The present invention is concerned with a process for the filtering out of fibers form an air stream, in which process a stripping blade (3), for the purpose of cleaning, is moved along the surface of a filter (2) installed in a vacuum chamber (10). A controlled linear drive (51) is applied to the said stripper blade (3), by which the stripping blade (3) is made movable for the carrying out of a two phase operational motion along a linear path of travel. The end positions are located at opposite sides outside of the surface of the filter (2) in areas (A, B) wherein the stripping plate (3) is without contact with an opposing surface. During the first phase of travel, the fibrous material is scraped from the surface of the filter (2), while during the second phase of travel of the stripping blade (3) the said fibers are pressed against the filter (2) and the stripping plate (3) essentially moves back over the fiber without taking the said fibrous material with it. The low pressure in the filter chamber (12) is measured, and upon a drip in the measured low pressure to a point lower than a specified low pressure, the stripping blade is activated at least one time to carry out the said operational movement.

For the filtering out of fibers from a stream of air from textile machinery, the stream is conducted through a filter which retains the fibers borne in the air stream. This fibrous material builds up firmly on the filter and thus reduces the capacity for low pressure, which reacts through a piping system at different places on the machine in order to carry away free floating, undesirable fibers. In order to assure the functional ability of the low pressure system, from time to time the filter is cleaned by means of a scraper blade. In accord with a known process (DE 44 27 771 A1) for this purpose, a vertical scraper blade is run in a horizontal direction over the filter, and is subsequently lifted from the filter and returned to its original position. In order to execute this process, a complicated apparatus is necessary in order to impart to the scraper blade the desired movements. Moreover, fibrous material can agglomerate on the scraper blade, thereby reducing the efficiency of the same.

Apparatus and process for cleaning filters in a textile machine using a moveable scraper assembly

Rieter Ingolstadt Spinnereimaschinenbau AG


The present invention provides a semiconductor device which is applied to, for example, a WCSP (Wafer Level Chip Size Package) and comprises a semiconductor chip having a high-frequency circuit block, a plurality of electrode pads formed on the semiconductor chip, posts disposed between the high-frequency circuit block and the electrode pads within a horizontal plane and connected to their corresponding external terminals, and redistribution wiring layers that connect the electrode pads and the posts respectively.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device, and particularly to a semiconductor device wherein a wafer level CSP is applied to a high-frequency LSI.
With high-density packaging of electronic equipment, there has been a demand for a size reduction (thinning/reduction in outer size) of a semiconductor device mounted in a portable device. In order to meet its demand, a semiconductor package called "Chip Size Package" having approximately the same outer dimensions as those of a semiconductor chip has been adopted. As one form of the chip size package, a semiconductor package called a wafer level chip size package or a wafer level chip scale package exists.
In the wafer level chip size package (hereinafter called "WCSP"), a plurality of external terminals arranged in area form by redistribution wiring layers are provided on a mounting surface (circuit forming surface) that faces a mounting substrate or board. The external terminals and electrodes (pads) disposed on the periphery of the circuit forming surface are connected by redistribution wirings thereby to convert wiring pitches on a circuit to wiring pitches for the mounting board and electrically connect an LSI circuit and the mounting board. The WCSP is now being adopted for a power-supply LSI, a flash memory, a microcomputer, RF, an LSI and the like of a cellular phone by taking advantage of the merit of its size reduction and thinning.
As a technique related to the present invention, there is known a WCSP type semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-79579.
When the WCSP is applied to a high-frequency LSI, the area for routing redistribution wirings for the WCSP is limited depending upon a circuit layout on the LSI side. Therefore, there is a fear that a high-frequency circuit block and redistribution wirings electrically interfere therein and hence a malfunction will occur. There is a case in which since the transmission/reception of signals of a few hundreds of MHz to a few GHz is done in a wireless communication LSI of a cellular phone or the like in particular, the characteristic of the LSI is degraded depending upon the layout of each redistribution wiring.


An exhaust gas/reactant mixing arrangement is for an exhaust system of an internal combustion engine for mixing exhaust gas and reactant. The mixing arrangement includes an exhaust gas guide housing extending in the direction of a housing longitudinal axis and a housing wall. The housing wall surrounds and defines an exhaust gas duct accommodating a flow of exhaust gas. A mixing zone is formed between an upstream end wall and a downstream end wall arranged downstream of the upstream end wall. The mixing zone includes a first chamber and a second chamber as well as a reactant dispensing unit carried on the exhaust gas guide housing for dispensing reactant into the first chamber in a reactant main dispensing direction oriented substantially along a reactant dispensing line.

In order to reduce the nitrogen oxide content in exhaust gas emitted by a diesel internal combustion engine, it is known to carry out selective catalytic reduction in an SCR catalytic converter arrangement. To this end, a reactant, for example a urea/water solution, is injected into the exhaust gas upstream of the SCR catalytic converter arrangement. Before passing into the SCR catalytic converter arrangement, efficient mixing of exhaust gas and reactant has to take place. This is associated with the problem that, for example on account of condensation of the reactant, injected generally in liquid form, on an inner surface of a housing guiding the exhaust gas flow, liquid reactant can accumulate and deposits can form. Insufficient mixing of exhaust gas and reactant can also have the result that a part of the liquid reactant passes into the SCR catalytic converter arrangement and is therefore substantially not available for efficient performance of a catalytic reaction. The risk of insufficient mixing of reactant and exhaust gas primarily exists when, for a compact structure of an exhaust system, the distance between the location at which the reactant is injected for example substantially orthogonally to the exhaust gas flow and the SCR catalytic converter arrangement is relatively small in the direction of flow.


A mouthguard holder for temporarily securing an athletic mouthguard to an exterior side of a helmet is provided. The mouthguard holder generally comprising: a support post base adapted to contact the exterior surface of the helmet, a support post with a first end and second end, a retaining member coupled to the support post at the support post second end the retaining member radially extending out away from the support post forming a mouthguard receiving pocket between the support post base and the retaining member where the receiving pocket is adapted to removably secure a mouthguard to the exterior side of the helmet.

Mouthguards provide a vital role in ensuring the safety of athletes and the use of mouthguards has become highly recommended for any athlete who plays a sport involving physical contact such as American football. The known risk of oral injury to teeth, mouth, gums and jaw associated with contact sports has driven the market for mouthguards among athletes who play contact sports. Recent research has shown that the use of a mouthguard can also reduce the risk of brain trauma, better known as concussion. Often the use of a mouthguard is mandated by an athletic association, league or team to qualify to compete in a particular sport.
Over the years, the mouthguard has seen some design changes to enhance the oral safety and protection of an athlete. But one thing has not changed over the years. Since the invention of the mouthguard, there are still only two basic types of mouthguards on the market. One that is designed to be tethered to a helmet with a strap connecting it to the faceguard or facemask, and one that is non-tethered that has no designed means of securing it to a helmet.
Consequently, based on today's athletic mouthguard market, an athlete has only one choice if they want a mouthguard that can be secured to a helmet during participation in a sporting event when it is not in their mouth. Unfortunately, if an athlete chooses a non-tethered mouthguard with no designed means of securing it to a helmet they are left to improvise a means to secure the mouthguard when not in use.
Because the majority of athletes today choose to use a non-tethered type of mouthguard, there is a great need for new means to secure these types of mouthguards when not in use during a game or at practice. Using a non-tethered mouthguard leaves athletes with only several undesirable options to secure it when it is out of their mouth, for example; the athlete either wedges the mouthguard between the helmet surface and a bar of the facemask, wedges it between two bars of the facemask, stuffs it inside their belt or sock, puts it behind their ear, leaves it in their mouth and chews on it, or they simply hold it in their hand. Unfortunately, all the options an athlete has to secure a non-tethered mouthguard are driven by necessity—not by design. Therefore, what is needed in field is a mouthguard holder which is able to secure an un-tethered mouthguard to the surface of a helmet thereby providing a safe and effective means for athletes to temporarily store their mouthguards when not in use.


A compressor including a motor having a rotary shaft, a rotor and a stator, and an impeller at a front end of the rotary shaft to suction refrigerant in an axial direction and compress the refrigerant in a centrifugal direction. The compressor has a collar at a rear end of the rotary shaft and coupled to the rotary shaft to be extended outwardly in a radial direction of the rotary shaft. Radial bearings support a radial movement of the rotary shaft at a front and rear of the stator. A thrust bearing prevents an axial movement of the rotary shaft. A mechanical backup bearing also prevents the axial movement of the rotary shaft. A fixing unit supports the backup bearing at the rear end of the rotary shaft, wherein the backup bearing is arranged to overlap the thrust bearing in the radial direction of the rotary shaft.

