A white organic light emitting device which has high color temperature characteristics and no change in color coordinates according to luminance change, includes a first electrode and a second electrode opposite to each other on a substrate, a charge generation layer formed between the first electrode and the second electrode, a second stack including a second light emitting layer formed between the charge generation layer and the second electrode, and a first stack including a first light emitting layer formed between the first electrode and the charge generation layer, wherein the first emitting layer has low singlet-triplet exchange energy to change triplet excitons into a singlet state by triplet-triplet annihilation and a dopant concentration of the first light emitting layer is adjusted according to a luminance change curve of the second stack.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a white organic light emitting device, and more particularly, to a white organic light emitting device which has high color temperature characteristics and improved change in color coordinates according to luminance change.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Recently, as the information age has arrived in earnest, a display field to visually express electric information signals has rapidly developed. In order to satisfy such a trend, various flat display devices having excellent performance, such as a thin profile, a light weight, and low power consumption, have been developed and have quickly replaced conventional cathode ray tube displays.
Examples of the flat display devices include liquid crystal display devices (LCDs), plasma display panel devices (PDPs), field emission display devices (FEDs), and organic light emitting device (OLEDs).
Among the flat display devices, an organic light emitting device not requiring a separate light source, being compact and achieving clear color display is considered as an application having high competitiveness.
Such an organic light emitting device essentially requires formation of an organic light emitting layer, and in order to form the organic light emitting layer, a deposition method using a shadow mask has conventionally been used.
However, if the shadow mask is used in a large area, the shadow mask sags due to load thereof, and thus it is difficult to use the shadow mask multiple times, and an error occurs during formation of an organic light emitting layer pattern. Therefore, methods of replacing the shadow mask are required.
As one of the methods of replacing the shadow mask, a white organic light emitting display device is proposed.
Hereinafter, the white organic light emitting display device will be described.
The white organic light emitting display device is characterized in that respective layers between an anode and a cathode are deposited without a mask during the formation of light emitting diodes, i.e., organic films including an organic light emitting layer are sequentially deposited in a vacuum state by varying components thereof.
The white organic light emitting display device has various purposes, such as use in a thin light source, in a backlight unit of a liquid crystal display device, and in a full color display device employing color filters.
The white organic light emitting display device employs a phosphorescent/fluorescent stack structure in which a first stack using blue fluorescent elements as a light emitting layer and a second stack using red and green phosphorescent elements as a light emitting layer are stacked. Such a white organic light emitting display device produces white light by mixing blue light emitted from the blue fluorescent elements and red and green light emitted from the red and green phosphorescent elements.
However, a luminance change curve of blue light emitted from the blue fluorescent elements and a luminance change curve of red and green light emitted from the red and green phosphorescent elements are different, and thus color coordinates of the resulting white light are changed. Further, the fluorescent elements have poor internal quantum efficiency and thus have white color coordinate properties in which red is strongly displayed. Such a problem needs to be solved by applying an additional algorithm to a panel at a position in which the white coordinates are changed in a low luminance region.


Tridentate cyclometalated complexes with rigid six-membered coordination rings of General Formula I having tunable emission wavelengths in the visible range. These emitters are suitable for full color displays and lighting applications.

Compounds capable of absorbing and/or emitting light can be ideally suited for use in a wide variety of optical and electroluminescent devices, including, for example, photo-absorbing devices such as solar- and photo-sensitive devices, organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), photo-emitting devices, and devices capable of both photo-absorption and emission and as markers for bio-applications. Much research has been devoted to the discovery and optimization of organic and organometallic materials for using in optical and electroluminescent devices. Generally, research in this area aims to accomplish a number of goals, including improvements in absorption and emission efficiency and improvements in the stability of devices, as well as improvements in processing ability.
Despite significant advances in research devoted to optical and electro-optical materials (e.g., red and green phosphorescent organometallic materials are commercially available and have been used as phosphors in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), lighting and advanced displays), many currently available materials exhibit a number of disadvantages, including poor processing ability, inefficient emission or absorption, and less than ideal stability, among others.
Good blue emitters are particularly scarce, with one challenge being the stability of the blue devices. The choice of the host materials has an impact on the stability and the efficiency of the devices. The lowest triplet excited state energy of the blue phosphors is very high compared with that of the red and green phosphors, which means that the lowest triplet excited state energy of host materials for the blue devices should be even higher. Thus, one of the problems is that there are limited host materials to be used for the blue devices. Accordingly, a need exists for new materials which exhibit improved performance in optical emitting and absorbing applications.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Tridentate cyclometalated metal complexes with six-membered coordination rings

Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of Arizona State University


A novel protein and a process of producing the protein is provided. The protein is a glycoprotein having activity of suppressing the differentiation and/or maturation of adipocyte, having a molecular weight of about 45 kD under non-reducing conditions and about 28 kD and/or 23 kD under reducing conditions, and exhibiting affinity to heparin. A process of producing the protein comprising culturing human fibroblasts and purifying the culture broth by chromatography using an ion exchange column, affinity column, and reverse phase column.

Obesity is a risk factor of diseases such as diabetes mellitus, hypertonia, and heart disease, which threaten health of people in advanced countries. Obesity means physical conditions wherein adipose tissues have abnormally accumulated. Adipose tissues are special organs wherein surplus in vivo energies are stored as fat or triglyceride, and constructed of fibroblasts including adipocytes and their precursors, macrophages, blood vessel surrounding cells, blood cells, and the like.
Adipocytes are said to amount from ⅓ to ⅔ of cells which are present in adipose tissues and to accumulate fats or triglycerides therein. Adipocytes differentiate and mature through the process starting from mesenchymal multipotent stem cells, and growing into lipoblasts which have acquired a base as adipocytes, precursor adipocytes with no lipid droplets but having initial markers of adipocytes, immatured adipocytes containing lipid droplets, and finally into matured adipocytes containing a large quantity of accumulated fats. Adipocytes of adults suffering from slight obesity hypertrophically grow due to increase in the amount of accumulated triglyceride. Number of adipocytes increases as the degree of obesity becomes conspicuous. Therefore, decreasing the number of adipocytes by controlling differentiation and maturation or suppressing hypertrophia of matured adipocytes are expected to stop progress of obesity by suppressing the increase in the amount of accumulated fats, and to treat obesity. Control of in vivo adipocyte differentiation has been proven to undergo either positively or negatively according to a number of factors derived from environmental factors such as ingestion, exercise, and so on. As cytokines which control differentiation of adipocytes from adipocyte precursors, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α: Torti F. M. et al., Science, Vol. 229, p 867 (1985)), transforming growth factory-β (Ignotz R. A. et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 82, p 8530 (1985)), preadipocyte factor-1 (Pref-1: Smas C. M. et al., Cell, Vol. 73, p 725 (1993)), and the like have been reported. In addition, leptin, the translational product of an ob gene which has recently been cloned, has been reported to possibly decrease the intake amount and the weight of adipose tissues via central nerve system (Levin N. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, Vol. 93. P 1726, 1996).
Furthermore, intracerebral peptide-neuropeptide Y which exhibits a strong appetite stimulating effect and its receptor are gathering attention as materials for the development of an obesity suppressing pharmaceutical (Sainsburg A. et al, Diabetologia, Vol. 39, p 353, 1996). These cytokines are expected to become a therapeutic agent for obesity due to their adipocyte depressing action on accumulation of fat. Clinical tests as an obesity therapeutic or preventive agent is ongoing on some of these cytokines such as leptin.
At present, one obesity therapeutic or preventive agent is commercially available in the USA under the Redux™ (American Home Products Co.). Other drugs such as Meridia (Kunol Co.) and Xenical (Roche Co.) will be approved as an obesity treating agent or a fat absorption inhibitor in the USA. The treatments method using these pharmaceuticals, however, are not necessarily satisfactory in the effects and therapeutic results. Development of a new agent which is available exhibits for these pharmaceuticals higher curative effect and less side effect usable have been desired.

Protein and processes for producing the same

Abstract: A cDNA encoding the protein and a process of producing the protein using the cDNA are also provided. The protein of the present invention is useful as a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating obesity or as an antigen for establishing immunological diagnosis, etc.


A lateral reinstatement cutter. A lower arm is rigidly attached to a base. A pneumatic piston is pivotally attached to the base. A pneumatic cutter is pivotally attached to the lower arm about a lower arm pivot axis and is also pivotally attached to the pneumatic piston. A camera is rigidly attached to the pneumatic cutter. The pneumatic cutter is raised and lowered by expanding and contracting the pneumatic piston causing the pneumatic cutter to pivot about the lower arm pivot axis.

Most modern residential and commercial buildings include sewage piping. As sewer pipes age it is common for them to deteriorate and leak. To repair the sewage piping system the pipes must be rehabilitated. The modern method of pipe rehabilitation involves relining the existing pipes with a cured-in-place PVC reliner to form a sealed pipe-within-a-pipe.
As a pipe is relined the connections for lateral pipes may become blocked by the relining material. Lateral reinstatement cutters are known in the prior art and are used to cut out these reliner blockages. Unfortunately, however, prior art lateral reinstatement cutters tend to be very cumbersome, expensive and difficult to operate.
What is needed is a better lateral reinstatement cutter.


