An exhaust gas recirculation system for an engine having a cylinder head and an intake system and exhaust system is disclosed. The intake system includes an intake manifold connected to the cylinder head via a mounting flange such that a passage through the manifold is aligned with an intake passage through the cylinder head. The exhaust system includes an exhaust manifold connected to the cylinder head via a mounting flange such that an exhaust passage leading through the cylinder head is aligned with a passage through the exhaust manifold. The recirculation system includes a recirculation passage extending from the passage through the exhaust manifold through the flange thereof, through the cylinder head and then through the flange of the intake manifold into the passage thereof.

Engines produce a number of exhaust gases, some of which are considered environmentally undesirable. One of these by-products is NO.sub.x compounds. NO.sub.x compounds are generated during the combustion of hydrocarbon fuels, especially at increased combustion temperatures.
Exhausting NO.sub.x, whether into air or water, has detrimental effects on the environment. NO.sub.x exhausted into the air may either photoreact and create air pollution or chemically react and contribute to acid rain. NO.sub.x which is discharged into water, such as from outboard motors, is readily converted in reduction-type chemical reactions into acid. It has been found that even small changes in pH caused by the introduction of acid into a body of water may have an undesirable effect on plants and wildlife. As a result of these and other concerns regarding the effects of the engine exhaust, many principalities now regulate NO.sub.x output.
Controlling the exhaust gas content of engines, both those in automobiles and outboard motors, meets with some difficulties. The engine of an outboard motor is positioned within a very small housing or cowling. Likewise, the engines of newer automobiles must often be positioned in very small engine compartments. In both situations, little space remains apart from the base engine components for emission control equipment. In addition, high engine and emission control component temperatures are sometimes incompatible with certain engine components. In addition, the emission control components generally increase the complexity and cost of manufacture and assembly of the engine.
An apparatus and method for use in controlling the content of the exhaust gas produced by an internal combustion engine is desirable.


An application process unit executes a predetermined application program and a communication process unit performs a predetermined data communication process with another communication target. A communication stop determination unit determines whether or not to stop the data communication process performed by the communication process unit, on the basis of an instruction from the application process unit. When it is determined by the communication stop determination unit to stop the data communication process, the data communication process is stopped.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, and more particularly, relates to control of an information processing apparatus capable of performing communication with another communication target.
Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, a system is known in which communication is automatically performed with another apparatus. For example, Japanese Patent No. 4073885 discloses a system in which game apparatuses perform communication with each other to confirm exchange conditions of data, and exchange game data designated for exchange when the exchange conditions agree with each other.
However, in the system disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4073885, the communication process depends on an application. In other words, the communication process is performed as a part of an application process, and the communication is not performed independently of the application process.

Information processing apparatus, computer-readable storage medium having information processing program stored therein, information processing method, and information processing system


A process for removing sulfur from hydrocarbon feeds, including the steps of providing a hydrocarbon feed containing sulfur; providing a cell having two compartments and a membrane separating the compartments; flowing a hydrogen source through one compartment; flowing the hydrocarbon feed through the other compartment; applying a current across the hydrogen source compartment whereby hydrogen diffuses through the membrane from the hydrogen source to the hydrocarbon feed, whereby the hydrogen reacts with sulfur to form H2S and produce a treated hydrocarbon.

The invention relates to desulfurization of hydrocarbon feeds.
Environmental concerns regarding hydrocarbons such as gasoline and diesel, and sulfur specifications in connection with same, continue as an important issue. These specifications are designed to reduce vehicular emissions, specifically, SOx generated in the combustion of such fuels.
It is expected that regulations will soon require gasoline and diesel quality to have sulfur levels less than or equal to about 30 ppm in the United States, and 50 ppm in Western Europe. These regulations will only become more stringent as time goes on.
It is expected that legislation, especially that in the U.S.A. and Japan, will call for "sulfur free" gasoline and diesel fuel by the end of this decade.
Although technologies exist for deep sulfur removal from hydrocarbon feeds, this technology does not necessarily provide an economically attractive solution to achieve the required low sulfur specifications.
Conventional hydrodesulfurization requires high temperatures, expensive equipment and potentially expensive additives, all of which leads to commercially unattractive processes.
It is clear that the need remains for a process for deep desulfurization of hydrocarbon feeds, which is economically attractive and efficient.
It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide such process.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a process which can be carried out at less extreme temperatures and pressures.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear herein below.

Desulfurization process of hydrocarbon feeds with electrolytic hydrogen


A method of surface-treating a metal member involves heating, or heating under pressure, the metal member in an aqueous alkaline solution having a pH of 9 or more and containing a manganese compound and a chelating agent dissolved in water, whereby a mold release agent or dirt is removed from the metal member without any pre-cleaning process. The surface treatment forms on the metal member a surface treatment layer providing excellent corrosion resistance. Paint, which adheres well to the surface treatment layer, can provide additional corrosion protection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface treatment method for surface-treating a metal member molded by casting or expanding metal, to thereby produce a uniform surface at a lower cost; to metal goods that are surface-treated to form thereon an anticorrosive surface treatment coating; and to metal goods wherein a corrosion-resistant paint film is formed on that surface treatment coating by the application of corrosion-resistant paint thereon.
2. Discussion of the Background
Many metals are susceptible to corrosion at high temperature and humidity, particularly in a salt-contained atmosphere, if not coated with paint. When coated with paint, a molded metal member must be subjected to a pre-cleaning process to clean a mold release agent, commonly used for molding the metal, remaining on a surface of the molded metal member. If the molded metal member is coated with paint without being subjected to the pre-cleaning, the adhesion of the paint film to the metal member will be significantly reduced, triggering early corrosion.
Especially for a molded metal member having crimples and cracks on its surface, the mold release agent intrudes in between the crimps and cracks, so that the mold release agent remains therein easily even when the molded metal member is subjected to the pre-cleaning process.
To address these problems, the following three processes are commonly used. First, (a) a pre-cleaning process using alkali degreasing, acid pickling or blast polishing is performed to clean the surface of the metal member. Then, (b) a base coat process is performed to subject the surface of the metal member to a chemical conversion treatment using chromate and the like. Thereafter, (c) a paint application process is performed to apply a corrosion-resistant paint to the surface of the treated metal member.
However, in (a), the blast polishing of the pre-cleaning process has the disadvantage that it is difficult to clean deep concaves of a molded product having a complicated shape, and the pre-cleaning process using alkali degreasing or acid pickling has the disadvantage of causing corrosion easily when contacted with remaining water. In (b), the chromate treatment has the disadvantage of producing ill effects on the human body. In (c), the paint application process has the disadvantage of failing to protect against corrosion during the time between the base coat process and the paint application process. Effective alternative chemical conversion treatments have not yet been proposed.
In recent years, various metal materials, including lightweight alloy materials typified by magnesium alloy, have been used as environmentally suitable materials to produce molded products in many fields. Many of the molded products have a complicated shape and are covered with a protective corrosion-resistant outer layer. However, because existing surface treatment methods do not provide the outer layer with satisfactory adhesion, the molded products do not have satisfactory corrosion resistance. Development of a novel surface treatment method that is suitable for these metal members and that can also provide an excellent corrosion proof coating and development of a novel corrosion-resistant agent suitably used in the method are now being awaited. The creation of such a novel surface treatment method and the corrosion-resistant agent could provide the metal members with expanded applications.
The present inventors have previously proposed a surface treatment method in which a cast product is surface treated by heating under pressure in a liquid (Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-126623). This method can eliminate the need for the pre-cleaning process; enables even a cast product having a complicated form to be properly surface-treated; and besides can make the surface-treated surface uniform, thus producing a cast product having good corrosion resistance.
However, when an acid surface-treatment liquid is used, a molded metal product, including a cast product, can sometimes be corroded by the acid, depending on the kind of metal member and the kind of acid. This corrosion can cause a reduction in dimensions and pitting corrosion to produce a non-uniform surface. On the other hand, when an alkaline compound is added to the surface-treatment liquid, in order to try to prevent these problems, the compound is precipitated to deteriorate the surface treatment liquid, producing the problem that the surface treatment coating cannot be formed stably.

Surface treatment method of metal member, and metal goods


Multi-interface devices with at least a high-power network interface and a low-power network interface may form into power management clusters. Power management clusters may be maintained over low-power networks associated with the low-power network interfaces. One or some relative few of the cluster participants may be designated lead devices. Designated lead devices participate in high-power networks as well as a low-power network of their power management cluster. Designated lead devices may monitor associated high-power networks for messages addressed to any participant in their power management cluster, and may notify a participant of the incoming message. In response, the participant may establish a high-power network connection to receive the message. In this way, each participant in the power management cluster receives a service quality benefit of a continuous high-power network connection, but only a relative few participants suffer the associated power expenditure at any given moment.

