A bolt falling prevention holder which prevents the falling of a bolt when fastening and removing a part or a member, mounted within a case, using a fastening tool, thereby enhancing the efficiency of the operation and the safety. The bolt falling prevention holder includes a hollow holder portion, and a fixing portion for fixing the holder to the case in such a manner that the holder portion is maintained at a predetermined angle, the fixing portion having a retaining hole formed in one end thereof. A bolt insertion hole is formed through a predetermined portion of the case of an electric connection box, and a retaining member for engagement with the fixing portion is mounted on the case in the vicinity of the bolt insertion hole. A projection for retaining engagement in the retaining hole is formed on an outer surface of the retaining member. When the fixing portion is into engaged with the retaining member, the holder portion communicates with the bolt insertion hole, and a bolt, held by a torque wrench, can be guided through the holder portion into a bolt-tightening position in the case, and even if the bolt is disengaged from the torque wrench, the bolt can remain within the holder portion, thereby positively preventing the bolt from falling into the electric connection box.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bolt falling prevention structure for preventing the falling of a bolt during a bolt-tightening operation within an electric connection box (having various electric parts mounted therein) mounted on a vehicle such as an automobile.
2. Background
In current automobiles, various operations are effected automatically, and in this connection various kinds of electronic devices for controlling the travel of the automobile, as well as various kinds of electric parts including fuses and relays, are mounted within an electric connection box. The electric connection box contains wiring members including a fuse holder and connectors, and these wiring members are connected to the various electric parts through bus bars and connection wires.
As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, a conventional electric connection box 31 includes bus bars (electrically-conductive members) 32, 33 and 34, and a bent portion 32a of the bus bar 32 overlaps the connecting bus bar 33 of an L-shape, and these bus bars 32 and 33 are fastened together by a bolt 35 and a nut 36. The connecting bus bar 33 also overlaps the external-connection bus bar 34, and these bus bars 33 and 34 are fastened together by a bolt 38 and a nut 37.
The bus bars 32 and 33, part of the external-connection bus bar 34 and a fuse holder (not shown) are covered by a cover 41. A bus bar-insulating grommet 42 is mounted on that portion (lead-out portion) of the external-connection bus bar 34 which extends through the cover 41.
For effecting the maintenance of this electric connection box 31, it is necessary to remove part of the bus bars 32, 33 and 34, and the bolts 35 and 38 must be removed and again tightened. Therefore, a bolt insertion hole 43 is formed through a portion of the case 41, and a fastening tool 44, such as a torque wrench, is inserted through the bolt insertion hole 43 so as to remove and tighten the bolt 35.
More specifically, for tightening the bolt 35, the bolt 35 is held by the fastening tool 44 as shown in phantom, and the bolt 35 is threaded into the nut 36. In contrast, for loosening and removing the tightened bolt 35, the fastening tool 44 is inserted through the bolt insertion hole 43, and is fitted on the bolt 35, and then is turned, and the bolt 35, disengaged from the nut 36, is held by the fastening tool 44, and is taken out of the cover 41.
Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 6-59620 discloses a nut fixing structure for preventing the falling of a nut. As shown in FIG. 8, in this nut fixing structure, a bolt insertion hole 55 is formed through an attachment portion 58 such as an electric connection box, and a bolt insertion hole 53 is formed through a fixing portion 52 such as a fixing wall. A bolt 60 is inserted from the side of the attachment portion 58, and is threaded into a nut 54 provided at the fixing portion 52.
A nut rotation prevention rib 56 of a hexagonal shape for loosely receiving the nut 54 is formed on the fixing portion 52, and the nut 54 is received within this rib 56 in such a manner that the nut 54 is movable in an axial direction, but can not rotate in a circumferential direction.
Therefore, the nut 54 is received within the rib 56, and in this condition, when the bolt 60 is turned by a fastening tool, the threading operation can be effected without the need for fixing the nut 54 by any additional means. The rib 56 is formed into such a height that it extends beyond the distal end of the tightened bolt 60, and hence the distal end of the bolt 60 will not project outwardly from the rib 56.
A cover 50 for closing an open end of the rib 56 is mounted on the rib 56. The cover 50 is molded integrally with the rib 56 through a connecting portion 51, and the cover 50 closes the open end of the rib 56, with a retaining piece portion 57 retained on a retaining portion 59.
With this construction, a wire harness and other members, provided in the vicinity of the fixing portion, will not contact the distal end of the bolt 60, and therefore will not be damaged. The cover 50 has a nut support portion 62 which supports the nut 54 when the cover 50 is in its closed position. This nut support portion 62 is made of an elastic material, and has, for example, a hexagonal shape, and is fitted in the rib 56, the nut support portion 62 being hollow so that it will not contact the bolt 60. When the cover 50 is closed, the nut support portion 62 supports the nut 54, and urges the nut 54 against a bottom surface 56a of the rib 56 by its elastic force.
Therefore, the height of the nut support portion 62 from the cover 50 is larger than the distance H between the nut 54 and the distal end of the rib 56.
In the above nut fixing structure, if the bolt 60 and the nut 54 are insufficiently fastened together, the bolt 60 is raised in the axial direction as shown in phantom, and therefore the fastened condition can be confirmed with the eyes.
Therefore, the operator further tightens the bolt in an amount corresponding to the amount of rising of the bolt, so that the completely-fastened condition can be achieved.
When the bolt 60 is loosened, and is disengaged from the nut 54, the nut 54 is supported by the nut support portion 62, and therefore will not roll out of the rib 56, so that the bolt can again be tightened relative to the nut 54.
Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 5-11723 discloses a bolt fixing clip for fixing a bolt. As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the clip 71, molded into an integral construction, includes a wire fixing portion 72, and a bolt retaining portion 73 connected to the wire fixing portion 72 by a connecting portion 81.
A cone-shaped claw portion 76 is provided within a cylindrical barrel portion 77, and is connected to an inner surface of this barrel portion 77. The claw portion 76 is divided by a plurality of grooves 83, and has two small piece portions 78 as shown in FIG. 11. In this claw portion 76, a distal end of its body and distal ends 82b of the small piece portions 78 jointly form one circumferential edge portion, and this portion is retainingly engaged with a bolt 74.
Each small piece portions 78 is in the form of a narrow rectangular plate, and is connected by a hinge portion 80 to the inner surface of the barrel portion 77 intermediate the opposite ends thereof, and is separated from the barrel portion 77 and the claw portion 76, and is gently curved or bent in the vicinity of the hinge portion 80. A flexure prevention rib 79 is formed on a rear surface of the small piece portion 78, and extends from the distal end 82b in the longitudinal direction, the flexure prevention rib 79 being spaced a predetermined distance from the barrel portion 77.
When the bolt retaining portion 73 of the clip 71 is pressed onto the bolt 74 mounted on a body 75, the distal end of the claw portion 76 is retained in a groove of a screw thread of the bolt 74, so that the clip 71 is fixed to the body 75. At this time, the distal end 82b of each of the small piece portions 78 is turned about the hinge portion 80, thereby ensuring the mounting of the clip 71 on the body 75.
In the above retained condition, when a load F is exerted on the retaining portion 73, the whole of the retaining portion 73 is tilted as shown in phantom, and the small piece portion 78 is pushed by the screw thread of the bolt 74, and tends to be turned about the hinge portion 80. However, since the rib 79 is formed on the rear surface of the small piece portion 78, the displacement of the small piece portion 78 is prevented, so that the distal end of the claw portion 76 is kept engaged with the screw thread of the bolt 74. Therefore, the claw portion 76 is prevented from being displaced relative to the bolt 74, and therefore the clip 71 will not be disengaged from the bolt 74, thereby preventing the disengagement of the bolt.
However, in the electric connection box 31 described above with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7, when tightening or removing the bolt 35 by the use of the fastening tool 44, the bolt 35 is merely fitted in the fastening tool 44, and therefore is liable to fall within the case 41. If the bolt 35, which has thus fallen, is left as it is, there is a possibility of an accident such as the short-circuiting of the bus bar 32 or the bus bar 34, and therefore there is encountered a problem that the bolt 35 must be picked up after the case 41 is removed, and then the case 41 must be again fixed.
In addition, if the bolt 35 falls during the removal of the bus bar 32, for example, for maintenance purposes after the electric connection box 31 is mounted on the vehicle, it is necessary to remove the electric connection box 31 from the vehicle, and then to remove the case 41 so as to pick up the bolt 35, and then to mount these parts in their respective original positions. Thus, there is encountered a problem that such a cumbersome operation is needed.
For tightening the bolt 35, the fastening operation can be effected while provisionally retaining the bolt 35 relative to the fastening tool 44 by a tape or the like. However, the provisional retaining of the bolt 35 by the tape or the like requires additional time and labor, and this worsens the efficiency of the operation, and besides when removing the bolt 35, the provisional retaining by the tape can not be used, and there is a high possibility that the bolt 35 falls off the fastening tool 44, and this method is not entirely effective in solving the above problem.
In the nut fixing structure described above with reference to FIG. 8, although the falling of the nut can be prevented, the holding of the bolt is not effected at all, and the problem described above for FIGS. 6 and 7 can not be solved.
In the bolt fixing clip described above with reference to FIGS. 9 to 11, although the disengagement of the bolt can be prevented, the falling of the bolt off the fastening tool can not be prevented when tightening and removing the bolt, and the problem described above for FIGS. 6 and 7 can not be solved.