The present invention relates to a gas filtering and recirculating device for a general machine having an engine and a fuel tank provided above the engine, which is mountable above the fuel tank and comprises at its one end an air outlet in fluid communication with atmosphere and an oil drain below the air outlet and above the fuel tank such that the oil drain is proximate the fuel tank, enabling the gas filtering and recirculating device to completely filter and absorb gas generated by fuel in the fuel tank and prevent the gas from discharging into the atmosphere via an air outlet in the fuel tank and causing air pollution.

Pollution (e.g., water pollution, noise, air pollution, etc.) has become a global issue as technology makes progress rapidly. Also, more people pay attention to pollution because people are aware of the importance of environmental protection. Further, many governments have given strict laws and enforced the same so as to effectively control pollution. For example, for decreasing air pollution toxic gas generated by fuel in a fuel tank is not allowed to discharge into the atmosphere as enacted by the governments.
However, air pollution caused by machines such as mowers, generators, pump motors, etc. is inevitable as known in the art. Note that the term "general machine" used in the present specification is referred to any of the above mowers, generators, pumps, etc.
Referring to FIG. 1, a typical general machine 10 comprises an engine 11, a fuel tank 12 provided above the engine 11, a fuel inlet 13 on a top of the fuel tank 12 in which fuel is flowed into the fuel tank 12 via the fuel inlet 13, and a cover 14 enclosed the fuel inlet 13 for preventing fuel from spilling out of the fuel inlet 13.
Moreover, the general machine 10 further comprises an air filter 15 provided besides the engine 11, a carburetor 16 for mixing fuel supplied from the fuel tank 12 with pure air supplied from the air filter 15 to make an explosive mixture which is then supplied to the engine 11 for combustion, and a crank case 17 having a crank shaft 18 adapted to rotate in response to the combustion. As an end, the purpose of developing mechanical power for starting motion in another machine is achieved by the general machine 10.
However, the prior general machine 10 suffered from a disadvantage. For example, as shown in FIG. 1 for facilitating fuel in the fuel tank 12 flowing into the carburetor 16 an air outlet 19 is provided on the top of the fuel tank 12. The provision of the air outlet 19 aims at utilizing atmospheric pressure to quickly direct fuel in the fuel tank 12 to the carburetor 16 so as to mix with pure air supplied from the air filter 15 for making an explosive mixture. Unfortunately, toxic gas may be generated by fuel in the fuel tank 12 to discharge into the atmosphere via the air outlet 19, resulting in air pollution. Thus, the need for improvement still exists.

Gas filtering and recirculating device for general machine


In a module substrate, a plurality of terminal connection substrates each including an insulator and a plurality of columnar terminal electrodes arranged on a single lateral surface or both lateral surfaces of the insulator is mounted on a single side of a composite substrate such that at least one of the terminal connection substrates extends over a border between a plurality of neighboring module substrates. The composite substrate, in which the plurality of terminal connection substrates is mounted on the single side and a plurality of electronic components is mounted on at least the single side, is divided at a location where the module substrates are to be cut from the composite substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a module substrate obtained by dividing a composite substrate including a plurality of electronic components mounted on a single side or both sides thereof and cutting the module substrates from the composite substrate, a module-substrate manufacturing method of cutting a plurality of module substrates from a composite substrate, and a terminal connection substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
With size and weight reduction of an electronic device in recent years, a module substrate mounted on the electronic device itself also needs to reduce its size and weight. Therefore, electronic components are mounted on both sides of the module substrate using a lead terminal, a solder ball, a cavity structure, or the like to reduce the size and weight.
Japanese Patent No. 3960479 discloses a method of manufacturing a semiconductor apparatus having an inexpensive double-sided electrode structure without forming a cavity structure or the like. That is, a plurality of connection electrodes integrated by a coupling plate is fixed on a module substrate on which electronic components are mounted, then the coupling plate is removed by grinding to form the plurality of connection electrodes on the module substrate. Thus, even if the coupling plate is inclined because the plurality of connection electrodes is fixed on the module substrate, for example, by soldering or the like, coplanarity of the module substrate can be obtained by grinding the coupling plate until the inclined state is eliminated.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-123869 discloses a module in which a spacer substrate (connection substrate) including an electrode formed using a through hole is arranged. In the module disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-123869, lands of the spacer substrate are electrically connected using the through hole. Thus, reliability of electrical connection between the module and an external substrate can be maintained high.
However, the method of manufacturing a semiconductor apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3960479 requires the step of removing the coupling plate by grinding it and thus involves a grinding step. Accordingly, there is a problem in that it is difficult to reduce the manufacturing cost. In addition, if the coupling plate was not able to be sufficiently ground, poor connections may occur in the connection electrodes.
Moreover, because the length of the section of each of the connection electrodes exposed from the coupling plate is relatively long, the connection electrode may be deformed depending on its handling in a taping step or the like before fixation on the module substrate. Thus, neighboring connection electrodes may be short-circuited.
In the module disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-123869, because it uses a through hole and thus the end surface electrode is formed of a thin plating film, there is a problem in that it is impossible to pass a large current. In addition, a complicated step, such as forming the through hole and forming the plating film, is needed.

Module substrate, module-substrate manufacturing method, and terminal connection substrate


A seed planter has at least one rock shaft carrying a rank of planter assemblies. Each planter assembly includes a torsion joint assembly connected to the rock shaft, a planting equipment linkage connected to the torsion joint, a planting equipment yoke connected to the linkage and planting tools or equipment connected to the yoke. The planting equipment linkage is a modified parallelogram linkage that keeps the planting equipment in consistent alignment over the ground even as the seed planter traverses irregular terrain. The seed planter includes a stop mechanism that limits the amount of permissible rotation of the torsion joint on the rock shaft. A stop plate is attached to the torsion joint housing for rotation with it relative to the rock shaft. An edge of the stop plate faces the rock shaft and has a jaw opening defined by upper and lower jaws that at least partially encompasses the rock shaft. Upon rotation beyond limits, the jaws intercept and lock on the rock shaft surfaces to stop further rotation between the torsion joint housing and the rock shaft. The weight of the planter assembly is thereafter carried by the stop plate and the rock shaft and not by torsion spring elements of the torsion joint assembly.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,094 issued to James R. Truax on Jun. 22, 2004 discloses a no-till seed planter with a wheel mounted frame having one or more transverse rock shafts each carrying a rank of seed planter assemblies. Each planter assembly includes planting equipment mounted on a planting equipment frame that is connected to one end of a mounting beam. The other end of the mounting beam is connected to a torsion joint attached to the rock shaft.
The rock shaft has a generally square cross-section shape. The torsion joint is the type having a box-like housing that is mounted diagonally on the rock shaft. Spaces formed between interior corners of housing and the flat sides of the rock shaft are filled with bar-like torsion spring elements. Rotational movement of the torsion joint housing, as when the planter assembly traverses irregular terrain, results in a return moment produced by deformation of the torsion spring elements.
The planter assemblies have the capacity for up and down movement relative to the rock shaft by virtue of the torsion joint. As the furrowing disk, depth gauge wheel and seed shoe of a planter assembly move over irregular terrain it is desirable that these pieces of equipment maintain a consistent alignment with the seed planter frame instead of following the ground irregularities. However a serial connection of the mounting beam with the planting equipment results in a rotation of the planting equipment and a deviation of the preferred alignment. The resultant angular disposition of the planting equipment during such an encounter with irregular terrain compromises planting efficiency.
Extreme rotation of the planter assembly on the rock shaft can tend to move the torsion joint housing to an over-center position and dislodge the torsion spring elements. A mechanism for limiting the permissible amount of rotation of the torsion joint housing relative to the rock shaft is desirable.


A sports equipment carrier for a vehicle including a rack structure adapted to be mounted to a vehicle and an equipment securing portion. The equipment securing portion includes a clamping mechanism and an adjustment member, where the clamping mechanism includes a housing and is operable between open and closed configurations. Operation of the clamping mechanism shifts the adjustment member into and at least partially out of the housing so that the adjustment member is accessible to a user in the open configuration and inaccessible to a user in the closed configuration.

Bicycles are often transported on vehicles. Numerous racks and devices have been devised to secure bicycles to vehicles during transport. One particularly common bicycle carrier utilizes a fork block mounted to a rack structure. The fork block has a skewer that clamps the front forks of a bicycle to secure the bicycle to the rack. The clamping pressure of the skewer on the forks is sufficient to stabilize the bicycle against tipping during travel. Typically, a wheel tray extends back from the fork block to support the rear wheel.
Fork block-type bicycle carriers present a number of design challenges. First, the fork block/skewer must grip the forks of the bicycle firmly enough to provide the needed stability. At the same time, it should be easy to secure the bicycle to or release it from the fork block, as well as easy to adjust to fit various bikes. In addition, the carrier should provide some way of securing the bicycle against theft when it is left unattended. More recently, bicycles have begun to incorporate front disk brakes. The disk brakes require calipers mounted to the front forks and such calipers often will not fit over the wheel tray on existing designs.


A texturing apparatus for applying a texturing to a magnetic recording medium, such as a magnetic disk including a hard drive. A substrate such as a magnetic disk is held by a substrate rotating system, which is capable of rotating the substrate. A movable laser beam source including an electro-optic modulation circuit directs a laser beam through a focusing element onto the surface of the substrate. The modulation circuit allows the laser beam to pulse at a frequency from 0.1 to 100 MHz. The focusing element allows a laser beam spot diameter of 0.2 to 4 .mu.m on the surface of the substrate. This texturing includes texturing the magnetic head contact start and stop (CSS) area of hard disks.

