¼ of the guiding groove cycle on the disk or when a diffraction grating is used to dispose the main beam just on the track so as to obtain an effect equivalent to the above-described one practically, the push-pull signals from those two sub-beams come to have the maximum and minimum values. Consequently, when in tracking, the spherical aberration signal is obtained from a difference between the push-pull signals of the two sub-beams.
The differential push-pull method is described in, for example, in JP-A No.296875/11. Tracking error detection by the push-pull method is characterized in that consecutive tracking error signals can be detected easily from one beam spot. If the objective lens moves in the radial direction of the disk with respect to the injection beam when in tracking control, however, the beam spot formed in the photodetector also moves in combination with the objective lens sometimes to cause an offset error. In this conventional example, in order to avoid such a problem, three beam spots are condensed on the disk and two sub-spots adjacent to the main spot are deviated from the main spot just by ½ of the guiding groove cycle in the radial direction of the disk. As a result, tracking error signals of which polarities are inverted by 180° from that of the main spot are obtained from the sub-spots. And, because an offset error occurs in the main spot and the sub-spots at the same polarity respectively, a difference between the tracking error signal of the main spot and that of each of the sub-spots is calculated to enable detection of offset-cancelled tracking error signals.
[Patent document 1] W02002/021520
[Patent document 2] JP-A No.351255/2001
[Patent document 3] JP-A No.296875/1999

Optical disc drive apparatus, information reproducing or recording method


An electrolytic manganese dioxide having a composition of MnOx, wherein X is 1.90 to 1.96, an adhesive moisture content of not less than 1.5% by weight as measured according to the procedure specified in JIS, and a content of bound water, eliminative in the temperature range of 120.degree. to 400.degree. C., of not less than 3.0% by weight as measured by gravimetry, a process for preparing the same, and a manganese dry cell comprising a cathode mix comprised of a mixing of the electrolytic manganese dioxide with a conductive acetylene black, preferably a conductive acetylene black having a BET specific surface area of 70 to 2.50 m.sup.2 /g, and an electrolyte composed mainly of zinc chloride and/or ammonium chloride. In the process of preparing the electrolytic manganese dioxide, after electrolysis and during or after neutralization, the manganese dioxide is heated in an aqueous solution at 50.degree. to 100.degree. C. for 12 to 48 hours in the presence of an alkaline ammonium compound.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an eletrolytic manganese dioxide having particular properties, a process for preparing the same, and a manganese dry cell comprising a cathode active material comprised of a mixture of said electrolytic manganese dioxide with a conductive acetylene black, especially a conductive acetylene black having a BET specific surface area of 70 to 250 m.sup.2 /g, and an electrolyte composed mainly of zinc chloride and/or ammonium chloride.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A manganese dry cell comprising an electrolytic manganese dioxide as a cathode active material, a zinc alloy as an anode active material, and an aqueous solution, as an electrolyte, composed mainly of zinc chloride and/or ammonium chloride is well known in the art.
The electrolytic manganese dioxide used in the cathode of this manganese dry cell has hitherto been prepared, for example, by practicing the steps of electrolysis, then washing with water or hot water, and neutralization. A manganese dry cell using the above electrolytic manganese dioxide as the cathode has a problem that, during storage, the electrolytic manganese dioxide is reacted with a conductive acetylene black to evolve carbon dioxide gas, increasing the internal resistance during discharge, which causes the properties to deteriorate with prolonging the storage period. This tendency is more significant under high drain conditions required, in recent years, of dry cells, making it urgently necessary to solve this problem.
Further, in recent years, in order to improve high drain characteristics of manganese dry cells, an attempt has been made to use a conductive acetylene black having a high specific surface area to improve the ability of the electrolytic manganese dioxide to absorb and hold the electrolyte necessary for the discharge reaction. The conductive acetylene black having such a high specific surface area, however, unfavorably has high reactivity with the electrolytic manganese dioxide.
On the other hand, a conductive acetylene black having a low reactivity with the electrolytic manganese dioxide is unsatisfactory in the capability of holding the electrolyte, resulting in deteriorated high drain characteristics.
In order to overcome this problem, the electrolytic manganese dioxide can be heated in air to lower the reactivity. This, however, reduces the amount of adhesive moisture which is very important for discharge characteristics of manganese dry cells. In particular, heating at 100.degree. C. or above results in loss of bound water as well, posing a problem that the initial discharge characteristics per se of the dry cells are remarkably deteriorated.
Storage of the electrolytic manganese dioxide for a very long period of time is another means to prevent the reaction between the electrolytic manganese dioxide with the conductive acetylene black. However, it is difficult to produce such electrolytic manganese dioxide on a commercial scale.