It has become common place for people to use computing devices to communicate with each other. From simple text and graphics to interactive multimedia environments including voice, animation and video, computing devices have gone beyond the traditional mobile phone to support a wide variety of modes of communication. There is a correspondingly wide variety of communication networks that connect such computing devices, each with characteristic advantages and disadvantages, and, in particular, each requiring a characteristic expenditure of power. A core concern of device and network designers, particularly for portable computing devices with limited power supplies, is to provide a rich communication feature set while operating within a power budget.
The proliferation of communication networks and network types has resulted in further challenges and opportunities. In particular, network users typically desire to utilize the lowest cost network that can provide a given communication feature set. For example, the increasing availability of relatively low cost wireless internet service has sparked a demand for mobile Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service. However, implementation of a given communication feature set for a network not explicitly designed for that feature set typically involves engineering trade-offs, particularly with respect to device power expenditure.
The mobile VoIP service example illustrates the problem. Traditional mobile phones operate at a variety of power expenditure levels to minimize overall usage, for example, at a relatively low level when waiting for a call and at higher levels during a call. Handset network interface power levels are tuned to the relatively low bandwidth required for telephone quality voice. In contrast, computing devices supporting mobile VoIP service typically utilize a standard wireless internet connection, for example, in accordance with one of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE®)802.11 series of standards. Such standards are tuned for internet usage patterns as opposed to telephone call usage patterns, so that, for example, they may lack a suitable low power mode in which to wait for an incoming call thus quickly spending the device's power budget.
Rapid expenditure of a device's power budget effectively reduces service quality, particularly for mobile devices with limited power supplies. Unfortunately, current methods of ameliorating this problem can introduce further problems. For the mobile VoIP service example, a simple power saving mechanism between calls is to activate the device's network interface only periodically to check for an incoming call. However, this mechanism introduces a call response delay which also reduces service quality, albeit in a different way. Systems and methods are desirable that adapt to, for example, low cost networks in ways that minimize reduction in service quality.

Power management for multi-interface device clusters


A novel intravascular device is provided having a distal end including a flexible portion having an axis of elongation. The flexible portion comprises a first twist and a first flat defining a first plane, and a second twist and a second flat defining a second plane. The first plane is substantially orthogonal to the second plane for providing the distal end of the device with substantially symmetric flexibility about the axis of elongation. A novel method of manufacturing a safety ribbon for an intravascular device is also provided. The method comprises the steps of: providing an intravascular device having a substantially rounded core wire at a distal end of the device; flattening the core wire to form a substantially rectangular configuration; fixing one end of the configuration against rotation; and rotating an opposite end of the configuration with respect to the one end, thereby substantially permanently altering the configuration. Alternatively, the method can comprise the steps of: providing an element having a substantially rounded configuration; flattening the element to form a substantially rectangular configuration; providing a coil for operative attachment to the rectangular configuration; twisting the coil so as to place the coil under torsion; maintaining the coil in a torsioned condition; operatively attaching the coil to the rectangular configuration; and effectively releasing the coil such that the coil relaxes, thereby allowing torsion on the coil to twist the rectangular configuration to permanently alter the rectangular configuration.

The present invention generally relates to a novel construction for a safety ribbon or core wire. More specifically, the invention relates to a novel safety ribbon for use with a medical guidewire, or a core wire for use with a fixed wire catheter, and the like, which provides substantially symmetric flexibility of the ribbon about an axis of elongation of the ribbon and efficient response to proximally applied forces. Novel methods of manufacturing such a safety ribbon are also provided.
A safety ribbon or core wire is commonly included on the distal end of a medical guidewire or a fixed wire catheter insertable intravascularly into a patient. Such a medical guidewire or catheter has a relatively flexible distal end usually comprising a coiled member for facilitating navigation within the patient's vascular system. A distal end tip, which can be formed by a suitable welding process, for example, is often formed or disposed on the distal end of the coiled member.
As the guidewire or catheter is advanced within a vascular lumen, a juncture of multiple lumens may be encountered, or the vascular lumen may bend or curve within the patient's vasculature. As the guidewire approaches such a juncture or curve, the guidewire must be carefully navigated by a treating physician, clinician, or other medical professional, towards the vascular treatment site. The physician navigates the guidewire by applying forces to a proximal end of the wire which is disposed outside of the patient. These proximally applied forces can be directed for causing rotational, axial, or other desired intravascular movement of the guidewire.
The proximally applied forces are transmitted along the axial length of the guidewire or catheter and are intended to direct or influence the distal end thereof in the desired direction towards the treatment site. This intravascular navigation can become quite difficult and tedious, especially upon consideration of the fact that the guidewire or catheter is inserted into the patient's vascular system at a location, such as the groin, located a significant vascular distance from the treatment site, such as in a coronary or carotid artery. The probability that the distal end will have to be navigated around an increasing number of bends or curves may increase proportionally with the vascular distance between the insertion site and the treatment site.
In an effort to facilitate the navigation of the guidewire or catheter within the vascular lumen, the treating physician often bends or otherwise forms the distal end of the guidewire, specifically the coiled member and possibly the distal end tip, into a predetermined configuration prior to intravascular insertion of the distal end into the patient. The predetermined configuration is usually "J"-shaped, which can facilitate navigation of the distal end of the guidewire in the direction indicated by the distal end of the "J." The "J"-shaped configuration of the distal end can also facilitate selection of a desired branch lumen or vessel. In order to select a desired branch lumen, the treating physician applies a rotational force to the out-of-body proximal end of the guidewire. This force is transmitted along the axial length of the guidewire or core wire to induce rotation of the distal end thereof. The distal end is rotated to point the distal end of the "J" towards or into the desired branch lumen or around the curve or bend. Once the distal end of the "J" is pointed in the desired direction, axially directed forces can be applied to the proximal end to cause axial shifting of the guidewire in the desired direction. Similar navigation procedures are often employed in directing the guidewire or core wire around a sharp bend.
The formation of the coiled member and the end tip, combined with forces exerted thereon during navigation thereof through the patient's vascular system towards the treatment site can stress or otherwise weaken the distal end. In some instances, the resultant stress may be of sufficient magnitude to cause the end tip, the coiled member, or portions thereof to break away from the associated remainder of the guidewire or catheter.
In an effort to reduce the possibility that a portion of the distal end of a guidewire or a fixed wire catheter might break away therefrom, a safety wire or ribbon may be provided. The safety wire is intended to reduce the likelihood of separation of the distal end tip and portions of the coiled member from the guidewire or catheter when breakage occurs during intravascular use. Specifically, the safety wire may be operatively fixedly attached to the end tip, portions of the coiled member, and/or to the remainder of the guidewire or catheter, thereby preventing separation of those elements.
The general construction of a conventional safety wire is well known to those having ordinary skill in the relevant art. Generally, the safety wire comprises a usually flattened, planar distal segment, or element, having a substantially rectangular latitudinal cross section. Round safety wires, can be used, but may be unpopular because they resist bending into a predetermined configuration prior to intravascular insertion, which may be necessary or desirable for navigating the associated device remainder intravascularly as described earlier. In addition, a round safety wire, of a given tensile strength, can be stiffer than a flattened safety wire of similar tensile strength, which may limit the overall flexibility of round safety wire.
An example of a conventional safety wire having a flattened configuration or profile is the device disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,906,938 to Fleischhacker. Another example of a flattened safety wire, indicated by reference numeral 38 in the disclosure, is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,434 to Doyle et al. disposed radially offset from a twisted, elongate shaft of a guidewire. In some constructions, the core wire itself is usually substantially cylindrical in configuration, and a tapered or reduced diameter distal-most segment thereof can be stamped or otherwise flattened to form the safety wire. Other methods of safety wire formation can also be used. The flattened configuration of the safety wire provides the same tensile strength as a round safety wire of equal mass and provides increased flexibility, but the flattened configuration is not as responsive to proximally applied forces as a round configuration, as will be discussed in greater detail shortly.
Opposite ends of the safety wire can be joined to a core wire and the end tip, respectively, by suitable means, such as solder and the like. In some constructions, the end tip may be formed as a part of the safety wire prior to stamping thereof. These constructions allow the distal end of the guidewire or fixed wire catheter to be formed into a predetermined configuration, as described above, relatively easily within a plane orthogonal to a plane defined by the flattened safety wire. However, it is difficult to form the distal end of the guidewire within the plane of the safety wire. In addition, it has been discovered that, irrespective of the plane in which the distal end of the guidewire or core wire is bent or formed, the planar construction of the safety wire tends to orient the bend into the plane orthogonal to the plane of the safety wire (i.e. the plane orthogonal to the plane of the wire is the preferred plane of safety wire or core wire formation). This may be undesirable in some cases, and may complicate navigation of the guidewire or fixed wire catheter within the vascular lumen, as well as limit the intravascular device's ability to select a desired branch lumen because the safety wire is not symmetrically flexible about an axis of elongation of the associated wire and does not efficiently respond to proximally applied navigation forces.
Furthermore, the presence of a limited flexibility safety ribbon in the distal end of a guidewire or of a core wire of a fixed wire catheter may limit performance of the guidewire or the catheter itself. The decreased responsiveness of the distal end to the navigating forces proximally applied by the treating physician may complicate the treatment. The lack of symmetric flexibility and efficient responsiveness of the distal end of the guidewire due to the presence of the safety wire may cause the distal end to "whip" responsive to the combination of forces applied to the proximal end of the guidewire in a navigation effort. It is believed that whipping of the distal end may be caused, or at least magnified by the non-axially symmetric flexibility of the safety wire and, consequentially, the distal end.
Illustrating the phenomenon of whipping of the distal end by example, the guidewire is intravascularly inserted into the patient. As the guidewire moves axially within the vascular lumen, the outer surface of the guidewire contacts the interior surface of the vascular lumen. Multiple bends and/or curves in the lumen can increase the contact between the guidewire and the interior surface of the vascular lumen. The contact generates a resultant force on the guidewire which can attenuate or oppose the proximally applied navigation forces, thereby inhibiting intravascular navigation of the guidewire.
Once the resultant force has achieved sufficient magnitude, the distal end does not move fully responsive to the proximally applied forces because of the attenuation of those forces by the contact-generated friction between the wire and the vascular lumen interior surface. For example, it has been empirically determined by experiment that a ninety degree rotation of the proximal end of a guidewire having a conventional safety ribbon may only result in a ten degree intravascular rotation of the distal end of the guidewire. This is an example of inefficient responsiveness of a distal end to proximally applied forces. In order to navigate the guidewire in the desired direction towards the intravascular treatment site, the treating physician applies increasingly more force (i.e. increasing degrees of rotation) to the proximal end in an effort to overcome the resultant force and to direct the distal end of the guidewire as intended.
If the proximally applied forces achieve a sufficient magnitude, that is, sufficient to overcome a static coefficient of friction between the relevant length of the guidewire and the contacted portion of the vascular lumen interior surface, the distal end whips around, or moves in response to the combined effects of the proximally applied forces. This motion is similar to the release of a wound spring. This whipping is undesirable, may make certain treatment sites difficult to reach, may complicate the procedure the physician is attempting to perform, and may be traumatic to the particular portion of the vascular lumen adjacent the whipping distal end. Similar whipping may occur with the distal end of a fixed wire catheter and other devices, and may also occur when a guidewire is rotated in a lumen within a catheter, or atherectomy device, for example.
The present invention provides a novel safety ribbon or core wire construction which is intended to solve some, if not all of the problems presented by the prior art safety ribbons or wires. Specifically, the novel construction of the safety ribbon can reduce the adverse effects of whipping while increasing navigation-facilitating flexibility and responsiveness to proximally applied forces of the distal end of a guidewire, a fixed wire catheter, and the like. A novel method of manufacturing safety ribbons is also provided.