An alternator and starter tester system is provided that includes a protective hood or cover, a controller connecting an LCD touch-screen, an alternator main harness connector, a starter harness self-test connector, a barcode connector, USB host and USB function connectors, an Ethernet connector, and a compact flash connector. A multiplexer is also provided to reduce the number of connectors required for various alternators that have the same type of connections but have signals on different pins.

It is well known in the vehicle industry that certain rotary accessory devices are often used in connection with vehicle motors. Two such well known accessory devices are alternators and starter motors. Alternators are used in connection with an engine and are belt driven by the engine. Alternators have internal components, which when rotated supply electrical power to a vehicle and/or an engine. Alternators are typically removably but rigidly mounted via a bracket to the engine block or the chassis of the vehicle. In many cases, where a standard type of alternating mounting arrangement is used, the alternator has "ears" with holes that are mounted onto a post or belt attached to the vehicle. This permits pivoting of the alternator so that the alternator can be pivoted around the post against the belt tension in order to install and remove belts, and provide a suitable tension when the belt is installed.
Starter motors are electrical motors, which are typically removably but rigidly mounted to an engine or transmission casing. The starter motor has an electrically driven pinion gear extending from the starter motor that engages a component (typically gears on the flywheel of the engine) in order to be able to rotate the crank shaft of the engine to start it. There are a wide range of attachment mechanisms for attaching said starter motor.
It is often desirable to test alternators and/or starter motors at locations where they have been removed from the vehicle, e.g., on a test bench. For example, such testing may be desirable before installing a new alternator or new starter or may be desirable for removing an existing alternator or starter for testing.
When testing an alternator, it is desirable to attach a belt to a pulley of the alternator and drive the alternator belt with a motor. This situation requires both: (1) a way to securely but removably mount the alternator, and (2) a way to provide belt tensioning. It would be desirable to have an apparatus and method that is able to conveniently mount the alternator to the overall testing apparatus so that it can be quickly, conveniently, safely, and easily installed and/or removed with respect to the testing apparatus. It would also be desirable to have an apparatus and method that can quickly, conveniently, safely and easily provide tension to the belt that is used to drive the alternator via a motor associated with the testing apparatus.
When testing a starter motor, the starter motor is typically connected to a device that provides power in order to selectively operate the starter motor. In such a situation, it is desirable to be able to hold the starter motor in place in a conventional location during testing. Thus, it would be desirable to have a method and apparatus that can quickly, conveniently, safely and easily provide a mount for the starter motor in a testing apparatus.
Furthermore, conventional alternator and starter testers have been fairly complex in operation with limited safety features. This had been acceptable in the past due to the fact that most parts retailers employed skilled counter people and kept the test equipment behind the counters, away from the customers. As retailers have evolved into more of a merchandising customer-orientated retail environment, they have moved the test equipment to the front of the store so customers can interact with store personnel to test these components. The test is considered a service for the customers and efforts were needed to make the results easy to understand for the customer and provide a solution to the customer's problem. The skill level of the counter person has declined as well due to increased personnel turn over. This resulted in a need for a simplified, yet accurate system to be used.
Retailers and component rebuilders are faced with a high percentage of the components that are returned for warranty work, even though the components are actually working properly. This warranty problem can cost the industry millions of dollars each year. Thus, a need exists for an accurate and easy to use alternator and starter tester apparatus and method in order to accurately diagnose the problem.
New alternators are becoming more complex to test. In the past, alternators were very simple in the manner in which they were energized and regulated. As technology has evolved, the manner in which alternators are regulated has become more complex and diversified from manufacturer to manufacturer. Traditional test equipment has handled this technological evolution with complex and expensive methods.

Alternator and starter tester apparatus and method


A new mechanism is provided that allows for changing the status of product in a product ordering an shipment system from products that is allocated to a customer to product that becomes available to potentially another customer. A Capacity Allocation Supported Demand (CASD) file is maintained that contains customer data and therewith, on a per customer basis, product source, a balance of product allocated to the customer and product data. At the time that an order is placed, this file is interrogated to determine if enough product is available for shipment. For instances where this is not the case, a rule based search is performed to locate product that can be allocated. An Available To Promise (ATP) file is instrumental in this search, a successful search is concluded with allocating the product to the customer order and updating the CASD and ATP files.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the fabrication of integrated circuit devices, and more particularly, to a method for improved order placement and prioritizing.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
For the creation and delivery of semiconductor devices, technical capabilities of device creation must be supported by and be complementary to capabilities of device ordering and device shipment. In both of these disciplines there potentially exists a wide margin of error that can as a first for instance result in poor device quality and as a second for instance in non-optimized shipment of devices.
System requirements of a system that supports shipment of semiconductor devices must meet customer expectations of quick response time and of maintaining precise and up-to-date delivery schedules of product that is shipped to a variety of customers. These latter requirements must be integrated in a smooth manner with production capabilities and production schedules, any mismatch between product that is required and product that is being manufactured is likely to result in customer dissatisfaction. The manufacturing operations must thereby be performed in a cost-effective manner, which in most cases requires an optimum usage of manufacturing equipment, an optimum product mix and optimized equipment maintenance.
In many ways therefore can it be stated that an ordering system drives a manufacturing facility, product is committed to numerous customers on a long term and short term basis while the ordering system must be capable of quick response and updating of any input that changes existing delivery schedules and commitments, based on customer requirements.
The product ordering system must thereby function and be designed for a manufacturing facility that is complex and multi-faceted and may comprise such manufacturing aspects as handling one-time, specific orders, providing special products that are not part of conventional processing cycles, simultaneously providing products of different type, re-cycling product and the like. From all of this it is clear that a system that is required to handle customer orders must be all-inclusive and must yet remain flexible so that existing conditions of customer orders can be changed with short term notice.
In a conventional customer ordering system, a Central Planning Department (CPD) controls and supervises system content and operation and maintains data that reflect, on a per-customer basis, product that is allocated to customers and product that has been ordered by the customers, this in a file that for this purpose is typically referred to as a Customer Allocation Support and Demand (CASD) function. This conventional function suffers the disadvantage that an order, when placed, cannot be instantaneously placed but is only entered and activated at the time that a Total Order Management (TOM) batch run is executed. A TOM batch run is conventionally scheduled at about eight hour intervals, in view of the requirements that are placed on the TOM execution.
To enhance system turn-around for customer orders, it is of benefit to improve this method, whereby a customer order when placed can be directly and without time-delay entered into the system, that is entered into the conventional CASD. The invention provides such a function.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,880,960 (Lin et al.) shows a WIP balance and scheduling system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,716 (Chin et al.) shows a dynamic lot dispatching system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,546,326 (Tai et al.) shows another dynamic lot Dispatching system.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,626 (Lilly et al.) teaches a scheduling method.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A magnetically driven pump includes a casing, a containment shell fixed to the casing, a shaft fixed at a closed end of the containment shell, an impeller rotatable about the shaft within the casing and containment shell, and a magnetic coupling removably secured to the impeller and rotatable about the shaft. The pump also includes a rear bearing positioned between the propeller and the shaft that is rotatable about the shaft, and a thrust control valve that includes a thrust ring positioned between the containment shell and the rear bearing. An opening of the thrust control valve is defined by a variable spacing between the thrust ring and the rear bearing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to fluid pumps and more specifically relates to magnetically driven centrifugal pumps.
2. Related Art
Magnetically driven centrifugal pumps are well suited for pumping corrosive or hazardous fluids because they do not have shaft seals that can leak or wear out. Pumps of this type require some method of opposing the thrust load that is created by the impeller. Typically this load is taken by an axial bearing as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,574. To accommodate periodic load opposite to the normal direction that occur in certain pumping conditions, an additional axial bearing containment shell be used as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,710. Another method of opposing these axial loads is by using a thrust balancing system such as that described in by Klein in U.S. Pat. No. 6,135,728. Klein uses fluid pressure to balance the thrust forces and controls the fluid pressure with a ring on the impeller hub that creates a variable gap between the ring and the shaft.
There is an inherent difficulty in controlling the thrust forces with a thrust balancing valve. Since pumps need to operate over a wide range of pressures and flows, a thrust-balancing valve must also be able to control the pressure over a wide range of pressures. In order to achieve this type of control, a pressure differential must always exist across the valve. Therefore, there is a need to achieve the lowest possible pressure on the outlet side of the valve, while also maintaining the highest possible static pressure on the back side of the valve.
Rotation of the fluid in the area that is used to balance the thrust forces creates a pressure gradient that reduces the pressure differential across the thrust balancing valve. Klein requires that the fluid travel through channels in the rotating impeller to get to the thrust balancing valve. These rotating passages contribute to the lack of available pressure at the back side of the valve.
Another problem that is typical for magnetically driven pumps in general is the need to provide different impeller sizes. Since the impeller is typically permanently attached to the magnet carrier, the cost of the assembly is relatively high. This means that spare parts or alternate impellers that need to be stocked become a much more expensive inventory. Even when these components are made separately, they are typically secured together in a manner that is not easily disassembled (e.g., the attachment structure disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,895,203). Therefore there is a need for an impeller and magnet carrier that be easily separated, but can still transmit the required torque.
Another aspect of magnetically driven pumps is the need to periodically replace wear rings. Although removable wear rings are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,748, they require separate retainer rings that are not easily removed. A need exists for a simple means of replacing wear rings without retaining rings.