Electrolytic manganese dioxide, process for preparing the same, and manganese dry cell


A method and apparatus for galvanically measuring vapor pressure of a volatile liquid is described. Vapor pressure of the volatile liquid is derived by galvanically detecting the reduction in oxygen partial pressure in air that is caused by evaporation of the volatile liquid into that air. In one example, an automotive engine/fuel EVAP system is described in which fuel vapor pressure exiting an EVAP canister is measured during purging. The measurement is used to compensate the primary fuel supply to better control overall air/fuel ratio to the engine during purging. In another example, a galvanic oxygen meter is used to identify the type of volatile liquid, including the RVP of engine fuel.

This invention relates to vapor pressure detection and diagnostics. Most specifically, the invention relates to detection of gasoline vapor pressure and its application to fuel control in an internal combustion engine.
There are instances where one wants to know the vapor pressure of a volatile liquid for control and/or diagnostic purposes, but direct and/or immediate vapor pressure measurement is not practical by ordinary techniques. In addition, one might want to know the vapor pressure of the liquid as it actually exists under the conditions of its storage container. In one example, one may simply want to quickly identify the type of fuel contained in an automobile fuel tank or in a bulk storage tank. Another example involves automotive internal combustion engine control systems. Precise and immediate knowledge of fuel vapor pressure, i.e., fuel volatility, is often desired in automotive engine control systems. For fuel control of an automobile internal combustion engine, fuel volatility is generally measured as reid vapor pressure (RVP), which is vapor pressure measured at 100xc2x0 F. under a specified manner of measurement. High gasoline RVP improves engine startability and driveability at low ambient temperatures but can have a negative effect on precision of certain fueling system diagnostics. It is recognized that vapor pressure, and more specifically RVP, can vary significantly among available fuels. Hence, it is desirable that the fuel control system be able to identify the type of fuel being used and, more specifically, vapor pressure of the fuel being used. As pointed out in my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,610 Reddy, it is desirable to determine the precise vapor pressure, usually as RVP, of the fuel being used by an automobile""s internal combustion engine. It is desired so that the fueling system control and diagnostics can be adjusted to match it. This provides increased emission control, driveability and integrity of diagnostics.
However, just knowing the RVP of the fuel being furnished to an engine is not enough information to adequately control the ratio of air and fuel being supplied to the engine if the engine has an EVAP system. Most United States automobiles have on-board EVAP systems that include a canister for collecting and storing fuel vapors evaporating from the engine fuel tank. The canister is purged of these vapors by allowing air to enter the storage canister upstream from a canister outlet to create an air/fuel mixture of unknown air to fuel ratio. The canister air/fuel mixture is drawn into the engine for combustion during engine operation, while the engine is already running under a primary air and fuel control. Accordingly, the air/fuel mixture coming to the engine from the canister supplements the engine""s primary air/fuel feed. In other words, it adds fuel and air to the primary air/fuel feed. However, before purge of the canister starts, the primary air/fuel mixture being fed to the engine is already balanced to a predetermined optimum. Introducing the purge vapors to it will upset this balance.
The volume of air/fuel mixture exiting the canister is substantially fixed. However, the ratio of air to fuel in the mixture is not. To provide more precise fuel control for the engine, it is desirable to know the air to fuel ratio of the mixture as it exits the canister, and then concurrently adjust the primary fuel control to compensate for it. The primary fuel control can then add or reduce its primary fuel supply so that the total resultant air/fuel mixture combusted in the engine is at the desired level even during canister purge. This is a forward-looking method of fuel control, as compared to a reactive fuel control in which fuel is controlled in response to a signal from an exhaust gas oxygen sensor.
I recognize that vapor pressure of the fuel in the mixture exiting the canister is a measure of mixture air/fuel ratio. If fuel vapor pressure in the exiting mixture is measured during purge, a more forward control of engine air/fuel ratio can be obtained. As indicated above, knowing the vapor pressure, i.e., concentration, of the fuel in the air coming from the canister allows one to concurrently adjust the primary air/fuel feed a corresponding amount. One does not have to wait for feedback from the exhaust oxygen sensor to adjust the primary air/fuel feed. Accordingly, this provides a forward control of air/fuel ratio to the engine that offers a variety of benefits.
