The invention relates to an open cell, porous, selectively conductive member containing an elastomer that is reusable in use and preparation. The scaffold for the elastomer has conductive areas through conductive, z-axis pathways are provided which are electrically isolated from adjacent z-axis conductive pathways. The elastomer is non-adhesive and/or non tacky and allows for temporary connection of electronic components.

It is a goal in the electronics industry to be able to provide reliable electrical connections between electronic circuit components for evaluation and testing. Further, the substrate used to connect components must be able to compensate for dimensional irregularities in the components or subcomponent assemblies being connected. It is presently common practice to use permanent adhesives or solder to connect chips to circuit boards, circuit boards to circuit boards, multichip modules to circuit boards or terminals to terminal connectors for the purpose of evaluating the performance of these components. A chip to circuit board connection can be accomplished with either permanent adhesives or solder. After the test or evaluation procedure is completed, such as in testing for continuity, it is desirable to remove the chip without damaging either the chip, board or electrical contacts thereof. Removing the permanent adhesive from either components, and/or metal contact components is not always satisfactory, as in the case of a soldered BGA chip which becomes unacceptable for use after solder reflow. Similarly, for terminal connections, since solder reflow is necessary for separation, not only is the article frequently damaged, but additional processing steps are required. The additional processing step could also damage the connector or chip.
It is also often necessary to provide temporary connections between traces of one flexible circuit to the traces of another flexible circuit or a ribbonized flat cable to a printed circuit board, or the like. Removal of permanent adhesives and solder joints can frequently result in the loss of the components which are being separated from one another. Similarly, in the medical industry, connector interfaces that provide power sources to surgical implements are conventionally formed via solder connection or permanent adhesives. Separation of the medical device from the power source for cleaning and sterilization result in the damage of instruments, which must be removed for further use.
Thus, a need exists for a temporary and reusable selectively conductive substrate for testing electronic components, e.g., chips, electrical contacts, circuit boards, or for connecting medical instruments to power sources, and the like, that will overcome the drawbacks of the existing prior art connecting techniques.

Reusable, selectively conductive, z-axis elastomeric composite substrate


A system for absorbing impact energy includes a container formed with a plurality of faces. An energy absorbing material is substantially contained within the container. A first elongated member has a proximate end and a distal end. The proximate end is proximate and approximately perpendicular to a first face of the container. A long axis of the first elongated member intersects the first face. A first bumper is connected to the distal end of the first elongated member. A second elongated member has a proximate end and a distal end. The proximate end is proximate and approximately perpendicular to a second face of the container. A long axis of the second elongated member intersects the second face. The second elongated member is approximately perpendicular to the first elongated member. A second bumper connected to the distal end of the second elongated member.

Auto engineers have made great improvements in reducing injuries caused by frontal collisions. Air bags and seat belts work well. Also, the front of most vehicles contains the engine and the engine compartment, which can be designed to operate as a "crumple zone". A crumple zone is a volume that absorbs at least a portion of the energy of a collision and lengthens the time of the collision event. The crumple zone presents a force in opposition to the collision force over a distance. By increasing the time of the collision event, and by absorbing a portion of the collision energy, the crumple zone reduces the G Forces on the vehicle occupants.
Rear collisions are a serious problem for small vehicles because the small vehicles do not have large trunk volumes comparable to the engine compartments. A small vehicle with a small trunk will offer little protection to the occupants when the vehicle is hit from the rear. Large vehicles typically have larger trunks, which can be designed to operate as an effective crumple zone.
Air bags are not useful in rear collisions because the occupants are in close contact with their seats. In a rear collision, the seats push on the bodies of the person in the seat. While there is some advantage to having the seats slide backwards in this situation, sliding seats is not an accepted practice because rear moving front seats could crush the legs of rear seat passengers.
With no crumple zone in the rear, the small vehicle exposes its passengers to very high G forces during rear collisions because motion of their bodies will change very rapidly. Force=Mass×Acceleration. The rapid velocity change of their bodies is a large acceleration and the resultant force on their bodies (masses) will be large. Also, a small vehicle will have a relatively small mass, and when it is hit in the rear by another vehicle while inert, the force from the collision on the low mass small vehicle will generate large accelerations, directly translating large accelerations and proportionally large forces on the passenger bodies.
Even if a passenger is constrained so that his body does not strike a hard surface, the high acceleration can tear internal organs and blood vessels. Similarly, the skull may move and compress and injure the brain.
Previous technology in this area has offered front, side and rear bumpers fixedly attached to springs in order to reduce damage to the vehicle from a collision. The springs may operate to absorb some of the force in a collision. Later technology had other shock absorbing devices that were placed between the bumpers and the vehicle. These devices were designed to dissipate some of the energy of the collision to reduce passenger injuries. Some of these devices allowed for the bumpers to be moved between multiple positions. These shock absorbing devices were relatively small in volume which limited the amount of energy they could absorb.
Side impact protection is a more difficult problem than frontal or rear impact protection. Vehicle sides do not traditionally have bumpers. The doors and side members of a conventional vehicle may be made from heavy gauge steel, heavier than other parts of the vehicle, in order to offer some protection for side collisions. The weight of this steel negatively affects the vehicle fuel economy.
Side air bags have been introduced to many vehicles. They are much narrower than the frontal air bags because the occupant's head is closer to the side of the vehicle than the steering wheel or dashboard. Closer proximity means that there is less time to absorb the energy of a side collision. Also, the side of a vehicle has much less steel between the passenger and an oncoming vehicle as compared to the front or rear of the vehicle and the passenger. Side collisions are much more deadly than frontal collisions.
Previous technology in this area has offered devices that were placed between the vehicle doors. They were designed to resist deformation of the vehicle chassis caused by a side collision. The devices did not extend beyond the sides of the vehicle and did not add to the side crumple distance.
Some other technology provides bumpers that remain in a retracted position until moments before an impending accident was detected. Then the bumpers would be rapidly extended. The detection of an impending accident is very difficult. There are many technologies that might be used to try to detect an impending collision, but they all suffer from the possibility of false alarms. A false alarm might injure a person who is next to the vehicle when the bumpers are deployed or cause property damage.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for a shared crumple zone


Modular systems for the construction of three-dimensional structures are disclosed. A system includes a first panel, a second panel, and a fixing member. The first panel includes a first edge and a first attachment member. The second panel includes a second edge and a second attachment member. The second edge is configured to mate with the first edge of the first panel. This mating forms a hinge that couples the first and the second panels and enables a relative rotation about a rotation axis through the hinge. The relative rotation defines a relative angle between the first and the second panels. The fixing member is configured to couple to each of the first and the second attachment members when the relative angle between the first and the second panels is equivalent to a first angle, fixing the relative angle at the first angle and forming the structure.

Various toy building blocks are available for consumers. However, many existing building blocks are bulky and utilize a large amount of space when storing or shipping. To build large-scale and complex structures, such as airplanes, cars, houses, castles, boats, rocket ships, and the like, the interconnecting blocks must include a certain level of structural integrity. Furthermore, to build such structures, a builder must be able to interconnect the building blocks at various angles. It is desirable to enable the builder to customize individual building blocks with graphics. It is for these and other considerations that the following disclosure is provided.

Modular systems for the construction of three-dimensional structures of arbitrary size and shape


A disposable sterile surgical drape with pre-attached disposable sterile instruments for use in a selected surgical procedure is provided. The disposable sterile surgical drape basically comprises a drape having a size for covering an operating table and a patient thereon and having an incision opening formed therein, a patient heat distributing pad pre-attached to the bottom side of the drape, an absorbent cloth surrounding the incision opening pre-attached to the bottom side of the drape, a cover for the incision opening in the drape pre-attached to the top side of the drape, and the surgical instruments and connecting tubes or wires required to accomplish the surgical procedure pre-attached to the drape.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides a disposable sterile drape with attached disposable sterile instruments for use in selected surgical procedures.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Surgical drapes are used during surgical procedures to create and maintain a sterile environment around the surgical site. The surgical drape creates and maintains a barrier that minimizes the passage of microorganisms between non-sterile and sterile areas. To be effective, the drape material must be resistant to blood, aqueous fluid and abrasion as well as being lint free. As a result, the surgical drape prevents blood and other bodily fluids from contaminating the sterile field, i.e., the incision and the patient's skin surrounding the incision.
Surgical drapes were originally formed of cotton or linen and were sterilized after each use. More recently, disposable drapes have been utilized formed of paper or fabric.
The surgical drapes commonly have an incision opening formed therein known in the medical field as a fenestration through which the surgical procedure is performed.
After a patient has been anesthetized in an operating room, the surgical team individually places the various components of the sterile drape and the instruments required on the patient. That is, a sterile heat distributing pad is placed on the patient to keep the patient warm followed by sterile absorbent towels which are placed on the patient around the surgical field. Thereafter, the sterile drape is placed on the patient so that the incision opening is positioned over the surgical field. A cover for the incision opening which is impregnated with iodine to kill bacteria, is transparent and includes an adhesive on one side is attached to the drape adjacent to the incision opening. The cover is positioned over the surgical field whereby it adheres to the drape and to the patient's skin within the surgical field. Finally, the various sterile surgical instruments and connecting tubes or wires required to accomplish the surgical procedure are placed on the sterile drape one at a time. This procedure of preparing the patient for surgery in the operating room after the patient has been anesthetized involves a lengthy period of time. Typically, the patient preparation time can take as long as forty-five minutes during which the patient is anesthetized.
Thus, there is a need for a patient preparation procedure utilizing sterile drape components and sterile surgical instruments that does not require the anesthetized patient and surgical team to be in the operating room for a long period of time before surgery can be performed. In addition, there is a need for a sterile drape having the various components pre-attached to the drape whereby there is little or no handling of the components by technicians or others not familiar with the components and as a result, the sterility of the drape and components is insured. Finally, there is a need for a sterile drape whereby the tubes and wires connected to the various sterile surgical instruments are attached to the drape between sterile layers of the drape whereby the tubes and wires are not contaminated from below or above the drape.