The present invention relates to a texturing apparatus for applying a texturing to a magnetic recording medium (magnetic recording disc) and a magnetic recording medium applied with the texturing, and more specifically, it relates to a texturing apparatus utilizing a laser beam and to a magnetic recording medium formed by using a substrate obtained by the texturing apparatus.
In a magnetic recording disc (hard disk) device for conducting reading/writing operation with a magnetic head rising from a disc, for stably maintaining a minute gap between the head and the disc, a so-called contact start and stop (CSS) system is used in which the magnetic head stops stationary in contact with the surface of the magnetic recording disc during stopping (not reading/writing state), while the magnetic head takes off and flys over the surface of the magnetic recording disc.
In the CSS system, the texturing is usually applied for forming fine traces to a CSS zone to reduce the contacting area between the head and the disc for preventing sticking abrasion or damage of the head.
For the texturing, a mechanical polishing of using a polishing tape coated with grinding particles dispersed in a binder or using a slurry containing polishing grains dispersed therein has been used generally.
However, as the magnetic recording disc device has been miniaturized in recent years, a motor used for the device also tends to be miniaturized in the size and the torque of the motor during driving is lowered as well. Therefore, no sufficient reduction of the contacting area can be obtained by the existent texturing method, so that attraction force of the head to the disc surface during stopping becomes greater than the torque of the motor to bring about a problem of sticking that hinders startings.
In addition, for improving a recording density, a flying height of the head has tended to be lowered, and accompanying therewith, the fabrication with lower and more uniform height has been demanded for texturing applied to the CSS zone.
However, in the existent texturing by mechanical polishing, it becomes difficult to control the uniformity and the fabrication height and can not cope with the recent demand. In view of the above, the texturing utilizing a Q switch YAG laser beam of narrow pulse width and high power is proposed as an alternative method in U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,021. The method disclosed in the said U.S. Pat. No. 5, 062, 021 comprises forming crater-like unevenness projections composed of a hole formed by melting and a circular rim formed therearound by being raised with the surface tension and solidified.
The texturing using the laser beam allows more easy control for the absolute height and the uniformity as compared with the existent mechanical polishing and it is considered to be a promising fabrication method in the future. However, no actual fabrication device has been considered in view of industrial production in the said U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,021.
As a result of the present inventors' earnest studies, it has been found that a magnetic recording medium obtained by using a texturing apparatus comprising: a substrate rotating means which is rotatable while holding a substrate; a laser beam source capable of continuously outputting a laser beam; a modulation means for ON/OFF control of a laser beam from the laser beam source by a pulse frequency from 0.1 to 10 MHz; a focusing means for irradiating a modified laser beam outputted from the modulation means at a spot diameter of 0.2 to 4 .mu.m to the surface of the substrate held by a substrate rotating means; and a moving means for relatively moving the laser beam outputted from the focusing means to the substrate rotating means, has a satisfactory CSS (contact start and stop) characteristic, an excellent sticking property of the magnetic head to the surface of the magnetic recording medium, and is capable of lowering a flying height of the magnetic head. On the basis of the finding, the present invention has been attained.

Texturing apparatus for magnetic recording medium and magnetic recording medium process thereby


A method and system for presentation of an augmented reality experience is disclosed. The method for producing the augmented reality viewing experience comprises viewing real-world objects such as 2D and 3D works of art or other objects through a portable device such as a smart phone, tablet or augmented reality goggles. An augmented reality application controlling the augmented reality experience prompts the viewer to begin the experience. Both three-dimensional and two-dimensional multi-media presentations, such as an animation telling a story related to the real-world object are displayed on the portable device in one or more virtual screens anchored to the real-world object.

Augmented reality is increasing in popularity for experiential enhancement in entertainment, gaming and education. Contrasted to virtual reality, where a virtual three-dimensional (3D) world may be created for a user that has no relation to the user's immediate environment, augmented reality (AR) may add virtual objects and/or sounds to real world environment of the user. Whereas the virtual reality experience creates the illusion that the user is transported or transformed to another existence, AR enhances the real world experience of the user by inserting the virtual objects within the visual field of the user. AR relies on digital displays that may be incorporated into wearable goggles or glasses, or as screens for portable devices such computer tablets or smart phones.
Virtual objects used in AR may be still or animated. In many instances, virtual objects are presented as a multimedia content, such as an animated drawing with audio, a slide show or a short video clip. In the current technologically enhanced world there are many forms of virtual. Augmented and mixed reality. Some uses include video games, lifestyle, travel and art. Typically the use of augmented or mixed reality includes the appearance of a video playing over the top of a printed trigger image as if the print itself were a digital monitor rather than a physical image.

Augmented reality experience creation via tapping virtual surfaces in augmented reality


A self-adapting digital twin of a wellbore environment can be created. The self-adapting digital twin incorporates a standalone Ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) module with a constant parameter digital twin developed for a fixed environment. The standalone EnKF module receives streaming measurement data from multiple sensors and prediction data from the digital twin and executes the standalone EnKF module using the streaming measurement data and the prediction data from the digital twin. The results of executing the standalone EnKF module are input parameter corrections for the digital twin that are communicated to the digital twin. Output predictions of the digital twin are used to modify operational parameters of an oil or gas recovery process.

Oil and gas recovery processes operate in rapidly changing environments involving many variables such as porosity of the rock in a formation, the viscosity of the deposit, etc. These variables can be difficult to account for in advance and changes can negatively impact production time and cost of the oil and gas recovery processes. Fixed-parameter models can be developed to help predict the evolution of these processes; however, constant spatial and temporal variation of process parameters related to, for example, depletion of pressure and changing properties of reservoir make adaptation of numerical models based on data from multiple sensors difficult. In the rapidly changing environments of oil and gas recovery, this results in sub-optimal processes.

Constructing digital twins for oil and gas recovery using Ensemble Kalman Filter


The disclosure describes techniques to filter unwanted noise from feedback signals of an electrical machine. An electrical machine may receive AC power from an inverter and circuitry in the inverter may cause noise on the AC power signals to the electrical machine. The noise may couple to sensors for the electrical machine and cause noise in the sensor output signals. The sensor output signals may provide feedback for a closed loop control system for the electrical machine and noise may impact the closed loop operation. Also, the noise in the feedback signals may cause electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues, either by direct radiated emissions or by coupling to other circuits in the vehicle wiring harness as the feedback signals travel from the electrical machine. The techniques of this disclosure may include filter circuitry located near or inside the electrical machine that filters out the unwanted noise in the feedback signals.

Electric and hybrid vehicles, and similarly electrically powered equipment may include a direct current (DC) power source such as a battery, that drives one or more electrical machines. For example, the drive train of the electric or hybrid-electric vehicle may control an electrical machine that receives three-phase power from an inverter configured to convert the power from the DC power source into alternating current (AC) power. Processing circuitry may receive feedback signals from the electrical machine in the drive train and adjust the output of the inverter based on the received feedback signals.

Electromagnetic emission rejection filter in hybrid/electric vehicles


Equipment (60) for the surface emission of infrared radiation, comprising a thermally insulated wall (62) forming a tunnel (63), and a number of unitary surface emission devices (1) each arranged with respect to and in the thermally insulated wall (62), characterized in that, in combination:

The present invention relates to an equipment for the surface emission of infrared radiation, such as used, for example, for drying and/or curing paints, mastics, lacquers, glues, etc., or for preheating a plastic prior to thermoforming.
By way of example, although not exclusively, the invention relates to installations of the tunnel type comprising a thermally insulated wall forming a tunnel which is elongate in a direction of residence or travel of at least one object to be treated with said infrared radiation. These installations generally comprise a number of unitary surface emission equipments or modules, each arranged with respect to and in the thermally insulated wall, in such a way that their respective faces emitting the infrared radiation face toward the inside of the tunnel. Each surface emission equipment item or module comprises one or more surface emission devices. Each said device comprises a seat of catalytic combustion comprising a catalytic combustion wall made of refractory material, permeable in its thickness and suited to the passage of a mixture for burning (fuel gas, for example natural gas, plus oxidizing gas, for example air) from its upstream face to its downstream face emitting said infrared radiation and discharging the flue gases. The developed interior surface of the catalytic combustion wall is coated with a combustion catalyzing material, for example platinum and/or palladium. The seat of combustion comprises an upstream chamber supplied, on one side, with mixture for burning and closed, on the other side, by the catalytic combustion wall.
For an installation such as the one defined above, the object of the present invention is various arrangements collaborating with one another with a view tO recuperating and consuming at least a substantial proportion of the residual heat present in the flue gases of each, or of the various, unitary, surface emission equipment item(s).
According to the present invention, the surface emission equipment comprises, in combination, the following characteristics:
the surface emission device comprises a box in which the seat of catalytic combustion is arranged at least in part, and in which there is formed an opening facing the downstream face of the catalytic combustion wall;
at least one window pane made of transparent ceramic material is mounted, for example in the box of the surface emission device, so as to form, with the seat of catalytic combustion, a circuit for discharging the flue gases leaving via the downstream face of said surface emission device;
and the equipment comprises a secondary surface emission metal sheet forming a flat circulation channel for the flue gases and communicating on the one side with the circuit for discharging the flue gases of the surface emission device and, on the other side with at least one outlet pipe for transferring the flue gases out of the equipment.
By virtue of these arrangements, the object or objects to be treated receive secondary thermal radiation which adds to the main infrared radiation, emitted by an equipment item according to the invention.