Guidewire with safety ribbon with substantially axially symmetric flexibility


One embodiment provides a method of providing a power semiconductor module with a cooler. A power semiconductor module includes a substrate having a first substrate side for carrying at least one electric circuit and having a second substrate side being located opposite to the first substrate side. The second substrate side is connected to a first baseplate side and the baseplate also includes a second baseplate side being located opposite to its first baseplate side and being adapted for coming in contact with the cooler. The cooler includes a first casing component and a second casing component. The baseplate side is equipped with a cooling area that is surrounded by a connecting area.

Power semiconductor modules are well known in the art in different applications.
As an example, it is known to position electric circuits soldered on substrates in a housing and encapsulate the electric circuits in a resin which is filled in the housing.
However, transfer-molded and particularly sintered power modules have become an interesting alternative to the traditional approach because of the increased cycle reliability of the power module. Nevertheless, this adds more complexity for the integration of the electric circuit such as comprising three phases on a common baseplate or cooler. Whereas substrates can be fully assembled with wire bonds when heading for subsequent substrate soldering, substrates for sintering cannot or only hardly be wire bonded and tested prior to sintering, since the sintering approach requires a strong pressure on the substrates. The pressure is typically applied mechanically with a rubber stamp, which would destroy the wire bonding.
For this reason, the one-step sintering of a six-pack module, for example, is economically very risky. The preferable solution is to head for a six-pack configuration made by three different transfer-molded and sintered half bridge modules.
However, there are different issues to be regarded when using transfer molded modules.
For example, the integration by using O-ring has room for improvements for reliability reasons, such as due to aging of the O-ring. The usage of screws requires storage and part numbers for the assembly line. Furthermore, this solution requires space for the screws and O-rings due to the amount of screws and O-rings, such as four screws and O-rings for a half-bridge module.
It is important that the method or technology used for the integration of the electric circuits must not damage the power modules. In particular, it may be preferred that the temperature does not exceed 225° C. in order not to damage the mold compound. Further, mechanical stresses should be avoided.
It further should be avoided that integration by welding technologies generates small cracks and pores that cause leakage.
Apart from that, a fluid enclosure of a fluid-based cooler should be robust and leak tight, and at the same time the design should be space saving and cheap.
DE 10 2016 203 184 A1 discloses a power electronics assembly comprising: a power electronics unit; a first component of a first metal or a first metal alloy for the protection of the power electronics unit; a second component of a second metal or a second metal alloy for the protection of the power electronics unit; a metallic membrane; wherein the membrane connects the first and the second component with each other physically and fluid-tight.
However, connecting a substrate being part of a transfer molded power semiconductor module is still an issue. The prior art thus gives room for improvements with this regard.

Power semiconductor module and method of forming the same


A vibration damping apparatus which is particularly applicable to an automotive engine mount and capable of fully absorbing vibration from vibration generating sources. A sleeve is secured to the automotive engine unit, and a housing is secured to the vehicle body. Once the vibration generated by the automotive engine is transmitted to the sleeve, liquid loaded in a main liquid chamber flows to a sub liquid chamber via a plurality of restricting passages. Vibration is effectively absorbed by the transit resistance against liquid flowing through those restricting passages. Independent of these restricting passages, a cylindrical member is provided which penetrates through the housing and a partition wall block. The cylindrical member is disposed in the path of the restricting passages providing connection between the main and sub liquid chambers. A hollow rotor is rotatably provided, inside of and on the same axial line as the cylindrical member, for opening and closing the restricting passages. When low-frequency vibration is generated, only the restricting passage devoid of the hollow rotor provides connection between the main and sub liquid chambers. Conversely, when high-frequency vibration is generated, those restricting passages each containing the hollow rotor and having a large sectional area are released to provide connection between both chambers thus reliably and effectively absorbing vibrations throughout an extensive range of frequencies.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration damping apparatus which is particularly available for a vehicle engine mount to fully absorb vibration propagated from a variety of vibration generating sources.
2. Background information
A typical vehicle engine is provided with a vibration damping apparatus serving as the engine mount between the engine unit and the vehicle body. Any conventional vibration damping apparatus is internally provided with a main liquid chamber and a sub liquid chamber respectively being filled with liquid, which are internally connected to each other via a plurality of restricting passages. Whenever vibration of engine is propagated to the vibration damping apparatus, liquid in both chambers passes through these restricting passages so as to absorb vibration by the effect of transit resistance or liquid column resonance in the liquid-filled restricting passages.
A typical vehicle engine generates a variety of vibrations including shaking vibration which occurs while the vehicle runs at about 70 kilometers per hour of velocity and idling vibration which occurs while the vehicle runs at an extremely slow velocity such as 5 kilometers per hour for example.
Generally, the shaking vibration generates a maximum frequency of 15 Hz, whereas the idling vibration generates 20 through 40 Hz of frequencies, and thus both vibrations are physically different from each other.
On the other hand, any of the conventional vibration-proof apparatuses is functionally effective only in a specific range in which the frequencies of the vibration can be determined in accordance with the area and the length of aperture of each limited passage. In other words, any conventional vibration damping apparatus cannot effectively damp and absorb vibration containing frequencies out of the predetermined range.
To compensate for this, if any adjustment were applied to such a conventional vibration damping apparatus in order to effectively damp the shaking vibration, then, conversely, it cannot effectively damp the idling vibration, and vice versa.


The present application thus provides a beverage dispensing system for combining a micro-ingredient and a diluent. The beverage dispensing system may include a nozzle and a remote micro-ingredient storage system positioned at a distance from the nozzle. The remote micro-ingredient storage system may include a stirring reservoir in communication with the nozzle to agitate the micro-ingredient therein.

Conventional post-mix beverage dispensers generally mix streams of syrup, concentrate, sweetener, bonus flavors, other types of flavoring, and other ingredients with water or other types of diluents. Preferably, the beverage dispenser may provide as many types and flavors of beverages as may be possible in a footprint that may be as small as possible. Recent improvements in beverage dispensing technology have focused on the use of micro-ingredients. With micro-ingredients, the traditional beverage bases may be separated into a number of constituent parts at much higher dilution or reconstitution ratios. A beverage dispenser using micro-ingredients thus may provide the consumer with many more beverage options as compared to a conventional beverage dispenser using a limited number of beverage syrups.
Depending upon the intended location for the beverage dispenser and/or other considerations, some or all of the ingredients used in the beverage dispenser may be stored at a distance from the beverage dispenser and/or from the dispensing nozzle. For example, the sweetener may be stored in a conventional bag-in-box at a distance from the beverage dispenser. The flow of sweetener and/or other types of fluids may pass through a chiller that is remote from the beverage dispenser and/or the dispensing nozzle so as to keep the fluids chilled to the appropriate temperature.
Likewise with respect to micro-ingredients, such ingredients may be stored in or near the beverage dispenser. In certain locations, however, access to the beverage dispenser may be difficult or at least inconvenient in certain circumstances and/or during certain times of day. For example, in a busy drive through window or in a busy dining area, the restaurant operator may not want to stop the beverage dispenser from dispensing so as to replace the micro-ingredients therein. Storing the micro-ingredients at a remote location, however, may lead to product separation before the micro-ingredients reach the beverage dispenser.