Disposable sterile surgical drape and attached instruments


An extrusion apparatus including a die and a mask are provided such that no slots feed directly into the longitudinal skin forming gap between the mask and the die. In a method of forming a die adapted to improve skin uniformity of extruded cellular ceramic substrates a slotted block of die material is provided including central slots adapted to form a cellular matrix of the substrate and peripheral slots located outwardly of the central slots designed to be covered by a skin former mask and adapted to extrude peripheral batch material. An arcuate skin former is cut corresponding to a target shrinkage so as to intersect the slotted block such that skin flow from tangent slots at 90 degree positions of the die is limited to the peripheral batch material.

Skinned honeycomb extrusion is accomplished by extruding plasticized ceramic-forming batch materials, such as cordierite ceramic forming batch materials, through honeycomb extrusion dies to form structures having a central webbed cellular honeycomb structure surrounded by a thin integral outer skin layer. Such skins provide additional strength to such honeycomb articles. Typically, the honeycomb extrusion dies employed to produce such skinned honeycomb articles are multi-component assemblies including, for example, a web-forming die body combined with a skin-forming mask. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,349,329 and 4,298,328 exemplify die structures including skin-forming masks. The die body typically includes batch feed holes leading to and intersecting with an array of thin discharge slots formed in the die face, through which the batch material is extruded. This extrusion forms an interconnecting array of crisscrossing thin webs forming the central cellular honeycomb structure. The mask is generally a ring-like circumferential structure, typically in the form of a collar, defining the periphery of the skin of the honeycomb. The circumferential skin layer of the honeycomb article is formed by extruding the batch material between the mask and the die body.

Die assembly and method of extruding cellular ceramic substrates with a skin


A stackable elevated planter has a rectangular or oval body that holds potting soil. Two or four legs sockets are attached to and extend away from the bottom of the planter body to define a rectangle. Legs are provided such that each leg has one end sized to fit within one of the leg sockets. The legs have a length less that the length of the rectangle and an average width which is less than one fourth of the width of the rectangle such that the four legs can be laid next to one another within the planter body and a similar second planter will fit within that planter. The body of the second planter may be positioned over the four legs such that the leg sockets of the second planter body extend beyond the four legs and the leg sockets of the second planter may rest on the top surface of the base of the first planter. An optional shelf that fits within the planter body for storage and is attached to the legs when the planter is assembled may also be provided. In another embodiment the legs can be filled with water and a wick may extend from each leg into the planter body.

There are a variety of planters available in the marketplace for flowers and other plants. The planters have a body which defines a cavity in which potting soil is held. Most planters in the market are molded plastic. Others are made from materials such as fiber, porcelain, clay, foam, and metal. These planters are typically made into the same shapes such as pots, bowls and window boxes that are often low to the ground and only have one purpose or use.
Consumers prefer planters that can be flexibly used in different circumstances to create a desired aesthetic appearance. For example, a multi-purpose planter that can be raised and supported on legs, or transformed to be used without legs on a deck, patio or porch, provides more options for the consumer. Furthermore, many consumers want the ability to use the planter outside as well as inside is another advantage.
Another important consideration is that retailers have limited space in which to display products being offered for sale. Consequently, there is a preference for products that can be stacked or nested thereby providing more units in a given volume. The unit cost to ship and store products which are nested together is significantly less that the storage and shipping costs of products which cannot be nested. One of the most important cost factors in this industry is transportation. It is critical that the planters can be tightly packed and condensed for transport.
Because of the premium on space manufacturers have made and sold raised planters and tables constructed from multiple parts that are sold in a box and must be assembled by the buyer. In a retail setting it is very important that the consumer can easily and quickly understand how to assemble those products that require assembly and to envision what the product will look like when it is assembled. It is also important that this is done without requiring assembly and without accessory parts such as bolts, nuts, and washers. Indeed, many consumers prefer products that can be assembled without the use of tools.
The art has developed planters with folding legs such as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,340,859 and stackable planters such as are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,806,242 and Des Pat. No. 422,936. Planters having folding legs are not easily stacked when fully assembled. The stackable planters are not elevated. Thus, there is a need for a stackable, elevated planter which can be easily assembled, is durable and can be tightly stacked with other similar planters for shipment and sale.


Intelligent transportable data storage component module for a data processing system and a method for charging a battery for a data storage component in an intelligent transportable data storage component module. The intelligent transportable data storage component module has a data storage component and an intelligent battery backup for providing power to the data storage component. The intelligent battery backup, for example, a battery backup falling within Smart Battery Specifications, has a battery and a battery charger that function as a unit to monitor and charge the battery independent of the host processor and firmware of the data processing system and independent of characteristics of the battery.

1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed generally toward the data processing field and, more particularly, to an intelligent transportable data storage component module for a data processing system and to a method for charging a battery for a data storage component in an intelligent transportable data storage component module.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to provide data storage components in a data processing system with a battery backup in order to protect against loss or corruption of data as a result of a power failure. For example, a battery backup has been provided for a cache memory in a computer system to provide emergency power to the cache memory if power to the computer system fails or is otherwise interrupted. Battery backup has also been provided for a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) storage adapter to protect the adapter in case of power failure.
It is also known to include both a data storage component to be protected and a battery backup for the data storage component in a module in order to provide the data storage component with portability, for example, to enable the component to be transferred from one computer system to another, without losing data. A transportable data storage component together with a battery backup for the transportable data storage component is referred to as a Transportable Battery Backup or TBBU.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system having a transportable memory module that is known in the art to assist in explaining the present invention. In particular, FIG. 3 illustrates a computer system that is disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,557,077, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The computer system is generally designated by reference number 300, and includes a transportable memory module 302 that includes a cache memory 340. Computer system 300 operates to provide cache memory power source switching functions and memory reconfiguration functions during the activation or powering up of the computer system. For example, auxiliary power may be provided to cache memory 340 in the event that system power supply 315 fails, thereby preserving the integrity of data stored by cache memory 340. If the power failure results from a disruption in the system power supply, the stored data may be downloaded to memory storage device 312, such as one or more disk drives, during the next activation or power up sequence of the computer system after the power disruption has been remedied. Alternatively, if the power failure resulted from a failure within the computer system itself, such as a hardware failure, transportable memory module 302, including cache memory 340, may be transported to another computer system and connected to the other computer system.
Transportable memory module 302 is connected to and in communication with host computer system 300. Host computer system 300 includes central processing unit (CPU) 341; and may also include internal or external memory storage device 312, non-volatile memory 316, power supply 315 and system bus 313 that connects CPU 341 to memory storage device 312.
Transportable memory module 302 is typically connected to host computer system 300 via an adapter slot, another type of expansion slot, or in another manner. As indicated above, however, transportable memory module 302 is transportable, and may be removed from host computer system 300 and installed in another computer system. When connected to host computer system 300, transportable memory module 302 can communicate with CPU 341 via memory bus 321 and control bus 322.
Transportable memory module 302 includes cache memory 340, power source selector 320, voltage comparator 319 and battery 323. These elements may be separate modules, as illustrated in FIG. 3. Power source selector 320 comprises discrete logic that receives information on the state of system power supply 315 and switches cache memory 340 between system power and auxiliary power provided by battery 323 when the system power supply fails.
Voltage comparator 319 comprises discrete logic that senses both the system power level and battery power level and provides power source selector 320 with comparison data.
In order to charge battery 323 on transportable memory module 302, a battery charging mechanism is required. FIG. 4 is a block diagram that illustrates the computer system of FIG. 3 incorporating a battery charger for charging the battery on the transportable memory module in FIG. 3. The computer system is generally designated by reference number 400, and is similar to computer system 300 in FIG. 3, and corresponding components are identified by corresponding reference numbers.
As shown in FIG. 4, computer system 400 includes battery charger 460 that is connected to battery 423 on transportable memory module 402 and to system power supply 415. As is apparent from FIG. 4, battery charger 460 is separate from transportable memory module 402, and can be used to charge battery 423 only when transportable memory module 402 is connected to host computer 400.
Battery backup applications are typically custom applications designed for a specific battery having a particular number of battery cells and a particular type of battery chemistry. As a result, battery charger 460 must be designed around the number of cells and the battery chemistry of a battery 423. The specific battery design in a TBBU system, accordingly, sets limits on a customer's options with respect to the TBBU system. Among such limitations include:                Battery chemistry dependency. Some battery backup systems are designed around Lithium Ion batteries while other systems utilize NiMH batteries. There is not a one size/one solution/one interface that is able to meet the needs of all customers.        Number of cells within a battery and battery voltage range. Comparator set points must be set so that the data processing system firmware can determine when to charge the battery and when to stop charging the battery. The comparator set points reflect a relative state of charge based upon a related open circuit battery voltage. No specific state of health information is given in relation to the actual capacity of the battery other than a relative voltage of the battery with respect to comparators. If the number of cells in a battery is changed, or if the capacity or chemistry is changed, it is typically necessary to rewrite the firmware to account for the changes in the battery.        Form Factor and Real Estate Constrained.        Common software interface to RAID firmware. In a RAID system, all specific versions of firmware have to gather and interpret the health of the battery from various sources within the RAID adapter.        Must be configured as a factory built option, and typically does not provide an option to be sold as an in-the-field upgrade without substantial overhead costs.
There is, accordingly, a need for an intelligent transportable data storage component module for a data processing system that includes a data storage component and a battery backup for the data storage component that permits a battery of the battery backup to be monitored and charged independent of characteristics of the battery and independent of the host processor and firmware of the data processing system.