Tunnel type heating equipment for surface transmission of infrared radiation

Abstract: each unitary surface emission device (1) comprises a box (21) arranged in the thermally insulated wall (62) and in which there is formed an opening (22) facing the downstream face (30) of the catalytic combustion wall (3);

Abstract: a number of transparent ceramic window panes (23) are mounted in such a way as to form, with the various seats of catalytic combustion (2), a respective number of circuits (24) for discharging the flue gases (25);

Abstract: the thermally insulated wall (62) comprises a secondary surface emission metal sheet (64) in a direct heat-exchange relationship with the tunnel (63) and forming with the remainder of the wall (62) a channel (65) for the flat circulation of burnt gases (25).


A small watercraft comprises a hull having a longitudinal axis and an engine disposed within the hull. A tunnel is defined on an underside of the hull. A propulsion is driven by the engine and includes a jet pump unit disposed at least partially within the tunnel. An exhaust system communicates with the engine and extends to and terminates at an exhaust discharge outlet to discharge exhaust gases generated by the engine. The exhaust discharge outlet is located along the tunnel such that the exhaust gases are discharged into a space defined between the tunnel and the jet pump unit. An exhaust opening is located downstream of the exhaust discharge outlet and is defined between the tunnel and the jet pump unit. A barrier is located in the exhaust opening so as to form an exhaust sub-chamber in the tunnel upstream of the barrier.

This application claims priority to Japanese Application No. 2000-353961, filed Nov. 21, 2000, the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a personal watercraft. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved exhaust system for a personal watercraft.
2. Description of the Related Art
Personal watercraft have become very popular in recent years. This type of watercraft is sporting in nature and typically is configured to carry a rider and possibly one to three passengers. A relatively small hull of the personal watercraft commonly defines a riders"" area and an engine compartment, which lies below the riders"" area. An internal combustion engine frequently powers a jet propulsion unit, which propels the watercraft. The engine lies within the engine compartment in front of a tunnel formed on the underside of the watercraft hull. The jet propulsion unit is located within the tunnel and is driven by a drive shaft. The drive shaft usually extends between the engine and the jet propulsion device, through a wall of the hull tunnel.
Recently, the use of personal watercraft has been restricted on some bodies of water. Some proponents of the restrictions cite operation noise. Primarily because of the small size of personal watercraft, a relatively simple exhaust system generally is used, which does not provide a significant degree of silencing. In addition, because the small personal watercraft can be used on quite small bodies of water, the perceived noise levels may be greater than larger watercraft having unmuffled exhaust systems but which do not operate on these small bodies of water.
An exhaust system of a typical personal watercraft discharges engine exhaust to the atmosphere either through or close to the body of water in which the watercraft is operating. In one arrangement, the exhaust is discharged through a discharge opening formed in a rearwardly opening pump chamber, which surrounds the jet propulsion unit and a rear portion of the tunnel. The exhaust passes from the opening to the body of water along side the jet propulsion unit. Although this discharge arrangement successfully reduces exhaust noise under some conditions, there are problems associated with this arrangement. For example, as the watercraft turns, water from the jet propulsion unit can be directed into the space between the pump chamber and the tunnel. This water can lead to choking in the exhaust system, which can adversely affect engine performance. In addition, when the watercraft is accelerated to planing speeds, the discharge opening can be exposed to atmosphere. This typically results in an increase in noise pollution.
A need therefore exists for an improved exhaust system for a personal watercraft, which reduces noise pollution from the watercraft without adversely effecting engine performance.
Therefore, one aspect of the present invention involves a small watercraft that comprises a hull having a longitudinal axis and an engine disposed within the hull. A tunnel is defined on an underside of the hull. A propulsion is driven by the engine and includes a jet pump unit disposed at least partially within the tunnel. An exhaust system communicates with the engine and extends to and terminates at an exhaust discharge outlet to discharge exhaust gases generated by the engine. The exhaust discharge outlet is located along the tunnel such that the exhaust gases are discharged into a space defined between the tunnel and the jet pump unit. An exhaust opening is located downstream of the exhaust discharge outlet and is defined between the tunnel and the jet pump unit. A barrier is located in the exhaust opening so as to form an exhaust sub-chamber in the tunnel upstream of the barrier.
Another aspect of the present invention involves a small watercraft that comprises a hull having a longitudinal axis and an internal combustion engine disposed within the hull. A tunnel is defined on an underside of the hull. A propulsion device is driven by the engine and includes a jet pump unit disposed at least partially within the tunnel. An exhaust system communicates with the engine and extends to and terminates at an exhaust discharge outlet to discharge exhaust gases generated by the engine. The exhaust discharge outlet is located on the tunnel such that the exhaust gases are discharged into a space defined between the tunnel and the jet pump unit. The watercraft further including means for forming an exhaust sub-chamber within the space to reduce exhaust gas noise.
Yet another aspect of the present invention involves a small watercraft that comprises a hull. A recess is formed in a lower surface of the hull. A propulsion unit is mounted within the recess. An engine drives the propulsion unit. An exhaust system extends between the engine and the recess. The recess extends rearward to an outlet. A barrier is disposed around a portion of the propulsion unit at a location in the recess that is upstream of the outlet.
It should also be noted that all of these aspects are intended to be within the scope of the invention herein disclosed. These and other aspects of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of two preferred embodiments with reference to the attached figures, the invention not being limited to the particular preferred embodiments disclosed.


A method for providing an advertising content using a robot is provided. The method includes the steps of: determining, with reference to first situation information on a customer in a serving place and second situation information on at least one robot for providing a service in the serving place, an advertising content to be provided for at least one of the customer and the serving place and presentation property information of the advertising content; and providing the advertising content by the at least one robot with reference to the presentation property information.

Robots are utilized to replace or assist people in various fields because they can automatically perform difficult tasks or repetitive operations. Recently, various researches are being conducted on techniques for providing advertising contents using such robots.
As an example of related conventional techniques, Korean Registered Patent Publication No. 10-0904509 discloses a robot kiosk comprising: a base body disposed on a floor surface; a robot arm coupled to the base body and having a joint for rotating motion and a joint for bending motion; a display panel connected to an upper part of the robot arm and configured to display an advertising video; a front detection sensor coupled to the base body and configured to detect an approacher entering an area around the base body so that the robot arm is operated to move the display panel closer to the detected approacher; and a speaker coupled to the display panel and configured to output an advertising speech or sound.
However, the techniques introduced so far as well as the above-described conventional technique have only caused a robot to provide a predetermined advertising content via a display or speaker according to a given schedule, and have not specifically addressed dynamically determining an advertising content or a manner of presenting the advertising content with reference to situation information on surroundings.
In this connection, the inventor(s) present a novel and inventive technique for dynamically determining an advertising content and presentation property information of the advertising content in consideration of situation information on a customer in a serving place and situation information on at least one robot for providing a service in the serving place, and providing the advertising content by the at least one robot according to the presentation property information.

Method, system, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for providing an advertising content using a robot


Front longitudinal members (11) of a vehicle (10) extend forward from a passenger cell (12) and partially bound an engine compartment (13), in which a drive unit (14) is positioned. A deflection device (17) has deflection elements (18) fastened to the front longitudinal members (11) for rotation about vertical axes (24). In the event of a partially overlapping frontal collision with a barrier, the deflection element (18) is rotated by the collision from an inoperative position in which the deflection element extends in the longitudinal direction of the respective front longitudinal member (11), into a collision position where a first portion (19) of the deflection element (18) projects into the engine compartment (13). Thus, a longitudinal pulse from the frontal collision acting toward the passenger cell (12) is at least partially converted by the deflection element (18) into a transverse pulse acting on the drive unit (14).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a deflection device and a vehicle with a deflection device.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,218 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,353,380 each disclose a vehicle with a deflection device for a partially overlapping frontal collision of the vehicle with a barrier. The known deflection devices are intended to prevent a front wheel of the vehicle from penetrating a passenger cell of the vehicle in the event of a frontal collision with a partial overlap. The deflection device of U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,218 is activated by the collision. The deflection device of U.S. Pat. No. 8,353,380 is activated via a separate force source.
An object of the invention is to provide a novel vehicle and a novel deflection device.

Vehicle with a deflection device, and deflection device

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche Aktiengesellschaft


An electrical drive arrangement for an electric motor including a stator having a plurality of phase windings, and a rotor. The drive arrangement includes an electronic commutation circuit to supply electric power to the phase windings of the electric motor, a position sensor device, a phase control circuit coupled to receive the sensor signals and provide resultant sensor signals with a phase shift relative to the phase relationship of the sensor signals, a waveform generator coupled to receive the resultant sensor signals and provide commutation signals, and a control circuit coupled at least to the waveform generator for setting the amplitude and the phase shift of the electric power to be supplied to the motor. The phase control circuit includes a control signal generation circuit, a sensor signal allocation circuit, a delay time determining circuit, a sensor signal output circuit, and a load signal generating circuit. The drive arrangement enables the torque angle, i.e., the phase angle between the magnetic field generated in the stator and the rotor position, to be controlled in dependence upon the movement of the rotor using simple position signals and simple circuitry.