EVAP systems, also referred to herein as systems, include on-board refueling vapor recovery (ORVR) systems. These systems may include a vapor line from an automobile fuel tank to a canister filled with fuel-adsorbing material, usually carbon. They also include a valved vapor line from the canister to the intake manifold of the internal combustion engine of the automobile. During refueling of the automobile fuel tank, fuel vapors in the fuel tank pass through the fuel tank vapor line to the canister, where they are trapped. The vapor line not only reduces ambient emission of fuel tank vapors from refueling but also during subsequent oration of fuel in the tank. The fuel vapors trapped in the canister are purged from the adsorbing material from time to time during engine operation, for consumption by the engine along with the engine""s primary source of fuel. The fuel, i.e., hydrocarbons, in the purge vapor can become a significant source of fuel fed to the engine. It is, therefore, important to know the hydrocarbon concentration in the purge vapor to obtain better control of fuel introduced into the engine.
In the past, some ORVR systems included complex on-board means for determining fuel vapor pressure. U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,460 Ogita and U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,796 Ogita each describe measuring vapor pressure of automobile fuel by placing a rotary vaned sensor in a vapor line from the automobile fuel tank to an EVAP canister. Fuel vapors passing along the line rotate the sensor, which emits electrical pulses indicating rate of rotation. The Ogita sensor only gives a broad indication of vapor pressure in the tank. It does not indicate what the fuel vapor pressure, especially RVP, is in the purge vapors from the EVAP canister.
In my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,610 Reddy, I determine RVP of the fuel vapor pressure in the purge vapors rather precisely, using an estimating technique. In my U.S. Pat. No. 5,884,610 Reddy, I describe an engine control system that remembers engine performance under given control conditions immediately before the purge valve on the EVAP canister is opened. That performance is then compared to engine performance immediately after the purge valve is opened. Based on the difference in engine performance, a valuable estimate of fuel vapor pressure is made. Based on this estimate, a signal is fed back to the primary air/fuel ratio control system to appropriate it adjust it for maintaining optimum air/fuel delivery to the engine. However, the system operates after purge starts, by observing its effect on engine performance estimating what is in the purge vapors, and then issuing an estimated adjustment signal to the primary fuel control.
I have now discovered a technique by which fuel vapor pressure can be directly measured, not just estimated. In some instances, such as EVAP systems, the measurement can be done in the EVAP canister itself or in the vapor line from the EVAP canister to the engine. This allows one to not only know fuel vapor pressure in the fuel tank but also to know the fuel vapor pressure, i.e., concentration, of fuel in EVAP canister purge vapors. In other systems, measurement might be in an automobile fuel tank or other fuel storage tank. The measurement is direct, not estimated.
Still further, this invention is also useful for diagnostic identification of fuel in an automobile by the primary fuel delivery system or by a service technician working on a fuel problem. This invention can also be used to quickly identify fuel volatility in other forms of storage and shipping tanks. This can be a significant help to shippers in confirming identity on site of what they think should be in a storage or transfer container. Still further, this invention need not be limited to measurement of fuel vapor pressure. Vapor pressure of various other volatile liquids could be analogously measured as well.
The object of the present invention is to provide an accurate measurement of the vapor pressure of a volatile liquid by galvanically measuring oxygen concentration in a mixture of air and vapors of that liquid. The measurement is made by simply exposing an ordinary oxygen sensor to a mixture of air and vapors of the liquid at atmospheric pressure. The sensor provides an output voltage that is a measure of oxygen partial pressure in the air/vapor mixture. The oxygen to nitrogen ratio in air is a constant, of about 1 to 4. Multiplying the oxygen partial pressure by that constant (i.e., about 5) is an effective measure of air partial pressure in the mixture. Subtracting the air partial pressure from atmospheric pressure provides a measure of fuel vapor partial pressure.
For applications where more accuracy is desired, such as automotive fuel control applications, it may be desirable to concurrently also measure temperature, and perhaps even atmospheric pressure. For many applications, fuel vapor pressure can be adequately characterized by considering that atmospheric pressure is a fixed quantity, such as a fixed reference voltage, representing a standard pressure of 760 mm of mercury or 14.7 pounds per square inch at room temperature. However, if a more precise determination is desired, atmospheric pressure can actually be measured and then used as the comparison quantity. Compensation can be made electrically for deviation in measuring temperature from the reference room temperature. If desired, the fuel vapor pressure measured by my oxygen meter can be converted to reid vapor pressure (RVP) according to the following formula:
RVP=1/(A*T)EXP(ln Pg+2731.41/T)xe2x80x83xe2x80x83(1)
where: A is 21.51
B is 2731.41
Pg is vapor pressure of fuel in pounds per square inch at the measuring temperature T
T is the Pg measuring temperature in degrees Kelvin
Hence, measurement of vapor pressure by my technique is readily usable in various vapor pressure units or forms, as might be desired.