Intelligent transportable memory apparatus and method for charging a battery for a memory in an intelligent transportable memory apparatus


This invention relates to chemical compounds that contain adjacent carbonyl groups, which effectively inhibit the biological, chemical, and/or physical properties of enzymes and other medicinally-significant proteins. In particular, the invention relates to dicarbonyl compounds that are capable of acting as enzyme inhibitors, including irreversible inhibitors of HIV-1 protease.

Proteins, acting either directly or through their enzymatic functions, are implicated in many diseases in humans and other mammals. The inhibition of disease causing or disease potentiating proteins is, therefore, one major goal of medicinal chemistry. Known enzyme inhibitors, however, tend to have poor oral bioavailability and a short biological half-life, particularly inhibitors for HIV-1 protease.
There remains a need in the art for compounds which effectively inhibit the biological, chemical, and/or physical properties of enzymes and other medicinally-significant proteins. The present invention addresses these as well as other needs.

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania


A technique for organizing pathology samples includes sorting the samples into bins defined at different physical locations of a sorting apparatus, based on a set of designations applied to the samples. With such an arrangement, unorganized pathology samples may be grouped so that all the same accession numbers are grouped together for efficient filing or re-filing with reduced error. An apparatus suitable for use according to this technique includes a support structure and multiple dividers defining multiple sets of bins on the apparatus. A different set of bins is provided on the apparatus for each of the set of designations applied to the samples.

In the context of pathology material storage, an accession number typically identifies a tissue sample within a slide or a block using a format such as XX-YY-ZZZZ where XX is a prefix which identifies the lab source, YY identifies the year, and ZZZZ identifies the particular matter (or case) number. For example, a slide or a block which is labeled "SU-07-1234" indicates that the slide or block originated from a surgery ("SU") laboratory and is the 1234th case in 2007 from that laboratory. There may be more than a single slide, or block, that has the same accession number.
When a laboratory returns loose slides and/or blocks to a facility for storage, a person at the facility manually arranges the loose slides and/or blocks into groups based on accession numbers, and then stores the groups in boxes or other containers for later retrieval.


There are provided a flexible hose 6, a connection tube 7 in which one end is connected to the inner peripheral face of the flexible hose 6 from the end 10 of the flexible hose and another end is exposed outside of the flexible hose 6, and a mold resin 24 which fixes the flexible hose 6 and the connection tube 7 by being filled over from the outer peripheral face of the flexible hose 6 nearby the end of the flexible hose 6 to the outer peripheral face of the connection tube 7 which is exposed out of the flexible hose 6.

The present invention relates to a hose for vacuum cleaner. More particularly, the present invention relates to a hose for vacuum cleaner having a connection tube connected to the inner peripheral face of a flexible hose.
As the hose portion of a hose for vacuum cleaner, a flexible hose has been conventionally used considering the operability of a user. There is known a hose for vacuum cleaner which is fixed by a mold resin over the outer peripheral face of parts which is connected to a flexible hose from an outer peripheral face nearby the end face of the flexible hose, in order to improve the airtightness of the end face of the flexible hose with parts connected to the end face of the flexible hose. (For example, refer to Korean Patent Publication No. 2001-2255).
However, there have been fears that a flexible hose is deformed to an inner diameter direction by the pressure of a mold resin which is filled on the outer peripheral face of the flexible hose to damage appearance and to lower suction property. And when the flexible hose is bent, the mold resin is peeled from the flexible hose and there has been a problem in airtightness of the flexible hose with parts connected to the flexible hose.
The present invention is performed for solving such problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a hose for vacuum cleaner which can stabilize quality and improve airtightness.

360°  electrical contact within a vacuum cleaner hose


There is provided a method and a device of monitoring oil oxidation in real time. The method of the present invention comprises the steps of: irradiating ultraviolet light into oil to be monitored; measuring fluorescence emission intensity of the oil in red, green and blue wavelength bands; determining one value measured in a relatively long wavelength band and the other value measured in a relatively short wavelength band among the fluorescence emission intensity measured in the red, green and blue wavelength bands; calculating a fluorescence emission ratio which is defined as a ratio of the value measured in the relatively long wavelength band to the value measured in the relatively short wavelength band; and monitoring a change in the fluorescence emission ratio. It is then determined whether the fluorescence emission ratio reaches a predetermined critical magnitude. When the fluorescence emission ratio reaches the critical magnitude, the necessity of replacing the oil with new one is indicated.