Generally, a chiller system is a cooling system or refrigerating system, which supplies cool water to a cool water demand source such as an air conditioner or a freezer, and is provided to circulate a refrigerant through a compressor, a condenser, an expansion valve and an evaporator.
The evaporator of the chiller system is a water-refrigerant heat exchanger, and is provided to cool the cool water by heat-exchanging the refrigerant passing through the evaporator and the cool water heat-exchanged by a heat-exchanger of the air-conditioner or the freezer.
Also, the condenser of the chiller system is a water-refrigerant heat exchanger, and is provided to cool the refrigerant by heat-exchanging the refrigerant passing through the condenser and the cool water heat-exchanged by a water cooling system.
The compressor provided in the chiller system is formed to compress the refrigerant and provide the compressed refrigerant to the condenser. The compressor may include an impeller compressing the refrigerant, a rotary shaft connected to the impeller, and a motor rotating the rotary shaft.
The compressor may be provided with a thrust bearing to prevent an axial movement of the rotary shaft.
FIG. 1 illustrates a compressor of the related art. In detail, FIG. 1 illustrates a thrust bearing provided in a compressor formed to drive a chiller system of the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the compressor 1 of the related art includes a rotary shaft 2 formed to forward a driving force of the motor to the impeller, and a thrust bearing 3 formed to support an axial (or longitudinal) movement of the rotary shaft 2.
The thrust bearing 3 may include a magnetic bearing 3′ and a mechanical backup bearing 3″.
A collar 4 is coupled to the rotary shaft 2 to outwardly protrude along a radial direction of the rotary shaft 2.
The magnetic bearing 3′ may be formed to be supplied with an outer power source, and if a power source is supplied to the magnetic bearing 3′, a magnetic field may be generated in the magnetic bearing 3′.
A movement of the collar 4, which depends on a length direction of the rotary shaft 2, may be avoided by the magnetic force generated from the magnetic bearing 3′. That is, a longitudinal movement of the rotary shaft 2 may be avoided by the magnetic force generated from the magnetic bearing 3′.
The mechanical backup bearing 3″ corresponds to an element for protecting the magnetic bearing 3′ when a disturbance such as a power failure occurs.
That is, if a disturbance such as a power failure occurs, the magnetic force is not generated from the magnetic bearing 3′. In this case, the collar 4 may collide with the magnetic bearing 3′, whereby the magnetic bearing 3′ may be damaged.
However, if a disturbance such as a power failure occurs, the backup bearing 3″ may prevent the collar 4 from colliding with the magnetic bearing 3′ and thus prevent the magnetic bearing 3′ from being damaged.
Meanwhile, according to the compressor 1 of the related art, the magnetic bearing 3′ and the backup bearing 3″ are arranged to be spaced apart from each other along the length direction of the rotary shaft 2. In this case, a problem occurs in that the rotary shaft 2 should make sure of its length equivalent to those of the magnetic bearing 3′ and the backup bearing 3″.
Also, if the rotary shaft 2 becomes longer, problems occur in that the material cost may be increased and a resonant frequency of the rotary shaft 2 is relatively low. It is safe that the rotary shaft 2 is rotated within a range less than the resonant frequency. A low resonant frequency of the rotary shaft 2 may mean that it is difficult to rotate the rotary shaft 2 at high speed.
That is, if the rotary shaft 2 becomes longer, the resonant frequency of the rotary shaft is lowered, whereby a problem occurs in that safety of the compressor 1 is relatively lowered.

Compressor and chiller system including same


A hand held scanner having recording capabilities is provided. The invention comprises a scanner which reads bar codes, converts the codes to electrical signals, which are then relayed to a palm size data processing unit. The data processing unit contains signal synthesizing, memory, recording, playback and erasure means. The device has six operating modes: the identification or I.D. mode during which scanning takes place and an audible output is generated; memo mode during which data (some of which may not relate to a particular object) may be input into, deleted from or replayed by the device; search mode during which a sequentially audible listing of recorded information is played back; memory mode during which the amount of remaining available memory is audibly displayed; date/time mode during which the current day and time are audibly displayed; and help mode which contains a brief overview of the device's functions. A record button permits verbal input during the I.D. mode and memo mode. An erase button deletes voice input data during the I.D., search, and memo modes. The previous and next buttons move to the desired message during the search and memo modes. A removable flash memory stores recorded information, and a speaker, microphone, headphone jack, and on/off and volume control systems are also provided.

There are an array of products on the market to assist visually impaired persons accomplish various tasks. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,306,152, 4,000,565, and 3,874,097, teach devices which assist the visually impaired in reading. Before the present invention, however, there has been no device which conveniently assists the visually impaired to identify objects, such as clothing, cans, boxes or bottles of food or drink, medicines, compact discs or a host of other useful items. To accomplish this, the visually impaired heretofore had to rely upon sighted individuals, thereby decreasing their independence and increasing the time it takes to accomplish certain tasks.
The present invention permits a visually impaired individual to identify objects using a hand held bar code scanner having recording capabilities. Heretofore, scanning devices which recognized bar codes, i.e. UPC, or universal pricing codes, have been widely used in business. They are seen in stores to identify the price of goods, in the shipping industry to track goods, in general industry for inventory control, and elsewhere. Typically, these devices consist of a sensing device electronically connected to a receiving device which has information pre-coded into it. These devices allow the user to identify a particular object which has already received a bar code imprint. They do not, however, permit the user the option of entering or deleting data from the system.
There is need, therefore, for a convenient, easy to use, hand held device which provides the visually impaired with the means to use existing UPC bar codes, or to apply new bar codes to objects, scan them, record information regarding a particular object for later retrieval and delete unwanted information.

Hand held scanner for the visually impaired


A heterojunction field effect transistor includes a semi-insulating crystalline layer, a pseudomorphic channel layer disposed on the semi-insulating crystalline layer, and an electron supply layer disposed on said pseudomorphic layer. The channel layer has a lattice constant equal to or close to that of the semi-insulating crystalline layer adjacent to semi-insulating crystalline layer and different from the semi-insulating crystalline layer adjacent to the electron supply layer.

A heterojunction field effect transistor takes an advantage of two-dimensional electron gas generated along the interface of the heterojunction for its operation. One known example is a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT).
One example of an HEMT is shown in FIG. 1. The HEMT shown in FIG. 1 is the one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,320. In FIG. 1, on the top surface of a substrate 2 of semi-insulating material, for example, gallium arsenide, GaAs, a channel layer 4 of indium gallium arsenide, In.sub.y Ga.sub.1-y As, is disposed, where y is a value of from 0.1 to 0.25. On the channel layer 4, an electron supply layer 6 of aluminum gallium arsenide doped with silicon, Si, as an impurity, i.e. n.sup.+ Al.sub.x Ga.sub.1-x As (x being a value between 0.05 and 0.20), is disposed. A cap layer 8 of n.sup.+ GaAs is disposed on the electron supply layer 6. On the top surface of the cap layer 8, a source electrode 10 and a drain electrode 12 are disposed spaced from each other. Broken lines extending downward from the source and drain electrodes 10 and 12 in FIG. 1 indicate that the metals constituting the electrodes 10 and 12 diffuse so that the electrodes 10 and 12 contact the channel layer 4. A portion of each of the cap layer 8 and the electron supply layer 6 between the source and drain electrodes 10 and 12 is removed, and a gate electrode 14 is disposed there on electron supply layer 6.
In the above-described HEMT, the electron supply layer 6 is depleted due to a band-gap difference .DELTA.Ec of, for example, about 0.3 eV, between the electron supply layer 6 and the channel layer 4, so that the impurity, Si, in the electron supply layer 6 is ionized. Electrons generated in the electron supply layer 6 by this ionization are stored in the channel layer 4 along the interface with the electron supply layer 6 due to the difference in electron affinities. The stored electrons produce a two-dimensional electron gas channel. In this case, a peak value of the electron concentration in the channel layer 4 is, for example, from 1.times.10.sup.12 cm.sup.-2 to 2.times.10.sup.12 cm.sup.-2.
When a voltage is applied between the source electrode 10 and the drain electrode 12, the electrons in the two-dimensional electron gas move between the two electrodes 10 and 12 at a high velocity because they are scattered little by dopant impurity. The field effect transistor operation of this HEMT is provided by controlling electrons in the two-dimensional electron gas channel by means of the electric field produced by the gate electrode 14.
In HEMT's as described above, the composition of the channel layer 4 is In.sub.y Ga.sub.1-y As, where y is a value between 0.1 and 0.25, and is different from that of the GaAs layer 2. Accordingly, the channel layer 4 and the GaAs layer 2 have different lattice constants, which causes lattice mismatching between the two layers. This, in turn, causes crystalline defects in the channel layer 4, so that the two-dimensional electron gas mobility decreases, and the performance of the HEMT is degraded. Further, because of the composition of the channel layer 4 being as stated above, the bandgap difference between the channel layer 4 and the electron supply layer 6 cannot be made larger than about 0.3 eV as stated above and, accordingly, the concentration of two-dimensional electrons in the channel layer 4 cannot be increased.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a heterojunction field effect transistor with little lattice mismatching.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a heterojunction field effect transistor having an increased difference in bandgap between a channel layer and an electron supply layer.