Beverage dispensing systems with remote micro-ingredient storage systems


Siliceous oxides having a combination of low total volatiles content and basic pH are useful as odor control agents in organic resin systems, especially polyolefin-based systems. These modified siliceous oxides advantageously reduce odor and off-trade while minimizing discoloration of the resin. The adsorbents are especially useful for resin systems containing fatty acid amide slip aids.

The desire to remove or avoid unwanted odors is present in almost every environment. This desire is especially evident in the context of consumer products where an unpleasant odor associated with a product can have an adverse impact on the product's marketability, regardless of product efficacy.
In many instances, the manufacture of consumer products involves the use of substances which may create an odor problem if a sufficient amount of the substance(s) is present in the product when it is sold to the consumer. Often, these odiferous substances are removed or become dissipated prior to purchase of the product by the consumer. Nevertheless, there is often a need to combat undesired odors in many products. This need may be accentuated in instances where the time between manufacture and sale of the product becomes shortened.
To some extent, odor problems can be addressed by masking with fragrances or by avoiding use of the odor-causing substance in the manufacture of the product. In other cases, certain adsorbents such as molecular sieves or conventional silica gels have been used to combat odor. Unfortunately, the use of such conventional adsorbents may produce adverse side effects on the product (e.g. discoloration of the product, creation of secondary odors).
Thus, there remains a need for improved adsorbents useful for odor removal applications which avoid adverse side effects such as discoloration and development of secondary odors.

Siliceous oxide comprising an alkaline constituent


A face shield and head covering combination is provided. The head covering comprises a body and an attachment element. The body defines a head opening configured to receive a user's head therethrough. The attachment element is coupled to the body and configured to couple to a face shield positionable on the user's face. The attachment element is configured to transition between a first position on the body and a second position on the body, wherein the second position is spaced from the first position.

Due to recent events regarding COVID-19, wearing a face protection system has become commonplace for routine activities, such as grocery shopping, going to work, attending an event, etc. In some circumstances and locations, wearing a face mask can be required.
Conventional face protection systems can include face masks that are attached to a person's head, ears, and/or neck, and wrap around the user's face from the bridge of their nose to under their chin. The face mask needs to be secure enough to stay in place while still allowing the user to talk. Many face masks are either too loose or too tight, which can tempt the user to touch the mask and/or pull it out of place putting the user at risk from unnecessarily touching their face and limiting the effectiveness of the mask.
The foregoing background discussion is intended solely to aid the reader. It is not intended to limit the innovations described herein. Thus, the foregoing discussion should not be taken to indicate that any particular element of a prior system is unsuitable for use with the innovations described herein, nor is it intended to indicate that any element is essential in implementing the innovations described herein.


A storage device includes a controller and nonvolatile memories. The controller receives write commands having virtual stream identifiers (IDs), receives discard commands having the virtual stream IDs, and determines a lifetime of write data to which each of the virtual stream IDs is assigned. The nonvolatile memories are accessed by the controller depending on physical stream IDs. The controller maps the virtual stream IDs and the physical stream IDs based on the lifetime of the write data.

Embodiments of the disclosure herein relate to a storage device and an operating method thereof, and more particularly, relate to a storage device for mapping virtual streams onto physical streams and an operating method thereof.
A storage device is a nonvolatile storage medium, and data stored in the storage device may be retained permanently or semi-permanently regardless of whether the storage device is powered. The storage device may operate electrically like a semiconductor memory, instead of operating mechanically. A storage device (e.g., a solid state drive (SSD)) including a semiconductor memory is mainly being used.
A host using the storage device may generate various kinds of data depending on applications. The host may provide information about data to the storage device together with the data for improving an operation of the storage device. However, information about data which the host may provide is restrictive due to a kind of the storage device, a limitation on hardware, etc.

Storage device for mapping virtual streams onto physical streams and method thereof


A clutch actuator comprises a motor having a motor shaft. A worm shaft is formed with a threaded section. A worm wheel meshes with the threaded section of the worm shaft. An output rod reciprocates in an axial direction to disengage and engage a clutch. A crank shaft converts rotational motion of the worm wheel to reciprocating motion of the output rod. The motor shaft and the worm shaft are coupled by a spline connection.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a clutch actuator that disengages and engages a clutch. More particularly, the present invention relates to an engine unit that includes such a clutch actuator and a saddle type vehicle, such as a motorcycle, that includes such an engine unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a system is known that attaches an actuator to a previously existing manual transmission. The actuator is used to automate certain operations such that the system can automate a series of start, stop and shift change operations (clutch disengagement, gear change, and clutch engagement) based on the rider's intention or the state of the vehicle.
Among the actuators used in the above-described system, one example of a clutch actuator for disengaging and engaging the clutch is the clutch actuator disclosed in JP-A-2005-282784. This clutch actuator is provided with a motor, and a worm shaft that rotates coaxially with a motor shaft of the motor. A tip of the worm shaft is formed with a threaded section. In addition, the clutch actuator includes a worm wheel that meshes with the threaded section; a crank shaft that converts rotational motion of the worm wheel to linear reciprocating motion; and an output rod that is connected to the crank shaft. The clutch actuator finally converts the rotational motion of the motor to an axial reciprocating motion of the output rod, and uses the reciprocating motion of the output rod to disengage and engage the clutch.

Clutch actuator, engine unit, and saddle type vehicle


A disposable first tube (68) extends axially through, and is detachably connected to, an annular main body (10'). An input piezo electric element (38) is attached to a first end of the tubular main body (10'). A second, sensor piezo electric element (40) is attached to the opposite end of the main body (10'). A nozzle (20') having a nozzle passageway (110) and a discharge opening (112) is detachably secured to an outlet end of the first tube (68). A second tube (102) within the first tube (68) delivers a core liquid to the nozzle passageway (110). A sheath liquid is delivered through a space in the first tube (68) surrounding the second tube (102). The nozzle passageway (110) forms the core and sheath liquids into a small diameter jet stream. Electrical energy is delivered to the input piezo electric element (38), to vibrate the nozzle (20') and break the jet stream into droplets. The sensor element (40) determines the amplitude of vibration at the nozzle (20') and delivers this information to a control circuit that adjusts the electrical energy input to the input piezo electric element (38) for maintaining a desired amplitude of vibration at the nozzle (20'). The frequency of vibration is determined by the length of the main body (10') between the two piezo electric elements (38, 40). The first and second tubes (68, 102) are disposable and are replaced after a use rather than being cleaned and sterilized.

Known particle separators function to form a particle containing liquid into a small diameter jet stream and then break the jet stream into particle containing droplets. The droplet formation is guided by vibration energy applied to the separator. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,166, granted Nov. 24, 1981, to Mack J. Fulwyler and C. W. William Hatcher, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,400, granted Nov. 30, 1982, to Joe W. Gray, Terry W. Alger and David E. Lord.
It is important that the vibration be at a precise, stable frequency. Since the vibration energy determines the break-off point of the droplets, it is important that the energy be constant. In current practice, the vibration frequency is determined by an electronic oscillator that drives a piezo electric element that is incorporated into the separator. There is a need to provide the vibration energy in a way that does not require use of an electronic oscillator because electronic oscillators are expensive. Further, the known apparatuses for forming the droplets have to be cleaned and sterilized between uses. There is a need for a droplet forming apparatus in which at least some of the components that are contacted by the carrier liquid are disposable so that the need to clean and sterilize is significantly reduced, if not eliminated.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a particle separator that is simple, yet durable, inexpensive to make and use, and which includes a mechanical oscillator driven by a piezo electric element to provide substantially constant vibration energy to a nozzle. Another object is to provide a particle separator in which components that are contacted by the particle containing liquid are disposable, so as to at least reduce the need to clean and sterilize between uses. A further object of the invention is to provide a method of droplet formation by use of a mechanical oscillator and components in contact with the particle carrying liquid that are disposable. Yet another object of the invention is to provide a particle separator that is adapted to monitor the vibration energy existing in the particle separator.
Additional prior art particle separators and particle separating methods, present in the patent literature, are disclosed by: U.S. Pat. No. 3,963,606, granted Jun. 15, 1976 to Walter R. Hogg; U.S. Pat. No. 4,325,483, granted Apr. 20, 1982 to Igino Lombardo, Donald E. Barry and W. Peter Hansen; U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,732, granted Apr. 16, 1991, to Hiroshi Ohki, Hideaki Kamohara and Ryo Miyake; U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,959, granted Jan. 14, 1992, to Ryo Miake, Hiroshi Ohki, Isao Yarnazaki, Toshio Kaneko, Hideyuki Horiuchi, Shinich Sakuraba, and Kaori Yasuda; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,538,733, granted Sep. 3, 1985, to Michael A. Hoffman. These patents and the two earlier mentioned patents should be carefully considered for the purpose of putting the subject invention into proper perspective relative to the prior art.

Particle separating apparatus and method


A floating wind turbine in which a floating barge having a doughnut shape with an open center rigidly supports a plurality of airfoils such that a wind produces a rotation of the blades and the barge. The airfoil and barge assembly is connected to a rigid shaft that extends into a generator housing that houses a generator. Anti-rotation fins extend from the generator housing and into the water to limit rotation of the generator housing as the blades and barge rotates in the wind. Rotation of the rigid shaft due to the wind also rotates the generator shaft to produce electricity. The floating turbine supports the blades for rotation without the need for bearings so the turbine can be extremely large. The blades are supported by the floating barge so the blades can also be extremely large. The barge is doughnut shaped to limit viscous forces due to rotation of the barge within the water. A second floating wind turbine rotates within the first floating turbine but in an opposite direction. A generator includes an armature secured to the first floating turbine and a filed secured to the second floating turbine such that the generator has an effective rotation equal to the relative rotation of the two floating turbines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a large wind turbine for generating electrical power, the wind turbine being mounted on a floating platform intended for use in a body of water, in which the floating barge also acts to support the rotor blade assembly, eliminating the need for bearings and allowing for extremely large wind turbine structures.
2. Description of Related Art including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Prior art wind turbines come in many shapes and sizes. Vertical axis rotating blades are well known for use in electric power generation using wind. These generators can be mounted on land or on a floating barge over water. In order to generate larger electric power, the blades become extremely large, sometimes in the length of 100 meters each. As the blades become larger, the stresses that occur become so large that the modern materials used to form the rotor and blade become over-stressed. Thus, there is a limit as to how large a blade can be, and therefore there is a limit as to how much power can be produced by a single rotating structure.
One large wind turbine, which of U.S. Pat. No. 6,294,844 issued to Lagerwey on Sep. 9, 2001 shows a floating platform such as a barge or ship that supports a structure, the structure supporting a plurality of wind airfoils. The Lagerwey invention does not use a large wind airfoil, but makes use of a number of smaller airfoils. And additional embodiment shown in FIGS. 15A and 15B shows a vertical wind turbine rotatably supported by a floating ship. In this embodiment, bearings are used to support the rotating turbine, and therefore the size and weight of the rotating turbine is limited.
Another type of floating wind turbine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,592 issued to Porter on Oct. 26, 1976, and discloses a floating sphere anchored to a sea bed, the sphere carrying a vertical axis wind turbine. The turbine is small and supported for rotation by bearings. As in the above mentioned Lagerwey invention, the invention of Porter is limited as to the size of the wind turbine because of the use of the bearings for rotational support.
Some prior art inventions make use of a floating turbine in which the turbine is located within the water. U.S. Pat. No. 6,734,576 issued to Pacheco on May 11, 2004 discloses in one embodiment a floating generator in which the rotary structure is completely submerged within the water flow path. The structure is supported by a floating barge.
There is a need in the art for a larger rotation device that can capture a large amount of wind to generate a large amount of electric power. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a large rotating structure to generator power from wind that does not require bearings to support the rotary structure. It is another object of the present invention to provide for a large airfoil surface such that the stress limitation of size in prior art rotating wind generators are not a limiting factor.


An in-vehicle sensor (1) connected to a communication bus CAN includes a bus connection connector (40) including external communication terminals T3, T4, and external setting terminals T5, T6 each of which is brought into one of a plurality of connection states; judgment means S1-S7 for judging the connection states of the external terminals for setting T5, T6 when electric power is supplied in a state in which the bus connection connector (40) is connected to the communication bus CAN; identifier generation means S8 for generating an identifier ID of the in-vehicle sensor (1) based on the judged connection states; a nonvolatile storage section (11) for storing the identifier ID; communication means (10) for performing communications through the communication bus CAN using the stored identifier ID; and storing means S9 for storing a first generated initial identifier IDS in the storage section (11) as the identifier ID.

Various sensors such as gas sensors (e.g., an oxygen sensor and an NOx sensor), a temperature sensor, and a knock sensor are mounted on a vehicle. Such in-vehicle sensors are connected to a communication bus constructed in the vehicle, and are controlled, in a centralized manner, by an ECU (electronic control unit) connected to the communication bus. Therefore, each in-vehicle sensor has an identifier which is assigned thereto and is used for identifying the sensor in communications through the communication bus. The ECU exchanges communication data with each in-vehicle sensor through the communication bus by designating the identifier.
Notably, examples of standards for such a communication bus include CAN (Controller Area Network) and LIN (Local Interconnect Network).

In-vehicle sensor, in-vehicle sensor system, and method of setting identifiers of in-vehicle sensors in in-vehicle sensor system


A lamp comprises a LED lamp comprising a base. A plurality of LEDs are attached to a first side of the base. A lens covers the plurality of LEDs. A power supply provides power to the LEDs. A first electrical connector provides power to the power supply. A troffer housing comprises a wire way for receiving the power supply. A second electrical conductor is adapted to be connected to a source of power. The base is secured to the troffer housing where the power supply is located in the wire way and the first electrical conductor is connected to the second electrical conductor.

Light emitting diode (LED) lighting systems are becoming more prevalent as replacements for older lighting systems. LED systems are an example of solid state lighting (SSL) and have advantages over traditional lighting solutions such as incandescent and fluorescent lighting because they use less energy, are more durable, operate longer, can be combined in multi-color arrays that can be controlled to deliver virtually any color light, and generally contain no lead or mercury. A solid-state lighting system may take the form of a lighting unit, light fixture, light bulb, or a "lamp."
An LED lighting system may include, for example, a packaged light emitting device including one or more light emitting diodes (LEDs), which may include inorganic LEDs, which may include semiconductor layers forming p-n junctions and/or organic LEDs (OLEDs), which may include organic light emission layers. Light perceived as white or near-white may be generated by a combination of red, green, and blue ("RGB") LEDs. Output color of such a device may be altered by separately adjusting supply of current to the red, green, and blue LEDs. Another method for generating white or near-white light is by using a lumiphor such as a phosphor. Still another approach for producing white light is to stimulate phosphors or dyes of multiple colors with an LED source. Many other approaches can be taken.


Reciprocating-piston internal combustion engines having different power outputs are to be equipped simply, reliably and inexpensively with a device for the selective catalytic reduction of the exhaust gases having an SCR module for a reciprocating-piston internal combustion engine, comprising a housing and/or a frame, an exhaust-gas section which delimits a flow duct for guiding through exhaust gas, having an inlet opening for introducing the exhaust gas and an outlet opening for discharging the exhaust gas, an SCR catalytic converter which is arranged inside the flow duct, at least one injection element for adding a reducing agent, for example ammonia or a urea solution, to the exhaust gas which is guided through the flow duct. This problem is solved by virtue of the fact that the SCR module comprises at least one delivery device (13) for feeding the reducing agent to the injection element at a predetermined pressure.

1. Field of the Invention
The current invention relates to an SCR module for use with an internal combustion engine system, and a method for the production of an internal combustion engine system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Reciprocating piston internal combustion engines are used for various applications. In stationary systems the reciprocating piston internal combustion engines serve for example in combination with a generator to produce electricity. In mobile systems reciprocating piston internal combustion engines are used to power ships, military vehicles, for example tanks, or also to drive agricultural utility vehicles. The reciprocating piston internal combustion engines should hereby exhibit the lowest possible nitrogen oxide emissions. It is known to selectively reduce the nitrogen oxides in the exhaust gases by means of a selective catalytic reaction (SCR) on an SCR catalytic converter. The emission of nitrogen oxides (NO2) can thereby be considerably reduced. This reaction process requires ammonia (NH3) and the products of the reaction are water (H2O) and nitrogen (N2). Titanium dioxide, vanadium pentoxide and tungsten dioxide for example are used as SCR catalytic converters, or also other types of SCR catalytic converters, for example by using zeolites. The ammonia used for the reaction is hereby not added undiluted or in other words in pure form, but rather as a 32.5% aqueous urea solution and is referred to in the automotive industry as Adblue.
Internal combustion engine systems may therefore equipped with devices for selective catalytic reduction of exhaust gases. For reciprocating piston internal combustion engines having varying power outputs, for example an output of between 600 and 4000 kW it is necessary to provide at considerable expense appropriate devices for selective catalytic reduction which can sufficiently extract or reduce the volume flow of nitrogen oxide from the exhaust gas of the reciprocating piston internal combustion engines. For this reason it is necessary to provide appropriately different devices that are complex and expensive for reciprocating piston internal combustion engines having varying outputs. This increases the costs for the production of the internal combustion engine systems considerably and moreover, complex and expensive assembly efforts are required in the production of the internal combustion engine system which are also susceptible to errors.
An exhaust system for several independently operable internal combustion engines is known from German patent document DE 43 10 962 C1. The exhaust gas is directed into a common exhaust gas line, whereby the nitrogen removal from the exhaust gas occurs through selective catalytic reduction by addition of a reducing agent into the exhaust gas stream. The common exhaust gas line branches into at least two branch lines, in which at least one SCR catalytic converter is arranged and at least a section of the branch lines can be shut off using an adjustable shut-off valve, depending on the operating condition.
DE 10 2010 021 438 A1 describes an exhaust gas treatment device, in particular for a diesel engine through which an exhaust stream can flow in an exhaust stream flow direction and including an exhaust gas inlet, a reducing agent adding system for addition of a reducing agent into the exhaust gas stream, a nitrogen oxide reduction catalytic converter and an exhaust gas outlet, wherein the reducing agent adding system includes at least two reducing agent adding devices, in particular injection nozzles.
An exhaust gas system for an internal combustion engine, in particular for a motor vehicle is known from DE 10 2005 025 045 A1. The exhaust gas system includes an SCR-module and a particle filter module. The SCR module is provided with an SCR catalytic converter element and a urea metering device.


The weaving machine has at least two sectional warp beams (20a, 20b) and at least one whip roll (23) rotatably mounted to the machine. Each sectional warp beam is equipped with an individually drivable warp let-off motion (30, 31, 32). Feeler members (13a, 13b) are mounted symmetrically on a rocker-like bar (10) to measure the warp yarn tension and control devices individually control the speed of rotation of the sectional warp beams. The rotational axis (11) of the bar (10) is parallel to the warp plane and is situated between the sectional warp beams. A sensor (14a) determines the deviation of the bar alignment from a reference position, so that it is possible to effect warp let-off control.

The invention relates to a weaving machine with control devices that rapidly correct the warp let-off speed of the individual sectional warp beams according to the differences in the warp tensions measured. A weaving machine of the type described is disclosed in. EP-PS 0 136 389. This reference describes a feeler member mounted between a fixed deflecting roll and the whip roll to measure the tension of a warp yarn sheet. The feeler member comprises a deflecting element and a leaf spring, which is fixed to the deflector roll. Because of the yarn forces, the deflecting element is deflected against the action of the leaf spring; this deflection is measured with a sensor.
This known weaving machine allows weaving from a plurality of sectional warp beams when there is a single continuous whip roll which remains parallel to the warp beam axis during pivoting. The warp let-off control device rests in other weaving machines on a special form of whip roll, in which a tension difference can be determined from an oblique position of the whip roll. The intermittent oblique position of the whip roll, however, causes a reduction in cloth quality.
In the case of the known feeler members with leaf springs there is another problem: it has been found in practice that in production engineering terms it is difficult for the spring constant of the leaf springs to remain within a sufficiently narrow tolerance range relative to the warp let-off control. Because of the wide divergence of the spring constant a special calibration must be performed for each feeler member. In terry looms with cloth control (see EP-A 0 350 446, FIG. 9), the forces acting on the feeler member at full beat-up and partial beat-up are very different. Here, therefore, the divergence of the spring constant proves particularly disadvantageous.

Drive adjustment device for sectional warp beam let-off motion


A slit pattern, which is an orientation control element extending in an oblique direction relative to an edge of a pixel electrode on a surface of a TFT substrate, is formed in the pixel electrode to extend in a substantially parallel direction to an extending direction of a bank-shaped pattern. Furthermore, as an orientation control element, fine slit patterns (concave portions in the pixel electrode) are formed locally in a part near the edge of the pixel electrode except in the pixel electrode to extend in an oblique direction relative to an extending direction of the edge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to liquid crystal display devices in which a first substrate having a pixel electrode and an active element and a second substrate having an opposed electrode have a liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween with each of the electrodes thereof facing each other and also relates to liquid crystal orientation methods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a liquid crystal display device in a TN mode in which liquid crystal material with a positive dielectric anisotropy is put in a dark state and is oriented to be in a horizontal direction relative to a substrate surface and twisted 90° between opposed substrates is widely used as a liquid crystal display (LCD) using an active matrix.
However, the TN mode has a disadvantage that it is inferior in its viewing angle characteristic and various studies have been made to improve the viewing angle characteristic thereof. As a method substituting for the TN mode, an MVA (Multi-domain Vertical Alignment) system in which liquid crystal material with a negative dielectric anisotropy is vertically oriented and liquid crystal molecules under voltage application are regulated, without giving rubbing treatment to oriented films, to tilt in directions by protrusions and slits which are provided on surfaces of the substrates has been developed. The MVA system has succeeded in improving the viewing angle characteristic to a great extent.
The structure and function of an MVA system liquid crystal display device will be described below.
The MVA system is a system which performs orientation dividing of a vertical orientation type liquid crystal by providing elements in the forms of bank-shaped (linear) protrusions and slits on the substrates. As shown in FIG. 22, FIG. 23A, and FIG. 23B (a sectional view taken along the line I–I′), the elements 103 in the forms of the linear protrusions and slits are arranged alternately on an upper substrate 101 and a lower substrate 102. Thereby, liquid crystal domains in which orientation directions on both sides of the element 103 are approximately 180° different from each other are formed in regions without the element 103 (spaced interval parts). In this way, a suitable orientation dividing is realized. This MVA system has improved the viewing angle characteristic of the liquid crystal display device to a great extent.
Here, the 'linear (bank-shaped) protrusion' is made of dielectric material and formed on an electrode (for example, a pixel electrode, an opposed (a common) electrode, and so on) and the 'slit' is a concave portion formed in a part of the electrode. Hereinafter, the same expressions in the specification of this patent application designate the above elements.
However, the conventional MVA system liquid crystal display device has a disadvantage that light transmittance of a panel is lower than that of a liquid crystal display device in a TN mode. One of the reasons will be described with reference to FIGS. 24 and 25.
FIGS. 24A and 24B show states of pixel observation when a conventional MVA panel used in general is in a white display state. FIGS. 25A and 25B show states of liquid crystal orientation.
As shown in FIG. 24A and FIG. 25B, it is seen that a line which appears dark (a dark line 105) exists in a part of a region near an edge of a pixel electrode 104. In this region, as shown in FIG. 24B (a sectional view taken along the line I–I′) and FIG. 25A, the element 103 on the pixel electrode 104 regulates liquid crystal molecules to tilt in a right direction relative to the element 103 while a slanting electric field of the edge of the pixel electrode 104 regulates the liquid crystal molecules to tilt in a left direction. Therefore, liquid crystal orientation directions defined by them are substantially opposite to each other. As a result, the liquid crystal molecules in this region are oriented in the same direction as a polarizing axial direction, which optically causes the dark line to occur and therefore, lowers the transmittance.
As shown in FIG. 26A and FIG. 26B (a sectional view taken along the line I–I′), this problem is solvable by applying a method of newly providing a bank-shaped element 106 (an auxiliary bank method) on an opposed part to the edge of the pixel electrode. The newly provided element 106 is disposed along the edge of the pixel electrode. At this time, the element 106 regulates the liquid crystal molecules to be oriented in an opposite direction to the direction defined by the slanting electric field of the edge of the pixel electrode. Thereby, the liquid crystal orientation near the edge of the pixel electrode is caused to be substantially in the same orientation direction defined by the originally provided element 103.
FIGS. 27A and 27B show the position of the dark line within the pixel at this time.
In FIG. 27A and FIG. 27B, black circles and white circles show singular points of an orientation vector and a line connecting the black circles and the white circles shows the dark line. The dark line which conventionally enters inside the pixel stays on the newly provided element 106. Here, the distribution of the singular points and the dark lines on the whole pixel is shown in FIG. 28.
In this way, the light transmittance of the panel can be improved by approximately 10% compared with that in the conventional art. Here, the newly provided element 106 works in a manner in which it helps the liquid crystal orientation approximate to the original liquid crystal orientation control defined by the originally provided element 103. Therefore, the newly provided element 106 is hereinafter called an auxiliary bank.
However, it is found that a problem of partial unevenness in brightness within the panel, which is recognized as irregular display or ununiformity in display brightness, occurs when this method is applied. After investigation, it is found that this problem is caused by the following reason.
In order to drive the liquid crystal molecules, it is necessary to form a TFT element, bus line, and pixel electrode patterns on one of the substrates. These patterns are formed by a photolithography process. At present, resist exposure is performed with the surface within the panel being divided into regions (exposure by shots using stepper machines) in order to form fine patterns of approximately several microns at the minimum with the equal shapes and width all over the panel.
At this time, overlapping widths of the substrate and a photomask sometimes deviate a little between adjacent shots from each other. This deviation causes relative position of the edge of the pixel electrode and the auxiliary bank to vary from shot to shot. As described above, the liquid crystal orientation direction defined by the edge of the pixel electrode and the liquid crystal orientation direction defined by the auxiliary bank are opposite to each other. Therefore, when the relative position of the edge of the pixel electrode and the auxiliary bank varies, orientation control balance between them varies, which sometimes influences the liquid crystal orientation near the auxiliary bank. Particularly, when deviation in overlapping width of a TFT substrate and an opposed substrate (having the auxiliary bank) is large, this problem occurs distinctly.
A difference in states of the liquid crystal orientation (the dark line) caused by the variation of the relative position of the auxiliary bank and the edge of the pixel electrode is shown in FIGS. 29A and 29B. When the overlapping width of the auxiliary bank and the edge of the pixel electrode is wide (FIG. 29A), the dark line stays on the auxiliary bank. Meanwhile, when the overlapping width is narrow (FIG. 29B), the dark line gets inside the pixel. As a result, a difference in transmittance between both of the pixels is caused. In this way, brightness among each shot is caused to be different from each other, which is recognized as irregular display or ununiformity in display brightness.
As a countermeasure for improving this problem, it can be thought of that the auxiliary bank is disposed further inside the edge of the pixel electrode than in the conventional art so that the effect of the auxiliary bank does not vary even with some degree of overlapping deviation. However, in this case, it is found that a dark region newly occurs as shown in FIG. 30 and the light transmittance of the panel is lowered.
So far, since the auxiliary bank and the bank on the pixel electrode are formed under the same condition, they also give the same influence to the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules. The bank on the pixel electrode regulates the liquid crystal molecules in the bank spaced interval part to tilt in a perpendicular direction relative to an extending direction of the bank. Here, when the auxiliary bank gets sufficiently inside the pixel electrode, the liquid crystal molecules in its vicinity also tilt in a perpendicular direction relative to an extending direction of the bank (halftone dot meshing parts in FIG. 28). Since this direction is substantially equal to the polarizing axial direction of a polarizing plate, the light transmittance of the panel is lowered.
Furthermore, it is proposed that the auxiliary bank is made lower in height than the bank on the pixel electrode. However, this necessitates banks different in height to be formed on the same substrate and consequently a process becomes complicated.
From FIGS. 26A and 26B, and FIG. 28, it is apparent that ideally, the liquid crystal orientation near the auxiliary bank is in a direction of 45° relative to the auxiliary bank and in the perpendicular direction relative to the bank on the pixel electrode and the dark line stays on the auxiliary bank and does not get inside the pixel electrode. However, in the present structure, the various problems as described above occur and it is very difficult to stably realize the ideal orientation state.
As described above, when the MVA system is applied, the viewing angle characteristic is greatly improved. On the contrary, the slanting electric field which occurs near the edge of the pixel electrode has a big influence and promotes a so-called dark lines or a part of schlieren pattern to be formed. Even when the auxiliary bank is provided in order to cope with this problem, the influence by the deviation in mask overlapping at the time of patterning sometimes arises, and therefore, it is difficult to obtain an even liquid crystal orientation state.

Liquid crystal device comprising an orientation control element giving an orientation regulating force to counteract an orientation regulating force given by an edge of pixel electrode


An improved wire threader for threading one or more electrical wires into a flexible split conduit. Improved wire threader (10) includes an elongated first end member (15) defining a graspable member, a second end member (17), and a guide foot (19). The second end member (17) and guide foot (19) are axially aligned. The first end member (15) adjoins the second end member (17) and the guide foot (19) so as to form an obtuse angle with the second end member (17) and an acute angle with the guide foot (19). The first end member (15) and the second end member (17) are hollow elongated tubes, in fluid communication one with the other, each having an open end for electrical wire to travel through. A wire bundle is fed through the first end member (15) and extends out of the second end member (17). The guide foot (19) of the wire threader (10) is then placed into the open end of a flexible split conduit. The terminal end of the wire bundle is held stationary relative to the end of the conduit, wire threader 10 is pulled through the split conduit and additional wire is allowed to feed into first end member 15 of wire threader 10'.

For many electrical applications, it is often desirable to bundle a plurality of wires into a flexible split conduit in order to form a wiring harness. Manually threading numerous electrical wires into the split conduit is very tedious. And, various devices have been invented to assist in pushing or pulling wire, or similarly elongated items through various types of conduits. Examples of such can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,859 to Pace, U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,338 to Lindgren, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,011,332 to Kunze, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,370, issued to Verkuylen et al., discloses a fish-tape tugger. This device provides the electrician working on installing electrical wire in conduit a tool for pulling the fish tape back through a conduit once it has been attached to the electrical wire. What is missing in the art, is a device that readily installs a plurality of electrical wires into a flexible split conduit.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for threading one or more electrical wires into a flexible split conduit for forming a wiring harness.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such an apparatus that is lightweight.
Still a further object is to provide an apparatus for threading electrical wires into a flexible split conduit that is easily operated and maintained.
Other objects and advantages over the prior art will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description together with the drawings as described as follows.

Apparatus for threading electrical wires into flexible conduit


Siliceous materials were prepared by adding one or more additives, including one or more water soluble polymers, and derivatives thereof, as well as trifunctional silanes, to sols containing tetraalkoxysilanes derived from polyols. The polymers facilitate phase separation of the growing silica gel matrix, leading to high surface area self-supporting silica gels with cure occurring at ambient temperatures. The materials also show a significant reduction in shrinkage properties and significant protein stabilization abilities.

(a) Utilization of Silica as Chromatographic Support
Silica in a variety of particulate forms has been extensively utilized as a chromatographic support. Partition of dissolved molecules between the hydrophilic siliceous surface and a flowing solvent permits the separation of compounds on many different scales (ng→kg scales). The efficiency of separation in these systems is related to the surface area of the silica to which the compound mixture is exposed.
The configuration of common separation systems utilizes a cylindrical bed of particulate silica in a glass, metal or polymeric cladding. A traditional approach to improving separation efficiency (theoretical plates) with such systems is to utilize longer columns of particulate silica of a given particle size (or range of sizes). Alternatively, higher separation efficiency is associated with the use of very small particles with larger surface areas.
There is an important physical limitation to practical separation with packed particulate systems. As the number of theoretical plates increases there is an attendant increase in backpressure on the column. There is, therefore, a trade off between higher separation efficiency and practical operating pressures. High pressures have attendant danger, and/or are impractical from the perspective of cost. Even with highly efficient columns operating at high pressures, the throughput that can be realized is often relatively low.1
Significant improvement in the surface area/back pressure relationship can be realized by the use of self-supporting monolithic silica columns.1,2 For example, styrene monoliths have been reported to be useful for polynucleotide separation.3 The group of Tanaka, in particular, have reported the preparation of silica monoliths.4 Merck currently sells monolithic silica columns under the Chromolith" label.5 The structure of these monoliths involves a series of distorted silica spheres fused by a layer of silica. The presence of macropores, between linked silica beads of a few microns diameter, can be clearly seen by micrographic analysis and may be more carefully established by other techniques. In addition to macropores, the silica beads typically possess a mesoporous structure (in the case of the Merck columns, a total porosity of 80% is claimed, which is made up of macro- and mesopores, the latter of which are on the order of 13 nm in diameter).5
(b) Problems with Existing Monolithic Silica
Silica produced by a sol-gel process is prone to shrinkage. Gelation is initiated in the presence of large quantities of solvent and, frequently, other dopants (see below). Evaporation of the solvent is accompanied by significant shrinkage forces: Si(OEt)4-derived gels can shrink in air up to 85%.6 This can be problematic in a number of ways when the resulting silica is used as a chromatographic support. First, in extreme conditions, the column can fracture leading to changes/degradation in separation performance. Second, the monolith can pull away from the cladding material, providing an alternative elution pathway for the compounds to be separated. This complicates, at best, the separation. In the worst instance, the eluting mixture will bypass most of the column surface area resulting in no separation.
Several strategies have been developed to reduce the problem of shrinking. For example, use of a drying agent in the original sol, such as DMF, helps in the silica annealing process.7 The most common means to deal with shrinking is to accept that it will occur and to thermally cure the silica, essentially to completion. Hydrothermal treatment can be used to dissolve/re-precipitate the silica, which reduces the cracking that is frequently observed upon shrinking.8,9 Dopants like urea in the sol have been reported to facilitate the dissolution/re-precipitation process.10 An alternative strategy is to heat shrink the column cladding after shrinkage has occurred to reform an effective interface between monolith and cladding material. Finally, soluble polymers such as poly(ethylene oxide) may be added to the sol. These have the effect of increasing porosity of the monolith.11
The use of sol-gel techniques provides an exceptional degree of morphological control in the preparation of silica. Thus, total porosity, pore size and shape, regularity of pore distribution, etc., can be manipulated using a variety of starting materials, reaction conditions and dopants.12 Many of these conditions, however, are incompatible with the incorporation of fragile compounds such as biomolecules, proteins in particular. Either the synthetic conditions are damaging to protein structure (e.g., pH conditions, the presence of denaturants such as ethanol) or the final curing conditions require elevated temperatures. It is of interest to incorporate such biomolecules into silica to create materials that serve as biosensors, immobilized enzymes or as affinity chromatography supports.
(c) Applications of Monolithic Silicas to Bioaffinity Chromatography
Bioaffinity chromatography has been used widely for sample purification and cleanup,13 chiral separations,14 on-line proteolytic digestion of proteins,15 development of supported biocatalysts,16 and more recently for screening of compound libraries via the frontal affinity chromatography method.17,18 In all cases, the predominant method used to prepare protein-loaded columns has been based on covalent or affinity coupling of proteins to silica beads. However, coupling of proteins to beads has several limitations, including; loss of activity upon coupling (due to poor control over protein orientation and conformation), low surface area, potentially high backpressure (which may alter Kd values19), difficulty in loading of beads into narrow bore columns, difficulty in miniaturizing to very narrow columns (<50 μm i.d.), and poor versatility, particularly when membrane-bound proteins are used.18
In recent years it has been shown that a very mild and biocompatible sol-gel processing method can be used to entrap active proteins within a porous, inorganic silicate matrix.20 In this method, a two-step processing method is used wherein a buffered solution containing the protein is added to the hydrolyzed silica sol to initiate gelation under conditions that are protein-compatible.21 Numerous reports have appeared describing both fundamental aspects of entrapped proteins, such as their conformation,22,23,24 dynamics,25,26,27 accessibility,24,28 reaction kinetics,22,29 activity,30 and stability,31 and their many applications for catalysis and biosensing.20,21 A number of reports also exist describing sol-gel based immunoaffinity columns,32 and enzyme-based columns33 although in all cases these were formed by crushing protein-doped silica monoliths and then loading the bioglass into a column as a slurry.
Very recent work on the development of protein-doped monolithic sol-gel columns has appeared from the groups headed by Zusman34 and Toyo oka.35 Zusman s group have developed columns using glass fibers covered with sol-gel glass as a new support for affinity chromatography. Toyo oka s group have used capillary electrochromatography (CEC) to both prepare protein-doped sol-gel based columns and to elute compounds. These monoliths were derived solely from TEOS or TMOS using a very high water:silicon ratio, resulting in a loosely packed monolith with large pores to allow flow of eluent. While this is a significant advance, all chromatography was done using electroosmotic flow (CEC), which separates compounds on the basis of a combination of charge, mass and affinity, and is less compatible with MS detection due to the necessarily high ionic strength of the eluent. Also, these authors did not examine the interaction of potential inhibitors with entrapped proteins on-column. This is a particularly important issue given the emergence of high throughput screening (HTS) methods based on immobilized enzymes.17,18,36
The present inventors have previously described the preparation of silica from a series of sugar alcohol, sugar acid or oligo- and polysaccharide-derived silanes. These starting materials offer a number of advantages over the more classically used tetraethoxy- and tetramethoxysilanes (TEOS and TMOS, respectively). Among these are mild conditions, including a greater control of pH used in the sol (ranges from 4-11.5 are possible), very low processing temperatures, process reproducibility, reduced shrinking and compatibility with the incorporation of a variety of dopants, particularly proteins. However, there remains a need to control the shrinkage of the resulting silica to avoid the evolution of cracks. Furthermore, morphological control needs to be available such that the materials can be tailored for specific applications including chromatography, biosensors, etc. Finally, an ability to improve the stability of the entrapped biomolecule is needed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Protein compatible methods and compounds for controlling the morphology and shrinkage of silica derived from polyol-modified silanes