Chemical and physical analyses of a machine fluid provide information about the condition of the fluid as well as the wear status of the machine using the fluid. Thus, the machine fluid analysis has been widely used for determining lubricant conditions and wear mechanisms in many industries. Further, significant efforts have been made to analyze the condition of the fluid in real time. The real time fluid monitoring mechanism allows the lubricant to be used to its fullest potential with minimized machinery downtime, thereby resulting in increased savings and productivity.
As the oil degrades, the anti-oxidant additive package becomes depleted and the base oil oxidizes. A phenolic inhibitor, which is one of the most common anti-oxidant additives, works to neutralize the free radicals that cause oxidation. Further, aromatic amines, which are also commonly used anti-oxidant additives, work to trap the free radicals. Some anti-wear additives, such as zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP), pull double duty as anti-oxidants. The anti-wear additives decompose peroxides formed as a by-product of oxidation and other chemical reactions. Over time, the anti-oxidant additives become depleted until they can no longer effectively protect the base oil.
Oxidation is the major process of the oil degradation, which is caused by the free radical reactions catalyzed by metals and accelerated by heat. The oil oxidation leads to increases in viscosity and acidity, as well as the formation of degradation products such as gum, varnish and sludge.
While the cost of the lubricant itself may be insignificant, the numerous factors for potential collateral damage to the machine are corrosion, varnishing, loss of lubricity, poor demulsibility, filter plugging, etc. Therefore, the oil quality analysis is necessary to increase the lifetime of the machine.
Typically, the lubricant oxidation has been estimated by laboratory detecting methods using a total acid number (TAN), a total base number (TBN) and a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis.
According to the ASTM (American Standard Test Method) D664, the TAN test employs a potassium hydroxide (KOH) reagent to neutralize acid in the oil. The volume of alkaline reagent required to reach the point of neutralization is a function of the concentration of acid in the oil. The premise is that when the oil oxidizes, organic acids are produced and collected in the oil, thus causing the TAN to rise. The TAN of an oil sample indicates the aging of the oil. Thus, it is typically used to determine when the oil must be changed.
The FTIR analysis effectively measures the concentration of various organic or metallo-organic materials, which are present in the oil. When the oil oxidizes, the hydrocarbon oil molecules become recompounded into soluble and insoluble oxidation by-products. The FTIR analysis measures the accumulation of these by-products at wave numbers of 1800˜1670 cm−1. However, the above techniques are unacceptable for an on-line oil monitoring system due to their complexity and high cost of equipment.
Various methods and devices for testing the oil quality in real time have been developed and introduced. For example, measuring a dielectric constant change in the lubricant is applied to an oil quality monitoring device. This is achieved by measuring the change in AC impedance, either by measuring the change in frequency when connected in a LC resonant circuit or by measuring the change in the dielectric loss tangent. U.S. Pat. No. 6,459,995 discloses a method and a device for measuring the oil quality based on the permittivity of the oil. The device comprises a capacitive sensor exposed to the oil and an oscillator circuit including a LC or crystal oscillator, which provides an output signal having amplitude dependent upon the loss tangent of the oil. That is, the output of the oscillator varies in response to the changes in the loss of the dielectric medium (oil), which in turn are determined principally by the changes in the oil acidity and polar oxidation products. The change in the amplitude of the oscillator output provides a measure of the oil quality. However, the above method based on the measurement of the dielectric constant is disadvantageous in that it is incapable of recognizing the main reason for the oil degradation—fuel content, water content, oil oxidation or particle contamination.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,789,665 discloses a method and a device for determining the deterioration of lubricating oil in real time based on the measurement of an electrical resistance. The device comprises a sensor employing a polymeric bead matrix layer between two permeable conducting surfaces, which measure the electrical properties of the polymeric matrix. The bead matrix contains a charged ion group that serves as a conducting medium for measuring the solvent properties of the oil. The device further comprises a housing for accommodating a conductive mesh containing small amounts (several milligrams) of ion-charged resin beads. The entire device is immersed in the oil so that the oil can enter into the housing. By using the device, the oil degradation is detected based on a correlation of a relative change in the electrical properties of the beads with a relative change in the solvent properties of the oil. In other words, as the oil changes from a nonpolar (clean) condition to a polar (oxidized contaminated) condition, the interaction between the charged ion groups and the ion-charged resin bead group is also changed. However, the above detecting method has the disadvantages of low reliability and complication of replacing the used polymer beads every time when the degraded oil is changed by new one.
As an alternative to the detecting method, which is based on the measurement of the electrical resistance, several optical techniques (particularly, a fluorescence analysis technique) were proposed to monitor the oil quality in real time. The main problem in applying the fluorescence analysis technique to the oil quality estimation is that there is an influence of high optical oil density on recording the signal of the fluorescence emission. This is because the oil color becomes darkened as the oil is used.
An oil quality monitoring method and a device capable of avoiding such problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,633,043. The method of this patent relates to a time-resolved and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy for the characterization and fingerprinting of the oil. This method uses the phenomenon wherein the shapes of the time-resolved fluorescence spectra of the fresh oil and the degraded oil vary in different manners. The method comprises the steps of: exposing an unknown oil sample to a pulse of ultraviolet laser radiation; measuring the intensity of the fluorescence over the spectrum of wavelengths of light of the oil sample at specific narrow time gates within the temporal response of the laser pulse to form a time-resolved spectrum; normalizing the time-resolved spectrum at a particular emission wavelength; plotting the time-resolved spectrum in contours as functions of wavelength and time; comparing the resultant plots of the plotting step with those of similar oil samples taken at known levels of degradation; and determining the condition of the unknown oil sample based on the similarity of the resultant plots with those of the particular known oil sample. The monitoring device comprises a pulsed UV laser for irradiating an oil sample contained in a quartz cuvette. The fluorescence signal of the oil sample is steered by quartz collecting lenses onto entrance slits of a medium-resolution of monochromator for dispersion and is then detected by a photo multiplier mounted at exit slits of the monochromator. The detected fluorescence signal is sent to a signal processor coupled with a gated integrator and is then sampled and digitized according to specific time gates and time gate widths by means of a computer. However, the device is rather complex for on-board realization and further needs expensive equipment.
U.S. Patent Application No. 20050088646 discloses another fluorescent technique taking into account of high optical density of oil. A change in oil fluorescence during the oil oxidation depends on the oil type (its base stock and additives). Although the oil fluorescence increases with the oxidation, the variation in the output signal of a sensor for detecting the fluorescence may be about zero since the increased oil fluorescence can be compensated by the oil absorption. To solve this problem, there is provided a fluorescence detector with two path-lengths, which provide two output signals corresponding to incident optical powers. Based on these two output signals, two parameters—fluorescence emission and optical density of test oil—are estimated simultaneously. However, this technique must use two path-lengths for fluorescence emission measurement and optical density measurement, thereby complicating the detection process and the associated device.
As discussed above, the above prior art devices and methods for monitoring oil oxidation have certain drawbacks and limitations in application.

Method and device for monitoring oil oxidation in real time by measuring fluorescence

Korea Institute of Science and Technology


A system and method for optimizing dispersion in an optical transmission line is provided. The system and method comprise measuring the amplitude of a d.c. voltage component of a synchronously demodulated data signal of at least one wavelength channel by an in-phase carrier at the baud frequency of the wavelength channel. In an alternative embodiment, the system and method comprise measuring the IF amplitude of the resulting a.c. signal of a data signal of the at least one wavelength channel comprising a received RZ signal mixed with a local oscillator, whose frequency differs from the wavelength channel baud by a relatively small amount, somewhere on the order of about 100 kHz.

The present invention relates to a system and method for employing dispersion management techniques in an optical transmission system and in particular to achieving dispersion optimization by conducting real-time measurements of demodulated received signals from an optical transmission line.
In optical transmission systems, especially wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) long-haul and ultra long-haul optical transmission systems, a major design issue includes fiber dispersion (or chromatic dispersion) management. The maximum bit rate of WDM systems is limited by, among other things, the group-velocity dispersion (GVD). Dispersion is commonly defined as the separation of a beam into its various wavelength components. In an optical transmission system, especially WDM systems, dispersion penalties occur because the differing wavelengths propagate at differing speeds and a receiver must account for such differences or the received signal will be diminished if not undetectable. Dispersion optimization is also an essential part of high bit-rate system installation. Managing dispersion is thus important in optical transmission systems, especially WDM systems.
One of the major challenges in WDM and wideband dense WDM (DWDM) long-haul transmission systems, in terms of dispersion management strategy, is to optimize pre and post dispersion compensation in order to correct for accumulated dispersion at the receiver. The ratio of pre/post dispersion serves to pre-bias the transmitted pulse to mitigate the non-linear effects during transmission and to effectively reconstruct the transmitted pulse at the receiver. That is, transmission performance of high bit-rate systems strongly depends on residual dispersion as well as the ratio of dispersion pre-compensation to total dispersion compensation (i.e., dispersion split ratio).
Most of the research surrounding dispersion management studies is generated through modeling and experimentally verified through loop experiments before being transferred to a fielded system. Currently, in experimental and field deployed systems, the exhaustive search for the optimum dispersion compensation values and ratios involves the arduous task of setting the likely dispersion, measuring the Q-factor (or bit error rate [BER]) and observing the received eye diagram. Then, if not optimum, the tester must change the dispersion setting, measure the Q-factor again and observe the received eye diagram again and again until optimum dispersion is achieved for a given wavelength channel. Furthermore, this must be done for each wavelength in the transmission line.
Known processes are slow and cumbersome. For example, in conventional systems, after establishing an optical connection, the dispersion is optimized using a kind of channel performance optimization, where pre/post compensation values are changed to achieve best performance. It may take several iterations before the optimum pre/post dispersion ratios are found for a given deployed system. Then, as the system ages, the optimum dispersion may change. Testing for optimum dispersion may be needed again to compensate for the aged transmission system and the same time consuming tests would have to be employed.
Known methods for optimizing dispersion use BER or Q-factor measurements, which, as mentioned above, are usually time consuming and the metric requires numerous adjustments. In addition, the error performance of the recovered digital signal must be measured, which makes the task of determining optimum dispersion dependent upon the payload of the transmission system. This includes being dependent upon the bit rate and modulation format(s) of the transmitted signals. Conventional BER measurements usually require the transmission of a particular test signal, such as (pseudo random bit sequence (PRBS), and thus cannot be carried out on live traffic. Conventional BER measurements also require frame synchronization with the received signal, necessitating more hardware. In some systems employing forward error correction (FEC), FEC framing and decoding may also be necessary to carry out BER measurements. Other known systems require clock and data recovery and expensive BER test sets (BERT).
Dispersion optimization of a system at installation and commissioning is a laborious process that requires changes to dispersion compensation at both the transmit end and the receive end because the balance of pre-compensation to post-compensation also must be optimized. This process must be carried out for every channel in a multichannel WDM or DWDM transmission system, leading to an inordinate amount of time spent during the commissioning of the system.

System and method for rapidly achieving optimum dispersion in optical transmission systems


An end effector assembly is provided. The end effector assembly includes a pair of first and second jaw members including respective seal plates adapted to connect to a source of electrosurgical energy. The first and second jaw members operable in a first bipolar mode of operation for treating tissue and a second bipolar mode of operation for separating tissue. A dissector translatable through one of the first and second jaw members is in electrical communication with one of the seal plates of the first and second jaw members and activatable in the second bipolar mode of operation for separating tissue when the first and second jaw members are in one of the open and clamping position and tissue is adjacent thereto.

Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an electrosurgical instrument and, more particularly, to an electrosurgical instrument configured to dissect, seal or otherwise treat tissue.
Background of Related Art
Electrosurgical instruments, e.g., electrosurgical forceps (open or closed type), are well known in the medical arts and typically include an end effector assembly including jaw members configured to manipulate tissue (e.g., grasp and seal tissue). Typically, the electrosurgical forceps utilizes both mechanical clamping action and electrical energy to effect hemostasis by heating the tissue and blood vessels to coagulate, cauterize, seal, desiccate, and/or fulgurate tissue.
In certain instances, it may prove advantageous to cut or dissect tissue that has been electrosurgically treated, e.g., sealed. In such instances, a cutting element, e.g., a knife blade, may be configured to translate through a knife channel that is disposed on one or both of the jaw members. Typically, the knife blade is manufactured from surgical steel that is generally very expensive. Moreover, the surgical steel typically needs to be machined into thin sheets and, subsequently, cut or formed into desired shapes and/or dimensions. As can be appreciated, incorporating the knife blade into the electrosurgical instrument may increase manufacturing costs of the electrosurgical instrument.
In addition to electrosurgical instruments, ultrasonic instruments may be utilized to treat tissue. Conventional ultrasonic instruments, e.g., ultrasonic dissectors, typically, include a housing, a handle assembly, a shaft having a transducer and/or a waveguide, and an end effector assembly attached to a distal end of the shaft. The end effector includes jaw members configured to manipulate tissue (e.g., grasp and seal tissue). Typically, ultrasonic dissectors utilize both mechanical clamping action and ultrasonic energy to effect hemostasis by heating the tissue and blood vessels to coagulate, cauterize, seal, cut, dissect, desiccate, and/or fulgurate tissue. While ultrasonic instruments may effectively treat and, subsequently, dissect tissue, ultrasonic instruments are typically not configured to articulate and/or "flex." That is, the transducer and/or waveguide that are disposed within the shaft, typically, are not flexible and, thus, limit or eliminate the degree of flexibility of the shaft. As can be appreciated, this limits the use of the ultrasonic dissectors in the surgical environment.


A new and distinct Echeveria hybrid plant named ‘AMIECH1912’ which is characterized by broad obovate to spatulate foliage held somewhat loosely in a basal rosette, moderately glossy juvenile foliage, vibrant dark red juvenile foliage that is margined pink, slightly glossy mature foliage, very dark purple mature foliage that is narrowly margined pink, and the stability of these characteristics from generation to generation.

Parentage: 'AMIECH1912' is a naturally-occurring, spontaneous whole-plant mutation of Echeveria hybrid 'AMIECH1604' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 29,312) which was discovered by the inventor in the summer of 2018 at a commercial greenhouse in Heerhugowaard, the Netherlands. The mutation was noted for its very dark purple foliage.
Asexual Reproduction: Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar 'AMIECH1912', by way of rooting leaf cuttings, was first initiated in the winter of 2018 at the inventor's commercial greenhouse in Heerhugowaard, the Netherlands. Through two subsequent generations, the unique features of this cultivar have proven to be stable and true to type.


A body for a motor vehicle that encompasses a windshield and has an A-column flanking the windshield is provided. The body includes at least one expandable element mounted on the A-column along the edge of the windshield. The body also includes and a cover that covers an installation space of the at least one expandable element and tightly adjoins the windshield.

Known from DE 103 53 447 A1 is to design the A-column of a motor vehicle body as a shell-like longitudinal profile sealed by a movable cover, whose inner cavity incorporates an expandable element. When the latter expands during an accident, the cover is pressed away from the A-column, so as to potentially cushion and decelerate the head of a pedestrian before it reaches the A-column.
The A-column of a motor vehicle should itself be as slim as possible so as not to unnecessarily limit the visual field of the driver. This requirement is difficult to satisfy with the conventional structure mentioned above, since space must be provided inside the groove not only for the expandable element, but also for connecting elements that prevent the cover from being flung away by the expansion of the expandable element, and the cover projects over the edges of the groove on both sides.
Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide a body of a motor vehicle in which a pedestrian is effectively protected during an impact with the A-column on the one hand, while not unnecessarily enlarging the cross section of the A-column on the other. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.

Motor vehicle body with expandable element


The invention relates to a signal connector, which mainly includes a leading structure provided between the shell and the body. The leading structure can expand the opening of the shell with its legs in order to leave from the leg of the body that will facilitate the connection of the body and the shell. Hence, the body can be received in the shell easily and effectively without obstruction.

A conventional signal connector always includes a main body received in a metal shell, wherein the body and the shell have extended legs to insert into a PC board for connecting with a signal source and a power source at the same time. Since the legs of the body and the shell are laid in a same plane, they will be difficult and trouble when assembling the shell over the body. The leg of the shell is going to be obstructed by the leg of the main body.


In a vehicle seat lock, an operating knob is provided at the top of the seat back of a chair. The operating knob is joined to the inner end of the bell crank at the lower end. The bell crank is pivotally secured to a bracket in the seat back. The outer end of the bell crank has the first and second elongate openings. The upper end of the first connecting rod slidably engages in the first elongate opening, and the upper end of the second connecting rod slidably engages in the second elongate opening. The lower end of the first connecting rod is coupled to a sensing member which detects invasion of the striker. The lower end of the second connecting rod is coupled to an opening lever which allows a hook member to disengage from a striker fixed to the vehicle body.

The present invention relates to a vehicle seat lock to hold the seat back of a chair in a standing position, the seat back being capable of standing up or falling down.
JP8-119010A discloses a vehicle seat lock comprising a hook member mounted to the seat back and engagable with striker of a vehicle body, a locking mechanism comprising a latch member engagable with the hook member, an unlocking knob connected to the latch member and a warning indicator. By the unlocking knob, the latch member is disengaged from the hook member to allow the seat back to move from a standing position to a falling position.
The warning indicator is retracted in the seat back when the hook member engages with the striker, while it projects from the seat back when the hook member disengages from the striker. Thus, a passenger visually confirms engagement of the hook member with the striker by the warning indicator.
However, in the vehicle seat lock, the warning indicator for showing the engagement of the hook member with the striker is separately provided from the unlocking knob thereby increasing the number of parts and making the structure more complicate.


An in-line laser scanning unit (LSU) with multiple light beams is disclosed. The LSU includes a minimized in-line mirror set composed by a plurality of vertically stacked Micro Electronic Mechanical System (MEMS) oscillatory mirrors and a linear corresponding scanning lens set formed by a plurality of F-Sin θ lens stacked vertically so as to correct the variation of reflective angle of the oscillatory mirror that is sinusoidal in time. Thus the scanning speed of multiple laser beams on the image plane is constant. Therefore, the volume of color printers is effectively reduced and the scanning efficiency is improved when the LSU in accordance with the present invention is applied to the optical engines of color printers.

The present invention relates to a laser scanning unit (LSU) with multiple light beams, especially to a LSU having a Micro Electronic Mechanical System oscillatory mirror set composed of vertically stacked Micro Electronic Mechanical System (MEMS) arrays and a linear corresponding scanning lens set consisting of a plurality of F-Sin θ lens stacked vertically for minimizing volume of color printers and improving scanning efficiency.
There are many patents disclosing applied techniques in connection with laser beam printer (LBP) such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,128,795, 5,162,938, 5,329,399, 5,710,654, 5,757,533, 5,619,362, 5,721,631, 5,553,729, 5,111,219, 5,995,131, 6,724,509 and Japanese patent Nos. 4-50908 and 5-45580. A conventional Laser Beam Printer includes a laser scanning unit that uses a laser diode as a light source. A light beam emitted from the laser diode passes a collimator lens and becomes a parallel light bean, then through a cylinder lens for converging the light beam that passes along Y axis of a sub-major scanning direction, and directly transmits the light beams along X-axis of a main scanning direction so as to form a line image. The laser scanning unit also includes a polygonal mirror that is adapted to rotate at high speed so that a plurality of reflection mirrors uniformly and continuously arranged on the polygonal mirror are just located at or in the vicinity of a focal point of the above-mentioned line image. The polygon mirror that deflects the at least one light beam is disposed near or in focus of above image for controlling projecting direction of the laser beam so as to make the laser beam move parallel to X-axis of the main scanning direction in a constant angular velocity, and then being deflected to a fθ lens. The fθ lens is located at one side of the polygonal mirror and it can be a single-element scanning lens, or a two-element scanning lens, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,995,131. The fθ lens projects the light beams deflected from the polygon mirror onto an image plane or a photoreceptor drum so as to achieve requirement of scanning linearity.
However, the above-described conventional laser scanning unit has the following disadvantages:
(1) The rotary polygonal mirror in the conventional laser scanning unit is very difficult to make and is with high manufacturing cost. Thus the cost of the laser scanning unit can't be reduced.
(2) Generally, the reflection mirrors on the polygonal mirror have a very small mirror width in the direction of Y-axis. Thus it is necessary to add a cylindrical lens inside the conventional laser scanning unit so as to make laser beams through the cylindrical lens be focused to form a line (or a point on Y-axis) before being projected onto the reflection mirrors of the polygonal mirror. Therefore, the conventional laser scanning unit has increased number of elements and requires increased assembling operations.
(3) The conventional polygonal mirror generates relatively high noises and it takes relatively long waiting period for the polygonal mirror to reach a working rotational speed after the laser scanning unit being initiated.
(4) When designing the fθ lens of conventional LSU, it is necessary to consider a deviation from the axis of the polygonal mirror. Thus, it is more difficult in design and manufacturing of the fθ lens.
Moreover, the laser scanning unit applied in conventional Laser Beam Printers needs to control reflective direction of a plurality of (such as four) laser beams for achieving requirement of scanning linearity synchronously. Examples of such patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,798,820, 6,839,074 and 6,914,705. However, above LUS modules disclosed still use a polygonal mirror rotating at high speed to control reflection direction of multiple laser beams so that they not only have above disadvantages mentioned above but also have more complicated structure and disposition. This increases difficulties in design tasks and volume of color printers. Therefore, the requirements of compact size and light weight can't be met.