The invention relates to an electrical drive arrangement.
EP 73 503 B1 describes a motor control system in which the motor, which is a brushless d.c. motor, comprises stator windings, a permanent-magnet rotor and a position sensor to detect the position of said rotor relative to the stator windings, and in which an exciting current generation circuit is responsive to the position signal supplied by the position sensor and is capable of applying sinusoidal exciting currents to the stator windings. The frequency of the sinusoidal exciting currents is then controlled in accordance with the position signal in order to obtain a rotating field in synchronism with the rotation of the rotor. In order to control the phase of the sinusoidal exciting current for dynamically controlling the angle between the rotating magnetic field generated by the stator windings and the rotor position there has been provided a torque angle control circuit coupled to the exciting current generation circuit. The control system further comprises a tachometer coupled to the rotor to detect the rotor speed, the tachometer being coupled to the torque angle control circuit in such a manner that the phase of the sinusoidal exciting current varies in dependence on the rotor speed. The position sensor particularly supplies digital signals representative of the rotor position and the tachometer accordingly supplies signals representative of the rotor speed. Torque angle factors have been stored in a memory and there have been provided means to select torque angle factors in this memory in accordance with the digital rotor speed signals and to add the selected torque angle factor to the digital rotor position signal, in order to derive a signal for the excitation vector position. The known motor control system further comprises exciting current generation means by which the windings can be energized with sinusoidal exciting currents whose values are proportional to the sinusoidal values, which are incrementally controlled in conformity with the excitation vector position signal.
DE 41 36 538 A1 describes a commutator circuit for a brushless d.c. motor with trapezoidal drive, in which the commutation pulses of the commutation encoder of the brushless d.c. motor can be optimized in that the commutation pulses are advanced while at the same time the commutation pulse width is optimized. This is in order to enable a maximum efficiency or a maximum power and a maximum torque of the motor to be obtained over the entire range of motor speeds and the entire range of motor loads. This commutation uses inter alia a ROM address section with a presettable up-counter, which counts up clocked by the output signal of a binary counter and which for each reference commutation pulse is preset with the advance commutation angle as preset value in accordance with the prevailing angular velocity of the motor and the load current, which is read into a ROM, which has been loaded with data formed by the advance commutation angle of the commutation pulse, under control of the output signal of an address section, which supplies an address signal to the ROM.
The motor control system in accordance with EP 73 503 B1 requires a very accurate resolution of the digital signals representing the rotor position, which resolution should be at least 8 bits. The commutator circuit in accordance with DE 41 36 538 A1 comprises extensive memory circuits and address sections for these memory circuits.


Methods for screening for a drug that increases expression of the human apolioprotein (apo) AI gene and related DNA constructs. A first method has the steps of: (a) introducing into mammalian cells a DNA construct including, functionally joined together in the 5'.fwdarw.3' direction of transcription, (i) at least one copy of a drug-responsive element (DRE) having at least about 80% homology with the DNA sequence 5'-G/C N T/G A/G GCTGGG-3', (ii) a heterologous promoter, (iii) a reporter gene and (iv) an untranslated region including a functional polyadenylation signal; (b) growing a first culture of the cells in the absence of drug; (c) lysing the first culture to produce a first extract; (d) assaying the first extract for activity of a protein encoded by the reporter gene; (e) growing a second culture of the cells in the presence of the drug; (f) lysing the second culture to produce a second extract; (g) assaying the second extract for activity of the protein encoded by the reporter gene; and (h) comparing the activities of the first extract and the second extract. A second method uses a different DNA construct including (i) a promoter region of the human apo AI gene including at least one copy of a drug-responsive element (DRE) having at least about 80% homology with the DNA sequence 5'-G/C N T/G A/G GCTGGG-3', (ii) a reporter gene and (iii) an untranslated region including a functional polyadenylation signal. A third method involves stably maintaining the introduced DNA in the cells.