Vapor pressure determination using galvanic oxygen meter


It is possible to solve the problem of the conventional fluorescent X-ray analysis that a concentration calculation result can be obtained only after elapse of a time set as a measurement time. In the fluorescent X-ray analysis method and fluorescent X-ray analysis device according to the present invention, a sample measurement condition is set before starting the measurement and the measurement concentration of the element contained in the sample and the measurement accuracy are calculated. When the measurement accuracy has become a value satisfying the predetermined measurement condition, the measurement is terminated and the concentration at that moment is outputted.

The danger of environmental hazardous substances being contained in the parts that make up electronic and electrical devices has been indicated in recent years, and some countries or states are now regulating by law or ordinance the amounts in which these environmental hazardous substances can be contained. For instance, in the countries of the European Union, the RoHS directive (Restriction on the use of certain Hazardous Substances in electrical and electronic equipment) prohibits the use of parts containing cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), or hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) in an amount of equal to or more than 1000 ppm (100 ppm in the case of cadmium). Consequently, it is essential that manufacturers of electronic and electrical devices make sure the parts they produce do not contain environmental hazardous substances in amounts greater than allowed.
The most common way to measure the amounts in which elements are contained is to use a fluorescent X-ray analyzer that has a sensitivity of a few dozen parts per million and allows non-destructive measurement.
Procedures for using this type of analysis method to quantify the concentration of elements contained in a sample are generally well known. An example of the method of these procedures will be described through reference to FIG. 11 (see Patent Document 1).
In FIG. 11, first, in step 301, a measurement time t is set, after which measurement begins (see step 302). Then, measurement is carried out (see step 303), the measurement is terminated after the time t has elapsed (see step 304), the concentrations are calculated, and the accuracy of this calculation result (standard deviation) is calculated, which gives results for concentrations and accuracy.
The results for concentration and accuracy are displayed by an LCD or other such display means, and printed out with a printer or the like (see step 306). There are two ways to determine the accuracy of the concentration computation result here: repeating the above-mentioned procedure a number of times (from two to ten), and measuring just once as in the above procedure and then estimating from the X-ray count.
Patent Document 1: Japanese published unexamined patent application H8-43329

Fluorescent x-ray analysis method and fluorescent x-ray analysis device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An active vibration damping system (e.g. an active tuned mass damping system) uses phasor techniques for accommodating excessive phase shifts in system components (e.g. amplifier and actuators). Optimal control techniques are used to determine preliminary coefficient values for the controller model. These preliminary coefficients are scaled to account for differences in units and the scaled coefficients are then used to determine phase angle and relative phasor magnitudes. For each component of the control force on the tuned mass, the respective phasor is shifted to accommodate a known phase shift in the system while maintaining the same relative phasor magnitude for each component. The phase-shifted coefficient values are then scaled to return the coefficients to the original units, and these coefficients are used in the controller to generate the command signal to drive the actuator that provides the control force on the tuned mass. This technique can accommodate substantial phase shifts without rendering the system unstable.

The invention arose during continuing developmental efforts by the assignee of the present application in seeking improved vibration control for rotary machinery, namely rotary knives as disclosed in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 09/045,466 entitled "A Rotary Knife With Active Vibration Control" by James R. Michler, incorporated by reference herein. During the development of active vibration damping systems using electromagnetic actuators, it was found that the actuators contributed a substantial phase lag to the control system. It was further noticed that implementing such an active damping system without accounting for the phase lag caused a reduction in performance. Therefore, it was desirable to have the control system account for the phase lag caused by the actuator. However, the phase lag was so substantial that conventional techniques, such as phase lead controllers, rendered the system potentially unstable in practice.
The invention involves the use of a new technique for accommodating excessive phase shifts in an active vibration damping system without rendering the system unstable.

Phase shift accommodation in active vibration damping system


A block assembly for locking a toothed gear housed in a frame includes a body shaped to couple to a portion of the frame adjacent to the gear for translation in a first direction parallel to an axis of the gear, and a locking block coupled to the body that includes at least one locking tooth shaped complementary to at least one gear tooth of the gear. The block assembly further includes an adjustment mechanism operable, when the body is coupled to the frame, to move the locking block in a second direction that is substantially orthogonal the axis of the gear, such that at least one locking tooth is received between a circumferentially spaced pair of the gear teeth to prevent movement of the toothed gear.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to a toothed gear and, more particularly, to an adjustable locking block assembly for use in a toothed gear.
At least some rotary machines require a toothed gear to be temporarily locked to prevent movement during an inspection and/or during maintenance of the rotary machine. Preventing movement of the gear facilitates increasing the safety of personnel performing the inspection or maintenance. However, at least some known devices for locking a toothed gear are cumbersome and difficult to align and engage with the gear, and as such, such devices may not be installed correctly, such that undesirable movement of the toothed gear may still occur. Moreover, because of the difficulty in installing such devices, a time required for inspection and maintenance of the rotary machine is increased.
In addition, at least some larger, dynamoelectric machines, such as steam turbines, are equipped with toothed gears (e.g., turning gears) that impart a slow rotation to their rotors during initial warm up and cooling down periods. More specifically, known turning gears facilitate maintaining a substantially uniform temperature within the rotor, such that the rotor does not warp or deform under its own weight as it is initially heated or as it cools down.

Adjustable locking block assembly for a toothed gear and methods of using same


An instrument panel assembly includes a frame, a first airbag supported by the frame, a second airbag supported by the frame spaced from the first airbag, and an intermediate airbag supported by the frame between the first and second airbags. The first, second, and intermediate airbags are inflatable to an inflated position in which the intermediate airbag extends from the first airbag to the second airbag.

Automobiles are subject to a variety of crash tests, including standard tests regulated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). For example, these tests may be directed toward oblique impacts, i.e., impacts that occur at an angle of 10-50 degrees relative to a vehicle's trajectory. During the oblique impact, occupants of the vehicle move forward and laterally. As one example of an oblique impact test, a moving cart with a deformable barrier moves at 56 mph and impacts a stationary vehicle at a 15 degree angle with a 35% overlap.
Several types of information are measured during the oblique crash test, including airbag performance, test dummy reaction, etc. One type of measurement are the Brain Injury Criteria (BrIC) values during the oblique impact. The BrIC values characterize occupant movement. There remains an opportunity to design a system to absorb crash energy during the oblique impact.


A frequency control method includes segmenting a range from a predetermined reference frequency to a predetermined lower limit frequency or a predetermined upper limit frequency into frequency range segments according to a number of battery apparatuses, detecting a current frequency of a power system, and causing battery apparatuses to charge from the power system or discharge to the power system in order to control a frequency or maintain a supply and demand balance of the power system, causing lager number of battery apparatuses to charge or discharge as a frequency range segment including the current frequency becomes farther apart from the reference frequency.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a frequency control system, a frequency control apparatus, a battery apparatus, and a frequency control method for control to set a frequency of a power system close to a reference frequency.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-16077 discloses a technique that performs charge and discharge control to maintain a frequency of a power system to a reference frequency by charging power to a battery system connected to a power system or discharging power from the battery system.
In the frequency control system disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-16077, however, the overall efficiency of the whole system including multiple batteries is not sufficiently high.

Frequency control method and frequency control apparatus

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A circuit verification device includes emulators to which circuit portions obtained by dividing the circuit are implemented. The emulators communicate with each other through a bus to verify the functional operation of the circuit. The circuit is divided based on a communication occurrence pattern between circuit units so that the number of communications occurring between circuit portions is minimized. The input signals of the bus are preferably arranged in the bus address space in descending order of a signal change rate, and a burst transfer may be utilized. Through paths within the circuit being verified are searched, and a plurality of circuit units is divided so as to minimize the number of through paths among the circuit portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for assisting in the design of a logic circuit, and particularly relates to a device and method for executing operational verification of the logic circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the scale of circuits that can be mounted in digital LSI enlarges each year, the issue of increasing the speed of operational verification is becoming more and more important. Methods in general use for enhancing verification speed employ a hardware emulator that uses a programmable device such as FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) or CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device).
Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2000-215226 discloses a logic verification device which can efficiently perform logic verification in the case where a module in which logic information is defined up to a structural level is mixed with a module in which such definition is not present. Specifically, the circuit being verified is divided into a first part verified by a hardware emulator and a second part verified by a software simulator depending on the level of abstraction of the logic information. The circuit verification is performed by synchronizing the clocks of the hardware emulator and the software simulator to perform mutual transfer of data (see paragraphs 0046 through 0052 and FIGS. 1 and 2). Since the logic being verified is executed not only by the software simulator but by the hardware emulator as well, verification can be performed at a higher speed than with a software simulator alone.
However, division of the circuit in the conventional logic verification device as described above is performed according to the level of abstraction of the logic information, so there is no degree of freedom in the circuit division, and an increase in the speed of verification cannot be achieved.
Furthermore, in the software simulator of the conventional logic verification device described above, data are sent and received to and from the hardware emulator via the CPU system bus, but the arrangement of the data that are sent and received follows the specifications of the system bus (see paragraph 0048 of Japanese Laid-open Patent Application No. 2000-215226). Because of this, the verification speed of the circuit is determined by the transfer speed of the bus, and efficient data transfer cannot be performed.

Circuit operation verification device and method


A circuit structure which avoids a latchup effect. An N-well is formed in a P-type substrate. An N-type contact is formed in the N-well. A PMOS is located on the N-well. A gate of the PMOS connects to an input terminal and a source region of the PMOS connects to a voltage source. A first NMOS and a second NMOS are located on the P-type substrate. A gate of the first NMOS connects to the input terminal, a source region of the first NMOS connects to a ground terminal, and a drain region of the first NMOS connects to an output terminal and a drain region of the PMOS. A gate of the second NMOS connects to the output terminal, a source region of the second NMOS connects to a voltage source, and a drain region of the second NMOS connects to the N-type contact.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor circuit structure. More particularly, the present invention relates to a circuit structure which avoids a latchup effect.
2. Description of the Related Art
A complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS), a basic semiconductor device, comprises a P-type metal oxide semiconductor (PMOS) and an N-type metal oxide semiconductor (NMOS). The CMOS consumes less power and the speed of the CMOS is as fast as the NMOS, so that the CMOS is widely used to fabricate high-integration devices.
FIG. 1 is a schematic, cross-sectional diagram of a conventional CMOS. FIG. 2 is a schematic circuit diagram of the CMOS in FIG. 1. The same component in FIGS. 1 and 2 is indicated by the same numeral.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an N-well 102 is in a P-type substrate 100. A PMOS 104 is on the N-well 102 and an N-type contact 108 is in the N-well 102. A P-type contact 110 is in the P-type substrate 100 and an NMOS 106 is on the P-type substrate 100. A gate of the PMOS 104 and a gate of the NMOS 106 connect to an input terminal 112. A drain region of the PMOS 104 and a drain region of the NMOS 106 connect to an output terminal 114. A source region of the PMOS 104 and the N-type contact 108 connect to a voltage source 116. A source region of the NMOS 106 and the P-type contact 110 connect to a ground terminal 118.
When a voltage of the input terminal 112 is "High", the NMOS 106 is ON and the PMOS 104 is OFF. Therefore, a voltage of the output terminal 114 is about equal to the ground terminal which is about V.sub.ss. When the voltage of the input terminal 112 is "Low", the NMOS 106 is OFF and the PMOS 104 is ON. The voltage of the output terminal 114 is about V.sub.dd which is about equal to the voltage source 116.
However, a parasitic bipolar transistor is easily formed in the CMOS. For example, in FIG. 1, a vertical, PNP-type bipolar transistor (not shown) is formed by the drain region of the PMOS 104, the N-well 102 and the P-type substrate 100. Two horizontal, NPN-type bipolar transistors (not shown) are formed respectively by the source region and the drain region of the NMOS 106, the P-type substrate 100 and the N-well 102. A positive feedback loop (not shown) is formed by these two bipolar transistors. Furthermore, these two bipolar transistors connect to each other in a structure similar to a PNPN-type diode as shown in FIG. 3.
While operating the CMOS, if a current passes through the PNPN-type diode that is larger than a triggering current of the PNPN-type diode, the PNPN-type diode is activated. A low resistance current path (not shown) is established between the voltage 116 and the ground terminal 118 at this time, so that massive current flows in this current path. This means that current leaks from the N-well. The function of the CMOS temporarily or permanently fails. This is known as a latchup effect, and occurs during CMOS operation.

Circuit structure which avoids latchup effect


For every point of an image in a special effects digital optical image formation method and apparatus the value of a border key signal is obtained by conducting a search for the maximum value of the subject's key signal in an analysis window centered on this point. The subject's key signals of the points in the window are delayed so as to make them simultaneous and are supplied to the same comparator which may be controlled in order to inhibit some of its inputs so as to define, for example, a circular analysis window; such a process makes it possible to obtain a regular border.

The present invention is related to the digital formation of images and it concerns a method and device which make it possible to create a border around a subject incrusted on a background, in particular in digital video; the invention also concerns a special effects generator including such a device.
The video signal V, output from a mixing circuit and corresponding to the incrustation of a subject on a background, has the form EQU V=aS+(1-a)F with 0<a<1
where S and F are the video signals of the subject and background respectively before incrustation, and a is a signal referred to as the key signal of the subject.
A coloured border may be added around the subject in order to make it more visible on the background. To obtain this border, it is possible first to create an incrustation on the background, according to a key signal of a border b, which corresponds to the key signal of the subject expanded in every direction; this first incrustation is produced by a video signal EQU b.B+(1-b)F with 0<b<1
where B is the video signal of the colour of the border; the subject is then incrusted on the result, according to the subject's key signal, a; this second incrustation is therefore given by the video signal EQU V.sub.b =a.S+(1-a) [b.B+(1-b) F]
Alternatively, the subject may first be incrusted on the background, by the video signal EQU V=a.S+(1-a) F
then the border only is incrusted on the result, according to the border key, c; this incrustation is produced by the video signal EQU V'.sub.b =c.B+(1-c) [a. S+(1-a) F],
and it should be noted that V.sub.b ' corresponds to V.sub.b except for the edge effects, and that c is equal to b-a.
This outline incrustation effect also makes it possible to incrust the outline on the background, without the subject.
A known bordering method involves determining the border key signal, b, by comparing, for every point i,j of the screen, the subject's key signal corresponding to that point and the subject's key signals corresponding to the points offset by 1 to n lines in the same column j, then by comparing with one another the key signals of the corresponding points offset by 1 to m points. In order to obtain a border around the outside of the subject, touching its edges, it is therefore sufficient to conserve only the maximum value obtained from the n+1 comparisons made, then to compare these maximum values to one another and again conserve only the maximum value; this latter maximum value therefore constitutes the border key signal allocated to the points on the screen having the coordinates i-n/2,j-m/2, where m and n are even numbers.
This known method can be summarized as follows: to obtain a border of n/2 lines and m/2 points around a subject, a search is performed in a rectangular window of (m+1).times.(n+1) points of the key signal of the subject for the maximum value. This value then constitutes the key signal for the point situated in the center of the window.
This known method presents some disadvantages:
when the subject has corners with acute angles, the corresponding angles of the border are horizontally and/or vertically truncated, PA0 the border is not isotropic because the purely vertical or horizontal edges are less extended than the others. For this reason, when the window is square, an edge at an angle of 45 degrees is the square root of two, that is, approximately 1.4 times more extended than a vertical or horizontal edge; therefore a border around a circular subject tends to be squarish and, the bigger the border in relation to the subject, the more this squareness becomes apparent.