Integrated banana transport system from the banana plantation to the retail point of sale. The system consists of twelve baskets and a wagon. A bunch of bananas is placed on each basket. The basket can be used at all stages of harvesting, washing, processing, storage, transportation and final disposal. The contact with the bananas, which causes an aesthetic degradation of the product, is minimized. The bunch of bananas is placed on the basket. The upper part of the stalk is nailed on the nail (1) of the hanger (2), while the lower part is placed on the embossed area of the basket's base (3). Beams are placed at the corners of the wagon's base where the rack is attached at the desired height. Six baskets are placed at the bottom of the wagon's base and six on the rack. The basket and the wagon can be assembled and disassembled by hand without any need of tools. The disassembled system occupies minimal space, making less expensive the return to the plantation.

From the harvesting point of the bananas up to the retail point of sale the bunch and the bananas are placed on different means for their transportation, process and storage. After the harvesting, hooks (in large scale plantations) or wagons (in small scale plantations) are usually used for the transportation to the washing and screening area. Afterwards bunches of bananas are placed in carton boxes, with a plastic sheet inside, for their transportation from the packing area to the retail point of sale. The boxes are stacked on pallets. Finally, at the retail point of sale, bananas are unpacked from the boxes and are placed on a bench.
The use of many transportation means demands handling of bunches which involves hand contact with the banana fruit. This contact stresses the banana fruit as bananas are very sensitive to knocks, pressure and friction with other objects. The result of this contact is fruit with lower commercial value comparing with fruit which hasn't been deteriorated by any mean. Also, the packing of the fruit cannot be reused which results in a constant financial charge of the product and an environmental impact.


An electronic device comprising a substrate; a pair of stacks of polar semiconductor materials which create a charge by spontaneous and/or piezoelectric polarization; one of the pair of stacks having a spontaneous and/or piezoelectric polarity which is in a direction opposite to the other of the pair of stacks; whereby due to the opposing polarities, the polarization is balanced. A method of substantially eliminating the bias required to offset polarization charges in an electronic device having a heterobarrier comprising providing a substrate; growing at least one pair of stacks of semiconductor materials; one of the pair of stacks having a spontaneous and/or piezoelectric polarity which is opposite to the other of the pair of stacks; whereby due to the opposing polarities, the polarization is balanced to substantially eliminate the need for a voltage bias.

The present invention relates to electronic devices having heterojunction interfaces. A heterostructure or heterojunction interface or refers to a region or interface that occurs at the junction between two different semiconductor crystal materials. The present invention is directed to heterostructure devices such as, for example, varactors. Varactors, as defined in Wikipedia (also referred to as varicap diodes, varactor diodes, variable capacitance diodes, variable reactance diodes or tuning diodes) are a type of diode which have a variable capacitance that is a function of the voltage impressed on their terminals.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,613 to Nativ, hereby incorporated by reference, discloses an integrated varactor diode frequency multiplier assembly. Another example of a varactor is described in the publication by Tanuma, N, "Capacitance Analysis of Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN Heterostructure Barrier Varactor Diodes," Phys. Stat. Sol. (c) 2, No. 7, 2692-2695 (2005) (hereinafter Tanuma) (hereby incorporated by reference). The varactor of Tanuma appears to require a voltage bias as explained in Section 2 of Tanuma where it states:                The calculated C-V and I-V characteristics in the presence and absence of the piezoelectric field are compared in FIG. 1. The C-V characteristics shift to a lower bias voltage due to the piezoelectric field induced by both the spontaneous polarization in GaN and AlGaN and the stress-induced field within the barrier.Tanuma shows as the solid line in FIG. 1, the CV curve of a GaN/AlGaN varactor. The solid line reveals a shift away from V=0 due to the polarization charges induced at the surfaces of the AlGaN layer.
In the following the terminology Group 13 (IUPAC) and Group III refer to the same group of elements. The Group 13 group comprises boron (B), aluminum (Al), gallium (Ga), indium (In), thallium (Tl), and ununtrium (Uut); each of which has three electrons in their outer valence levels.

Semiconductor heterobarrier electron device and method of making

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A blade, blade holder, and blade tool head is provided. The blade holder includes a mounting surface for a cleaver and an adjacent inclined mounting surface for a flat blade and blade fixing elements for detachably fixing the blades to their mounting surfaces. The blade mounting surfaces have holder contact surfaces with a V-shaped cross-section, and the blade fixing elements directly fix the blades, each of which has corresponding inclined V-shape contact surfaces, to their respective mounting surface, with a retaining force that acts between the inclined V-shaped contact surfaces. The blade has on its lateral side an oblique bearing region, which permits both blades to lie flat against one another.

This invention relates to a knife holder for a knife tool head that can be assembled with chipping knives on the periphery and slabbing knives on the ends, where the knife holder has a mounting face for a chipping knife and an adjacent mounting face inclined to the former for a slabbing knife and knife mounting means for detachable mounting of the chipping knife and the slabbing knife on the respective mounting face; this invention also relates to a respective knife and a knife tool head having a base body in the form of a truncated cone or a cylinder and multiple knife holders attached thereto with one or more knives mounted on each.
Such knife tool heads are used, for example, for chipping wood, in particular for chipping the lateral segments of logs in profile chippers and choppers in the production of wood chips for papermaking. Chipping knives are used primarily to produce the useful chips, while the slabbing knives, also known as planing knives, serve primarily to produce a flat smooth surface on the remaining wood material.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,271,442 and 5,709,255 disclose generic knife holders designed in a U shape with a base plate that is provided with boreholes for screwable attachment to the lateral surface of an essentially cylindrical base body of the tool head. A buckling U-shaped section that is elevated from the base plate supplies the two mounting faces for the chipping knife and the slabbing knife, namely as planar surfaces provided with boreholes. Turning knives are used as the chipping knives and slabbing knives; each knife is secured between a respective carrier, which is in contact with the respective mounting face of the holder, and an outer clamping piece. For assembly, the carrier is first screwed to the mounting face of the holder, and then the chipping knife or slabbing knife is placed on top of that and next the clamping piece is applied and attached to the holder with screws at fastening points at the side next to the knife, with the screws passing through through-bores in the carrier.
Another generic knife holder is disclosed in Unexamined German Patent DE 198 16 164 A1, wherein chipping knives and slabbing knives are secured on the holder and clamped in the same way using a clamping piece and a carrier. The knife holder there has a flange with a dovetailed cross section with which it can be secured on a hub element that functions as the base body of the tool head. The hub element in the form of a cylindrical ring therefore has flattened areas on the outer lateral surface with longitudinal grooves introduced into them, so that a knife holder with its flange can be inserted axially into each longitudinal groove and secured there.
The chipping knives and slabbing knives of the turning knife type used with the generic knife holders mentioned above have a rectangular basic shape, i.e., their transverse and/or narrow sides run in planes perpendicular to the longitudinal edge knife cutting edges. In application cases in which the longitudinal axes of the chipping knife and slabbing knife are in different planes, i.e., in which the chipping knife leads or trails behind the slabbing knife in the direction of rotation of the tool head, the chipping knife and the slabbing knife are in mutual contact on their facing ends of the free active knives only at some points when in the new state. Due to wear and in particular due to regrinding of the knife cutting edges, the case may therefore occur when the point contact of the active knife cutting edges of the chipping knife and the slabbing knife are lost, the result being a continuous gap between the chipping knife and the slabbing knife, which can become clogged with wood fibers or chips in an undesirable manner during operation.
German Patent DE 198 58 740 C1 describes mounting a knife on a knife holder which has a mounting face with holder contact faces that are inclined in a V-shaped cross section, where the knife is in contact with corresponding inclined knife contact faces in a V-shaped cross section. The knife is held directly on the knife holder and thus without the use of clamping pieces due to the respective knife mounting means with a holding force that acts in the area between the contact faces, which are inclined in a V shape.
This invention is based on the technical problem of providing a knife holder which can be assembled with chipping knives on the periphery and slabbing knives on the end face, a knife for this holder and a respective knife tool head which will jointly permit secure, self-centering holding of one chipping knife and one slabbing knife jointly on a holder without any play. This holder can in turn be secured on the tool head and allows relatively simple replacement of the knives without any complex adjustment work, whereby the chipping knife and the slabbing knife can also be mounted on the holder with the knives in close proximity even in the reground state if necessary.
With the inventive knife holder, the two mounting faces for the chipping knife and the slabbing knife each have holder contact faces that are inclined to form a V-shaped cross section, and direct fastening means are provided as the knife mounting means, securing the chipping knife and the slabbing knife, each having knife contact faces forming a corresponding V shape, directly on the respective holder contact face with a holding force acting between the contact faces that are inclined in a V shape.
The line of action of the holding force for the chopping knife as well as that of the slabbing knife are each in the angle range spanned by the contact faces inclined in a V shape, so that a self-centering effect of the two knives when secured on the knife holder is obtained due to the effect of the holding force. The centered position is unambiguously defined for each of the two knives by the pairs of cooperating contact faces inclined in a V shape and opposing one another with respect to the line of action of the holding force. The holding force which acts in this way also results in a uniform force distribution on these contact faces and thus on the whole in a favorable uniform fastening force acting on the respective knife and the knife holder. These characteristic properties of direct holding of the chipping knife and the slabbing knife on a common holder consequently ensure a secure mounting of the chipping knives and the slabbing knives on the tool head without any play even under load during chipping operation and thus permit a rapid and easy mounting of the knives with a high repeating accuracy of the knife position on insertion of a new knife without requiring complex adjustment work.
With the inventive knife holder, the chopping knife and the slabbing knife are attached directly to the respective mounting face and the holding body is designed as a one-piece part and can in turn be attached directly to the knife tool head. Consequently, this permits very simple mounting of the chopping knife and the slabbing knife onto a joint one-piece holder body and dismantling it therefrom as well as mounting the holder body on and/or dismantling it from the knife tool head with direct fastening means without additional parts.
In an advantageous embodiment of this invention, the direct fastening means consist of a single screw connection for the slabbing knife and one or two screw connections for the chipping knife. Beyond this, no additional fastening parts such as clamping pieces or the like are necessary.
Advantageous positioning of chipping knife and slabbing knife in relation to one another is provided by an embodiment in which there are corresponding angle ranges which describe the relative position of the cutting edges of the chipping knife and slabbing knife.
In a further refinement of this invention, holder fastening means for the knife holders are provided laterally next to the mounting faces for the knives. In this way the holders can be mounted on the tool head without being hindered by the knives and dismantled from it again without having to remove the knives from the holder.
Another embodiment of the inventive knife is designed so that it has one or two inclined contact areas on at least one transverse side, these contact areas extending from one end of the knife cutting edge with a slope that corresponds to a corresponding inclined angle of the relative position of the peripheral knives and the slabbing knives on the holder, so that when the knife is mounted on the holder as a chipping knife or as a slabbing knife, it is in contact with the other knife not only with spot contact but instead with linear or area contact with this area. The chipping knife and slabbing knife may be provided with the corresponding slopes or the slope may be provided completely on one knife, in which case the other knife then has a transverse edge perpendicular to the knife cutting edge. The linear or surface abutment of the two knives in an area in contact with the active cutting edges yields the advantageous effect that the two knives are always in mutual contact without any essential gap on their active knife cutting edges even in a used, reground state, so that there is no unwanted clogging or jamming of chipped material between the two knives in the meantime.
With another embodiment of the inventive knife tool head, multiple inventive knife holders are distributed on the circumference of a base body in the form of a truncated cone. They are inserted here in the respective holder receptacles, where the chipping knives point toward the lateral surface of the truncated cone of the base body and the slabbing knives point toward the end face of the base body.
In a further refinement of this invention, multiple second knife holders are provided on the lateral surface of the base body of the tool head in the form of a truncated cone behind said inventive knife holders, each being assembled with a chipping knife and a slabbing knife, and are offset with respect to these in the circumferential direction, whereby the second knife holder is assembled with only one chipping knife. It is found that the knife tool head designed in this way fulfills very well the cutting function as well as the smoothing function.
In another embodiment of this invention, the knife tool head is assembled with two different types of inventive knife holders which differ in chipping knives of different lengths. The two different types of knife holders are arranged in a preselectable regular sequence in the circumferential direction of the tool head base body. Here again, it is found that such a knife tool head fulfills very well the functions of chipping and smoothing at the same time, as expected of it.
In a further embodiment, the slabbing knives of two or more knife holders mounted on the tool head sequentially in the direction of rotation are arranged with slabbing knives and chipping knives in planes that are offset axially in relation to one another. This yields a certain desired chip thickness according to the axial spacing between such successive slabbing knives.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


There is provided a travel time display device for an industrial robot which can display travel time on the screen such that time taken for moving a work from any designated starting point to any other point can be seen at a glance. The travel time display device includes: a display for displaying on the screen the location of the industrial robot and an area in which the industrial robot can transport the work; a position designator for designating a travel starting point of the industrial robot at an arbitrary position on the display screen; a calculator for setting a plurality of time intervals with respect to necessary travel time from the travel starting point and calculating a travelable area, to be displayed on the display screen; and a display for depicting the travelable areas with a visual discrimination between the travelable areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an industrial robot for use in work transportation, and more particularly to a system for graphically displaying time taken for an industrial robot to move a work from an arbitrary travel starting point.
2. Background Art
Industrial robots are increasingly introduced into factories these days for transportation of products and works. The typical usage of industrial robots is transportation, and a common industrial robot for transportation holds a product or a work with an end effector and transports it from a starting point to an objective point. When planning a work transportation by means of an industrial robot, it is necessary to determine a starting point and an objective point and, in addition, a transport route between the starting point and the objective point.
The determination of starting point and objective point in work transportation by means of an industrial robot, in most cases, has been made in a rough manner. For instance, after designating the position of a belt conveyor and determining the point of arrival of a work, the starting and objective points are roughly determined accordingly.
On the other hand, an industrial robot needs to be instructed of a work traveling route, and setting and change of a transport route generally requires a time-consuming processing. An industrial robot has therefore been proposed which enables a simple processing for the setting of transport route, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-71287. According to the conventional technique, the setting of transport route with the shortest traveling route can be made by simply moving or stopping an end effector and inputting the position from a teaching box.
In transportation by a robot, there is a case in which with the same distance between starting point and objective point, a difference in the operating time of the robot in transportation, and thus a difference in the transport time, can be produced by a difference in the position of starting point or objective point. Thus, the transport efficiency can be high or low depending upon how to select the positions of starting and objective points even when the transport distance is the same.
In the setting of work transport route for a conventional industrial robot, technical attention has been paid exclusively to how to set traveling route rather than how to determine starting and objective points. Accordingly, technical approach has not yet been made to, for example, a method for determining appropriate starting and objective points from the viewpoint of enhancing transport efficiency.

Travel time display device and method for industrial robot


A particulate catalyst comprises an intimate mixture of cobalt and aluminum compounds at an atomic ratio in the range 10:1 to 2:1 (Co:Al), which when reduced at 425° C., has a cobalt surface area as measured by hydrogen chemisorption at 150° C. of at least 30 m2/g of catalyst. The catalyst is prepared by sequential precipitation of cobalt with aluminum ions in the presence of an alkaline precipitation agent. The catalyst may be used for the hydrogenation of unsaturated compounds or the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of hydrocarbons.

Supported cobalt catalysts wherein the cobalt is in its elemental or reduced state are well known and find use in many reactions involving hydrogen such as hydrogenation reactions, and the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of hydrocarbons. The activity of the catalysts is believed to be directly proportional to the cobalt surface area of the reduced catalysts, but in order to achieve high cobalt surface areas, the cobalt should be well dispersed on the support. Furthermore, to minimize reactor volume, the catalyst should preferably have as high a cobalt content as possible. High cobalt contents also offer improved efficiency in catalyst recycle and regeneration. However, as the cobalt content of a catalyst increases above 20% by weight (on reduced catalyst) the cobalt becomes more difficult to disperse resulting in lower cobalt surface areas. Cobalt is a relatively expensive metal and therefore there is a desire to improve the cobalt dispersion (expressed as cobalt surface area per gram catalyst).
Preparation of cobalt-alumina catalysts has heretofore typically been by impregnation of cobalt compounds into 'pre-formed' alumina materials or by precipitation of cobalt compounds from solution in the presence of alumina powders or extrudates, followed usually by a heating step and then, prior to use, reduction of the resulting cobalt compounds to elemental form using hydrogen.
Alternatively cobalt-alumina catalysts may be prepared by simultaneous co-precipitation of cobalt (Co) and aluminium (Al) compounds by addition of a base. Khassin et al describe the co-precipitation of Co2+ and Al3+ at ratios of 1:1, 1:1.3 and 1:2 to yield hydrotalcite-containing materials. Upon calcination and reduction under hydrogen at 470-480° C. these catalysts were of low activity in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis of hydrocarbons (see Journal of Molecular Catalysis A: Chemical, 168, 2001, 193-207).

High cobalt content, high cobalt surface area catalysts, preparation and use thereof


The present invention aims to provide a method for preparing an aldehyde, which can prepare a target aldehyde with high selectivity and can also suppress the production of by-products. The present invention relates to a method for preparing an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde. The method includes a step of reacting a compound of formula (I) with a compound of formula (II) to provide an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde of formula (III). An alkali metal hydroxide and an alkanol having 1 to 4 carbon atoms are used in the step. The amount of the alkali metal hydroxide is 8 mol % or more and 12 mol % or less with respect to the compound of formula (I). The total amount of water contained in materials that are used in the reaction is 10 mol % or more and 50 mol % or less with respect to the compound of formula (I).

An aldehyde is a useful compound as, e.g., a material for a chemical reaction, or an intermediate for perfume, medicine, or agricultural chemicals. In particular, an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde having a specific molecular weight is useful in itself as a fragrance material, and further is also used as a raw material for derivatives with different fragrance notes.
As a method for preparing an aldehyde, e.g., dehydrogenation or oxidation using alcohol as a raw material has conventionally been known. In particular, a cross-aldol condensation reaction between two types of aldehydes is frequently used as a method for preparing an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde. Moreover, various studies have been made on the reaction conditions of the cross-aldol condensation reaction.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses the continuous production of cinnamaldehyde and dihydrocinnamaldehyde. In this method, benzaldehyde derivatives are continuously reacted with alkanals in a plant that includes a plurality of reactors in a cascade system.
Patent Document 2 discloses a method for preparing an α-substituted cinnamaldehyde. This method is performed in a solvent containing glycol.
On the other hand, Patent Document 3 discloses a method for preparing 2,3-cis-substituted 2-arylpropenals by condensing a 2-arylacetaldehyde with a nonenolizable aldehyde. In this method, a solvent contains a specific amount of moisture.