The major cause of death in many industrialized countries is atherosclerosis, a degenerative disease in which the walls of the arteries slowly become thickened by deposits of fatty material such as cholesterol. The deposits, or plaques, inhibit blood flow, often leading to heart attack or stroke. The personal and economic costs of atherosclerosis, and particularly of the form known as coronary artery disease (CAD), are vast. The economic cost of atherosclerosis has been estimated at 60 billion dollars annually.
Cholesterol is a building block for such hormones as estrogen and testosterone, as well as a fundamental structural component of animal cell membranes. When animal cells are growing and dividing, cholesterol required for new membrane material is transported to the site of growth via the blood. Cholesterol is transported in the blood in lipid-protein particles. The four major classes of such particles are the chylomicrons, the very low density lipoproteins (VLDL), the low density lipoproteins (LDL) and the high density lipoproteins (HDL).
Numerous studies have demonstrated that high concentrations of LDL in the blood plasma strongly correlate with increased risk of CAD. Thus, LDL is popularly called "the bad cholesterol". On the other hand, epidemiological and genetic studies have indicated both that high plasma concentrations of HDL correlate with protection against CAD, and that low plasma concentrations of HDL are involved in the development of atherosclerosis [Gordon et al., Am. J. Med. 62: 707-714 (1977); Stampfer et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 325: 373-381 (1991); Kuusi et al., Arteriosclerosis 7: 421-425 (1987); Moll et al., Am. J. Human. Genet. 44: 124-139 (1989); Hamsten et al., Atherosclerosis 60: 199-208 (1986)]. Thus, the popular nickname for HDL is "the good cholesterol".
The major protein component of HDL is apolipoprotein (apo) AI, which is believed to promote the process of "reverse cholesterol transport" [Gotto et al., Methods Enzymol. 128: 3-41 (1986); Miller et al., Nature (London) 314: 109-111 (1985); Glomset, Adv. Intern. Med. 25: 91-116 (1980)]. In this process, excess cholesterol is liberated from the peripheral tissues and carried, via HDL, to the liver for degradation. In addition, apo AI acts as a cofactor for the enzyme lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT), which is also involved in reverse cholesterol transport [Gotto et al., Methods Enzymol. 128: 3-41 (1986); Miller et al., Nature (London) 314: 109-111 (1985); Glomset, Adv. Intern. Med. 25: 91-116 (1980)]. Further evidence that apo AI is a strong negative factor for atherosclerosis comes from experiments in which transgenic mice carrying the human apo AI gene were fed a high fat diet. Here, expression of the apo AI transgene and the resulting high levels of human apo AI in the animals' blood appeared to protect against development of fatty streak lesions [Rubin et al., Nature (London) 353: 265-267 (1991)]. By extension, if the expression of the apo AI gene in humans could be increased, it would likely protect against deposition of atherosclerotic plaques.
The foregoing and other studies indicate that the regulation of apo AI gene expression is extremely important in controlling the development of CAD. In mammals, apo AI expression is tissue-specific, with synthesis taking place primarily in the liver and intestine [Gotto et al., Methods Enzymol. 128: 3-41 (1986)]. Presumably, tissue-specific factors are responsible for this limited expression pattern.
A number of factors have been reported to modulate plasma levels of apo AI and/or HDL cholesterol. These include diet [Knuiman et al., Arteriosclerosis 7: 612-619 (1987)], exercise [Berg et al., Clin. Chim. Acta 161: 165-171 (1986)], sex hormones [Tam et al., J. Biol. Chem. 260: 1670-1675 (1985)], thyroid hormone [Davidson et al., J. Lipid Res. 29: 1511-1522 (1988)], ethanol [Tam, Alcohol. Clin. Exp. Res. 16: 1021-1028 (1992)] and temporal factors during development [Haddad et al., J. Biol. Chem. 26: 13268-13277 (1986); Staels et al., J. Lipid Res. 30: 1137-1145 (1989)]. In addition, clinical studies have shown that there is direct relationship between the levels of cytochrome P450 enzymes in the liver and the levels of HDL and apo AI in the blood [Luoma et al., Acta Med. Scand. 214: 103-109 (1983); Luoma, Pharm. & Toxic. 65: 243-249 (1988)]. Cytochrome P450 enzymes function in the detoxification of aromatic compounds and in bile acid and vitamin D metabolism. The nature of the relationship between hepatic cytochrome P450 levels and plasma apo AI levels is not fully understood.
Clinically, a number of drugs have been used to reduce the risk and/or progression of CAD by altering lipoprotein metabolism. Gemfibrozil (Lopid.TM.), manufactured by Parke Davis of Morris Plains, N.J., is one of the most extensively studied pharmaceutical agents for the treatment of hyperlipidemia [Manninen et al., Circulation 85: 37-45 (1992): Brown, Am. J. Cardiol. 66: 11 A-15A (1990)]. In patients treated with gemfibrozil, both total and LDL cholesterol levels in the plasma are reduced, whereas HDL cholesterol levels are markedly raised. In the classic Helsinki Heart Study [Frick et al., N. Engl. J. Med. 317: 1237-1245 (1987)], the administration of gemfibrozil over a five year period to middle-aged men who were at high risk because of abnormal concentrations of blood lipids resulted in a 34% reduction in coronary disease, relative to a similar group of men who received only a placebo. At least part of this effect may be ascribed to the action of gemfibrozil in significantly raising HDL concentrations.
One of the present inventors has previously reported that the exposure of two human hepatoma cell lines, HepG2 and Hep3B, to gemfibrozil results in a two-fold increase in the level of apo AI mRNA [Tam, Atherosclerosis 91: 51-61 (1991)]. Prior to the invention described below, the mechanism of gemfibrozil action in regard to apo AI levels was unknown.
The human apo AI gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 11. The DNA sequence of this gene is identified in Karathanasis et al., Nature (London) 304: 371-373 (1983); Breslow et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA 79: 6861-6865 (1982); and GenBank accession no. M20656. Cis- and trans-acting elements involved in the regulation of transcription of the apo AI gene have been studied by several groups [Sastry et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 8: 605-614 (1988); Widom et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 11: 677-687 (1991); Papazafiri et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266: 5790-5797 (1991); Pagani et al, J. Lipid Res. 31: 1371-1377 (1990); Smith et al., J. Clin. Invest. 89: 1796-1800 (1992); Sigurdsson et al., Arteriosclerosis and Thrombosis 12: 1017-1022 (1992); Tuteja et al., FEBS Letters 304: 98-101 (1992); Jeenah et al., Mol. Biol. Med. 7: 233-241(1990)]. FIG. 1 shows in block form the organization of the 5' flanking region of the human apo AI gene, according to the results obtained by such groups.
In a first study conducted by Karathanasis and co-workers [Sastry et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 8: 605-614 (1988)], transient transfection assays were used to identify a liver-specific enhancer element located between nucleotides -256 to -41 upstream of the transcription start site (+1) of the human apo AI gene. Evidence was presented that this DNA region contains regulatory elements that are necessary and sufficient for maximal expression of the gene in the human hepatoma cell line HepG2.
In a further study [Widom et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 11: 677-687 (1991)], the same group used gel mobility shift and DNase I footprinting assays to identify three distinct sites within the enhancer, sites A (-214 to -192), B (-169 to -146), and C (-134 to -119), to which transcriptional factors present in HepG2 cells specifically bind. These regions are indicated in FIG. 1 by A*, B* and C*. The researchers found that binding of a factor to a single site in the absence of binding to the others was not sufficient for gene expression. Binding of factors to any two of the sites resulted in low levels of expression. Binding to all three sites was necessary for maximal gene expression. It was hypothesized that protein-protein interactions between the bound transcription factors provided this synergistic effect.
In another fine structure study [Papazafiri et al., J. Biol. Chem. 266: 5790-5797 (1991)], Zannis and co-workers identified four DNA regions proximal to the human apo AI gene that were protected against digestion by DNAse I by the binding of factors contained in rat liver nuclear extracts. The protected regions were designated A (-22 to +17), B (-128 to -77), C (-175 to -148) and D (-220 to -190), as shown in FIG. 1. The rat nuclear proteins that bound to the region -220 to -148 (i.e., regions D and C) were identified using in vitro mutagenesis, DNA binding assays and protein fractionation. Both positive and negative regulators were identified.
At least three different groups have studied the effect on apo AI levels of a G to A transition variously identified as occurring at -78 [Pagani et al., J. Lipid Res. 31: 1371-1377 (1990); Tuteja et al., FEBS Letters 304: 98-101 (1992)], at -76 [Smith et al., J. Clin. Invest. 89: 1796-1800 (1992)] and at -75 [Jeenah et al., Mol. Biol. Med. 7: 233-241(1990); Sigurdsson et al., Arteriosclerosis and Thrombosis 12: 1017-1022 (1992)] relative to the start of transcription of the human apo AI gene. Despite the discrepancy in numbering, the studies seem to concern the same point mutation, in which an Msp I restriction site (CCGG) is destroyed by the substitution of A at the position of the first G. This substitution, which is at the border of region B identified by the Zannis group, occurs naturally in the human population.
The first of these groups, Baralle and co-workers, reported that the presence of the A allele was associated with high HDL cholesterol and apo AI levels in women, but not in men [Pagani et al., J. Lipid Res. 31: 1371-1377 (1990)]. They noted that the polymorphism occurred in a 51 bp GC-rich region containing an inverted repeat composed of two 14/15 bp elements. The homology and self-complementarity of the inverted repeats was disrupted when a G, instead of an A, was present at the -78 position. In transient transfection assays using a DNA fragment from -330 to +1, the A allele demonstrated about two-fold higher activity than the G allele [Tuteja et al., FEBS Letters 304: 98-101 (1992)]. However, when a larger DNA fragment from -1469 to +397 was used, the two alleles displayed similar transcriptional levels.
A second group, Breslow and co-workers, reported that patients that were G/A heterozygotes at this position displayed significantly lower apo AI production rates than G/G homozygotes [Smith et al., J. Clin. Invest. 89: 1796-1800 (1992)]. (In a human subject, the apo AI production rate takes into account not only the level of apo AI synthesis, but also its levels of intracellular transport, secretion and plasma clearance.) Despite their different production rates, no difference was found in HDL cholesterol or apo AI levels between the two groups of patients. When the expression levels of the two alleles were compared in transient transfection assays employing a 325 bp fragment of the apo AI gene, the expression level of the A allele was found to be only approximately 68% of the expression level of the G allele. These results are in direct contrast with those of the Baralle group. However, like the Baralle group, the Breslow group also explained their results in terms of the effect of the point mutation on the inverted repeats. They speculated that the increased complementarity of the inverted repeats by the presence of an A at -76 might allow for the formation of a DNA secondary structure that might interfere with protein-protein interactions of the transcriptional apparatus.
A third group, Humphries and co-workers, reported that men having high plasma apo AI levels carried the A allele more than twice as often as men with lower plasma apo AI levels [Jeenah et al., Mol. Biol. Med. 7: 233-241(1990)]. In addition, men carrying the A allele displayed significantly higher HDL cholesterol levels. Thus, this work contrasts with both the Baralle group's findings, in which only women were affected, and the Breslows group's findings, in which no difference in apo AI and HDL cholesterol levels were identified between carriers of the two alleles. In a subsequent study, the Humphries group went on to report that the protection against risk of CAD that had been observed for men carrying the A allele was abolished if the men smoked [Sigurdsson et al., Arteriosclerosis and Thrombosis 12: 1017-1022 (1992)]. That is, male smokers carrying the A allele were found to have approximately the same apo AI and HDL cholesterol levels as men carrying the G allele.
Thus, although a great deal of work has been done to date on the regulation of expression of the human apo AI gene, much clarification is still required. The various cis- and trans-acting factors involved and the nature of their interactions need to be identified and elucidated. In particular, the mechanisms by which various drugs, for example, gemfibrozil, influence apo AI expression are heretofore unknown. Given the protection that high plasma apo AI levels provide against CAD, it would be extremely desirable to understand how a particular drug could increase apo AI expression. A convenient method and tools for screening for such a drug would also be extremely desirable.

DNA constructs and methods for screening for increased expression of human apo AI gene


A microcontroller includes a clock circuit with a register storing clock frequency information corresponding to a low speed or normal mode respectively operated by a low frequency or normal clock, which outputs a first signal according to a value set in the register when the low speed mode is designated during operation in the normal mode, a DRAM holding data, in the low speed mode, by operation in a self-refresh mode, and outputting a confirmation signal indicating switching to that mode, a DRAM circuit switching the DRAM to that mode based on the first signal, a ROM operated in the low speed mode, a remap circuit controlling an address circuit based on the confirmation signal, and outputting a second signal for switching a program execution address from the DRAM to an address of the ROM to control an address space in which a program is executed, the address circuit switching the address space based on the second signal.