Hydraulic balancing magnetically driven centrifugal pump


Provided is a detergent composition, which comprises the following components (A), (B) and (C):. (A) 50 to 95 wt. % of a polyol or polyol ether which can dissolve at least 1 wt. % of palmitic acid at 35.degree. C.,. (B) 1 to 30 wt. % of crystals of a neutral salt of an anionic surfactant, and. (C) 0.1 to 20 wt. % of a thickener; and has a water content of 10 wt. % or less. It can simultaneously wash off sebum in the paste or solid form and sebum in the liquid form and does not impart dry, flaky and stretched feelings to the skin.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a detergent composition which can simultaneously wash off degenerated sebum in the paste or solid form which otherwise causes blocking or darkening of the pores of the skin and sebum in the liquid form.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional detergent for those having a greasy skin is mainly a soap which contains an anionic surfactant having a high degreasing power (detergency). Owing to high pH and high concentration of the surfactant, such a detergent causes high skin irritation. It also cleanses the whole object including non-greasy parts so that strong washing causes problems such as dry flaky skin or a stretched feeling after cleansing.
Conventional aqueous detergents can wash off liquid sebum on the skin but cannot wash off the degenerated sebum which contains much fatty acid and has a high melting point. Such sebum is in the paste or solid form and causes blocking or darkening of the pores of the skin.
A non-aqueous detergent composition which can wash off pore sebum in the paste or solid form has been proposed. It is composed of a comedolytic alcohol, an activated zeolite and a nonionic surfactant (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. HEI 8-59455). This non-aqueous detergent cannot be used as a complete substitute for conventional detergents, because it can only be applied to parts where the pores seem to be blocked. In addition, this detergent has the touch feeling different from that of the conventional detergents upon rinsing and cleansing with it is not satisfactory.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a detergent composition which can simultaneously wash off sebum in the paste or solid form and sebum in the liquid form, does not cause dry, flaky or stretched skin and is excellent in feeling upon use.

Detergent composition comprising crystals of a neutral salt of an anionic surfactant


Polycrystalline diamond inserts are disclosed. For example, a polycrystalline diamond insert may comprise a polycrystalline diamond layer affixed to a substrate at an interface. In addition the polycrystalline diamond layer may comprise: an arcuate exterior surface, a first region including a catalyst and a second region from which the catalyst is at least partially removed. Further, the arcuate exterior surface may be defined by a portion of the first region including the catalyst and a portion of the second region from which the catalyst is at least partially removed. In another embodiment, the polycrystalline diamond layer may include a convex exterior surface for contacting a subterranean formation, wherein at least a portion of a catalyst used for forming the polycrystalline diamond layer is removed from a region of the polycrystalline diamond layer. Subterranean drilling tools (e.g., percussive drill bits) including at least one polycrystalline diamond insert are disclosed.

Polycrystalline diamond compacts or inserts often form at least a portion of a cutting structure of a subterranean drilling or boring tools; including drill bits (fixed cutter drill bits, roller cone drill bits, etc.) reamers, and stabilizers. Such tools, as known in the art, may be used in exploration and production relative to the oil and gas industry. Polycrystalline diamond compacts or inserts may also be utilized as percussive inserts on percussion boring or drilling tools. A variety of polycrystalline diamond percussive compacts and inserts are known in the art.
A polycrystalline diamond compact ("PDC") typically includes a diamond layer or table formed by a sintering process employing high temperature and high pressure conditions that causes the diamond table to become is bonded or affixed to a substrate (such as cemented tungsten carbide substrate), as described in greater detail below. Optionally, the substrate may be brazed or otherwise joined to an attachment member such as a stud or to a cylindrical backing, if desired. A PDC may be employed as a subterranean cutting element mounted to a drill bit either by press-fitting, brazing, or otherwise coupling a stud to a recess defined by the drill bit, or by brazing the cutting element directly into a preformed pocket, socket, or other receptacle formed in the subterranean drill bit. In one example, cutter pockets may be formed in the face of a matrix-type bit comprising tungsten carbide particles that are infiltrated or cast with a binder (e.g., a copper-based binder), as known in the art. Such subterranean drill bits are typically used for rock drilling and for other operations which require high abrasion resistance or wear resistance. Generally, a rotary drill bit may include a plurality of polycrystalline abrasive cutting elements affixed to the drill bit body.
A PDC is normally fabricated by placing a cemented carbide substrate into a container or cartridge with a layer of diamond crystals or grains positioned adjacent one surface of a substrate. A number of such cartridges may be typically loaded into an ultra-high pressure press. The substrates and adjacent diamond crystal layers are then sintered under ultra-high temperature and ultra-high pressure ("HPHT") conditions. The ultra-high pressure and ultra-high temperature conditions cause the diamond crystals or grains to bond to one another to form polycrystalline. In addition, as known in the art, a catalyst may be employed for facilitating formation of polycrystalline diamond. In one example, a so-called "solvent catalyst" may be employed for facilitating the formation of polycrystalline diamond. For example, cobalt, nickel, and iron are among examples of solvent catalysts for forming polycrystalline diamond. In one configuration, during sintering, solvent catalyst comprising the substrate body (e.g., cobalt from a cobalt-cemented tungsten carbide substrate) becomes liquid and sweeps from the region adjacent to the diamond powder and into the diamond grains. Of course, a solvent catalyst may be mixed with the diamond powder prior to sintering, if desired. Also, as known in the art, such a solvent catalyst may dissolve carbon. Such carbon may be dissolved from the diamond grains or portions of the diamond grains that graphitize due to the high temperatures of sintering. When the solvent catalyst is cooled, the carbon held in solution may precipitate or otherwise be expelled from the solvent catalyst and may facilitate formation of diamond bonds between abutting or adjacent diamond grains. Thus, diamond grains become mutually bonded to form a polycrystalline diamond table upon the substrate. The solvent catalyst may remain in the polycrystalline diamond layer within the interstitial pores between the diamond grains. A conventional process for forming polycrystalline diamond cutters, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,745,623 to Wentorf, Jr. et al., the disclosure of which is incorporated, in its entirety, by reference herein. Optionally, another material may replace the solvent catalyst that has been at least partially removed from the polycrystalline diamond.
Diamond enhanced inserts are frequently used as the cutting structure on drill bits to bore through geological formations. It is not unusual that diamond enhanced inserts are subjected to conditions down hole that exceed the mechanical properties of the insert and failures occur. One factor believed to contribute to such failures is a thermal mechanical breakdown of the polycrystalline diamond structure. In percussive drilling applications, the high frequency of relatively high load impact and rotary actions can generate high temperatures on the tip (contact area) of the polycrystalline diamond inserts. Further, one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that temperatures experienced on a polycrystalline diamond of any drilling tool may be higher than expected or desired.
A percussive bit, also known as a hammer bit, penetrates a subterranean formation through a combination of percussive and rotary interactions with the subterranean formation. A downhole hammer actuates the bit in a vertical direction so that intermittent impacting with the formation, which may pulverize at least a portion of the subterranean formation, may occur. The rotary action may generally be driven by a so-called "top drive" and may facilitate complete excavation of the bottom hole. The inserts on a hammer bit are generally hemispherical or conical in shape. A hemispherical geometry may provide the necessary toughness for a typically brittle polycrystalline diamond material. A variety of polycrystalline diamond insert designs to improve the life of percussive insert are well known in the art. Inventions such as transition layers, non-planar interfaces, composite diamond mixes and non-continuous diamond surfaces are all designed to improve the toughness and overall life of a percussive diamond insert.
The polycrystalline diamond layer generally comprises diamond. However, other materials are often exist due to the nature of manufacturing polycrystalline diamond ("PCD"). More particularly, PCD manufacturing generally requires the presence of a catalyst/solvent metal to enhance formation of diamond to diamond bonding to occur. These catalyst/solvent metal may include metals such as cobalt, nickel or iron. During the sintering process a skeleton or matrix of diamond is formed through diamond-to-diamond bonding between adjacent diamond particles. Further, relatively small pore spaces or interstitial spaces may be formed within the diamond structure, which may be filled with catalyst/solvent metal. Because the solvent/catalyst exhibits a much higher thermal expansion coefficient than the diamond structure, the presence of such catalyst/solvent within the diamond structure is believed to be a factor leading to premature thermal mechanical damage.
Accordingly, as the PCD reaches temperatures exceeding 400° Celsius, the differences in thermal expansion coefficients between the diamond the catalyst may cause diamond bonds to fail. Of course, as the temperature increases, such thermal mechanical damage may be increased. In addition, as the temperature of the PCD layer approaches 750° Celsius, a different thermal mechanical damage mechanism initiates. At approximately 750° Celsius or greater, the catalyst metal begins to chemically react with the diamond causing graphitization of the diamond. This phenomenon may be termed "back conversion," meaning conversion of diamond to graphite. Such conversion from diamond to graphite causes dramatic loss of wear resistance in a polycrystalline diamond compact and may rapidly lead to insert failure.
Concerning percussive drilling, polycrystalline diamond percussive inserts may be more susceptible to degradation associated with increased temperatures than diamond cutting structures utilized on other earth boring tools (e.g., fixed cutter bits (PDC bits, roller cone bits (TRI-CONE®, etc.). Explaining further, percussive drilling may employ air, foam or mist as a coolant. However, none of such coolants transfers the heat away from the insert tip. Other drilling methods may utilize oil or water-based drilling fluids (e.g., muds) that may be more effective in cooling the diamond structure.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a polycrystalline diamond compact or insert with enhanced thermal stability. In addition, subterranean drill bits or tools for forming a borehole in a subterranean formation including at least one such percussive polycrystalline diamond insert may be beneficial.