Method for preparing α,β-unsaturated aldehyde


The invention provides a computer software means for determining physical characteristics of an unrestrained animal by enabling a user to interact with one or more images of the unrestrained animal on a graphical user interface connected to a computer. Using the graphical user interface, the user is able to designate piecewise linear and circumferential measurements of selected animal features on the one or more images. The computer software program receives one or more selected images of an unrestrained animal, displays the one or more images on the graphical user interface, receives a user designated animal type and calibration measurements of animal size indicia, receives user selected measurements of animal physical characteristic from the one or more images and adjusts the measurements based on the calibration measurements of animal physical size, and displays the selected images, adjusted and computed measurements and estimated measurement error on the graphical user interface.

The invention relates generally to determining and quantifying characteristics of unrestrained animals based on images of the subject animals. More particularly, the invention provides a means for identifying, measuring and collecting numerical characteristics of animals in a wild and unrestrained state. This capability of providing numerical characteristics of unrestrained animals is an important tool to users such as hunters, wildlife managers, game breeders, ranchers and biologists. It enables a user to study and evaluate animal characteristics that relate to age, genetics and nutrition, such as size, horn and antler development, and growth rate. The invention relies on identifying the particular type of animal subject under scrutiny and several key measurements that provide indicia of size of the animal subject type under scrutiny.
In the recent past, determining physical characteristics of wild and unrestrained animals in any significant number is difficult and problematical at best. Although the techniques for sedating or otherwise restraining animals in the wild in order to determine physical measurements is a proven and reliable method, it does not lend itself for assessing physical characteristics of a large number of animals over a reasonably short time frame, much less in a nocturnal environment. The broad availability of high quality digital game and trail cameras has provided the opportunity to analyze images of animals in the wild using computer imaging techniques. Many of these cameras provide viewing capability for operation in nocturnal and low light level environments, as well as attachments for enabling remote, unattended operation. There are several imaging tools available for measuring characteristics of restrained animals, such as livestock, but these are not applicable to wild and unrestrained animals. While there are many computer based tools available for image enhancement and editing, there are no tools readily available for easily assessing characteristics of wild and unrestrained animals using computer analysis techniques. Such a tool finds use with many users such as hunters, wildlife managers, game breeders, ranchers and biologists who would like to determine animal characteristics without the need for restraining the animals in order to determine the characteristics.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and system for determining various animal physical characteristics by using one or more reference measurements for establishing scale factors from a recorded image of an unrestrained animal. It is a further object of the invention to provide an estimate of measurement error in evaluating an animal image. It is an object of the invention to provide one or more images for determining reference measurements. It is an object of the invention to determine physical characteristics of an unrestrained animal by selecting measurements between two or more points on an image of an unrestrained animal. It is an object of the invention to determine volume and mass of an unrestrained animal by evaluating an image of the unrestrained animal. It is an object of the present invention to provide the methods by executing instructions in a computer program. It is an object of the invention to provide a graphical user interface for interactively selecting features of an unrestrained animal image. It is a further object of the invention to determine animal characteristics of animals selected from the group consisting of northern whitetail deer, southern whitetail deer, mule deer, moose, caribou, elk, black bear, brown bear, goat and sheep. It is a further object of the invention to determine animal characteristics of animals selected from the group consisting of an exotic species and a horned species. It is a further object of the invention to evaluate one or more unrestrained animal images using game scoring metrics. It is an object of the invention to provide a summary of the measured unrestrained animal characteristics.

System and method for determining physical characteristics of an unrestrained animal


In an organic light-emitting display apparatus for improving image quality and a method of manufacturing the same, the organic light-emitting display apparatus comprises a substrate, a first electrode disposed on the substrate, an intermediate layer disposed on the first electrode and including an organic emission layer, a second electrode disposed on the intermediate layer, and a reflective unit disposed near the intermediate layer and reflecting visible light emitted from the intermediate layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light-emitting apparatus and a method of manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to an organic light-emitting apparatus for improving image quality and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, display apparatuses have been replaced with thin-film type flat panel display apparatuses which are portable. From among thin-film type flat panel display apparatuses, an organic light-emitting display apparatus is a self-emitting display apparatus which has a larger viewing angle, better contrast characteristics, and a faster response rate, and thus it has drawn attention as a next-generation display device.
An organic light-emitting display apparatus comprises an intermediate layer, a first electrode, and a second electrode. The intermediate layer includes an organic emission layer. When voltage is applied to the first electrode and the second electrode, the organic emission layer emits visible light.
When a user views an image displayed on the organic light-emitting display apparatus by operating the organic light-emitting display apparatus, some of the visible light generated by the organic emission layer may travel in undesired directions, i.e., not toward the user.
Accordingly, the optical efficiency of the organic light-emitting display apparatus decreases and improvement of image quality is limited.

Organic light-emitting display apparatus and method of manufacturing the same

Samsung-ro, Giheung-Gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-Do


An X-ray reflectance is measured with the use of an X-ray detector, which is not less than 107 cps in upper-limit counting rate and is not more than twenty cps in noise level, under the condition that a measuring time length per interval of scattering angle 2θ is not more than fifty milliseconds, so that the measurement of one reflectance curve is completed in a short time as several seconds. In another aspect of the invention, the X-ray detector used is not less than 107 cps in upper-limit counting rate and is not more than 0.01 cps in noise level, and the measuring time length per interval is not less than a hundred seconds, so that the X-ray reflectance curve is obtained with not less than a nine-digit dynamic range. The X-ray detector may be an avalanche photo diode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for measuring an X-ray reflectance in a short time with the use of an X-ray detector having a high upper-limit counting rate, and a method for measuring an X-ray reflectance with a high dynamic range with the use of an X-ray detector having a low noise level.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is known to measure an X-ray reflectance of a thin film and analyze the properties of the thin film, e.g., a film thickness, a density, a surface roughness and a boundary roughness, based on the measured data, as disclosed in Japanese patent publication No. 10-38821 A (1998), which will be referred to as the first publication.
An X-ray reflectance curve can be determined in a manner that a reflected X-ray intensity is measured with the scanning of the scattering angle 2θ in a range between zero to five degrees for instance. If a reflected X-ray intensity is measured at 0.01-degree intervals in 2θ and a measuring time length per interval is set to be one second, there is required, for the range between zero to five degrees, five-hundred measurement steps, the total time required for the measurement being five-hundred seconds. As just described, it takes ordinarily around several minutes to determine one reflectance curve. An X-ray detector may be, for instance, a proportional counter or a scintillation counter.
Incidentally, the present invention is concerned with the use of an avalanche photo diode as an X-ray detector, the avalanche photo diode being abbreviated to "APD" hereinafter. An X-ray analytical apparatus using the APD as an X-ray detector is known and disclosed in, for instance, Japanese patent publication No. 2004-37360 A, which will be referred to as the second publication.
The second publication discloses that a fluorescent X-ray holography detection system uses the APD having a high counting rate so as to complete the measurement in a shorter time than before. It says in the second publication that since the counting rate of the APD is high as not less than 106 cps, the time required for detecting an X-ray at any measuring point is not more than one second and the total measuring time is reduced from around two months to around several hours when the fluorescent X-ray intensity is measured even under many angular conditions.
It is sometimes the case, as in the process of semiconductor device manufacturing, that the X-ray reflectance measurement must be carried out for many measuring positions on a single substrate to analyze the properties of the thin film, such as a film thickness for instance, for respective measuring positions. Assuming that it takes several minutes for the measurement at one measuring position, it takes several dozen minutes for the measurements at ten measuring positions. If the time required for the measurement at one measuring position is reduced to several seconds, it would take mere several dozen seconds for the measurements at ten measuring positions, completing the total measurement process in a very short time. Such a short-time measurement has been desired.
On the other hand, in the field of the X-ray analysis, it is known to use the APD having a high counting rate to reduce the measuring time as disclosed in the second publication. The second publication is, however, concerned with the special use as detecting very small fluorescent X-ray hologram signal, in which the long-term measuring time of around two months with the use of the ordinary detector has been reduced to the several hours with the use of the APD. It is noted that, even using the APD, there is needed around one second for one step of the X-ray intensity measurement in the fluorescent X-ray hologram. On the contrary, in a measurement process in which the total process is completed in around several minutes with the use of the ordinary detector, such as the X-ray reflectance measurement, one measurement step at one scattering angle 2θ is completed in a short time as around one second inherently. It has been unknown to attempt to make such a measuring time further shorter. Besides, since the X-ray reflectance measurement often requires a five-digit dynamic range or over, it would be necessary to insert or remove an absorption plate in the middle of the measurement operation in the case of using the ordinary proportional counter or the scintillation counter having an upper-limit counting rate of not more than 106 cps, the insertion or removable of the absorption plate being an obstacle to the reduction of the measuring time.
On the contrary, it is sometimes desired to measure a high-accuracy X-ray reflectance curve with a high dynamic range. Since the ordinary method uses the proportional counter or the scintillation counter as an X-ray detector, it is impossible to measure a weak X-ray intensity because of the inherent noise level of the X-ray detector and thus it is impossible to carry out the reflectance measurement with a high dynamic range.

Method for X-ray reflectance measurement


The present invention provides an arteriovenous pressure measurement device which allows noninvasive and accurate measurement of arteriovenous pressure, and also provides an arteriovenous pressure measurement method using the measurement device. The noninvasive arteriovenous pressure measurement device comprises a probe (20) for radiating ultrasound toward a blood vessel in the skin, a pressing part (10) for pressing the skin in a state of being placed between the skin and the probe (20), and a pressure sensor (33) for detecting a pressing force applied to the skin at the pressing part (10), the pressing part (10) having water (36) permeable to the ultrasound and a balloon (31) accommodating the water (36), the flexible container (31) being made of a flexible material permeable to the ultrasound, and an outer surface of the balloon (31) presses the skin.

Measurement of arteriovenous pressure (arterial pressure and venous pressure) serves as an indicator for determining therapeutic strategy based on judgement of deficiency or excess of the amount of circulating blood or judgement of right cardiac failure in the fields of emergency and intensive medical care, for example. In addition, the use of such a measurement in the fields of vascular surgery, dermatology, etc. is anticipated, and an example of such use is venous pressure measurement in a leg of a patient having a varix in the leg.
Conventional arteriovenous pressure measurement methods, as invasive measurement methods, need, for example, a procedure as follows: a needle puncture is made into or a catheter is inserted and guided to a blood vessel at a measurement site, a drip route to the inserted needle or catheter is filled with a liquid, and a pressure sensor is attached thereto. Therefore, the measurement takes considerable time and may cause delayed treatment in the field of time-critical emergency medical care. In addition, as described above, the conventional methods involving blood vessel puncture or catheter insertion are highly invasive for patients (see Patent Literature 1).
In addition, these invasive treatments involve risks of cardiovascular damage, bleeding, bloodstream infection, pneumothorax, and hemothorax. In addition, the patient as a subject of the measurement is basically hooked up to a drip route and may have difficulties in moving around. As a measure to overcome such disadvantages, Non Patent Literature 1 discloses a venous pressure measurement device for noninvasively measuring venous pulse pressure using an ultrasound measurement probe and using vein collapse resulting from pressing the skin, without needle puncture to the blood vessel.
In this venous pressure measurement device, a disk-like silicone object is attached onto the surface of the ultrasound probe. The silicone object is placed on the skin just above the vein to be measured, and the ultrasound probe is pressed against the skin to induce vein collapse. The silicone object is permeable to ultrasound and does not interrupt the ultrasound from the ultrasound probe. Therefore, an image of the collapsed vein can be obtained using the ultrasound probe.
Between the ultrasound probe and the silicone object, a pressure sensor is disposed to measure the pressing force applied via the ultrasound probe to the skin. By the pressure sensor, the pressing force that has resulted in vein collapse is detected as a venous pressure.

Noninvesive arteriovenous pressure measurement device and arteriovenous pressure measurement method using the measurement device


A novel energy harvesting system and method utilizing a thermoelectric having a material exhibiting a large thermally induced strain (TIS) due to a phase transformation and a material exhibiting a stress induced electric field is introduced. A material that exhibits such a phase transformation exhibits a large increase in the coefficient of thermal expansion over an incremental temperature range (typically several degrees Kelvin). When such a material is arranged in a geometric configuration, such as, for a example, a laminate with a material that exhibits a stress induced electric field (e.g. a piezoelectric material) the thermally induced strain is converted to an electric field.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an energy harvesting system/method and, more particularly, to a method/system that includes a thermostrictive material and a piezoelectric element, such as, a laminate capable of harvesting waste heat.
2. Description of Related Art
Waste heat is always generated whenever work is done. Harvesting such waste heat can increase the efficiency of engines, be used to power numerous devices (eliminating the need for auxiliary power sources), and in general, significantly reduce power requirements. Various methods have been used to try and harvest such waste heat, the most important of which is through thermoelectric materials.
In order to efficiently convert waste heat to usable electrical energy, thermoelectric materials generally requires a large Seebeck coefficient having a "figure of merit" or Z, defined as Z=S2/ρK, where S is the Seebeck coefficient, ρ is the electrical resistivity, and K is the thermal conductivity. The Seebeck coefficient is further defined as the ratio of the open-circuit voltage to the temperature difference between the hot and cold junctions of a circuit exhibiting the Seebeck effect, or S=V/(Th31 Tc). Therefore, in searching for a good thermoelectric material, materials with large values of S, and low values of ρ and K are beneficial.
However, current state of the art thermoelectric materials utilized to harvest waste heat and convert such heat to a useful energy, for example, devices that use a combination of n-type and p-type materials, generally have Seebeck coefficients on the order of several 100 μV°K−1, which is too low for practical applications.
Background information for thermoelectric devices is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,387, entitled "Superlattice Quantum Well Material," issued Aug. 27, 1996 to Elsner et al., including the following, "The present invention provides thermoelectric elements having a very large number of alternating layers of semiconductor material, the alternating layers all having the same crystalline structure. This makes the vapor deposition process easy because the exact ratio of the materials in the layers is not critical. The inventors have demonstrated that materials produced in accordance with this invention provide figures of merit more than six times that of prior art thermoelectric materials. A preferred embodiment is a superlattice of Si, as a barrier material, and SiGe, as a conducting material, both of which have the same cubic structure. Another preferred embodiment is a superlattice of B—C alloys, the layers of which would be different stoichiometric forms of B—C but in all cases the crystalline structure would be alpha rhombohedral. In a preferred embodiment the layers are grown under conditions as to cause them to be strained at their operating temperature range in order to improve the thermoelectric properties."
Background information on an energy harvesting system is described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 2004/0238022 A1, entitled "Thermoelectric Power From Environmental Temperature Cycles," issued Dec. 2, 2004 to Hiller et al., including the following, "The present invention provides an electric generator system for producing electric power from the environmental temperature changes such as occur during a normal summer day on Earth or Mars. In a preferred embodiment a phase-change mass is provided which partially or completely freezes during the relatively cold part of a cycle and partially or completely melts during the relatively hot part of the cycle. A thermoelectric module is positioned between the phase-change mass and the environment. The temperature of the phase-change mass remains relatively constant throughout the cycle. During the hot part of the cycle heat flows from the environment through the thermoelectric module into the phase change mass generating electric power which is stored in an electric power storage device such as a capacitor or battery. During the cold part of the cycle heat flows from the phase change mass back through the module and out to the environment also generating electric power that also is similarly stored. An electric circuit is provided with appropriate diodes to switch the direction of the current between the hot and cold parts of the cycle. A preferred phase change mass is a solution of water and ammonia that has freeze points between about 270 K to about 145 K depending on the water ammonia ratio. Preferably, a finned unit is provided to efficiently transfer heat from a module surface to the environment."
A need exists for an improved thermoelectric method and system configured as, for example, a laminate so as to harvest waste heat as energy. The present invention is directed to such a need.

Energy harvesting using a thermoelectric material

Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC


Methods, systems, and computer-readable media provide for the reporting of an environmental condition to vehicles prior to encountering the environmental condition. According to various embodiments described herein, local environment data corresponding to the environmental condition is collected from sensors on a vehicle. The local environment data is used to determine that the environmental condition exists at the current location of the vehicle. A notification that includes the geographic location of the environmental condition is created and provided to one or more other vehicles in the vicinity of the environmental condition.

Millions of people operate vehicles on a daily basis on all types of roads and in all types of environmental conditions. Radio stations often employ traffic personnel to monitor traffic and to broadcast the current traffic and accident conditions to those drivers listening on a given radio frequency in their automobiles. The traffic personnel gather data from cameras mounted along the roadways, from other employees in helicopters or other vehicles monitoring the traffic conditions, and from people in traffic who call the traffic personnel to report current traffic conditions. However, these traffic reports rely on people to monitor and report current traffic conditions, rely on subjective human analysis, and utilize only traffic congestion reports and reports of current and past accidents, without providing any predictive environmental analysis that would alert motorists to potential hazards and prevent future accidents from occurring.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A disc box structure including a box body and a cover body pivotally connected with one side of the box body. An annular stepped projection is formed in the box body. The center of the annular projection is disposed with two opposite lifted engaging members. The lower ends of the engaging members are connected with the bottom face of the box body, while the upper ends of the engaging members are disposed with substantially semicircular opposite fitting ribs. An engaging projection is formed on an upper end of a middle section of the outer edge of each fitting rib. The inner edges of the opposite fitting ribs have several inward extending resilient bridge ribs which commonly connect with a pressing member, whereby-the engaging members have better structural strength and are protected from breaking due to shearing force of the disc. When it is desired to take out the disc, a user only needs to depress the pressing member between the engaging members to easily take out the disc.

The present invention relates to a disc box structure in which the engaging members for fixing the disc have better structural strength and permit a user to easily take out the disc.
FIG. 1 shows a conventional disc box including a box body 10 and a cover body 20 pivotally connected with one side of the box body 10. A U-shaped peripheral frame 11 is disposed along the other three sides of the box body 10. A middle section of a front face of the peripheral frame 11 is formed with an inward recess 111. An inner face of the box body 10 is disposed with an annular stepped projection 12. The center of the stepped projection 12 is disposed with two opposite lifted engaging members 13. A lower end of each engaging member 13 is connected with the bottom face of the box body 10. An upper end thereof is disposed with a substantially semicircular opposite fitting protuberance 131. A tenon 132 is formed on an upper end of a middle section of the arch edge of the fitting protuberance 131, which extends in a direction reverse to the engaging member 13. An upper section of the engaging member 13 is disposed with a perforation 133 corresponding to the tenon 132 for facilitating the demolding operation relative to the tenon 132 during injection molding.
When placing a disc 30 into the disc box, the central circular hole 31 of the disc 30 is fitted with outer edges of the fitting protuberances 131 of the engaging members 13 with the tenons 132 of the engaging members 13 engaged with the circumference of the circular hole 131 of the disc 30.
The above disc box has some shortcomings as follows:
1. The engaging members 13 of the box body 10 are independent members 13 which have poor structural strength. Therefore, in case the disc box is dropped onto the ground (referring to FIG. 2), the engaging members 13 will suffer a reverse shearing force of the disc 30 which may lead to breakage of the engaging members 13 from two sides of the perforations 133. PA1 2. When taking the disc 30, the fitting protuberances 131 of the two engaging members 13 must be pressed at the same time so that it is inconvenient to take out the disc. In addition, in the case that only one engaging member 13 is pressed (referring to FIG. 3), not only the disc 30 cannot be taken out, but also the other engaging member 13 may be forcedly broken or the disc 30 may be deformed or broken.


An apparatus is disclosed for monitoring usage of multiple electrical devices. The apparatus comprises multiple non-invasive current sensors for sensing current in respective conductors associated with the electrical devices. Such conductors may for example be the electrical power supply leads to the devices. The apparatus further includes multiple analogue to digital conversion functions for digitizing the output from the respective current sensors. A microprocessor is arranged to receive the digitized current sensor and is programmed to create usage data relating to the respective electrical devices. Such usage data may include cumulative elapsed running time. The microprocessor has an associated memory in which the usage data is stored in association with corresponding data identifying the electrical devices. The system further includes an interface through which the usage and identifier data are extractable, to provide usage information for the respective electrical devices. The apparatus may be divided into two separate sub-systems connected through a bus and it is particularly preferred that a sub-system incorporating the current sensors is mounted to, or otherwise associated with, a power distribution unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for monitoring usage of multiple electrical devices.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Monitoring of usage of electrical equipment is often desirable to ensure that servicing or replacement is carried out at the proper time, and also for warranty purposes. Defense equipment, whose reliability may be safety critical, is an important case in point. Elapsed time indicators (ETIs) which connect electrically to the electrical supply of a piece of equipment and which contain an elapsed time counter, typically driven from the equipment's electrical supply, are in themselves well known. They may have an integral display or may, as exemplified in Oxley (Development) Co. Ltd's European Patent Application 00302679.6, have an interface for interrogation by a separate unit. The ETI described in that patent application monitors a single power supply, the elapsed time counter being activated when power is down by the host device.
Such simple ETIs are not well suited where multiple separate electrical devices or electrical sub-systems all require monitoring. One example of such a situation, of particular relevance for present purposes, is provided by the communications apparatus of a military vehicle, which may comprise multiple different systems including UHF radio, HF radio, ancillary equipment etc each requiring independent usage monitoring. Multiple separate ETIs, each associated with respective systems, would not be appropriate.
Oxley (Development) Co. Ltd's UK patent GB 2142172 describes a system in which for each electrical device to be monitored there would be a respective non-volatile memory device and interface circuit, connected to the electrical device's and adapted to maintain its own cumulative record of host running time, but several such devices would be connected via a data bus to a common control unit having a display and user controls. Connection of the multiple separate monitoring devices could still prove problematic in some contexts.
The requirement of such ETIs for an electrical connection to the supply of each device being monitored can be a drawback, giving rise to its own concerns over reliability (in safety critical systems, the possibility that the ETI might itself compromise reliability of the system being maintained is desirably to be avoided) and creating potential installation problems, particularly where the usage monitoring system is to be "retro fitted" to an existing piece of equipment.


An aircraft nacelle comprising an outer cowl having an inner wall and an outer wall surrounding the inner wall. The inner wall may have an inner opening formed therethrough and the outer wall may have an outer opening formed therethrough at an aft end of the nacelle. The nacelle may further comprise a translating panel configured to cover the inner and outer openings in a stowed position and to translate aft to a deployed position. The translating panel may be fixed to cascade guide vane panels which rest between the inner and outer wall in the stowed position and are exposed to airflow via the inner and outer openings when translated aft to the deployed position, thereby increasing a nozzle area of the nacelle. Guide vanes of the cascade guide vane panels are angled slightly aftward to direct the nacelle's airflow outward and aftward.

An aircraft nacelle is a structure that surrounds an aircraft engine and broadly includes an inner cowl surrounding the engine and an outer cowl positioned outward of the inner cowl, forming an air duct or fan duct therebetween. Air flows in a forward to aft direction through the fan duct and out through an opening at an aft end of the nacelle, sometimes referred to as a nozzle.
In some aircraft applications, it is desired to vary the area of the nozzle. For example, Variable Area Fan Duct Nozzle (VAFN) technology is used on high-bypass turbofan engines to modulate airflow and pressure within the fan duct. In a turbo fan engine there are generally two flow paths—a core and a bypass or fan duct. A majority of the air goes through the bypass and produces most of the engine's thrust. The VAFN is located in the aft portion of the bypass duct and varies fan exit nozzle area during take-off and landing via various actuation means for mechanically expanding aft openings of the nacelle or providing additional openings proximate to the aft end of the nacelle. By increasing or decreasing the effective exit area of the fan duct nozzle, several potential benefits may be realized, such as greater noise reduction or greater fuel efficiency. Varying the area may also be required to enable certain engine technology, such as geared turbofan (GTF) engines. However, the electrical and mechanical components of various VAFNs generally add undesired weight to the aircraft.

Cascade-style variable area fan duct nozzle


The invention relates to an airbag (10) for restraining a vehicle occupant (12) in an automotive vehicle, comprising an inflatable cushion portion (20) for damping an occupant impact and two inflatable tube portions (22) laterally opposed in the mounted state of the airbag (10) which are arranged on the occupant side on the cushion portion (20), wherein the tube portions (22) are connected to each other by a slide layer (24) arranged on the occupant side on the cushion portion (20) and are laterally movable at least in portions relative to the cushion portion (20). Furthermore, the invention also relates to a method for manufacturing an airbag (10) as well as an airbag module (18) comprising said airbag (10).

The invention relates to an airbag for restraining a vehicle occupant in an automotive vehicle, a method for manufacture thereof and an airbag module comprising said airbag.
For improving the occupant safety, already for some time airbag modules have been employed as restraint devices in vehicles. In the meantime, so-called front airbags have become especially wide-spread which in the case of crash deploy as an air cushion in front of the vehicle occupant and damp an impact of the occupant, in particular of the occupant's head.
In some cases, the vehicle occupant does not impact exactly frontally but diagonally on the airbag, which might possibly entail an inadvertently strong rotary motion of the head which is inconvenient for the occupant.

Airbag for restraining a vehicle occupant, method for the production thereof, and airbag module comprising such an airbag


Disclosed are systems and methods for body weight prediction from one or more images. The method includes the steps of receiving one or more subject parameters; receiving one or more images containing a subject; identifying one or more annotation key points for one or more body features underneath a clothing of the subject from the one or more images utilizing one or more annotation deep-learning networks; calculating one or more geometric features of the subject based on the one or more annotation key points; and generating a prediction of the body weight of the subject utilizing a weight machine-learning module based on the one or more geometric features of the subject and the one or more subject parameters.

The statements in the background of the invention are provided to assist with understanding the invention and its applications and uses, and may not constitute prior art.
Obtaining an accurate estimate of a weight of a user has many useful applications. For example, fitness tracking and weight loss tracking require estimation of body weight. Similarly, accurately estimating clothing size and fit, which is based on body length measurements, can be performed with deep learning, but an accurate estimate of body weight is a valuable input for more accurate estimation of body length measurements.
Current methods of body weight measurement depend on utilizing weight scales, which are hardware components that are not always available. For example, not everyone has a scale in their home, and not everyone feels comfortable weighing themselves in a public gymnasium. With the advent of smart phones, users have come to expect seamless and instantaneous user experiences, using general purpose hardware, without utilizing specialized sensors or other hardware. Therefore, requiring users to purchase specialized weight scales for body weight measurements is not a feasible approach for many modern tech applications, and introduces unwanted user frictions. Similarly, in cases where accurate estimates of body weight are required for other tech applications, having users "guestimate" their own weight is hardly satisfactory.
Therefore, it would be an advancement in the state of the art to provide a system and method for accurately estimating a body weight from photos of a user taken using an ordinary 2D smartphone camera, such that everyone can easily take photos of themselves and benefit from accurate body weight estimation.
It is against this background that the present invention was developed.

Systems and methods for weight measurement from user photos using deep learning networks


Several embodiments of external low speed exhaust gas discharge treatment devices for outboard motors that may be attached to the outer housing of the outboard motor to provide silencing for the exhaust gases without necessitating complicated driveshaft housing constructions.

This invention relates to an exhaust system for a marine propulsion unit and more particularly to an improved exhaust system for an outboard motor and particularly to a low speed exhaust gas discharge for such outboard motors.
The problem of exhaust gas treatment in marine propulsion units and particularly outboard motors are well known. One of the main difficulties in providing an effective exhaust system for an outboard motor is the fact that the space in which the exhaust gases may be treated is substantially limited. It is the conventional practice to provide an expansion chamber and possibly other silencing device in the drive shaft housing to which exhaust gases are delivered from the engine of the powerhead by an exhaust pipe. These exhaust gases are then discharged through a high speed underwater exhaust gas discharge which may be formed in the lower unit or in the hub of the propeller. Although such systems are relatively effective, when the outboard motor and associated watercraft are traveling at a low speed or idling, the underwater discharge becomes very deeply submerged and the exhaust gas pressures are not great enough to permit their passage through this discharge.
It is, therefor, the common practice to provide an additional, above the water low speed exhaust gas discharge. This discharge is conventionally formed in either the upper portion of the drive shaft housing or in a lower portion of the powerhead itself and communicates with either the expansion chamber or some other point in the exhaust system. When the outboard motor is operating at the low speed conditions, as aforenoted, the exhaust gases can exit through this above the water exhaust gas discharge. Of course, it is necessary to insure that this discharge is somewhat restricted so as to insure that any large portions of the exhaust gases will not flow out of this opening when traveling at other than low speeds or at idle.
The exhaust gases which exit the above the water exhaust gas discharge obviously do not have the benefit of the full silencing afforded by the underwater exhaust gas discharge. In addition, the above the water exhaust gas discharge is in closer proximity to the operator and thus there is problem of noise generation with the systems.
The noise from the above the water exhaust gas discharge can be further silenced by providing either a labyrinthian flow in the upper casing and/or by including expansion chamber volumes. However, there are disadvantages with these types of arrangements.
Specifically, if a labyrinthian type of flow is to be provided, then the drive shaft housing casting either becomes complicated or addition parts must be formed and fixed within the drive shaft housing. This is not always feasible due to the desire to maintain a relatively low and uncomplicated drive shaft housing assembly.
Even greater problems exist with attempts to provide expansion chambers since the effectiveness of an expansion chamber depends to a large extent on its volume and the configuration and size of the drive shaft housing does not permit the use of large expansion chambers.
There is also the problem attendant when the outboard motor is operating at the low speed conditions. Water will back up in the interior of the drive shaft housing and this can further reduce the available size for expansion chambers and the like unless there is some further methodology employed so as to seal the expansion chambers from this water influx, which again complicates the casting process for the drive shaft housing.
It is, therefor, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved exhaust silencing arrangement for a marine propulsion unit.
It a further object of this invention to provide an improved low speed silencing system for an outboard motor that can employ fairly large expansion chambers and/or labyrinthian type flow systems without complicating the drive shaft housing construction or substantially increasing the size of the drive shaft housing.
It is a still further object of this invention to provide an improved arrangement for providing external silencing for the low speed exhaust gas discharge of an outboard.

Exhaust system for marine propulsion unit


Compounds of formula ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1 is hydrogen, lower-alkyl, or trifluoromethyl;. R.sub.2 is lower-alkyl, trifluoromethyl or CH.sub.2 Z where Z is hydroxy, chloro, lower-alkylamino or dilower-alkylamino; PA0 R.sub.3 and R.sub.4 are each individually hydrogen or fluoro; and PA0 Ar is phenyl, an aromatic 5- or 6-membered heterocycle or any of these substituted at one or more positions with lower-alkyl, fluoro, chloro, hydroxy, amino, lower-alkylamino, dilower-alkylamino, carboxy, sulfonamido, lower alkylsulfonamido, methylenedioxy, trifluoroacetamido, lower-alkanoylamino, or carbamoyl; and their pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts are useful as anticancer agents.

a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to novel 1-cyclopropyl-3 substituted-5-R3-6-fluoro-8-R4-7-(2-R1-6-R2-4-pyridyl)-1,4-dihydro-quinoli n-4-ones and their pharmaceutical compositions, and a method of treating malignancy with these compounds.
b) Information Disclosure Statement
Gilligan et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,623,650 issued 18 Nov. 1986, discloses 1-substituted 6,8-difluoro-7-aryl-1,4-dihydroquinol-4-one 3-carboxylic acids stated to have antibacterial activity.
Schriewer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,788 issued 10 Nov. 1987, discloses novel antibacterially active 7-amino-1-(substituted cyclopropyl)-1,4-dihydro-4-oxo-3-quinolinecarboxylic acids of the formula ##STR2## in which
X.sub.1 and X.sub.2 can be identical or different and represent hydrogen or halogen;
R.sub.1, R.sub.2 and R.sub.3 represent hydrogen, methyl, chlorine or fluorine, the radicals R.sub.1 -R.sub.3 never all being identical; and
R.sub.4 and R.sub.5, together with the nitrogen atom to which they are bonded, form a 5-membered or 6-membered heterocyclic ring which may be substituted.
Mosuzawa et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,118, issued 13 Dec. 1988, discloses quinolonecarboxylic acid derivatives of the following formula ##STR3## wherein
R is hydrogen atom or lower alkyl group;
Alk is lower alkylene group; and
X is hydrogen atom or halogen atom; the hydrates and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof are stated to be useful as antibacterial agents.
Peterson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,716, issued 11 Apr. 1989 discloses 7-(1-pyrrolidinyl)-3-quinolonecarboxylic acid derivatives of the formula ##STR4## in which
A is CH, CCl, CF or N;
R.sub.1 is hydroxyl, hydroxymethyl or mercapto; and
R.sub.2 is hydrogen, alkyl, having 1 to 4 carbon atoms or (5-methyl-2-oxo-l,3-dioxol-4-yl)methyl; with the proviso that, when R1 is hydroxy, A is not CF or N, or pharmaceutically acceptable hydrates or salts thereof are stated to be useful as antibacterials and animal feed utilization promoters.
Schriewer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,908,366, issued 13 Mar. 1990, discloses compounds of the formula ##STR5## in which
Y represents a carboxyl group, a nitrile group, an ester group --COOR.sub.1 or an acid amide group --CONR.sub.2 R.sub.3 ;
X.sub.1 represents hydrogen, nitro, alkyl or halogen;
X.sub.4 can be hydrogen or halogen, or alkyl;
R.sub.4 and R.sub.5, together with the nitrogen atom to which they are bonded form a 5- or 6-membered heterocyclic ring which can additionally contain the atoms or groups --O--, --S--, --SO--, --SO.sub.2 -- ##STR6## as ring members of the group ##STR7## can also represent a ring system of the structure ##STR8## which can optionally be substituted on the ring carbons by methyl and pharmaceutically usable hydrates, salts or esters thereof.
These compounds are stated to have a high antibacterial activity and therefore to be suitable as active compounds for human and veterinary medicine.
Bridges et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,335, issued 12 Jun. 1990, discloses a series of quinolone carboxylic acids which are stated to have use as antibacterial agents.
Groche et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,952,695, issued 28 Aug. 1990, discloses 1-cyclopropyl-6,7,8-trifluoro-1,4-dihydro-4-oxoquinoline-3-carboxylic acid and ester as pharmaceutical intermediate.
Wentland, U.S. Pat. No. 4,959,363, issued 25 Sep. 1990, discloses compounds of the formula ##STR9## where
R is hydrogen, hydroxy, amino or lower-alkyl;
R.sub.1 is lower-alkyl, lower-alkenyl, cycloalkyl, pyridinyl, phenyl or substituted phenyl
R.sub.2 is hydrogen, amino or hydroxy;
R.sub.6 is hydrogen or fluoro; and
R.sub.7 is phenyl, pyridinyl or selected other heterocycles; The compounds are stated to have antiviral activity against herpes virus.
Lesher et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,075,319, dated Dec. 24, 1991, discloses fluorinated 1-cyclopropyl-7-(substituted-pyridinyl)-l,4-dihydro-4-oxo-3-quinolinecarbo xylic acids of the formula ##STR10## wherein
R is hydrogen;
R' and R" are hydrogen or fluoro, or other groups; and
Z is 3- or 4-pyridinyl substituted by alkyl groups or substituted alkyl groups. The compounds are stated to be superior antibacterial agents.