In-line laser scanning unit with multiple light beams


A hydride bed structure includes a first and second set of separated hydride modules within a single hydrogen containing, sealed tank. Each set contains a hydride having a different equilibrium disassociation characteristic. Each set is thermally isolated from the other and the enclosing tank by a hydrogen permeable, thermally insulating material. The hydride in each set is divided into a plurality of spaced apart clusters with each cluster disposed in a respective concave cavity defined in one side of a sheet of thermally conductive material. A hydrogen porous, hydride impermeable member seals each cluster within the respective cavity. The convex side of the cavity protrudes into a thermal media transfer cavity on the opposite side of the sheet. The spacing and arrangement of the cavities/protrusions define a channel array between the protrusions. A pan member is bonded to the opposite side of the sheet and defines the thermal media cavity shaped to receive the protrusions therein. The thermal transfer media cavity contains a thermal transfer media disposed to flow in and around the channels defined therein. Thermal media flows into and out of the media cavities by media connections to external heat sinks/sources provided thereon. The spacing, configuration, area, and depth of the cluster cavities and the cluster quantity of hydride contained therein is chosen to provide improved cycle time and efficiency for using the hydride bed modules for pumping heat or storing and supplying hydrogen gas.

Hydride Theory
Hydrides are chemical compounds formed when hydrogen gas reacts with certain other substances. Usually the substance is a metal such as Ca, Mg, Li, U, V, LaNi.sub.5, FeTi etc. Other organic and inorganic chemicals are known to form hydrides. The present invention can make use of any of the hydride forming substances however metal, specifically LaNi.sub.5 is used for illustrative purposes.
The phase changes during formation and decomposition of the metal hydrides is accompanied by significant flows of heat. This heat of reaction must be rejected (formation) or provided (decomposition) by an external heat sink or source for the phase change to occur. For example, approximately 210 Joules (watt-seconds equivalent to 0.1991 BTU) of heat is generated by the exothermic reaction from converting one gram of Lanthium Nickel (LaNi.sub.5) into a hydride (LaNi.sub.5 H.sub.6) and must be rejected to an external heat sink. Conversely, approximately the same amount of heat must be absorbed from an external source by the hydride in order to release the hydrogen and return to the metal state.
The absorption and desorption of hydrogen can be controlled by variations in hydrogen pressure or temperature of the metal. The relationship between pressure and temperature at equilibrium is given approximately in accordance with the van't Hoff equation: EQU In(P)=A-B/T
where P is the pressure of the hydrogen in kilo-Pascal (kPa), T is temperature in Kelvin, A and B are constants depending upon the hydride. Variation of either the pressure or temperature causes a corresponding change in the other parameter in accordance with this equation, resulting in a new equilibrium condition, providing that a means is available to accommodate the heat generated or liberated that accompanies the change.
Each type of hydride will typically have a unique set of technical information (e.g. equilibrium disassociation pressure characteristic, (EDP) available from the supplier (for example, Ergenics Inc., Ringwood N.J.) that will allow solution of the van't Hoff equation for equilibrium pressure at the design temperatures. The technical data will also include the heat requirements (reaction energy) of the hydride in the form of Kilo-Joule per gram (kJ/g) or BTU/lb of hydride. This information is used in the thermal design of the system to determine the quantity of hydride required to make the desired heat exchange.
Heat Pump
A hydride heat pump is based upon the concept of transferring hydrogen gas between two different, thermally isolated hydrides. The hydrogen is forced out of one hydride (hydride A.sub.h in the discussion that follows) in a manner that allows it to be absorbed by a second hydride (hydride B.sub.h in the following). It is then forced out of the second hydride at which time it is reabsorbed into the first hydride. The forcing action is provided by external heat or pressure sources. Typically, heat is provided to force the gas out of the first hydride and heat must be absorbed from a source (refrigeration) to enable the release from the second hydride.
Heat pump requirements are stated in terms of amount of heat that must be moved in a given period of time-for example BTU/hr. Large amounts of heat will result in requirements for large amounts of hydride or for the use of smaller amounts that are cycled frequently enough over a period of time to pump the equivalent amount of heat. For example one gram of hydride (LaNi.sub.5 H.sub.6) can be used to pump approximately 0.2 BTU per cycle. If the pump is able to cycle 20 times an hour, 4 BTU per hour can be pumped with one gram instead of twenty grams cycling once per hour. Cost and complexity of hydride systems have limited their use in the past. Both cost and complexity are reduced with a design prioritized to allow for rapid cycling.
Shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1 are the typical van't Hoff temperature and pressure profiles for typical hydrides, A.sub.h and B.sub.h. The hydrides are chosen such that the equilibrium pressure of one (hydride B.sub.h) is appreciably higher than the other (hydride A.sub.h) at the same temperature at which each will be rejecting heat to the environment (T.sub.s).
The heat pump is designed to operate between three temperatures. The first temperature T.sub.s, is the sink temperature, usually that of the external environment to which heat will be rejected from each hydride in sequence. The second is the temperature T.sub.h to which one of the hydrides (hydride A.sub.h) must be raised, providing the heat necessary to cause it to desorb all of its hydrogen at its equilibrium pressure. The third, T.sub.c, is the temperature at which the desorbing hydride (hydride B.sub.h) will extract heat from its environment (heat exchanger).
At one step of a complete cycle.sub.1 hydride A.sub.h is thermally connected to a source of high temperature (T.sub.h). T.sub.h is the temperature which causes hydride A.sub.h to desorb hydrogen at its equilibrium pressure P.sub.h. With hydrogen pressure at P.sub.h connected to a chamber containing hydride metal B.sub.h, hydride B.sub.h will absorb gas (forming the hydride phase) providing it can reject the heat of formation to the heat sink at T.sub.s. Hydride B.sub.h, is therefore simultaneously thermally connected to the external environment, at temperature T.sub.s, rejecting the liberated heat.
When hydride B.sub.h is fully charged (has absorbed all the hydrogen it is capable of at temperature T.sub.s,, it is disconnected from the heat sink and thermally connected to T.sub.c, the environment to be cooled. Hydride A.sub.h is simultaneously disconnected from the T.sub.h source and connected to the environment at temperature T.sub.s, while simultaneously in hydrogen communication with hydride B.sub.h.
Hydride A.sub.h.spsb.1, at temp. T.sub.h,, will reject heat to the environment at T.sub.s, and will attempt to reach equilibrium at pressure P.sub.l and begin to absorb hydrogen. As the gas pressure drops to P.sub.1, desorption of hydrogen from hydride B.sub.h draws heat from its environment as it attempts to reach its equilibrium temperature T.sub.c and providing hydrogen for hydride A.sub.h to absorb. The cycle repeats when hydride B.sub.h is discharged (hydrogen desorbed) and hydride A.sub.h is fully charged again.
Hydrides A.sub.h and B.sub.h typically communicate thermally with the heat sources and sinks by means of piping and valves controlling the flow of a thermal exchange media (working fluid or fluids) through heat exchangers (not shown). The hydrogen gas itself may also be used as a thermal working fluid.
Hydrogen communication between hydrides A.sub.h and B.sub.h typically require additional piping and valves between the two separate tanks. It would be an advantage to eliminate the thermal mass and excess volume necessitated by such hydrogen pipes and valves.
One characteristic of hydrides that must be dealt with is the change in volume of the hydride as it absorbs and desorbs hydrogen. The volume of the hydride typically changes by about 25% as it goes through a complete absorption/desorption cycle. Metal hydrides also typically are extremely friable and become broken into small particles, of a powder-like form due to repeated hydriding cycles. The powdery hydride material is typically held in a strong pressurized tank, contained in a receptacle termed the hydride bed. If the hydride is constrained in a fixed volume container, the expansion of the hydride as it absorbs hydrogen can exert great stresses on the hydride receptacle.
The hydrogen gas being absorbed and desorbed from the hydride material is a good conductor of heat, tending to keep the particulate hydride material and hydrogen gas nearly in thermal equilibrium as they interact. Thermal losses in a heat pump are due in part to the transfer of heat between the hydrogen gas and the associated pressure containers, pumps, piping and valves, including any heat exchanger fluid and materials.
Discussion
Thermodynamic issues effecting efficiency
The thermodynamic processes involved in the hydriding are controlled mainly by physics. The designer can only select what appear to be appropriate hydride metals for the task at hand with prior art hydride heat pump configurations. There are however, thermodynamic considerations that effect the efficiency and therefore operational cost of a hydride heat pump.
The first consideration deals with the reduction of thermal mass. All of the physical components of the heat pump (hydride metal, tanks, piping, working fluid exchange pumps and working fluid etc) have some mass and each component mass has an individual specific heat-that amount of heat (in Joules) required to raise the mass one degree centigrade. That heat is stored in the mass or given up as the temperature of the mass is cycled and usually does no useful work. It is therefore waste heat. Waste heat can be reduced by using smaller masses of materials and using materials with lower specific heat values.
Previous art heat pumps typically use two separate pressure containers (tanks) to isolate the two hydrides. This results in a large amount of extra mass and subsequent extra waste heat per cycle. It would be an advantage to reduce the amount of mass of the pressure containing vessels, piping, and pumps to reduce wasted heat.
Reducing the amount of hydride metal needed is another method of reducing the thermal mass and waste heat. It would be an advantage to cycle smaller amounts of hydride metal more frequently in order to pump a given amount of heat in a given time.
The second thermodynamic consideration is the thermal resistance between the each particle of hydride and the external thermal sink or source. Heat transfer is controlled by the temperature difference between two objects (hydride metal and source/sink) and by the thermal resistance between them. The lower the resistance, the higher the heat flow for a given temperature difference. The temperatures are usually dictated by the environment, hydride operation etc. The thermal resistance can be controlled by design. Thermal resistance is most simply defined as ##EQU1##
The thermal conductivity of the material is given in terms of heat flow per unit area (through which the heat flows) per degree of temperature per unit time. It is actually a measure of rate of heat flow through the material. Low thermal resistance results from high thermal conductivity, large area over which the heat can flow and minimal thickness through which it has to travel. The significance of low thermal resistance is that a greater amount of heat per unit time can flow, speeding up the transfer of heat into and out of the hydride material (hydride bed).
The third thermodynamic consideration design option deals with the reduction of thermal leakage, i.e. excess or unwanted heat flow. Heat that flows back and forth directly between the hydride beds at different temperatures without being transferred through the hydriding reaction is wasted and constitutes heat loss from the system. The leakage reduces the amount of useful heat "pumped" by the hydrides exchanging hydrogen. It is an advantage to increase the thermal isolation of the different hydride beds (first and second hydrides) which reduces or eliminates this source of leakage.
It would be advantageous to provide a hydride bed system which results in pumping less heat per cycle (heat loss) from the heat source and pumping the useful heat much faster (lower thermal resistance) increasing the cooling (heating) rate for a given size heat pump.