In recent years, along with the popularization of portable devices such as mobile telephones, a need has arisen to operate a microprocessor at low power consumption for a long time, and attention has been drawn to a technology for prolonging battery life, and dynamically changing an operation clock of the microprocessor in accordance with its operation mode to achieve low power consumption. However, promotion of a low speed of a clock frequency has increased effects on the portable devices. For example, a DRAM which is a mainstream memory at present must be refreshed by a fixed frequency or higher, and thus it cannot be operated by an extremely low speed clock of this frequency or lower.
FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional microprocessor having an extremely low speed mode. A central processing unit (CPU) 415, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) 402, static random access memory (SRAM) 403, an interrupt control circuit 416, and a clock control circuit incorporating a clock mode designation register 405 are connected to a data bus 401. A not-shown read-only memory (ROM) is also connected.
As the DRAM 402 holds data by using a very small capacitor, the data is lost unless a refresh operation is periodically executed to save the data. If there is a lowest clock frequency for this refreshing, and a supplied clock frequency is lower than the clock lowest frequency, the DRAM 402 must be operated in a self-refresh mode to hold the data.
The SRAM 403 is operated at a low speed by low voltage. However, the price of using such SRAM is high because of a large pattern area per bit, and there is a limit, i.e., only a small-capacity SRAM can be loaded on a chip such as a microprocessor.
A command queue 404 is normally first in, first out (FIFO), stores commands to be executed in order, and sends a command to be executed next to a command register IR 406. A program counter 409 is a register for designating an address of the command to be executed next, and counts in accordance with the number of bytes of the command. The address is outputted to an address bus 410, and an address DramAdr of the DRAM 402 and an address SramAdr of the SRAM 403 are supplied. An address RomAdr of the ROM is also supplied.
Normally, as a method for switching the DRAM 402 to an extremely low speed mode, there is a method for setting a value corresponding to an operation mode in the clock mode designation register 405 to change the mode of the CPU to the extremely low speed mode using the clock control circuit 407. Upon reception of the designation, the clock control circuit 407 supplies a clock of a frequency corresponding to the designation to each part of the microcontroller. After the clock control circuit 407 enters an extremely low speed clock mode designation signal ModeReq to a DRAM control circuit 408, the DRAM control circuit 408 switches the DRAM to a self-refresh mode.
The interrupt control circuit 416 receives an internally or externally generated interrupt request signal IntReq, and then outputs an interrupt signal Int to the CPU 415. Upon receipt of the request, the CPU 415 jumps to an interrupt processing routine to execute processing in accordance with an interrupt factor thereof. Regarding interrupt factors, interruption by an internal factor, for example interruption when a command inexcutable because of a memory abnormality is executed, or interruption by an external factor, for example timer interruption, interruption from a keyboard or the like, is conceivable. Here, the interruption is used to return the CPU 415 from an extremely low speed operation mode to a normal operation mode.
Now, description is made of a process until the conventional microcontroller shown in FIG. 1 is operated by an extremely low speed clock. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing an address space where the conventional microcontroller of FIG. 1 is operated. In FIG. 2, in the address space, addresses start from a lowest address of 0x000, and a highest address is 0xffff. A program originally placed on the ROM is copied in the DRAM by a loader, and executed at a high speed. However, as the DRAM is switched to a self-refresh mode by an extremely low speed clock, execution of the program becomes impossible. Thus, to switch to an extremely low speed mode, the operation is jumped to an extremely low speed mode switching routine in the SRAM 403. That is, the operation is jumped from an address DramAdr of a jump command in the DRAM to a head address SramAdr of the extremely low speed mode switching routine in the SRAM. In the extremely low speed mode switching routine, processing necessary for the switch is executed, and the program is executed in the SRAM until the mode is released. Thus, the program in the SRAM can be set to be identical to the program in the DRAM. The extremely low speed mode can be released by a command in the SRAM, or an interrupt routine for the CPU 415. However, this interrupt routine must be loaded on the SRAM. Another method for switching to an extremely low speed mode is to jump an operation to a ROM operated even by an extremely low speed clock. In this case, the operation is jumped to a head address RomAdr of a corresponding processing routine in the ROM.
For the conventional extremely low speed mode, the SRAM 403 that often has been used has been high in price, low in capacity, and unloadable on the chip. Even if copies of almost all the programs in the DRAM can be loaded on the SRAM 403, the capacity of the SRAM consumed becomes impractically high. In addition, a method of installing the SRAM outside the microcontroller is expensive to execute, and a system for carrying it out becomes complex. Use of a ROM in this respect is inexpensive, and a high capacity is easily achieved.
However, in all of the above-described methods, a considerable number of processing steps must be executed to switch between the extremely low speed mode and the normal mode and, therefore, immediacy is lost. This is described more in detail by way of a specific example. According to this example, if there is a need to take out data because of an external factor (high speed data reception) during operation in an extremely low speed mode, interrupt processing is executed to return to a normal operation mode, and then data is received by an operation in the normal mode. In this case, until the return to the normal mode (e.g., operation mode by a clock of 20 MHz), a program is executed in an extremely low speed mode (e.g., operation mode by a clock of 2 MHz). Thus, assuming that an interrupt processing routine is constituted of thirty steps, and processing to return to the normal mode is constituted of twenty steps, 25 μs are expended in the extremely low speed mode. If there are serial communications executed at 500 Kbps (data cycle 20 μs when a data length is 8 bits, and each of start and stop bits is 1), communication errors occur on the extremely low speed mode.
Thus, if the conventional processing for operation mode switching between the extremely low speed mode and the normal operation mode is executed by software interrupt processing, immediacy is lost to complete processing in time, creating a problem of erroneous operations.

Microcontroller Operable in normal and low speed modes utilizing control signals for executing commands in a read-only memory during the low speed modes