Method and device for bordering, in digital optical image formation, a subject incrusted on a background


A display package having one or more media items retained therein. The display package is convertible between a collapsed position which is used for shipment and storage of the media item, an open display position for displaying the media item on a generally flat surface, and a compact display position. The display package has a base having opposing halves each formed of a pair of spaced apart upper and lower panels which are hingedly connected together along their respective outer ends. The upper panels also hingedly connected together along their inner ends. Central portions of the inner ends of the upper panels are spaced part from each other to define therebetween an elongate slot. An upright body forming portion comprising a first body panel integrally formed with and hingedly connected along a common fold line to one of said lower panels and a second body panel integrally formed with and hingedly connected along a common fold line to the other of said lower panels, said first body panel and said second body panel being secured together defining a pocket adapted for reception therein of a media item and said body panels extending upwardly through said slot. A protective wrap may be placed over the display carrier and the media item to protect them during shipment and handling.

The ability to pleasingly display a product in a package so as to entice consumers to purchase the product, the ability to adequately protect the product in the package during shipment and handling, and environmental concerns over the waste of materials used to manufacture such packages are, in today's world, constantly in conflict. This is especially true with regard to items such as plastic cards, sample products, computer games, and music discs, collectively referred to as media items. In each case, the seller or provider of the media item is interested in providing the consumer with a package which is capable of protecting the media item from damage during shipment and handling, such as on the store shelf, and providing a package which is sufficiently attractive so as to entice the consumer to purchase the product.
Media items, such as video games, are frequently packaged in carriers, such as a paperboard box, which often have dimensions exceeding 8.times.21/2.times.9 inches. These carriers are used even though a video game or similar computer program typically includes either a CD ROM disc having a diameter of less than 5" or a 31/2" computer diskette, and an instructional booklet of usually no more than twenty pages. The problem is made worse because in order to retain the CD ROM and the related instructional booklet in place, additional material, often paperboard or corrugated, is placed inside the carrier. Although the marketing and promotional requirements are well met by such large carriers, the waste of materials is dramatic.
In the music industry, promotional CDs are frequently packaged in plastic jewel cases. Although the jewel cases are useful in protecting the CD from damage during shipment and handling, because of their construction, they are difficult to open, often break, and are not environmentally friendly.
Similarly, in the food and beverage, and fragrance and cosmetic industries, prepackaged product samples are frequently inserted or secured, such as by stapling to cards which are used to ship these media items to retail outlets and/or consumers. Unfortunately, the shipping cards do not provide very good protection for or handsomely display the media item.
Prior to the advent of CDs, music was sold in the form of phonograph records. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,057,470 and 3,549,225 disclose the use of phonograph holders which receive a protective envelope surrounding the phonograph record so that in a shipping and/or storage position the protective envelope is covered by the holder to protect the protective envelope. In addition, each patent discloses the holder in an erected position which presents the protective envelope in an upright position to allow the phonograph record to be removed and inserted from the protective envelope via an opening at the top of the protective envelope. The purpose of the phonograph holders is in part to allow handling of the phonograph record by a peripheral edge thereof to thereby minimize damage thereto. However, each of the patents requires the use of a protective envelope to be secured to a central portion of the holder and, based on the configuration of the holders, each requires access to the protective envelope by means of a top opening. Furthermore, the phonograph record requires the additional protection of an outer layer, such as a transparent layer, to prevent the phonograph record from falling out of the protective envelope and the holder if the holder is inadvertently inverted or jostled during shipment and/or handling.
Consequently, the available approaches used to retain a media item for protection during shipment and handling and for handsomely advertising and/or displaying the media item, at its destination, fail in either or both of the objectives set forth above. In addition, the environmental impact of each of the aforementioned approaches is less than desirable.