A shopping cart receiver alarm system includes an RF transmitter for transmitting an RF signal having at least a minimum signal strength within a boundary that is generally defined by the outermost contours of a store parking lot. A receiver assembly responsive to the RF signal is housed within the handle of a shopping cart. The receiver assembly includes a self-contained power supply, an RF receiver for receiving the RF signal and for providing an output signal indicating a loss of RF signal strength. The receiver assembly further includes a timing circuit and an audible alarm responsive to an alarm signal generated by the timing circuit. The alarm signal controls the audible alarm according to a selectable alarm timing sequence that is initiated by the output signal of the RF receiver. According to the alarm timing sequence, the timing circuit activates the audible alarm for a first period of time, inactivates the audible alarm for a selectable grace period of time to encourage return of the shopping cart, and, if the shopping cart is not returned, the audible alarm is thereafter continuously activated. The audible alarm is immediately inactivated at any time during the alarm timing sequence if the shopping cart is returned within the boundary.

This invention relates to shopping carts and more specifically to an alarm and alarm system designed to deter theft of shopping carts.
Grocery stores, shopping malls and plazas, garden and hardware centers and the like conventionally employ numerous shopping carts to facilitate handling and transportation of goods by customers to and from check-out points and to parked vehicles. Such carts are usually fairly expensive since they are very durably made of relatively expensive materials, such as stainless steel or chrome steel, to withstand constant strenuous use by customers. Because of the large number of such carts that may be typically employed by a single grocery store, and the large volume of business that may be conducted during business hours in that area, it is usually relatively simple to remove a shopping cart from the premises without the removal being detected by store personnel. Such large numbers of shopping carts are stolen each year that shopping cart thefts represent a significant part of the overhead of a number of businesses.
Systems proposed in the past for reducing the numbers of stolen shopping carts include anti-theft devices, recovery systems, and deterrent systems.
Anti-theft devices typically are used to physically immobilize the shopping cart or prevent it from being pushed in a straight line once the shopping cart is removed beyond a predetermined boundary. Such anti-theft systems are taught in the following U.S. Patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,880 to Goldstein et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,591,175 to Upton et al; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,242,668 to Herzog. One problem with such the systems is that, while they may indeed prevent theft of the shopping cart, injuries may potentially result when the shopping cart suddenly stops, thus exposing the grocery store owner to liability.
Recovery systems do not actually prevent theft of the shopping carts but are used to try and recover the carts that are taken beyond the boundary of the store parking lot and abandoned. Typically, a transmitter in the shopping cart is used to transmit a high frequency that is not audible but detectable only with appropriate receiver equipment. A shopping cart retrieval crew in a vehicle containing the receiver is needed to track down the abandoned shopping cart. Such a recovery system having a VHF beacon transmitter housed in the handle of a shopping cart is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,544 to Havens.
Deterrent systems typically include an alarm in the shopping cart that sounds when the shopping cart is removed beyond a predetermined boundary. Such a deterrent alarm is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,157,871 to Umanoff. This alarm system includes a receiver and alarm included in the shopping cart basket itself, decreasing the effective capacity of the shopping cart.
Therefore, a need still exists for a small, safe, and effective system for reducing the numbers of stolen shopping carts.


A stethoscope shield system and method of preventing contamination of an instrument, particularly a stethoscope, includes a plurality of substantially planar shields stacked one upon the other, each of the shields having a substantially identical outer periphery and including a first surface and a second surface such that adjacent shields are attracted to one another with the first surface of each of these shields in contact with the second surface of an adjacent shield with a first shield of the plurality of shields being in contact with the diaphragm of the stethoscope for supporting the stacked shields, wherein the attraction force between the stacked shields occurs over less than an entire surface of at least one of the first and second surfaces and the attraction between the stacked shields has at least one of a consecutively increasing attraction area and a consecutively increasing attraction strength, and an exposed shield of the stacked shields is removed after contacting the body of a patient.

Multi-layered shields covering stethoscopes (and other instruments), as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,971, must be individually removable, from the outermost shield down to the innermost shield nearest to the diaphragm of the stethoscope. This may be difficult to achieve in that pulling on the outermost shield to remove it may inadvertently cause the removal simultaneously of one or more shields lying between the outermost shield and the diaphragm of the stethoscope. The method described herein shows how to construct and use multi-layered stethoscope shields to avoid this problem and to ensure that the shields can be individually removed (and discarded) in sequence from the outermost shield down to the last shield nearest to the stethoscope diaphragm. Also disclosed is a structure of a plurality of shields which is suitable for such individual removal.

Stethoscope shield system and method of shielding stethoscope using the same


Novel platform mesogens, intermediates, and polymerizable mesogens made therefrom.

Photocurable resins which are transparent or translucent, radioopaque, have good workability, and have good mechanical strength and stability are useful in medical, dental, adhesive, and stereolithographic applications.
Low polymerization shrinkage is an important property for such resins. In dental applications, the phrase "zero polymerization shrinkage" typically means that the stresses accumulated during curing do not debond the dentin-restorative interface or fracture the tooth or restorative, which can result in marginal leakage and microbial attack of the tooth. Low polymerization shrinkage also is important to achieve accurate reproduction of photolithographic imprints and in producing optical elements.
Another advantageous property for such resins is maintenance of a liquid crystalline state during processing. For comfort in dental applications, the resin should be curable at "room temperature," defined herein as typical ambient temperatures up to body temperature. Preferred curing temperatures are from about 20° C. to about 37° C. Mesogens which have been found to polymerize in a relatively stable manner at such temperatures are bis 1,4[4′-(6′-methacryloxyhexyloxy)benzoyloxy]t-butylphenylene mesogens and their structural derivatives. These mesogens have the following general structure:
Known synthetic methods for producing these mesogens are costly and have relatively low yields. New synthetic methods and new methods and compositions for controlling rheology of these photocurable resins are needed.