A pulsed combustion acoustic wave generator includes a tubular barrel having an inlet end and an open outlet end, a fuel controller for metering a controlled quantity of fuel into the inlet end of the barrel, an oxidant controller for metering a controlled quantity of oxidant into the inlet end of the barrel and an igniter extending into the inlet end of the barrel that is controllable by an operator to ignite a mixture of fuel and oxidant in the inlet end.

A device to produce high amplitude impulsive pressure waves may be based on several different schemes. Electrical energy may be utilized to produce sound waves through loudspeakers or piezoelectric devices, but high power requirements may result in energy storage difficulties as well as problems with the large physical dimensions necessary to produce high acoustic intensities (low power densities). Mechanical devices may be used to produce repetitive loud sounds, but would be inefficient and unwieldy. Methods which convert chemical energy to acoustical energy are ideal because of the high power densities which may be achieved. Solid explosives have very high energy densities and are capable of producing extremely high peak pressure levels (i.e., blast waves from bombs), but are dangerous to work with and are not practical to use if a repetitive impulse is required. Gaseous and liquid chemicals can be easily stored, are typically quite safe when fuels and oxidizers are separately stored, and can be mixed and combusted in a very rapid manner. Although not as high in energy density as solid explosives, gaseous or liquid combustible mixtures provide reasonable energy densities which may be quickly converted to pressure or acoustical energy. Repetitive release of stored chemical energy (via an energetic chemical reaction) to produce high amplitude pressure/acoustic waves can be achieved through pulsed combustion technology. Pulse combustion includes two different modes of burning: detonation and deflagration. Detonative combustion is characterized by an extremely fast flame speed (2,000 to 4,000 m/s) and very high amplitude pressure waves, while deflagrative combustion typically exhibits a much slower flame speed (generally less than about 200 m/s) and significantly lower amplitude pressure waves.
Repetitive, high amplitude pressure or acoustic waves can be utilized as a non-lethal effects device. The detrimental effects on humans of continuous exposure to high levels of "noise" (broad band and discrete frequency) are well studied and have been known for many years. These detrimental effects are usually long term in nature and consist of symptoms such as permanent hearing loss, general fatigue, elevated stress levels, and other physiological effects. The sound pressure and corresponding sound pressure levels (SPLs) of continuous exposure with which the average person is familiar are shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Examples of typical sound pressure levels (SPLs) and sound pressures for common environments. Sound Sound Pressure Pressure Level dB Pa(N/m.sup.2) (2 .times. 10.sup.-5 Pa ref.) Typical Environment ______________________________________ 0.000020 0 Threshold of Hearing 0.000063 10 Rustle of Leaves 0.00020 20 Broadcast Studio 0.00063 30 Bedroom at Night 0.0020 40 Library 0.0063 50 Quiet Office 0.02 60 Conversational Speech 0.063 70 Average Radio 0.1 74 Light Traffic Noise 0.2 80 Typical Factory 0.63 90 Subway Train 2.0 100 Symphony Orchestra 6.3 110 Rock Band 20. 120 Aircraft Takeoff 200 140 Threshold of pain ______________________________________
Sensations of feeling or tickle commence at approximately 130 dB (0.009 psi rms) while significant discomfort occurs at approximately 120 dB (0.003 psi rms). Thus a pressure rise as small as 0.003 psi may cause considerable discomfort.
Non-continuous tone (impulsive noises) may have different effects on an individual, especially if the impulses are unexpected. An impulsive noise is one which has a high peak pressure acting over a short duration. The form of the impulses can be high amplitude sound waves suddenly switched on which then rapidly decay in amplitude or discrete pressure pulses which may contain many frequencies.
The physiological effects of low amplitude impulsive noise consists mainly of the startle response if the peak amplitude is not excessive. At higher peak amplitudes, in addition to the startle response, temporary threshold shift (TTS) occurs. TTS is the temporary increase in the threshold of hearing (the minimum sound level which evokes an auditory response) as a result of exposure to noise. TTS generally occurs at a minimum sound pressure level of 140 dB for gunfire and 130 dB for impact noise in an enclosed space (TTS is reported to increase when exposure occurs in an enclosed space). In general the amount of TTS increases with peak sound pressure level, but as the duration of the impulse decreases below 5 milliseconds, the effect is lessened for a given peak amplitude. In addition, the amount of TTS increases approximately linearly with exposure time, resulting in an increase in TTS with the total number of repetitive pulses one is exposed to (not the total exposure time). Upon cessation of exposure to repetitive impulsive noise. the threshold shift immediately begins a rapid recovery and reaches a minimum after approximately 1 minute, but then rebounds to a maximum at approximately 2 min. This is known as the bounce effect and may be useful in attempts at incapacitation/impairment using repetitive impulsive noise.
The threshold of pain normally associated with continuous exposure (non-impulsive noise) cannot be used to predict the risk of damage due to non-continuous sounds (impulsive noise). In fact intermittent noise has been observed to be less hazardous than steady-state noise for an equivalent amount of sound energy delivered to the ear.
Eye and hand coordination are particularly affected by impulsive noise, with significant impairment lasting from a typical 2 to 3 seconds to as much as 30 seconds in some individuals.
At still higher peak pressures, the physiological effects are centered mainly on damage to the structures of the ear. Peak impulse pressures of a few pounds per square inch can rupture the eardrum with smaller pressures capable of permanently damaging the conducting mechanisms of the inner ear. The ear's greatest mechanical sensitivity lies in the 1,500 to 3,000 Hz range, and thus is particularly vulnerable to short-duration blast waves which may contain many such frequencies at significant amplitudes.
Additional non-lethal effects of high level impulsive pressure waves include the potential ability to physically move or knock down an individual at close range due to the over-pressure associated with an impulse of sufficient strength. Non-auditory damage occurs at impulse peak pressures of approximately 1 atm (14.7 psi) with little physical damage occurring for peak pressures less than 1 atm which last for very short periods of time (milliseconds).
Infrasound (sound frequencies below approximately 16 Hz) may also have a non-lethal effect on the human body. Pulse jets may cause nausea and difficulty breathing due to the large amplitude impulsive waves generated by the devices, which pulse at up to 45 times per second.

Pulsed combustion acoustic wave generator


An organic light-emitting device, including a first electrode, the first electrode having a smaller absolute value of a work function energy level than an absolute value of a work function energy level of ITO, a second electrode facing the first electrode, and an organic layer between the first electrode and the second electrode.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to an organic light-emitting device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cathode ray tube (CRT) displays have been increasingly replaced with flat displays as information displays so as to transmit and receive information anytime, and anywhere. Of the flat displays, a liquid crystal display (LCD) is light, and has low power consumption, and thus has been widely used recently. However, since an LCD is a passive emission type device, not a self emission type device, the LCD has a restriction in terms of brightness, a contrast ratio, a viewing angle, a large area, or the like. Thus, to overcome these problems, research has widely and actively been conducted into new flat displays. Of the new flat displays, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) device is a self emission type device, can be driven at a low voltage, can be easily made to be thin, and has advantages such as a wide viewing angle and a fast response speed.