Polycrystalline diamond insert, drill bit including same, and method of operation


A device for positioning a component part in an inclined position, having a mounting support unit which is accommodated in a support of a base for tilting about at least one axis of the component part, and having an actuator unit which tilts the mounting support unit at a specified angle of inclination about the at least one axis of the component part, the mounting support having at least one coupling element which is supported on at least one counter-support of the actuator unit, which is movable relative to the at least one coupling element, in order to position the mounting support unit with the component part in the inclined position.

Multiple mechanisms are known from practice with the aid of which a specified tilting of a component part about one or several predefined axes of this component part may be performed. Especially from the field of micropositioning technology, mounting fixtures are known such as hexapods, tiltable tables and tiltable platforms.
In addition, so-called flange aligners are known from vacuum technology.
In a hexapod mechanism, a platform, on which the component part is fixed, is inclined into the specified position in that the linear and rotative spatial motions of the platform take place using six axes or rods that are adjustable in their length, that engage with the platform. This makes six degrees of freedom available, each position that may be assumed by the platform corresponding to a specific combination of the six axes. By simultaneous control of all six axes, any number of spatial motion results of the platform, and the component part fastened to it, may be achieved.
Such a six-axes device is known, for example, from German Patent No. DE 296 18 149 U1.
Tilting tables function according to a similar principle as is used in hexapods, a difference being that, as a rule, only two degrees of freedom may be managed, that are determined by two axes which are resident in the tilting table itself, and about which the tilting table may be tilted.
All these mounting supports and tables for tilting component parts known from positioning technology have the disadvantage in common that they are only conditionally or not at all applicable where high dynamic and static loads are exerted on the component part, such as in material testing technology or in the case of electric tools. Their construction and design make possible only a very slight rigidity and durability compared to cyclical loading in any axial direction, using high maximal forces. Just as problematical is a change in the position of the component part axis set under cyclical loading.
Starting from that, an object of the present invention is to provide a device for positioning a component part in an inclined position and an impact test stand which may be exposed to such loads without a problem, without the precision of the positioning of the component parts being impaired thereby.

Device for positioning a component part in an inclined position and impact test stand having such a device


A method of identifying a subscribing customer of a service on a Wi-Fi network is disclosed, the method comprising, in response to selection of an application on a mobile communication device, the application designed to access a service, transmitting either a carrier IP address assigned to the mobile communication device or a media access control address assigned to the mobile communications device, the carrier IP address or media access control address embedded in a payload of an IP datagram over a Wi-Fi network to a server, confirming at the server that the carrier IP address or media access control address belongs to a subscribing customer for the service and that the account of the subscribing customer is in good standing, sending back from the server to the mobile communication device a transmission containing an authentication token, and, granting access to the service to the mobile communication device.

Mobile phones that use an iOS-based operating system are popular and widespread. Some popular applications that run on iOS allow customers to access high-density content services, such as movies, from remote servers. Many of these services are restricted to subscribing customers, such as Sprint TV. These high-density video products may benefit from a large bandwidth to transfer to a mobile device for viewing, and thus a Wi-Fi connection is often preferable to using the cellular network.
Some applications, such as those for subscribed high-density content, prefer that the customer be identified prior to delivery of content, to make sure they are a subscribing customer in good standing. Not helping with this, there is no function available to application developers to access the phone number of an iOS-based phone. This makes automatically identifying the user of the mobile phone by the application more difficult. One prior solution is to request the customer to type in a login, such as an ID and a password, before they can access the content each time. Forcing customers to remember one more set of login credentials is a problem for customers, who typically already have a large number of login credentials to remember for several other application-based services. Customers can also find the process tedious and time consuming.

Method to identify a customer on a Wi-Fi network


A friction rock bolt assembly is arranged to frictionally engage an internal surface of a bore formed in rock strata. The rock bolt includes an expander mechanism having at least two radially outer wedge elements engageable by an inner wedge element. The expander mechanism is configured for symmetrical displacement of the expander elements to provide controlled enlargement by the rock bolt within the borehole for secure anchorage.

Expansion rock bolts are installed by drilling a bore into a rock strata, inserting the rock bolt into the bore and expanding a part of the bolt to provide a friction lock against the bore surface. Expansion rock bolts include an elongate tube which is expandable radially. This radial expansion is normally facilitated by the tube being split longitudinally and by an expander mechanism being positioned within the tube, normally towards the leading end of the tube (being the end of the tube that is inserted first into the drilled bore in the rock strata or wall). The expander mechanism is connected to a flexible cable or solid bar that extends to the trailing end of the bolt at which point it is anchored such that expansion of the expansion mechanism is effected by pulling or rotating the cable or bar.
The bore that is drilled into the rock strata is intended to be of a smaller diameter than the outside diameter of the tube, so that the tube is inserted as a friction fit within the bore prior to any expansion of the tube. This maximises frictional engagement of the rock bolt via the outside surface of the tube, with the facing surface of the bore. This method of insertion is relatively simple, in contrast with other forms of rock bolts that employ resin or grout to anchor the rock bolt within the bore.
Resin anchored bolts typically comprise a resin cartridge that is required to be inserted into the bore prior to insertion of the bolt. Insertion of the resin cartridge is sometimes very difficult, because typically the tunnel walls extend to a significant height, so that access to bores into which the cartridge is to be inserted can be inconvenient. Additionally, the resin which is employed is relatively expensive and has a limited shelf life.
Cement grouted rock bolts are less expensive than resin anchored bolts, but application of the cement is more cumbersome than that of the resin. Cement grouting requires cement mixing equipment, as well as pumping and delivery equipment, to deliver the mixed cement into the bore.
However, resin or cement anchored rock bolts generally anchor in a bore to provide greater levels of rock reinforcement or stabilisation compared to friction rock bolts, due to a better bond between the bore wall and the resin or cement, compared to the frictional engagement of a friction rock bolt. Also, cement anchored rock bolts typically enable a bond along the full length of the rock bolt and the bore wall.
Any form of rock bolt is susceptible to fail if the bolt is exposed to excessive loading by the rock strata into which the bolt has been installed. Failure can be tensile or shear failure or it can be a combination of tensile and shear failure. In expansion rock bolts, the bolt can fail through fracture of the tube. Failure of that kind can often be tolerated provided the bar or cable of the bolt does not fail also.
A particular type of strata which is difficult to bolt is strata that is either weak or seismic. Upon fracture of this type of strata, the rock bolt can be subject to dynamic loading that tends to cause the bolt to shift outwardly of the bore and to allow the face of the rock mass about the rock bolt to also displace outwardly. Contact with the face of the rock mass about the rock bolt rock bolt is by a rock plate and in certain territories, industry set ground support requirements for seismic conditions such that with ground kinetic energy of 25 kJ, in a diameter of about 1 m about the bore, there should not be a shift in the position of the rock bolt of more than 300 mm. In other words, there should not be an outward displacement of the rock face into the tunnel or underground mine of more than 300 mm. In such conditions resin or cement anchored bolts are not suitable, because the 25 kJ energy creates an impact load on the bolts which exceeds their tensile strength, so that these types of bolts are known to fail in these conditions.
In some existing expansion rock bolts, the energy created by the movement or fracture in the rock strata is transferred straight from the rock plate to the tube of the rock bolt and if the friction engagement between the outside surface of the tube and the facing surface of the bore above the strata fracture is not sufficient, the rock bolt will shift. This is particularly the case in very hard and very weak rock strata because the frictional ability for the rock bolt to properly anchor in that strata is poor.
For example, in some existing expansion rock bolts, the rock bolt expands engagement members (wedges for example) outwardly to gouge into the bore wall to improve the anchor of the bolt in the strata. While the initial gouging might be minor, any movement of the rock bolt outwardly of the bore under load will cause the members to gouge further into the bore wall and to resist further outward movement. However, in very hard strata, the members cannot gouge into the bore wall, or can do so only at a minimal level and so the contact between the rock bolt and the bore wall is largely frictional engagement only.
In contrast, in very weak rock, the bore in which the rock bolt is installed is often "over drilled", i.e. is of a greater diameter than desired so that the expansion members cannot expand sufficiently to gouge into the bore wall to the depth needed to properly engage the bore wall. A rock bolt that addresses one or more of the disadvantages of prior art rock bolts would be desirable.


The present invention discloses a color-modifying method, which comprises the provision of a metal oxide thin film (14) based on Ni and/or Cr. The method is characterized in that, when coloring the metal oxide film (14), exposing the metal oxide thin film to ozone, and when bleaching the metal oxide film, exposing the metal oxide film to UV radiation (18). A lamination process or a deposition of another thin film may follow the exposure. Preferably, exposing the metal oxide thin film (14) to ultraviolet radiation (18) in an oxygen-containing atmosphere (20) provides the ozone exposure and exposing the metal oxide thin film to ultraviolet radiation (18) in an oxygen-free atmosphere (20) provides the ultraviolet exposure.

The present invention generally concerns treatment of thin films and in particular coloration of anodes for thin film electrochromic devices.
Electrochromic materials have the property of changing its color depending on the charging state. Such materials are today being developed for a number of different applications, ranging from eyewear to displays and smart windows. Nickel oxides and chromium oxides are anodically coloring electrochromic materials that can be used in electrochromic devices together with cathodically coloring WO3, e.g. according to the U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,080,471 and 5,707,556.
An example of such a thin film device is comprised by layered assemblies of glass, WO3, NiOx,Hy, and glass, where the glass is separated from the metal oxides by transparent electron conductors and the metal oxide layers are separated by an ion conductor. The device Us colored and bleached reversibly upon charge transport between the cathode (WO3) and the anode (NiOxHy). Optionally, more layers may be incorporated into the device for different purposes, such as separation of two chemically incompatible layers, optical reflectance optimization etc. The principle of the charge transport in an electrochromic device is the same as in a rechargeable thin film battery.
The electrochromic devices can be assembled in different ways. One way is to build the device by thin film techniques layer by layer. Another possibility is to provide the anode and cathode and subsequently laminate them into a device. In either of these ways, the metal oxide films are provided in either a colored or bleached state before the subsequent lamination or depositing of next layers, see e.g. xe2x80x9cSputter-deposited nickel oxide for electrochromic applicationsxe2x80x9d by A. Azens et. al. in Solid State Ionics vol. 113-115, 1998, page 449-456. The colored state corresponds to pre-charged anode and cathode. If the oxide films are provided in a bleached or transparent state, the final electrochromic device needs a higher operation potential to accomplish the requested charge transfer for the transition into a colored state, which may cause a faster degradation of the device. However, the procedures of laminating or depositing of bleached oxide films are far easier to perform than corresponding procedures for colored oxide films. In practice, lamination in the colored state is today used more often.
One way of pre-charging both the cathode and the anode prior to lamination in a device or depositing the next film layer onto it, is to color the films electrochemically in a liquid electrolyte. However, such methods are provided with inherent disadvantages. The films are spontaneously bleaching upon washing the film after the electrolyte treatment. There are also cumbersome problems to wash away all traces of electrolyte from the surface of the film, which may lead to contact problems in subsequent manufacturing steps, or to an uneven coloration over the surface of the film. The electrochemical treatment also involves a number of process steps, which makes the method time consuming.
Much effort has been focused on dry coloration methods. For WO3, a method of dry lithiation has been developed, consisting of the incorporation of lithium into WO3 upon deposition by e.g. co-evaporation. See e.g. xe2x80x9cHandbook of Inorganic Electrochromic Materialsxe2x80x9d, by C. G. Granqvist, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1995, pages 79-81. Colored (brown) nickel and chromium oxide films can be made by sputter-deposition in Ar/O2 atmosphere. However, the depth of the coloration obtained in this way for reasonably thin films is not sufficient for subsequent lamination into devices.
One object of the present invention is to provide a method of fabrication of thin film devices, where a coloration/bleaching of metal oxides is achieved in a simple and dry manner. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of fabrication, which provides thin film devices with an even coloration level. A further object of the present invention is to provide a coloration/bleaching method suitable for both lamination and subsequent film deposition.
The above objects are achieved by the method according to the present invention as defined in the accompanying claims. In general, a color-modifying method according to a first aspect of the invention comprises the provision of a metal oxide thin film based on Ni and/or Cr. The method is characterized in that, when coloring the metal oxide film, exposing the metal oxide thin film to ozone, and when bleaching the metal oxide film, exposing the metal oxide film to UV radiation. A lamination process or a deposition of another thin film may follow the exposure. Preferably, exposing the metal oxide thin film to ultraviolet radiation in an oxygen-containing atmosphere provides the ozone exposure and exposing the metal oxide thin film to ultraviolet radiation in an oxygen-free atmosphere provides the ultraviolet exposure. Suitable metal oxides are selectable among the following oxides: NiCrzOx, NiCrzOxHy, NiVzOx, NiVzOxHy, CrOx, CrOxHy, NiqCrOx, and NiqCrOxHy, where x greater than 0, y greater than 0, 0xe2x89xa6zxe2x89xa61 and q less than 1. A coloring method according to a second aspect of the invention is characterized by exposing the metal oxide thin film to ozone. A bleaching method according to a third aspect of the invention is characterized by exposing the metal oxide thin film to ultraviolet radiation in an oxygen-free atmosphere.
The above methods may be applicable to general thin film devices, but is particularly suitable for electrochemical devices.
The advantages with the present invention are mainly that coloring/bleaching is obtained in a dry state, which is both simpler and cleaner than by electrochemical methods, and that the pre-charging is easily controllable, homogeneous and reproducible. Further advantages with the present invention will be understood by reading the detailed description of embodiments.


Electro-optical apparatus includes lens apparatus, a CCD having a predetermined filter pattern and a spectrally dispersive element interposed between the lens apparatus and the CCD.

An electronic image pickup apparatus, for example, a television camera, typically comprises solid-state image pickup devices, such as charge coupled device (CCD) image sensors and an imaging optical system which functions to form images of an object on light receiving surfaces of these image pickup devices. The image pickup devices of this type typically comprise a large number of picture elements which are disposed in lattice patterns and configured so as to spatially sample, at discontinuously distributed picture elements, the images of the object formed on the light receiving surfaces of the image pickup devices. These image pickup devices function to convert the sampled light intensities into corresponding video electrical signals that may be transmitted to a display unit, such as a monitor television set, that reproduces the images represented by the video signal.
When the images of the object contain components which have spatial frequencies exceeding a Nyquist frequency limit for the image pickup devices, the image pickup apparatus equipped with the image pickup devices for spatially sampling the images of the object allows spurious signals, such as moiré or aliasing to be produced, thereby remarkably degrading quality of the images which are reproduced on the display unit. For this reason, a typical imaging optical system used in the image pickup apparatus of this type is configured so as to exhibit an effect to limit spatial frequency response so that components having frequencies in the vicinity of the Nyquist frequency limit are eliminated from spatial frequency components contained in the images of the object (optical low pass effect). The optical low pass effect is obtained, for example, by forming dualized images with a quartz filter disposed in the imaging optical system or blurring the images of the object with a phase filter.
Japanese Utility Model Kokai Publication No. SHO63-24,523 discloses a method to form dualized images by disposing a wedge-shaped prism in the imaging optical system so that a portion of a light bundle passes through this prism to obtain the optical low pass effect. Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. SHO47-38,001 discloses a method to form ring-shaped blurred images with a conical prism disposed in the imaging optical system. Japanese Patent Kokai Publication No. SHO63-6,520 discloses a method to blur the images by producing spherical aberration of higher orders in the imaging optical system.

Imaging with spectrally dispersive element for aliasing reducing


A light-splitting device comprises a filter element, a first transmission element, a second transmission element, and a power element. In this case, the first transmission element is disposed on one side of the filter element. The second transmission element connects with the first transmission element. The power element connects with the second transmission element, wherein the power element drives the rotation of the second transmission element, so that the second transmission element drives the rotation of the fist transmission element and the filter element.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a light-splitting device and more particularly to a light-splitting device, which is used in a projection system.
2. Related Art
The projection systems are divided into three types including a liquid crystal display (LCD) type, a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) type, and a digital light processing (DLP) type. The DLP type has several advantages, including high brightness, accurate tone reproduction, fast response time, noise-free operation, and thin and light composition. Therefore, the DLP type is one of the most potential projection technologies recently.
In a DLP projector, a digital control method and a light reflection principle are adopted. First, light rays are integrated or converged by a light integration rod and then pass through the color filter of the color wheel, which splits the light rays. The split light rays are then projected onto a digital micro-mirror device (DMD). In this technology, the DMD is used to replace the liquid crystal panel for representing images in the conventional liquid crystal projector. Since the DMD includes several movable micro-mirrors, driving electrodes may control the tilt angle and deflection time of each movable mirror. Then, the light rays may be projected to form an image by switching the reflection directions of the light rays.
As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a lateral view that shows a conventional color wheel assembly. The color wheel assembly 1 mainly includes a color filter 11 and a motor 12. The motor 12 has a housing 121 and a motor body 122. The housing 121 is disposed at one side of the motor body 212. Moreover, the color wheel assembly 1 further includes a fixing plate 13 and a flexible printed circuit (not shown). The color wheel assembly 1 is fixed in a projection system with the fixing plate 13, and the flexible printed circuit electrically connects with a driver. The driver drives the motor body 122 to rotate around the central axis. The motor body 122 is mainly composed of a shell, a magnetic ring, a laminated steel stack and a coil. When the current is applied to the coil, the laminated steel stack produces a magnetic force and a magnetic field. Controlling the positive/negative property and the intensity of the flowing current may change the magnetic field in sequence, so as to produce a rotating magnetic field. Accordingly, the magnetic ring can interact with the magnetic field and thus be driven to rotate. The color filter 11 is fixed on the housing 121 of the motor 12 by way of an adhering process. The motor 12 drives the color filter 11 to rotate around the central axis, so that the color filter 11 may split the light. In the current industry, the color filter 11 may be a ring-shaped filter composed of different color sections for setting on the housing 121 of the motor 12. Further, the color filter 11 is adhered to the housing 121 of the motor 12 with an adhesive, and the adhesive needs to be heated to solidify. However, the heat-resistant temperature of the motor 12 is about 80° C., and the motor 12 may be damaged easily during the heating process. Hence, even only one component of the color wheel assembly 1 is damaged, the whole assembly is unusable. Because of the above reason, the production costs would be increased.
Furthermore, in the projection system, the color wheel assembly 1 is near to a light source. Because of the high operation temperature of the light source, the ambient temperature of the color wheel assembly 1 would also be increased. The heat-resistant temperature of the adhesive is about 150° C. to 180° C., and the operation temperature of the light source is about 150° C. to 200° C. The adhesive is easily fragile under 150° C. to 200° C., so that the adhesion force between the color filter 11 and the motor 12 would be decreased. In general, because the motor 12 for the color wheel assembly 1 rotates at a speed higher than 7200 rpm, the centrifugal force of one section of the color filter 11 is very high. Hence, in this ambient temperature, the rotation center of the color filter 11 is easily away from the central axis of the rotation shaft, and the color filter 11 may produce displacement easily. Further, the reliability of the product would be decreased.
It is therefore a subjective of the invention to provide a light-splitting device to solve the above-mentioned problems.


A lighting device for a motor vehicle is provided that includes a laser light source including a plurality of laser diodes, a vector scanner on which falls at least one light bundle from the laser light source, and a control device. The vector scanner changes the position of the light bundle which moves a light spot produced from the light bundle to generate a predetermined light distribution. The vector scanner includes at least one MEMS component containing a housing, a semiconductor chip, a mirror on which at least one light bundle falls, and a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the MEMS component. The control device controls the electrical power of the laser light source and/or a cooling element arranged on the MEMS component according to the detected temperature of the MEMS component, such that the detected temperature does not exceed a predetermined temperature threshold value.

The invention relates to a lighting device for a motor vehicle.
From the state of the art it is known to use in a motor vehicle a scanning lighting device in which one or more light bundles of a light-source are deflected with the aid of a scanning motion, and with the aid of this a spot of light is moved, in order to generate a predetermined distribution of light—such as a low beam, for example—in the far field of the motor vehicle. In such lighting devices so-called MEMS components (MEMS=Micro-Electro-Mechanical System) frequently come into operation, in which the deflection of the light bundle or bundles is undertaken with the aid of a continuously movable mirror integrated within a semiconductor chip.
In conventional scanning lighting devices with MEMS components contained therein there is the problem that in the course of the generation of the light bundles to be deflected with the aid of a source of laser light a high thermal loading of the mirror in the MEMS component arises, which may result in a reduced service life of the lighting device, and possibly also in damage thereto.
It is therefore an object of the invention to create a scanning lighting device for a motor vehicle with one or more MEMS components, the thermal loading of which is reduced.
This object is achieved by the lighting device according to claim 1. Further developments of the invention are defined in the dependent claims.
The lighting device according to the invention is provided for a motor vehicle and encompasses a source of laser light, consisting of a number of laser diodes (that is to say, at least one laser diode), and also a vector scanner on which one or more light bundles impinge which emanate from the light of the source of laser light.
The vector scanner has been configured in such a manner that in operation of the lighting device it varies the position of the light bundle or bundles and, thus, moves a spot of light, which is generated from the light bundle or bundles, at a distance from the lighting device in order to generate a predetermined distribution of light. The special feature of a vector scanner consists in the fact that the scan speed at which the spot of light is moved, and/or the scan path along which the spot of light is moved, can be varied by the vector scanner. Consequently differing distributions of light can be generated very flexibly. A vector scanner differs from a conventional line scanner in this feature. For the purpose of varying the scan speed or the scan path, the vector scanner contains a suitable control unit which may possibly have been integrated within the control device described further below.
The vector scanner of the lighting device according to the invention encompasses one or more MEMS components which each contain a semiconductor chip which is surrounded by a housing and within which a single mirror has been integrated, on which at least one light bundle from the light bundle or bundles impinges. The MEMS component in this case has been configured in such a manner that the mirror is tilted continuously for the purpose of moving the spot of light. In a preferred variant, in top view the mirror has a maximal extent between 1 mm and 6 mm. For the purpose of tilting the mirror in the MEMS component, use may be made of actuators known as such—for example, electrostatic and/or magnetic actuators and/or piezo actuators. By reason of the feature of continuous tilting and also the use of a single mirror, the MEMS component that is used in the invention differs from digital light modules consisting of micromirrors, in which the mirrors can occupy only two discrete positions.
The lighting device according to the invention is distinguished in that a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the respective MEMS component is provided on a respective MEMS component, in particular within the housing of a respective MEMS component, but possibly also outside the housing. Over and above this, the lighting device encompasses a control device which has been configured in such a manner that it controls, as a function of the detected temperature of the respective MEMS component, the electrical power of the source of laser light and/or of an electrically operated cooling element (for example, a Peltier element) arranged on the MEMS component, in such a manner that the detected temperature does not exceed a predetermined temperature threshold value. If present, the cooling element is an integral part of the lighting device according to the invention. If only the electrical power of the source of laser light (that is to say, not the electrical power of a cooling element) is controlled in the lighting device according to the invention, the lighting device also does not have to encompass a cooling element.
The lighting device according to the invention has the advantage that a thermal overheating is avoided in a straightforward manner with the aid of a temperature sensor in the respective MEMS components and a temperature control based thereon. Depending upon the configuration, the temperature sensor may have been realized in various ways. In a preferred variant, the temperature sensor is a so-called thermistor in which the detection of the temperature is based on a measurement of resistance. In particular, semiconductor elements may also be used as temperature sensors.
The electrical power of the source of laser light may be of differing magnitude, depending upon the variant of the lighting device. In a preferred configuration, the maximally adjustable power of the source of laser light is between 100 mW and 6 W. Depending upon the configuration of the lighting device according to the invention, with the source of laser light thereof monochromatic laser light—such as, for example, with a wavelength of 450 nm—or possibly also white laser light can be generated. In particular, there is also the possibility that a conversion element—consisting of phosphor, for example—has been arranged downstream of a source of monochromatic laser light, in order to convert the monochromatic light into a bundle of white light.
In an advantageous embodiment of the lighting device according to the invention, the temperature sensor for at least one MEMS component has been integrated within the housing of the corresponding MEMS component.
In another preferred variant of the lighting device according to the invention, the temperature sensor for at least one MEMS component has been integrated within the semiconductor chip. Nonetheless, there is also the possibility that the temperature sensor for at least one MEMS component has been attached to the housing of the component and is consequently not an integral part of the semiconductor chip.
In another preferred variant, the temperature threshold value, which by reason of the control by the control device is not exceeded, lies within a temperature interval that corresponds to a temperature of the housing of the MEMS component between 60° C. and 100° C., preferentially between 60° C. and 80° C. Through such a choice of the temperature threshold value, an overheating of the mirror is prevented efficiently.
In another preferred variant of the invention, the control device has been configured in such a manner that within a predetermined temperature range of the detected temperature, which preferentially terminates at the temperature threshold value, it decreases the electrical power of the source of laser light more intensely, the more intensely the detected temperature increases. The intensity of the decrease of the electrical power or the intensity of the increase of the detected temperature is represented, in particular, by the variation of these quantities within a predetermined time-interval.
In another preferred embodiment, the control device of the lighting device according to the invention has been configured in such a manner that it switches the source of laser light off if the detected temperature reaches the predetermined temperature threshold value or the predetermined temperature threshold value minus a tolerance value. By this means, a thermal overloading of the lighting device is efficiently avoided.
Depending upon the variant, the lighting device according to the invention may have been provided in the motor vehicle for differing purposes. In one configuration, the lighting device encompasses a headlight that has been set up to generate a low-beam and/or high-beam distribution of light by way of predetermined distribution of light. The headlight is preferentially a front headlight. There is also the possibility that the lighting device encompasses a vehicle signal light, in particular a tail-light and/or a stop-light, which has been set up to generate a signal function by virtue of the predetermined distribution of light.
In a further embodiment of the lighting device according to the invention, the vector scanner encompasses a single MEMS component, on the mirror of which the light bundle or bundles impinge(s), in which connection a single bundle of light preferentially impinges on the mirror. Depending upon the intended use of the lighting device, this single bundle of light may consist of white light or may also have a different color. With this variant of the invention, a compact structure of the lighting device is obtained.
In a further variant of the invention, the vector scanner encompasses several MEMS components, on the mirrors of which a separate light bundle out of several light bundles impinges in each instance, all the separate light bundles being superposed to form the spot of light after passing through the MEMS components. This superposition of the separate light bundles preferentially yields white light, so this lighting device is very well suited as a headlight. The separate light bundles in this case preferentially have the respective colors red, green and blue.
In addition to the above lighting device, the invention further relates to a motor vehicle that encompasses one or more lighting devices according to the invention or one or more preferred variants of these lighting devices.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of one or more preferred embodiments when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft


The invention relates to the field of biochemistry, biophysical chemistry, molecular biology, structural biology and medicine. More in particular, the invention relates to cross-β structure conformation. Even more particular, the invention relates to compounds capable of binding to a compound with cross-β structure conformation, i.e., cross-β structure binding compounds and uses thereof.

Nowadays, the list of proteins and peptides that are known to be able to adopt the amyloid-like cross-β structure conformation is tremendous. This has led to the idea that refolding of polypeptides from a native fold to an amyloid-like structure is an inherent property, independent of the amino-acid sequence of the polypeptides. We found that tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) and factor XII are specifically activated by many polypeptides, once they have adopted the cross-β structure conformation. This led us to recognize that a "cross-β structure pathway" exists that regulates the recognition and clearance of unwanted proteins.1 Polypeptides can refold spontaneously at the end of their life cycle, or refolding can be induced by environmental factors such as pH, glycation, oxidative stress, heat, irradiation, mechanical stress, proteolysis and so on, at least part of the polypeptide refolds and adopts the amyloid-like cross-β structure conformation. This conformation is then the signal that triggers a cascade of events that induces clearance and breakdown of the obsolete particle. When clearance is inadequate unwanted polypeptides can aggregate and form toxic structures ranging from soluble oligomers up to precipitating fibrils and amorphous plaques. Such cross-β structure conformation comprising aggregates underlie various diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, diabetes mellitus type 2, systemic amyloidoses or Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease, depending on the underlying polypeptide that accumulates and on the part of the body where accumulation occurs.
The presence of cross-β structures in proteins triggers multiple responses. As mentioned, cross-β structure comprising proteins can activate tPA and FXII, thereby initiating the fibrinolytic system and the contact system of hemostasis. Besides activation of the coagulation system through FXII, the cross-β structure conformation may induce coagulation, platelet aggregation and blood clotting via direct platelet activation and/or the release of tissue factor (Tf) by activated endothelial cells (described in more detail in a co-pending patent application). In addition, the complement system is another example of a proteolytic cascade that is activated by cross-β structure conformation. This system can be activated by the amyloid-β peptide associated with Alzheimer's Disease or by zirconium or aluminum or titanium. The latter being compounds that can induce cross-β structure conformation in proteins. The innate and adaptive immune systems are yet another example. Amyloid-β activates the innate and adaptive immune response.2 β2-glycoprotein I is an auto-immune antigen only upon contact with a negatively charged lipid surface, such as cardiolipin.3 We have now shown that cardiolipin induces cross-β structure conformation in β2-glycoprotein I (described in more detail in a co-pending patent application). Moreover, we have shown that ligands for Toll-like receptors that are implicated in the regulation of immunity induce cross-β structure conformation in proteins. These ligands include lipopolysaccharide and CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) (described in more detail in a co-pending patent application).
FXII can be activated by negatively charged agents. For example, when blood is drawn into a glass tube it rapidly clots, due to activation of FXII. However, when the tube is made of plastic clotting is delayed. This mechanism of this contact system of coagulation is termed the intrinsic pathway because all clotting factors are present in plasma; in contrast to the extrinsic pathway, which requires the presence of tissue factor on the surface of cells, that is not exposed to the circulation during homeostasis. Interestingly, the nature of the FXII activator in vivo is still unknown. We now found that cross-β structure, that is formed when globular proteins unfold due to any denaturing trigger, is a trigger for FXII and contact activation. Since negatively charged surfaces, such as glass, induce denaturation of proteins, it may well be possible that activation of FXII is secondary to formation of cross-β structure by negatively charged surfaces. We have tested whether activation of FXII by dextran sulphate 500,000 Da (DXS500k) and kaolin is accompanied and mediated by cross-β structure, and our results indeed show that this is occurring. We have determined that plasma exposure to a surface of DXS500k or kaolin indeed induces cross-β structure conformation by staining with Thioflavin T (ThT) and by binding of a recombinant finger domain. In addition, we test whether the amyloid binding reagents Congo Red, ThT, recombinant finger domains of tPA, FXII, HGFA and fibronectin, or full-length tPA, FXII, HGFA, fibronectin, serum amyloid P component (SAP), anti-cross-β structure antibodies and/or a soluble fragment of receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (sRAGE) inhibit activation of FXII induced by DXS500k, kaolin, any other activating surface, or by denatured polypeptides comprising the cross-β structure conformation.
tPA is a serine protease involved in fibrin clot lysis. tPA stimulates activation of plasminogen into plasmin. Fibrin serves as an efficient cofactor in stimulating tPA mediated plasmin formation. Besides fibrin and fibrin fragments a large number of other proteins or protein fragments have been found that stimulate tPA activity, though that exhibit no apparent amino-acid sequence homology. Therefore, the anticipated common structural basis underlying the acquired tPA binding remained elusive. We recently found that the amyloid-like cross-β structure (conformation), the structural element found in amyloid deposits in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, is a prerequisite and the common denominator in tPA-binding ligands.1, 4 FXII shows close homology with tPA and is known to be activated by amyloid-β (Aβ) and by bacteria with an amyloid core.5 The domain structure of FXII includes, like tPA, a finger domain and its sequence shows the closest homologies with tPA. FXII also binds fibrin (Sanchez et al. 2003, ISTH XIX Congress; surface deposited fibrin activates FXII and the intrinsic coagulation pathway) and FXII can also, like tPA, mediate the conversion of plasminogen to plasmin.6 We found that FXII, like tPA, is activated by polypeptides with amyloid-like cross-β structure conformation in general. Moreover, we established that well-known activators of FXII, DXS500k and kaolin, induce amyloid-like cross-β structure conformation in proteins and that DXS500k is only then an effective activator of FXII when an excess of protein cofactor over the amount of FXII present is added to the reaction mixture. Thus, in contrast to direct activation by binding to negatively charged surfaces, FXII is activated by (plasma) proteins that denature and form amyloid on negatively charged surfaces, or denature by any other means, e.g., pH change, exposure to radicals, proteolysis, glycation, oxidation, change in temperature. It is thus stated that the cross-β structure conformation regulates contact activation and fibrinolysis.
At present, it is assumed that activation of FXII directly involves binding to negatively charged surfaces. Based on our findings, we show that negatively charged surfaces induce amyloid cross-β structure formation and that this structure element triggers FXII activation. This finding renews the view on contact-mediated activation of blood coagulation.
In conclusion, tPA and factor XII are cross-β structure binding proteins. Moreover, cross-β structure comprising proteins can activate these proteins.
To be able to further study the role of the cross-β structure in (patho)physiology it is necessary that (more) compounds capable of binding to a protein comprising a cross-β structure, amongst others cross-β structure binding compounds, are identified. Such compounds are not only useful to be able to better understand cross-β structures, but are also very useful in respect of understanding the refolding from a native state, assembly and toxicity and are also useful for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic agents or useful as component of a diagnostic or therapeutic agent.


The invention concerns a converter which includes two input terminals and two output terminals, a main transformer presenting primary and secondary windings connected between the input terminals and the output terminals respectively, a switching device, a first inductance and a first capacitance forming a first resonant circuit with the primary winding of the main transformer, a wound regulation transformer, presenting a primary winding, and a secondary winding connected in series with one of the windings of the main transformer, a switching device, a second inductance and a second capacitance forming a second resonant circuit with the primary winding of the regulation transformer and with this switching device and a command forming the first and second resonant circuits at a resonance frequency less than or equal to the resonance frequencies of the resonant circuits.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention concerns electric supplies and in particular voltage regulator converters.
(2) Prior Art
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,903 to Gilbert Cardwell discloses a voltage regulator converter receiving a continuous unregulated voltage on input and providing a continuous regulated voltage on output. This converter is illustrated in FIG. 1. This converter presents a main transformer T1 presenting two primary windings E1 and E2 and secondary windings illustrated by E7. The converter presents in addition a transformer T2, containing primary windings E5 and E6 and secondary windings E3 and E4. The primary windings E1 and E2 of the transformer T1 are coupled between an unregulated source voltage Vin and the secondary windings E3 and E4 respectively of transformer T2.
A square wave signal generator includes a command SWG controlling two NMOS transistors Q1 and Q2 respectively, each arranged in series between a local ground and the windings E3 and E4. The voltage between primary windings E5 and E6 of the transformer T2 is controlled by a regulator fed by the terminal Vin and comprising capacitor C, inductance L, diode D3 and transistor Q1. The diodes D1 and D2 permit isolating the primary windings of the transformers T1 and T2. The windings E7 are connected to a rectifier assembly whose output voltage is measured. This output voltage level is provided to the input of a regulation device R1 which modifies the conduction cyclic ratio of the transistor Q3 according to the voltage level measured. The output voltage level is regulated as follows: the second transformer selectively subtracts from the primary terminals of the main transformer a part of the series voltage applied.
This converter presents disadvantages: transistors Q1 and Q2 switch when the current that crosses them is non zero and the opening of these transistors takes place when their drain-source voltage is non zero, causing a decrease in the converter performance. In addition, this solution only applies for a square wave push-pull converter.

Voltage regulator converter without switching losses


An equalizer (402) is shown, having a state variable filter in which a first MDAC (502) is coupled to a first integrator (503) and a second MDAC (504) is coupled to a second integrator (505) to allow control of the corner frequency of the state variable filter. The MDACs are each configured to provide variable attenuation in a plurality of discrete steps. A digital attenuation controller is coupled to and adjusts the attenuation of the MDACs independently, and effects a one-step increase in the corner frequency of the state variable filter by first determining the attenuation levels of the MDACs, and then controlling the attenuation levels of the MDACs in accordance with their existing attenuation levels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the equalization of audio signals, and in particular to higher resolution control of an equalizer circuit employing multiplying digital-to-analog converters to effect parameter control.
2. Description of the Related Art
Equalizers are commonly used in sound recording environments to alter aspects of the tonality of a recording, and often find themselves incorporated in traditional mixing consoles as part of a channel strip. For instance, sound produced by some instruments may need to be made more prominent, such as that produced by a quiet wind instrument, whilst some may need to be reduced in level, such as that produced by a bass drum. In addition, problems caused by the acoustics of a recording studio, such as an uneven frequency response can be mitigated by using an equalizer.
Equalizers come in a number of flavours. Simple shelving filters boost or cut the level of sound below or above a certain frequency, often called a corner or rollover frequency. Graphic equalizers split an audio signal into a plurality of discrete frequency bands, with gain or attenuation being applied to each individual band. More sophisticated control can be had by employing a parametric equalizer, which allows control of amplitude (gain or attenuation), corner frequency (also known as centre or rollover frequency) and quality factor (Q-factor, or bandwidth) of an audio band. Thus, boost or cut can be applied by varying the amplitude of the band, the frequency it is applied at can be changed by varying the corner frequency, and the frequency range over which equalization is applied can be varied by changing the Q-factor.
Digital control of such equalizers is particularly desirable in recording environments that combine traditional mixing consoles with digital audio workstations (DAWs). A particular parameter can be changed on a DAW, and a corresponding change can be made to that parameter in the equalizer in the mixing console. In addition, adjustment devices on the mixing console itself can be of lower power design, reducing the effects of noise in the system. Problems still exist, however, in enabling higher resolution control of parameters in the equalizer in such digitally-controlled environments, so as to enable fine-tuning at a level offered by analog counterparts.


There is provided a radio apparatus having a built-in type antenna of a broad frequency range in a thin case. The radio apparatus comprises a fist case containing a first printed circuit board (PCB) and a second case containing a second PCB. The two cases are joined by a hinge part. A radio circuit is contained in the first or the second case or the hinge part, and is connected to a first end of a feeder line including a signal line and a return line. A first antenna element formed as a printed pattern of the first PCB is connected, by a first conductor, to the signal line at a feeding point, i.e., a second end of the feeder line. A second antenna element formed as a printed pattern of the second PCB is connected, by a second conductor, to the return line at the feeding point.

More and more radio apparatuses like mobile phones are used for various applications as radio communication technologies remarkably grow these days. A recent trend to be noted is a radio apparatus of multiple uses, i.e., ordinary voice and data communications plus receiving digital TV broadcasting or short-range radio links. Such a radio apparatus is required to have a broader frequency range than conventional ones, and this trend is pushed forward by developing ultra-wide-band (UWB) technologies.
Broadening a frequency range of a radio apparatus needs broadening a frequency range of each component, and especially broadening a frequency range of an antenna is required. Otherwise a radio apparatus of multiple uses is equipped with a plurality of conventional antennas of narrow frequency ranges (narrow-band antennas) and is greater in size and more complicated in its configuration than that of a single use. Such a radio apparatus having two or more narrow-band antennas is inconvenient to use or handle as a narrow-band antenna such as a whip antenna generally sticks out of a case of the radio apparatus.
Known is a conventional radio apparatus that uses a plane-shaped conductor, e.g., a printed pattern of a printed circuit board (PCB) contained therein as a built-in type antenna element. An example of such a conventional radio apparatus is disclosed in the following reference: Nishikido, T. et al, "An antenna system with two parallel elements and a dividing feed circuit for a handy phone", IEICE Communications Society Conference B-1-190 (in Japanese), The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, September 2003.
Another example is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication of Unexamined Applications (Kokai), 2004-56426, the English version of which is available on a website named "Intellectual Property Digital Library" linked from the Japan Patent Office website.
This conventional radio apparatus is a folding mobile phone called a clamshell type, and has an upper case containing an upper antenna element and a lower case containing a lower antenna element. Those antenna elements form a dipole antenna together, and its radiation characteristic is variably controlled with the shapes of the antenna elements and variations of inter-element connections.
This configuration, however, still has a disadvantage that the dipole antenna needs a balanced feed system that does not match an ordinary radio circuit having an unbalanced antenna connecting port and thus needs a converter. It has another disadvantage that the upper antenna element and a ground plane of the upper case are in plural layers, which makes a thinner case design difficult.
A mobile phone of a clamshell type is used for communications while its upper and lower cases are being closed as well as while they are being opened. An antenna and a feed system of such a mobile phone needs impedance matching whether the cases are being opened or closed. For the conventional configurations described above, it is difficult to meet such a need.