A method of manufacturing a developer container having an opening which is sealed with a sealing member includes the steps of forming a tear portion in the sealing member which is torn up when unsealing said opening, sandwiching the sealing member between an electrode and the developer container to cover the opening with the sealing member, and welding the sealing member onto the developer container by supplying an electric current to the electrode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a developer container used in an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer or a facsimile machine, a method of manufacturing a process cartridge, a developer container and a process cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Background Art
Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus (developing device) such as an electrostatic copying machine or a printer, powder toner is used in conducting image formation (development). A developer container that contains toner therein for supplying the toner when the toner is consumed in a developing device is made up of a cylindrical or rectangular parallelepiped container main body which is made of synthetic resin, and a sealing member that seals a toner discharge opening for discharging the toner from the container main body to the image forming apparatus (developing device) to supply the toner to the image forming apparatus.
The sealing member is so disposed as to prevent the toner from being leaked from the toner discharge opening even if some vibrations occur or the developer container is accidentally caused to drop down during a process of conveying the developer container to a store or a user from a manufacturing factory (in the distribution process). Therefore, the sealing member is appropriately welded to the container main body so that the toner does not leak from the toner discharge opening.
Also, in an electrophotographic image forming apparatus using an electrophotographic image forming process, there is applied a process-cartridge system in which an electrophotographic photosensitive member and a process means effected on the electrophotographic photosensitive member are integrated into a cartridge, and cartridge is detachably mountable on an electrophotographic image forming apparatus main body.
According to the process-cartridge system, since the maintenance of the image forming apparatus can be conducted by a user per se not relying on a service person, the operationality can be remarkably improved. For that reason, the above process-cartridge system is widely employed in the electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
The process cartridge thus structured includes a developing chamber in which a developing roller is disposed as a developing means, and a containing chamber that contains the developer therein, and a toner discharge (supply) opening, which is disposed in the containing chamber and communicates with the developing chamber, is sealed with the sealing member during the manufacture of the process cartridge. Then, the user removes the sealing member from the containing chamber before starting the use of the process cartridge, to thereby supply the toner to the developing chamber from the containing chamber. This structure prevents the toner from being leaked from the containing chamber before the process cartridge is used.
The sealing members are of an easy peeling type in which the toner discharge opening is sealed with one sheet and a welding portion of the film is peeled from the container main body to unseal the opening, and of a tearing type in which a pat of the film is torn up so that the welding portion of the film remains in the container main body, to thereby unseal the opening.
As the type in which the film is torn up, there have been proposed a tear tape system in which a cover film and a tear tape are integrated together, and at the time of starting to use the process cartridge, the tear tape is pulled so that the cover film is torn up by the tear tape to unseal the toner discharge opening, and a system in which one tearing sealing member is employed. Those methods are frequently employed these days because they are advantageous in that the unsealing strength can be lessened and the opening width can be controlled. A method using the one tear sealing member has been proposed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 59-13262, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 63-60164, and the like.
Also, as a method of fixing the sealing member to the developer container main body, there are generally provided a melting method using a heat seal, an impulse seal, a high-frequency welding, an ultrasonic welding and so on, and a bonding method using an adhesive double coated tape, a bonding tape and so on. In particular, one means employing a fixing method using the impulse seal is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-6091, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-160727 and the like.
However, since the above systems of tearing up the film are so structured as to tear up the sealing member due to a user""s force, it is preferable to structure the system so that the sealing member is torn up by a force as small as possible. However, in the conventional system of tearing the film, there is a possibility that the sealing member is unintentionally torn up to unseal the toner discharge opening during the above-mentioned circulation.
The present invention has been made under the above circumstances, and therefore an object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a developer container which is capable of excellently sealing the opening of the developer container with a sealing member.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a developer container in which the opening of the developer container is excellently sealed with a sealing member.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a process cartridge which is capable of excellently sealing the opening of the developer container with a sealing member.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a process cartridge in which the opening of the developer container is excellently sealed with a sealing member.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a developer container which is capable of excellently removing the sealing member that seals the opening of the developer container.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a developer container which is capable of excellently removing the sealing member that seals the opening of the developer container.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a process cartridge which is capable of excellently removing the sealing member that seals the opening of the developer container.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to provide a process cartridge which is capable of excellently removing the sealing member that seals the opening of the developer container.

Method of manufacturing developer container, method of manufacturing process cartridge, developer container and process cartridge


A pallet stop apparatus for interrupting the motion of a pallet or other item along a conveyor system includes a stop head having both an open arm depending and a stop arm depending therefrom and a front surface for engaging a pallet. The apparatus also includes a slide latch having a first end and a second end connected to a means for imparting generally linear motion to said slide latch to engage the open and stop arms of the stop head as said slide latch moves.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to conveyor systems and particularly to an improved stop mechanism interposed at a plurality of points in the conveyor path to prevent motion of a pallet being transported by the conveyor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many automated assembly plants and service facilities utilize a wide variety of conveyor systems to transport articles to a plurality of locations in sequence in order to efficiently produce a finished product or route a package or other item in a commercial system. Oftentimes items are placed or secured on pallets that are conveyed from one station to the next. At some stations the pallets are required to stop so that some action may be accomplished to the articles being conveyed. Accordingly, there is a need for a mechanism to stop the pallets at various points along a conveyor path, and then release the pallets to be conveyed to a subsequent point. This apparatus must be capable of acting against the driving force of the conveyor system to stop the pallets' motion.


A coil for magnetic resonance imaging operates in a transmit mode with multiple loops locked together in a phase relationship like a birdcage coil to provide a uniform transmission field, but in a receive mode like a phased array coil, each coil operating independently to produce a separate signal for reception by the MRI machine. Phasing of the coil during transmit mode is provided by a ring resonator controllably coupled to the loops. Controllable coupling is provided by a series of current limiting elements interposed between the resonant ring and the loops of the coil.

The present invention relates generally to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and in particular to local coils for use in MRI.
In magnetic resonance imaging, a uniform magnetic field is applied to an imaged object, for example, a patient and a radio frequency (RF) excitation signal pulse is applied to excite nuclei within the patient into resonance. This RF excitation pulse will also referred to herein as a "transmit" signal.
After application of the transmit signal, one or more magnetic gradient fields are superimposed on the uniform magnetic field to spatially encode the precessing nuclei, and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal from the nuclei are received and processed mathematically to produce an image. The NMR signal will also be referred to herein as a "receive" signal.
The transmit and receive signals may be transmitted and received by loop antennas termed "coils", such as a whole body coil built into the MRI machine to encompass the entire patient.
Improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio of the receive signal can be obtained by placing "local coils" on the patient. The local coil has a smaller reception pattern than a whole body coil and therefore can focus on a smaller region of interest to obtain a stronger signal and to receive less noise. Locals coils may also provide improved application of the transmit signal.
A common local coil design is the "birdcage" coil which provides two conductive rings separated along a common axis to define the two bases of a cylindrical volume. A number of conductive axial struts are spaced regularly about the circumference of rings to join the rings. The rings may be excited into resonance at the transmit signal frequency so that a traveling wave progressively promotes current flow in each of the struts to produce a highly uniform rotating magnetic vector within the cylindrical volume. The same coil can be used to collect the receive signal, the rings serving to combine the signals from each of the struts inducted by the rotating magnetic vector of the nuclei.
Phased array local coils are multiple loop local coils where the outputs from each loop are independent and may be processed independently to improve signal-to-noise ratio or to obtain additional spatial information. The loops of a phased array coil may be arranged about a cylindrical volume, and thus may resemble and provide similar coverage to a birdcage coil, but unlike the birdcage coil, the phased array coil provides multiple independent signals to the MRI machine in contrast to the birdcage coil which provides a signal as a combination of the current flows in each strut.
In order to obtain independent electrical signals from each loop, a phased array coil must normally provide decoupling between the loops. This decoupling may employ a controlled overlap between adjacent loops or capacitive decoupling networks or the like.
While phased array coils provide advantages for the reception of the receive signals (receive mode), a standard birdcage structure can provide a more uniform field for transmitting the transmit signal (transmit mode). Accordingly, there is considerable interest in creating a hybrid local coil that may operate as a birdcage coil while transmitting and, as a phased array coil when receiving.
Another approach is to combine the physical structures of the phased array coil and birdcage coil in two concentric arrays. One array is activated during transmission and the other during reception. This approach increases the weight and size of the coil and interaction between the two arrays can interfere with the uniformity of the field and/or reduce the signal-to-noise ratio of the received signals.
An alternative approach connects each of the loops of the phased array coil directly with the output to a different phase shifter providing phase shifted transmit signals mimicking the phase shifting provided by the birdcage coil end rings. Unfortunately, variations in the loading of each loop often result in widely differing loop currents creating transmit field distortions that result in poor performance for phase sensitive MRI techniques such as fat saturation sequences.
Variations in the current flows from each phase shifter can be controlled by the addition of a radio frequency amplifier between the phase shifter and each loop. This approach is expensive and significantly increases the bulk and weight of the coil and for this reason may be practical only for whole body coils.

Phased array MRI coil with controllable coupled ring resonator


Systems and methods for the processing of images are provided. In particular, a candidate image can be obtained for processing. The candidate image can have one or more associated image categorization parameters. One or more pixel groups can then be detected in the candidate image and the one or more pixel groups can be associated with semantic data. At least one reference image can then be identified based at least in part on the semantic data of the one or more pixel groups. Once the at least one reference image has been identified, a plurality of adjustment parameters can be determined. One or more pixel groups from the candidate image can then be processed to generate a processed image based at least in part on the plurality of adjustment parameters.

Image capture devices, such as those associated with a smartphone or tablet, allow users to capture a digital image and store the image in a memory associated with the image capture device. These image capture devices can also include wireless network capabilities that allow a user to transmit an image to a remote computing device or to access an image from a remote computing device via a wireless network.
These image capture devices can also include various techniques for improving the quality of photos. For instance, image capture devices often allow a user to adjust various settings such as white balance, flash, and/or exposure metering. Further, image capture devices might include technologies such as High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDR). HDR allows for a wider range of dynamics in saturation, brightness and contrast through the use of multiple images captured at different exposures. In addition, image capture devices often have post production software that allow a user to adjust various image controls such as saturation, brightness and contrast, and to apply various filters and/or transforms to the image. Such post production software can include autocorrect filters that adjust saturation, brightness and contrast to some normalized model.