A wheel-drive apparatus for an automobile is provided to have an outer race fixedly connected to a suspension, a wheel-support hub having a first spline hole, an inner race fixedly fitted onto the hub, rolling members rotatable between the outer ring raceways of the outer race and the inner ring raceways of the hub and inner race, a drive shaft member having an outside end to be a spline shaft for engagement with the first spline hole and an inside end formed to be an outer ring for a constant velocity joint. A stop ring is engaged with the spline shaft and the hub to prevent the spline shaft from coming away from the spline hole. An inner ring for the constant velocity joint has a second spline hole, and balls are provided between the outside engaging groove of the outer ring and the inside engaging groove of the inner ring. A drive shaft has a male spline portion with a groove bottom in spline-engagement with the second spline hole, while the spline shaft has a base end the minimum outer diameter D43 of which is larger than the diameter D27 of the groove bottom of the male spline portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for driving a wheel of an automobile, and more particularly to a bearing unit for a wheel called a 3.5-generation hub unit in which a constant-velocity joint and hub unit are integrated into one unit. This apparatus is used for supporting a driven wheel that is supported by an independent-type suspension {front wheels for a FF car (front engine, front-wheel drive), rear wheels for a FR car (front engine, rear-wheel drive), rear wheels for a RR car (rear engine, rear-wheel drive) and all the wheels for a 4 WD car (4 wheel drive)} such that the driven wheel rotates freely with respect to suspension, as well as for rotating and driving the driven wheel.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to support a wheel such that it can rotate freely with respect to the suspension, a wheel-support bearing unit, having an outer race and inner race that rotate freely by way of rolling members, is used. Moreover, in the independent-type suspension, the wheel-support bearing unit, which supports the driven wheel, is combined with a constant-velocity joint, and it must smoothly transmit the rotation of the drive shaft to the driven wheel (maintaining constant velocity) regardless of relative displacement between the differential gear and the driven wheel or the steering angle applied to the driven wheel. FIG. 3 shows a typical apparatus for the driven wheel of an automobile in which the wheel-support bearing unit 1 is combined with the constant-velocity joint 2.
Here, the wheel-support bearing unit 1 comprises an outer race 3 on the radially inside of which a hub 4 and inner race 5 rotate freely by way of a plurality of rolling members 6. Of these, the outer race 3 is fastened to the knuckle 8 (see FIG. 4) of the suspension by a first flange 7 that is formed around the outer surface of the outer race 3 such that it does not rotate during operation. In addition, there are rows of outer-ring raceways 9 formed around the inner peripheral surface of the outer race 3, and the hub 4 and inner race 5 are supported on the radially inside of this outer race 3 such that they are concentric with the outer race 3.
On the outside end (the outside end in the width direction of the automobile when the bearing unit is installed in the automobile, the left end in FIGS. 1 to 4) around the outer peripheral surface of the hub 4, there is a second flange 10 for supporting the wheel. Moreover, there is a first inner-ring raceway 11 formed around the outer peripheral surface in the middle of the hub 4, and likewise, the inner race 5 fits around a small-diameter section 12 that is formed on the inside end (the inside end in the width direction of the automobile when the bearing unit is installed in the automobile, the right end in FIGS. 1 to 4), and a second inner-ring raceway 13 is formed around the outer peripheral surface of the inner race 5. There is also a first spline hole 14 formed in the center of the hub 4.
On the other hand, the constant-velocity joint 2 comprises an outer ring 15 for the constant-velocity joint, an inner ring 16 for the constant-velocity joint, and a spline shaft 17. Of these, the outer ring 15 for the constant-velocity joint and the spline shaft 17 form a drive shaft member 18. In other words, this spline shaft 17 is formed on the outside end of this drive-shaft member 18, and it freely fits in the first spline hole 14 described above, and the outer ring 15 for the constant-velocity joint is formed on the inside end of the drive-shaft member 18. At a plurality of locations in the circumferential direction around the inner peripheral surface of this outer ring 15 for the constant-velocity joint, there are outside engaging grooves 19 which are formed such that they are each orthogonal with respect to the circumferential direction. Moreover, in the center of the inner ring 16 for the constant-velocity joint there is a second spline hole 20, and there are inside engaging grooves 21 that are formed such that they are each orthogonal with respect to the circumferential direction and are located around the outer peripheral surface of the inner ring 16 such that they correspond with the location of the aforementioned outside engaging grooves 19. There are balls 22 located between these inside engaging grooves 21 and outside engaging grooves 19, and they are supported by a retainer 23 such that they can roll freely along the engaging grooves 21, 19. The shape of each of the components of the aforementioned constant-velocity joint 2 are substantially the same as the well-known Rzeppa type constant-velocity joint, and is not essentially related to this invention, so a detailed description will be omitted here.
In the case of a constant-velocity joint 2 and the wheel-support roller-bearing unit 1 as described above, the spline shaft 17 is inserted into the first spline hole 14 in the hub 4 toward the outside from the inside (from right to left in the figure). Also, by screwing a nut 25 onto the male screw section 24 formed on the outside end of the spline shaft 17 on the part that protrudes from the outside end of the hub 4, and then tightening the nut 25, the hub 4 and the spline shaft 17 are fastened together. In this condition, the surface on the inside end of the inner race 5 comes in contact with the surface on the outside end of the outer ring 15 for the constant-velocity joint, so the inner race 5 does not move in a direction that would cause it to come apart from the small-diameter step section 12. At the same time, the rolling members 6 are properly pre-loaded.
Furthermore, when installed in the suspension of an automobile, the male spline 27 that is formed on the outside end of the drive shaft 26 makes a spline fit with the second spline hole 20 that is formed in the center of the inner ring 16 for the constant-velocity joint. A stop ring 29 that fits in the installation groove 28 that is formed all the way around the outer peripheral surface on the outside end of the male spline 27 fits in an anchoring step section 30 that is formed around the edge on the opening on the outside end of the second spline hole 20, and this prevents the male spline 27 from coming out from the second spline hole 20. The output shaft section of the differential gear, not shown in the figure, is provided with the trunnion of a tripod-type constant-velocity joint, also not shown in the figure, and the inside end of the drive shaft 26 is connected to the center of the trunnion. As the automobile moves, the drive shaft 26 rotates at constant rpm, however, a thrust load is repeatedly applied in both axial directions due to the resistance of the tripod-type constant-velocity joint that occurs during rotation.
In the wheel drive apparatus for an automobile described above and shown in FIG. 3, the wheel-support roller-bearing unit 1 and constant-velocity joint 2 are fastened together by screwing and tightening a nut 25 to the screw section 24, so the weight of the unit is large. In other words, it is necessary to lengthen the splint shaft 17 by the amount of the male screw section that is formed on the spline shaft 17 on the outside of the constant-velocity joint 2, as well as a nut 25 is necessary. Therefore, the dimension in the axial direction, as well as the weight, of the wheel drive apparatus for an automobile increases by the amount of the screw section 24 and nut 25.
In regards to this, as shown in FIG. 4, U.S. Pat. No. 4,881,842 discloses a more simple construction that makes it possible to fasten the wheel-support bearing unit and constant-velocity joint in a way such that the dimension in the axial direction is shortened and the weight is reduced. In this second example of prior construction shown in FIG. 4, the hub 4 is supported on the radially inside of the outer race 3, which is fastened to the knuckle 8, such that it can rotate freely by way of the rolling members 6 that are arranged in a plurality of rows. In addition, the spline shaft 17 of the drive-shaft member 18a fits in the first spline hole 14 that is formed in the center of the hub 4. There is an installation section 31 formed on the surface of the outside end of this spline shaft 17 for attaching a fitting tool for taking the spline shaft 17 into the first spline hole 14. Also, this spline shaft 17 is prevented from coming out of the hub 4 by a stop ring 33 that is fastened in an installation groove 32 formed around the outer peripheral surface on the tip end of the spline shaft 17. In this state, an elastic ring 34 is elastically compressed between the hub 4 and the outer ring 15 for the constant-velocity joint of the drive-shaft member 18a, to prevent the spline shaft 17 from rocking and moving inside the hub 4. In this second example of prior construction, the wheel drive apparatus for an automobile is made more compact and lighter by using the stop ring 33 for connecting the wheel-support bearing unit 1a and the constant-velocity joint 2a.
In the case of the second example of prior construction described above, although the apparatus is made more compact and lighter, it is difficult to maintain adequate durability as is. The reason for this is explained below referring to FIGS. 3, 4.
When the wheel-drive apparatus for an automobile is operating and the driving power (torque) is transmitted while the center axes of the outer ring 15 and the inner ring 16 for the constant-velocity joint of the Rzeppa-type constant-velocity joint 2 (FIG. 3), 2a (FIG. 4) are not concentric (angle of intersection is not 180 degrees), then the force that acts on the balls 22, and the inside engaging grooves 21 and outside engaging grooves 19 of the constant-velocity joint 2 is no longer applied to the same horizontal surface orthogonal to the center axis. Therefore, a bending moment acts on the drive-shaft members 18 (FIG. 3), 18a (FIG. 4), and the drive shaft 26. Furthermore, in the case of unevenness in the pitch of the outside and inside engaging grooves 19, 21 due to manufacturing error, a component of load also occurs in the radial load direction as a resultant force of contact loads on the outside engaging grooves 19 and inside engaging grooves 21 and the balls 22. When a load component in the radial load direction occurs due to this kind of resultant force, the cross section of the drive-shaft members 18 (FIG. 3), 18a (FIG. 4) and the drive shaft 26 are not only equally loaded by a twisting torque and bending moment, but they are also loaded by a bending moment due to the aforementioned radial load that is multiplied with a distance in the axial direction from the balls 22 of the constant-velocity joint 2 (FIG. 3), 2a (FIG. 4).
In the case of the drive shaft 26, since the distance in the axial direction from the balls 22 of the constant-velocity joint 2 to the base end of the male spline 27, which is the weakest part, is short, so that the load due to the bending moment of the aforementioned radial load is small. On the other hand, in the case of the drive-shaft members 18 (FIG. 3), 18a (FIG. 4), the distance in the axial direction from the balls 22 of the constant-velocity joint 2 to the base end (inside end) of the spline shaft 17, which is the weakest part, is longer than the distance to the weakest point of the drive shaft 26. Therefore, the bending moment due to the aforementioned radial load becomes larger than the bending moment at the weakest part of the drive shaft 26. In addition, the effect of the load that acts between the outside and inside engaging grooves 19, 21 and the retainer 23 can also be taken into consideration, however, it is considered that the difference between the drive-shaft members 18 (FIG. 3), 18a (FIG. 4) and the weakest part of the drive shaft 26 in fatigue strength, is outstandingly affected by the bending moment due to the aforementioned radial load.
The inventors of this invention performed tests on a driven wheel apparatus for an automobile in which the wheel-support bearing units 1 (FIG. 3), 1a (FIG. 4), are combined with the constant-velocity joints 2 (FIG. 3), 2a (FIG. 4) to investigate which part received the most damage. In the test, various joint angles (supplementary angle of the intersecting axis angle) were applied to the constant-velocity joints 2 (FIG. 3), 2a (FIG. 4), and a xc2x11470 Nxc2x7m torque was repeatedly applied to the drive shaft 26. With the spline fitting area 35 on the hub side, where the first spline hole 14 fits with the spline shaft 17, and with the spline fitting area 36 on the joint side, where the second spline hole 20 fits with the male spline 27, the small spline diameter (male bottom diameter, female peak diameter) is 24 mm, and they form a module 1. The results of the test are shown in Table 1.
As can be clearly seen from the test results, in the case of using a nut 25, as shown in FIG. 3, to fasten the wheel-support bearing unit 1 with the constant-velocity joint 2, the spline fitting section 35 on the hub side and the spline fitting section 36 on the constant-velocity joint side are damaged at the same rate, and the number of cycles until failure was large (long life). Also, there was a case where the tripod-type constant-velocity joint was damaged before either of the spline fitting sections. On the other hand, when a stop ring 33, as shown in FIG. 4, is used to fasten the wheel-support bearing unit 1a with the constant-velocity joint 2a, the spline fitting section 35 on the hub side was damaged in all cases, and the number of cycles until failure was small (short life).
The reason that the life of the spline fitting section 35 on the hub side is short due to the difference in the connection of the wheel-support bearing units 1, 1a and constant-velocity joints 2 (FIG. 3), 2a (FIG. 4) is as follows. First, in the case of construction using a nut 25 as shown in FIG. 3, the surface on the outside end of the hub 4 and the inner surface of the washer 37 attached to the nut 25, and the surface on the inside end of the inner race 5 and the surface on the outside end of the outer ring 15 for the constant-velocity joint come in strong direct contact (friction engagement) with each other. As a result, the substantial part of the twisting torque or bending moment are supported by the respective contact surfaces, so that the twisting torque and bending moment applied to the base of the spline shaft 17 are reduced by that amount and the durability of this base is improved.
On the other hand, in the case of construction using a stop ring 33, as shown in FIG. 4, there is no strong contact (friction engagement) between the inside surface of the stop ring 33 and the surface on the outside end of the hub 4, and the surface on the inside end of the inner race 5 and the surface on the outside end of the outer ring 15 for the constant-velocity joint. The contact force is limited (small) by the elastic force of the elastic ring 34, so that the force of the friction engagement on the contact surface is small, and the amount that this portion supports the twisting torque and the bending moment is very limited. Therefore, most of the twisting torque and bending moment act on the base of the spline shaft 17. The cross-section of each surface is loaded by an uneven load, and when considering the size of the bending moment due to the aforementioned radial load, the base of the spline shaft 17 is loaded by a bending moment that is larger than the bending moment acting on the base of the male spline 27, that is formed on the outside end of the drive shaft 26, so when the shaft diameters are the same, the base of the spline shaft 17 is damaged first.
Taking the above problems into consideration, an object of this invention is to provide a wheel-drive apparatus for automobile that makes it possible to effectively maintain adequate durability even when the wheel-support bearing unit and constant-velocity joint are connected by a stop ring.

Apparatus for driving wheel of automobile


A tobacco humectant, which is a metal-organic framework material with a three-dimensional structure obtained by a self-assembly of Zr4+ and terephthalic acid or 2-aminoterephthalic acid. The metal-organic framework material with the three-dimensional structure obtained by the self-assembly of the Zr4+ and the terephthalic acid is Uio-66, and the metal-organic framework material with the three-dimensional structure obtained by the self-assembly of the Zr4+ and the 2-aminoterephthalic acid is Uio-66-NH2. A preparation method of the tobacco humectant and a use thereof in tobacco is further provided.

Tobacco leaf is a loose porous material, and thus, thermodynamically, has a high potential for absorbing water. Since the tobacco leaf is a porous material, the free water and capillary moisture are also lost faster at a higher temperature and lower humidity, thereby making cigarettes dry. In the manufacturing process of cigarette products, a humectant can be added to keep a shredded tobacco moisturized and improve the physical moisture retention property of the shredded tobacco.
At present, polyhydroxy compounds such as propylene glycol, glycerin, diethylene glycol, and sorbitol are commonly used as humectants. However, the effects of these humectants on the sensory quality of cigarettes are restrictive. Therefore, a novel humectant is needed to replace the traditional humectant, reduce the dryness and irritation caused by cigarette smoke and enhance the humidity of the cigarette smoke. While improving the internal quality of cigarettes, the harm to human health can be further reduced and the taste of tobacco can be maintained.
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are materials with a relatively high absorption capacity, however, applications of the MOFs in tobacco have not been reported.

Tobacco humectant, preparation method and use thereof

CHINA TOBACCO YUNNAN INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD